My Gourd Logo
I am soo excited. I have to share.
Remember when I eluded to the fact that I was not upset by my
"assumption"
impulse buy on etsy for the Underwater Sisters designs.
How it had led down a path I may not have gone down otherwise.
Well, that buy put me on a search that lead me to Spoonflower.
It was enough joy simply finding Heather Ross but then I was Gobsmacked.
They allow you to design & order your own fabrics.
Now this really is an idea to get excited about!
Because funds are so limited at the moment, I didn't jump right into a designing mania moment.
Not to mention...
there are just so many really cute designs already out there to look at and imagine on my cutting table.
I did create a profile and become a member of Spoonflower,
put them in my favorites,
became a follower on their blog, facebook and twitter.
I even voted for a design in a contest.
Then I eluded to my find on my blog.
Zoinks... the technology these days!
A couple days later I got an email from spoonflower. It announced a new give-away contest.
They were going to have 3 daily drawings each with two winners.
The winner wins 17 Fat Squares of Heather Ross's new line.
This had to be a joke...
NOPE...
Not only was it for real... they were having weekly contests.
Each week with a different theme.
And guess what one of the contests is...
"gourds"
Well, I don't need a ton of brinks dumped on my head.
Unfortunately I didn't win any of the Heather Ross drawings... but I was inspired.
So I thought to myself... ok I need to act on the gourd contest.
Not just because of my gourd logo but for so many reasons...
the gourd is symbolic to me for a few reasons.
remember?
Also...
When my husband and I got married one of the gifts that we gave to our guests were seed packets.
We made our own custom packets
and filled them with seeds.
The seeds we gave away were sunflowers and gourds.
But because I need to start somewhere.
I began working on a design to submit. Without doing any research.
Wow... did I get frustrated.
So I decided it would be best to do some before getting started again.
In doing this, I came across a video that got me even more excited about this company
Check It Out
This guy could be Buck Rodgers twin, and I don't mean the "character".
I gotta tell ya, if I wasn't already impressed with this company I really am now.
North Carolina use to be a leading producer of textiles. That is until
the production of most US goods were shipped overseas.
Since I went on a "novel" blog spree yesterday, I won't go into detail of my opinions about this.
What I will say is...
I like to buy "local" or fair trade.
There are so many ethical, "green" and righteous opinions on this subject.
So many in fact that I believe some folks become so overwhelmed by making the "right" decision that they don't make any conscious decisions or simply write the matter off completely.
Some folks become so defensive of their position or opinion that they alienate people.
Instead of empowering people to make an authentic, intentional decision that fits where they are at that moment in time.
We need to support each other, keep an open mind and be kind to ourselves & others.
Ooops... I did it again!
Back to Spoonflower...
I have spent many long hours searching for a local distributor of textiles in NC.
I gotta tell ya,
I came up with zilch ...
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Spoonflower was a North Carolina based company!
I was out of my "gourd" with delight!
I just deleted several lines of a blogging tangent...
because I realized that I was about to post and say something that goes against what I just wrote about.
So ... back to my "delight"
I am happy to say that Spoonflower also tries to make a product that leaves a softer footprint on the planet. They can not call themselves "organic" yet they are a moral & environmentally responsible company. I like that!
OK, I can't help myself it's coming out whether I like it or not.
Something to chew on...
there is no way I can have a truly "organic" chicken egg unless my girls are no longer free range chickens.
I can feed my birds non medicated feed from an organic source and I couldn't tell you the last time I used a fertilizer that wasn't natural and I don't recall ever using a pesticide except maybe my husband used seven dust about a dozen years ago, once.
But I can not keep them from eating a bug that has been exposed to a pesticide that flies into my yard or some non-biodegradable packing material that blows over my fence.
A chicken will eat anything
I can't help this any more than...
farmer "Joe" can help his heirloom seed crops cross pollinating with farmer "Blow's" Monsanto genetically modified crop.
So, I think I need to pick my battles and make the best choices I can for my family with the information I have.
Yikes, can ya tell I am not a big supporter of Monsanto or GM seeds.
I guess what I really want to say is ...
Be intentional!
I sometimes "should" on myself
and
sometimes others do it for me.
This "shoulding" on yourself and others thing is very unproductive. And I don't like it one little bit.
So...
this IS what I AM doing...
My First Original Fabric Design
I entered this design into a weekly Spoonflower contest.
Keep your eyes peeled for it.
Regardless if it wins... which it will...
I can not wait till I can start making some "Green Gourd Creations" with it.
Goodness From the Garden
There are still a few things hanging on for dear life in my veggie patch.
Enough to make a tasty pot of sauce for dinner.
What's Cooking?
No vegetarian sauce here.
I was a vegetarian for about 6 years... then I lived in Alaska for a while. And while I was there I surrendered to my carnivorous tendencies.
This sauce will be tasty with the whole wheat angel hair pasta and fruit salad I am going to make. I can't wait till things cool off enough to start making bread again.
It will be soon, I actually got to open some windows and let in the cool ocean breeze the past few days.
Soule Moma
I pulled this book out this morning when I discovered one possible contributor to my melancholy.
I don't believe these will become any family treasures... but they sure will help me feel a little better about "doing my part" to help Mother Nature.
"You Silly Ole Bear"
I figure I can put this old set of flannel sheets to good use again.
Oh yeah... when I came up with the title of today's blog I was referring to my getting back into my creative mind set..
However, it just so happens that my daughter got thrown from a horse for the first time, Sunday.
My fearless Indigo.
She flew pretty good and landed even better.
It really knocked the wind out of her. She was hurting so bad and was so frightened she was crying
"I don't want to take horseback riding anymore."
When we talked about it later she didn't even remember saying it.
Luckily the ground was still pretty soft from all the rain.
After a long while she was able to pull herself up and hobble back to the barn.
She wasn't ready to get back up on the horse that threw her
but
she did get back in the saddle of another horse after poking her nose into Splash's stall to let him know she still loved him.
(The horse didn't really throw her... he just bolted and she panicked)
No comments:
Post a Comment