Namedropping (Part Two)

"Your new best friend, Heather Ross"*

*That’s a quote from my friend, Bitter Betty, who admittedly gets funnier when she’s feeling insecure or jealous. While famous fabric designer Heather hasn’t actually bumped local crafty pal Bethany out of BFF status, she was fun to meet and talk to when she did an in-store demonstration at a local fabric/yarn shop. She showed us some of her cute new designs (coming out soon) and did an elastic thread “shirring” demo. I even got to take home the demo thread. Woot! Heather Ross touched my thread — reminds me of catching the drumstick at a Thompson Twins concert back about 1984.


H & me at Luminous Threads.

H circa 1985

A commenter once left a semi-anonymous note about how I went to high school with Heather’s sister, but didn’t leave any details. The mystery went unsolved until one day I got an email from Heather. It turns out she spent some growing-up years around here, and, coincidently, went to middle school with my friend Sara, as well as my husband. He thinks that he remembers her, as, “That girl who carried a purse to school every day.”

***Update***

After I wrote the original post above, Heather contacted me because she had figured out that she *knew* me. One of the facial expressions in my Unknown Me post jogged her memory of a self-portrait I did a long, long time ago. Turns out we went to school together for a short time, too. Unfortunately, *I* was the mean girl in art class who made fun of her neon pink sweater and Ralph Macchio portrait. I don’t remember doing this, but it does sound like something my angry, pseudo-punk high school self would have said. I guess that “holier-than-thou” attitude, that a co-worker once described me as having, has been around for awhile. Fortunately, Heather is a much nicer person than I, and was full of complimentary things to say about our short stint as classmates.

Me circa 1985

This classic photo from my Junior year features my one-and-only perm, replete with a nearly neon pink sweatshirt. I think this is from the same year (maybe the year before) as Heather's neon pink sweater. How I thought my look was better than hers is a mystery. I've lost the ability to spot the make-or-break nuances of high school fashion. This photo is for you, Heather. BFF, right? ;)