Getting Back on Track

It's been a busy 30 days and a very distracting, but fun time.  My husband and I hosted a group of 6 teen aged girls from Switzerland for a week.  We are not accustomed to teenagers and, needless to say, having wall to wall girls and all their accouterments was quite an experience.  They kept us busy. But, they were respectful, appreciative and eager to lend a hand.  I didn't know that girls still came with those qualities. It's taken me two weeks or so to recover and to get the house back into some semblance of order.  But, I'm almost there.

Even while Swiss Misses were here, the project moved forward, albeit slowly.  My friend, Ruth, bought two pieces of Steiger fabric and had them shipped here to be photographed.  One turned out to be a very early Steiger design called, Sand Dollars.  Very unusual to have a Steiger design with an under the sea theme.  Quite a change from the desert, cactus, and roadrunners most folks are accustomed to when thinking Harwood Steiger.  This particular fabric is beautiful turquoise with black ink.  Joan, Steiger's niece, tells me that it comes from the early days when Harwood and Sophie lived in Florida.  It's really (as my daughter would say) adorable.  Love the crab!  This is one of a group of distinctly different designs that present sea and shore related, or tropical subjects.  One of them, Sea Foam, is quite elegant.  My example is drop dead gorgeous in deep red.  It's abstract, yet very graceful.  It does look like foam flowing at water's edge.  Another, Hawaii, is a floral design incorporating all sorts of lush tropical foliage like plumeria, ginger and orchids along with a beautiful bird.  Again, the example I have is in that lovely deep red with black printing.  I'm sure there are more designs out there that would fall into this group of unusual Harwood Steiger designs.  I hope to run across them someday as more and more designs continue to surface.  I am still amazed that after nearly a year of documenting these fantastic designs, that new, or previously unknown to me, designs continue to turn up.

One of my addiction enablers, Jenny, a vintage clothing and fabric finder extraordinaire, recently called me with the news of a new vintage item.  She unearthed at an estate sale a wonderful apron cover up in a design called Plaza.  Of course, (you guessed it) had to have it.  The design falls into what I call an architectural group.  I have found several that depict dwellings, iron scroll work and other architectural elements.  Very interesting, and unique. 

I received a phone call from Joan, Steiger's niece, today with a request for help.  She has decided that it is time to divest herself of all the Steiger fabrics she's been saving for the past 50 years.  She doesn't want them to end up in a yard sale or a thrift shop.  So, she has asked me to help her inventory what she has and help her sell it.  I am truly honored by her request and also feel the weight of the task to be undertaken.  Can you imagine asking an addict to inventory and dispose of the addictive substance?!!!!  My heart is racing just thinking about it.  I'll have to give some thought to the best way to produce good results for Joan.  More than likely, I'll offer them in my e-commerce store, Quilted Indigo.  That way I can keep selling costs down and offer good value to buyers.  Look for announcements in June.  Will keep you posted on that one.