Sew Red Spectacular!

We've had some really awesome feedback for the newest Stitch Red book, Sew Red!  The feedback we love best is when somebody sends us pictures of a project they created from a pattern in the book.  Recently, we've received quite a few really awesome ones, and I wanted to share those with you!

First up is Kirsten Aufderheide, a cosmetologist and quilting instructor from Santa Cruz, CA.  Funny story about how she came across her first copy of Sew Red: her mother, Annie Smith of the podcast and blog Annie's Quilting Stash (http://simplearts.com/blogs/) had a copy for review.  Kirsten saw it and liked it so much, she carried it home with her without realizing it was her mom's review copy!  She decided to make the  "You Are So Loved" quilt by Vanessa Christenson for a friend who recently had a baby, and it came out beautifully!  

Adorable!

She used Bears in the Woods fabric by David Walker to go along with the teddy bear nursery theme.  Cutest of all: her husband helped her cut out all the fabric!

Laurie of the House of 34 do-it-yourself website/blog made the Sonoma Purse by Patty Young.  She used gorgeous batik fabrics from her stash and did a wonderful job!

Gorgeous!

She even did a nice review of the book at the same time.  Thanks, Laurie!

Check back next time for more great Sew Red projects and happy sewing!

~Heather

Witness the Fitness, Part 2!

Welcome back, friends!

We're in full swing with our Jimmy Beans Wool Fitness Challenge, and I must say I am SO proud of all of the employees participating.  Whether they're walking, biking, swimming, or just moving around more, everybody has made a great effort and we're all keeping up with our goals.  In fact, after two weeks, we have a 92% completion rate for our fitness goals!

Many of the Beans chose walking as their fitness activity!

For several reasons, many of us chose to walk for exercise.  It's easy to do, can be done almost anywhere, and does not require special equipment or preparation other than comfortable shoes.  We have even started a lunchtime walking brigade: several of us walk twice around our block of warehouses together, which takes about 25 minutes and covers about a mile and a half!  It's a convenient way to get that daily exercise in and enjoy some sunshine at the same time.

Walking provides many health benefits, such as strengthening bones and muscles - including your heart! - burning calories, and improving your mood.  You don't have to walk for long periods to gain results; you can even split up your walking routine into segments of shorter duration (say, 3 different periods of 10 minutes each) and reap the same benefits as if you'd walked the total time all at once!  That means those short walks - taking the dog out in the morning, walking down to the mailbox, taking the stairs instead of the elevator at work - really add up!

We use a low-tech board at work to keep track of our progress.  It's not beautiful, but it's effective!  We keep it at the front of the warehouse where we hold our morning meetings each day so that we can all see it and be motivated by everybody's progress.  So far, it's really working and as you can see, almost all the boxes have been checked!

Way to go, Beans!  Keep up the good work!

~Heather