Work.Work.Work.Fun.Work.

But sometimes the actual work is fun too. Like getting to let you in on this. Enjoy!

xo, Anna (who sucks at blog breaks)

Photo by my intern Anna Johnson. Roman is sucking his bottom lip to keep a swarsh of milk in. I am sucking my bottom lip in concentration. Back to that now.

Scenes from a Studio. And Dirt

My friend Kathy was kind enough to ask me to share a look at my sewing space, so you can see that over here today, as well as lots of other very inspiring sewing spaces for the rest of the month! Anyway, it goes without say, that I have been chomping at the bit to get this place in order enough to share some looks at what the new attic studio has been turning into.



I am a firm believer in slow realization for any kind of living space. In other words I think the best spaces are those that get decorated, adorned, furnished, over time after use and function come to light. You can certainly fill a space in a matter of days, but really making it come together in the best possible way for me takes time and doing it wrong a few times, shifting, etc. The only problem with this method being that it makes me and my room a bit camera shy until it gets where I want to be....wherever, or whenever that is. But you know. Every space in my house is a work in progress. So with this new space when I have one corner or another cleared, looking the way I like seeing it, and not the way I don't, I'll snap and post. No big tada. No major 5-hour-photo-editing-post-post. Just some scenes. Here are some scenes.



Snippets.



I treated myself to 3 new chairs. Above Eleni has stolen this one. I'm sitting in it now. I lovesss it. I also love the giant sized needle I just noticed in that photo. It makes her look like Thumbelina. She's making a quilt with it. It doesn't occur to me to tell her to use a smaller needle. Its seems to be working for her. More on that later.



Above you can see that Isabela has stolen this chair. Both so different from anything else I have, and look perfect in the sunny office nook portion of the studio. Oh, I also got this little one to slide under the long counter. Sorry no photos of that yet....

Dirt. I spent about (lets see, 3, 8, 4, 2) 17 hours in dirt since Friday at 4:15 when I had to pull up one side of the black plastic off my grass to see what was hapnin. Dead grassiswhat. Anyway, thanks to all the amazing advice on this post, I spent the rest of my weekend removing plants, layering dozens of cardboard boxes and fabric bolts over dead sod, layering 4200 lbs (really) of topsoil over that, marking out a little pathway to Roman's tree swing, then dividing and replanting the plants so that they don't suffer out of the ground any longer. Speaking of suffering. Phew. I cannot move. And I'm only halfway done. I do plan a post on this, its just that every time the work in progress scene looked like an informative picture for you on the method, I was covered in a sunburned coat of mud (it was pretty) and no one was around to fetch my camera for me. Then last night I showered, got gorgeous (relative to the mudcake anyway) and went out with my husband of 18 years for Mexican and a movie to celebrate our anniversary. I ate 9 entrees. Not really...wuuuhhhl. Midnight in Paris was so entertaining and sweet.

So. I feel so chatty. This always happens when I think about taking a little blog break. But I need to, in a serious way. Blogging has been too fun lately and I have a job that I'd like to keep which is only slightly impossible for a mother of 6 during the summertime.

Hm.

OMG! I (almost) stepped into the shower this morning to rinse off the final layer of mud from my early morning planting session but stopped when I realized that I would have been showering with a mouse. I paced and said oh my gosh about 12 times in a row then I finally walked out into the studio where poor Pierrette was trying to do her job and calmly asked her (as I paced in my skimpy towel) to please look in the tub and verify that I was indeed looking at a mouse because it felt too much like a bad dream. Pretty much everyone else in the house except me had some part in collecting the mouse into a ball jar and covering it with a handtowel to set it free while I stood nearly naked on a bench in the studio saying oh my gosh some more. Just as Pierrette and I admitted that through the glass jar in her hands that he was quite a cute mouse, he lurched from under her charmed and distracted handtowel-holding hand onto the dining room floor where he ran around in a few circles before hiding under the china cupboard. There is cheddar cheese waiting for him now, in the jar which he'll likely come out to enjoy while the rest of us are occupied.

Also the tub is disinfected, which I doubt would have happened otherwise for at least another week.

xo, Anna, who couldn't let the week go without telling you that.

Summer Love

Chances are if you were to drive by any place that looks like this, it would be a good idea to stop.



And if the nachos have faces, you should also plan to have dinner.



True love. Myself and that guy in the background of course. I don't know that cup looking guy. Cool hair though.



I want her job. It could either make me hate dipped ice cream cones, or make me enjoy every minute of becoming an ice cream stuffed balloon. Case in point: that cone in my hand is a size Small. And still its the size of Roman. Seriously. No camera perspective tricks here. My ice cream could eat Roman. Which is why I attacked it of course. I was protecting my cubs.



This is Jack. In most instances that's all you need to know. But I'll go ahead and also tell you that he's my father-in-law. Jack grew up a stone's throw from the Dairy Dip (well only if you have a really good arm, I just wanted to say that cause it sounds so Nashville, and I like to particularly sound Nashvillish when I talk about or to Jack). He worked at the Dairy Dip when he was 13. It hasn't changed much. Also. Don't tell him what to order. Getting the extra large Strawberry Dip is a right reserved for former employees I think.



Malts and Floats. Serious. Business. This is not fun stuff.



Who is that Man? And why did we buy him ice cream?



Roman will be offering a workshop on how to eat ice cream in 90+ degrees. I could not do that because I made a bigger mess than Roman.

Lots of love from Sweet Nashville.
Wish you were here.
If you are, venture over to Charlotte Avenue and make a big mess of yourself.

xo, Anna & family

GlitterSmack

It blogs.

xoam

Tending To Two

I tended to two gardens this weekend. Only a tiny bit more of this, indoor, patchworky one (oh, but the joy found there). Much, much more time spent on the outdoor gardens. And not the charming kind of tending either, more the chainsaw, electric trimmer, 2000 sq ft of black plastic kind of tending. We've needed to trim back trees and wayward undergrowth from trees for a while, as well as hedges, limbs and all that. I also decided that I was finally going to do what I've been wanting to do forever with our front beds and that is increase them by about ten times. I currently only have narrow borders about 3 or 4 feet wide along the front walk and house perimeter, and I find that perennials just overtake one another, and quickly get shaded by the flowering trees, etc. I just need more space. Everything needs digging up, dividing, and replanting in a more thought out arrangement. So the process has me trying to kill about 1500 sq ft of grass without using chemicals. Without doing any research (typical Anna fashion) I decided to just sweat out the grass by using lawn staples and black plastic sheeting to cover all my desired new flower bed space. I'm hoping by next weekend that it'll be dead, and ready for tilling, clearing. Kill stuff naturally much? And effectively? Any input appreciated.

Being the genius that I am, I thought this was the best sort of thing to do in 100+ degrees.

Eleni picked this little bundle for me from our surprise Zinnias (that just showed up again after an annual seeding last year, I guess they dropped some seeds for me....someone needed to do it) and also some from two bougainvilleas that I have potted on the front steps. Thats about all the work I've managed outside this year until this weekend.

So. Back to the indoor flowers. And patchwork. And books and you.

Our randomly chosen winner for the wonderful Block Party book is:

Marika said...

I got some Liberty coming my way too and I can't wait to receive it !
What you made with it is really nice :)

7:27 PM

Congratulations Marika for winning a copy of the book, send your address details to amATannamariahornerDOTcom.

Thanks everyone for your lovely comments!

xo, Anna Maria

Here.There.Way over there.Everywhere.

OH. Summer.

Here: Days look mostly like this, plus some night swims at the local pool.
There: I so enjoyed my interview with Sew4Home, maybe you will too (great site!)
*Way over There: I'm joining my pal Heather Ross again in Palm Springs'12! Coming?
Everywhere: I'm wishing you giant, giggley piles of what you love.

good weekend, xoAM

*edited to add!

Invitation to Improvise

I was fortunate enough to meet the lovely Alissa Haight Carlton at Quilt Market only weeks ago, and the feeling you get from her is just the feeling that I get from her new book, Block Party, which was written together with Kristen Lejnieks. And that feeling is one of approachability and warmth. After talking to her for a only a bit, I wanted to sit next to her and sew. The book, after reading a few pages, makes you feel just the same way. You just feel invited. Not in the fancy invitation that comes in the mail and requires a new dress kind of invitation, but a hey, come over here and join us kind of invitation. The best kind.



The book covers 12 women who formed a modern quilting bee so that each would contribute a block to one person's quilt concept each month. All the blocks would be sent to that one person, and she would get to assemble the quilt and keep it. By the end of the year all twelve of them had done the same, each keeping a piece of history and the work of 12 minds, 24 hands. I love thinking of how every block in every quilt was created during a completely separate set of circumstances within each quilter's life. And that they each, doubtlessly, struggled more with one block than another, experienced successes and emotions that they wouldn't have otherwise had. Some days I imagine that making the block was the most peaceful part of their day- I'm sure other days, they forgot to get to it all together, and stressed a bit to finish it. Each one different. Each one a record of time. Each one perfecting a skill they already possessed or pushing them into a new one. And all together the quilt then, an expression of many. I do believe that is the heart and soul of quilting.



I took note of my dear friend Denyse's introduction to the book, most specifically where she writes that "the best way to learn something (to understand it viscerally and not just intellectually) is to make it happen with your own hands." That, in addition to all the wonderful inspiration, and perfectly clear instructions is what had me chopping up my Liberty stack faster than you can say bee (which doesn't take long at all). I was so inspired by the Confetti quilt because it felt most different from what I typically do. More improvisational. I see a lot of quilts. Lots and lots. And the moment I see them I either get it and move on, or I get it and I want to try it. Or better still, I get it, want to try, and even meditate for a while on how I might interpret it to see it anew. So here I am, improvising within the boundaries of this lovely Confetti block. Instead of using all white for the solid background, I decided to show off all the irregular strip widths by using 3 solids from my voiles (sixpence, midnight, river rock). And because I can't leave well enough alone, in addition to the 3 background solids, I decided to interject one of my own prints. The good for me thing, in addition to it being a scrap + solid style block, is that its perfect for special fabrics that you'd like to use a bit sparingly.



So after only messing around for about an hour or so this morning, I am finding myself entirely charmed with this process, remembering how much I love to wing it, and loving how this one little block is a microcosm of the quilt it will become. And even each component of the block, its own abstract composition- beautiful and unique. I've decided that I need a little tiny bit of this freedom on a regular basis, so I think I'll do one every Saturday morning. We'll see how that goes. I'm glad to have the company of these talented women every time I open this book.

Would you like to open this book? I get to give one away! Leave me any ole comment and we'll get a name chosen at random on Monday of next week. For more wonderful write-ups about this book, follow along on the blog tour:

6/21/2011 A Quilt Is Nice
6/22/2011 I Heart Linen
6/23/2011 Tallgrass Prairie Studio
6/24/2011 Oh, Fransson!
6/25/2011 All Buttoned Up
6/26/2011 West Coast Crafty
6/27/2011 Connecting Threads
6/28/2011 Crafty Girls Workshop
6/29/2011 Whip Up
6/30/2011 Pink Chalk Studio
7/1/2011 True Up
7/5/2011 Block Party Bee Blog
7/6/2011 Anna Maria Horner
7/7/2011 Craftzine.com

happy quilting, xo, Anna

Blueberry Saturday (and peach and lemon)

5 PIES is my contribution to our upcoming long weekend at my parents' house. I was planning only 4- two blueberry and two peach- but I had all this leftover crust that could not be wasted (never), so I got out my good ole Betty Crocker classic cookbook and looked for something that I had the ingredients for- erhh something that between myself and my neighbor, Karen, had the ingredients for (thanks Karen- even trade I think, we just gave your Josh two of our Wii remotes). Anyhoo, I have some words about baking. I am not big on baking. Maybe because I am not big on sweets or cakes too much. Except for pie. I lurve making pie. I make such a gianormous mess that the finished pie ends up being the apology to my husband for making such a mess of his kitchen (It is his kitchen- he cleans it, I cook in it. He can have it. I will happily keep cooking.) In general I like to cook a lot. Free style with of course our favorite, simple, memorized standards thrown in. Baking requires getting measurements just so, and chemical reactions that I don't have the desire or patience to understand and that's not so much my thing. Yet I find (and this is why I like it) that I can pretty much just throw a pie together (easy as..... that's right, pie). Jeff's eyebrows formed a bracket parentheses over his morning coffee cup today when he watched me pour sugar straight from the bag under my right arm into a giant bowl of blueberries as I stirred with my left and balanced my mom on the phone on my shoulder chatting away about other food we're planning. I'm not bragging, (nkay, maybe a little) its just that for me to like any kind of cooking/baking/preparing it has to be able to be done pretty much like the above described scene and still taste great. I have over the years (ugggh that makes me sound so old) figured out how to make a few kinds of pie taste great, so I thought I would share some of my little maybe-not-secrets, but special to me ways of making a couple.

Double Pie Crust:
2/3 cup softened Kerry's Irish Butter (not softend in the microwave, just leave it out for a bit first)
2 cups flour (I use White Lily)
6-7 tbsp of water/orange juice mixture (equal parts)

Chop the butter into about a dozen pieces in glass bowl. Pour the flour over it, and keep chopping through the butter, which will start to blend the flour. Once butter pieces are about the size of grapes, move to using one of those dough blender things with the wires until the floured butter balls are about the size of peas. Then sprinkle in the tbsps of water/OJ over everything as you toss the dough with a fork to mix- don't try to stir. Once the dough is about like crumbly sugar cookie dough, dump it (even if it feels too crumby) onto a generously sized sheet of wax paper. Fold opposite ends of the wax paper up over the dough and press into the dough using the wax paper to press from opposing directions instead of your bare hands. Do the same from the other two directions. Continue to knead the dough in this manner, pressing it into a firm shape with the wax paper, (it shouldn't take more than about 7 or 8 good presses) then wrap it up in the wax paper and stick in the fridge for at least 30 min before you use it. When you're ready to use it, let it stand at room temperature for about 5 or 10 minutes before dividing and rolling out.

Blueberry Filling:
The amount of blueberries I use depends on the size of the pan obviously, but I like a heaping amount, so I usually have more than I need- maybe 4 cups or so. I do just pour sugar in until it looks about right- if I had to guess I would say about 1 or 1-1/2 cups. I also drizzle in about 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, 1/2 tsp finely grated lemon peel, and about a tbsp of flour.
~or~
Peach Filling:
Same as above on amounts of fruit, sugar, and flour, but I also use about a tsp of cinnamon and sprinkle about 1/2 tsp almond extract

My American grandmother always made so many pies for us ravenous grandchildren. Tons. Some visits she would make up to 8 pies or so. I guess I'm getting there myself. With today's leftover crust I decided to try a Lemon Meringue pie. I know. You have to be pretty precise about the glossiness and peekiness of your meringue peeks and all but I actually really enjoyed making it. I'll get back to you if its good, it sure looks all fluffy, toasty and delicious. The house was so quiet while Jeff went to retrieve four kids from a week-long camp, Roman napped and Eleni cuddled with a quilt in front of some cartoons. For once I wasn't sewing or stitching during that peaceful time. But was covered in flour, apron over my nightgown, jumpy on coffee, nibbling on leftover bacon, and teaching myself how to make a new kind of pie using my own and borrowed ingredients.

I felt so happy, if not just slightly American.
Happy Independence Day!
xo,AM