making it fun

Thursday, June 1, 2023

Brand Ambassador Intro - Becky Jorgensen

Our next 2023 Brand Ambassador is the fabulous Becky Jorgensen. Her designs will make you want to get out your machine and sew! Her unique quilt blocks and her fresh take on mixing fabrics is inspiring. We are very excited to have her as part of the Michael Miller family! Read all about her and her sewing journey below.

Becky Jorgensen is a quilter and pattern designer; her love of the needle started with a embroidery sampler at age 8. She’s not afraid to think outside of the box and explore new quilting techniques and ideas.

Disappearing Pinwheels Quilt using the "All American" fabric collection

In 2014 she launched Patchworkers Plus, allowing her to share her passions with quilters from around the world and build an active community. In addition to the quilt group she also designs and sells the yearly Patchwork Planner. Helping others keep projects, supplies, ideas and progress tracking is something she enjoys. Bringing a little bit of organization to a creative sewing area is tough; having more time to sew and less time searching is her goal.

Ripples Mini Quilt Featuring Coco Fabric

Her patterns have appeared in the books: Embroider Your Life, Crafty Little Things to Sew as well as in Primitive Quilts Magazine and Prims Magazine. Her patterns have been featured on Thermoweb, Andover Fabrics, Moda Bake Shop, Checkers Dist, , Fat Quarterly and more.

You can keep up with the latest happenings, planner pages and patterns on her blog- www.patchworkposse.com

Be sure to follow Elisabeth with the links below to see all the Michael Miller fun she'll be sharing!

Website: https://patchworkposse.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/patchworkposse/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/patchwork_posse

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcULExXw3qShLv0wv5gbr-A

Thursday, May 4, 2023

Brand Ambassador Intro - Kim Jamieson-Hirst

Our final 2022 Brand Ambassador is the incredibly talented Kim Jamieson-Hirst from Chatterbox Quilts. Her love of fabric and crafting is infectious and we're so excited to have her as part of the Michael Miller Family! The designs that she creates are innovative and beautiful. Read all about her and her sewing journey below.

Kim Jamieson-Hirst is the owner of Chatterbox Quilts, a quilting business dedicated to helping quilters learn and improve their skills. Kim’s a YouTube influencer whose upbeat personality and easy to understand tutorials attract viewers. She is the creator of several online quilting courses, such as The Mandala Project and First Steps into Free Motion Quilting. Kim shares her quilting knowledge through her Chatterbox Quilts’ YouTube channel, Chatterbox Quilts’ Crew group, and her private online membership, The Quilter’s Way, where members learn new techniques by creating projects.

Diamond Bright strip-pieced quilt designed by Kim Jamieson-Hirst of Chatterbox Quilts for the Wrangle Your Scraps Challenge:

Kim is helped in her quilt studio by her purry assistants, Teeka, Victor, and Salem who are always eager to lend a paw or two. When not quilting, Kim can be found binge watching shows on Netflix (the scarier, the better!), creating in her studio or filming videos with her hubby, Gary.

Kim's studio

Kim doesn’t believe in the quilt police but does believe that quilting is more than stitching an accurate 1⁄4” seam (if it ain’t fun, it ain’t quilting 😉), that chocolate is an essential quilting tool, and that practice makes improvement…and you’re improving with each quilt you make!

The One World quilt designed by Quilt Fusion for a quilt along co-hosted with Kim Jamieson-Hirst of Chatterbox Quilts. Quilt created by Kim Jamieson-Hirst

The Mandala Project designed by Kim Jamieson-Hirst of Chatterbox Quilts for the online course of the same name

Kim's first project as a Michael Miller Fabrics Brand Ambassador - Candy Swirl using Fresco Fabric

Watch Video Tutorial Below

Be sure to follow Elisabeth with the links below to see all the Michael Miller fun she'll be sharing!

Connect with Kim at:

Chatterbox Quilts: https://www.chatterboxquilts.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/chatterboxquilter

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chatterboxquilts

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chatterboxquilts

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/cbquilts/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@chatterboxquilter

The Quilter’s Way: https://www.chatterboxquilts.com/mpqs

Thursday, April 27, 2023

Brand Ambassador Intro - Mike Stevens

We want to introduce you to another 2023 Brand Ambassador, the incredibly talented Mike Stevens. His designs are like nothing you've ever seen before. He will make you want to get out your machine and sew! His quilts are artistic, colorful and unique and his fresh take on mixing fabrics is inspiring. We are very excited to have him as part of the Michael Miller family! Read all about him and his sewing journey below.

Using his mom’s sewing machine, Mike Stephens taught himself to sew in sixth grade. His future was then set in the world of textiles. His nearly 40-year history as a sewist, quilter and designer are apparent in his current textile works of art.

Mike has made a name for himself throughout Indiana, and beyond, as a very creative quilt designer and quilter. He opened his quilt shop, “Notyouraveragequilter” in 2016 just north of Brownsburg, IN. Notyouraveragequilter is anything but average and not just about quilts! This gem of a store features today’s newest lines of high-quality fabrics as well as custom quilting and quilt tops designed by Mike. Upon entering this shop your eyes will be dazzled by well over 2,000 bolts of high-quality quilt fabric from batiks to florals, holiday, youth and everything in between from the best fabric manufacturers like Michael Miller Fabrics, Tula Pink, Tim Holtz, FreeSpirit, Robert Kaufman, and In the Beginning to name a few.

Mike's Worskspace

Mike has developed his own version of appliqué he calls Batik Painting and has won numerous awards using this technique in a variety of quilts.

In addition to creating one of a kind quilts, he also designs and manufactures uniforms for high school marching bands and color guard, custom banners for any commercial need, as well as horse show stall dressings for top breed horse owners.

Mike's first project as a Michael Miller Brand Ambassador using Garden Pindot and Cotton Couture Fabric called the "Pin Dot Squared Quilt"

He is available for trunk shows, lectures or teaching. Contact Mike at 317/769-4301, email at notyouraveragequilter@aol.com or through his Facebook page “Notyouraveragequilter”.

Monday, April 24, 2023

Brand Ambassador Intro- Kristi Brady

We are very excited to introduce you to, Kristi Brady also known as Blu Moon Design. She is one of our 2023 Brand Ambassadors! She specializes in girls apparel and has an incredible eye for design. Her patterns and photography are inspiring and we are very excited to have her as part of the Michael Miller family! Read all about her and her sewing journey below.

Kristi Brady has been sewing since she was little. Her mother and grandmother taught her at a young age. She remembers spending time in fabric stores as a child, and loving it!

Kristi is from Michigan, is married and has three grown children. She has been running her little girls' clothing shop, Blu Moon Design, for 17 years now.

She loves bright and whimsical prints with a vintage style. Michael Miller has been a favorite fabric company for many years!

Kristi's first project as a Michael Miller Brand Ambassador using Fairy Frost Fabric.

Be sure to follow Kristi with the links below to see all the Michael Miller fun she'll be sharing!

website: blumoondesign.com

Instagram instagram.com/blumoondesign

Facebook facebook.com/blumoondesign

TikTok tiktok.com/blumoondesign

Brand Ambassador Intro- Elisabeth DeMoo

We are very excited to introduce you to, Elisabeth DeMoo also known as Brown Bird Designs. She is one of our 2023 Brand Ambassadors! Her colorful and cute designs are sure to be inspiring! She brings a bright and cheery spirit to all her designs and we can't wait for you to see all the amazing projects she creates.

Learn all about her below!

On Halloween of 1978 began the life of Elisabeth DeMoo. This craft-o-holic is obsessed with textiles and making things. Most days, you can find her in her sewing room in Tucson, AZ, where she almost always has at least 10 projects scattered about. Growing up on a family farm in New Mexico gave her a love for keeping busy. As a child, she loved drawing and was active in 4-H where she took baking, dairy, ceramics, and sewing classes. She graduated college with a degree in visual communication and worked as a graphic designer at a Marketing Agency in Texas for 5 years. Then returned to working for her family farm and freelancing as a graphic designer.

Elisabeth's Workspace

While she was in college, quilting was introduced to her. She fell in love with all of its possibilities and decided to build a passion project around it. She created Brown Bird Designs in 2012, which is her little corner of the world. There she shares the patterns she designs, learns techniques, and studies the quilting industry. Her goal is to share her progress, creations, and knowledge about the art of quilting.

Elisabeth's first project as a Michael Miller Brand Ambassador

"Garden Star 5 Quilt" using Coco and Cotton Couture fabrics.

She works to cultivate a community of creatives that want to find projects and join challenges by sharing their progress. Through the years, she has worked with companies like the Moda Bakeshop, Craftsy, Blue Print, Patchwork Love and Quilting, Riley Blake Designs, and more. Her dream is to design fabric and create a full-time quilting business.

Be sure to follow Elisabeth with the links below to see all the Michael Miller fun she'll be sharing!

Website: www.brownbirddesigns.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elisabeth.demoo

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brownbirddesigns/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/elisabethdemoo/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVBUPtKPXOhRVQWP7zZKsgA

Friday, January 27, 2023

Meet our MMF 2023 Brand Ambassadors

Meet our 2023 Ambassadors!

We are fortunate to have seven members of the quilting elite joining our Michael Miller family. These quilters, designers and bloggers are tremendously talented. We are so excited that they will be working with our fabric collections and sharing their enthusiasm for Michael Miller fabrics for the next year. Keep an eye on our blog and social media as we will be posting more detailed information on each of them throughout the next few weeks.

Be sure to follow all of them all on social media by clicking their links below to see all of the Michael Miller fun they will be posting.

Kristi Brady - Blue Moon Design