a place for everything...

for those of you that may not know - i just recently did an out of state move. and when i say recently, i mean 6 months ago (but those are all just minor details, so who's really keeping time?). back in may, i had the task of packing up my sewing room. my lovely sewing room that my sweet husband renovated and added just for me. he thinks i am special. :) and for that, i loves him. well, i mastered the task of packing it all away in a matter of a day and was done with it. it went much easier than i had planned. 

now, 6 months later - i had the task of unpacking my sewing room. it did NOT go as easy or quick as i had planned. you see, one would think it would have been one of the first things to unpack since i do love it all so, but that was not the case. mostly because we didn't have space for it, and mostly because i didn't want my precious fabric covered in sheet rock and wood floor dust. upon a month of moving in, we took on an upstairs renovation that was a total gut job and took about 3 months. now we have a beautiful upstairs which houses both of the kids and all of their stuff (which is way more than one would ever think, and i still have some "stuff" in boxes in the basement which i think will just be donated at this point in time...we certainly haven't misssed it!). so, that cleared up some space for my "temporary sewing room." and by temporary, i mean for a few years. i bet yall are slowly catching on to how i define time periods. :) i started unpacking last week and just finished today and if i can sum it all up in one sentence...here we go,

i never, ever, ever, ever, ever need to buy more fabric. 

hilary, if you see my name on a paypal invoice...i need you to be a good friend and intervene. ummkay?

oh my word. you see, not only did i unpack, but i changed up how i wanted my fabric organized. i no longer had the awesome shelves to keep it bolted like i did, so i found some awesome old peach crates (twist my arm to go junking and use byron's drill to construct something i can place on casters) and decided i would use fabric organizers instead. however, i almost fell out of my sewing chair (not to be confused with falling off a rocker) when i saw how expensive the fabric organizers ran. so instead, i took advantage of an over-abundance of empty cardboard boxes and set out to the daunting task of cutting over 100 9" x 12" rectangles to house my fabric. a few blisters and very, very dry hands later it worked. then, came the task of un-bolting it all to re-bolt. now, a few days into this project (yes, i said a few days) i realized that i had an over-abundance of fabric. it was out of control. but at the same time, it was SO exciting to me to see all the gorgeous fabric i had been hoarding collecting over the years. have i ever mentioned how much i love fabric?

well, i finally finished this morning. i never imagined it would take as much time as it did, but i also wanted it to be perfectly organized unlike my sewing room at the last house. i think i did a pretty good job, now let's just see how long it takes to mess it all up. :)

my very first clementine (yep, #1) watching over my stash to make sure those few OOPs that i am hoarding collecting stay in their place. :)

casters, old wood and linen...these are a few of my favorite things!

 

oh buttons, how i love thee and little red cottage who keeps me supplied. 

ps - can you believe that i think i even missed those darned ginghers? not privy on the reputation of these things? read all about them here, and only give them nice looks. trust me. 

what do you think? this sweet face was sure happy to help. :)

 

cyber monday sale!

while on holiday...i really, really enjoyed shopping some black friday sales on patterns today. i really, really (really, really, really) wanted to enjoy some black friday fabric sales too - but i was a good girl. it was hard, but i held strong. :)

while shopping and reading up on everyone's sales - i realized that BG needed to participate as well. i knew today wouldn't work, mostly because the hubby and i had DIY projects up to our ears to work on and i knew better than to distract myself with the etsy store. so instead, i decided to participate in cyber monday sales for all of you fabulous ladies that will be surfing the net on monday scoring some deals and steals.

so, on monday november 26th (which also happens to be my dad's birthday, happy birthday dad!) i will open the shop WITH a coupon code. rock on, right? i will be closing it back down at midnight so i can get back to holiday and getting my house in order (i mean really, i moved 6 months ago these boxes need to GO). but, enjoy shopping and instant downloads! the coupon code will not be valid on bundles, so i will be deactivating those for the sale.

hope to see you on monday! use the code CYBER25 to enjoy 25% off your total order. yippee hooray!

thanks again ladies, love you all and hope your holidays are and were full of love, family and good food (oh, and wagging doggy tails in anticipation of doggy plates).

love, 

the girl behind BG and brownie and goose. :)

exciting times for BG

so, in case you are wondering how my holiday is going - oh my word. it is fab. just as byron predicted, i have NOT gotten bored but instead have had the most fun tinkering in all my projects around the house. i have painted furniture, made curtains, painted rooms, found trouble in antique stores, hung curtain rods in plaster which is not for the faint at heart, unpacked some items to decorate rooms, found more trouble in antique stores, distressed some furniture, planned some new designs, and did i mention finding trouble in antique stores?

i heart junk. and it hearts me. i just have to convince my husband. it is kinda like dogs. in my opinion...there is no such thing as too many. but then again, i've always been a bit of an extremist. ;)

anyways - back to focusing on the exciting news. 

years and years ago, when i was getting my feet wet with the beginnings of brownie-goose i went looking for help, opinions, advice, etc. from those already in the business of children's clothing. i contacted over 8 companies, and i only heard back from 1. and this wasn't just an email, this was a sweet girl who i knew was up to her eyeballs in her business and didn't have much spare time - and she said, "i'd love to help. please call me, let's chat. here is my number." i was floored. considering no one else was willing to help, and here was someone who obviously knew the game well offering to talk to me on the phone and help me out.

she was sweet and awesome and i was forever grateful that she was there for me, and most importantly...HONEST with me. for those of you in the world of children's clothing - you get it. it is not an easy world to be in. it is demanding, it is stressful, ever-changing and wild. don't get me wrong - i love it, but she was open and honest with me from the get go and warned me of the craziness of the world of kid's clothes.

anyways, imagine my surprise years later when she contacted me about using my designs in her clothing line. floored, actually is what it was. if i was a baboon, i would have climbed to the top of a tree and beat my chest and screamed over the jungle in celebration. instead, i did a little shaking of my booty celebratory dance on my kitchen floor. i mean, it is pretty similar to the whole baboon thing if you think of it. ;)

so, i was hush-hush and tight-lipped about it which you all know is NOT one of my strong points. i am the queen of sneaks. i cannot keep secrets. well, i did this time. :)

blessed be the name is featuring BG patterns in her collection this spring. oh my golly-gee-whillies. this momma bear is proud. BBTN is celebrating 10 years of being in the business, that is crazy awesome. and i am super excited to be a part of the collaboration. i just might go shake my booty again. 

so, head on over to her website and her blog to find more details. help her celebrate her anniversary too, she'd like that. i just know.

ps - while still on holiday - i have decided to have a cyber monday sale in which i will open the shop WITH a coupon code. did you just shake your booty? i saw you. more details will come on the blog later, i still have to figure them out. :)

anniversarys and holidays and boredom, oh my!

confession: i don't really know how to organize this post. it is quite ironic that i don't considering i have been writing it in my head for about a week now. but then again, the whole memory thing and neurons firing appropriately are not my strong points anymore. :)

BG is coming up on a big anniversary. 4 years. doesn't sound huge, but for those of you that run your own business and spend every waking minute pouring your heart and soul into it, answering emails, taking care of PR, putting out fires, balancing budgets, etc., you get it. i am so very proud of where my sweet, little hobby turned business is after 4 years. i feel i have grown immensely as a designer and i have made so many more friends through this process than i ever could have imagined! i have learned so much more about sewing and everything involved, designing, drafting, graphics, etc. than i ever thought possible. it has been a ride, let me tell you.

so, on that note...i think i can say that i have worked hard. very, very hard to be where i am right now. and, since i am all about rewarding positive behavior - i am going to finally reward myself. i am giving myself a holiday. a big, fat, 2 month long holiday. call it a break, call it a vacation, call it what you want - but my friend mira that lives in the netherlands calls it holiday and every time she says it, i smile. it just sounds like such a lovely thing to take, so yes please....holiday, party of 1 sign me up.

it is no secret that i have been struggling with balance lately. i just recently blogged about it and in the past few months i have talked with many friends, my poor sweet husband who is blue in the face about hearing about BG, and God who knows way more about BG than i do at this point. i don't have a good answer, but a holiday seemed to be the general consensus of the group. it sounds great to me, although i did have one concern. and i voiced it to my husband and this is about how it went down...

byron - what is keeping you from taking a break?

amy - honestly, my biggest fear is that i am going to get bored.

byron - (with a smirk, a giggle and maybe even a snort thrown in there) amy, in the many years i have known you i have never seen you bored, although i would absolutely love to see you bored.

 

hmmmmm...while i am almost always right (duh), he does have a point. i won't get bored, and even if i come close i am sure i can find something to dive into. we crafters tend to not play nice-nice with idle time. :)

 

so, what this means to all of you fabulous customers - i will keep my shop open this week so that you can grab any pattern that you may feel you will need over the next 2 months (if you are like me, this puts me in panic mode and i feel the need to get everything, you know...just in case, haha). i will close shop on sunday, october 28th...exactly one week from today. in the 2 months that i am on holiday (still smiling), i will be checking emails maybe once a week or so - so i am not completely falling off the face of the earth, just being extra shady. :) i would say to think of it as a maternity leave without the baby, but us moms know that maternity leave is the EXACT opposite of a vacay!

 

in the meantime, i hope you ladies have the best holidays with your families. i cannot even begin to imagine the cuteness that will be going on over halloween, thanksgiving and christmas. keep sharing all of your creations on facebook because honestly, that is one of my fave ways to end the day...looking at all of your fabulousness and those adorable kiddos!

 

so, here's to holiday and getting bored and spending every waking moment not on BG, but on my sweet family. happy, happy aniversary BG. it's been 4 crazy awesome years!

 

LOVE my brownie geese!

 

xoxo - the girl behind BG