PaperGirl Blog by Mary Fons

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29 Oct 2015

Child Heard Saying Bad Word: Parent Scandalized

by Mary | posted in: D.C., Day In The Life | 0

He looked kinda like this. Photo: Wikipedia

First things first: It’s safe to say that Small Wonders Fabric by Mary Fons (and all the attendant pieces and parts) is a big, fat, juicy hit. I’ll be sharing hot news and directing you to all kinds of goodies online and otherwise in the weeks and months to come. I thought I’d better mention something about what’s happening now that the puppy has been launched** or you might think it fizzled. In fact, it is fizzing.

This morning I decided several important things: I would listen to my voicemail. I would not pack any boxes because I’ll start that this weekend. I would not make tea at home but go get coffee at Firehook, my neighborhood coffee shop and bakehouse. Sometimes I buy one of their chocolate-dipped macaroons for breakfast. They’re snowball-sized. They are macaroons of consequence. They make an excellent breakfast.

I was in the elevator heading down to the lobby and the car stopped at the sixth floor. As the elevator slowed to the stop, I could hear kids’ voices. Sure enough, the doors pulled open and two kids bounded into the elevator with their mom. The girl was maybe twelve, the little boy probably six. The little boy was telling a story and I caught the best part:

“And then? They were showing the Halloween cartoons? And this one cartoon? Well, Mom, it scared the shit out of me!”

I clapped my hand over my mouth and turned my head, trying not to show this was the best thing I had ever heard. I didn’t want to encourage him. A six-year-old doesn’t need to be using curse words — and the one he used is a particularly harsh one. But you gotta hand it to the little guy: his usage was perfect. The cartoon scared him! It scared the you-know-what out of him! He said what most of us would say in these situations!

“Marcus John!!” his mother hissed. “What did you say??”

Marcus was looking up at me. He saw my eyes. I was busted. I tried to give him a pursed lip and a tsk-tsk, but it was clear that in the world of adults, I could be trusted. I smiled and shook my head at him and he smiled, too. It wasn’t an evil Damian smile he had, just a mischievous one.

And mischief is what Halloween is for.

** “Now that the puppy has been launched,” is my new favorite beginning to any sentence.

27 Oct 2015

Did Mary Fons Die?

by Mary | posted in: Day In The Life | 0

Yarborough Memorial Arch. Photo: Wikipedia — Yarborough Memorial Arch, United Kingdom. Photo: Wikipedia

A woman came up to me a few weeks ago and asked me if I had heard the rumor that I had died. I hadn’t. (Hadn’t heard, hadn’t died.)

“It was so strange,” the woman said, gently touching my arm, possibly to make sure I was warm. “I guess there were people who thought you had died because, you know, of your health concerns and all.”

The most troubling thing about this comment — outside of the fact that people thought I was dead — is that they do not read my blog. If they read PaperGirl, they’d see that I am not dead but alive and well in Washington, D.C., about to move to Chicago, and coming to a quilt guild or BabyLock dealership near you. Of course, the blog isn’t necessarily proof of my existence. I could be freshly dead. I might be dead as you read this, in fact, because blogs are not posted in real time. I might have written this, clicked “Publish”, and then choked on a pear. I might be dead in my black leather recliner right now.

It is with this image in mind I’d like to make known my last will and testament. There’s not much to it because I was snatched from life at such a tender age, cruelly ripped from life before my time, felled in my own home by fruit. Why! Why, God!

ACTUAL INSTRUCTIONS ON THE OCCASION OF MY UNTIMELY (OR TIMELY) DEATH

1. Any money I have should be split equally between my sisters. If my sisters are also dead, see the philanthropic projects contained in Instruction No. 2.

2. All my journals go to my friend Joe. Joe, change all the names and publish the journals, preferably with Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. (Second choice: Simon & Schuster.) Put all profits into a foundation that gives scholarships to girls aged 5-17 who want to be professional writers. If after reading my journals no parents will allow their child to be associated with a scholarship I founded, please create an orphanage for wayward girls.

3. Give my clothes to someone who will wear them. They’re fabulous!

4. Any money that would be spent on an urn, a casket, pine box, opulent funeral, etc., is to be put into a fund to create a Mary Fons Memorial Arch. The arch doesn’t have to be weight-bearing, it doesn’t have to be in a high-traffic area, but I have always loved a great memorial arch.

5. Bury me/burn me up with Pendennis.

25 Oct 2015

The Game Plan, and Adorable Things He Says.

by Mary | posted in: Chicago, D.C., Day In The Life, Luv, Quilting, Small Wonders, Story, Travel, Washington | 2

This post is not about Quilt Market, but I gotta post this picture! Brian Wacaster and Terri Thom from Springs Creative with our Best Merchandising Award. — This post is not about Quilt Market, but look: Brian Wacaster and Terri Thom from Springs Creative with our Best Merchandising Award!

There are a number of booth awards handed out at the show each year; this afternoon, the Mary Fons Small Wonders booth won the Best Merchandising Award, which to me is one of the best awards to get, of course. It means your concept was clear, your goods were presented exactly they way they should have been for ultimate easy-viewing and shopping enjoyment, your design was pitch-perfect and, frankly, that you got good taste. Thank you to the Academy — I mean the judges — and thank you to the whole Springs team. We did it!

But enough of all that for a moment. It’s impossible to believe while it’s happening, but there is a world beyond Quilt Market. Indeed, it’s good to remember that. The show is over tomorrow afternoon. Dust will settle. Everyone just calm down. This means me.

In less than a month, I’ll be opening my Chicago door. Claus is going to help me with the move, which is even better than winning the award today — that’s saying a lot. I cannot lift any more boxes by myself. I won’t make it. The last time I moved (the fourth time) I was carrying a too-heavy box and the bottom fell out in the hallway. Everything spilled out. I cursed the best one-word curse you can curse, then I sank to my knees to put things back together.

“I can’t do this alone anymore,” I said out loud. “I need help. I need a partner.” After I said that, well, it was Miss Mary’s Pity Party and I invited all my friends and no one came, boo-hoo, boo-hoo.

I don’t have a partner but I do have Claus*. He’s going to fly to Washington and help me drive a small truck from Point A to B. He grew up on a farm in Germany. He is very tall. He is very efficient (see: Germany). He says adorable things, so if he drops a box on my foot, I can’t be mad at him. Examples of adorable things:

1. When we have an argument: “Are you mad on me?”

2. When figuring out logistics: “If we must be at the airport at 7am, we must stand up at 5am. Oh, god…”
To say stand up is brilliant; wake up doesn’t mean much. Until you stand up, you’re not going anywhere. Isn’t that great??

3. When I whisper something sexy to him when we’re out getting sandwiches: “Mary, please do not say forbidden things.”

I know. It’s so hot.

Anyway, the move is happening in the middle of the month next month and you may have noticed that it is almost next month. I have a number of jobs before this happens and I’m even hesitant to say so; it appears I can only do things the hard way. But I didn’t plan on moving home next month, so I’ll be going to Williamsburg, Denver, and Charleston before Claus and I get in that truck. It’s a good thing I’m so deliriously happy about going home or I’d have to lie on the couch for a few days just staring at the ceiling, eating packets of instant miso soup mix by licking my finger and sticking it in the pouch.

*It’s complicated.

23 Oct 2015

Small Wonders Fabric : The Story Video

by Mary | posted in: Day In The Life | 0

Here’s the story, you guys. Small Wonders Fabric, coming to a quilt shops and fabric stashes everywhere in November. If you’re at Quilt Market, come to booth #622 and we’ll squeak together.

xo,
Mary

22 Oct 2015

Announcing Small Wonders Fabric Line from Mary Fons + Springs Creative

by Mary | posted in: Art, Small Wonders, Work | 6

For years, I have had a dream for fabric.

I love small-scale prints. Large-scale prints — the splashy pink flowers, the blooming leaves, the giant birds, the wide damasks — are often very beautiful. But when you cut them up into small pieces for patchwork, they can cause trouble. If you take a 2 1/2” square from a print that has a 5” repeat (an awning stripe, say, or a big-boned paisley) the integrity of the print is gone-zo. You get bits of red, other squares are all-white, some have a leaf on them, some do not, etc. You get the picture.

But the small-scale. The darling teensy-weenies. The tossed daisies. Wee doggies. Ditzy prints, shirtings, the perfect polka-dot. These are the fabrics that make my quilts sing, the prints I buy obscene quantities of at fabric stores because frankly, they ain’t so easy to find. Until now, of course.

I’ll tell you more about the process later so this doesn’t get too long. I’ve been working with Springs Creative, a dreamy company in South Carolina, for a couple years on this. That story is one you’ll sink your teeth into. For now, I’d like to share a few of the prints. I could only scan a few of them before leaving for the airport an hour ago.

“Small Wonders” is the umbrella under which many lines will come. The first line is “World Piece.” I designed and curated groups of small-scale prints for the following countries: the Netherlands, South America, France, India, China, and the USA, of course. There’s also a line of 108” backings; if you’re a quilter, that may have made you squeak just now.

The PaperGirl Pledge says that I only ever include one picture per entry. Rules are made to be broken in extreme situations. Today is an extreme situation. And the next few days will be Small Wonders Central on the ol’ PG. If you’re not a quilter, I guarantee you will not be bored. The fabric is only one part of the Small Wonders empire! So much more to tell. Until then, enjoy the fruits of many peoples’ loving labor.

Bunnies. Seriously. A 108'' backing print. — Bunnies. Seriously. A 108” backing print.

The Peruvian horses. Llamas? Who cares! From the South America group.

Majong tiles. Wanna play? From the China group.

I knew you wanted more China right away. Little Rickshaw Dude is here to help. — I knew you wanted more China right away. Little Rickshaw Dude is here to help!

They're in love! In love with their love! From the Netherlands group. — They’re in love! In love with their love! From the Netherlands group.

Ever been to India? Me, neither, but now we can put it in our quilt. From the India line.

Doesn't this just make you think of a pretty blouse hanging on a line in Provence? From the France group. — Doesn’t this just make you think of a pretty blouse hanging on a line in Provence? From the France group.

The stripe in the USA group. There are stars, too.

That’s it for now, my little sewing mice. Stay tuned and start calling your quilt shops now and say, “Have you ordered in the Mary Fons Small Wonders fabric line? WELL, GET ON IT, MISSY! I got quilts, small projects, garments, and Other Fabric Items to make!”

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