What do you do when 5 months pregnant and it's 35 degrees?

Make embroidered short shorts, naturally.

You were going to say knit weren't you?

Pshuh.

Needlpoint? Later.

This is the next free pattern for my friends @ Janome, and of course for you too, which we happen to be filming next week.  I'd like to take a moment to thank the flu for managing to fall right between my CreativeBug shoot and my Janome shoot with just enough time to recuperate in between. Real nice flu, real nice.



I hope you have a lovely weekend- this machine is amazing!! I can't wait to share more about it with you!!! Almost done with my valentine needlepointies!
xoxoxAnnaMaria

Sweet Little Bits

A week later I am coming back to life.  That was a doozey.  Jeff is still down with a variation on our illness, and I'm lucky to be feeling normal again, albeit a little sniffley.  It may not surprise you to know that the cruddiest part of feeling cruddy was feeling sooo cruddy that I couldn't even knit or any such thing.  Couldn't even roll over in bed let alone do anything with my hands or my brain, all which seemed a high level, luxurious impossibility for the first few days. The two of us did manage to rally around my laptop every night and get addicted to Breaking Bad.  I thought the first two episodes would keep me too stressed to continue but then we found our place in it, which likely had to do with the flu state of mind somehow, anyway.  When I finally did get to where I could work on things without falling over I felt life was worth living again. One night when we had the kids in bed, got settled with our laptop and lemon San Pellegrinos and tissue on the side tables, swathed in pajama layers, the Mr. said "do you have anything to knit?" "Uhhh yea." "Good. It's so cozy. I like it when you're working on something."  And that put our pattern of night time in place.

I've had these sweet baby and otherwise just sweet projects waiting for me.  Bliss.  The baby socks are from Joelle's More Last Minute Knitted Gifts.  As is the world's sweetest and simplest baby bonnet.  I love that bonnet.  I am trying to make sense of the fact that this girl will be born into Tennessee June welcomed by knitted caps and merino/silk socks.  The onesize bonnet though seems bigger than newborn, maybe 6mos, so good for fall and winter I am hoping. The socks should be good for cool conditioned indoors and I imagine that I will make many pairs to go with some simple voile dresses and matching bloomers (!!!!!).  I am too excited about making things right now.  My fingers are on fire and I've pulled every skein and scrap skein from my drawers that is some shade of pink or sweet so that they can wait for their assignments.

This sweetheart is a free pattern that I am working on for you!  It's quick and cute and while you could work anything in the background the basketweave stitch covers so much ground so quickly.  The project is small and simple enough so it's great for the littler sort or a beginner project.  I hope to have the pattern finished this week and it will come in Valentine card form for some special little gifts.  I'd like to make one for each of my girls and turn them into little pillow pouches for sweets or maybe zippered pouches for whatever.  I've used my new Anchor Tapestry Wool Palettes in Particulary Perfect for the above (cream is extra I have on hand).  There's another design I'm working on for the hearts too, we'll see if it gets done.

Over and out and xoxox from here. Anna Maria

Snug with a Bug

I've been in bed since Wednesday night with a nasty bug.  I guess the flu.  The fact that I can sit up and type makes me feel like I'm turning the corner a bit.  I have lots of visitors in this house who come in to check on me, give me a rub on the arm, brush the hair out of my face, offer to get me drinks, popsicles.  But all very good at letting me be.  Even Roman came in and crawled up next to me, cocked is head and said "oh mommy, you're so cute", as he rubbed my cheek.  I can assure you that I am currently not cute.

Yesterday I watched both installments of the 2002 miniseries of Dr. Shivago which totaled 4 hours.  I had never seen the 1965 original so I don't know how it compares, but the story is really amazing.  I also watched a documentary called First Position that follows young ballet hopefuls.  Wow.  Having a look at their tortured feet made my sick bed feel not so bad.

I've also had the company of sweet little bumps and kicks from this little girl, dreaming of what she'll look like, pondering her name.  Thank you so much for sharing in our joy and for all of your kind comments on my last post.

back to horizontal, xoAM

A Girl for Us

Oh joy.  Is it too easy to say now after the ultrasound that I knew it?  I knew it.  Ask anyone.  For the most part I am 7 for 7 in guessing the gender, though was admittedly if-y with our Joseph.  Though he was such a beautiful baby boy, that I feel like just as many points were earned for being not so sure.  Most importantly of course, she looks just fine and healthy.  She also looks SO much like our Eleni did on ulstrasound.  Wiggley too, knowing she was getting poked and played with.

And on an entirely selfish and indulgent note, I simply cannot wait to start sewing and knitting and embroidering and crocheting.  It has been 9 years since we had a baby girl in this house and I have never had the chance at so much fabric and such with a new girl. I'm in heaven and so thankful!

Now I have a pink strawberry cake to frost.
have a gorgeous weekend, xoAM

Color & the Keeping of it

I suppose there is no sense in resisting the urge to get organized and venture into 2013 with a clean slate.  I'll be filming with CreativeBug again next week, so the tidying spasm I suffer is good timing.  Up here in the white studio, much cleaning and organizing has been happening which is really only enjoyable once the actual mess is cleaned up and it's time to organize.  I love that part.  Getting sorted.

Downstairs Pierrette is cleaning up the shop studio as well.  We'll be filming down there no doubt too since the nice huge cutting counter is there and it's also slightly easier to move camera equipment and lighting around unlike the attic up here which quickly feels like a dollhouse the moment you try to do anything but write, draw or sew.  And despite today's blue-gray light we've also been working on shooting pics of the new perle cotton palettes and the new embroidery floss palettes which will be listed in the store hopefully by the end of the day.

I LOVE these new colors.  The perles up there are called Sun Study. I have already been handquilting with these and relish in the light that they catch.  So pretty.  And the two new embroidery floss palettes are so rich and bright.  Keeping it all organized can be a challenge.  I know I may have a bit more thread than your average bear, but since you might be feeling all organizey too, seeing as how it's January, I thought I would share what I came up with last fall for storage.

I bought some 120 yr old lengths of interior mouldings at a salvage place for just a few dollars a foot with no real plan.  But loving the warmth the stained wood added to the bare studio, I decided to put them to use to store floss.  My dear sweet, son (who was paid, of course) Nicolas marked out every inch with a sharpie dot along the bottom edge of one, then drill small pilot holes, then screwed in hooks for a total of about 100 hooks.

His hands were quite numb afterward, but oh golly do I love this thing, and paying him helped me to feel less guilty when he complained.  Anyway, I simply screwed it into the slanted wall onto the wooden ribs at a height that would have the floss hovering just above another piece of ledge moulding.  Making all the holes into a moulding saves you from putting a zillion holes into the wall.  The hooks are pretty deep so that I can get about 4 or 5 skeins of floss on one.  I adore having the color right there in my face instead of tucked away.

With the exception of a few balls of perle cotton that I tuck onto the ledge behind the floss, I mostly keep those in big clear jars.  I ordered mine from Specialty Bottle, and though you have to order in multiples, I have no trouble finding uses for these all over the house.  And these are particularly nice because the mouth is wide and easier to get your hand in there and dig around for the color that you want that is of course on the very bottom.

We have an ultrasound on Friday and I could bust from the excitement of having a look at this little him or her.  I could also bust from the butter cookies that I could probably also see on ultrsound, which reminds me to go for a walk.  Running is getting silly.

xoxo, AM

A Note

I finally got around to writing notes and signing fabric charms for a group of very earnest fabric lovers and quilters.  Through a group on flickr, they've swapped and collected virtually every printed fabric that I've designed over the past seven years.  Pretty cool.  It is really very flattering and humbling, so it was fun to send them each a tiny something.

I kept almost accidentally writing the notes as thank you's, because that's just how I feel, grateful.  And to all of you whether you left a thought, a prayer or a congratulations for me in silence or in the comments of my last post, a very heartfelt THANK YOU.  I can't say it enough.  So appreciated.

Jeff is helping to train our young Joseph for his newly acquired school sport of wrestling.  Yesterday that had Joseph running up and down our backyard hill with a full sized punching bag on his back as well as (umm) having to slap his dad in the face.  (I was told that was for courage.  But I wasn't allowed to slap him even though I could use a giant heap of courage.)  This morning Joseph was asked to recite the definition of courage to his dad at breakfast: "Courage is the ability to face fear, pain, danger or intimidation" he said a little proud of his memory.

Yes, I will take some of that.  Without the slap.
xo, Anna

:: In 2012 ::

The notion that this year in review is being written on the first day of the new year instead of the last day of the old year (one day late) speaks volumes.  I am sitting atop an unusually made up bed trying to figure out what to make of 2012 as though there is a phrase, a feeling, or a thought that could sum it up.  It was neither up nor down, nor anywhere in between.  Neither hard nor easy.  Almost from the beginning, it did seem to require that I live very much in the present, and to live very intentionally, without the excessiveness of actual plans.  I am reminded of the quote that goes something like planning is essential, plans are useless.  And now with the luxury of looking back I can set some order to what it was.  Perhaps it's this planning in reverse, as though the year were all intentional, that puts me at ease at the beginning of each new year.

:: I had the pleasure of being in many, many cities besides Nashville in 2012: Sacramento, Palm Springs, Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Colorado Springs, Denver, Spokane, Tampa, Kansas City, Houston, New York, Asheville

:: Most of it was for work.  But it only felt like work in the preparation.  Actually getting to the sharing, speaking, sewing, quilting and creating time with hundreds of women across the country felt nothing like work at all but more an undeserved privilege.

:: No matter where I went or for how long, I missed home.

:: I held other people's babies.

:: I reminisced a great deal on all of our own baby memories.

:: While it will never feel completely natural, I think I finally got the hang of being myself (only with more makeup) in front of the camera through my work with Janome and with Creativebug.  I am very proud of both projects and so elated that both will be moving forward into 2013.

::  I uncovered and documented so many family handmade treasures with the help of my mom.  In my own efforts have never felt more convicted or more honored to carry the tradition of creativity onto new generations in our family.

:: I thought a great deal about all the women in my life who have contributed to who I am: my Greek grandmother Eleni, my American grandmother Anna Ruth, my mother Mary Lynn, my sister Eleni.  All such resilient, beautiful, strong, talented, loving and character-filled women.  Even with my grandmothers having passed, I have never felt them more present in my soul than this year.

:: We rescued an abandon pup, and named him Cash.  He is a wily, darling, spirited boy with very little self control which has cost much patience.  Though patience has been paid back time after time with the "thank you" I see in his eyes each time he holds his long gaze on me as I rub his furry white chest.  I adore him.

:: We planted, harvested and ate from our first vegetable garden.

:: My children found new categories of chores to argue over, see above.

:: I turned 40.

:: I felt strong.

:: I managed to cry a great deal.

:: My mother spent a month with me while receiving treatments here for her lymphoma. Everyone kept saying how hard that must be for me, and how I must be so exhausted helping her through that and so on.  The only thing I ever felt was glad that I could help, and happy to have her near.  I think she would agree when I say that I continually forgot why she was here, we would just visit like we normally do, trading our knitting, sewing, crochet, or embroidery project status thoughts, only with the addition of a visit to the hospital every afternoon. 

:: My mother continued to be an amazing inspiration to me and countless others in her journey and I learned from her that you can accept an unwanted fate and be entirely optimistic in equal and harmonious doses.  I learned that she, the one suffering, somehow offers more strength and encouragement to the rest of us, than any of us can offer to her.

:: I prayed for a year where this illness is not a bullet point.

:: I did not (and will not) lose hope.

:: I have never felt more required of me in a given year, but also realized how that is the whole purpose of living.  

:: I hosted a gorgeous group of dear, kind, and thoughtful women for a memorable weekend of making with our own two hands and a bit of our hearts too.  All in celebration of my third book that published just a few days before.  I am so proud of both endeavors.

:: I was given gifts for no reason at all, and felt humbled and thankful for the generosity of others.

:: I fell in love with my husband.  Dozens of times.

:: I ran 5 miles.  All at once.

:: I learned to knit.

:: I kept a secret.

:: I knit the above sweater for our new BABY due in June.

:: We will know next week whether to add boy buttons or girl buttons to the sweater.

:: Yes, number 7.


Maybe all 2012 was, in reality, was the makings of 2013.  The behind the scenes of new paths, new lives and new stories still penciled in rough draft.  I sit here, slightly reaching around the swell of my belly to write this, looking out at a gray, damp day.  But I think of the seeds underground.  The plants out there freezing and lying dormant absorbing that necessary chill only to awaken anew when the time comes.  I remember that they will do that without any help or plans from me, they will do it because they are created for it.

May 2013 bring you all of your heart's desires, even in the smallest doses.  I hope that you will be given all that you need to feel comfort in what it is you are created for.  Thank you for being here with me and allowing me to have a comfortable space to invest my thoughts.  I look forward to sharing this year with you.

All my love, Anna Maria xoxoxo