Paula Prass giveaway!

Still submerged but hoping to surface soon- till then, get on over to Paula Prass's oh-so-fun summer soire giveaway!! Really , I can't wait to read the winner's story - Paula's too!

Patty Young giveaway!

I've been submerged here - we've all been hyper busy planning lots of exciting things to come - but I wanted to surface and make sure you're aware of the giveway happening on Patty Young's blog. check it out!

Laura Gunn debut at Quilt Market

It took a year and a half to bring Laura's paintings to life on fabric and boy was it worth it!
We're thrilled with the results and the response !
Her booth was chalk full of artful Lantern Bloom goodies

a good luck doll from her Mom, Elinor Peace Bailey

Here we are at school house showing the paintings that started it all

Laura sharing the quilt designed by Marinda Stewart

for the free down loadable pattern click here

Laura's adorable patterns

a great line - in the bag!

Spring Quilt mkt Pittsburgh 09

I'm back from market and scrounging around for pictures- I swear next market will be different- I'll come prepared with a fully charged camera and stop what I'm doing long enough to take some pictures!! I PROMISE!

Thankfully, I work with great people who came through once again!

All Smiles
2nd place award for multiple booth category! L to R: Sandi Henderson,Christine Osmers, me, Paula Prass, Michael Steiner, Patty Young, Deb Buchanan, bk row: Becky Bennett, Susan Day, Jennifer Storey, Debi Porreca, Ben Rubin.

that's the icing on the cake

now for the behind the scenes view of market- start to finish

A birds eye view of our booth (the Aqua row 2nd from the bottom) note the sunlight streaming in! Pittsburgh is my all time favorite convention center! Natural light- a huge plus at a show!

believe it or not - this stage has taken hours
it takes a village to raise a booth
somehow this will all come together

order through the chaos
showtime!
(note quilt pile-up- these are hard working show pieces, too many to hang, pawed through over & over)
and then it's over
what goes up- must come down- dismantling of the hidden kitchen
(yes, a well fed crew is...a well fed crew)

hard to believe this part goes quicker than set up

reverse construction

we all place bets predicting the finish time - imagine the antics- by this time we're all punchy
sorry- too exhausted for the empty booth photo
next post - show pics!

Pittsburgh Quilt Market

quilt by "Swirly Girls"

It's that time again, when we're all going a little crazy getting ready for Spring Quilt Market. A lot of exciting stuff to share with you!

For those of you going to market, make sure to come to our 2 School House sessions: the first one by Swirly Girls Design featuring our fabrics and the second one (immediately following the 1st, same room) where I'll give my trend & color report for the season along with preview trunk shows by Paula Prass, Patty Young, Laura Gunn and Pillow and Maxfield and of course Michael Miller!

When I return expect Lots of pictures!

Kitty Litter

For all you cat lovers out there, which by the way, have you ever noticed there's some kind of weird connection between quilters and cats? I mean since we started MMF it seems there's 2 print categories that quilters and fabric lovers can never get enough of: cat prints and boys' prints!

this leads me to our latest batch of vintage kitty prints- adorable if I do say so myself -

purrrrrrrfect!

Silhouette Kids Quilt

Is this the sweetest photo or what? It's in the Summer issue of Quilts and More. Quilt designed by Marinda Stewart. Prints from the Silhouette Kids Collection with cuddly soft backing of Cozy plush Big Harlequin

Earth Day Spa set

We've got some wonderful tutorials to share in honor of Earth Day . Joanna of Stardust Shoes has outdone herself this time! All soft and pure using our Michael Miller Organics Collection These would make an amazing gift!

soft basket

eye mask

bath mitt

therapeutic neck wrap

ENJOY!

New Collection by Paula Prass

Pssssst! check out Paula Prass's new collection: Summer Soiree' on her blog! The first samples are starting to arrive- They're sooo fresh! I never grow tired of this exciting nerve wracking time right before a new release.

New Release Preview 2

Vibrant jewel tones on our Jet Brown ground color!
If you're wondering what's Jet Brown
scroll down to the bottom of this post

My favorite new print Flower shower!

The whole group mixes and matches

Jewel tones

And it all started here with Birds of Norway- the colors worked so well we couldn't stop there!

New Release Preview 1

What a great way to kick-off our latest release! Patty Young's adorable Kyoko sewing pattern made up in the Happy Tones Collection

The whole Happy Tones group is made to mix and match - black grounds with Aqua, Coral, Citron and GRAY! I'm not saying Gray is the "new Black" BUT it sure updates a color story! (you don't normally think of Gray as a Happy color - but when it's next to these colors - it happens!)

You're all seeing this at the same time
That means both wholesale and retail consumers

If you're a wholesale customer of ours and you've placed an order; please feel free to leave your contact info in the comment section for anyone wishing to purchase.

Red, Coral and Aqua!
goes great with our Eiffel tower print and Paula Prass's Flights of Fancy-Summer color story

below

L.A. int'l textile show

For all of you wholesale buyers out there: we'll be previewing some of our newest- hottest- right- off -the- press prints in L.A. next week - some great stuff coming up -

cooking with style

just spotted this in the archives of my favorite cooking blog (I don't know when this woman sleeps!) I was tickled to see her sporting an adorable Carnival Bloom apron.

spotted on ohdeedoh

love it when I spot our prints popping up in fun ways. Here's the print; First Numbers from the First Sight Collection.

As seen in Apartment Therapy's nursery section ohdeedoh. Check out their contest this month (I first read about it on jcaroline's blog)
and what a fun excuse to use my favorite kid chairs from Ikea!

valentine freebie

This was too cute not to pass on to you! from creature comforts , check it out!

Organic Herringbone Wrap

What a great idea Joanna came up with!

our Organic Herringbone is sooooo soft it's
the perfect wrap!

You can download the tutorial here.

Roxa Smith Robots

While in Brooklyn to check out the Renegade Craft Fair last summer I stopped to browse at the wonderful children's store; Mini Jake. Roxa Smith's paintings were on display and I was smitten! Soooo smitten that many months later we're able to offer them on cotton and flannel. In case you're wondering, the robots are approx. 4 - 5" tall.

Kid's Apron & Chef Hat

Cupcakes print in a terrific tutorial by Joanna of Stardust Shoes and the hat tutorial of course

and it's reversible! ( the ever popular dumb dot)

and let's don't forget the boys
stripe c323 and pom pom dot

Corduroy Carnival Bloom

Carnival Bloom has been a VERY popular print, so we're very happy to be able to offer it on 21 wale corduroy! I won't bore you with all the technical obstacles but most printers don't advise doing prints this detailed and on a dark ground on corduroy because they can't guarantee full color coverage because of the surface texture..... well......they did it!!!!

Christmas Fairies Tree Skirt

Who doesn't love Christmas projects?

and who doesn't find themselves around mid December wishing they had the time to make all the projects we have in our well intentioned heads and hearts?!

Joanna at Stardust Shoes has come up with a great idea: a 2009 Advent Calender Sew Along. I think it's such a great idea, I'm applying it to all things Christmas (I love wrapping presents, decorating, yadda, yadda, yadda).

Sooo, with that in mind I'm going to slip in this Christmas tree skirt pattern by Marinda Stewart made from our just released; Christmas Fairies.

and just for a goof it can always fill in for last minute party wear!

Messy Hands sneak Peek

Messy Hands is a really fun print group in primary colors. Perfect for Heather Bailey's Happy Stacker and Joanna's tutorials: mini quilt, wrist rattle, baby rings, and baby blocks

and how about this attention grabbing quilt "Circles and Squares" by Marinda Stewart? Don't expect the little one to fall asleep on this!

CPSIA

We sent this email to our customers today.

Click here
for the letter and test results
Pls. note: if you have questions pls email: info@michaelmillerfabrics.comm

Michael Miller in Domino!

I love using fabric on walls, so of course I love this months' issue of Domino featuring our fabric for an ingenious small space storage solution. (great idea for a dorm room).

and while you're checking out magazines: There's a great article in Sew News featuring Paula Prass. Love that studio, see it here !

Cute Critters

These are from the category Cute Critters in the new release. Here's Birds of Norway. I love the way these Bohemian colors jump off the Jet Brown background. Will definitely be building on this color story in the next release.

Grass Menagerie

same print in Blue. I call this Restoration Hardware Baby Blue. We've got a ton of coordinates to go with it in the previously released Silhouette Kids Collection.

and then of course, equal time for the girls!
and if you need a plush baby blankie backing: check out the Big Harlequin made to match

Autumn Flower Fairies

Here's a few of the soon to be released Autumn Fairies. The panel above measures approx. 43" x 22" -24". I say approximately because the repeat measurements vary due to the finishing process after printing - there's usually some shrinkage.

we've done the layout below in all the Fairy groups. There's a total of 12 rectangles (2 rows of 6) and 36 small squares (2 rows of 18).

This opens up all kinds of possibilities! ( I can picture just framing and hanging)..... here's a couple ideas from the previous flower fairy groups on our free quilt pattern page.

Perriwinkle fairies soft book
and of course quilts........ below the Flower Fairy Quilt

Christmas Fairies sneak Peek

This is the latest installment of Cicely Mary Barkers Flower Fairies. Here's their fun official site.


the engravings and printing are beautiful and this was no easy job!

Andalucia Ebay Launch

More fun stuff going on!..... check out the Ebay Launch featuring Andalucia! Patty Young's debut line for Michael Miller Fabrics. (inspiration galore!)

Jungle Jam sneak peek!

Today's sneak peek is one of those, "if you liked ____ you're gonna love this" kind of deals. It's also one of those stories that you'll need to have read the previous post to understand my reasoning behind building on a color story from one release to another.

Ta da! ... It's Jungle Jam with critters by Shawn.......
and it goes with...... the previously released Pod Posey Collection.
which goes with.........
below left: clown check, clown stripe and kid check (my personal favorite is color candy)
as well as........below right: all the Pod Posey coordinates
Key colors: Orchid, Kiwi, Clementine and Azure.

....and let's not forget the trims! Ruffle Rac and Bias trim
and just in case you need some place for your eyes to rest (this means a solid, non print) we've got our Jet Brown; (think really dark like chocolate/esspresso) it matches the dark brown grounds in most of our prints. Those of you familiar with it may wonder, why so dark? yes I realize it borders on being interpreted as black, but keep in mind: that means if it's not in a big expanse of ground you can sometimes mix it with black ground prints. Another positive is it makes for great contrast with the other colors in the print. Black ground prints are usually big sellers because all the other colors look great on it (It's all about the contrast). Jet brown is just an updated version of Black. If you're wondering why the name "Jet Brown" that's tommorrows story.....

Pet Deer sneak peek!

Back again with another sneak peek from the upcoming January Release. But first bear with me for a little background: One of the things we do at Michael Miller is build on a color story from one release to another. I do this for a couple reasons;

1. Color trends don't just pop onto the scene out of nowhere. They evolve over time. It takes awhile for our eyes to adjust, accept and like a new color or combination of colors. I usually experiment with a new (edgy) color in a small way in one release and then expand on it in future releases. Such was the case with the color I call Orchid (pink with a violet cast to it).

Here it is in the the top color in "Feeling Groovy" first released in Summer 07'

This was the beginning of color stories to come Orchid and Spa.

2. If I build on a color story with multiple releases it gives the retailer a chance to build on groups as they sell through and always have something "new" and "fresh". ( same logic used in "wardrobe building" when a designer uses colors that work together in progressive collections. I really appreciate it when the blouse I buy today goes with the skirt I bought in the previous collection!)

So here it is the latest installment of Orchid and Spa (the sweet print in the middle is "Pet Deer")

Snow Monkey sneak peek!

We're on a roll now..... Snow Monkeys by Shawn. We couldn't resist putting this on flannel as well as cotton. Just in case you need something to go with it; clown check, clown stripe and the always handy pindots below. We've got these in enough colors to go with just about everything we run. (yes, these go with Bot Camp too!) The color palette below is the retro palette that I've used in all the Dick and Jane prints as well as most all of the kid prints.

Bot Camp Sneak Peek!

It's the New Year and we're back in the saddle. In the midst of preparations for our 1st release of new prints for 09'. The newest collection samples will be shipped to the salesmen mid January but I plan on leaking them to you between now and then.
We ALWAYS get a lot of requests for BOY prints, which is why it's no surprise that the Tot Town Collection by our own Shawn has been so popular. It's also great when someone else acknowledges it: Thanks True Up!
and now for today's sneak peek.............(if you liked Merryville-you're gonna love Bot Camp!)......drum roll please.............!

Holiday festivities!

It's that time again; when all of us at Michael Miller gather for our end of the year party.

We had a great time at Cowgirl and nothing brings out the child in you like a few games: divide into teams ; pass the dice till someone gets a 6 then that person hurriedly puts on oven mits, a hat and tears through ONE layer of wrapping (of course there's MANY LAYERS)

you get the idea; repeat at a frantic pace
till the victorious team
gets to the prize inside!

Happy Holidays!

Tis the Season

Couldn't resist these Pears from Kim at Retro Mama made out of our Christmas prints.
Great idea to turn them into ornaments!
check out the pink ones on her blog; yummy!

To make your own delectable pears; try adapting Heather Bailey's
Pear pincusion pattern

Girls jus' wanna have fun

Every little girl needs a pettiskirt (big girls too if you ask me)

Silhouette Kid Collection made up in Sandi Henderson's Analise multi option pattern

Matching Game

Hey there! Here's a great project from Joanna of Stardust Shoes just in time for the holidays. A matching memory card game. No sew cards fused onto stiff interfacing. The little bag to hold them is square bottomed and stands on it's own. Above in the Silhouette Kids collection and below in Retro Dick and Jane.


The squares are perfect for this! download the tutorial here.

fabric 2.0 Houston

The Fabric 2.0 blogger party was a great time. Here's L to R; Christina of Etsy, me and Caroline of Jcaroline Creative! the only one missing is Lissa of Moda: Hostesses all, and thanks to Caroline for bringing us all together!!
It was a beautiful setting atop the Hilton. I had to pull myself away and felt a bit like Cinderella having to leave the festivities and hurry back to the booth set-up. I've always felt it'd be a great concept for a reality show; PROJECT TRADE SHOW, behind the scenes, real world creativity under pressure, on a deadline. show - must - go- on kind of thing. Too bad I didn't get a chance to meet Jay McCarroll (yes that's him in the polka dot kerchief) from Project Runway and take notes.
L to R: Heather Bailey, her sister -in law: Laura Gunn and Paula Prass. Did they plan to color coordinate? Pssssst! here's a scoop; Laura's new line will debut with us at Spring Market in Pittsburgh!!! BEAUTIFUL!

Quilt Market follow-up

Here we are, all smiles as we receive the 2nd place multiple booth award.

This is just a few of us that were around for the picture taking (L to R: Patty Young, Benjamin Rubin, Christine Osmers, Sandi Henderson, me, Deb Buchanan, Paula Prass, Becky Bennett, Terri Hempfling, Susan Day.

The booth theme was our new Cicely Mary Barker's Flower Fairies.

loved the fairy wings

I love Sandi Henderson's color sense. The orange wall color was an inspired backdrop for her wonderful Ginger Blossom and Farmer's Market collections, not to mention her boutique pattern line.

Sandi and Dustin, what a team!

Loved the way the booths all flowed and complimented each other. Here's Sandy's booth next to Paula Prass's booth with her premeire Flights of fancy collection. Her background in interior design comes through soooo tastefully. Wall art and frames from her home decor accents line tucked in here and there.

love the details

speaking of details love the vintage pins Bari J puts on her bags. (she's also got great news on her blog!)

Patty Young across the aisle debuting her Andalucia collection! My pictures don't do it justice, If you have'nt already, be sure to check out her blog.

loved this dress! complete with a petticoat! It's no wonder her kids clothes have been such a hit!

I have to throw this in - it's Caroline (in the blue chair) of JCaroline Creative! with the cutest booth designed by Jessica Jones (note Jessica's fabric on the chairs and desk): we carry it wholesale - JCaroline carries it Retail) She's also produced Ribbon designed by Patty that coordinates perfectly with her Andalucia collection.

And by the way, she won best new exhibitor!

What follows are the few pictures I managed to take during set up. I always get back and realize all the pictures I didn't take!!

Jean and Tom (my sister and Brother-n-law) she made sure we were the best fed crew at mkt. home made brisket, pulled pork sandwiches, bacon bread, cookies etc. etc. He makes our ideas become a reality even when some structures need a little "sky tape and air hooks"

my sister Mindy creating the twig and branch bed for the Flower Fairy bed, complete with a bark bedside table.

can you believe I don't have a picture of the finished bed!
Becky had just stapled her hand (note the bandage) didn't slow her down a bit!

Paula unpacking: what's wrong with this picture?? You'd never know she had a broken shoulder and arm!

Jennifer: Paulas' multi tasking/uber-talented, right hand, left hand, whatever-it- takes -to- get- the- job- done daughter.

That's John at the top; Patty's husband and helper to ALL OF US!

Sandi, calm under pressure, booth structure arrived late but in the end it all came together - beautifully!

this was just a small sampling of all our group that knocked themselves out to make it happen!

Flower Fairies Preview

It's crazy busy here at Michael Miller as we pull it all together for Quilt Market. The excitement's building! Thought I'd share just a tiny sneak peek from Cicely Mary Barkers' Flower Fairies Collection. The panels below are approximately 23" - 24" x 43"44", Beautifully engraved and printed.

Apple Blossom Group
Periwinkle Group

Sunshine Group

Michael Miller Fabrics on AM Northwest!!

I had a great experience in Portland, Oregon this past Friday. An appearance on KATU's morning talk show; AM Northwest! To view the segment click here. What fun, check out our studio audience - the Red Hat Society in full regalia!

The main emphasis was our Dick and Jane collection and all the great projects, like this Dick and Jane lunch box kit.

After the show I had a great time at Fabric Depot meeting fellow fabricholics and even getting to see what they created.

The Michael of Michael Miller Fabrics

For those of you that might not know, our company name, Michael Miller Fabrics is actually the combination of my biz partners' first name and my last name. Here's your chance to hear the Michael in Michael Miller Fabrics. Daria of Boutique Cafe did a fun, candid, unscripted podcast with him. It's her 100th podcast. Way to go Daria!
You can listen to the podcast here!

Bean Bag Chair

Hey there! lots going on behind the scenes here getting ready for the next line release, not to mention Quilt market. More on that in future postings. For now,check out this kid friendly bean bag chair from the ever creative Joanna of Stardust Shoes. What kid wouldn't want to plop down on this Dick and Jane comfy spot and take a trip back in time with reprints of those Dick and Jane Readers from the 60s.
download the tutorial here.

Merryville Playmat

Beth was asking if there was a quilt pattern planned for our new Tot Town collection? Well; voila! check out the cute roll up Merryville playmat on jcaroline's blog. While you're on her blog check out the great sneak peeks from Paula Prass and Patty Young. Both will be debuting their Collections in Houston at Quilt Market. I can't leave you without mentioning one more collection debuting at market: Laura Gunn's inspiring painterly artwork on fabric! Fun times ahead!!!!!

First Sight Gift Set Winner!

We couldn't just choose One winner since the theme was Two'fer Tuesday Tutorials !
The Randomly drawn winners are: Anary and Jaimesews!
Thanks to all for the wonderful comments and the opportunity to get to know you through your blogs. You can be sure I'll be lurking around !

Two'fer Tuesdays

The oh - so- cute Mini-Quilt and Wrist Rattle tutorials are from Joanna of Stardust shoes. Check out her great idea for kids' birthday party games that's good old fashioned fun.

This wraps it up for our July Two'fer Tuesday Tutorials (8 total) featuring the first sight collection , so just for fun post a comment and we'll pick a winner to receive a First Sight Gift Set ($70 value)

Baby Bootie Contest Winners!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here they are! It was hard to narrow it down with so many absolutely adorable entries! The The contest and the Craftzine winner round up
Our Grand Prize winner: Petite Baby Booties by Bridget Baxter . She wins a Singer Curvy sewing machine (model #8763) and a Repro Depo $100 gift certificate.
The following runner ups win a Michael Miller fabrics fat quater bundle ($80 value) and a $20 gift certificate from Repro Dep0
Rebecca Alkema with her transforming booties

Chinese Kids Baby booties by Grace Mayorga

Caroline' booties by Stephanie Leigh Sabbe
Thanks to all for the awe inspiring inspiration!!!!

weiner mobile

Yep, that's it; the updated Oscar Meyer weiner mobile. I spotted it on the drive to the airport and tailed it to the gas station.
Unfortunately I had a plane to catch, otherwise I would have stuck around to ask the big question; what kind of gas mileage does it get????

Two'fer Tuesdays

It's another Tuesday and todays' two tutorials from Joanna of Stardust Shoes will keep baby stylishly safe and entertained. I love the Car Seat Strap Covers because they can be washed and create a softer edge against the skin. The Quilted Pocket Pillow is perfect for the little hide-a-way softie from First Sights' cute critters.

Two'fer Tuesdays

Here we are again with Tuesday two'fers! 2 tutorials each Tuesday by Joanna of Stardust Shoes using our First Sight collection. Here's two more goodies to catch the little ones' attention: Baby rings and a pocket organizer.
Sooooo cute!

Happy 4th!

I know this looks goofy but it all came about when Shawn and I started reminiscing about school lunchboxes and foods from our childhood. (no, it wasn't a slow day in the studio, we're just easily distracted) Which led to fried bologna sandwiches. We thought it only fitting to have them in honor of the 4th of July. How American is that?! Luckily our food tastes have grown up, but I gotta say it hit the spot just like it did way back when, Wonder Bread and all.

Two'fer Tuesdays

Here's the deal: we're starting Two'fer Tuesdays. The first 4 Tuesdays in July we'll be posting 2 tutorials each Tuesday by Joanna of Stardust Shoes blog featuring our First Sight Collection by Shawn of Michael Miller.

The First Sight Collection was created in response to requests from customers for a baby collection geared towards an infants' developing eyesight. The contrast of black and white being the first thing they can focus on and red being the first color. Perfect for those cool black and red cribs out there, not to mention black and white themed baby showers.

Click here for the blocks. Click here for the bib.