Last spring Heather Braaten, a talented AFOL, passed away.  I didn't really know her, but I loved the doll house she brought to my first BrickCon.  She also founded the FFOL Brick Chick group on flickr, which was made to help encourage female builders in a predominantly male hobby.  It was nice to be able to connect with some other "Brick Chicks" through that group. 

Some of Heather's SEALUG friends are planning a mosaic to commemorate her.  The mosaic will be mostly built at BrickCon, and then given to her family.  Lino M. has a very descriptive post about the project on flickr, which I will copy here.  (Just realize that updates to the parts needed will be made on the flickr page, so be sure to check there if you are planning on donating anything.)

Here is Lino's post:

 

Heather Memorial Project

Hello friends.

 

As many of you may know, Heather Braaten had passed away this past March. She was a LEGO convention staple and a friend to many, both in and out of the LEGO community. Her loss was felt throughout the LEGO world as blogs, publications, and websites mourned her passing, including Brothers-Brick, Bricklink, Model Building Secrets, and Eurobricks. Even the LEGO Corporation paid their respects to such a vivacious and dynamic individual. She was a talented builder, a graphic designer, a wife and mother, a close friend...and, as I can personally attest, a formidable Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit player.

 

If you haven’t already, you may join the Heather Braaten Group here on flickr to post any Heather related photos you might have, engage in discussions, and to remember her as she lived.

Robert Frost and I are the founders of The Heather Memorial Project. Our goal is to present a large LEGO mosaic of the above image to Heather’s family at BrickCon 2012 this coming October, but we need your help. The mosaic dimensions measure 40x50 inches, using twenty 10x10in. baseplates or 20,480 studs. It will be an interactive project, allowing convention attendees the opportunity to actually participate in the building of this mosaic and to write personal sentiments to Heather and her family. While the brunt of the work will be done at BrickCon by the attendees, the mosaic mapping, planning and collection of funds and materials rests on our shoulders. BrickCon is just around the corner and while generous donations have already provided all twenty baseplates, most of the inner structure and all the pink plates we will need, there is still plenty left to do. More donations are needed to purchase project supplies. Any extra funding at the end of the project (and we hope for extra) will be donated to Heather’s family, or a charity of their choice, at BrickCon or shortly after. If you’d like to donate to help the project along, you may at our pay pal account: heather_memorial_project@comcast.net.

 

Another great way to help is to donate LEGO plates (not bricks), either from your own collection or through orders. Its been suggested that it might be fun to “sponsor a color”, and I wholeheartedly agree. The plates still needed are listed below and quantities will be changed or crossed out once these plates are acquired.

 

300 1x1 plates white
200 2x2 plates white
100 L-shaped plates white
40 1x1 plates tan
50 1x1 plates dark tan
50 L-shaped plates dark tan
500 1x1 plates medium blue
300 L-shaped plates medium blue
100 2x2 plates medium blue
50 2x4 plates medium blue
500 1x1 plates blue
300 L-shaped plates blue
300 2x2 plates blue
16 4x12 plates blue
100 2x3 plates blue
30 1x1 plates yellow
300 1x1 plates green
200 1x1 bricks dark green
200 1x2 plates dark green
200 1x3 plates dark green
100 2x2 plates dark green
500 1x1 plates light grey
200 L-shaped plates light grey
200 1x1 plates dark grey
200 1x2 plates dark grey
 

If you can donate any of these LEGO plates, please let us know either here or in our flickr inboxes and we will notify you where to send them. Whether you donate funds, plates, or both, of course anything you do will be greatly appreciated, but as BrickCon 2012 is quickly approaching the time to act is now. We will find a way to make your donations from you or your organization known...or you may request to donate anonymously as some have already done.

 

Thank you all, in advance, for helping us celebrate a creative builder and dearly missed friend.

 

Take care.

 

Lino Martins and Robert Frost
Heather Memorial Project