This video is longer than most (18 minutes).  I am posting it in hopes that AB 1998 gets voted on and passed today... it's our last chance for this session of the State Senate.... fingers are crossed.  Thanks Green Bag Lady for turning us on to this video.

On a MUCH happier note, last week my namesake Harmony Grace and her family came for a visit from Albany, NY.  We had a grand time.  Here is a picture I just couldn't resist sharing with you.  Are they (Mary and Harmony Grace) cute or what?!

At the moment we have 11 fabrics on order.  Three are new designs.  One is a recolor of an existing design.  Four are reprints of designs and three are solids we are running again.  Of the 11, three are twills and the rest are sateens.

I am told the sateens will ALL be printed by the end of next week.  I am anxiously awaiting production yardage and will let you know once that has been received.  After I approve the fabric, it will begin its long journey from India to South Carolina. 

The twills are another story and we have had a bit of a set back.  The fabric was woven and then testing was done and unfortunately the yarn was faulty and the fabric did not pass strength tests.  Of course it is better to find this out now before the fabric is printed and we are grateful to know that quality control is happening.  However, this means those 3 twills we have on order will be delayed while new yarn is made and fabric is woven.  At this point in time I am hoping they arrive before year end. 

In other news... you might be interested in this web site: Think Green Live Clean.  It is designed to help you locate other businesses and products that are consciously making a difference

Styrofoam -- it is a wonderfully light packing material.  It protects fragile products in shipping.  It is rarely recycled and is hard to contain.  (I know you have had a piece break and the static cling has made it hard to get all the tiny piece.)  I like the cornstarch "peanuts" that dissolve with water.  That's a big improvement.  However, check out this latest development:  Mushroom-Based Packaging.  They are growing mushroom fibers on waste like cotton seed, wood fiber and buckwheat hulls into the forms needed for shipping fragile items.  Sounds like a good idea to me.  They say it uses 98% less energy than Styrofoam and,  in my opinion, the real fabulous thing is that once you are "done" with it you can add it to your garden or compost pile.  No more bags and bags of huge Styrofoam trash to try to figure out what to do with.  I like it!

Next time I buy something that comes with Styrofoam packaging I am going to make it a point to tell the company about this alternative. 

Recently I read an article about bottled water sales.  I have to say I got that warm feeling inside when I read bottled water sales were down for the 2nd year in a row.  The use of plastic water bottles makes my head spin (like one-use plastic bags).  Why solve a temporary problem (water to drink) by creating an even bigger problem (plastic pollution)?

Here's a paragraph from the press release:

Bottled water wholesale dollar sales first exceeded $6 billion in 2000. By 2007, they topped $11.5 billion. Category sales declined to $11.2 billion the following year and to less than $10.6 billion in 2009.

Just to be clear, I am not happy to see companies experiencing declines in revenue.  What I hope this will mean is that they rethink their product line to be more sustainable both financially and environmentally.  Times are tough, but I see it as a positive sign of the times. 

Let's bring back tap water and the drinking fountain!  Wanna join my crusade?  Comment on this post with a pledge to avoid plastic water bottles and our oceans will thank you (and so will I). 

If you haven't visited our planted seeds page lately you may want to take a look.  We have 4 new designs (well. . . 3 new designs and one recolored design) in the works.  It is always fun for me to see new designs come to life. 

I give the explanation of where the designs come from on each fabric page of my web site, but I thought I would go ahead and give you even more information about our new design Morning Dew.  Here's the picture that inspired the design.  The picture was taken on one of my hikes with the Thursday Rambler's group.  You can see the morning dew being suspended by a spider web.  I thought it made a lovely design and below you can see the pattern that emerged.

Nature provides me with an unlimited source of inspiration.  Thank you spider.  Thank you dew.  Thank you for reading this.  I am one lucky girl.