HELLOmynameisHeather

I am...

... admiring my new old couch, purchased yesterday.  I'm looking for the perfect color combo.  Gray fabric, I think.

... moving along on photoshoot prep for our next brochure.  My adorable model has been measured & it's time to make a fitting muslin.

... replenishing the felt selection at the HB store -- now all of the pretty colors are visible again.

... playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey with all of these overlapping sewing and building projects.  My head is spinning.

... justifying a break to say 'Hello' on the blog.  Hello!

Marching, Marching

Such great feedback on the turtles!  It sounds like a lot of these names are making their way back into fashion:  Henrietta, Matilda, Penelope, Harriet, Eloise.  How awesome is that?!

Here in the studio, I have a quilt in the works, several aprons, handbags, blankets, basket-liners.  It's like bathing in ice cream.  Wait till you see what I mean. 

And let me just say that my mother is a SAINT.  She's doing more sewing than I am this week. I'm juggling contracts left and right, interviews, booth plans, model chasing (see yesterday's tweets), pattern covers, sample design -- that kind of stuff.  All fun, but a juggle nonetheless. Thank heaven for mom!

Have you Herd?

Make a new friend in Henrietta turtle (or skip the flower corsage and make a Henry turtle). Henrietta will gladly house your pins & needles or entertain your baby or pet -- but not at the same time. She's funny that way.

You may have glimpsed my pokey new sewing buddy in my recent interview on NBC. This sewing pattern is hot off the press and ready to ship. I'm in love. Sitting by my sewing machine, Henrietta reminds me to take my time and enjoy the process.

Fresh from Bingo night, come Edna, Matilda, Eloise, Harriet, Penelope and Gladys. "Shush, dearie. Did that nice young man call B-15?" Six different materials kits available here -- pattern sold separately.

A herd of turtles. Or as my dad likes to say, "A terd of hurtles."

Announcing Heather Bailey Felt

This photo could seriously be a poster.  I may have to print it out onto canvas and hang it over my couch. Oh the many uses of felt.

If you haven't stopped by my shop for a while, you may want to take a look through the all-new Designer Felt section. I know how hard it can be to find high-quality felt in good colors.  Most chains only carry the nasty, polyester variety or a handful of muddy colors in wool-blend. I needed a source for great felt and figured you must need a source as well.

I'll be stocking a custom palette of over 3 dozen wool-blend and bamboo felts at the Heather Bailey Store.  I love to embellish projects with felt flowers or use felt to make pincushions and ornaments. These are the felts I use for the leaves & stems in my Fresh Picked Pincushions, in La Fleur Debris scrap flowers and in several upcoming patterns (getting so close now!).

I recommend stocking up on a variety of colors & neutrals to have on hand -- like a box of crayons.  You'll be surprised how many flowers, leaves, stems & whatnots you can make from a small stack of felt.

We'll be changing out the colors occasionally, so check back often to see if there is anything new.  Did I mention how excited I am about this felt?  No more hunting.  And they're nice to look at.

Suture-Free Future

Here it is, my live interview on NBC's Studio 5 in Salt Lake City. Catch a glimpse of my next mini pattern. Try not to glimpse the ribbon dangling from my shirt sleeve though. Written instructions for the Pop Garden scrap flowers featured on the video can be found here. I had an incredible time in Utah this weekend. I met many fun entrepreneurs & was showered with some amazing presents -- necklaces, notecards, homemade games, tee-shirts, chocolate. The Sweet Tooth Fairy's Double Fudge Cake Bites made my night on Thursday. Imagine oreo-cookie-flavored cake with a truffle-chocolate shell. Yeah. Holy happiness, Batman.

Packing Flowers

Today I'm heading over to the NBC affiliate in Salt Lake City for a live interview & some crafty kibitzing on KSL's Studio 5 with hosts, Brooke & Darin. We're making fast, fabulous, fabric flowers. Fashionable too -- and friendly.

The spicy flower above turned out perfectly for the red & olive reverse of my red Marlo Bloom bag (shown on the cover of the Marlo Bloom sewing pattern). It takes my handbag right into Fall, all wooly & frayed, with felted houndstooth leaves and raw silk at the center.

I also played around with some of my favorite vintage buttons & millinery supplies, such as these green ceramic flower stamen. On the show, we're making medium-sized flowers, but as I couldn't stick to one size for the samples, I'm listing measurements for the large purse flower and the small, blue headband flower as well. Of course, make whatever size flower you wish & stitch it where you like.

I say everywhere.

Pop Garden Scrap Flower Tutorial

Medium Flower

1.  Tear a strip of printed cotton fabric 3" high by 20" wide. Pop Garden works.

2.  With wrong sides together, fold fabric strip in half, as shown. Stitch long, gathering stitch along matched torn edges, through both layers. (For a torn-edge flower, stitch along folded edge, through both layers.)

3.  Gently pull stitches as you sew, to gather fabric into a circle. Fasten fabric circle at center with a couple of stitches. Secure & trim thread.

4.  Of felt, cut three tiered circles -- 2" wide, 1.75" wide, and 1.5" wide. Notch edges of large & small circles. Remove all 'hanging chads' of felt -- we'll have none of that. Stack felt circles as shown.

5.  Onto gathered fabric flower, layer stacked felt circles and a decorative button or brooch. Stitch layers together at center several times through button to secure. Conceal gathered edges at back of flower by whip-stitching a circle of scrap felt to the back of the flower. Then, attach a sew-on pin-back, hair clip, ponytail elastic, TT headband, bobbypin or barrette. And that's it. Easy-peasy.

For your reference, the following chart shows the measurements used for the other flowers featured in the photos above. The large flower is made by stacking a folded piece of silk on top of the folded cotton print with folds aligned. Gathering stitches are sewn through all layers, near the fold. And the large flower spirals into several layers, unlike the other two shown.

I'm looking forward to meeting many of you at Friday's Start-up Princess event. If you're interested in last-minute registration, I've got a present for you -- use code STUDIO5 for $10 off the registration fee. Or tune in to the show today, as two viewers will receive free tickets on air, valued at $99 each.

Also, there is an all-new category at The Heather Bailey Store. See if you can spot it. I'm eager to post more, but need to rush off to the station. Let's just say the new category ties in perfectly with this tutorial and with more projects to come. I'll spill the beans in my next post.

Gilding my Sneakers

I've just returned from Creative Escape, a several-day craft-a-thon with hundreds of enthusiastic and kind women from all over the world: Japan, Canada, France, Australia, the U.S. Though I taught all day a couple of days in a row, I'm surprisingly refreshed. I blame it on the touching & funny keynote addresses presented by Heidi Swapp & Melanie Wellman -- and my decision to wear tennis shoes instead of heels. 

The CE students went out of their way to express their excitement for my class, bring gifts (chocolate, jewelry, handmade cards, hair clips, etc.), and make the experience fulfilling for us teachers as well. (Thank you, ladies!)

All 700 or so in attendance were deeply moved by the response to CE's designer lamp fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society the final evening. All of the teachers at the event, and from past years, donated a hand-built, one-of-a-kind lamp to be sold in silent auction -- all $ going straight through to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

To add excitement to the final evening, two of the lamps were sold at live auction. One bidder forked out $29,000 for charity to get her hands on Tim Holtz' lamp (neat girl too), and Heidi's lamp raised over $8000. Without gushing on, I'll just say I was seriously moved. I think we all were. It was a great time. Thank you, Heidi & the Bazzill team for including me in this year's event.

So...Now that the cat's out of the bag on the fundraiser, I can finally show photos of my lamp design -- think tweet, tweet, chirp, chirp. I'll gather up some photos to post.

It's great to be back. I'm wrapping up several big projects (hallelujah!) this week before heading out to Utah to deliver a keynote address at the Start-Up Princess event on September 11th. If you're anywhere near South Jordan, Utah next weekend, sign up for Friday's event and come say 'hi'. Or visit me at Material Girls quilt shop on Saturday the 12th -- around 1ish (till 3ish?), I think.  I'll post a sure time as soon as it's confirmed. I'll also be on t.v. on Thursday, the 10th at Studio 5 in Salt Lake City. As for the rest of the trip -- I'll probably be sleeping, huh?