Catching Up in no particular order: Prom

Kicking off the I-can't-believe-it category of events this spring was Juliana's Senior Prom. So many little details I didn't expect to fall over myself to photograph. The corsage was one of those details, but I love that photo and so glad we have it.

We had a blast shopping for her dress, just the two of us. Of all places, we decided to walk into the Jessica McClintock store which gave me such a nostalgic trip! I had several Gunne Sax formals (I'll bet you did too) until I started to make my own. It came down to deciding between this darling confection and an equally cute but slightly more sultry black corset dress. I told her that she had the rest of her life to wear a sultry black corset number but a limited amount of years to wear layers tulle. Surprisingly, she agreed.

She is so good at keeping her jewelry understated when she dresses up. She wore her favorite star studs that we gave her for Christmas last year. But she can't help herself when it comes to shoes. My feet hurt looking at that full shot of her with the shoes.

I adore the photo of everyone in the foyer waiting for her to come out. Waiting on a girl. The little girls were beside themselves with giddiness and wanted so much to be a part of every detail. They were right on her heels as she rushed around getting ready and whispering little giggly secrets to each other once Nathan arrived to pick her up. It's fun I imagine to see such a grown up girl get all dressed up like a real live princess in your own house when you're as little as they are. Must give you some reality to fuel your daydreams.

And then they went. And so did prom.
xoxo, Anna

Back Around Again

Goodness.

Life really takes the life outta you, ya know? Having just returned from Quilt Market I am awash with things that I want to post for you which is piled up on top of the stack of things I wanted to post for you before I left, and I am standing underneath, looking up at a very threatening pile of prettiness.

Before I left I had imaginary posts about prom, charity quilting, new studio pics.

As I left there were imaginary posts about Roman turning one, stuff I was sewing for market, the process of shipping 2000 lbs to Minnesota, and a few other things that are escaping me now.

While I was gone there were imaginary posts about everything we did, said, saw, heard, ate, laughed, hoisted and sang while we were gone. And the cute shoes I was wearing. And all the places Jeff photographed Roman around Minneapolis which are all logged in a phone that he left in a plane. And fun book parties and book signings where there was a drink named after me (quite strong and pink, thank you) and where I signed someone's book Anna Market instead of Anna Maria. There is alot of talk regarding just how much I can juggle between work and family, yet I want to redirect that conversation into how much I cannot write and talk at the same time.

Now that we're back posts are mounting on the imaginary blogpostpile about family, Juliana's graduation, wonderful reviews of Handmade Beginnings to point to, lots of market pictures to upload, and there are most certainly people that should be slapped for being so wonderful and nice. I'll get to that eventually.

So that is the tippity toppity of the stack and all that I can see in it from where I'm standing down here. Now the task of pulling one thing out at a time without being buried by it all.
It will be fun. Thank you for waiting and so much more very soon! xoxox, Anna

Roman would like to say a few words

But I am the only one who can understand his limited vocabulary so I'll say them for him. Roman and I have a date we'd like to announce! We'll be signing books in the Twin Cities next Saturday and if you're anywhere within a 500 mile radius you are expected to be in attendance, no exceptions! Here's the details:

Handmade Beginnings Book Signing at Treadle Yard Goods
Saturday, May 22nd from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
1338 Grand Ave St Paul, MN 55101, (651) 698-9690



And since Roman will be my date for the evening, (along with his dashing father) he might even let you tickle his little chubby toes. Roman that is. Which is very generous when you consider that he's also allowed me to publish his crib quilt pattern.



He has his own copy of the book that I let him rough around a little bit, but I try to intercept before a page gets torn. Its quite sweet to watch him stop on pages of items and people that he recognizes. My little bundle of book inspiration. Sigh.

Now I have a date with some Perle cotton and a new quilt. I am hoping it will be a 48-hr date, but I know better.

xoxo, good weekend, AM

ps! the flood relief quilting plan is still hatching and we'll break it all to you here soon- thank you for your support!

Bullets for Breakfast

* this is a bullet post
* the above is my new favorite breakfast of one egg fried in olive oil served on toasted cinnamon wheat bread
*Jeff makes this for me a few times a week
*up there when I was typing "fried", I first accidentally typed "friend" which I think says something about me
*I love the new bread we buy at Publix (above) that only has like 6 ingredients: whole wheat flour, water, honey, raisins, salt and cinnamon
*we've been trying to buy foods with fewer ingredients, as in all natural if we can help it
* it's hard but I feel good knowing what I'm eating
*Juliana's senior prom was last week and I took lots of pictures that I'll share soon
*her HS graduation is the evening I get back from quilt market, and I am happily occupied doing quilt market things instead of crying about her HS graduation
*I just barely got through prom photos without crying
*I'm saving the prom crying for when we can do that together here over the photos
*I'm hoping you're game for that
*I gave up diet coke and any sodas at the beginning of the year after drinking them since I was like 14, and I haven't fallen off the wagon once, and I don't even crave it anymore
*I do drink Perrier now and that is pricey
*the kids were out of school all last week due to how many schools have been cleaning up flood damage
*so all week we were flooded with children rather than getting quilt market prep done
*I was ahead of schedule
*after the kid flood I got behind schedule
*I'd say now I'm right on, but this post might push me 15 minutes behind
*I keep having to find the asterisk key and that makes me type s*l*o*w
*there are houses just a street or two from us that have just been devastated by the flood
*I finally muscled up the courage to go running on my regular route and passed house after house that had tons of ruined belongings pulled out to the road waiting to be hauled off
*I am trying to figure out a way to help flood victims and I am thinking about beginning an effort to make some quilts for families who lost everything
*holler if you're with me, I could use some seamstresses/quilters
*Isabela wrote me a beautiful note for Mother's Day about why she loves me
*A favorite sentence in her note was "I love how you do your OWN work your OWN way"
*My cell phone is hosed
*Or possessed, it makes sounds all by itself
*Jeff and I went to Verizon today to try and buy the Droid for me but they don't have any available until June
*that made me sad
*I wanted options
*Verizon girl had too many but none of them made me happy
*I asked questions about simple things and Verizon girl gave me not simple answers but more like paragraphs of words from pamphlets
*I began another question with let me ask you a simple question, and then she excused herself to go get some more information
*Upon returning, she replied well I have one option for you but its not really an option
*I am not kidding
*I can't remember what I said to her after that but Jeff thinks maybe I shouldn't have a tall black before going into the Verizon store to ask questions
*people get the impression that I am sweet
*Jeff would like to talk to you about that
*I want to thank Kathy, Beth, and Blair for writing such nice reviews of Handmade Beginnings
*I'll be visiting with Erin tomorrow, so come visit us there
*bring a tall black coffee or whatever makes you happy
*xoAM

Just a Sprinkling

So somehow I failed to mention that yesterday was the official publication date of my book. We had been, as you know, slightly occupied over the weekend, it goes without say. When Roman and I posed for this author photo last summer at Nashville's famed Dragon Park as it turns out we were battling the weather then a bit too, which fluctuated between a sprinkling and a steady rain. Occasionally we had to duck under an umbrella and deal with raindrops appearing in some of the shots. And Roman kept a very quizzical look on his face as he experienced one of his first encounters with raindrops on his head. (Yes I tried the hood. It had results similar to this only more 3-month-old-like.)

I have had the best time reading through all your entry comments for a chance to win the book! You guys seriously crack me up. Before I tell you the winners, let me first say there are tons more chances to win a copy of Handmade Beginnings as it blog-tours for the rest of the month making stops at the blog-homes of several good friends. Not to mention a chance to win a grand prize of a Singer sewing machine and loads of fabric here! And amazon, now has the Nesting Cubes posted as a free project for you to try out! (Bonus points if you can get a baby to do this.) So here is the tour schedule which Craftzine so kindly kick-started yesterday:

May 3~ Craft
May 4~ Indie Fixx
May 5~ Sew Mama Sew
May 6~ Pink Chalk Studio
May 10~ Wise Craft
May 14~ House on Hill Road
May 16~ Purl Bee
May 18~ All Buttoned Up
May 19~ Alabama Chanin Journal
May 20~ Homemade by Jill
May 21~ True Up
May 22~ Oh, Fransson!
May 23~ Prudent Baby
May 24~ Sew Liberated
May 25~ Handmade by Alissa
May 26~ Hazelnuts
May 27~ Petite Purls

Thank you for all your comments and excitement for my book. It really is so encouraging and the icing on the book-writing cake. I have been warmed by everything that you write here in regards to your family, your babies, your losses, your hopes, and all else that comes with growing a whole family and nuturing a tiny new life. It inspires me as a mama and a maker more than you could know. I like thinking that we are raising our children together, in a way, and am comforted daily by your good company. Thank you, thank you.

And my winners:

Lisa said...I can't choose just one, I love the photo of Reuben trying to take the jacket off (how cute is his belly?) and also the one of Roman and his Daddy - my daughter does the same face squishy thing when we hold her like that. The book looks just beautiful. Congratulations! 2:44 AM

and

SplendorFalls said...I'm choosing the picture of Claire because I'm still laughing over nationwide ovulation. BWAH! That's just too funny. Cheers! Mary Claire 8:42 AM

Congrats, and email me your mailing address!!

xoxo, AnnaMaria

Under Water

The weekend began with being glad that I wasn't going to have to water the garden. So much of Nashville is under water after just two days of rain. One headline after another. Everything from the loss of life to Naomi Judd's buffalo running free in Leiper's Fork. This town and the surrounding towns have just been taken over by water and more water.

After planning a Saturday out shopping (and also a visit to see Natalie signing her book at Textile), in no time we rather found ourselves quickly hoisting my freshly painted Quilt Market booth walls off the garage floor and up onto a dry spot. Even though we are fortunate to have a home on a pretty high hill, we did spend a good part of the weekend getting water out of our basement, garage and crawl space. We have a pretty dry house, but maybe once or so a year, if it rains really badly, the drains become overwhelmed and the runoff from the backyard can't be absorbed fast enough. Nicolas, who opted for a basement bedroom a few months ago, spent the last two nights upstairs with us, due to a few inches of water on his floor. Jeff went to Home Depot to look for a pump of some sort once our downstairs began taking on water. He reported the place to be a zoo, so many people desperate to dry out their homes, and was able to come home with a large capacity shop-vac and 3 condensation pumps. The sump pumps were all sold out. I vacuumed as much water from Nicolas' floor as I could. Jeff built a little makeshift wooden device to hold the three pumps in a series and submerged them in the crawl space rain water. He continued to monitor the crawl space all evening and successfully got water pumped out of it at about 2 gallons a minute. Pretty slow, but it kept it under control. I was really amazed at just how much water had come down in one day. Houses just aren't built for this.

Slowly throughout the day we were getting news of power outages, water shortages, and flooding much worse than ours. At about 8pm we finally took all the kids out for pizza at Mafiaoza's after being pinned in all day. All the televisions in the restaurant were turned to local news channels covering the storms and while we couldn't hear them, we were shocked to see video of I-24 being covered in water, cars submerged, homes and buildings being swept off their foundations. Then the heartbreaking news of people dying after being swept away by flood water. Suddenly our basement water situation seemed much less frustrating. I covered Roman's head with a pizza box to keep him dry as we all dashed to the car with full bellies. Feeling too fortunate.

Then about 5am Sunday morning, the emergency siren in our community began sounding to warn of tornadoes. I sat up in bed and prayed Nicolas' room was still dry because that's our tornado hunkering room. Before I could even get out of bed Nicolas was standing there in our doorway in the dark telling us to get up. I went with him to turn on the news to figure out how close the system was. It was eerie still outside. No rain. Once we saw circular winds on the news doppler coming ever nearer to our neighborhood, we gathered the baby (who had already woken early, most likely from the siren) and woke the rest of the children to go downstairs. It's always Isabela who thinks to get Leo and Lemon. So there we were: our babies, our bird, our dog all packed into a thankfully dry basement bedroom. And I was glad and content and thankful. But the wet dog smelled like a wet dog. And the kids all feared and complained that daddy wouldn't stay in the room with us during the warning like they always fear and complain. Jeff instead was walking around under the house, and in the attic, surveying the situation like he always does. We were able to come up after the warning was over to an intact home. Like we always do.

Later in the morning I heard that some water mains had broken and that our water supply could be compromised, so I filled a few large containers with filtered water just in case. Then I thought back to everyone's last bath and figured they were clean enough so we can skip any baths. We made cookies. We made soup. We made blanket forts in the playroom. We called and checked in on friends and family throughout the day. We watched neighbors being rescued by boat from their homes on television. We went to rescue one of Nicolas' friends whose home was filled up to the top few basement steps with water, boxes of belongings floating around, and parts of their ceiling falling in. On the way to his house we took a small detour to view our almost daily walking path that follows the Little Harpeth, and we were stopped about a 1/2 block away because the Little Harpeth was not so little anymore, and overtook the yards surrounding it. It made my heart hurt, and I thought about one of the houses there that I know was just moved into. Oh. Can you imagine just moving in? And then this? God bless them. And all.

The sun is shining this morning like nothing ever happened and all is glistening. Rugs are drying on the driveway and 5 times as many roses are blooming as Friday evening when I watered the garden.

Hoping you are safe, and thanks to many of you for the "just checking" emails. xoxo, Anna

Photos for the book that you won't find in the book but that I like so much

I can't even begin to imagine just exactly how many photos we took for the book. Angela was and is such an amazing photographer to work with. I was always verbalizing the h--- out of every shoot we did, what I was hoping for, how I thought we should do it, the cropping I was envisioning, and she was always just like: okay. And I was always like: is she listening? The fact is, she completely did not need direction, instinctually did everything right, and I hugged her every time I felt like it which was often. Poor girl. Point being, there are so many funny, sweet, beautiful, perfect photos that never got a chance to be in the book. There always are. Either the cropping won't work out for the page size or the project isn't shown from a view that conveys the construction well enough or there just isn't enough room in the book or the baby is just too stinking cute and it would make everyone pass out. Or it could be the photo of me above that really just shouldn't be printed anywhere. 'Cept on my blog of course. You lucky readers you. The above does show what the Mariposa Dress looks like tied in front instead of in back as the book cover shows. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to share a few more....



Katherine interprets the Hide & Seek Spectrum Quilt as hide and sleep. Quilts are for sleeping you dumb designer lady.



Marios figures out how to run my dryer about a lightyear faster than I did. He's wearing the Quick Change Trousers (they're reversible!)



Reuben is not down with modeling a flannel-lined hooded jacket in 85degree weather. It is true what they say about models, they are so unreasonably difficult!!! (I love you Reuben) He learned a new word that day. OFF!



Roman gets a little cheek squoosh as he and my dear husband model the Dad Bag. (Which he swore he would never use but uses all the flippin time.)



This would fall under the too cute category. Sigh. Where did teeny-tiny Roman go? He's sleeping on the Sixth's Times the Charm Quilt.



I'm sorry baby Carrie, it's not legal in the continental US to be this adorable, therefore we could not publish this photo. Better luck next time. Try looking uncute next time, kay? She's wearing the Pretty-as-a-Picture Dress. I guess she took us literally.



And printing this one of Claire would have caused nationwide ovulation.



And again, Marios the genius playing with the Nesting Cubes.

Hope you enjoyed these. I have nothing against hiring professional models but this book simply employed incredibly beautiful kids that I just happen to know already. Lucky me. I love all of you darling babies and your moms and dads too!

Tell me which one is your favorite in the comments and I'll draw a few names to send you a signed copy of the book! And an 8x10 glossy of me eating cheeseburgers too!

I'm kidding about that glossy.

ps. handmade beginnings flickr group is up and running!! Please share your photos, questions and any errata you come across!

Entry comments are closed for this post! Thank you for sharing your funny baby comments, and see the winners in this post!

Handmade Beginnings!

I finally get to say my new book is here!!! I am so, so happy with this sentence, you have no idea. The above photo was taken just about 2 weeks after Roman was born. I was unbelievably tired that day, barely able to keep up with the photo shoot that went on for a few hours all around our yard with all the kids going in all directions, and the new one, both of us actually still so fragile. Days later I found the smallest of moments to sit and gaze upon the photos we got. And this one. I cried. I couldn't take it. All those little souls still entranced in the newness of their little brother. Either that or I was threatening them from behind the lens....erhh both. Anyway, its nice to sit back and enjoy the book now too. To celebrate today, I wanted to not write another book about my book but to share the introduction with you. Then, of course I'll be sharing a lot more soon. The book is now shipping from my studio, amazon, and all other points around the globe!

From Handmade Beginnings:

Every family has a story. Each time we've welcomed a new baby, the story of our own family has a new beginning. Our children have brought more than their own chapter to our story, but they have, in fact, rewritten the rest of us. The whole family, together and individually, is remade into something it wasn't before- something we wouldn't have ever guessed or expected. I have always felt compelled during my pregnancies to make items for the new one. Similar to the quintessential image of an expectant mother working away with her knitting needles on a pair of baby booties, I set out to stack fabrics and ideas in high piles that I can work through as my belly grows. Perhaps its just the typical nesting that all mothers go through, or maybe its nervous energy. Whatever the explanation, answering the desire to create as I await a new baby seems to be my own way of nurturing.

What has taken me precisely six children and countless handmade items to realize, is that this sewing, or nurturing, which is intended mostly for the baby or our home, perhaps benefits me more than any one in the family. Slow hand-stitching forces me off my tired feet and allows me to pay attention to the subtle bumps and squirms of the little one within. Running my hands over potential fabrics for the baby's clothing to check for softness sets my mind into daydreams of what color eyes or hair the baby might have. Using what brain power is still available to me while pregnant, I ponder the design of a nursery quilt which gives me less time to ponder those natural fears and doubts that come with motherhood. All this to say- sewing while expecting has kept me healthy, centered on what matters- more joyful than not. It goes without say too, that all this sewing has outfitted our babies, beds, toy shelves and home with beautiful items that are well loved and often tucked away for safekeeping.

While most of my experiences with sewing to welcome a baby involve being the mama, this book does not ignore everyone else in the baby's life! Dads, brothers, sisters, adoptive moms, foster moms, and all...this book and its projects are for you too! I hope that the ideas I've sewn and written here inspire the work of your hands and the work of your heart. And I hope that you continue to reach for this book every time to you hear the good news of a baby on the way.

xo, Anna

Bring-Your-Baby-to-Work-Day is Everyday

Dearest Roman,

I just needed to say thank you for putting up with your mother, her work, the strangers you encounter on a near daily basis in our home, the wild children who can barely pick you up but who do so anyway, the noise, the lack of regular nap schedules, and the Caramel Macchiato Biscotti that you had for breakfast this morning. Yes I know it contains instant coffee, but you really liked it a ton. Its my nutritionally misguided way of saying thank you for all you take on with me on a daily basis. The worst you did during the Country Living shoot was tug on the photographer's beard when he picked you up (which I'm pretty sure he loved). You didn't fuss when Joyce from Westminster held you as I poured my 3rd cup of coffee during our meeting. You completely went along with being nursed (hushed) 6 times in 2 hours during a flurry of business phone calls last week. Which in my mind compensates for the Caramel Macchiato Biscotti you had for breakfast this morning. There was also that time last week where you woke up from your morning nap, but I didn't come in for a few minutes because I was in the midst of a project that felt too in limbo to put down at that moment. I walked in and found you had fallen back asleep. I'm sorry about that. But maybe you needed that extra bit of sleep, huh? You barely even cried when Eleni, who isn't big enough to get you out of your crib, tripped and toppled you both to the floor as she got you out of your crib Saturday morning. She was very sorry about that, but was excited to tell me that you didn't cry too hard. And there have been an increasing number of unknown things that you've picked up off the floor, chewed up and swallowed before I've been able to make out what they are. Sigh.

I know some days the play corner under my drafting table gets kind of old, but when I look over at you playing happily day after day after day, I am sometimes amazed that you can find fun in it still. But I guess we're the same that way. Playing in our corners. And a few times each day you crawl over to my desk, pull yourself up to my lap and cry for something new. You beat your chubby little hands on my lap for at least a nursing mom, come on. It's the least I can do right? Right. But I should say that so often, without you realizing it, I just waste my work time away watching you play. I don't dare say a word, because I know that if you hear my voice I'll break your happy focus, and my work time will crash. Work time that I often spend just watching you. You are a good, good boy.

I love you Roman Horner. xoxoxo, Mama

A Patching

I have had a large bag of vintage patchwork blocks that I purchased for about 15$ a few years ago. They haven't all turned into something immediately like I thought they would when I bought them. I am sure you are familiar with this type of thing. Many, many of them are Dresden Plate blocks, but a handful are a collection of oddballs of various sizes, techniques and prints. Here are some of the misfits patched together and covering some extra chairs in the dining room that we pull to the table when the room gets extra crowded (its always a little crowded). And I adore them. These chairs were close to getting a layer of paint. But I resisted, reminding myself how important a natural stain of wood can be to a room. I am good at forgetting this. Needing to paint something, I painted the walls instead. Cream. I decided at Thanksgiving that my dining room walls needed to be cream and I am still adjusting. I always liked that blue, but somehow it felt too much like a bedroom color. I'll share more views of the room soon once I can see over the laundry on the table (2017 perhaps?). I actually have so many little house tweaking confessions to share here. One at a time I guess. Which is never how I go about the tweaking, of course. I also cleaned my studio so well for the mag shoot last week, that I thought I should take pictures, knowing of course how long it would not last.

But speaking of patchwork furniture- I am overwhelmed not just at how many modern style couches live in the Twin Cities, but at how many generous people own them! I've never seen so many email submissions for helping me out with a furniture request! Thank you so much! But I did want to mention that we've finally settled on one so there's no need to continue sending your photos. It would only make me more indecisive and I don't need any help there.

Kisses! xo,Anna

Taxday toes & other recent write-offs

I had to get a manicure this week because Country Living was here yesterday doing a little feature of me in the studio (look for it in the July/Aug. issue this summer). They were not, in fact, taking pictures of my feet, but I feel off balance if I don't also get a pedicure. So to hit the tax write-off all the way out of the park, and in honor of taxday, I felt it best to take a business-related photo of my toes. There. Now you have to go look at my new collection of rugs and pillows that we have in the shop, to make this completely valid. Thank you.



Next write-off: flowers for the photo shoot, natch. It's a pain to have them around, but, you know when you are in business for yourself there are certain circumstances that you have to be willing to suffer through. Luckily, I am strong.



Back to the rugs and pillows and how this post is all about my design business. I am very happy with this new small collection of embroidered velvet pillows, mostly because I think they work so well with other goods sewn from my fabrics. It helps strike a balance between texture and scale, and they are so soft and cozy.

(Here's a link to my new sandals too! Ya know, in case you're expecting a tax return. Ahem.)
xo, AnnaMaria

Gulp.

I held her off for a full seven months, but recently I started agreeing with her. It was time for a cut. I still cringed with every snip I made. I do know now that, yes, she can look even more bubbly. But now somehow she looks clever too. Which she is. So I guess its the right cut. Sigh. Gulp. Sniff.
xoxo,AM

Smitten

The Easter Dresses. Repurposed from this. The skirt is the same process as the Evening Empire Dress Pattern, which is really the same process as the quilts too. For the bodices I just generally made rectangles to fit each of the girls. Eleni's (top) gathers up with the skirt by way of two elastic channels. Isabela's has a triangular detail in front and only gathers up with elastic in back. And has crisscross straps. A requested feature.

I don't think I have to tell you that I am smitten with spring, sewing, zigzag patchwork or little girls. But I have to tell you (must) that I am blown over by how gorgeous the outside is currently. Not popping bulbs or planted flowers or tended gardens actually- but the amazing landscape that is the green grass right now. It looks like a raucous party of dandelions, clover, violets, and all sorts of other uninvited guests. Parties are always best when crashed. Smitten I tell you!

Which reminds me, I'm not sure the littlest girls know how to make a dandelion necklace. D-a-n-d-e-l-i-o-n-N-e-c-k-l-a-c-e-s. There. On this weekend's list.
xoxo, Anna

Quilting Questions & Anna Answers

I am following up on The Stitch that I posted last week to answer some of your questions taken directly out of the comments section. While I was trying as hard as I could to just offer my input on the actual stitch, I realize that there are always other questions that this leads too, and I'm hoping to help out with some of those here! I want to stress- this is only my way of making hand quilting stitches. This is why I am calling it Anna Answers. I am not an expert. I am self-taught. I am sucker for embroidery. I am busy. I like to do things efficiently. Even if that means that occasionally I don't do them traditionally. I like to do things that make me happy. I do not like to do things that make me annoyed. I love to hear how other people do the same things. Always. I do not assume that the way I do things negates the validity of doing it some other way. I also like being told I am wrong. I thrive on it, in fact. I want to be better at everything that I do. But some things I will always do the way I do them because of the happiness factor. All these little facts pile into why I do what I do and how I do it. And- sometimes I send out my quilts for machine quilting...just depends. Lots to say about a quilting stitch, I know. On with it then.



Martha asked... (and so did Abby) this is really, really, helpful. where do you get a quilting frame like that?

Anna Answers: I got my square frame at a local quilt shop in Franklin called Stitcher's Garden. I don't still have the packaging but I am pretty sure that I have whats called a Q-snap frame. Its a very simple design with curved removable clamps on each of the four sides. It pops apart at the corners too, which makes it easy to travel around with. They seem to come in several sizes, and even a stand up floor model (which I've never tried). Mine is 17 x 17".

Kandra asked... (and so did Nima) What a great tute! Now, I wonder - what size/type needle do you use and any tips on picking out a good thimble?

Anna Answers: Hand quilting needles are very, very tiny and not suitable for use with the embroidery threads that I've shown in my post. I use embroidery needles, and sometimes crewel needles. I try to use the smallest needle size possible that still allows me to thread the eye without breaking the house cussing rules. To be very honest with you, I have a whole array of needles in my pin cushion and I will typically just grab what it is there, and seems to work the best. I would encourage you to buy a multi-pack of sizes and experiment. To be clear, the smallest holes you can poke into your quilt, the better.

With regards to thimbles, I jump between a few different types, but mostly use a traditional thimble for my "push through" finger. I do also have a rubber type thimble that I like (see that here). But sometimes, just like with garden gloves, I get annoyed and feel more efficient by not using the thimble and feeling the needle in my fingers, even though this gets my fingers sore after a while. In the tutorial where I describe how you poke the needle from the top through to the back until you feel the tip of the needle from the underside before angling the needle back up again through the top to make a stitch, feeling that needle tip from the underside against your fingers can be a little uncomfortable without the help of a little sticky finger tip thimble that I use sometimes (see that here). But again, once I got the hang of just barely poking the needle through to the back, and therefore not really poking myself so much, it becomes less necessary for me to use this type of tip thimble and more efficient to just feel the needle.

L Johnson asked...Thank you so much for sharing these pictures and tutorial. I have been contemplating using floss on a black and white wall hanging quilt that i am just about finished with. Would it be wrong to use black on the white with black fabric pieces and white on the black fabric pieces? All the quilting I have seen is in one solid color thread.

Anna Answers: Well, without looking specifically at your quilt its hard to make recommendations. I have often employed the use of several colors of floss in one quilt, very often changing the colors based on what color fabric I am stitching into. I would guess that a black and white quilt might already have plenty of contrast, so as long as you think the opposite color stitching style would enhance the design and not compete with it, I say go for it. Its also good to take into consideration what your backing color(s) is and how the stitches will look on the back side. Personally when its one solid color on the backing, I love how different color stitches look. The example shown above shows one of my quilts where I combined appliqueing a large floral element with the quilting stitch step. So instead of needle turn applique, I appliqued and hand quilted in the same step. Other stitches shown on this quilt top are not hand quilting (as in going through all layers) but just embroidery stitches created in the quilt top making.

ana asked ...That's a really useful post - thanks! Do you have any shots of what the stitches look like from the back? It would be useful to have an idea of how they look for comparison to the front.

Anna Answers: Have a look above. In general, my stitches look the same from the back side as they do from the front side, if not just a tiny bit smaller. They are smaller due to the needle not always entering the fabric at a perfect perpendicular to the quilt angle. This is why its important to get your needle angle as straight up and down as you can so that the stitches on the back are the same size as the stitches on the front. Practice. Practice. Practice. Even just one stitch at a time. Practice.

Robyn asked...Do you stitch the front and then stitch the back in between the stitches ... I'm confused

Jennifer asked...Great pictures and tutorial! One question though, how do I follow the line on the back of the quilt? I can use the pieces on the front to keep my stitches straight, but what about when I turn it over??

Anna Answers: I am answering the two questions above together because I think that they are really asking the same thing, and that is about the actual explicit mechanics of the stitch. While trying not to sound too obvious and also trying to answer what I think the questions are, the stitching style that I have shown is one that passes through all three quilt layers (quilt top, batting, backing) at once from the top of the quilt down through to the back and back up again. The above is a quick rendering that I did, that I hope illustrates this a little better. Also you should be able to perform the stitches with the quilt top facing you the whole time and not flipping over to stitch from the backing side.

If there is patchwork on the back of the quilt as well, obviously you might take that into consideration when choosing how to make your stitching design. You don't have to follow the patchwork lines from the quilt top, but could do a general all over design instead. You can choose something as simple as straight rows of stitching or there are handquilting guides that help you temporarily stencil a stitch pattern onto your quilt top. I just happen to like following the patchwork on the quilt top in some way.

Kris asked...Thanks for the beautiful and well done tute! You didn't mention basting....do you just start in the middle and not bother basting? I'd also like to know what size needle you choose with what size perle cottons. Thanks again!!

Anna Answers: For full size quilts, about twin size and up, I first safety pin the layers together (usually with the layers on the floor), then I hand baste with super large stitches both horizontally and vertically in several rows about 8 inches apart (sometimes still on the floor for this step which is kind of back-breaking so often I move to a large table or studio counter) then I quilt beginning in the center and before I do the binding.

Now, for smaller, as in baby-size quilts, I very often go straight from safety pinning to hand quilting, and skip the basting step. I just move the pins as I go to keep them out of the way of the frame. I have even been known to go ahead and bind a small quilt before I do the hand quilting, which was the case for both of the recent zigzag baby quilts. And sometimes I go about quilting without the frame too (GASP!). In other words, experimenting is a good thing to find your comfort zone. And while its important to get some things right to end up with something that you love, none of the perfection techniques should be so adhered to that you aren't enjoying it, or are too afraid to begin.

(To answer needle question see second question above.)

And now- how about a baby Folk Dance quilt pattern!? Click on the link to download a 3 page pdf. Print page 2 on the back side of page 1, and then page 3 is your templates. Oh and all the pages should be landscape oriented for printing. We really want to make quilt kits for these, but the exact fabrics (namely the dobby dots) are becoming quite scarce here in the studio. In fact, the price of these goods went up so much to reproduce them, that I've decided to have the Square Dance and Pastry Line prints redone on the smooth voile substrate. Hopefully they'll be available end of May.

This was fun. Thanks for the dialogue, and happy stitching!!! xoxo, Anna Maria

Hey Twin Cities!

It's a bi-annual scheme of sorts. Putting together a Quilt Market booth that is. And next month is no different (yikes, next month!??) This Spring, my booth display scheme is in need of a little local love- if you live in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis, St.Paul) area of Minnesota and are the owner of a modern styled, straight-line, high-arm couch and would like a fabulous one-of-a-kind patchwork slip-cover made for it give me a HOLLER. Email your couch photos to amATannamariahornerDOTcom. It won't cost you a thing, but just the trouble of getting the couch to me at the Minneapolis Convention Center for the duration of the show then picking it up afterward. I do tend to be overly friendly and very huggy-kissy, so if you consider enduring that as an expense of sorts, well then, it'll be very expensive. We will, of course, offer more details in replying to your email- so what are you waiting for!?

Coming up later this week: An answer session for those of you who asked questions in regards to my Stitch post. Also a little girl dress post that will have your heart singing for spring.

Hope all enjoyed a beautiful Easter yesterday! Xristos Anesti!!
xoxox, Anna Maria

The Stitch

I've put together photos + words that detail how I go about hand quilting. Quilting is such a vast topic with various approaches. This here is simply addressing the very stitch itself, as in how I start, stitch and finish each thread. To me there always seemed to be some mystery to the actual stitch and that classic motion of making it. Then I learned that you just have to begin. Right or wrong, start somewhere. I hope this post helps you do that. A lot of this info is in Handmade Beginnings (almost here!) but I didn't get the luxury of this much photo space in the book. So here you go, and thanks to Alexia for helping me take the pics! Have fun!



Alexia and I both like to use big chunky thread for hand quilting. I use the little Perle Cottons that come wound in a ball, usually a size 5, 7, or 8 (the smaller the number the thicker the thread). DMC also has these gorgeous skeins of variegated cotton that Alexia is using in these photos. As for needles, I use embroidery needles cause they're nice and sharp but has an open enough eye for threading the chunky threads. Crewel needles work well too, they are typically just a little shorter than embroidery needles.



Alexia also very cleverly cuts through the skein loop at one end to create several perfect length pieces for your quilting all in one snip. This way you don't have to unwind and cut the perfect length each time. Smart girl.



Many quilters like to use a quilting hoop or frame to keep all the layers nice and smooth as they stitch. I have a square laptop hoop that is made from plastic tubing that I find more useful than a round or oval frame that is harder to make use of once you get to the corners. I also like to sit up to a table when I quilt to have something to lay the frame against. Stitching will be easier with a frame if you don’t tighten the fabrics so much that you can’t press gently on the quilt layer. This square frame with the snap-on sides adjusts tautness easily by just twisting the fitted outer pieces in towards the center or out towards the edges. I feel like I am putting less stress on the quilt fabric with this process than I do when tugging fabric through a wooden hoop.



Whether you use a frame or not, you should always start at the center and work your way out with the quilt stitches. (And working stitches towards yourself tends to lessen the stress on your neck and shoulders.) To begin with, you shouldn’t be able to see any knots from the outside of the quilt, either the top or the back, so you’ll need to hide them. To do this, knot the thread within 1/4" to 1/2" of the end of the thread. Insert the needle into the quilt top just about 1/2" away from where you will begin your first stitch. Do not, however, push the needle through to the back, but instead come up where you want to begin stitching.



You can then pull the needle and thread slack through until the knot is sitting on the surface. Place your fingers on the end of the pulled-through thread slack and tug until the knot pops underneath the top layer. (It might take a few tries before you can get the knot to only pop under the layer once, and not pop it out through both layers! The secret is in grabbing the thread slack at the very base of where it is coming out of the quilt top.)



Once popped through the quilt top, the knot will then be hidden in the inner layers and not visible from either side.



The goal of the simple running stitch is that it is generally straight and that each stitch is equal in length, equally spaced from other stitches, and equal in its distance from a seam if you are following along pieced seams. Enter the quilt top with the needle at a perfect vertical angle.



Then as soon as you feel the needle from underneath, angle the needle back up as close to a vertical line as you can to push the tip of the needle through. Focusing on this motion will help keep the stitches on the underside consistent with those on the quilt top.



With practice, you will be able to load a few stitches onto the needle at once, in a sort of rocking motion. So you could try to head back down through the quilt with the tip of the needle again at a vertical angle. It's fine to go ahead and pull slack through after only one stitch. Take your time with your technique.



As shown above however, you only need to pull through enough slack to give you room to load a few more stitches (or one stitch) onto the needle. You don't have to pull through the entire length of thread with every stitch. This is particularly good to keep in mind if you are only going one stitch at a time. Conserve your time and energy by not pulling the whole length through every time, but maybe only every second or third time. And I definitely encourage going one stitch at a time! I can't stress that enough. You should not feel like you need to master several stitches at once from the beginning. The better your stitches look the better you will feel about returning to the task. So while loading several stitches with one hand above the quilt and one hand below the quilt is very efficient, use whatever method gives you the prettiest stitch for now. If you are performing one stitch at a time really well for a while, you will naturally begin to try a few more.



Stop stitching about an inch or two from the inside edges of the frame to prevent skewing the layers at all. Rather, continue to reposition the frame once you get that close. To make a finishing knot, the concept is similar to the beginning knot. When you are about to perform your last stitch into the quilt top, knot the ending slack of your thread about a stitch length (or 1/4") from the quilt top.



Insert the needle to finish the stitch, but just through the top and then back out the top again an inch or so away.



Pull the slack until the knot is lying against the top. Tug and pop the knot into the batting layer.



Cut the thread close to the top, being careful not to clip the quilt top in the process. A curved pair of embroidery scissors is perfect for this. To start the next thread, this whole process would begin again on the underside, picking up where your last stitch left off. And instead of doing a full stitch ending up at the underside again, you would just poke through to the top, where you would continue your quilting from the quilt top side.

Okay, so maybe I should be doing an egg dyeing tutorial today, but take what you can get! Speaking of, I need to go check my eggs. Busy week here of pre-Easter festivities coupled with some special little girl sewing which I'll share next week.

Happy Easter! xoxo, Anna