Anna Maria Horner

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11/09/11--10:16: Alright already! (chan 2017971)



I took this just for you. In all my early morning no makeup, no hairbrush, no shower glory. Ahh photobooth, I loves ya. I tried to turn to the side so you could see the Versace Medusa insignia thingy.

Stay classy, Anna.






11/12/11--06:59: Patchwork Prism (chan 2017971)



Hullo there. I meant to get photos from quilt market uploaded, edited, flickred and blogged yesterday but the heavens opened, shining rays of unspeakable light on my sewing table and told me I should quilt instead. So I obeyed. (Seriously look! I never get those cool sun flare shots.) For real, I did have the house all to myself for a solid 6 hours so I moved my sewing machine downstairs next to the design wall and patched and patched and patched. And as it happens its a new quilt pattern for my Janome projects called Patchwork Prism. Hmm.

hope you're having a sunny weekend, xoxoAM






11/21/11--21:05: Backwards and Forwards (chan 2017971)






Hi friends. First things last. Erhh, last things first. I can't remember anymore. But I do know I have been dancing around in circles waiting to show you some quilt market photos all the while balancing a few other heavy duty tasks like filming Janome videos for days on end and other things of that nature. But here we are then. Okay. Above is the cover of the brochure we put together for fall market. We try to print plenty of these so that we can include them inside all of the shop orders to keep you in the know. You know. Anyway, I am going to attempt some prose here, but I have a hunch that this post might get a little Cliff note-ish. So the bullet point for the above would be the first look here on the blog of my upcoming Ribbon Collection with Renaissance Ribbons. There is no better source for gorgeous jacquard ribbon and I am so much more than honored to be working with them. We are just about to load 8 ribbons into the shop soon to be followed by a few dozen more colors of the same designs. They are like cake after dinner. Perfectly beautiful in every way, and I've been working on lots of project ideas for you. Moving on.




The star of the show, at least front and center was the Log Mansion Quilt. Did you see that?- the title is linked to the downloadable pdf pattern for you. Hooray! (You can also get it from my MAKE page.) Just put the finishing touches on the pattern this morning, and Pierrette has also prepared some kits in the shop.







It really is one of my favorites.



Though this one is begging for a close second. There are a few notes for this lovely quilt. Not only does it feature many of the Loulouthi Velveteens which will be shipping next month, but the linen patches feature some of the embroidery work from an upcoming embroidery collection that I will be publishing hopefully before the end of the year. The pattern is called Love from A to Z and it is a full upper and lower case alphabet of a pretty healthy scale. The pattern will also feature a bonus project idea, this quilt, that will share a clever way to work your embroideries into a sewn item. I am also finishing up a second embroidery pattern called Fields Aflutter that is a conservatory of florals, butterflies, borders and other delights. More about the embroidery patterns soon.




A velveteen pouf that I designed just for market but that I can't get out of my head. And I think we know what happens then. So perhaps a new pattern in the Spring.




Here is a pretty shot of the velveteens from the catalog.




Pouf. And a pillow of linen, ribbon, and backed with velveteen. The table is from CB2. Wish it were bigger, and I'd use it in my living room. I thought of putting two together, but its still really low. I love the look of that dang table though.




See through. Shiny. Pretty. I really enjoyed this bouquet too.




Sigh.




This Painted Portrait Dress, enchanted with a bit of ribbon machine applied to the yoke, is cut a little longer than the pattern standard, for an elegant, albeit gypsy-ish, silhouette of rich color. We've topped it off with a Figure 8 Scarf of the new velveteens. Rest assured the moment we have the velveteens in hand, we will have new scarf kits in the shop for you.




And another sweet little ribbon project was on display. Lots and lots of vertical pintuck pleats made from simple, solid voile, which turn this way and that as the ribbon lays across on the horizon. The same concept could be done with bias bindings, or any cross grain fabric for that matter. It was a very fun exploration in texture, and a nice breather from print. Perhaps the most princessy type design I've ever dabbled with. I look forward to putting together some tips on this little number for you.







Last but not least (and probably not all of everything, but I did try) ...needlepoint. Thats right. Kits. Printed canvas. Wool. And for me, very, very fond memories of my childhood- one eager but imperfect stitch after another. One by one building my ideas of what is a good thing to do with your time. I am just so glad that Anchor was all too happy to let me design four new kits that will become available in Jan/Feb. We had just gotten the unstitched canvases right before we left, so I can't wait to show you the finished samples.




I'd like to say too, that I am feeling particularly reflective lately on the work that I have had the opportunity to do and share. Maybe not by accident that I feel very thankful this week, more than ever, for what I wake up to each workday. I've just been thinking that while I don't take my work too seriously, I also don't take the privilege of getting to do it too lightly. I am beyond blessed. And the added happiness of sharing it with you when I am able too is particularly lovely.




May you be blessed and well fed, body and soul.

Happy Thanksgiving,

xo, Anna Maria






11/28/11--11:08: Backatit (chan 2017971)



I typically gauge the success of any time off with how happy I am to be back at work. Our time away was perfect, though we always wish it a bit longer. It must have been just enough, because I am happy to be back. Before I left, I had meant to mention a giveaway of some of my loot over at the Cloth Paper Scissors blog that I think is being announced today, so do hurry over! It helps to celebrate my moved-into-studio being featured as the cover story for their STUDIOS winter issue. So honored.

Hope you're glad to be backatit today, xo, AM






11/30/11--07:38: ChildSky (chan 2017971)




I had the fortunate experience as a growing young girl to have yearly visits with my 3 cousins (my only American cousins) in northern Indiana. Outside of cousins being pretty much the best part of any holiday, we were particularly lucky to have the perfect match up of ages, temperaments, and genders... my mild mannered sister Eleni paired up with my mature and kind cousin Liesl, my spirited brother George was the perfect match for my fiesty and mischievous cousin Curtis, and being the baby in my family I was plopped together for better or worse (always better) with sweet, bubbly Meghan - the other baby. And we were essentially the giggle girls. My cousins, I assumed from a very early age, had it so much better than us. They lived across the farm from my grandparents. My imagination pondered the luxury of just walking across a few acres of field and cornstalks to see your grandparents. Pie, potatoes and chocolate sheet cake just minutes away and likely once halfway there, you'd be able to smell it coming at you, you'd break into a gallop to arrive just before you missed the last slice, scoop, piece. I had only their holiday house in my mind, you see. The idea that there might also be some sort of mundane day to day experience escaped me entirely. Jealousy was always more entertaining than reality.

With that field, that farm, those barns and coups full of animals, those two houses full of cousins, grandparents, and warm, delicious, sweet smells, I was given - as often as we could make the 500 mile drive - a cousin experience that could not have been better. Meghan collected koalas. Here room was littered with every imaginable shape, size, color, stuffed, poster, book and sticker of koalas (enter lovely jealousy again). The boys were usually hurting one another, fighting over the rules of any game, or scheming a prank on us. The mature girls were typically off doing something mature, I guess, we were rarely ever welcome. When we did catch a glimpse of their make-believe through a cracked door, it usually involved pretend boyfriends or pretend families, so we could leave that scenery entirely uninterested, and opt for something like a staring contest over Lays potato chips, where the bust-out of laughter was accompanied by shooting food in each others' faces. We were the babies. All I can remember is laughing, really.

I do remember one early evening where Meghan and I were running through the fields behind my grandparents' house and something had upset me.... I think one of the other kids. I was wearing a zippered sweater. I told Meghan I was running away. The sky was huge. And filled with more color than what seemed possible for a sunset. It went on forever, the flat landscape barely putting up a fight to obstruct any part of it from our view. I ran, and ran, yelling that I would never come back, my mouth tasted bright and salty with exhaustion in the northern air. And Meghan, a few years younger, kept after me, ran as hard, caught up, and begged me not to do it. She was the only one of the two of us that believed I actually would. She cried. And begged. She wasn't my sister who knew better because I usually never made it passed that row of pine trees in the back side yard. She wasn't my brother who wouldn't have been paying attention anyway, busy with whatever boys do. She was my cousin. My baby cousin. She didn't see me everyday and know better. She didn't account for the safety net I could bounce off of by just running from our grandparents' farm to my aunt & uncles barn. I learned that she loved me. And hours later we were back at the gigglefest in her room, in the dark. Past our bedtime. She up on her squeaky, springy bed, and me down on the trundle telling her that I never would have really done it. Both of us laughing hysterically.

Years later I would lay on that same trundle, as an 18yr old, in the dark and tell dear sweet baby Meghan that I was pregnant. When I did, she laughed and laughed and begged me to be serious. Like she had learned her lesson from me after so many Thanksgivings and Christmases. But then we cried and cried. And laughed.

The wide open, ridiculously colored skies that directed us on the long drive from a cousin visit in New York last week, brought back so much to me. Its amazing, isn't it? Sights, sounds, smells. Childhood and what it made of you. I watched our children with their cousins during the visit. Sometimes I felt I could label a certain giggle, or bike ride, or slip down the backyard slide as a memory for them and file it away in their little unaware brains. I could see them being made, right there in front of me. And they have no idea how much it will all mean to them one day.

And I felt glad and thankful.
Thank you all my cousins, near and far, especially Meghan who chased me down and loved me.
xoAnna






12/02/11--07:46: Doing This, Thinking That (chan 2017971)



Post Disclaimer: All photos reference the THAT of which I am thinking and not the THIS of which I am doing. There are too many THISs to photograph.

Doing:: Replacing six 10 1/2 ft structural porch columns on the front of our house :: waiting impatiently to have this installed in the dining room :: and two of these and one of these in the hallway :: attending to the lingering details in Nicolas's room and the girls' room after having renovated both :: considering which day to buy our Christmas tree and therefore decorate the whole house

Thinking:: About picking up all the little sunshine crochet squares I started last winter on the couch with Juliana and lots of Whoppers :: Wondering if I need all those things again to be able to do it :: Yes, I do :: I was originally inspired by an amazing blanket that I saw either on etsy or flickr or both.... I think by a talented (Northern?) European woman.... and she had it styled on a modern gray couch.... anyone? I have seen several of course that are similar, but her color choices were unusually gorgeous....Please post a link in the comments if you know what I'm talking about :: Of course you can post anything you want even if you don't know what I'm talking about too :: Which is always the case, really :: EDITED to add- found it!!! Thank you Anonymous commenter :: My first inspiration was found at Sandra Juto's marvelous site :: I can go on living now :: This is a gorgeous photo here



Doing:: Putting the finishing touches on my first pattern for Janome - the Patchwork Prism Quilt :: getting to the homestretch of my first two published-and-soon-to-be-for sale-embroidery collection patterns :: finalizing colorways for more ribbons :: hooking up my new printer so that I can send off the final prints for my next fabric collection :: wearing wooly slippers

Thinking:: That I maybe should have created these crochet squares with the continuous joining method that I found here today while looking for the original inspiration source of the blanket :: Genius in that it saves the white round for last so that you can crochet it and attach them at the same time without having to sew in any yarn ends from the stitching step :: Maybe it would look weird now to finish the blanket with two different methods :: Maybe I should save that for the next one I want to make substituting all the white with something dark :: Grey



Doing:: Interrupting my work several times a day to search presents I'm on the hunt for :: Sending anonymous gift ideas to Jeff using Evernote :: Choosing flannels to make scarves for the girls :: Drinking room temperature coffee and weighing the option of walking downstairs to heat it up

Thinking:: About how much I would like to eat cheese and crackers on the couch while crocheting more sunshine :: It could tie me over until I buy whoppers and Juliana is home :: The THAT that you want to do is always so much more entertaining than the THIS that you're in the midst of:: Until of course the THAT has been a THIS for a few hours

goodweekendxoAM






12/04/11--13:07: Night Lights (chan 2017971)








Yes, its normal to want to go straight to your local craft store now and purchase glitter.

No, its not normal after doing so to think about what your yellow lab (insert any human, pet, automobile or piece of furniture here) would look like with some glitter. You must inhale just enough during your projects to mess up your brain a little.

Last night we ooohhhed, ahhhed and barely blinked we were so excited to try every next color. Totally worth the line at Michael's that stretched to the back of the store.

xoxoxo, fluttery eyelashes and glittery kisses to you, AM & the sparkle team

(burnt lightbulb rehabilitation program found here)






12/06/11--07:42: Answers To Questions You Didn't Ask (chan 2017971)


(photo is one corner of the girls new room do over, more soon)

:: Candy Cane JoJo's + coffee = breakfast (my own special mathamathicals)
:: Cookie Crisp cereal was eaten at lunch yesterday by someone.
:: And potato chips were layered into a peanut butter & jelly sandwich for dinner.
:: Okay, it was me.
:: My appetite is 9 years old lately.
:: I'm not pregnant.
:: Nicolas will not put the guitar down.
:: That is generally good except
:: There is no other first song to learn on the guitar except Smoke on the Water (or CatScratchFever depending on your generation. But its the same song (almost) and it doesn't seem to ever go away.)
:: He did teach himself the Tetris theme music which is awesome except
:: It makes me anxious and want to organize everything in the house to maximize space.
:: Kristen Wiig could be the funniest person on the planet.
:: Roman met our friend the Question Mark.
:: It started at my brother's house over Thanksgiving when I asked Roman to pull up his little pants and he looked at me with a sideways face, held his palms to the ceiling and said "why, mommy?"
:: Its the cousins' fault.
:: Though he has lately upgraded to ?.2.0 with phrases like "wha happin mommy?"
:: Sometimes you just have to fill your husband's Amazon shopping cart to get what you want and feel no shame.
:: Isabela, the other guitarist, has pre-warned me that she won't be getting her hair out of her face for her upcoming guitar recital
:: I am so conflicted on the inside.
:: Her face is pretty, I like seeing it.
:: But so is her will, I like feeling it.
:: We may meet in the middle with clean, shiny, brushed and in her face.
:: Planning 7 handmade gifts for your family on December 6th is chance-y.
:: That reminded me I have work to do.

:: Should you like to read through some answers to questions I really was asked, you can go visit with me at my friend Bari's lovely embroidery site called welovefrenchknots (yes we do!!!)

have a good day poopsieschmoos. xoxo, Anna






12/10/11--10:17: Loukoumades & Sunshine (chan 2017971)



16 past noon on Saturday. All of our ornament & decking boxes are piled up on the dining room table. Sunshine is pouring in. Loukoumades are rising on the kitchen counter. Under a towel I made more than 3 years ago, which has held up quite nicely. I'm so glad I've used it. I hope we have enough honey. Getting the tree today.

xo, AM






12/12/11--11:04: Hello, Friend. (chan 2017971)



Yesterday I woke up with an aching head, stuffy nose, sore throat and a bubbly 2.5 yr old boy in my bed that didn't quite get it. I kissed each kid off to church with their dad, and I stayed in bed as long as I could. Once just laying there was driving me crazy I got up and took as much legal medicine as possible (its really all I have) to feel a little better than absolutely horrible.


Somewhere after the medicine and some black mint tea, I started realizing that I was alone in the house and could possibly have some quiet time with a glue gun (as opposed to chaos time with a glue gun where I try to prevent it from ending up on my rug or someone's delicate skin, which amounts to me plugging it in and out of the wall about 80 times in a 30 minute period and always waiting for it to heat up to do any little dab). Ahem. So working on a twig wreath that I've had for years and never really knew what to do with seemed like a manageable task. In my jammies and wooly slippers. Sipping tea.



I simply used some Christmas-y craft leftovers. But when I was done, something (maybe the medicine) told me it needed printed paper. So I tore pages out of an already torn book and wrapped them around these sort of balloon-on-a-wire-stem sorta ornament things that ended up to looking something like a trumpet or a newspapered ice cream cone or a bulbous tulip, erhhh I don't know what. But I liked it. And today, cold-medicine-free, I still like it. So its a keeper.

Thanks for listening. More tea?

OH!

My friends at Janome are doing a big, fat drawing in an effort to reach 20,000 likes on their facebook page. Entering to win (things like machines, patterns, fabric and more x 2 so that you and a friend can share) involves just two things: (1) read their blog posts each day this week about their "friends" -today happens to be me ... awwwwe, and leave a comment on the post to enter to win. You can keep leaving comments each day to increase your chances. But the real deal is (2) to also like Janome's facebook page, and as soon at they hit the 20,000 friend mark they will draw a winner. Could make a great gift for you!

back to Advil, your friend, Anna






12/16/11--11:21: Looking Up (chan 2017971)





Feeling so much better. Antibiotics don't hurt. Nor do candy canes, twinkling lights, sparkling snowflakes, homemade cookies, happy children home for break, cuddley overgrown puppies, loving husbands, squishy pillows, warm quilts or hot tea with honey.

Where shall I have your prescription sent?

xoxoAM






12/18/11--11:45: Sunday Paper (chan 2017971)



Next on my list: wrapping presents, making sugar cookies, folding laundry, paying a plumber.

xoAM






12/23/11--15:31: From Our House... (chan 2017971)








...to Yours. Thank you for making my days twinkle all year.

We wish you a joyous Christmas and blessed holidays shared with those you love.

With lots of love from the Horner House: Anna, Jeff, Juliana, Nicolas, Joseph, Isabela, Eleni, Roman, and Leo the puppy. xoxoxo






12/31/11--20:31: :: In 2011 :: (chan 2017971)






I guess this is becoming an unofficial ritual with myself as I reflect on the year, no order of importance, some restating, some revelations, but each entry a recollection of what it was to live and breath through another year as me.




In 2011...





:: I became particularly practiced at goodbyes to my oldest without tears

:: I realized that the reason we had to say goodbye so often was because we said several hellos, through many -sometimes quick but always welcome- trips, and that is good.

:: Through trips, calls, texts, emails, skypes, phone photos, I discovered that I am as needed (maybe more) as always.

:: I traveled to the other side of the country alone for the first time ever for 3 days (within 15 minutes of arriving my sweet husband called from the emergency room to ask me Roman's birthdate - Roman had fallen off of Isabela's shoulders and hit his head on the concrete- I think my reply to Jeff's question was something like"what's his birthdate? which one of you hit your head?")

:: I never questioned whether my husband needs me.

:: I tore through walls, erased hundreds of pencil lines on graph paper, crossed fingers and built the home studio I've dreamed of since I was a young girl.

:: I felt guilty for having the above pleasure.

:: I felt ridiculous for feeling guilty and felt I had earned it.

:: (Repeat the above two entries numerous times.)

:: In the midst of a very busy home life, bustling work, building the studio, anticipating much upcoming travel, a quiet and very small secret revealed itself in the form of expecting a new life.... our 7th.....

:: We were overwhelmed.

:: We were bewildered.

:: I walked into the lobby of my doctor's office and saw an old man pruning dead foliage from the plants. My optimistic heart sank and I couldn't get the image out of my head.

:: We were humbled. It was first day of Lent- a day we call Clean Monday- I learned that was the state of my womb- clean. Just like that. Gone.

:: I stood sobbing in the empty, cavernous, gutted, cold, raw wood structure that was to become my dream studio. I wanted to give it all away.

:: I felt, as blessed as I have been, that I would never be quite as happy as I once was. And for weeks and weeks (months) it was so.

:: Somewhere, I healed. I don't know how or when. Somewhere, deep in prayer, it is not a loss, but an enrichment of sorts, a connection and a faith in someone I cannot see, but know is there. Always.

:: I felt peace.

:: I loved my children more than ever.

:: I was cared for.

:: I was loved.

:: I was inspired.

:: I made so many little hand stitches in every sort of fancy direction, and for the first time I created products to help others do the same. This brought me such an immense joy and fulfillment in my work. Another dream come true.

:: I realized how happy I am to not be in college.

:: Having interns taught me that, as well as how much I've learned since being out of college.

:: I hope I became a better boss.

:: My husband left me in awe of his determination, and relentless dedication to outdo his own physical efforts.

:: I was encouraged to do barely scratch that surface but build my own endurance and health through running. What a difference it makes.

:: I toiled in my garden more than ever, but so far have only grown good soil, which has me so looking forward to spring.

:: My parents made the first step towards moving to Nashville to be near us, and I am simply giddy every time I think that they could be just a few minutes away.

:: I saw changes in each of my children that are hard to quantify.... hard to name or to attribute, but overall just a growth that makes each so much more of who they are, in a fuller, more rendered and beautiful realization.

:: I learned what a privilege it is to witness it.




:: I sit here tonight, just a few minutes shy of midnight, all alone on New Year's Eve- I guess for the first time in my life. Jeff took all the kids, save Roman, for a night of roller skating. I kept Roman up well passed his bedtime to soak up as much cuddling, and kissing, and loving as he could take. As it turns out, he can take quite a lot, and that works out just perfectly since I have more than necessary to offer. I think this year has been nothing if not a steady stream of arrivals and departures. I imagine that is just the very engine that is our lives together and independently. Today Jeff worked on the final caulking for the structural columns of our home. It was so sunny and unusually warm. He carefully sealed up every last little seam and nail hole, wiped them clean, ensuring they would weather well. So I guess our roof should stand for at least another year, God willing.




I have never felt less alone on a New Year's Eve. I am blessed. I have joy.

I wish you all the same in 2012,

lots of love, Anna Maria xoxoxox






01/05/12--14:38: Better with Stitches (chan 2017971)



It is likely just me, but today I feel like anything is a better thing with some hand stitching. I have been cross stitching for days now on a very exciting design, but all on black Aida cloth, which is a challenge on the peepers. I've spent a lot of time on my flickr groups the past few days looking through everything that was made over the past year with my fabrics. So. Much. Beauty. You guys are amazing. I looked through, too, lots of shots of things that I made- searching for my favorites- from market and then some. I just keep going back to this one. Its just a detail of my velveteen Bonne Nuit quilt, but I love it so very much. I really didn't have time to stop to notice it, hurried as I was before market preparations to get it done. I knew I enjoyed it but it was hardly a relaxed, easy going creation, it was all on fast forward, and lovely, but fast. Now, though, those earnest blue stitches, working their way around anything in their path, activating the space but not intruding, adding durability but also beauty, being just exactly what they are, nothing more. The coral zigzag stitches, following orders, falling in line. All the obedience and playfulness in their character leaves me a little speechless today. Its hard to explain, really. Its so small. But so perfect. I am glad I made them. Just exactly like that, inadvertent as they were.

xoAM






01/10/12--06:30: Pardon me while I adore some material things (chan 2017971)



If I were to only ever go on about love of family, or admiration for the act of pulling needle and thread through fabric I might misrepresent myself. There are actual things, you know as in they don't speak or hug .... (or do they?)... but things, that make me happy. Anyway, this week feels like a bonus week. Like another MrsPacman appeared on the screen and told me to keep playing (did you know I held the high score at the local roller skating rink in the 6th grade for like 3 weeks? Why do I put such information in question form, as though there is a chance you would know?) Back to my bonus round. Juliana was meant to be boarding her flight back to school right about this very minute. But a few days ago she decided ohhhh, let's just switch it to Thursday. So we did, and that was great, though it cost me a little to switch it (I would spend an embarrassingly dumb amount to have her for an extra hour.) Yesterday when all the other kids were off to their schools and Juliana and I had the house to ourselves, we were tucked into the upstairs studio tooling away at some projects together. "Maybe I should stay until Saturday, there's no real reason to be there earlier than Saturday." (Out of her view I was nodding, nodding, fist pumping, nodding, obnoxious.)




"Oh, okay, honey, whatever you think."




So yes, this is my bonus round.

But with my brain, I already anticipate needing something to look forward to after Saturday comes. I start making a mental stack. Of things. Lovely things, but very likely they would fall into the distraction category. But with this new year upon us... I am looking forward to so much. I thought I would share these morsels with you over the next several days. Distractions anyone?




(Yay! Its almost as good as my my white patch Levi's being clean AND I've saved enough allowance to get into the roller rink and defend my high score.)




I don't have to look forward to today's thing, because it's already here! These velveteens remind me why I love my work so much. They are definitely a favorite. And really they feel like the type of design work that I hold myself back from a little bit, so as not to go overboard. Well, I am gladly swimming in these, without a lifesaver.




I hope you love them as much as I do. I wrote up a little ditty about working with velveteens over here a ways back.




Up next, wool tapestries!

xoxo, AnnaMaria

(Who does realize that blathering on about one more week with my daughter at home is somewhat similar to talking about love of family. I'm sorry. It slipped.)

(Who also realizes that there are many people who would just say, look the velveteens are available, enjoy them. I'm sorry I can't do that.)












01/11/12--11:41: Wool by Color (chan 2017971)






Suffice it to say I am thrilled. Ranking quite high on the list of things that I am excited about for 2012 are these Needlepoint kits that I developed together with Anchor, UK. For now I am putting them in the "looking forward to" category because I don't have a final final final answer yet as to when they should be shipping- though I believe it to be within the next month or so. We will carry them in the shop, and I am sure that other shops will be picking them up as well, though perhaps not so wide spread as my fabrics. (And woops it appears as though a few prints from my next collection are showing themselves in the top photo (places hand over "o" shaped mouth, eyes widen).)

These kits seem so much more available in Europe in general (where they are referred to more as "tapestry" than needlepoint). I am hoping to help turn that tide a bit, that these types of goods, and in fresh design offerings, will become more available here for us. The kits come complete with the printed canvas, all the wool that you need to complete them, as well as simple instructions for completion and care.

Never would I have thought, as I tried over and over to make good, even stitches as a young girl (looking constantly in my sister's lap at her perfectly worked wool surface) that I would one day get the pleasure of designing these. Please know that privilege has nothing to do with proficiency in this art form, my stitches are what they are. Mine. Don't be afraid. It is slow work. But I love that phrase, you? Slow. Work. No, never would I have guessed I'd like that either. Ha.

More on all this later. Speaking of guessing and predicting though, I was so honored to give some insight to my friends over at SewMamaSew to wrap up their Reflections & Predictions series on their blog. It has been so fun to read through them all, and honestly has helped to energize my own creative fires. I hope you'll enjoy reading my thoughts on the sewing industry. I tried to sound smart.

smooch! Anna






01/13/12--11:48: Play Schedule (chan 2017971)



Next on my list of what I am looking forward to this year, is a personal project. Well as personal as sharing ideas with thousands of pals could be. If you're reading this blog, you know I have a blog. Right. You may not know that I have a mailing list as well. I do. Now you know at least two things about me. Also, I've mentioned this before I think, but in general my mailing list is to let folks know about sales, new releases, more business-y. The blog, as you know, is.... uhhh, I don't know, but not especially business-y. But even with the few number of mailing mailers that I send out, I am always like, oohhhh, I don't want to bother anyone, is 5 times a year to many mailings....ohhh I don't know....

Anyhooers, I've decided to be a little more regularlike with my emailings and hopefully make them more inspirational and fun too. Today I sent my mailing list a fun "palette play" layout where I have chosen some beautiful Behr paint shades to go with my Innocent Crush fabrics and new rugs & pillows (you know this already if you're on the list and checked your email 5 minutes ago). Here are the layouts I sent out today. I soooo enjoyed putting this together. Is this fun? I think this is fun.



Point being, this year, I'll be doing this monthly (because I have Pierrette to remind me). It won't always be paint colors. But it might be playing with pattern, print, sewing, patchwork, interiors, tips, etc., in a way that is focused and hopefully informative. I know that this stuff sometimes pops up on the blog a'course, in a behind the scenes sorta way, but I am excited about the idea of doing it every month in a way that sort of follows along what I'm dabbling around with. And in a way that sort of connects the dots of what inspires how I design everything, etc. So. If ya wanna play, you can sign up on the mailing list by clicking here.

In other news, Roman pointed his foot up to my face today and said "Kiss it, mommy."

I really can't think of what to follow that with so, just....

have a good weekend!
xo, Anna






01/16/12--09:44: How It Went (chan 2017971)



We tucked in on Friday, side by side, upstairs, busy. Quiet, working, drawing, laughing, ignoring, talking, singing. Then snow. Tiny at first. Then huge. She said we should take photographs. I rolled my eyes. But then she put on makeup. I got my coat. Froze my fingers. Click. After. Click.
These pictures document the last of her dark hair for the now. She spent Friday evening trying to go blonde. Then I stayed up with her until almost 3am, helping her go blonder. Then she kissed me goodbye only hours later (her head, a little brassy) while Jeff warmed up the car. I slouched on the couch with Roman. And I was fine.
Saturday. Fine.
Sunday. Fine.
This morning, I headed to her room to ask her to
go out and buy some milk and juice for me becau........OH. Not here. Right.
So I texted instead.
She couldn't go get the milk and juice right away.
She's in Brooklyn.
And then I looked at these pictures for about an hour.
It was a good idea, as it turns out, to take them.
She has a few more here.
xoAM






01/18/12--10:40: Needleworks (in the works) (chan 2017971)



I've been writing this blog post in my mind for a few months now. This fall will see the publication of my 3rd book title, Anna Maria's Needleworks Notebook. I've casually mentioned it here and there, mostly in other interviews, in some talks I've given, in some conversations and so forth, but its time to talk about it a bit more officially, I imagine,- especially in the string of what I'm looking forward to this year. Because I am really, really, really thrilled with this upcoming book. It is so different than the other two, I think entirely in a good way. Just like hand work is different than sewing machine work- that sort of difference.

This book has come about very slowly, I sort of had half the projects designed before I even knew how I wanted to present them. The idea of a book about 18 months ago, just made me sleepy. Not bored, I was just all too aware of that process and how you live it eat it breathe it until its complete. And I guess I just didn't feel willing, as gratifying as it can be. But then as I logged stitching hours (crewel, embroidery, cross stitch, needlepoint, hand quilting and so on), jotted notes, made drawings, and dreamed of ideas.... the format of a book, a different sort, just came about. It made the most sense, as long as I could dictate the styling be a little different here and there, I felt I could make it just right. And my gracious publisher, was very willing. Which entirely surprised me. I don't know why, I guess I just thought that the style of books I have written already is such a fixture now that it has become the only way to do it. And I piled onto myself the obligation to suddenly become the official authority on all forms of needlework to qualify me for the task. So silly. That is already available, if that's what you want. So my collection is a personal one of favorite things to do with thread, needle and cloth. Designed by me, sometimes embracing, sometimes ignoring, but always adoring tradition (sorta like how you treat your family).

It will be physically different than the other two - maybe more relaxed, maybe more inspirational, slightly more free-form, but still loaded with projects. And how its going now, the writing and the sewing that is, the book is feeling like my friend already, my companion, my journal, following along in process. I didn't quite feel like that with the others, maybe because this one has been a slow, careful realization. Again maybe just echoing a different type of work than more technical sewing. In the end, the finished work, I hope, is just that- a record of ideas and inspirations, that comes from a very personal place that I'm hoping you can relate to, respond to with your own work, and enjoy for a very long time.

How's that for verbose?
Thanks for reading all that. I'm sorry if you're more confused about anything than you were about 4 minutes ago.
More soon, xoox, Anna






01/20/12--08:09: Painting Party (chan 2017971)





So I'm a little proud of this, when you consider birthday cake situations I have suffered in the past. (But thankfully barely recovered from.) My sweet Eleni turns 8 today. Pffufff. The time. She do pass us by. Eleni has invited a pair of friends to come home on the bus with her today. And together with her sister we're going to have a painting party. It was Isabela's (secret) idea to make Eleni a paint palette cake. Genius. Thank you Isabela. Talk about an easy design to execute! I did get a little fancy with her name on the side of the cake, but I was staring down at a plate full of beautifully colorful paints, erhhh icing plops. I had to do something besides eat them. So I painted on the side with a butter knife. And with "painterly" as the theme, I allowed myself not to worry about perfection. One helpful tip: etching her name in the white frosting with a toothpick first. Anyway, I think now I need to buy pretzel rods and black licorice strings so that I can maybe fashion a paintbrush (dipped in a icing color of course).

Now that Eleni is 8, we also decided it was high time she begin her fabric designing career. She drew out the design with markers (I had no idea she actually wanted birthday fabric, but how sweet). We scanned it, I redrew it digitally, as close to her hand as possible, and we sent to it Spoonflower. Thanks Spoonfower. Anyway. After the girls do some painting today everyone is going to make their own personal homemade pizzas. So I am thinking I will whip up some little aprons out of the fabric for them, so they'll all have a party favor to keep and remember the fun.

Better get to it.
Please don't be impressed.
Eleni asked for her own fabric for her 7th birthday.
Yea.
And I ate the colorful icing plops too.
I am afraid to look at the color of my mouth right now.
Over and out.
And Happy Birthday to my beautiful girl.
xoxo,Anna






01/23/12--12:10: Postcard from Nicolas (chan 2017971)



While I am not especially good at chronicling photos or artwork into albums or folders of and for my family there are certain scraps and bits of things that I hang onto. Not for any certain reason other than they feel especially poignant. And I am most certainly not great at organizing them, but they just get tucked here and there. I was cleaning out my closet on Saturday (just typing that doesn't quite cover how much that actually required of me). In the process this little card floated on the air down from the very top. A handwritten index card from a 6yr old Nicolas. Translated from his lovely phonetic spelling it reads:




Whenever Juliana isn't here I will be there if you fall down.




Nicolas turned 14 yesterday. I am so happy to have this postcard from his inner heart, his child heart. He was and is a gorgeous boy. Such a treasure to watch the rest as it unfolds. (And in my mind I can still hear little-him whispering words out loud very carefully in order to spell his writings.)




Hope you had a good weekend- its so sunny here today. xoA






01/26/12--21:16: 20 (chan 2017971)



Just one more piece of nostalgia this month, as my first born just turned 20 a few moments ago. This is a mutually favorite photo between the 3 of us who were present when it was taken- Jeff, our photographer. Juliana was just a little over one and we were visiting friends in Sarasota, after having left the Ringling School to come home and become a family. Its nice now to think that I had attended school there to make art, but this is my favorite piece. Happy Birthday Juliana! I wish we were together.




Hey peoples, want to come to California? I leave first thing in the morning for Palm Springs, LA, and Sacramento. I thought I would send some postcards along the way to share the trip with you.....




But first I should get to bed, more soon! xo,AM









01/27/12--16:32: Postcards:: day one (chan 2017971)



Once we got to Dallas from Nashville, I was pretty sure we were headed to the right gate when we saw this skirt. The lovely Jane who was also traveling to my workshop with Heather and Denyse in Palm Springs gave herself away with that patchwork love. So pretty. I also sat next to Debra on the flight and got to have some nice chats between snoozing and stitching. (omg! and little Jackie Ivancho was on our flight with what looked like her brother, mom, and puppy!)


This is the view outside of our room at the Ace Hotel. I want my money back though. There's no turntable in here. (If you've ever stayed at any Ace Hotel, you will so love that link.) What is standard issue here at the Palm Springs Ace: caftans. In every room. I fell so ridiculously in love with them last year that Heather sent me one as a gift afterwards. I can't wear it without Jeff saying something stupid. But I don't care. I know he loves it.



This is my favorite view currently. Getting watch my husband take a break for a bit. With me. Tonight we'll have a meet and greet with workshoppers, dinner then get right to sewing for a few hours until late. It already feels late to me, trying to stay awake for this timezone is a challenge!




Be back tomorrow, wish you were here, Anna Maria xoxox






01/28/12--23:35: Postcards:: day two (chan 2017971)



After having mostly set up and making introductions last night, we got to lots and lots of sewing today. All the women participating brought along really really great projects to work on, along with extremely inspiring attitudes about wanting to learn new things. A really lovely bunch this one. But if the sewing was in the least bit taxing.....


One could walk just a few feet outdoors and sit by the pool. I was not taxed, but rather had a break with a swim, a delicious jicama salad, and some embroidery. Followed by some wonderful conversation with an FBI agent. Who is one of our gorgeous weekend students. I know, right? I am secretly very jealous of her profession. I fancy myself an unofficial (but could have been a really good one) crime fighter. Really truly would have been a second career choice. Ha. I love remembering things about myself that I forgot.


And this edible distraction, was quite cared for by her mommy (Heather), daddy, and uncle who all took turns shading her with a towel for a poolside nap. Ah to have such abandon.




My honey took a hike. Like all the way up the highest peek outside Palm Springs. After he had been gone for about 10 hours, I got a text with a phrase that resembled: "lots of snow and wind, almost got blown into the Pacific".......(pause, pause) and I got like nothing more for at least 30 minutes. But he made it back and snoozing away. An entirely different sort of challenge than my day. But so good for both of us.




xoAnna