And you thought the mountains were for hiking

The mountains are for shopping! Between studio sessions of my class last weekend, the girls and I were able to get in some very enjoyable (a little too enjoyable) shopping. While almost every shop in Gatlinburg boasts an amazing supply of leather, fudge, knives and swimwear, and other's are called Cooter's Funhouse, there manages to also be some serious little jewels among the shopping venues. I found myself in the Arrowcraft shop/gallery 3 times within 4 hours in one day. I could not get enough. The only thing that kept me under control was the fact that we only had two cars to get everything home.



First this gorgeous little vase, is my personal token to remember my time spent at Arrowmont. At the risk of sounding entirely too Zen, it is just so completely what it is. A pure example of gorgeous handcrafted, handglazed pottery of Southern Appalachia.



You can't grow up in East Tennessee as I did and not be aware of the craft history and inherent traditional art disciplines of this region of the country. It seems I was too cool for such simplicity and spent most of my younger years ignoring much of what was around me in search of apparently bigger, presumably more fashionable and deceivingly better artistic endeavors. But walking into this one shop was a little bit like walking into the surroundings of my youth with wiser eyes. Every piece of art and handcrafted item was waiting there in a new light... as warm, lovely and accepting as a great aunt that you've continually forgotten to send letters too.



So what did I do? I hauled half of it home, by golly gizzards!! Just kidding, sort of. But, for instance, these wooden toys for my Roman's first Christmas beckoned from the store shelf more compellingly when I was able to read about the man whose been making them himself for decades as opposed to similar made by who-knows occupying gift catalogs only when trend au currant says they should. Am I making any sense? I felt a connection. Like I wrote already- everything is just exactly what it is and made by folks who are just exactly who they are... a ceramicist, a woodworker, a handloomer, etc.



In a world where so many (including me) try to be and do so much all at the same time, I found the reminder of artistic simplicity so refreshing, beautiful and pure. I don't know where this blanket is going, and I have no need of blankets but it reminded me far too much of the handloomed wool blankets my Greek grandmother used to make (which I must share with you one day) that I couldn't pass it up.



And what is a trip to the mountains without outfitting the feet in a new pair of moccasins? A wasted trip, I tell you! All the girls, littlest to biggest, got a new pair and we're already wearing them in. (I had a pair exactly like Isabela's -second from the left- when I was little.) A perfect layer of warmth between me and an increasingly chilly wooden floor.

Have a warm weekend!, xo, AM

Mrs. Horner teaches a class

I had the privilege this past weekend of teaching a fine art studio class to art teachers from around Tennessee at their annual TAEA conference at Arrowmont School for Arts & Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tn. Thats right. I taught teachers. I know. Who would think they would need me for that. Well, my own former h.s. art teacher roped me in to be an instructor for the second year, and it was again, so, so enjoyable. I couldn't have had a more eager group of smart and fun people to work with, eager most likely bc they seldom have the chance to make their own art and naturally they seemed at ease to not be in charge of a bunch of kids for a change. Somehow, I could relate.

The basis for my two-day class was "reinventing textiles" through painting, drawing, and collage as shown in my piece above entitled "remedy". I got to share my fabric scraps (which they devoured like a bunch of students) and then got to watch lots of interesting things happen.



The studio was huge, well lit and made me a bit nostalgic for the good ole art school days. Arrowmont is an amazing, beautiful facility and if you ever get the chance to go and do one of the zillions of workshops they offer every year, you should jump on it. Below are just a few examples of my teachers' ...erhh... students' works in progress.







Joining me in the studio both days (along with Roman in tow) was Juliana, who is never afraid to do her own thing alongside people doing completely different things. I certainly didn't think she would "take" my class, but stealing my chalk!? Come on.



Okay, honestly, most of class time she was working on a graphite self-portrait based on some photographs we did together. She is hammering away at a batch of college applications and portfolios to submit, so she kind of used her time wisely.



Except when distracted by chalk.

The rest of the brood, as led by Jeff, had loads of fun hiking on dangerous trails where signs posted read "falling deaths have occurred", playing arcades, eating corn dogs, going on chair lifts, eating pancakes, dangling from precipices, eating taffy, swimming in mountain lodge indoor pools and all other sorts of things they never would have done had I been in charge.

I think they were so completely glad that I wasn't in charge and I am so completely glad that they all survived. Just barely survived, I am sure to emphasize to Mr. Horner continually.

More on our Gatlinburg shopping next! xo,Anna

Little Folks~Dobby Dots

I am in love with sewing again. I never stop liking it, but honestly I am lurving it again. Plugging my own fabric aside (just slightly), it is just so refreshing to hold new fabrics in my hands that really feel and drape differently than anything I've ever designed myself. I will confess it feels a bit empowering, too, to think it up, do it and then have it in my hands and set into crafted reality what was just a musing of the mind last winter.



More than just the fun, textural, little, nubby dots that run through these 4 "square dance" prints and 8 "pastry line" prints, the joy I am taking by playing out all the uses for that block design in "square dance" is just so satisfying. The goods are 55" wide, and the block is printed in two sizes, on the yardage. 4 of the larger blocks spread side-by-side from selvedge to selvedge, followed by two rows of 8 smaller blocks below and then it repeats. And the yardage is also designed so that either way you cut it, you can keep the squares in line.... leave as is for curtains, cut on the width for borders, cut on the length for scarves, or cut out by the block for quilts, pillow fronts, baby dress panels, blouse yokes....etc. ETC!



And because good enough is never enough, I thought we should have a spectrum of sorts to mix in with all of it. Color names of the "pastry lines" from the top: saffron, olive, water, marine, lilac, magenta, coral, and toast. The scalloped stripes run lengthwise on the bolt.



I would say the weave of this dobby dot substrate is slightly more "open" than the very buttery, tight voiles, but the surface gives almost the tiniest little bit of sheen to them, reminding me of silks.



Itty bitty nubby wubby baby pants.



A dreamy little hemline on a new dress for Isabela....



...which is topped with a dreamy yoke. Not done yet, but lots of these sew-ups are some of the items we'll be using in the print ads for Little Folks, which we'll begin shooting tomorrow.

Thanks for having a look. I feel so, so, so happy to do what I do. Particularly lately. Thanks for peeking in, as you do, and have a lovely evening! xo,Anna

The Color of Stew

I have been so busy finalizing the new patterns and getting them off to be printed, sewing some beautiful clothing with the new fabrics for the girls which will be used for some print ads and just simply trying to keep up with laundry and this house. Normally I don't even include any housework in the list of things I am trying to get accomplished, so even mentioning that here means things are finally starting to slow a tiny little bit after what seems like months of non-stop non-stopness.

Today I insisted upon a slow stew. Which included a slow shop around the grocery with coffee in hand and a sleeping baby in the cart. (Can you think of a better way to shop?) After the ingredient chopping was complete and the bubbling was just beginning, I also insisted upon a slow walk around the yard with my camera. Everything I found through the lens plus the warm smell of beef stew that hit me once I came back in the door reminded me why I seldom feel the need to leave this house. Especially this time of year. But it also inspired me to get out the doors a bit more instead of just looking through them.

And such is the color of our stew.

If you're in search of warm and wonderful slow cooking to inspire your palette/palate, don't forget about the famous soup entry post from about this time last year. A soup cookbook in itself! (and for those of you that skim posts: No. The contest was over a year ago. But we'll come up with a new one here soon.)

Be back tomorrow to continue sharing the rest of the Little Folks fabric family.
g'nite, xo,Anna

One Slick Mama

YAY!

For those of you waiting on the new oilcloths to be available I think these images speak for themselves! But I should add that they really JUST showed up on my front door step, and are located right next to the flip flops, empty boxes, baby jogger, and leaning against that spot of the house where the kids wrote 'WELCOM' in sidewalk-chalk (which should not to be confused with on-the front-of-house-chalk, of course).



With my iddybit of sample yardage that we got a few weeks ago, we promptly whipped up two Multi-taskers and lined them each in the new oilcloths. I also made a two-sided changing pad (top pic), cotton fabric on one side, oilcloth on the other and quilt batting in the center. Simple. This could be an obvious detail, but when a change is particularly stinky- its quite convenient to use the slick, wipe-able side of the pad. Right. You knew that. Oh I also will be making a splat mat here soon since the little mr. is almost ready for high chair. (how is it time just goes by like that. weird.)



Some people call these laminates, but that makes me think of medical things, so I like saying oilcloth. Sue me.

We should have pre-cuts available in the shop by tomorrow afternoon.

Double-YAY!

more little folks coming soon!

EDITED TO ADD: We won't have the oilcloths in the shop until this afternoon (friday oct. 30th), and they'll be located in the Fabric Stacks section (if you're on the mailing list, you'll get an email). BUT my friends at purlsoho and fabricworm already have some ready to roll. Any other retailers that have it ready please post your link in the comments! Thanks everyone, and have fun!

DOUBLEDOG EDITED to ADD: I have been asked this so many times and have finally gotten my original hunch (and hopes) confirmed by Westminster: Our oilcloths/laminated cottons are PU coated, as in Polyurethane. (They do not contain phthalate, are not made of vinyl or pvc.) I'll try to remember to add this to my faq page...

Voile-Ahh! Little Folks

Finally here. Oh joy. Here for you today are up-close views and some words about my palette inspirations for my Little Folks collection. (There are other members of this fabric family that we'll meet later this week.)

Little Folks prints and the solids included in each palette are printed on the softest 55" cotton voile, and have a beautiful hand, high thread count, gorgeous drape and sew up in the most buttery-soft way you can imagine. I'll have more to say about the qualities and performance of these fabrics in the coming days as I share the rest of the collection and project ideas.

The images in the slideshows below represent about 5x5" of fabric so you can see they are on a much smaller scale than typical for me. The scale makes the fabrics so wonderuflly ideal for small patchwork, many applications of clothing for little ones and adults and I've just begun the sewing. While the artwork carries forth alot of my musings from Good Folks, I relished in designing intimately and small like this and it was a refreshing change. It just felt sweet and precious, but gutsy and fun too. Not unlike a boisterous baby, I imagine. Small but undeniably there.

Speaking of, Roman also agreed to make an appearance today. I know that 98% of you are usually here for baby pictures, so I don't want to disappoint. The pillows he's rolling around on were made by my mom and displayed in my Quilt Market booth to show off the 3 palettes- Sugar Cookie, Moonlight & Playground. Enjoy!

(These fabrics should be available for purchase next month, so you can be sure I will do a giveaway then!)



SUGAR COOKIE palette : baby smells, flower petals, gum drops, red hots, and construction paper

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

MOONLIGHT palette : camp outs, stars, visits to the pond, lavender bouquets, graphite drawings

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

PLAYGROUND palette : swing sets, new shoes, t-shirts, fresh grass, buttered toast, best friends

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

xo,AnnaMaria

Heaven help us, there was a video crew here

I am not going to start every post with a bouquet of flowers, I'll eventually run out of flower money, but might be taking donations soon.

Like an idiot, I let my publisher talk me into creating a video snippet for the new book (due April 2010) so yesterday we spent the entire day trying to get me to say 3 minutes worth of intelligent things about the book. Entire day. Not sure we got it. I'm not sure I said anything intelligent at all, and had to start over about 17 times just getting the title of my book out. Video is such a challenging thing, and while the crew made it as easy as it could possibly be, its just nervy, at least for me. I feel like my eyes get glassy and that I'm staring into the sun once I'm suppose to do something. But there were at least pretty flowers in the studio which I am almost certain are not going to be part of the final cut video. Yet its all I could think about in preparation for the shoot. Must have gorgeous flowers, must have gorgeous flowers. Forget dusting, must get flowers.

The video will be linked right alongside the book and be viewable at places like amazon, my website, the book's website etc., and it is meant to give you some behind the scenes insight into my inspirations for the book and its projects. I am just here to apologize now if I completely screwed it up way ahead of time, and please don't hold my book (which I am really, really proud of) accountable for what a bozo I can be on camera.

The day was ended by treating everyone to cheeseburgers and fries, roller skating and then ice cream. The most caloric pat on the back ever, so my mental state was reinstated by bedtime. Okay back to work on the slideshows of Little Folks! Back soon~ AM

Quilt Market, Fall 2009

So had you walked by, here is what you would have seen. At a glance, I'll run through and give you some words for all of this from the scenic view, then I hope to get down to nitty gritty and share a slideshow of the fabric collections, patterns, project inspirations and so on in the coming days. Flowers above from my favorite place to buy flowers (and candy) in Houston~ Central Market.



This is a new/old couch that belonged to Jeff's grandma. I think she would have liked it like this-trust me. The coverlet on the wall is simply patched squares, turned on point, insulated with one single layer of muslin in the center, backed with more voile and hand tied at the corners of each square (thanks to my mom). Makes a lovely lighter-weight option for warm weather or layered with other snuggly items for cooler weather. In the back ground you see two of the three upcoming new sewing patterns.



This is the cozy corner. A poster of Roman +flannel fabric was an easy pull into the booth.



And the 3rd of the upcoming sewing patterns~a variation of which I am sure you might recognize if you read here often.



And a full view of the charming twists and turns I shared here recently. Its a pillow. Of course. This pillow represents the 6 solid shades that I've chosen to mix in with my Little Folks printed cotton voile collection. I am having loads of fun having these to work with-note the empire dress in the previous picture.,



And playing a supporting role in the Little Folks collection are the cotton dobby dot prints. You can really see the nubby-fun texture in this photo. The dobby dots are soooo fun and old-timey. They are comprised of four of those "square dance" prints and 8 colors of the "pastry line" stripe. Can't wait to give you the slideshows of all these!



This is me holding a buyer captive and pontificating on the wonders of voile, dobby dot, flannels, and laminates. She agreed with everything. Or maybe she just wanted to leave as quickly as possible and that was the smartest way out. Just nod and say yes, thats what I do when I want out of a conversation. Oh dear. Why do I stand like that?



And my faithful employees, Allie and Juliana, trying to be as cute as Roman, which apprarently made me laugh the camera into one shaky blurry photo after another, dernit.



OH. Not making me laugh was the charming Brandon Mably trying to flatter Allie's gorgeous locks into modeling for he and Kaffe. They're always looking for redheaded models he told her, blah, blah, blah. Oh he looks nice enough. Those locks are mine, mine!



And she is faithful because I pout. And I feed her too.

Okay hopefully this makes you feel like you came along a bit. I am really, really so extremely tired once we get the booth up (which isn't even possible without my loving (and strong) husband) and then its a matter of being excited to talk about everything to the point of more exhaustion and never enough good photos, I am afraid. And trust me I do not tire easily, but booths-ahh so tiring. Thank goodness for several online pals who insist upon being really good at reporting!

More soon with up close and personal details of the new fabrics and patterns!

xoxo, AnnaMaria

The Showoff

One item I relished in making was this patchwork coverlet from an assortment of my new collection of printed cotton voiles called Little Folks. This also includes squares of the "Square Dance" printed panels that are printed on dobby dot cotton (similar to swiss dot). I will introduce you to them all individually soon, but going through photos now and wanted to start leaking them out.

It isn't very often that I make quilts with such large pieces. And though these are smaller prints, for the most part than I've ever designed, I was inspired to play with fields of them rather than cut them up too small or too complicated. I like how, as a whole, the squares of tinier prints take on a solid tone. Fun.

More soon ~ xoxo, Anna

Excuse Note

Please excuse Anna for not attending the blog for the past several days. She has been writing the final edits to her book, wrapping up book photography, shooting the covers of three new sewing patterns, finalizing the design of those patterns, sewing up a storm for quilt market, overseeing lots of sample sewing for quilt market where she launched a new family of fabrics including voiles, solids, laminates, dobby dots, and flannels, attending the quilt market which required a 28hr round trip pulling a trailer filled with lots of other stuff she made, caring for or arranging for the care of 4 of her children- 3 of which became ill - and of course nursing or pumping every 3 hours pretty much throughout. And there might have been a shower in there somewhere, but no evidence of that.

We will be back shortly with evidence of all of that in no particular order. Thanks for your patience and understanding!