Once upon a time I lived along the shores of a pretty spectacular body of water – Lake Superior. The view from one day to the next can be vastly different; calm and serene blue dotted with sailboats and big ships carrying freight one day, then an angry gray with waves dotted with surfers dressed in full body suits to survive the cold. As miraculous as the lake itself is, the life that surrounds it pretty amazing, too. So many fun sights and glorious nature to see! Those are things that inspired this design and the accompanying coordinating prints. This design had been dancing around in my head for so long and now, when I actually see it in print, I can’t stop smiling! So many things that make me happy and feel at peace – Adirondack chairs, birch and pine trees, that big expanse of open water.
The P.E.O. organization is one that’s very near and dear to my heart; I currently serve as the vice president of my local chapter. Each chapter comes up with fundraisers to contribute to our “projects” – scholarships, grants, and loans that help women at all phases of their educational careers. Shortly after I was initiated into our sisterhood, I designed a variety of prints based on our groups logo and other meaningful symbols. I had thought they would be fun for our chapter to create with but then thought perhaps it could be our chapter fundraiser as no chapter had done anything like it before. After lots of research we figured how to make it work and it’s been very popular! Over $3,000 has been contributed to our projects since we began about three years ago. I don’t make any personal profit but I am so happy to contribute my talents to help immensely talented and deserving women get the education they need to try and make our world a better place!
This set of designs is deeply personal as my husband and I struggled with fertility issues and treatments for years and then hopeful waiting adoptive parents which never did come to pass. It wasn’t until we became a part of this community that we realized just how many families face this same struggle. Since families are sometimes made up two moms or dads these paper doll families come in different family options, too.
These collections began as a Spoonflower contest to design one fabric for baby boys. Finalists would be required to design a whole collection to accompany the original design. Though my design didn’t make it in to the finals I designed a whole collection that I would want to use in setting up a nursery.
House of Hens Design 