Here she is, my Sugar Snap!

Yeah, I know, enough selvedge already!

Of course  I can't reveal everything, but I can give you a good shot of these since you've already seen the print version:

And here, let me wrangle up a couple of peeks: 

(Note to Self: don't wait till the last day to take pictures, because the last day may be gray and your pictures might not look the way you like them to. hmmph)

ahhhhh........

Sugar Snap will be available in August. That's just a few months away, so start brainstorming! I can't wait to see what you will make with these prints! Can. Not. Wait!

Oh, and remember that other project I mentioned  I was working on with Free Spirit?
Well, I am pleased to announce that Free Spirit Fabric now has a blog! (Banner and buttons designed by yours truly!)
We are still working a few things out, but you could head on over and subscribe and say hi, if you like! You know, after you say hi to me.

Thanks for all the love yesterday.

xo, mba 

Ohmygodohmygodohmygod.

I am taking pics right now, this is the first:

My name. On. The. Edge. Of. Fabric.
I am such a geek that I couldn't wait to show you!

And I am such a geek that I keep getting all weepy with relief, disbelief, joy. 

I kept saying that I wouldn't believe it until I had the actual fabric in my hands...
Well, I was wrong because I still don't believe it!

I feel like I should be acting  nonchalant and like this was all inevitable.
But the truth is that I am still surprised that I made it out of my teens alive, and I am still surprised that ...oh, I don't even know. Just surprised by all of it. Surprised that I am ok, I guess. This is all feels like such a dream, a fantasy. 

For most of my life I didn't believe that I could be happy or healthy or  successful. I have been working so hard for so long,  just to keep my head above water, emotionally speaking.  I'd like to say that I  never gave up, but I gave up all the time.  I guess I just eventually picked myself up off the floor, whether it took weeks (if I was lucky) or months (most of the time) or years (sometimes). What can I say, I was always  a slow getter-back-upper.
But I'm getting faster. (mmm, smile)

I feel like I should ---I guess from a marketing perspective--- just act like this is all perfectly normal and act all professional and shit. And not swear. And I should say "oh my gosh" instead of "oh my god."
Well,  maybe someday.
Not today.

For today I am a girl who swears and says ohmygod.
For today I am a girl who is overcome with relief and a deep sense of okayness that is pretty new.
And I am totally digging it.

Thank you so much for your support and enthusiasm.
It is medicine for my heart.

More pictures to come. 

xo and love, for real.
mba

When I  decided to pursue designing for commercial applications, I started out with tabletop.

I'll explain more later about how I got into that, but for now I just wanted to show you a few samples that were made by Zrike a few years ago:

Can you see the bees on the strawberry vase?

You know that this one ended up being produced for Calyx Flowers:

I hope you can tell that these are not my photographs! They were sent from the factory.

Pumpkin vase:

And gravy boat! 

I don't even like gravy, but, man I wanted this gravy boat!  

Here is one of the handpainted designs  for a pasta set:

And here is the sample set:

It's incredible how precisely they replicated my hand. (my style of painting)

Here's another example of my originals and the samples made from them:

Yep, ice cream bowls. And here is the set:

I wish the pictures were better. This is all I ever saw of them. I know, they're big for ice cream bowls- but I really like  ice cream.

My fave:

I was so disappointed that this one didn't get into production.I want one.

Maybe someday!

Here it is! I am so excited to finally be able to share this with you!

A sneak peek of  my debut line  (available in August 2008) for Free Spirit Fabrics:

Sugar Snap! 

I made it for you.
I can't wait to see what you will do with it!

I always feel like a jerk for posting my usual stuff when something so terrible has happened and is all over the news. But  terrible things happen every day, don't they. I just don't know how to get my mind around it.
Sending love to the families of the victims in Illinois.

Ok. Switching gears, here. ( I learned that from tv.) 

Happy Valentine's day, late.
Or as some people say, Valentimes.

These designs  sold a while back- maybe to a scrubs company? I can't remember.  

I still haven't been able to do any photo editing, which is why my posts have been less frequent lately! I just don't like blogging without photographs!  That's why I am sharing so many of my past designs and doodle pages and illustration experiments . I hope it's not too boring!

Last week, while my honey was generously working on my computer issues, I prepared a bunch of little bits for giveaways! I will take pics and post them next week.

Guess what I did yesterday? I sent off the final final (seriously, this time) final version of my fabric designs to Free Spirit ! Now I will twiddle my thumbs for  6-8 weeks  until the strikeoffs arrive.

I cannot wait!

How about  some more of my past fabric designs?

For anyone new, I must make this disclaimer:
The following is not (necessarily!) what you should expect from my line for Free Spirit! 
These designs, like the others I have shown, were created specifically for sleepwear and junior's apparel.

It was so fun to indulge my love of the eighties and do these rainbow heart designs:

And some more, this time with horsies!

And butterflies! 

Another one incorporating one of my personal symbols of happiness, the blue sky with puffy white clouds:

Mmmm, some day it will be spring!

I can't wait.

Seeing Heather Ross's sneak peak reminded me of one of my fabric designs that  sold a couple of years ago:

Seahorses are so cool.

So, same story with this one:  don't know who it sold  to, so keep your eyes peeled for me, won't you?

I went to Tumbleweed today again and got some more little bits. I just love those little bits! I am thinking of gathering some and doing a giveaway. How does that sound?

I am happy to see that a bunch of people have been adding their photos to the Free Spirit Fabric (and Rowan)  pool that I started today on flickr. If you haven't done so yet, I really hope you will. All this webby stuff is so much more fun when more people participate.

I have been afraid I might be boring you with the drawings and conversationals. Am I boring you? I hope not. That would make me sad.  

  Oh, what the heck, here are a couple more of my older fabric designs ( yawn if you must):

I love Halloween, so it is always awesome when I get a chance to design Halloweenie stuff.

And some cute pups:

mmmm. puppy love......

Owl Be Good. Also known as Argyle Owl.
This is another fabric design sold through a third party a couple of years ago.
Again, if you see it out in the world, please let me know!

(Disclaimer: this is not what you can expect for my line for Free Spirit!) 

Thought I would show you some of my older fabric designs. These are known as 'conversationals'. Conversationals are designs that show a 'thing' or being - could be an animal, a teacup, a bee. Not a geometric or a floral. If anyone wants to chime in with a more eloquent description, please do so!

I have been hesitant to show these because they are so different from my line coming out for Free Spirit. I didn't want you to expect the line to be these kinds of conversationals, which were specifically created for juniors apparel and sleepwear. But I did want to show some of my older work, and tell you a little bit about it.

Ok?

So the top design is considered a 'placement.' It is a design that would be a single image on , say, a sleepwear top or tee shirt.  The middle design would be called a 'coordinate' - a more simple design that can be used to complement the main designs. The bottom design is the 'repeat' , a repeating overall design, often done in a 'tossed' pattern, as above. This could be the bottoms of a pajama set, perhaps with the coordinate heart pattern  as a couple inches of trim at the hem.

 This design was sold last year through a third party, so I don't know who purchased it! If you see it out in the world, please let me know!

Hey,  remember way back when I told you about my designs in the Victoria's Secret catalog? I couldn't find any locally, so my honey ordered them for me online. I have had them for a few months and finally decided to photograph them.  I don't have pics of the froggies yet, but here are the other ones!

That chest they are draped over is one of my yard sale finds. We use it as a linen closet.

Isn't it funny how they put their lettering in there? 

That was such a treat to see them in the catalog and on the website.
I can't help but wonder who else has these!  

I designed this bumblee bee vase! 

It was manufactured by Zrike and is available at Calyx Flowers . My name is even on the bottom of it!  It came out last summer with a gorgeous  sunflower arrangement  in it.  My honey had a bouquet sent to me the day I found out it was online. Love that guy.  Calyx really does an amazing job with their flowers - very fresh, big full bouquets - all incredibly well packaged for shipping.

I love having flowers sent to me. Well, duh.  I mean, who doesn't, right?  

Here is  another one  of my prints for Victoria's Secret !
the original:

I have spent all day updating my portfolio of digital surface design. I had forgotten how many designs I had sold in 2006! Good job, me! The social butterfly design above is one of my favorites. This sold to a fabric company in the fall  -  hopefully we'll see it in stores by winter2007!

Yay! Polka dot preppy froggies!! Victoria's Secret bought this design about a year ago- I am so thrilled to see it in the catalog!

Thank you so much to Luisa from Hazelnut Studio  for forwarding this to me.  I just found out that Luisa also has a killer street fashion blog .