The BIGGEST giveaway we've ever hosted!

Hello, friends! If you're coming over here from Making It Fun (The Michael Miller Fabrics blog) then welcome! If this is your first stop, then I ask you to please go over there and read part 1 first.

Yes, you read right... this is the BIGGEST giveaway we've ever hosted! We are just head over heals in love with our newest fabric collection, Lush, and the new MODKID Spring 2012 Sewing Patterns to go with it, so we've prepared an awesome contest for you all.

The folks at Michael Miller Fabrics have graciously donated 1-yard cuts (yes, that's right!) of EVERY print in the collection! WOW, are you sure you have enough space in your sewing room for this? This is a HUGE bundle! And to top it off, we will send another lucky winner our entire Spring 2012 Sewing Pattern collection... that is 4 brand new patterns, hot off the press!

Here's what to do:

• If you haven't gone over to Making It Fun, please do that now and check out my Designer Spotlight.
• Come back and let us know what your favorite print in the Lush collection is and/or your favorite new MODKID pattern.
• For an extra chance to win, leave a comment at Making It Fun. We will be picking a winner from there too!

Winner #1 will receive 1-yard cuts of the entire SWEET colorway... that's 16 yards of fabric!!



Winner #2 will receive 1-yard cuts of the entire SUNNY colorway... that's 19 yards of fabric!!



Winner #3 will receive all 4 of MODKID's Spring 2012 Patterns!



All winners will be randomly chosen next Sunday, February 5th, 2012. Don't forget to leave us a way to contact you if you are one of the lucky winners!

So, there ya have it... what will you do with all this if you win? WOW! Best of luck to you all!!!

***UPDATE! This contest is now CLOSED! Thank you all. You can see the winners HERE.***

buzz

A few weeks ago I was buzzing around online, seeing what everyone was up to and I ended up drooling over all my favorite designer friends' Zazzle shops. Have you heard about this? You can upload your own artwork and they will print it on all sorts of surfaces, from shoes to bumper stickers. I think Heather got the ball rolling but before you knew it Tula, Melissa and Bari had their own cool shops too. So, since I succumb to peer pressure easily (and apparently I don't have anything better to occupy my time), I went ahead and started designing some shoes. I bought myself a pair of Hive lo-tops (cause I wanted to check out the goods before blabbing on about 'em) and OH EM GEEE they are so friggin' cool! I seriously have not stopped wearing these since the day they came in the mail!!!



I *heart* everything about them down to the hot pink topstitching throughout, which of course matches the hot pink laces and the little hot pink tab in the back. heeheee, I'm such a girl! You can get your own pair here. And if bees don't strike your fancy, no worries. I also have fishies, birdies, flowers and all sorts of other fun motifs to choose from.

So what else is buzzing around here, you ask?

Well, in case you've missed my tweets and FaceBook posts today, you really need to head on over to Sew Retro's blog, like NOW, because she is having an awesome giveaway in celebration of her brand new self-titled book. She has posted an interview with Kathy Miller (everything you ever wanted to know but were afraid to ask!) and is giving away a signed copy of her new book, Sew Retro, and 5 (count them... FIVE) yards of any Michael Miller fabric you choose!

To enter to win this awesome giveaway, click HERE and leave a comment. Pick your favorite fabric (I know that's hard to do, but that's part of the game) and while you're at it give Judy Ketteler a shout out for the gorgeous book.

I know after reading the above, my little teeny giveaway will pale in comparison, but just in case you're feeling lucky, don't forget there's still time to enter your name to win a fat bag of knits scraps. Leave a comment and I'll pick some winners in a couple of days.

So, that's about all, folks. Oh, wait... while I was outside taking photos of my cool new shoes I noticed that most of my garden is dying a slow death but there were a few flowers still buzzing with life and hanging on to the the last drops of Summer. I figured it's only a matter of days before they join the others and even though I absolutely cannot wait for Autumn to arrive I wanted to capture a little bit of life today...









So what's buzzing in your neck of the woods?

Market Report - Part 1
Fall International Quilt Market 2008, Houston, TX

Hi everyone! I'm baaaaack! Last time I tackled Market Report in one fell swoop (a.k.a. one ginormous blog posting that left you and I both exhausted!) So this time I've decided to save my sanity and break this up into parts... not necessarily in chronological order, just so you know.

Quilt Market was everything I expected and more. We drove 16 hrs. there and 16 hrs. back (well, Jon drove. I mostly slept, twittered, googled and doodled). Those of you following me on Twitter got the full state-by-state report... even when I called Arkansas "AK" instead of "AR." I can't believe no one teased me about that one! I can take it, I really can! ;)

So, for those of you who are new to my blog, we went down to the International Quilt Market in Houston, TX to debut my first line of fabrics, titled Andalucia, for Michael Miller Fabrics. Below, are a few scattered pictures of my booth and the surrounding areas...

This first picture shows the view from the aisle directly in front of us. On the left you see part of my booth, on the right you see part of Paula Prass' booth. Directly behind Paula's booth you see a sliver of Sandi Henderson's booth and the remainder of this picture shows what Michael Miller's selling stations looked like.



Below is a picture of Kathy Miller (Michael Miller Fabrics) and me standing at my booth. Check out the awesome quilts made specifically to showcase Andalucia by some amazingly talented ladies. The one on the left is called Now & Forever and was designed by Abbey Lane Quilts. The one on the right is called Spring Up and was designed by Lizzy Anne Originals. You can also see the 2 chairs that I painstakingly upholstered just days before the show and a few other sewn samples...



Here is a full shot of Spring Up:



This picture shows a few Market goodies including a couple of purses by my talented mom (a.k.a. marielizcreations on etsy), some super sweet bibs by Bug-A-Boo-Baby (check out her blog for some detailed pics of these and of the baby blankies she made for the booth!), and a pillow and dress by yours truly. By the way, my mom will be offering her Market-Sample-Purses in her etsy store very soon, so keep checking for these!



A super cool pineapple pincushion by my talented friend, Eva Taylor. Check out her blog and leave her a comment to be entered to win a pineapple of your own! How generous is that?!?



Totally AWESOME Andalucia jacquard ribbons designed by me for J. Caroline Creative (these are only 8 of the 16 designs offered!) Wish you guys could see & touch these! They are super soft and the quality is unsurpassed. These ribbons totally stole the show, IMO! Caroline will have these in her shop soon, so keep checking!



And speaking of Caroline, here I am standing in her AWESOME booth, which, by the way, won a prize of Best New Exhibitor. Way to go, Caroline!!!



And last, but certainly not least, is this picture of me sitting in my booth chatting it up with one of the loveliest ladies I've ever had the pleasure of meeting, the vibrant and so inspirational Elinor Peace Bailey.



Now, I want to leave you with a few links to check out:

• I did a designer interview with Gina Halladay of Quilter's Buzz. What a lovely lady! Go over there and read! (those of you who attended my schoolhouse session may notice some overlap... sorry!)
  
  
• Boutique Café created history with the first ever live podcast from Quilt Market and I was honored to be their guinea pig, er, first interviewee! ;) You can catch a recording of the live feed right here... complete with testing, bloopers and a heck of a lot of giggling!
  
  
• The Jolly Jabber, Fat Quarter Shop's awesome blog, is doing a day-by-day Market Report that is not to be missed. One of the best pictures of me has already surfaced in their "findings" and check out this one I spotted on their Flickr account of me & Jon. Awww! Please stay tuned for a full interview in a couple of weeks! I'll let you know when it's up!!!

OK, that's it for now! Thanks for being so patient through this super long post... I swear I thought it was gonna be much shorter! And to all of you lovely ladies who came over and saw me at Quilt Market, MWAH! Love ya!!!

My New Title

I've been hinting here and there about a new venture in my life... something that I've been working tirelessly on for the past few months. Sorry to have kept you all in suspense for so long. It's not like me to keep things bottled in but at the same time I wanted to make sure it was "official" before I blurted it all out and made a fool of myself if something went wrong.

But I can finally say it: I am the new fabric designer for MICHAEL MILLER FABRICS. Phew! I actually exhaled as I typed that. The long awaited contract finally arrived yesterday and I ripped open the envelope like a kid at Christmas. Everything has been reviewed, signed and mailed back so I can finally say it's official! WOOOHOOO!

I look forward to sharing tons of sneak peeks with you all in the coming months, but right now it's still a bit premature as we are not sure yet if all my designs will be actually printed or if some will get cut in the process. As usual, I was an over-achiever and produced more than my fair share of designs & colorways, so at some point in the next few weeks we will be reviewing my work and deciding what gets printed.


My new fabric line will debut during the International Quilt Market in Houston, October 25-27, 2008. But as I have mentioned before, I will also be attending the Spring Quilt Market in Portland, which is fast approaching in 3 weeks... gulp...so if any of you will be out there on May 15-18 you might catch a glimpse of my portfolio. :)

Now that the envelope has been opened, it's time for me to express my gratitude to a few people who I owe it all to. First and foremost, I'd like to thank Kathy Miller for taking a chance on me and offering me such a wonderful opportunity with her company. I have been a fan of Michael Miller Fabrics for as long as I have been in this industry and it is truly an honor (and a dream come true) to be working with you guys now! Secondly, I'd like to thank Sandi Henderson for introducing me to Kathy and for putting up with my non-stop blabbering during all those crazy late-night chats. Thanks, sweetie! And last, but certainly not least, I'd like to thank my wonderful husband, Jon and my girls, Sophie & Sydney, for being so patient with me and allowing me to slack off on my wife/mother/housekeeper duties as I tried my darndest to multi-task for the past few months. I know it hasn't been easy... I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!