I heart Heather Ross

My favorite fabric designer is Heather Ross.  The first time I saw one of her fabrics was when I found the Mischievous Gnome Messenger Bag Pattern by Meg at Sew Liberated (whom I also heart).  I didn't know that the darling gnome fabric was Heather Ross at the time.  I just knew that I had to have the fabric and the bag.  I told my husband that some day I was going to make that bag, even though it seemed like a faraway dream (the bag has a zipper! and pockets!).  I tackled the pattern late this summer (by the way, it's a great pattern) and have been toting it around ever since.  It's probably pretty lame to use the same fabrics that Meg did in constructing the sample for her pattern but I don't care.  I love those gnomes!

What I didn't realize at the time that I fell in love with those mischievous gnomes was that Heather Ross isn't producing more fabric.  I don't know all the details but it has something to do with a legal contract and it makes me very sad.  You can still buy some of her fabric through shops and on etsy (people are seriously cutting up pajamas produced with her fabrics and selling them an arm and a leg at a time, for an arm and a leg, I might add - no joke).  I felt pretty lucky to get my hands on enough gnome fabric for the messenger bag.

This week I received some more Heather Ross fabric in the mail.  Just looking at this stuff makes me happy!  I'm almost too scared to cut into these darling fabrics but I've got a few projects in mind -- including a horse shirt for Dagim, who was quite upset earlier this week when I tried on a horse shirt at Anthropologie.  "My turn!  My turn!" he said.  The shirt came home with me, along with a promise to make him his own horse shirt.

This week I've been working on some projects from Heather Ross's book, Weekend Sewing (which I'll sheepishly admit to renewing repeatedly from the library but I swear it's on my Christmas wish list).  So far, I've sewn two Christmas presents from the book: the Market-Run Checkbook Cover and the Sunday-Dinner Hostess Apron:

I also made her recipe for squash soup which was quickly devoured by Dagim (and me).

Heather Ross grew up in Vermont.  I grew up in New Hampshire.  Which practically makes us kindred spirits.  Right?  Anyway, I'm secretly (well, not so secretly) hoping that I can attend her weekend sewing workshop in Vermont next summer.  I do have that free plane ticket from my U.S. Air / United fiasco last month...

In other news, I'm going to be kicking off the giving spirit (hint hint) on Monday with the help of a friend.  So be sure to check back next week -- you don't want to miss out!