WHILE I'VE BEEN GONE

I have been in and out quite a bit lately. I mentioned that we have moved my mother-in-law into assisted living in Michigan. We are also going up there more often to clean out the house, and sort through years and years of stuff. I know many of you understand and it gives me comfort that we're not alone. Thanks for the emails and kind words.

But I left my collage pile out because I really, REALLY want to finish my collages. Here is the next one in the series. If you missed my last post, they go with these. One more and I will have actually finished a project for myself. They just might have a future in my entry.

.While I have been doing my thing, others have been doing things with my fabrics. Here are just a few for you to enjoy:

Have you seen this great tutorial on Sew4Home? They are one of my favorite home decor blogs (I bet I already told you that. I tend to repeat myself when I'm excited). They used my Woodland Delight fabrics and I can't tell you how badly I NEED THIS myself! Cool, huh?

Above is the Manhattan Soiree quilt using my Summer Soiree fabric for Michael Miller Fabrics in the current issue of Fons&Porter's Easy Quilts magazine. Complete instructions are included. Quilt and design by Marinda Stewart. Go check it out.

Here is another wall hanging version using my Summer Soiree fabric. Free downloadable instructions are available in the Spring 2010 online issue of AllPeopleQuilt.com. Quilt design and pattern by Marinda Stewart.

We are seeing hints of Spring here. Our 28th anniversary is this weekend and I so hope I can finally spend a little time with my man.

HEY, THAT'S MY FABRIC, HOLLY!

I haven't been blogging or checking out my go to blogs. Doing good remembering to breathe these days. I do receive Google Alerts (if you don't, check it out). So this morning I did a double take and sure enough, Holly Becker of Decor8 bought a couple of my chevron fabric prints and posted about it. I just feel good about that, ya know?

To think that a couple years ago I had 10 people working with me. Because of the economy and changes made by the CPSIA I have downsized considerably. Yup, down to me, myself and I. Jennifer became what I call casual part-time as her Stella and Dot business grew. We cut the cord (whine). It's all good. I'm a proud mama. However, I'm still playing catch-up and finding I can no longer juggle like I used to. I'm dropping a few things. (That's a picture of me above..cute huh?) Wonder what the future holds?

VALENTINE LOVE FOR YOU...FREE WOODLAND DELIGHT QUILT PATTERN

It's finally finished! And in the spirit of all things love and Valentines I decided to give this to you as a free pattern download! (insert bubbly floating hearts). I designed this quilt and the instructions to be easy and fun and very detailed with lots of diagrams. Sure hope you think so. Just go to the sidebar and download the pdf. I made this quilt in the Pink Woodand Delight colorway, but I'd love to see it in the Gray or Brown. Also, I know that Fat Quarter Shop has planned some kits here. I must say, I'm tickled Pink right now! Can't wait to hear what you think!!

While I've been working on the quilt, others have been working on other great Woodland Delight and Summer Soiree projects. Have you seen what Sew4Home has been up to? Here are just a few projects. How fun and free. Go check it all out here.

On another note....I have signed another licensing contract that I am so excited about. You know how it goes...can't really say much yet, but I'm definately doing a happy dance here. Nose deep in designs and planning, every once in awhile I stop and pinch myself. Ouch!! Yep, this is me doing what I wanted to when I grew up.

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Okay, gotta run. I'd love to hear what you think of my valentine's gift to you (more bubbly hearts).

SO MUCH TO SAY + GIVEAWAY

I've been a busy girl, but oftentimes have nothing to show for it. Most of what I do seems like it takes forever to get completed. I've started a quilt for my Amelia in hopes to have it finished for Christmas. Since that isn't happening, I'll show you at least the start. I'm using fabrics from my Summer Soiree. I have appliqued the flowers and leaves onto the pieced vase and background. It's the first time for me to applique, and I think I did pretty darn good. I'm having so much fun planning it out. I'll share more as I get further along, but don't hold your breath. I wouldn't want you turning blue on my account.

Okay, I just had to show you another sighting of my fabric on TV. This is from the CBS show, Accidentally on Purpose, starring Jenna Elfman. I have never seen this show, but emails had me checking it out. Sure enough, it is indeed my Par Avion from my Flights of Fancy fabric collection that Jenna is sitting on (instead of wearing). Gee, my doctor uses paper, but I'm sure that will change now! Not exactly what I had in mind when I designed it. Hope they used the laminate for easy cleaning (eewww, did I say that?).

I have several projects and deadlines spread out here, there and everywhere, some of which I can't wait to share with you, but most as I mentioned are not complete. I find that I have no trouble coming up with ideas and designs, in fact, I can't turn them off. The problem is all the behind the scene details slow me down. I have no time to play with my new Woodland Delight fabrics right now. I'm sitting here today with a long list of what I should be doing, but find myself "daydreaming" (another word for procrastinating) over a fresh stack of Woodland Delight. Oh what I'd love to make with these new fabrics. Hhmmm, maybe you can help.

Whatya say I give you a choice between these two stacks and you tell me which one you'd choose and what you'd make with them. Easy enough, right?

PINK WOODLAND DELIGHT

GREY WOODLAND DELIGHT

On Tuesday the 15th I'll randomly pick a winner for the PINK and one for the GREY. Each stack contains 1/2 yard of the fabrics shown; enough to make something birdalicious, wouldn't you say? Can't wait to hear what your ideas are. You just might speak them into becoming reality. Fun, huh?

Now I need to get back to work and leave the daydreaming to you! xoxo

SHEILA HAS SPOKEN

Since the last experience with my husband's GPS, I wanted you to know I attempted to smooth things over. That is, until Tim told me Sheila said, "It's either my way or the highway". Yeah, more like the toll road! I accused her of taking kickbacks. Tim isn't helping. We can drive across town to see Jennifer and the kids and he takes SHEILA. Not only takes her, he turns her on. Why? Should I be worried? Yeah, well the other night I was nestled up close to Tim and was going on and on about you know who, then asked, "You like me better, right?" There was dead silence. Yes, way! His delayed chuckle was not comforting at all!

I also had to introduce you to our retired weatherman, Bob Gregory, that I spoke of in my last post. Don't you just love him? This video still makes me laugh so hard I cry.



I can hardly believe that I leave for Quilt Market in a little over 3 weeks. Still no fabrics and patterns are not ready either. Geez, no pressure! I'm here twiddling my thumbs, tapping my fingers, and.....set myself up on Facebook! Why, you ask? Twitter wasn't enough of a time sucker? No good answer. It appears to be equally addicting though. Started thinking...hope I don't end up in a Twitter and Facebook recovery group. Will you be there? Cool!

Finally, it thrills me to come across images like this. This is a new Pink Fig pattern featuring Summer Soiree fabrics. Go check them out!

When you hear from me again, it will hopefully be with my newest fabric reveal. And may that be VERY SOON, I hope, I hope.

OH SHEILA, YOU'RE BREAKIN MY HEART....

Nothing gets your mind off your funk mood better than the panic of a TV shoot. Oh, just kidding. It was actually great fun. Here I am on set with Pokey Bolton and Laura Gunn. See, we're smiling. But let me back up and give you the lowdown.

Okay, you remember my last post? I revealed four concerns and I have updates to share.

1. Sheila (my husband's GPS) and I are not on speaking terms. My husband programmed her to get me to Cleveland. She likes Tim. They have a mutual respect. He doesn't take her too literally. If she tells him to turn left, he has an inner compass that tells him he should really turn right. I don't have that inner compass. When God was handing out Sense of Direction, I got lost and could never find that line. Hence, I need Sheila to work with me.

I got to Cleveland just fine. But when I hopped in the car to head home, Sheila was missing from her assigned spot. I found her on the floor. Asked her if she was hiding from me, then placed her back and set her up to take me home. Once I'm on the highway in heavy traffic she jumps ship again. This time she unplugs herself! The little snot! I "had speaks" with her. Had to pull off, get her repositioned and reprogrammed. However, she clearly received a concussion during her fall. She told me to get off on the Ohio Turnpike (a toll road). I didn't come in that way. Hmmpphh.

I put a call in to Tim to tell on her. He told me to just ignore Sheila. That was easier said than done. She tried to get me to turn off at every exit. When I refused, she began tacking hours on to my drive home. She was relentless. I began singing "Oh Sheila, you're breaking my heart, You're shakin my confidence daily". By the time I stopped I was 2 hrs from home, but she had tacked on an additional 6+ hours; clearly punishment for disobeying her. I reprogrammed her again. This time her concussion subsided and she quit hounding me and admitted i only had a couple hours left. When I got home I told Tim he could get Sheila out of the car. Poor Tim is in an awkward situation. He likes both of us. Sheila and I don't like each other. Puts him in the middle. He did take me to dinner and left Sheila home. That's a good sign.

2. I think I did okay. For me, it was like the first time driving a car....so much to remember all at once. Here I was trying to act casual and easy going, but my mind was swirling with thoughts like, "Am I hunching over? Are my boobs resting on the table? Has the iron automatically turned off (YES, it did!)? There were no retakes, so that's a good sign. Thank you for all the incredible advise. What wonderful friends. More than one suggested Depends in case I got to laughing too hard.

3. Don't know how I looked on the screen. I know I felt bloated, but I chose to sit instead of stand, eliminating the need to suck it in. I brought 3 different pair of Spanx and contemplated wearing all three, but was concerned that might restrict blood flow to my brain.

4. Being a newcomer, I took the whole list of rules so seriously. I could just see me showing up in black and having them pull an old, dusty beige shirt off a rack and tell me to change. But, Pokey wore a black cardigan for one of the segments and another gal wore a black jacket in her shoot. Next time, right?

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It was fun. Everyone was so kind. I met several highly creative women and had a great time with my fellow Michael Miller designer, Laura. We had some good laughs, usually at my expense (go figure). As far as when our segments will hit the air, all we know is it will be sometime after the New Year. I'll let you know.

I will also have a project and article in the Fall issue of Quilt Scene. I understand that magazine will be available during Quilt Market. I'm very pleased with how this turned out and can't wait for you to see!

Now on to some Summer Soiree inspiration. This first tunic is from none other than Simone.

Then I found these lovelies in my Summer Soiree Flickr group; made by Georgiapeachez. Lots more where these came from! Go check these gals out.

TONGUE-TIED TV TUTORIAL

Today is a frantically busy day around here. Tomorrow I leave for a TV shoot for Quilting Arts. You might think this is exciting, but for me, not so much. Here are just a few things I'm dealing with today:

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1. I am driving instead of flying because it would actually take longer to fly with a lay over in the opposite direction! I have no sense of direction and am not gadget savvy, but will be taking my husband's GPS that we named Sheila. I haven't been fond of Sheila because she tends to dominate the conversations when we travel. I've kind of made fun of her a time or two. I have her sitting on the kitchen counter and have been speaking kindly to her, hoping anything I've said will be overlooked once we hit the road together.

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2. I am not a natural in front of the camera. In fact, I have a fear of becoming tongue-tied. It's probably because I think tongue-tied people are hilarious. I quickly jot down what they accidently said so I can crack up over and over again. Like our local weather man that said "warm mare ass" instead of "warm air mass". Then he started laughing so hard he was red and wheezing and couldn't talk. Then, at a high school play, the star (who was a very close friend of the family) said "a fat of heathers" instead of "a hat of feathers". She just kept on and never noticed. Will I do that? Or will I hear myself and start laughing so hard that I pee my pants? Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of!

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3. I didn't lose the 10 lbs to counteract the 10 lbs the camera puts on.

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4. And worst of all, I have nothing to wear! Do you know all the rules about what you can and cannot wear? Well, here goes: NO black, white, prints or patterns, sleeveless or short sleeve (long sleeve not a great choice either), turtlenecks, dangle jewelry, colorful nail polish, noisy shoes. 80% of my closet is black, white or black & white. The remaining 20% clashes with the project I am demonstrating. So I spent my entire Sunday running to EVERY clothing store. No seriously! Guess what colors are in? Black and white and purple. Purple clashes with my project. I sure wish my patterns were complete because I would've had the perfect thing to wear. Oh well, I still don't know what I'm wearing, but perfecting my demo, a manicure, renting car and sweet talking Sheila are now at the top of my list.

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You know I must have a colorful blog post prepared for you, so here's the WOW!

No, I haven't opened a shoe store. But after just reading that Jessica over at Mia Joie just sold 65+ pair of shoes in less than 2 hours, I'm kicking myself that I didn't open a Summer Soiree Shoe Store myself! I missed the whole thing, but I guess quite a few others did too. Amazing. Look at those tiny houndstooth mary janes. And the ....oh, ALL of them! Jessica, you are amazing. Thank you for doing exactly what I imagined could be done with my fabrics.


Changing subjects, I just need to brag on my own daughter for a moment. I mentioned previously that Jennifer became a Stella & Dot Stylist a few months ago and has already been promoted to a Director. She is totally in her element. As a mom, you just know and delight in seeing your children find that thing that lights them up. Here are some recent pictures of a Stella & Dot event in San Francisco. Just a proud mom here.

Jennifer with some of her team

Jennifer on stage

Go check out her blog and the Stella & Dot jewelry.

Oh, almost forgot a couple things. First, thanks so much for all the kind comments on my blog and in personal emails. You are so kind. I am doing much better. It was just so weird how the memories returned during the anniversary time. Some of you shared some powerful things that you have also dealt with. Truth is, we all deal with things and it's comforting to know we are not alone.

THEN, HELLO. Laura Gunn and I will both be doing a TV shoot the same day. Laura is being interviewed (Lucky Dog!). We'll take lots of pictures and keep you posted. Now, back to frantic mode. xoxo

FUNK, FUNK GO AWAY

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will make me go in a corner and cry by myself for hours.” Eric Idle

I have been in a real funk lately. While I know some of the reasons why, the last few days were particularly rough. Then it hit me. It is the one year anniversary of me breaking my arm and shoulder while in NY. Once it clicked, the memories came flooding back. It took me awhile to even post about it at the time. I eventually was able to tell a bit about some of the humor, but truth be told, it was a tough time. Something happened right before the accident that was emotionally painful for me, and somehow the two became one as a memory.
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While I was in NY to participate in the New York International Gift Show, I had one particular vendor that, how do I put this gently?...is evil. A bully whose favorite things are intimidation, the F word and having an entourage to help her feel bigger than life. During a previous show she gathered her posse, got up in another gals face and tore into her like one of those Housewives episodes. I started requesting to not be near her booth, but sure enough, it never failed. She considered me a competitor, didn't like me one bit and tried to make my time a living hell. That last NY show was the worst. It was on the heals of that experience that I fell. I think she had a voodoo doll with my name on it. Anyway, one year later, even though my arm is near perfect, the ominous feelings returned.
.Here's the outside of my swollen and bruised arm. Looked much better than the xrays (I'll spare you). I am so glad it's been a year, my arm and shoulder are doing great, and I only do Quilt Shows now. If you know of any fabric vendors that make voodoo dolls on the side, will you let me know?

Now I'm the kind of person that "counteracts" something bad with something good. I like to eat some fruit to counteract any junk food. I know, it's weird. Anyway, I am counteracting that junk story I just told you with some perfectly wonderful eye candy! Thanks for letting me get that out of my system. Now enjoy these while I go eat lots of fruit!!

Another delicious pair of shoes made out of some Summer Soiree by the amazing Mia Joie designer, Jessica. Go see her other latest creations.

Luscious pillow by Nestables.

Scrumptious tote by Daisy Hill Studios

And wrap your eyes around this "comfort food". Made by Julie over at Tattered Threads and Willing Hands for her lucky college bound daughter. What love and a wonderful story behind this quilt. Go say hello.

DON'T STEP ON MY BLUE FLORAL SHOES

You know, every once in awhile I stumble across a website that is beyond incredible. A few weeks ago, while randomly surfing in the middle of the night, I stopped dead in my surfing tracks when I came across Mia Joie. This website is authored by a young mom with three lively children. Jessica handle's her everyday mom struggles with a camera in one hand (proving she didn't make it all up) and enough sanity to get it down in writing. Then her photography is amazing. Now both of those ingredients would have kept me coming back, but the gal also makes these baby shoes that are drop dead gorgeous. So when she posted these photos using my Summer Soiree fabrics, I just had to do a SHOW + TELL.

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Jessica is promising to have a whole collection of shoes and accessories (I think in various Summer Soiree fabrics) once she fills an order from a company in London for 100 pair of shoes!

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Come back by and let me know what you think. xoxo

OOPSY DAISY is NO MISTAKE

PAULA PRASS and mimi's collection joins

Finally, here's that "announcement" I was mentioning ages ago. It takes a great deal of time for everyone to cross their t's and dot their i's, you know.

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In June 2009, I closed the wholesale divisions of both Paula Prass and mimi's collection. After six years of offering hand-painted art for children and home decor. I, Paula Prass, aka mimi's collection, have joined forces with Oopsy daisy, a leading manufacturer and distributor of high quality artwork for children and the home. We still offer my artwork on my retail websites, but Oopsy daisy will handle our wholesale orders for our most popular pieces. Yeah! That frees me up to do what I do best-design!

And yes, I have been doing some designing. Unfortunately, nothing I can show you yet. I just finished a project with a reveal coming in the fall. I am also trying, and I do mean TRYING, to find time to work on patterns. I know, I know. I'll get on that right now. Well, after I add a few pics of Summer Soiree. You didn't think I'd leave a post without pics did you?

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Here are a few from the photo shoot. Did I tell you our dear neighbor friends took off on vacation and while they were gone I decided to use their yard for the photo shoot? Our yard had too much of a slope. Besides, what are friends for? Thanks Nancy with the better yard!

LET'S HAVE A SUMMER SOIREE

This is the second post today, but this has been such a big project for us I had to share the results. Once we hit the save button at 5 p.m., I was wanting to do cartwheels (in my head only, don't worry!) while Jennifer wanted to take something for a headache. I did the sewing (except for the adorable jumper from Simone of Gardenhouse); Jennifer did the photography; Tim was the stage hand and the models added that party atmosphere. Seems we are in a never-ending learning curve, but isn't that life? If this puts you in the party mood, go over to Michael Miller Fabrics to enjoy all the options for creating your own soiree. I'd love to hear what you think!
If two posts in one day and an interview isn't enough, I have yet another post for tomorrow. Please stay tuned for more news?

ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?

We finally were able to do our long overdue Summer Soiree photo shoot. Of course, we brought along our models. Thought I'd share some of the fun with you. Wyatt is becoming a natural, while Amelia...well, not so much. She still has to be chased down, bribed and threatened. Ah, but one shot like this one is worth it (at least for the photographer/mom).

Wyatt just strikes one pose after another and is so stinkin serious about his job. By any chance, does Ralph Lauren read my blog?

I know the lighting isn't the best, but Mia IS smiling and has not crossed her eyes and stretched her mouth from ear to ear, so we're saving this one.

And here is one of many shots of her hiding from us. Isn't she "sweet"?

Off into the sunset, pizza and dessert.

The Summer Soiree photo shoot will be revealed very, very soon, once we've properly tweaked.

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Speaking of food; our friend Missy Severson of Sweet Funky Vintage came with her family last week for a quick visit. Jennifer and I met them for dinner at a place right beside the Monon Trail so Chris could chase their 3 girls around outside while us girls got all caught up. And no, we didn't coordinate outfits.

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JoAnn Connolly of The Sewing Examiner recently interviewed me. She really asked some interesting questions, so if you're interested on some behind the scenes scoop (and I hope you are) go check it out. Let me know how I did, will you?

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Okay, back to editing more Summer Soiree photos.