This is my favorite special day! Lots of chocolate, lots of love going around.  The children are so adorable on Valentine’s Day! That is the best of all. Have a wonderful day and I hope that you are kissed by a ray of sunshine.

Part of what I do is teach. I really love to teach. My back ground is in design and I was trained in the European style of learning everything. Which means, furniture design (and making), architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, photography, textile design (one of my loves), drawing, painting and so on.  For years I worked as an interior designer and enjoyed working with architects to have the interiors of their projects turn out cohesive to their exterior.  Now as a clothing designer I keep my toe in architecture and interiors by teaching on a very limited basis to children.  The program that I am part of developing with The Gordon House and SAMARA Institute, both Frank Lloyd Wright homes open to the public, is coming along.  We have our first presentations this week. Very exciting stuff.. This is the Kitchen at The Gordon House. Frank Lloyd Wright called this a work area. Where do you think the light comes from???

Can you see the light source?

The year is only 15 days old and I already had to say the final goodbye to a person who was a very big part of my life.  It has been tough with the emotions that surround death. First I was angry then I was sad and then accepting.  The person in my life taught me so many life lessons, I will be forever grateful for that.  A few of the life lessons have been, I can not change another person.  I can only change myself. I also learned acceptance and “When you love someone set them free, if they come back it was meant to be” I also learned that it is very important to drive in the middle of your lane. The list goes on as to what I learned from this brilliant soul..By the grace of God go I…

Happy New Year..!! this has been Beech Hill Clothing’s best year yet. I am grateful to everyone who has supported us by making a purchase , coming to a show or simply waving us on in a Parade. All of that wonderful energy has helped to make this the best year ever.  I have learned so much this year, from manufacturing to putting on Trunk shows to finding stores to carry our work.  It has been fun, exciting and challenging all at the same time.  Thank you to everyone who stopped by the Linn County Arts Guild store we had 1,210 visitor this year! What fantastic support of the arts and buy local!!

Winona, Ohio

Have a wonderful New Year.. with deep gratitude, Maryann

Wow, Wow, Wow.. I am so amazed by how well our carpets cleaned up I am writing to say so.. Tom Byrne with Absolute Carpet Cleaning Inc did a fantastic job on our carpets.  We have a dog that is a bit of a problem and our home had a dog kennel smell.  Yuck.. so we had Mr. Byrne come and clean the carpets.  He uses a new technology that cleans the carpets with circular motion and at the same time suck up the dirt.  This system has made our carpets look new again and best of all the house smells fresh! Yeah!!! If you are in the Portland Oregon area go to www.cleancarpetpdx.com Now we can move on to decorating for the Holidays..

Our clothes have been delivered to Lavender & Lace in Albany. We are also in The Linn County Arts Guild Christmas Store in Lebanon.  Getting ready for both of the stores I have been dyeing silk scarves, silk screening “t” shirts. I thought you might be interested in seeing the process so I  have attached photo’s of dyeing a silk scarf using the shibori technique. The first thing that is done is stitching the silk scarf into a pattern and pulling the stitches tight to create the resist. Then add the dye to make a dye bath.  Then pull out the scarves from the dye bath when it is done. Acid dyes make the colors intense.

Fun morning picking Pinot Noir grapes at a friends vineyard this morning. Lots of friends arrived and many hands make for light work..

I am curious, what is eco-friendly to you?  To me it is a product that is working toward leaving no trace and has integrity. The owners of the company truly are commited to being a part of the solution and not part of the problem.  The Body Shop is a company that I think of being eco-friendly.

The fall is a time of creating for me. I have been canning tomatoes, making jam and jellies and now dehydrating tomatoes and pears. The abundance here in the Willamette Valley is staggering. Most of what I put up with my friends comes from one persons garden or another.  Along with all of this creation comes time for creating clothes. I have started to deliver the fall collection to Lavender & Lace. We have signed up to be in the Linn County Holiday Store as well this year.  It will be a booth with scarves, socks and T-shirts.  The store will open November 22nd.This year the store will be located on Main Street, kitty corner to Dos Arbolitos restaurant. It will be open Tuesday’s through Saturday, 10 am to 6pm.  Lots of fun events are planned for the store.

I know that it is all over the web. Last night when I got on my Mac the first thing that came up was a photograph, black and white of Steve Jobs with the dates. What a sad moment. Then I went to OPB to listen to the nightly news report and nothing was said. Then I realized he had just died and we as the Apple Family were given first notice. Wow, in cyber world that is incredible. Truly a commitment to us the users, but no we are not users we are part of a greater whole that makes up the Apple Family.  Thank you Mr. Jobs for your insight, your “can do” attitude , your vision and most of all your creative inclusive spirit.  For bringing out the best in your co-workers ( or co-creators) for understanding that life is precious and time is all that we have. May your spirit live on.