2 weeks

How is that two weeks has passed since I last wrote?
Gah.
Instagram has proven to be good evidence of my time and what I've been doing even to me.  I actually used it this morning to figure out what the heck has had me so busy.  Oh yes. Vegas.  Right.  New fabrics.  Yep. Then there are children. Several of them.  Nursing.  Done.  Two weeks. Woosh.

I feel like I should explain Vegas.  'Cause that word has never been typed here.  I had the pleasure of speaking to a group of sewing machine dealers at the Janome conference.  Such a nice group.  I shared my inspirations, my work flow, and what I'm working on next with my fav machine folks in terms of new projects and videos.  It was also interesting to get a sampling of how they each run their business, teach their classes, use social media, etc.  Everything is changing so much, no?  How we gather and share information - fluctuations in our attention span.  I feel like I'm witnessing such rapid change in how we trade stuff.  Words.  Images.  Ideas.  It's all so interesting.  I've been thinking about it a lot lately actually.  How and why I share, what I hope to give and get in each scenario.  The pressure to have every little last social media handle linked on your site that I have yet to bow completely to and just using the ones that make sense to my gut and how my mind works.

This is not what I came here for.

Which is why I love to come here.  Because this IS how my mind works.  In a ziggyzaggy line.

I am here to tell you that Mary Anna will be three months old tomorrow and that my two new patterns are here, and that my two new tapestry kits are here, and that I am working on 3 new quilts with two new collections of sample yardage, and that I am thinking of about 2 more quilts, and that I can't get an embroidered zippered pouch design out of my head, and that I am enjoying the weather so much and that I wish there were more time for my garden, and that I listened to Alec Baldwin interview Fred Armisen on a podcast called Here's The Thing with my husband over coffee.  It was really, really interesting and enjoyable.

Also to say have a good, good weekend.  smooches, AM

Around our Summer

Hi everyone.  It is so busy here.  I blink and the day is over.  Today I thought we could play match the bullet points to the photos.  Ahhehehehegg-hemm.  Here we go.

:: I am learning to look on the bright side of the garden.  Flowers are blooming in riotous ways.
:: I am learning to ignore the dark side of the garden.  Weeds are blooming in riotous ways.
:: I need to dig up and rearrange a few things, but try not to think of that every time I walk by.
:: By a few things I mean almost all of it.
:: I have hired Joseph as my gardener.   I love stroking his ego from the garden bench nursing the baby by telling him how awesome he is while he pulls weeds as tall as me from the dirt.
:: I could not be more excited about fabric right now!  (This whole year really! Still two more collections to launch this year. )  My Hand Drawn Garden collection is here, there, and everywhere.  They are a curation of my favorite Garden Party & Drawing Room prints, all rolled into one pretty group of quilting cottons.
:: And that pretty quilt- that's the Flight Map Quilt pattern that has been on hold for developing for like ever. 
:: My life stopped for a bit there, remember?
:: It is starting again, and lots of projects that were on hold are getting their wheels turning towards completion. 
:: I made some Pleasant Pathways Shorts for Juliana from one of the new colorways! 
:: That's her up there in that riotous Canna.  I can't wait to shed some baby chub and steal them right off her skinny little rear.
:: Oh and not that she needs me to make things for her seeing as how she has her own stinkin line of fabric now.
:: Yup.  It's over here, and it's called Rosette.  And I love it.  Really love it.  Soooo her.
:: We've used it quite a bit already.  Baby dresses. Baby bloomers.  Patchwork.  Window Panels.
:: It looks so pretty with Denyse's Shelbourne Falls which I absoflippintutely adore.  That is most of what is patching that rocker.
:: That is most of where I spend my time. In that rocker.   Nursing.  And watching documentaries on my phone while nursing.  And drinking Pellegrino while watching documentaries on my phone while nursing.
:: Which has a lot to do with why some other things are moving slow.
:: So my downstairs studio got divided into a nursery and studio by way of a new wall and door.
:: It's pretty great I must say.  I got that pretty rug here.  I got that gorgeous Greek Needlepoint on Ebay.  There's another one of a man playing a flute that I am going to frame and put over the piano.  Because flute art goes over a piano, everyone knows that.
:: Juliana has been home all summer which is so beyond wonderful I can hardly express it.  She has been using baby Mary Anna's new room because baby Mary Anna is of course in ours.
:: Everyone else is generally in their own.
:: Though we spend a lot of time (all of us) (yes that's nine people) in the new nursery.
:: We could have a 20,000 square foot home and I think we would still all cram into 50 sq. feet all day.
:: It's weird.
:: I can't wait to show you more pictures of the nursery.  But the young fashion student turned fabric designer turned hey I can throw my stuff everywhere needs to pick up first.
:: She's really not that messy.
:: Roman is learning to take photos. (Find that one!)
:: I have a new class on CreativeBug!
:: I was quite pregnant during the video shoot for the last few classes.
:: I might look particularly tired in this new class, please don't let it distract you from the awesomeness of needlepointing onto a sweatshirt.
:: Cause it is awesome.
:: Jeff put a rope swing onto one of giant cedar trees in the back yard.  The kids go crazy laughy screamy nuts out there pushing each other on it. 
:: It's the terrifying kind of laughter that borders on I wonder if they are enjoying it or are about to really injure themselves.
:: That tree view above is all I can see from my studio window and all the swinging is blocked by branches.
:: I think it's for the best.
:: Also the little Miss smiles all the time the past few days.
:: When she's not crying or puking or sleeping that is.
:: In other words, she is the perfect baby.

xoxoAnna

Tiny Pants

We all know that I need no other reason to post than this picture.  But let's give you some content.

Tiny pants pattern is called Tiny Pants.  Which makes things easy, I think.  You can find it free at Ravelry here.  The quilt can be made with one of my kits here. 

I can't help you with the baby, you'll have to make that on your own.
I hope you're having a good week.  It's hot here.  Duh.  xoxoxAnna

New Classes and a Special at Creativebug!

Creativebug is running a great deal all week! Any single class is available for the discounted price of $9.99. The timing is perfect because Anna has two new classes: 

The whole cloth crib quilt teaches Anna's method of hand quilting.  It's a great thing to learn by watching and you can see the technique close-up in this video.

Anna uses the running stitch to update this classic heirloom. The modern doily makes a beautiful addition to any home.

Visit Creativebug.com to see all of Anna's available projects and choose your favorite to try today!

-Pierrette 

Mother Goose Quilt

Anna's newest free quilt pattern is an oversized flying geese motif called the Mother Goose Quilt.  It uses all of the Field Study Linens along with the new Linen Solids that coordinate beautifully with the collection.  This is a simple to sew quilt that uses a no-waste method and has endless possibilities. Be sure to visit the MAKE page to download the PDF! 

Have fun! - Pierrette

Patchwork for Breakfast

I haven't shot Isabela's quilt up on the design wall yet because I am still working on some significant applique elements that will contribute a lot to the final look of the composition.  And also it's been dang dark and cold around here, with almost constant cloud cover. (Where are you Spring?  It's safe to some out now.)

So rather I've been spreading this out on the dining room table to finish up those elements each morning after the house gets quiet.  As you can see above, the fabric assortment is almost identical to Eleni's, and there are several "orphan" blocks used as well.  While it's not on a grid like Eleni's is, it does employ lots of squarish details, so it calls on a different sense of order than Nicolas's does even though they are both mostly improv. (You might just spy a bit of my upcoming Linen collection up there!)

For Isabela, my old soul, I decided to dig into my stash of vintage scraps.  Several years ago I bought a bunch of ziplocs filled with unsewn quilt pieces from the flea market.  I've used some semi-finished Dresden plates from them in other projects, but (above) I finally made use of these tiny 2 1/4" squares that were cut and pinned together by print when I bought them.  Oh, they are so sweet- those tiny prints!  So a 25-patch was born out of them and wrapped with some borders of Denyse's fabrics.

From this side you can see a bit more of the "open fields" of larger more subtle blocks that I used to provide a background for a group of growing stemmed flowers.  I am using vintage half Dresden plates as the flower petals- the real reason that I only used half to begin with, is because the hand piecing on them was imperfect enough that they just wouldn't lay flat.  So separating them allowed them to lay however they needed to lay to be flat, whether it was a perfect semi-circle not. 

Here you can see the one that is not on a stem, but peeking sideways out from behind another piece.  To go ahead and include this to-be-appliqued piece into the patchwork, I simple turned the edges of the applique towards their wrong side by 1/4" only where they are included in the patchwork seam.  So the straight patchwork seam is the only thing holding it in place until I have the applique finished.

For the stemmed flowers, I cut long 1 1/2" wide strips of bias and pinned them in place taking some subtle curves with just a gentle stretch.  Then I machine baste them down 1/4" from their edges.  This prevents me from having to use any pins during the applique process, and the piece stays entirely secure as I only clip out a few inches of basting at a time right before I turn the edge down and applique in place.  And an additional bonus to this process is that the basting provides a lovely perforation of needle holes in both the applique piece and the foundation, so that you can see just where to fold it under and just where to sew it onto the foundation.  You can see above that the left side of the stem is already appliqued while the right side is waiting to have the basting clipped and its edge turned under and sewn in place.

So that's where this one is.  It's been fun to dissect them with you.  It feels a bit like being in front of a classroom rambling on about my process, which has really become a favorite thing to do- especially when I see more nodding heads than confused looks.

Nodding with me?
I'll share the finished top soon. xoxoAnna

Composing a Quilt: for Eleni

So.  The girls.  For Eleni and Bela (who are roommates too), I have been collecting fabrics for over a year.  I just happen to begin this one with the idea of it being a grid layout of approximately 12" blocks but I wanted to take a lot of liberties within those squares.  Some are tiny patches, some strips, some 9 patch, and some whole 12" squares of fabric. I had just finished working on Nicolas's quilt when I began this one.  It seems I was a bit more in the mood for order, most likely because I had so carefully chosen a palette over a long period of time and I wanted to use it in a very effective way.  This can be a challenge when there are so very many colors.

I worked from the center out, literally beginning by joining 4 tiny 9-patches into a single 12" block.  I then let those colors dictate a certain collection of 9 more fabrics, which you can see here.  With those I made six 9-patch blocks that are all exactly the same.  They form the tall cross in the quilt that has the tiny 36-patch at it's center.  At every step out towards the edges I made decisions with careful looking at what was happening so far, but with very little thought of what would happen next.  I think this is my personal favorite way to work.  It's like painting.  A little here, then look.  A little more there, then tea.  Still more, sit and ponder.  But I did commit to sewing every time I saw something I liked.  Like a rule I set for myself.

Something that I find really helpful and enjoyable is to let the fabrics them selves guide some of my decisions, and I mean more than just the color assortment.  The forms themselves can inspire much.  As with the boys' quilts, the fabrics are almost all my own or Denyse's with a few choice Kokkas thrown in.  That particular Kokka piece on the right above not only captured almost the entire palette of the quilt, but the print itself feels like a patchwork so I left it in large whole blocks.  I considered the direction I would orient the piece for a while though, in other words, what colored edge of the piece would be adjacent to what other piece of the quilt.  When you have a single piece that varies so much within the print, this becomes pretty important, and that decision can really take the whole composition in various directions.  The larger, patchy star shapes in the print itself inspired the half wheels that are appliqued at the right and left of center, as well as the sets of 3 half Dresden plates appliqued top and bottom.



Setting these half wheels at the right and left of the cross bars helps to further the medallion like quality of the composition.  Eventually the four 1/4 wheels set further out also echo the growing center.  I enjoyed creating this piece immensely.  Even though it employs a symmetrical balance of color and fabric, I see a little something different every time I look at it.  It's also the perfect home for the little bits of Bohemian that I still have, which the girls begged to have in their quilts.

Naturally, I obliged, for my sweet, exuberant -and very centered- nine-year-old Eleni.

xoxo,AM

Composing a Quilt: for Nicolas

In Nicolas's quilt you can see the same general assortment of fabrics as Joseph's.  I actually had this one somewhat drawn out in sketch form before I started.  I knew that I wanted it to be columnar as well as have those columns vary in width from just skinny strips to wider rectangles of strip patchwork. I also decided to make all strip-pieced elements that were included sit at an angle.  So I used my quilting rulers to cut them on a bias angle from the original patchwork yardage that I mentioned yesterday.  This did create waste of course, but I have a lot of lovely scraps for other projects and I also shared a whole bunch of the scraps with my class at QuiltCon.  They seemed to like that.  I like being a scrap fairy when I visit classes.

What came about that wasn't exactly planned was the use of two "orphan blocks" and various larger rectangles of a single fabric print here and there.  You can see my first attempt at the "Flight Map" block (pattern coming out next month) in the upper left quadrant.  Then in the mid-right area you can see a stray patchwork feather.  This was also a test piece as I developed that block.  Both shared a sensibility with what I was working on in this quilt so they seemed to just work.  I also like them as more intensive and deliberate areas of the composition that might feel a little less expected and a delight when discovered.

The larger rectangles of single prints came about simply as I laid out the quilt on the design wall in order to balance color and give the eye a resting spot.  I may still yet float a flying goose here or there on top of some of these more simple areas, or perhaps even half-spheres peeking out from some more solid edges.... not sure yet. I like that even once finished, it will have an open-ended work-in-progress feel to it.  If a focused design balances my Joseph, then something with less structure and a little less rigidity might well balance my Nico's very focused, very intense nature.  Easy, boy.

These are not the best photos as it's been cloudy and they've just been shot up on the wall, still a little wiggley and wrinkley from unpacking them.

Hope you're having a good Tuesday.  The little lady in the womb is so kicky today it's almost making me dizzy.  Her movements are feeling so coordinated now, and she seems to just really like the boogie and completely flipping over- which she should enjoy while she can, we're both running out of room. Can't believe I'm beginning the last trimester.  Unless of course I look in the mirror.
xoxoAM

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

A patching we will go

Hi you people.  I am getting ready to pack up a wholotta patchwork and head to Austin with my honey.  With the help of my pal Brittney I have finished up 5 new quilt tops in the past 10 days.  It has honestly been the most fun I have had in a long time.  Some of them I started a while ago, all of them have had their fabrics stacked and waiting for months.  Four of them are for various children of mine. 

There is seldom a large chunk of time for me that is devoted to making for the sake of making alone.  While I will be teaching from them at QuiltCon this week, there is no pattern or rhyme or reason to any of them, just purely going for it.  Next week, once we're back I will share one with you every day and talk about inspirations, ideas, etc., okay? If you are going to QuiltCon, my lecture is Friday, 1:00-1:50pm, and I will also be hanging out at the Stitch Lab booth on Saturday morning, 9:00-10:00am, so please come and say hello.  Both of the classes that I am teaching have been sold out, but otherwise you can generally find me looking a little roundish and also looking for fish tacos.

The above little number is the bonus pillow project that comes with my Fields Aflutter embroidery pattern.  I have been meaning to get a group of photos for that over here forever, so that'll be real soonish.



I started this moth embroidery in the center over the summer while I was accompanying my mom to radiation treatment everyday for several weeks.  Isn't it always amazing the amount of emotion you can stitch into something?  This will always be particularly special to me for that reason.  I am happy to see this moth surround by some patchwork love now.

More patchwork love is launching on CreativeBug tomorrow with the first of my quilting classes (yippee) along with 8 more workshops from talents such as Kaffe, Heather, Liza and Sue.  Such good company!!!

Take care and follow me to Austin on IG, lots of love, xoxoxAM

Playtime

 Some of that unscripted making. xoam

Works In Progress

:: Patchwork of wool, and a smidge of linen (sneak peek of my linens for  04/13)

:: Hand-quilting a baby quilt of Field Study Voiles (shipping any day now)

:: Drawer of crochet sunshines getting full but not full enough (pattern my own rendering)

:: My first EVER knitting project!!!  Watched this class with Debbie Stoller and it all finally clicked (then clacked, then knitted, then purled and so on)

:: My growing yarn bowl was in need of some new color (mostly merinos from Manos del Uruguay)

:: The sidewalk is getting crunchier every day (the bright hues giving way to some more somber tones)

:: Our family room mantle awaits the arrival of (hopefully) another pinch pot turkey next week

thanks for the visit, xoxoAnna

Layers of Lovely

In just two or so weeks, I have enjoyed an overwhelming amount of goodness.  We prepared so intently and then hosted an amazing Needleworks Nashville weekend here to celebrate the launch of my book.  It was shared with an unbelievably delightful group of women who got right to work, right to friendships and I hope felt right at home for 3 days with me (some of that in my home!). So lovely that I feel this sort of event will have to happen at least annually.  It might also be obvious then, that I have received and stroked and absorbed advance copies of my 3rd book!  I am so, so pleased, and I hope that you will be too.  My new Field Study rayons, voiles and velveteens sample yardage are all here, and we are sewing through yards and yards in preparation for Quilt Market which is just two weeks away now.  My living room project which grew into an additional family room project are both now complete and being enjoyed.  All the children have been home from school for more than a week on fall break.  I have quilted.  I have have patched.  I have draped.  I have drafted. I have embroidered.  I have taught.  I have been inspired.  I have photographed. I have eaten movie popcorn with extra butter (or whatever it is that they put on there).  I have had the crap kicked out of my shins by taking part in Eleni's soccer practice.  I have soaked bruises in an epsom salt bath.  I have made baklava.  I have felt autumn roll in like a steam train, and breeze through with a crisp, smokey beauty.

And now I have written to my friends to catch up.  I am hoping you are well.
with love, Anna Maria

ps. the above is a shot of a new quilt pattern called Flight Map and a new bag pattern called Escape Artist that I will be debuting at market.  Both shipping in January.  I love that I had anything (and actually quite a lot) to do with this photo.  And naturally photos to follow of all of the above mentioned except the bruises.  In due time.

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

Out Sewing in my Field

My sweetie, lovely, patchy want-to-make-it-over-and-over-again Feather Bed Quilt pattern is now available for your downloading, printing, cutting, sewing and snuggling (and any other -ings you care to add).

Get it here from my MAKE page.  We also have some kits in the shop as well as loads of Field Study stacks.

Happy sewing & happy Monday! xoxoxoAnna

p.s. and a flickr group ready for your sewing photos with Field Study is here too.

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

Summer School

Hello out there.  How are we?

I am putting the finishing touches on my newest (free-est) sewing pattern for Janome, the Paper Fan Dress.  Raise your hand if you were obsessed with folding paper fans as a kid?  (my arm hurts)  Okay hands down.  I loved folding paper fans and can remember also trying to match up a scalloped edge cut with school scissors so that each scallop would be the same width to each of the folds.  I even drew out lines to help this happen.  I imagine my chosen career path should come as no surprise.  Paper fans were the inspiration behind this little dress as was this painting by John Singer Sargent, one of my all time favorites.  More on that soon enough.

I had such a great time in Tampa. I am coming to love teaching sewing and patchwork in person a whole lot.  While for the students having to set up sewing camp somewhere other than home is a challenge, for me, getting to sit right next to each of them as they work is really fun.  I am always amazed at how quickly everyone gets going, and the enthusiasm is inspiring to me.  While I think I am helping to spread a few tricks here and there, in many ways I feel like I'm learning the most from these sewing sessions.  Lucky me.  Not to mention every time I travel and teach I get to meet some of the pals I've corresponded with right here.  We can hear each other's voices.  And all is just as you expected it would be.  I've also come to learn that you can be as different as night and day to another person, but if you have a love of sewing (or knitting, or crochet, or patchwork) in common, then that is more than enough reason to share some time together.  And stories, and laughs and even a tear or two.

Then jealousy sets in.  And I want to be the one sewing.  So I head home to do just that.
xoAnna

Ray, a drop of golden sun.

My friend Edith took this picture of me at market.  Edith is the gorgeous, French mastermind behind Renaissance Ribbons and also behind photos that make me look like a deer.  A female deer.  No wait female deer don't have antlers.  But I do.  In the picture.  Anyway, she snapped me as I was making notes for our Field Study collection of ribbons which should be ready in time for fall market.



As promised, I am sharing a look at Field Study Fabrics by colorway.  I thought the most fun (and already done) way to do that was give you the catalog pages from my Spring brochure.  We get very excited about our brochures around here, kinda like the booth only 9"x9" and easier to manage.  We also send one out with each shop order while they last (still have a few hundred!)  Anyway, the Gypsy colorway is shown above.



And this is the Patina colorway.  This collection of quilting cottons has a few punctuations of pale, almost sun-bleached colorations that I don't always include, but they seemed to work this go-round.  I know these swatches are still a bit small, but they are showing you the relative scale of all the prints to each other which hopefully is helpful.



And above is the Moonlit colorway.  I love this one.  Oh, also, all of the swatches that show an * beside them will also be offered as exactly the same color in laminate for a total of 8 laminates.  The quilting cottons are set to ship to stores August 7th.  Which seems like a million years from now.  But it's more like 6 weeks.  See- much shorter, really.




If you still wanna see everything just a bit bigger and the rest of the catalogue, click here to download and view the full pdf, which also has my written introduction for Field Study.   We've also just created a catalogue page at the website that will let you download and view several past catalogues just for kicks.

Leo, Cash and I would like to say thanks for the warm welcome.  If I posted every adorable picture of those two together, the sheer quantity would push cats right off the internet.  And we don't push cats.

xo,AM