Love + Give + Sew = Live

Again this year, I am honored to donate an auction package filled with lots of goodies for some handmade love to help support my friend Alissa and her sister Kate's cause, Action Kivu.  What a gift it is for most all of us when the opportunity presents itself, to pick up some materials and begin making something.  Typically a budget or time constraints are our only hurdles to doing anything we want in our creative lives.

It is a gift to ourselves, and to our children to lead these lives!  Please consider giving, even the smallest bit to help these women do the same, all the while overcoming the hand life has dealt them.

Visit Alissa for all the info you need!
lots of love, and thank YOU for considering!! xoxo, Anna
 

Sharing

I can't say how happy it makes me that my collaboration with my friend Natalie & and the team at Alabama Chanin continues. It was several months ago that I first shared our work together, which is so small in comparison to the great expanse of her beautiful collection, but I beam with pride to see the gorgeous garments, knowing that so many hands stitched each and every little delicate flower so intently.  It all feels so good and fortified, especially since I have had the pleasure of wearing a piece myself (which continues to stretch as needed around my belly) for months.



And now, in classic Alabama kindness, she shares with all of us the opportunity to bypass the investment of many dollars and instead invest much love and work into a piece of our own making and design-but with so much inspiration to get started!  The Little Folks and Little Flowers Stencils are now available in our very own shop as a starting point to any number creative journeys- these are the very same large and durable stencils that the team at AC use to create their garments.  She has also just posted one of her intriguing stitch maps for tips on creating a very embellished landscape of beauty!  (Although I can't get the thought out of my head to use them on a nursery wall!)

Finally, I am honored that the Alabama Chanin Journal has (and will be) focused on our collaboration all week, sharing a little something different everyday- today there is even a Greek recipe in my family's honor (blush + yum!).  I was meant to be farther South with them in the studio this week, but life had other plans for us.  We resorted to emails, and some very in depth text messages while she traveled from LA to home, and I cared for some sick kids.  Both of us pontificating on the finer points of keeping things running as moms, and designers.  She is such good company to my heart when we get the chance, and I do soon hope to cook the next Greek studio meal myself for her, perhaps with a baby on the hip.

happy Spring friends!!! xoxoAM

Sewing (and stitching) RED!

I am interrupting my quilt top sharing this week to paint the blog red!  I am so proud to be a part of a lovely book by Laura Zander called Sew Red.  It's the follow-up title to Knit Red, both of which remind us to take care of our hearts, and send a portion of their proceeds to help fund the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health in support of Heart Truth.  My project contribution is called "Target Practice" which offers a patchy-style belt that surrounds an embroidery pattern that I completed using red crewel wool a cream background. 

In addition to my project there are loads of lovely garment, accessory, quilt and decor sewing projects by many of my friends in the industry.  Also of course a whole bunch of talented people I don't know!  Additionally each designer offers a little personal experience whether it be a heart healthy recipe or a way in which heart disease has touched their lives, as it has mine with the loss of my maternal grandmother years ago.  I think she would have loved my project.

It's an all around good book, put together by good people who are doing good.
Take care of your heart! xoxo, Anna

*Sew Red by Laura Zander, published by Sixth&Spring Books. Photo by Rose Callahan copyright © 2012 by Sixth&Spring Books/Soho Publishing. Used by permission

Composing a Quilt: for Joseph

QuiltCon was absolutely perfect and memorable.  Jeff and I so enjoyed getting away on our own for a few days and kicking around Austin with no plans for one whole day and a few nights too after teaching wrapped up.  Spending time with favorite friends is always welcome too, but it seems there weren't enough nights to see them all.  And teaching!  What a lovely bunch of attendees!  So eager to try something new and everyone noticed that there was just an all around good vibe about the event- thanks, of course, to wonderful coordination by my friend Alissa & her gang of modern quilters.  Really perfect and can't wait to go again next year.

I might have IGed as much food as I did quilts, but they were both so good I couldn't resist.  As promised though, I wanted to begin sharing all of the new quilt tops I have been working on.  The first is this quilt for my Joseph (13).  All the tops I've done for the kids are around 68"ish by 88"ish.  So twin bed-ish.  You will likely recognize the feather design but of course these are pieced and appliqued- well most are appliqued, some are just basted and waiting to be finished.  I love how this one turned out.  Knowing that I was going to be making quilts for both Joseph and Nicolas, who share a room, I set out to use the same fabrics generally but completely different patchwork styles.



I began work for both quilts by collecting all that I wanted to use which was a lot of my own fabric, Denyse's and several other plaids, geometrics and so forth.  Then I cut them all in strips crosswise from selvage to selvage varying the width from about 1.5" to 3". I then sewed them together on their lengths for about 6 yards of striped fabric- which took a long time, but good to sorta just work on mindlessly for on and off.  From these I cut the feather templates and made 18 feathers.  I knew from the beginning that I would do something almost medallion like and symmetrical.



Once half of the feathers were appliqued in place on the center foundation fabric, I decided to set the next row farther from the center and staggered, so I needed to deal with the border around the center which the second row of feathers would float over.  I was originally planning to use rectangles cut from the strip pieced fabric, but decided that didn't play enough of a difference to the feathers.  So instead, I used some leftover strips and patchworked them onto the center in log cabin fashion.  I had a look at it all up on the design wall before making a commitment.  It became visually effective to arrange the concentric strips from more intense, deeper colors out towards more pale and softer tones at the outer edges.  So now, just to finish the hand applique on all the feathers and I am also getting the urge to add a small compass-like piece at the very center.  My Joseph is so exuberant and has a tendency to be an explorer, if not a little wander-y.  It just felt right to give him a focused design as a balance. 

Knowing who you are making for, and everything about them, adds quite the layer of inspiration and joy to the process.

Back tomorrow with a quilt for my Nicolas.
xo,Anna

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

I've caught a bug. A really creative one.

Just a little teaser of my first workshop launching next week at CreativeBug.com The feather skirt workshop will be live on Tuesday the 4th and the cross stitch pendant on Thursday the 6th. Enjoy, and learn more about CreativeBug here.
xo, Anna

A Kindness

I did not realize way back when I made Bohemian (my first fabric collection in 2006) how much it would bother me to now not have saved a piece of everything. I think of it as a crazy line.  I can't even tell what it looks like anymore.  The experience of making the first was unique. I just went for it before I had real ideas about what I thought it should be.  Looking at it now, I do know that I really like that attitude about it. Perhaps it's just naivete.

Not sure how I came to have so little. I have even sent many in recent years on a path to help them find some, but as I frequently advise, I am not any better at finding it than anyone is unless I have a bolt sitting right next to me. Which I don't.  I always appreciate anyone wanting or loving my fabrics, whether I'm able to help or not.  I can't tell you how many emails I've answered on finding Bohemian. Or whether I am going to reprint Bohemian (two of the prints already reappeared in Good Folks).

I met this lovely girl named Jenny, who herself has an illustrative story of how she came to possess every piece of the collection in order to make a dazzling quilt.  After seeing her quilt I met her at market, and told her that she certainly has more Bohemian than I do, which surprised her.  But what really surprised me was the box that I received from her this week containing a piece of everything.  I simply could not believe her kindness-but of course I could.  She wrote that she just felt it was what needed to happen after receiving so much help gathering all the pieces.  I promptly packed up a package of Field Study to send the dear girl, then piled some Bohemian atop the cuts I've collected for months to begin the boys' quilts, all the while, loving the generosity that this world of making possesses. Loving it.  And the applique feathers I'm working away at are that much more enjoyable, with pieces of kindness sewn in. Thank you, Jenny.

Now. Giving. Let's keep it going!  I've added a stack of 6 fat quarters to every prize that is to be won in the Auction for Action Kivu.  Alissa is my sweet friend who I so adore, as I do the work that her equally gorgeous twin sister is doing for women in Eastern Congo.  Teaching them to sew so that they can support their families, increasing the chances that they lead safe a productive lives.  Thank you for considering giving!  I personally threw my dollars at a chance to win some of Denyse's new line, which would be as lovely for my girls' quilts (planning stage) as some of her other prints above are for the boys.

xoxoxAnnaMariaxoxox

A Conversation in Design

I am well aware of the risk I take in answering a completely complimentary introduction by a dear friend with an equally complimentary acknowledgement, thank you and reply.  It's like those pairs of artists who are continually chewing on the awesomeness of the other,  always talking about how amazing the other is.  Yet with that very risk in mind (you know the one I mean- actors do it so well) I would just like to say that, my friend Natalie Chanin is AMAZING.  There.  Take it. 

I don't even remember which one of our "dates" together it was that she asked if she could work with some of my prints.  The first maybe?  But it was one immediate hard swallow + one breathy "of course" later that we took the first small steps to making something together. I've spoken here before about my interest in and love for her process, and the idea of having any tiny thing to do with it, really set my heart racing.  All the honor, and flattery aside, I just wanted to watch her work on this and see what would happen.  Witness my little tiny prints becoming something new and realized through another vision.

Her process is not a fast one.  Rather it is mindful, deliberate, deep-breath-inducing even.  I am a fast paced worker on many things, but I have never been more willing to be patient.  Delighting in the tiny "postcards" of progress (above) she would send to me from time to time.

Until just recently where I squealed (smiled, heart fluttered) getting to see the Little Honey print translated into a raw, pure language that only she could speak.


And there it is.  A friendship set in cloth.  Stories exchanged, phone calls dialed, texts tapped, art drawn, threads pulled, a conversation had.  Stencils shown above promising an even deeper walk into our chapter.  Rolling out over the next several weeks, as fall creeps in.

I am beyond honored, and feel very humbled.  Every visit with Natalie makes me feel like I've just had a much needed drink of water, and I can't help but feel the same after looking through her work.

Enjoy a look at our Little Flowers blossoming here and there in her Fall Denim Collection.
Thank you Natalie.
xo, Anna Maria

Paper Fans

A day of sewing then an evening of exploring, what do you say?
My Paper Fan Dress sewing pattern is now ready for you to download from here. I hope you love it.  I love this photo too.  I can't believe that my Eleni and our sweet little friend Claire (this Claire!) are so big.
I'll be writing more about the project over at Janome next week where we'll have a link to the (almost ready) video for the pattern too.  For now you can have a look over the pattern and get your fav fabrics ready!
Thank you so much for all the birthday love, and many happy returns to all of your summer birthdays.
Colorado, I'm packing! xo,Anna
 

Patchwork Trail

There is getting to be quite of few of these.  Quilts. As I rethink my living room based on recent interior mishaps (I didn't even include in that rundown the hole we put in the ceiling while traipsing around in the attic during my creative bug shoot-long story) I can't help but want carve out a more intended space for some of my patchwork keepsakes.  This ladder has lived either in the downstairs studio or in the living room, entirely dependent on my mood and what I had for breakfast, for the past couple of years. We tend to like it in the studio though.  It's a nice retrieval spot for sending quilts back and forth to trade shows, trunk shows and the like.  So in the living room, I'm thinking.  Thinking.  And looking.  Any lovely interior quilt displays you care to share?  I imagine this will involve power tools which has me very keen.



Sometimes I get to accompany the quilts where they go.  They're generous like that.  Next week, many of these patchies and I will be headed to Colorado!  I can't wait!  I have a packed schedule of visits and workshops at some lovely shops & a guild too.  Here's the rundown if you're in the area and want to sew with me or ask me what toothpaste I use:

::Friday, August 3rd, I'll be at Crafty Laine in Historic downtown Monument for a visit @ 1:00pm

::Friday, August 3rd, I'll be speaking & visiting with the Front Range Modern Quilt Guild also in Monument @ 6:00pm

::Saturday, August 4th, I'll be making Multi-Tasker Totes with the FR Modern Quilt Guild, @ 9:00am

::Saturday, August 4th, I'll be meeting & greeting my friends at Fancy Tiger in Denver @7:00pm 

::Sunday, August 5th, I'll be teaching back to back workshops for the new Feather Bed Quilt (that's right!) and the Multi-Tasker Tote beginning @ 9:00am & @ 1:00pm respectively

::Monday I will collapse in my bed back at home and my mind will be spinning with new conversations and inspirations from my trip.  But you don't have to come to that.

 

I would love to see you, and hear about what's sewin' down with you in CO.  I'm excited!  That Feather Bed Quilt pattern is just about set to pop here, so hopefully I can send the pdf out as a postcard to you from my trip next week.  Good weekend friends, xo, AM

the week (in an instant)

What a week. Pha. Yew.

It sorta started like a runonweek where I never had a weekend to ramp me into the beginning of it because I worked all through the weekend to get both studios and most of the house all tidied up.  I wish I would do this sorta thing more often than when I absolutely have to, but it's just generally not in my cards.  I was clearing space for the creativebug team to be here all week with me.  So it wasn't just the studio and the house, but also the tidying of myself and lots of new projects needed tending to.



Yes that was an announcement!  A very exciting announcement for me, and hopefully you too!  Creativebug.com is the newest (prettiest) online spot for craft, art, sewing, knitting and general all around creativity classes.  One reasonable monthly subscription fee opens the door of the most inspiring studios and designers around the country, and gives you your daily dose of how-to in a myriad of categories.  Or an every other daily dose, or once a week dose, or a whenever you want it dose, or repeated doses, or double dog doozy doses.  It's up to you.  The quality of the filming and the curated group of offerings is so lovely, and the work of many kind and talented people.  I am humbled and excited to share myself there.  They are just getting started, but go have a look, there is much more amazing stuff to come, I can't wait for you to see.  You can watch all the instructor trailers and class overviews without paying a dime to get a feel for the whole schpeel.  The first of my classes should be trickling out in a few weeks.  This is going to be fun.  And a perfect way to make stuff together even when we're both needed at home.



Here are the jokers, errh, super talented cameramen that followed me around all week.  Fernando and Danny are sporting my strip-pieced feathers as ties and making the moves on my dress from (which is wearing one of my workshop projects!)  They, together with Kelly Wilkinson, filled this house with so much fun and friendship that I was sad to see them go.  Several days turned into evenings on our front porch, or at the movies, or in the front yard blowing off fireworks and making Kelly prove to us how good she is at making gin and tonics.  She is definitely better at that than shooting off bottlerockets from her hands.  She didn't know you should let go when you hear the pppphhffft sound.  She's okay. I think we shared almost everything Tennessee has to offer.



This week long of work and fun was provided by the summer camp that the four middle kids were attending. I made a nice long drive to Hickman County to retrieve my sweets today and so enjoyed the peace and quiet of the ride there.  About an hour and a half.  Hills.  Green.  Thoughts.  Gentle rain on and off.  And on the way home, though the car was filled with four children who were tanner, sleepier and taller than last week, I had the same peace and quiet. But also had the added bonus of snoozing sounds, and an even slower drive behind this hay bale load in front of me, with the sweet smell of summer dampness winding ahead of us.

Just a few more notes:
*If you don't get my mailing list notes, I recently added an Instagram Friday giveaway for every Friday by 5pm CST in July where I pick a follower at random and leave a comment on your most recent photo to let you know you've won.  You then email me and tell me what your fav color is and we send you creative loot.  We'll do the same on Facebook next month.  We like this.  It's fun. I'm @annamariahorner
*I'll be speaking to the Lebanon Piecemakers Quilt Guild next Thursday evening July 19th and look forward to seeing some of my neighbors!  We'll have a pop-up shop too!
*I recently saw live music for the first time in 734 years.  The Crumbs.  So good. Have a listen.

good weekend pals, xoAM

Alicia, my children think you're a genius.

Of course I agree with them. Eastern Orthodox Easter is one week later than Western Easter this year, so in addition to getting all your Easter candy on sale (thanks for leaving some), I also have an extra week to absorb some really good egg dying ideas.  In addition to our traditional solid red eggs, as soon as I saw my friend Alicia's botanical eggs, I was dying to do it (pardon the pun).  Falling in line with their typical kid selves, the children did not trust me when I explained the process.  There were smirks, huhs, quizzical brows, rolled eyes, and every manner of mom-yer-dumb looks on their faces.  Then I pulled up Alicia's post on my laptop and a chorus of aaaahhhoooOOOHhh came over the room.  Why do I always have to prove myself to this bunch.  Hmpf.  This is one rare occurrence where I am totally happy to give someone else the credit (even if those stinkers shouldn't need proof).  (Anyway, Alicia, and then they kept reading your blog while I did most of the work.)

I am so excited about this weekend!  Juliana is coming home tonight, my parents are coming Sunday and we will break the fast in every delicious manner possible.  But first, Saturday we will plant all our Spring veg in the newly built raised beds in the backyard then take big long naps before we wake everyone up for a midnight Resurrection Liturgy.  I have such sweet memories of giving in to sleep on my mother's lap at midnight service, using her crocheted shawl as a blanket. 

I hope you have a lovely weekend.  Should you need to mess around with fabric, Bianca has started a Quilt Along for the Patchwork Prism quilt as well as gathered up some incentive for playing along!

smack! AM

The Devil Wears Pajamas, Chapter 1

Hi Folks!

Anna here. And by Anna, I mean Anna Michelle, not Anna Maria. That's right, today while Anna Maria Horner is in crazy-person-writing-a-book-on-a-deadline mode you get to sit through the ramblings of her intern Anna Michelle Johnson.

Some of you may have read our interview from this past summer, and know that I started habitually reading this very blog several years ago - which means that I was completely, totally and absolutely over the moon when I had the opportunity to become an intern. I had a general idea of what a day in the life at designer's studio would look like, and the thought of working alongside someone as known and recognized as Anna Maria was literally a dream come true for me. So naturally I felt every initial fear and insecurity that would expectedly come from a young girl meeting and working with her role model. Luckily for me, those feelings were all completely unnecessary, and quickly overcome. Unlike my expectations, AMH has made it evident from day one that her goal is not running a business but simply to create beautiful things, and inspire others to do the same (and I think we can all agree that she more than lives up to it). This has made for an extremely interesting and rewarding work environment for me.

On any given day I can be found cutting fabric stacks, helping AMH prep for classes and trips, assisting (or modeling) in photo shoots, or filling orders for the shop; so basically it's an ideal job for a fashion design student and all around craft lover like myself. However, you might also find me picking paint from a quilt market project out of my hair and fingernails, sweating in the attic over boxes of pillows and patterns, or chasing down an escaped dog (or toddler) or two. Glamorous, I know. But despite how much fun and how useful it is for me to be getting this much experience in my field (or out in her field), that's not the reason I've stuck around to graduate from summer intern to part-time. I keep coming back for the craziness that is Anna Maria Horner. She's kind of a freak, did you know that? Mother, wife, daughter, friend, business woman, painter, stitcher and all around magician. Now how many people can say that they've successfully accomplished all of those things? And all before the age of (don't tell her I told you this) 40! How does she do it? Well, after almost a year of close examination, I have made almost no earth shattering discoveries. She is just a woman doing what she loves and was called to do, and she has motivated me become that kind of crazy as well.

So whether or not it comes as a surprise to you, my "Devil" wears pajamas. All day, almost everyday. And in fact, she would encourage anyone to do the same.

And now back to Isabela painting my nails for a book photo shoot which Anna asked me to do once she saw what I was wearing today. She is waiting impatiently for my nails to be ready as the sunlight fades. She's doing that in her pajamas.

xoxo
Anna Michelle

Springing

Whether or not I had the time to make these bags myself, I knew they needed to be made. I love having pals that will take on some sewing for me when I am struck by such a bug. I did take the great personal pleasure however in picking out the materials for her. Then poof. Done. They are a ribbon-y version of the Art Student Tote, and I daresay lurvely.

Here's another had-to-happen-happiness in spite of my current workload.
Thank you to Pierrette, my little gif fairy for that one.

Happy Spring friends, xo, Anna

When I buy fabric

I tend to always come home from anywhere with a pile or ten of new fabric. I often get asked whether I buy fabric since I have so much of my own. Funny. Of course. Lots. I also get asked what I like to buy. I enjoy sewing with my fabric, naturally- it really helps me design actually- but anyone wants to sew with more than one designer. I seem to almost exclusively buy Denyse, Heather, Liberty, and several Japanese prints-usually Kokka. They all tend to be so different from anything that I make that I am quite certain that is what draws me in. There is a smaller scale to most all of them, but also a similar color sensibility to my own fabrics. So both of those aspects typically means they pair really well with my own prints. Plus, I can't help but love the work of dear friends who I admire for so many reasons to begin with. (It's extra fun when you can just trade stacks, as Denyse and I did in Palm Springs).

The above curation has been gathered for quilts for the girls' beds. Its alarming how many quilts I have made, yet rarely intended for my own kids. Poor children. Anyway, I am obsessed with triangles of late, and have seen lots more triangles popping up in the quilt world, you? They have been on the brain for months, ever since I first designed my Patchwork Prism quilt for Janome- which reminds me! I should have the pattern pdf and the video uploaded to my Janome page hopefully sometime next week! So excited about it. I taught a class on this quilt in Sacramento, and it was a great experience for all involved. Though I am certain the pattern instruction would be better served if it were a two day class instead of a one day class. (I will try to get better about listing upcoming workshops around the USA this year, but often they are booked through whoever is hosting before I even get a chance.)

Busy, busy week ahead here, final video edits to oversee, new book cover shoot, lots of book writing, sewing, and photography to work on. And my very good friend Donna Wilder is coming to stay with us tonight. She offered me my first fabric designing gig in the Bohemian days, so I owe her a great deal, indeed. Tonight she'll get partial payment with chili and quesadillas.

xoxo, happy Monday! Anna

Postcards:: day six

(As I wrote this earlier this morning) I am somewhere in the air between Los Angeles and Sacramento right now, and thought I would share my flowery snaps around Beverly Hills. I spent a lot of time in my hotel room watching old movies and working on various embroidery projects. My legs started to go numb so I thought I should walk around. The walk from my hotel to Rodeo Drive seemed a nice distance, and I guess I felt an obligation to see that. Saw it. But I really enjoyed a few stops on the way back - a coffee shop and the Paper Source. I found some sweet Valentine kits to take back for the girls, a stuffed giraffe for Roman, a harmonica for Nicolas, and a mini sound effect machine for Joseph- (the cartoon edition that has like 16 buttons each with a funny cartoony noise, like a bomb exploding, a springy noise + that sound that Bugs Bunny's eyes make as they pop out of his head when he sees a pretty rabbit- those sorta sounds.) I missed the kids so much by the time I got back to the hotel that I got them all on Skype and I showed each of them their gifts so they wouldn't have to wait. Of course Roman tried to reach through the screen to hug his giraffe, so I told him that it was Giraffe's night-night time, and let him watch me tuck him into my hotel bed. He seemed satisfied to let me care for Mr. Giraffe, and kissed my screen face good night.

(As I finish this post) I am unwinding after a talk that I gave at Meissner's Sewing, here and now resting up for two full days of sewing there.... my first official Janome workshop! More about all that tomorrow-

xoAM