Dreamer
Paula
Hi Y'all,
I'm Paula Yagisawa, daughter of Louisa Childs. I wish I could meet all of my students and customers face to face. Many of you have become familiar to me through phone calls, and I have had the
opportunity to meet some of you at seminars and club meetings. Well, at least now the rest of you can meet me here on my web page.
I am the president and co-owner of Down Home Dreams, Inc.. I have a Bachelor Degree in Elementary Education. I was raised by a mother (my partner) who was always sewing, painting, crafting, and striving to learn more and more; between her and my grandmothers (who were also both crafty seamstresses), I couldn't help but grow up loving sewing and embroidery. This background in sewing and education has been combined; now I do educational materials for Down Home Dreams and for the Embroidery University. My greatest pleasures are in creating beautiful heirloom quality embroidery and then using them for clothing for my children.
For those of you that wonder about my last name, my husband is Japanese. We have some of the most beautiful children you have ever seen because of their bi-racial background. My husband is an excellent computer programmer, and he is responsible for many of the embroidery programs that Down Home Dreams, Inc. sells.
If any of you wonder why some of the things I do take forever, I'll tell you why. I am a married mother of four. I have to juggle being a stay-at-home mom with my business responsibilities. I homeschool my two oldest children (one of which is ADHD). I do most of the educational materials for DHD. I sew 100% of my youngest daughter's clothing and much of the clothing worn by the rest of the family. I cut my husband's and my children's hair almost monthly. Plus, I have to digitize between 30 and 50 designs every month. Well, I guess you get the idea... want to trade?!?!? ;-)
- Sewing
- I love to sew! I sew for fun. I sew for economic reasons. I sew for therapy. And, I sew because I love
the attention it brings from others. I sometimes find it challenging to put embroidery on everything I sew, but I do manage to put embroidery on about 75% of all of the clothing I make. Due to the nature of our business, I feel as if I have to use only Down Home Dreams or EweNique Needles designs on the things I sew. If we don't have the design I need, I just digitize it! This has been the inspiration for many of the disk sets that we sell. I also enjoy smocking and doing heirloom sewing. I try to put items in either the state fair or my county's fair every summer. I feel that it is important for machine embroidery to be recognized as a
legitimate area of sewing art. PS. I do pretty good at the fairs. Last year I
received over $120 in premiums from the Ohio State Fair.
- Homeschooling
- Home education is a fact of life for our family. My eldest daughter just didn't thrive in a traditional schooling environment, so I decided it was time to bring her home and educate her myself. In the past, we have used the Hirsch books and various other materials. This year we will be using the School of Tomorrow curriculum. I have included a couple of my favorite homeschooling links with the other links I have included.
- Canning
- Yes, I guess I'm just an old fashioned girl at heart. I love to can fruits and jellies. I had learned the art of jelly making as a child, but I didn't start to love it until a few years ago. In 1994, we moved into our current home. It is on three acres of land and has 3 pear trees, grape vines and various other fruit trees. That first year in this house, I learned how to can pears. Now, I do canning about twice a year. I just finished putting up over 10 quarts of grape jelly and 2 quarts of grape juice.
House Keeping
No! I'm just joking about that!!! Just like most of you, I don't enjoy house work. I only manage to do it because I have to. I normally have to "bribe" myself to clean house; I tell myself that I can't sew until I finish the laundry, clean the kitchen, vacuum the floor, etc.
My Favorite Quote
"A Messy House is the Sign of a Creative Mind at Work!"
Electronic mail address
dreamerpaula@hotmail.com
Web address
http://dhd-emb.com
Office phone
888-276-3578
FAX number
937-224-4589
- The
Embroidery University
- EU is the place to go to take courses on all aspects of embroidery, digitizing, and running an embroidery business.
- The
Embroidery Mall
- Where I go when I want to shop for embroidery books,
check out the competition, find the newest notions or
just "hang-out" with my friends at Latte's.
- Handmades
- This is one of the nicest fabric and heirloom shops on the web.
- Craft-Antics
- Need a link to a web site for heirloom sewing or smocking. This is a great jumping point.
- Redwood Games
- I love this homeschooling web site. It includes many great links and information. It also has wonderful question pages for use with the Hirsch books.
- School of Tomorrow
- Previously known as ACE, this is a great Christian Educational Curriculum. I have been involved with ACE since the mid 70's, and I am proud to be using this material for my children now.
Copyright DHD
Last revised: August 27, 1999.