#22 Caterina Meadows Instigator, Trouble Maker and Master Giggler

The podcast is sponsored by; Scarlet Thread Consulting The Workroom Channel WCAA Caterina Meadows, of Pate Meadows Designs will make you laugh! Before the label "strong willed child" was so widely used, there was "hardhead". Caterina wears the label hardhead proudly but sometimes considers "passionate" to be a more politically correct description. She lovingly accuses her parent's of creating a monster for telling her from the time she could sit up "there's nothing you can't do". If you're told something long enough – it's embedded forever! Sometimes, however, that tends to make life miserable for people around you. Caterina is most known as the Meadows of the dynamic duo Pate Meadows Designs and ShowHome Patterns. Way before PMD, Caterina knew she never wanted to go to college. Her goals were always: 1) Marry her high school sweetheart, Danny – which she did – two weeks after graduating high school, 2) Get a job in a big office - did that - her typing skills were way above average so as soon as she graduated high school she was hired as one of the youngest administrative assistants for Bradley, Arant, Rose and White (huge – huge law firm) and 3) Buy a house – "A" house has turned into – 11 over the years. Only 1 of the 11 required no renovations – that's because she and Danny built it. Working with her hands, Caterina describes - is a type of addiction – whether it is crocheting with her grandmother, sewing, typing, or laying hardwood flooring. After her first child, Haley, was born she quickly realized she never wanted to set foot back in an office again. Typing, although she loved, required being tied down in a cubical all day. And for her A personality it was torture to endure. So the day she left – albeit terrifying to give up the nice salary – she has never looked back. Her accomplishments (with the help of Leigh Pate, Doug Pate, and Dan Meadows and too many others to list so far have been: • 1986 to 199(?) Caterina's Customs – custom fabrication of anything sewn. "there's nothing I can't do" was my motto • 199(?) joined workrooms with Leigh's Window Fashions to alleviate the stresses of owning single person workrooms • 1995 – Pate Meadows Designs was incorporated and went on to become one of the most highly sought after custom fabrication team in the Southeast • 1996 – Big year! Show Home Patterns was born and also partnered with Southern Living Magazine on the first Lowe's Idea House. • 1996 – 2007 – Primary fabricators for Southern Living Idea Houses • 1997 – 2000 – Pattern development for Southern Living Curtain Patterns • 2002 - Developed the Show Home Hardware • 2004-2005 – Purchased and renovated the condemned McLellan building in Historic Downtown Bessemer • 2005-2015 – McLellan building was home to PMD and host to many WCAA mettings/educational seminars. Several local high schools made it a recurring field for students in Family and Consumer Sciences classes as well as the Design students attending Birmingham Southern and Samford Colleges. • Technical support and sales rep for ShowHome and Southern Living Patterns • Keynote speaker for many seminars over the years including The Family and Consumer Sciences Teachers Association, Regional and Local Sewing Conferences as well as other motivational gatherings for students of all ages • Seminar Speaker and Vendors at IWCE, CHF, IWCE and WCAA Education and Trade Conferences. • 2009-Present – Contributing Editor for the Fresh Style and Material Matters columns in Southern Lady Magazine • December 2015 – Leigh retired and Caterina took on the entire business and moved it to Franklin, Tennessee. So in a nutshell, the many hats worn by Caterina include but certainly not limited to: Daughter, wife, mother, best friend for life, instigator, business owner, teacher, cheerleader, home renovator, janitor, sales person, trouble maker, seamstress, customer service, technical support, landlord, entrepreneur, trail blazer, pattern designer, promoter of the "craft" of sewing, custom workroom, lover of life, but most important - master giggler.