Blog Love: Interview with Alicia Paulson

Judging from the number of commenters we got on the Embroidery Companion book giveaway a few weeks ago - I have a feeling that a lot of you know and love Alicia Paulson. Her blog, Posie Gets Cozy, stands out in my mind as kind of the ultimate craft blog. Her photos are a gorgeous story in warmth and tone - her feeling for color is instinctive, and she knows how to share tantalizing details that make you feel at once at home and inspired. She pulls it all together with some really excellent writing - truly thoughtful and well-crafted. Just a few posts in and you can tell she really knows how to tell a good story. It's hard to put all of those elements together in a creative way, but Alicia has done it for years now, adding 2 published books and patterns to the list of handmade wares available in her shop.

I was beyond honored that she agreed to do an interview with us this month, and blown away by her thoughtful responses. Everyone, let's take a minute to meet Alicia:




Do you think you’ve changed as a blogger, writer, and artist since you started blogging? Has your view of the world shifted?

Yes and no. When I first started blogging in 2005, I was having a really hard time in my life -- nothing super major but just generally overworking (I owned a boutique at the time), feeling like my energy was completely scattered, feeling like I wasn't in control of my time anymore. And that feeling was sort of the opposite of what I had wanted to achieve with self-employment. I had been a writer all my life and had worked as a book editor -- but before I started blogging I hadn't written a word just for myself in over eight years. So blogging was, in a lot of ways, a return to a version of myself that I had lost along the way. In the moment, it was sort of a direct reaction to these feelings of barely controlled professional chaos I was experiencing: staying organized on the blog helped me re-organize my real life and work in real time, somehow. But in a much larger way it also allowed me to reconnect to an essential part of myself that I had kind of put behind me. I think my reasons for bloging are still exactly the same as they were in 2005. I'm still very selfish about it. I still maintain that it's just a place for me to do and say and show what I want. I still see it as a personal blog and a way of telling my own story to myself. But I do think that since I’ve started it I’ve gained confidence in myself in the larger world in general, and grown to appreciate people in a totally different way. Experiencing the kindness of strangers has changed my life in some ways. I’m very grateful for those lessons.




Our lives have become so inundated with the internet - how do you maintain a healthy balance of online vs. offline?

Hmmm. In all honesty, it’s not a hard balance for me to find. I don’t feel like I’m on my computer more than I need to be, and it’s off quite a bit. But then, I don’t do Facebook (I have an account but I never use it), don’t do Twitter, don’t get email on my cell phone. I’m turned off probably more than a lot of people I know. I am a horrendously lazy emailer, though. It’s the hardest thing for me. I have a very hard time answering emails and let them pile up to the point of shrieking. It’s awful.




There’s something so intimate and wonderful and, well, cozy about your blog. Where do you think this feeling comes from?

Originally I chose the name Posie Gets Cozy because the name of my business is Posie, and the blog seemed sort of like a place behind the scenes of my regular work, where I was sort of curling up under a blanket with hot chocolates and just talking to a friend about all manner of randomness, some serious, some silly. It’s kind of the only way I know how to do it. And we truly are comfort-mongers around her. I guess we take our cozy seriously at Paulson Place.




If you could tell the you of 5 years ago one thing, what would it be?

Ah, boy. I only wish I knew what to tell her. I honestly, honestly don’t know. I’d probably tell her to make some different decisions. I only wish I knew which ones I would have her change.

Can you please show us your favorite embroidery project?

My latest one is almost always my favorite. Right now that’s the Winterwoods ABCs cross-stitch sampler, which will be available as a kit really soon. I haven’t shown the finished, framed sampler yet, but here’s a sneak peek:



For my next project, I think I’m going to do something botanical, on a black background, or something very dark. Like spring popping out of the mud.

Name 1 person you would LOVE to meet: (past, present, real or fiction)

Joanna Newsom. She is so fearless and original and sincere and thoughtful and so incredibly talented musically, obviously, and so articulate. I listen to her music almost every day and when I see videos of her playing it I feel like her performance is as moving as the music itself. She’s so unique. I just adore her.

*****

Thank you, Alicia, for sharing your thoughts and a sneak peek with us! All the gorgeous images in this post come from Alicia's blog and site, and are used with her permission. I have to say that while putting these interview questions together, I was listening to a wonderful podcast interview Alicia did on Craftsanity in 2006, and I highly recommend a listen: http://craftsanity.com/podcast/files/pod17.html

By the way, if you fell in love with Alicia's cross-stitch sampler in progress (like I did), she's put together some gorgeous sampler kits, available now in her shop - for more details visit her blog post.



For more on Alicia, please visit:
Her web site: www.aliciapaulson.com
Her shop: www.rosylittlethings.com
Her blog: www.rosylittlethings.typepad.com