HELLOmynameisHeather

Four Patterns & a Wedding

The patterns are finally in & they're gorgeous!  Our printer had trouble with their folding machine, and knowing we were anxious to ship them, they thoughtfully farmed out the rest of the pattern-folding to another print house so we wouldn't have to wait for them to receive a replacement part. 

So there would be no delay, my father & I drove out to this other printer around 10pm on Friday night to pick everything up so the pattern stuffing could happen over the weekend.  This new place was kind to fit my pattern-folding into their schedule on short notice (no notice, really) -- and then let us come by in the middle of the night to get them.  Cheers & applause.  While there, we got the 15-minute tour, Mister-Rogers style.  I love machines.  Folding, gluing, binding, collating, clean-cutting, kiss-cutting.

Our printer did a wonderful job though.  I can't wait for you to see.  All orders with patterns included can now be processed - hooray!

(On that note, thank you early birds for placing pre-orders, knowing they wouldn't ship out immediately. Thank you for your confidence and patience.  Processing early bird orders all at once is allowing us to best perfect our new shipping & fulfillment systems.  And it's going really well.  We should be all caught up soon and back to the super-fast turnaround you're used to)

So then, on top of this excitement, my assistant, Tara, decided last weekend to get married next weekend!  Now, after being engaged for three years and taking the wedding plans kinda easy, everything's suddenly all-a-bustle.  We're super excited for her.  When I mentioned her engagement before, she was thinking end-of-September/ beginning-of-October and I was going to see what ideas you had for her.  Now there's not much time for idea-gathering.  It's fun to see it all coming together so well -- and in such little time.  Her mom & grandma have really jumped onboard.  It'll be a small, intimate wedding -- maybe 20 guests. Dramatic red flowers, B & W floral print tablecloths, I think (tres chic!).  I'm sure it will be beautiful -- I'll share photos.

And Isaac's just returning tonight from photographing a wedding for Kathy Miller's stepson, Alex.  (His new bride, Aseem, is a writer for the tv show, Scrubs.)  I hear it was breathtaking -- a traditional Indian wedding -- with tents, saris, henna tatoos, and fabulously rich colors.  I can't wait to see the photos.  I'll share those too.

(The wedding photos shown above are from Kara Peterson in Las Vegas.  Kara used a Freshcut print as her centerpoint in decorating the Utah County Courthouse for her November wedding last year.  She sent me these photos just this week. Good timing -- with all of the wedding talk taking place over here. Kara, what are these mini-merengue-looking treats?  They look delicious.  And, did everyone get a diamond ring on top??  Now, that's dessert.)

La Fleur Debris & Birthday Me

It's my birthday.  My plan is to la-di-da all day -- for just one day.  The big plan is no plans : )

It's also Grand Opening day.  In honor of the occasion, I'm giving away a free pattern for La Fleur Debris brooch with every order placed in the HB store from now until midnight tomorrow*.  This sassy pin can be made from your sewing scraps, hence the name (floor debris + fleur-de-lis = fleur debris -- see?) and can be made entirely by hand.  Wear one in your hair, on your coat, or pinned to your purse.  I've done all three, but not all at once.

(Isaac says my parenthetical explanation is "too much exposition."  I say "Bah.")

You may remember seeing some of these couch-flowers here before.  This one is my very favorite to date (on that great little coat, on that great little girl!).

I figure a good-ol' birthday giveaway is fitting as well -- we have a serious tradition going -- and I do have a whole tray's worth of flowers made up.  So, post a suggestion for a giveaway contest maybe, and one of the flowers will go to the best idea.  Two other flowers will be won by sheer luck.  Sound good?

Thanks for playing along.  This is the third year of such silliness.  Check out the joke contest from two years ago & the embarrassing stories from last year's birthday.   I could certainly use some more giveaway contest ideas -- and a good helping of birthday giggles.

Happy 'Day!
xo--Heather

**All orders received from Tues, August 12th through Weds, August 13th at 11:59pm Pacific Standard Time will include one copy of the Le Fleur Debris pattern.  It's a printed pattern, not a download.  No need to enter any codes at checkout : )

Post, I shall name you later. I'm taking myself out to a movie.

I have this funky 70s condiment-serving set that's gold with green daisies on top.  It doesn't show too well in the photo above, but I just love it.  Makes me giddy.  The lid has a spoon-notch that doubles as a handy scissors-holder -- as I've opted to store thread and buttons inside instead of mustard or pickles.  Though I guess you could store your scissors in mustard.

And not that my blog needs any more photos of strawberries -- or pincushions even for that matter -- but strawberry pincushions are what I've been photographing today, so strawberries it is.  In truth, I'm entirely surprised how popular the strawberry pincushion kits have been over at the HB store. Definitely in the top 10.  In response to the excitement for ready-to-go strawberry supplies, we've added two new colors.  Now there are kits for velveteen strawberries in deep red, bright pink, and soft pink, and wool-blend strawberries in bright red (photographed above) -- covering the full gamut.

School kicked back in yesterday.  Elijah seems glad for the increase in activity.  Summer can get long.  I've heard it said that childhood is 'long days, but short years.'  I understand that sentiment more and more.  Such short years. 

I'm regularly asked how I fit it all in - design work, motherhood, church, friendships, family, fun.  I can't say I do fit it all in.  But what I do successfully manage comes as a result of regularly re-assessing my priorities.  Not on a weekly basis, or even a daily basis, but every 20 minutes or so.  And often a peanut butter sandwich or the next chapter of Inkheart overrules pressing business matters for a time.  I'm in business to serve the needs of my family.  I've chosen to do what I love so I can be happy at work, and hopefully brighten the world in some small way while I go about my thing. 

Time away from my children is a tangible thing I don't take lightly.  To repair the balance at times -- in the world at large, if not in my own home -- I focus my business on projects that will help knit us to our children/families/friends through the work of our hands, and on materials that will inspire us to do so.  In my experience, those quiet times of creativity, with long stretches of time (or frequent spurts) spent thinking of and truly loving the ones we're creating for, are full of sweetness and provide meaningful attachments.  In my life it's true -- even if the sentiment is not always returned -- in sewing pajamas for the kids, in making a blanket for a friend, helping a neighbor move, or designing a wedding dress for a girl at church, I've loved these people through the process.  And the process of creating has opened my heart toward them.  The blankets, dolls and toys I've kept from my childhood are all items that one or both of my parents made for me.  I know they were thinking sweetly of me when they made them.  I love that.  Charlotte plays with my childhood doll bed every day.

When my workload weighs a little on the heavy side, I think of other moms out there who have found the time that day to go the extra mile, perhaps making a blanket for their son or teaching their daughter to make bread -- or maybe just finding more patience, more snuggle time, more laughter.  The simple things that make life beautiful.  It's true, they're precious, short years.

No, I don't always fit it all in, but I certainly try to fit in the important stuff as much as possible. 

I'm clearly still feeling sappy.  Oh me.  To lighten things up, Here's a list of fun tidbits I've been meaning to mention:

• The talented Vivian Love did a three-part blog series on the quilting of my Pop Garden sample quilt.  It's fascinating to see the techniques involved -- and she did an immaculate job!!  (I'll post photos soon). (Links to parts 1,2,3 are in Vivian's sidebar under her photo)
• My new scrapbook collection has made Creating Keepsakes' Latest & Greatest list.
• And it's been featured in this month's Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion as well.
• Trash Ties have been featured on Project Runway Australia - click here (about 8.5 minutes in).  Several long red Trash Ties in one hairstyle.  Avant garde!
• There's a Project Runway Australia!  How cool is that?  And you can watch it on YouTube.
• Tara's getting married! (We could use your help -- stay tuned.)
• We're having a new patio put in - it should be done before the weather gets nice (!!)
• Bobbin refuses to budge when she's on a leash.  Not for treats, not for water, not for a song & dance.  Any advice?  Pixel will, of course, do anything for a treat. 
• The Pop Garden & Bijoux photo group on Flickr is all set up.  Take a peek.  And share your projects too -- I love to see what you're up to.
• And join the new HB Paper Crafts group while you're at it.  I'll add Flickr badges to my sidebar as soon as possible -- next week hopefully.
• There's also a great Paper Crafts inspiration page here.
• Today's 8-8-08.  That's kinda fun.  (My son certainly thinks so.)
• Tuesday's my birthday.  I've got big plans : )
• Lists are the best.  I feel so much more caught up now.