From Dallas, Michelle and I migrated to Austin where we met up with Valerie from Mod Green Pod.  Nancy (the founder and designer) of Mod Green Pod and I have spoken from time to time so getting to see her space and meet her partner was a real treat.  Pictured here is Michelle of Cotton Monkey holding a dress made from both of our fabrics (Mod Green Pod on the outside and our Sweet Jane as the lining) and Valerie.  How fun to see both our visions come to life and come together.   

Later that day we had the pleasure of meeting up with fabric blogger extraordinaire, Kim Knight of True Up.  For you fabric fans out there, True Up is a must follow.  Thanks Kim and Valerie for taking the time to meet with us.  We had a great time! 

I spent all of last week in Texas.  It was a fabulous trip full of lots of fun with a little business thrown in too.  One of the highlights was spending time with Harmony Art's very first customer, Michelle of Cotton Monkey. 

Cotton Monkey will always hold a space in Harmony Art's history, but Michelle (the founder) also has a personal place in my heart.  She is funny, talented, kind, thoughtful and just plain fun to be around.  I think there needs to be a new word added to the dictionary that means friend + customer.  Any suggestions?

Michelle is AMAZING!  In addition to Cotton Monkey she also is a mom to an adorable 5 year old and manages an eco-event location in downtown Dallas called Hickory Street Annex.  The space is beautiful.  You can get a real idea for it on the Hickory Street web site.  I however, was fascinated with the art/recycled glass wall outside the building.  Michelle tells me I am the first person she knows of to take pictures from the "back" side.  Somehow learning I view things backwards from everyone else didn't surprise me.  

Believe it or not, for the first time ever, Monsanto has admitted that pests have developed a resistance to their Bt (genetically modified) Cotton.  Skeptics of GMO seeds have been speaking of this risk for years but this is the first time the makers of GMO seeds have admitted such a problem is actually happening in fields.  Of course, their solution is to switch to their 2nd generation of Bt seeds.  You can read the full article in The Hindu. 
 
When will we figure out that the "easy answer" often leads to a whole series of more challenging problems than the first one?  

NOTE:  THE WINNER OF THE EARTH DAY GIVEWAY IS Stacey Christensen!  Congratulations you have won 5 free yards of Harmony Art organic fabrics.
Thank you VERY much for participating in the contest!  I really enjoyed reading all of the quotes.  An extra thank you goes out to Jan of Daisy Janie for organizing the giveaway.

Visit their blog and earn a chance to win some fabulous organic cotton fabric!  Leave a comment here to be entered to win YOUR CHOICE of Harmony Art fabrics.  For each question answered, the winner (selected at random) will win that number of yards.  Example answer all 5 questions, and if you are selected you will win your choice of 5 free yards.  Answer just one question and win potentially one yard.  (Note I am in Dallas with my dear friend Ginger, and this was her idea, so blame/thank her!)

Question 1. What is your favorite quote?
Question 2. Would you like to be added to the Harmony Art email update list to be kept in the Harmony Art loop?  (NO PRESSURE!   A "no" answer will not be held against you.)
Question 3.  What is your favorite animal?
Question 4.  Bottled water, tap water, or sparking water?
Question 5.  Why organic cotton?  if you need a clue ... here you go.

PLEASE put all of the answers in one comment to all of the questions you intend to answer.  That will make my life much easier.  THANKS!

Please note contest ends Monday the 26th at 7:00pm PST.  Have fun!  Win big!

April 2nd was the grand opening of the Zenergy House, a 3 bedroom, 3 bath home in Studio City that has been remodeled into an example of green excellence. We were honored to be included in the project. The home was recently featured on ABC news and also on Discovery Channel's Renovation Nation. If you watch the ABC video to the end, you will catch a glimpse of our organic Evelyn sateen. We weren't able to attend the grand opening with Ed Begley Jr. but we do plan to visit it when we are in LA in June.

In the not too distant future, public tours led by students from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts will begin. The students have been trained to be docents for this eco-friendly remodeled home. If you aren't in the LA area, you can take a virtual tour.

Our fabrics are a bit odd. They are MUCH wider width than most standard fabrics. Many of our fabrics are 110" or 90" wide. Most standard fabrics are 45" - 60" wide. We have chosen to keep the wide-width fabrics because we see them as a better value with more versatility.

However, having a wider width than most makes figuring out the conversion/cost somewhat challenging. Not anymore ! There is a new iphone app called Fabric Calc that helps calculate the yardage needed when purchasing fabric of different widths and it also compares prices to see what is the better buy.

What a cool tool! We found out about it through the always informative Fashion-Incubator site. If you have an iphone, I highly recommend this $15 investment. Think of time you can save.