Folk Flower Quilt!

Hello there! This year I am so happy to be participating in Creativebug's BOM series along with Heather Jones & Carolyn Friedlander.  Every month we are taking turns sharing a block design that you can learn from our video classes at their site.  (They have a few different options for joining/viewing but both REALLY reasonable).

Anyhoo, bc I am such a Creativebug fan & supporter, I worked with them through Craft South to create a monthly quilt kit program that corresponds with the block of the month.  For May I created the Folk Flower block, and I used the block design to create a big stinking quilt as you see above.  And we now have the kits ready to go in the Craft South online shop!  This is one of my favorite quilts ever, if I do say so myself, and I am excited to see other variations!  

I have written more notes about going from learning the machine applique block (way easier than you might think, I promise) to creating the quilt.  SO hop over to the Craft South blog for that info, if you please.

xoxo, Anna Maria

On Building Beauty or My Friend, Natalie

A million years ago (2010) I first wrote a review on Natalie Chanin's then new book, Studio Style, and today I have the pleasure again of digging into her latest work, Alabama Studio Sewing Patterns, to share my insights.  What has me feeling like the luckiest girl though, is that the process of this sharing involved having a custom garment made and photographed on moi.  Oh the work.  It is so hard.  I suffer.

I said then, a million years ago, and I say now, that my friend Natalie does not design clothing, she also builds it.  He process of creating the imagery on her organic cottons is like nothing else, and it remains like nothing else, despite her so selflessly and so inspirationally teaching her process to the world.  What comes out of her heart, and her studio is a stand alone collection of art, in the sea of disposable, anonymous sameness rampant in the fashion world.  All of her 3 prior books string together the complete story of her unique process of embellishment and construction, down to every last detail.  What is particularly special is how her books offer such a sense of place, that absorbing the skills taught within them is that much more crystallized.  And you finish the reading having experienced her process as much as you have read about it.

If I could succinctly characterize this new book, it is that it graciously gives that extra mile of instruction that I would assume was never possible to do in a book.  Instructing garment sewing from a book is tricky.  But Natalie does it in a way that investigates the basics (and also every combination of altering those basics) with just the right amount of detail and technique to make it informative, but also with just the right attitude and encouragement to make it approachable.  And just like her first three books, it is a stand alone compendium on style while being a reverent guide to the handmade.

When it came time to choose a garment to have made, I just pointed to the amazing princess seamed long sleeve tee on page 51 made from indigo-dyed cotton and said THAT.  I feel beautiful in it.  But I also feel so very comfortable.  Thousands of stitches made by a pair of talented, hardworking hands simply feels different than anything else you will ever wear.

This post was meant to be published a full week ago, and in my hurried, frantic schedule of getting the doors to Craft South open, I failed to complete it on schedule.  I texted Natalie to apologize, and her reply was such a comfort: "Nothing is ever late in our world".

Thank you, Natalie.  Thank you for your patience with your own process (and with me).  You remain an inspiration, a friend, and a source of hope in the way that our world works.  This book is the icing on the cake for your fans, and I am personally grateful that you took the time to make it.

xoxoAnna

How To Remember Your Childhood

A book review of How to Catch a Frog: and other stories of family, love, dysfunction, survival and DIY by Heather Ross

I need to disclaim that Heather Ross is a dear friend of mine, and that is a fact I only wish had not been true while I was reading this book, so as to maintain- even just for her sake- as objective an opinion as I could of this truly illustrative memoir of her less than typical upbringing. But I will get back to that. A good review removes oneself, so here we go then.

This memoir of Heather's is shared from the perspective of a woman who has survived childhood- not a “normal” one if there is such a thing- but one where she and her sister manage to understand where they belong and what belongs to them for mere fleeting moments of their upbringing only to have the rules change on them again and again. In a broad stroke, Heather's style and her choice of vignettes keep you keenly interested on what happens next, have you watery-eyed both through laughter and through heartbreak, and have you as enthralled with the highly descriptive details of how she physically managed to survive her extreme, element-exposed childhood in rural Vermont as you are with her intensely lyrical and charming descriptions of the characters that populate this book- the characters that populate(d) her life.

The timeline of the memoir is one that jumps around a bit, but not in a really deliberate or highly methodical way that becomes overly scheduled so that you are expecting the four pages of present tense right after you've read the four pages of past tense. The hopping around is organic- much like how you would remember something about your own life, which would generate the more recent or much older circumstances that would naturally be called to mind. In other words, it is crafted just like a story that you are listening to as if you were sitting next to her.... where the conversation takes turns as necessary to paint a full portrait of a person and their path to here. 

There are almost no instances in the book where Heather takes the opportunity to describe her struggles of upbringing in a way that asks you to pity her. She seemed to so quickly take what was not good in her life and make it something else, and admits readily when what she made instead was a good decision or perhaps one a bit misguided.  It is the latter that truly reveals to her story-telling genius.  Any family, even a less than exciting one, has it's share of stories and circumstances that makes them a book of sorts.  It is specifically what Heather chooses to share about some family members and not share about others that gives rise to two figures who, in my mind, are heroines of her girlhood.   Her Aunt Jane, despite her shortcomings and delusions, became one of those within this paragraph and perhaps within Heather's life:

I ran into the bathroom and sat on the side of the tub, trying to hold back tears, my stomach and my chest pounding and aching.  Jane opened the door and quietly sat next to me, her hand on my back.  At first she said what she always said, trying to get me to smile, but I was past the point of needing just a cheerful chin-up.  What I needed, at that moment, was for someone, just once, to tell me that I was right, that even though I was a child, I was right, that this thing that felt so unfair was, indeed, unfair, that what was happening to me- the mother who was barely holding on, drinking more and more, dragging me along on her poorly planned adventures- wasn't O.K.  And Jane, for the first and only time in my life did that.  She pulled me up onto her lap and held me as tightly as she could and told me that she loved me, and then over and over again, her voice cracking, she said just one thing.  "I know," she said.  "I know, I know, I know"

I see the other, somewhat less described, heroine in her life- or maybe protectress is a better job description- as her twin sister, Christie.  The very fact that she is a little less described I think exemplifies who sisters are, in fact.  There is no need to go to a lot of trouble when describing them, because you yourself know them so very well, and everyone else should too, because they know you.  Or in this case, because Heather is telling of herself, she is also telling you about Christie.  One instance, much more comical than Jane's rise to heroism, where Christie shows herself as a truly motivated protector is this (and to preface, Heather's twin had just received a few oil paintings rolled into a tube and mailed that are of Heather who earned some extra money in Mexico sitting as a nude life model):

Upon opening them, she drove straight to the bank without even taking a minute to put on her shoes and deposited money into my account.  I returned to California in the spring certain that it was possible to make a living as an artist but not having any idea how.

I can honestly say, even from the perspective of someone who has heard a few of these stories- and even some of the back-back-stories to these from my friend Heather personally, that I was sad when it was over.  It is such an entertaining, and ultimately honest read. You will be overwhelmed with the fulfillment of watching a talented, seasoned artist allowing herself an honest look back at her life-  which I know was a very hard thing to do.  She has inspired me to jot a bit more down as memories soar over my head unannounced.  Not in sad ways, not in ideal ways, just in ways and with words that reflect exactly what I can remember.  I think she might inspire you to do the same.  There are so many more vignettes, including saving a couple of lives, meeting her husband after a string of people who would not do this lady (or any lady) any service as a husband, having her daughter, sprinkled with related DIY that concrete this book as something that will stay with you for a long time.  I ended so entirely glad that she is my friend and so happy for her that she managed not only to get through her life until this point, but that she got through the very, very good writing of it as well.  We are lucky for that.

I love the book so much that I bought 3 dozen copies!  But those are for the book signing that I am hosting for her at Craft South next week.  If you are in the area, stop over and visit with Heather and get your book signed!

xoAnna

Corner of August

This month feels like one to remember and savor and I am sorry to see it almost go.  We have been so utterly consumed with the everyday this Summer that I find myself at this computer quite a bit less, which is really good.  I am moving more and sitting less, and that is certainly good.  I am however starting to suffer the side-effects of less posting/writing here and regret that in some ways. Selfishly, I miss the record that I enjoy looking back on of my days.  So I am hoping to get a bit more regular with sharing here in the coming months.  Things are settling.

With school back in, routine has thankfully cleared its throat and made itself known.  Nothing is a bigger deal in this house right now than our young Roman riding the school bus.  Holy.  Moly.  It is the most fun this guy has.  We choose our school clothes at night and pile them on his green painted chair handed down from sister Juliana.  We set his Batman alarm clock to 6:40am which scores various points of effectiveness by the time the morning rolls around.  We pack his lunch in the Spiderman lunch tote each morning, after reviewing a menu which always includes peanut butter, chips and fruit but somehow we still have to verbally clear it with him before we are allowed to proceed. We swarsh around some orange juice and possibly nibble a granola bar or a waffle on our walk down the hill to wait for the most glorious moment of the day.  A yellow bus with a smiling driver lady.  I also sometimes have not so nice moments with cars who do not heed the bus's stop sign.  I mean, duh.  I pity the poor souls who try and fly through then come to a shrieking park right next to my Greek-Anger face while I yell then pause to kiss my son's face before safely escorting him across.  I can reduce them to never wanting to drive again. But. Really. It's a school bus.  We also have two boys in high school, two girls in middle school and one little squishy toddling squabbling pumpkin sweetie pants at home.  She has so much life and sweetness and noise and personality packed into such a tiny little purposeful body that I find myself just staring at her with a smile glued to my face that I cannot unstick.  It almost hurts I love her so much.  It is a very different feeling than I have for the drivers who do not stop for the school bus.  I cannot believe I just put those two things in the same paragraph.

YOU GUYS!  Craft South has been such a fun, fulfilling and amazing experience.  I am very pleased to report that with just one more month to go of our Summer series of pop-ups that I really think we have sent every single participant home happy and inspired.  We most recently hosted the knit sewing classes and my sweet, gorgeous friend Natalie Chanin joined us for the weekend w her darling girl.  We had a half of a second to snap a picture before she hit the road home for Florence.  Click over here to the Craft South blog see more photos of our weekend with her and all of the beautiful things that we made together.  I also LOVED teaching kiddos the hoola hoop weaving class and love it so much when my own kids join me.  Eleni and I were quite proud of our weavings.  I have some more research to do on those techniques to help the finished product lie flat once it is snipped off the hoop.  Anyhoo.  Too much fun.  I am also learning how much we can get accomplished in even the one day classes.... almost as much as a weekend because we tend to focus a bit more in a single day.  I have a couple spots open in the Embroidery one day class next month!  It comes with me, lunch, supplies, skills, stories and finishes with cocktails!

I have colossal news to share on the Craft South front which deserves its own post.... so I'll be back with that next.
xoxo enjoy these last August days
Anna Maria

July

I seem to have inadvertently assigned only monthly check-ins to myself here on the blog this toasty warm season.  One moment I wonder how that happened, and then the next moment a month has passed and I have my answer.  It has been a very, very full summer already.  We are not major vacationers around here, typically opting instead to take short trips of the spontaneous variety.  But these past weeks we have managed to find ourselves in various pockets of the country and surprised every time we stop to realize how smoothly it went.  Thank you Summer, that was really nice of you.  We went to the Catskills to stay with my friend Heather & family for a dew days, and I cannot explain just exactly how much I loved physically being in that place.  Just that part of the country, seeing the different forestation and rock colorations, feeling different breezes, getting bit by different bugs, let alone the splendid company of my sweet and entertaining friend, her adorable and clever husband and their storybook-cute kiddo, Miss Bea.  Her and Roman had a bit of a thing.  It was all too adorable for words.  Heather and I did glamourous things like move and organize food into her new pantry that was delivered the first day we were there.  I reminded her throughout the rest of the trip that she will forever thank me for establishing a dried fruit and nut shelf. The womenfolk among us took off to Vermont for Heather's Mother/daughter Weekend sewing event at the Blueberry Hill Inn, leaving the boys to themselves, sliced cheese, organic bacon, the lake, some canoes, life jackets for the toddlers, beer for the daddys and guitars for all.  As it turns out, that was all way more than that group needed for fun.  As for us, we packed the car full of craft supplies which was just exactly what was required for our fun + loads of lovely women and their daughters, cool nights, s'mores, beer and ponds and lakes.  Too, too much fun, and I hope to do it again next summer.  Vermont is absolutely beautiful.  Driving all the way to upstate NY, then to Vermont, back to NY and finally home to Nashville was quite the trek. I personally spent 42 hours driving a car over 7 days time. However I really didn't know until I was in the midst of the long hours on the sunny road followed by several hours in severe storms driven with white knuckles and extra open eyeballs followed by numerous full double rainbows that I was so in need of this blank space.  A resting spot out there.  One after another.  Nothingness, really, if we are speaking relative to my normal days.  It was equally unanticipated and necessary.  Since then we have also found ourselves to East Tennessee for time with my Dad, my brother, sister and all the cousins.  We took ten of those cousins up the side of one of the Smokey Mountains for a 5 mile hike.  We relied only on my brother's memory of Rainbows Falls having hiked it 20 years ago with Juliana on his back.  He muttered something about kinda rocky then leveling out.  We looked for the leveling out the WHOLE entire way up, and the smarter among us didn't bother looking on the way back.   On the way to post-hike milkshakes, burgers and fries, Jeff and I talked about how you must name mountain peaks things like Rainbow Falls because no one would climb it if you named it Not Really Worth It Especially If You Have Ten Children With You Falls.  I also learned from Roman that the word shortcut describes something that you should never do because you could get cut.  Short. Cut.  In the case of traveling across rockier, branchier bits of path he was absolutely right so I chose not to argue. I only pointed out that it was all too easy for him to say from his lofty position of piggy-on-my-back all the way down the mountain.  Phew.

And before all of this amazingly fun continental traipsing about over the past two weeks, we held our first Craft-South series.  We, the studio bunch of us, are all still on floaty happiness mode around here as it was everything that I hoped it would be and so much more.  My One Day Patchwork Primer ladies were eager and stellar.  My Kids Patchwork girls were out of this world interested and talented.  And the weekend lot of ladies along with the incomparable Amy Butler joining and sharing was so incredibly enjoyable I forgot that I was working.  Really, really so great, and here we are just about set to start the July Craft-South block next week.  Please come by our temporary studio in Berry Hill if you'll be in the area next week!  We have a pop-up shop of crafty-sew-y love open to all from Wed-Sat 10-4pm.  Meanwhile the classes will be teaching all kinds of tips and tricks to garment sewing with Liesl Gibson & myself.  (And we are making really good progress on the permanent nashville location!)

Oh, why did you let me go on like that!?   So much more I would love to chat on about, but there are loads of rummage-sale orders to get out, and we are getting all of my new rayons, voiles, flannels & knits loaded into the shop for next week.

More soon pals.  Hope you've had your feet up a bit.  Smooch. Anna Maria

Mod Girls

Too many pretty things happened during my teaching days at Sew Down Nashville to let them just sit on my camera phone. I had the lovely opportunity to spend time with a very enthusiastic group of 80 or so patchworkers (20 at a time) two weekends ago. The Modern Quilt Guild does such a great job at putting together these events, so much so, that they make it seem easy, which I know it is not. Kicking off the weekend here in Nashville by welcoming everyone to the house and studio was a teensy overwhelming, but so worth our efforts. We kinda fell off the planet in the week or two leading up to the event as evidenced by the (in)frequency of my posts here, but the preparations were smooth and exciting.  Thank you so much to all of you who came, and also for patronizing our at-home pop-up shop!  Or petting my dogs, or holding my baby, or listening to my father-in-law play bluegrass, or eating crab cakes, or ignoring dusty light fixtures, or any other thing you might have done while here.  Thank you.  We loved it.
As for class.  I taught a class based on a block that I named Mod Corsage.  I was first inspired to create this make-it-up-as-you-go block while researching the history of broderie perse quilting.  (Here is what google images spits at you if you ask.)  I love needle-turn applique.  Not everyone does.  And like most things that we enjoy that are time consuming, there isn't always the chance to have much time to give to it.  So Mod Corsage was built out of my desire to create a pictorial block (or quilt) of a bouquet of sorts, but to take what might seem like short cuts to getting an image happening.  What I really enjoyed was that the practicalities of the patchwork process is what in the end offered just as much interest to the piece.  In other words, it is not just about fabric choice, but also about how many seams were taken to build the bouquet, and where you chose to change out the background fabrics a bit.  Staring with a simple structure that can continue to be reacted to and embellished with further applique was also very enjoyable for me.
Like most classes that I teach, even I don't quite grasp everything that is going to be taught until I open my mouth and begin sharing my path to creating the inspiration piece.  What I learned in teaching this class was that what we were really doing was defining the flower.  In other words, how many ways could we build, applique, patch or seam a flower.  The answer is every way.  There are no limits. My favorite.
I presented two basic ways of paying homage to the broderie perse tradition.  One was almost entirely about appliqueing bits of various florals together.  And despite a few specific tricks that can make this appear more time intensive than it is, a considerable amount of time on these blocks happens after the composition comes together (in other words hand sewing all those dang flowers in place).  The second method was more like my example up there (first photo) which was more structured and straight edge, and well yes, "modern", I suppose.  And for the most part, this approach has you spending a  bit more time on the front end, trying to allow for some spontaneity, but also a sequence of assembly.  Either of these two styles can be daunting at first.  But I can honestly say that everyone did something beautiful in class.  And it seemed most did something that they were not necessarily anticipating, which as their teaching is thrilling.
I have more pretty student work photos over here on FB.  I am so happy to say also, that the class was such a success, that I will be teaching Mod Corsage again at Quilt Con next year.  Yay.  I should mention too, that at Sew Down we only had 3 hours for class, and at Quilt Con we will have 6 hours.  I think that everyone that joined me for this would agree that 6 hours will be very helpful to getting a little further along in the process.
Okay.  Hope you're inspired!  xoxo, Anna

Under Construction

We are at a gallop pace it seems. Today is the last Spring Break day for the kids which has been a full two weeks looooong.  I love having them here.  Yes, they drive me half crazy (which really just finishes that job), but that might secretly be the part I love.  We (the royal) have been working on taking down the wall between the kitchen and the family room for about the same amount of time so, yes.  Bad timing by anoyone else's book, but that's how I tend to operate.  Get all the kooky happening at once.  But the change is wonderful.  Wonderful!  The giant window in the family room is getting a french door set into the center of it.  And the more useless smaller door from the family room to the back patio is getting turned into a crafty little octagon window.  I did not bother with the brick rebuilding expense around the new window, but rather letting the old door frame provide a boundary for building some plant shelves.  It's right next to the kitchen french doors, so I am thinking that will be perfect for herbs.  The beginning of last week started with a trip to Florence to see my sweet friend Natalie and (finally) visit her Factory Store & Cafe.  It is everything that you would expect it to be.  Beautiful, delicious, well thought out and inspiring.  I took the little schmumkins with me, and she had all kinds of fun exploring the grounds and being adored, eating sauteed squash, being held and doted on by Natalie and her team.  Natalie and I spent some time going over our plans for teaching together this summer at Craft South.  I treated myself to some cotton jersey by the yard and getting fitted for one of her corset kits, which recently arrived in the mail all cut to my body specs and I cannot wait to get started on something for me!  So excited.  Craft South!!  Thank you so much for your enthusiasm!  We have been extremely busy getting so much in order for that.  We have taken loads of signups, started a waiting list for some classes, getting close to full on others, and still plenty of room for lots of the one-day classes, and kids workshops.  I am so thrilled with all that is coming up this summer, and will be sharing more about what to expect in all of these workshops in case you need the extra nudge.

We are waiting for proofs of the cross stitch patterns, and we are also getting a huge shipment of floss any day now so that we can begin compiling kits!  The kits will include Aida cloth & a needle as well.  I am also offering just the pattern by itself, but figured some folks might want a little package ready to go.  Yay.  Isabela cut a foot (at least) off of her hair.  This girl, still just 12, had begun turning in to such a lady like looking girl a few short weeks before the cut, then the cut seemed to just push her right into this whole new person.  Sigh.  I am reminded of her here.  Oh the time.  It goes by and you are suddenly parenting a whole group of people that were other versions just a second ago, but still the essence of all the amazing you have known them to be from birth.  Humbling, to say the least.  And there are a million more little changes and growths that aren't as easy to put a finger on.  Galloping, I tell you.

I am so, so glad that spring is here.  I am ready for it.  I usually feel like my garden is taunting me and telling me that I am behind before I even begin, but this year I took a few warm days by force and began digging, dividing and replanting loads of perennials, followed by two truck loads of mulch, which makes me about 1/2 done with Spring prep on the flower beds.  This was of course all promptly covered with snow a day later.  But those perennials are resilient work horses.  Most of them given to me by Mom. Everything is under construction here.  Everything.  Always.  House, Spring, stitching, fabrics, baby dresses, children.  Me.

I hope you are well friends.  Happy Spring! xo, Anna

About that Quilt

When I designed this quilt I had tradition on my mind.  I also was set on making a quilt pattern that felt a little like a snowflake-y/fair isle-y/navaho-y piece.  You know.  But wanted it to feel modern at the same time.  After a whole bunch of tinkering, sewing, patching, drawing, mathing and swearing, I arrived a block design that I loved, and one that was not insane to expect of someone else.  The Flight Map Quilt.  And like much of designing patchwork proves to be, it was quite a bit of complication to arrive at simplicity.  Layering on to all of that, the pattern only uses one single block, but employs strategic color changes to arrive at the medallion style you see above.  8 solids + 12 watercolor like prints.  I would not label this as a beginner quilt, though I would say that it is largely composed of beginner to intermediate piecing skills.  And I REALLY believe it to appear way more complicated than it seems.  Really, really.  I also wanna show you some variations with different color layouts for some inspiration......




I made the above crib sized quilt from some of the the Hand Drawn Garden collection.  Each of the 6 blocks is exactly the same and the arrangement of them creates the fun little arrows of magenta and coral.  The arrangement also only allows the cream solid to complete a whole diamond in one place which is not exactly center which I think is pretty unique.  The Volumes print cut in a stripey manner gives the print-y prints a nice kick. 




Naturally it seemed the next thing to try was to not only make a version where every block is the same, but also one where the blocks are entirely symmetrical.  Oh how I love this version.  Really so very traditional in one way but a close inspection of the single block feels so quirky and fresh when you see the fabrics up close.  The floating cross elements and the more subdued flying geese rows feels so calming and lovely.  I just adore it.  This one is made from eight different Dowry prints (releasing in November!) and just one solid.  And no, I did not make all three myself!  The original was made together with my pal and stellar quilter, Brittney, the crib size all by me, and the latest above entirely by Brittney.  I cannot let you people think that a lady with a 3month old is doing this much patchwork.  It just wouldn't be right.  But anyway.  I wish I were.

Have a good weekend.  S'pose to be 78 at the very hottest tomorrow and I have already decided that will make it the best day of my life.
xoxoAM