Showing posts with label Moda Lissa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Moda Lissa. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Moda Country Fair Blog Hop Day 9 and Lissa's Birthday!

Hello and welcome to day 9 of the Moda Country Fair Blog Hop and also Lissa Alexander's birthday. Lissa is the director of marketing for Moda.




Moda Lissa is 29 years old today.


Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Push the play button and sing along to this happy birthday song for Lissa.

The quote of the day is:

“Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long.
We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things,
because we’re curious… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”
Walt Disney

This quote could very well apply to Moda - and Moda Lissa - Always moving forward.




The designer of the day is Liesl Gibson from Oliver + S.
Hop on over to her blog see what she has to offer.

Stop by tomorrow for the quote of the day and to hook up with Joanna from Fig Tree and Co.

Let's all try to look forward instead of backwards.

From my heart,
Sandy

September 6th Sandy Gervais of Pieces from My Heart
September 7th Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs
September 8th Barb and Mary from Me and My Sister Designs
September 9th Camille Roskelley of Thimbleblossoms
September 10th Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts
September 11th Basic Grey
September 12th Polly and Laurie from Minick and Simpson
September 13th Sandy Klop from American Jane (Post will be featured on Moda's blog)
September 14th Liesl from Oliver + S
September 15th Joanna from Fig Tree and Co.
September 16th Lynne from Kansas Troubles
September 17th Barb and Alma from Blackbird Designs
September 18th Aneela Hoey from Comfortstitching.com
September 19th Barbara Brackman from Barbara Brackman, of course.
September 20th Bonnie from Cotton Way
September 21st Christina from Cabbages and Roses
September 22nd Deb Strain
September 23rd Jan Patek of Brannock and Patek
September 24th Lauren and Jessi Jung
September 25th Stephanie from Lily Ashbury
September 26th Julie from Cosmo Cricket
September 27th Kate Spain
September 28th Karla, Susan and Lisa from Sweetwater
September 29th Kaari from French General
September 30th Lisa from Primitive Gatherings

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Last Day of Pillow Talk and Moda/Sandy History

Welcome to day 22 and the last day of Moda's Pillow Talk blog hop.
I must say this sure made the month of February fly by.




Lissa Alexander, Moda's director of marketing, is our featured blogger today.
Hop on over to her blog for fun and games with prizes.

Lissa joined the Moda team shortly after I did.
She brought a lot of creativity and energy to the company.
She is the kind of person everyone should have as a friend.
I have chosen a piggy bank for today's subject.
I have titled the painting ...


Deposits.
Some people only withdraw from your emotions.
(You really need to stay away from those people.)
Lissa deposits into your emotions.
It may be a little gift in the mail, or a one line email.
It's like she has a sixth sense, and she somehow knows
that you are running on empty and really could use a deposit.

And today I will not tell you to check back tomorrow to see the painting of the day or to link up with anyone, as this is the end of the mini pictures and the blog hop. If you are interested in Moda/Sandy Gervais history keep scrolling, otherwise this blog ends here.


Remember to make as many deposits as you can today and you and all around you will be rich.

From my heart.
Sandy

And now for a little bit of Moda/Sandy Gervais history.

The owner of Moda, Mr. Mark Dunn, is known for his funky clothing and even wilder shoes.
At my first Quilt Market, Mr. Dunn and Cheryl Freydberg came to my booth to ask me to design fabric for Moda.
I have no idea what Cheryl was wearing
but I remember what Mark was wearing.
A linen suit with an Aztec black print.


You will never find Mr. Dunn in a plain white shirt.


Or a navy blue blazer.


In my early days at Moda, WATTS lines and faxes were the way to communicate.
There was no such thing as "branding" as evident in my first portfolio.
No mention of Moda anywhere.


Portfolio today.
The Moda logo prominently displayed.


Moda's selvages have changed over the years.
My first selvages. Just Moda and my name.
This is The Great Outdoors border fabric.

This was one of the lines that nobody guessed correctly.


Later we changed to this.
Moda, my name and the line of fabric.



Now they have all of the above, plus the pattern number.
VERY helpful if you are googling fabric.




My first market with Moda/United Notions they had a 4-plex of booths.
Today they have 24+ booths.
The booth went from a very plain business look
to all of the creativity that you see in Moda's booths today.
(Lissa Alexander has a lot to do this creativity.)
This dollhouse themed booth was one of my favorites.



At one time Moda produced dishes.
These were short lived as they had problems
with packaging and breakage in shipping.
I had a total of three lines of fabric converted to dishes.

This tree was taken from my Christmas Brights line of fabric.
I use these dishes every year during the month of December.
I think the gingerbread man dishes are a Deb Strain design.

In 2004 Bruce and I joined Moda for a trip to Seoul Korea.
I was able to tour the art studio and the print plant to see my fabric being printed among many other touristy side trips.
It was a trip of a life time.

In 2006 we returned the favor and invited Korea to Iowa.
They thought that Algona's large grain elevator was an apartment building.
And they asked "where is the corn?"
People think of Iowa as tall corn.
It was early May and the corn was just coming out of the ground.
Korea - Iowa - two different worlds.
I have pictures of the Korea trip but it seems my scanner died today.
(Pre-digital pictures.)
The death of my scanner was not a shock.
It had been on borrowed time for quite sometime now.
RIP.
Some of you must have mis-read my blog.
As I said I would list all of my lines of fabric - NOT picture them.
As I stated I am missing many of the prints.
And do you know how long it would take to scan in even just one piece of fabric from each of the 89 lines?
I cannot spend that much time on something that does not make a girl money.
I will list them by year and name.

The first few lines are a little uncertain as to which order they were produced as Moda was not keeping computer records at the time and the portfolios were not dated.

1995-1998
Pieces From My Heart (this consisted of four groups)
Melody of Angels
First Snow
Friends and Flower
Don't remember the name


Mom's Sewing
Dad's Farm
The Great Outdoors
Harvest Halloween
I Love My Cat
God Bless America I
God Bless America II
I Believe
Gift of Love
Gervaisics
Babies and Bees
Posies and Pals
Posies
Heartwarmings
A Children's Choir
Thorington Collection
Painted Ladies
Sun Porch
School's Out
1999
High Tea
Pheasant Run
Twinkling Lights
Twinkling Brights
2000
Baby Talk
In Full Bloom
All things Christmas
Autumn Splendor
Sweet Land of Liberty
Heritage Square
2001
French Garden
Olde Glory
Holiday Happenings
Fall Frolic
2002
Do the Funky Chicken
Posies
Dear Santa
Nature's Kaleidoscope
2003
Best Friends
Whispers in the Wind
We the People
Christmas X-citement
Happy Hollow
New Hats old friends
2004
Heart & Soul
Friendly Folk
Glory Be
Bittersweet & Boo
Bundle Up!
2005
Visions
Oh Baby
New Quilts...Old Friends
Take a Bough
Sweet Potato Pie
2006
76 Trombones
Hearts Aflutter
Cold Winter Noses
Anticipation
Trick or Treat
Serendipity
2007
Democracy
Flirtations
Holly Jolly
Celebrate Spring
Mix & Mingle
Fall Back In Time
2008
Red, White and Bold
Candy Kisses
Merry & Bright
Fresh Squeezed
Tranquility
Pumpkins Gone Wild
2009
Zipptiy Doo Dah!
Objects of Desire
Essence
Gobble Gobble
Crazy 8

L'amour
2010
Nautical and Nice
Giddy
Adoring
Frolic
Awesome
Lollipop
2011
Lovely
Yet to come in 2011:
Grand Finale
Reindeer Games
This is all I can remember. I think I might be missing a fall line somewhere.

That's a brief history.
The world and Moda has changed a lot since I joined Moda. Every year Moda does something to make life easier for a shop owner and to better the company. Moda also gives back and supports many charities.

One of my favorite quotes is:
"Retirement is for those who aren't all-consumed by their professions.
An Artist can't retire."
Milton Glazer (Artist and designer of I (heart) New York.)
I hope to be a part of the Moda family for many more years to come, as I too never plan to retire.

From my heart,
Sandy