A Shift

I walked to the front porch tonight looking for a break from indoors once I noticed through the windows while eating a room temperature hot dog that the wind was picking up, promising a breeze.  And it is here.  The breeze.  I haven't once watered the garden this Spring and Summer.  Not one single time.  We have gotten such a lot of rain, and I am so glad for it.  Glad for it in spite of my perennials and the weeds engaging in a fight to the finish.  I have barely slowed down since we got Craft South opened here in Nashville at the end of May.  There is so much that I want to write about the process of doing that.  So much that I want to write about a lot of my processes over the past so many months.  I am being patient with that.  I am appreciating how full, and stressful and exciting life is right now.  Yes I am appreciating the stress.  It is a signal that I am trying something that I want to work.  And fortunately I am surrounded by people who love me and want it to work too.  Want it to work just as much as I do.  I will admit I am pretty stinking tired though.

So much has shifted.  The biggest shift seems to be the online store that I have been running out of my house since December of 2007 is no longer run in my house.  That is happening at Craft South.  That is a huge, wonderful change for me and my family.  I can't even begin.  The first day after completing the giant task of getting of all of the inventory, boxes and people out the house, everything changed.  I was driving home from the grocery store that day (but, really, when am I not driving home from the grocery store, I ask you?) and when I passed over the one hill where I always seem to begin thinking about what is waiting for me at home, I was not thinking about my employees or the orders or what they might need my help with.  I realized that I was only headed towards home.  Home. Only.  Just the place we live.  In that one moment I felt such gratitude for having been able to do all that I have from that place.  From this place.  So bring on the stress.  Will I make my rent each month?  Can I keep the inventory coming just the way I want?  Will enough people walk through our doors to justify all the beautiful, new and shiny expense of it all?  Bring it on.  We know how to be poor.  We know how to hope for more and work hard to get it.

It feels odd to say, because I have certainly been losing a little sleep, keeping this whole new thing on my mind....but there is an ease that has come with this new venture.  I believe it has everything to do with reclaiming home for us.  I might be too busy to do much about the weeds nearly winning the fight.  But the cardinals, yellow finches, doves and cicadas- each of whom I hear right this very minute- do not seem to mind.  My calendar might be so full that getting to write this here and now meant sneaking to the front porch after dinner to steal a moment.  The little powerhouse of a girl who followed me out and moved that big chair into position to be right across from me does not seem to mind.  Business as usual to that one.  Just glad to be near me.  And I her.

I hope you are well friends.  Enjoy your holiday weekend!  xxooAM

In Care of

I am appreciating the pace of things right now. (Ask me again in a few minutes.) There is as much going on as ever I suppose, but no piece of it is causing me anxiety or impatience.  I am just moving along, feeling as though I have at least a grasp on everything.  You should know this feeling is not typical for me.  I can barely spend a minute basking in the relief of one thing finished before the fear of being behind on 14 others.  Self-employment?  Motherhood?  Both? You know that feeling.
I have found time to put real flowers on cupcakes.  I potted herbs for my new patio shelves.  I went for a good long run with my ipod for the first time in I can't remember.  I rocked Mary Anna entirely to sleep several times over the past few days instead of just close enough to sleep.  That was my favorite.  I laid down last night well before bedtime with only the intent to listen to rain hitting the window. 
In the studio this week, Pierrette and I have photographed, inventoried, cataloged, organized, packed, edited, listed, and launched all of my new cross stitch patterns and kits.  This is a thrill for me!  Really, really.  These little guys took a serious amount of perfecting that was deceivingly simple when I began the design and printing process.  But I am entirely happy with how they turned out, and the project was worth the extra bit of care that it required.  They live in a very freshened up Needleworks section of my shop that now has scissors, hoops, aida cloth, needles and brand new palettes of floss too.
Tomorrow Jeff & I head out very early with Mary Anna to NYC for the big fashion show.  I am learning what it means to be proud.  I thought I knew.  And I haven't even gotten there.  Oh. I feel the butterflies in Juliana's stomach from here.  And I think tomorrow they will all get their flying lessons.
Come along with me on IG.
smooch! Anna
(AND! thank you so much for all of the print orders!  Jeff told me that I found a sneaky way to being an artist, which is both funny and true.  Your support of my art is gilded.  Thank you!)

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

Little Blossoms

It's really happening.  Spring.  I am in awe at the feel of the air and the smell of newness on the landscape.  Jeff and I took a quick last minute trip to NYC on Thursday.  We each snuck in a work-ish meeting, and both snuck in as many moments with our Juliana as we could.  The weather in the city was gorgeous, and I had a great feeling of disappointment on Friday night after dinner when I realized I had just had my last New York meal before leaving very early Saturday morning.  Though getting home early meant we had a whole weekend with the rest of the brood which included getting a Spring hairdressing on the front porch by my two other girls and also catching a 4ft long snake in the garden who was escorted by the more boyish sort to a nearby creek well away from our property.   I guess Spring happens for snakes too, and they want to get out a bit more.  Eeesh.

While I should have glanced up at the big movie screen to see this shot of my Square Dance fabric appear in Oz the Great and Powerful, I must have been cramming popcorn or Mike & Ikes in my face.  Cuz I missed it.  Thanks to several of you who have emailed to let me know.  Among several little movie and TV moments that my fabric has enjoyed (Footloose remake (snort), Meet the Fockers (double snort), Judy Moody (yay!), Modern Family (double yay) and others) this has to be my proudest.  The color in this film is beyond beautiful, and I applaud their most perfect use of this little panel print.  I glow a little thinking back to sitting in front of the TV every year with my sister and our snacks waiting for the Wizard of Oz to begin.  Remember when you had to wait a whole year?  I miss that.

I hope things are blossoming where you are.
xoxoAM

ps. just noticed after catching up w blog friends that I titled this post the same as Alicia's last, good company and a welcome phrase- little blossoms!!

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

Garden Inventory

Getting ready to dig in.  This view is from the far left side of the center walkway.


First time I've planted Echinacea in white.  I adore it.


Front view of garden left side.


Foxgloves.  Not as glorious and tall as the blossoms when I first planted, but no complaints.


Echinacea, freshly planted.


This is Guara.  Had never seen or heard of this plant.  It is airy and explosive all at once, and I want to run away with it and get married.  It is perfection.  Have 3 more now after witnessing it's showy nature.


Deep gorgeous, and not green.  The name escapes me now....they turn really red in the fall.... Bayberry maybe?


Drooping Blue Spruce affectionately called the Charlie Brown tree by the kids.


Crepes Myrtles are their typical out of control selves along the center walk.  They drive Jeff crazy.  Which I have to admit might make me love them more.  I'm like that.


Front view of garden right side.  Waiting for a fresh layer of compost/soil/mulch.  We get ours here.


My mama gave me a few plantings of Shasta Daisy several years ago, and this fall it'll be time to divide and spread the love once again.  They simply take over, and are about waist high.


Tickseed (errhhh Blanket flower!).  Lovely at all stages before, during and after blooming.

(A kind commenter pointed this out to be Blanket Flower- the labels on the pots when I bought them read tickseed/blanket flower - So I've been confused ever since.  I have seen some coreopsis (tickseed) to look like this, but not with such poofy centers.  But I think she's right- they are two different things!)


Have not had the best luck w hydrangeas, but so far the newly chosen spot under a Sycamore tree seems to be doing the trick for four new varieties.


Hosta. Loveya.


And some new colors of Encore Azalea.

This weekend, I'll be dropping Zinnia and Poppy seeds all over.
Can't wait.  A full slideshow over here.
good weekend! xo, Anna

SummerLand

We are not overly attentive gardeners.  So I am especially thankful for the week+ long downpour that draped the South recently, particularly as our days are right back up in the high 90s now.  Vegetables don't adore the high 90s (nor do I).  Walking to the garden (our first vegetable garden) every few nights to see what we might snatch for dinner gives me so much pleasure and feels so entirely like how it is suppose to be.  It being life.  I don't offer that as a social comment as much as I do a personal one.  One of the loveliest childhood memories I have is standing in the garden with my sister and my father, picking and eating vegetables.  He, with a salt shaker in hand, would take the first bite of a cucumber for us, so that the next (inner fleshy) bite could soak up a sprinkling of salt.  I can smell it.  My little gardens for now are small, raised, and just precisely what we can manage.  I hope that one day, they will be larger, something that we can stand in and amongst.  With a salt shaker.  How it is suppose to be.



Dinner.  I made a pesto sauce for a homemade pizza crust, topped it with mozzarella and sliced tomatoes.  I thinly sliced a few zucchinis and layered them onto a hot pan, thinly coated with my dad's olive oil, flipped a few times until a little crispy, then sprinkled with salt.  And lemon.  It was lovely with the pizza.  The eggplant, was just sliced and brushed with oil, sprinkled with salt and dried out in  a cooling (from the pizza) oven.  It's stored in the fridge now waiting to become part of a pasta dish for tonight.  Or maybe moussaka for tomorrow night.



Hello little dinner guest.  Growing, beautiful, sweet, schmumkins of a puppy.  The walk to the garden is a very nice opportunity for this one to practice not biting my ankles and not jumping on and scratching my legs.  Though he practices not doing those things and doing those things with equal enthusiasm.

xoAM

Growing

I had snapped this photo on Mother's Day from way across the yard at the patio door - marveling at the sweetness between the two of them, unprompted, no instructions to Bela to let Roman have a go with the hose.  Perfect gift for my day.  Over the past week of being gone, I scrolled through my camera photos more than once just to look at it and imagined (hoped) something just as good was happening at home without me.  And it must have been.  Because the garden is robust and twice the size it was when we left.  I believe all the children are too.

It is so good to be home.  More soon on my time at Quilt Market.  Hoping you are well.
xoxoxAM

Frolicking on Command

I am mid-thigh deep in Quilt Market preparation, layered in with book completion, final new pattern tweaking and what feels like everything else. I am only now getting sample yardage of my newest fabric collection, Field Study, which was suppose to be here in its entirety about 3 weeks ago.  So sewing it up in all that we had planned for booth samples has been interesting to say the least, as we have changed plans about 82.3 times now.  With less than half the time to sew that  I normally have, I've pulled in twice the help and every day there is some new plan about what exactly we are sewing depending which of the 36 total quilting fabrics has arrived.  Because there is such a rush, the mill is sending them piece by piece, sometimes 6, sometimes only 3 prints at a time.  It. Is. Kooky.  But somehow, it is keeping all the creating spontaneously chaotic in an entirely good way.  Like this little skirt might not have come together just like this yesterday afternoon if it weren't for the fact that these are 2 of the 6 fabrics that arrived yesterday, promptly creating some head scratching, then swift cutting and sewing, and of course last minute frolicking courtesy of Eleni for a pre-sunset photo. This is the All Set skirt, part of my first kids pattern collection (and I can safely say my first pattern bearing a kangaroo pocket).  Can't wait to share the rest of the new fabrics and patterns.  And I'm not even hiding anything.  I can't wait to see them either.  As in I'm camping on the front porch waiting to attack my poor Fedex man with scissors, needle and thread.

Also, I ate a strawberry out of our vegetable (fruit?) garden yesterday.  I've never tasted anything like it.  It was sweet spring perfection.

Happy May! xo, AM

Dredged in Flower

Biltmore's conservatory.  What an indulgence it was for me to be able to take my time and just snap, snap, snap. Maybe these little souvenirs will hold you until you get the chance to see it yourself one day.  This is likely enough inspiration for me to draw pictures of flowers for at least a decade.  Sigh.

Thanks for the workshop sellout that happened pretty lickitysplit today.  I am so honored that there is that interest out there, and I promise to be a good hostess to those of you joining.  I simply cannot wait.  If you missed this one, let me know, and I'll add you to an interest/wait list for the future.

In other news:

:: My husband can not stop making tofu scramble like this.
:: I cannot stop watching/listening to this.
:: Somebody help me.
:: I can't get sick of it.
:: Tofu scramble on the other hand....

xoxoAMoxox