Kindness Time

Thank you, Catherine. Thank you so much for the beautiful shawl you sent to me. Seeing as how its almost 100 degrees outside, my bed and a living room chair are currently fighting over who gets to wear this beautiful creation of yours. However, the chill blowing through the vents some evenings is just enough to warrant a little snuggle with your gift as I read. Thank you so much.



I have no idea what I did to deserve this, but sweet Catherine of Canada reads my blog and thought I would enjoy it. Not only that but she made it just for me, and even asked for my color choices before she started. I only accepted because its obvious she takes so much pleasure in knitting and in giving. How precious is that? A virtual stranger and so much kindness. When I look at it I think of this person in my mind sitting and knitting it for me. She gave me all that time. I wanna be kind. I made a pillow the other day for my neighbor that I've been wanting to make for a year. A year! Her daughter came to the rescue with their own pillow to rest Juliana's broken arm on while they waited for me to rush home last spring. The pillow got left at the ER and we were unable to retrieve it later. So I was really just replacing something more than I was being kind.

Anyway. I have some kindness to catch up on. To a friend who has a newborn I've yet to visit, to friends I haven't talked to in a while, to my children who need to be read to a bit more, and lots of other deserving souls. I'm taking a little blog break friends. Not too long, maybe a week or two. I'm so happy to have this place where some really sweet relationships can happen. Thank you for that.

Relax and be kind to yourself and others and I'll meet you back here soon, xo,AM

Tote-able Towel

We've been swimming our brains out here lately and the towel dragging thing back and forth to the pool has gotten to be, well, a drag. I found a fun solution and wanted to share it with you. C'mon! Fair warning, this is kind of a quickie and not highly detailed instruction-wise, but you'll likely get the picture as soon as you see the pictures. You're so smart.



Wash and dry your beach towel and your selected fabric. Measure the width of the towel from end to end. Cut two pieces of fabric in a length that is one inch longer than your towel measurement and a width that is about 7-8".



Lay fabric right sides together, fold both in half lengthwise to find the center point. From the center fold measure 4 inches and pin, just through the two layers, then pin again another inch towards the fold. Do this on both sides of the center fold so the pins are the same position. Now sew with 1/2" seam allowance continuously up one of the short sides, down the length that has the pins, skipping over the spaces between the pins, and continuing down the other short side. So you are left with what looks like a long envelope. Clip corners and turn right side out. Press.



Press the unfinished edge of the envelope in 1/2" all the way around towards the inside. Insert the towel into the envelope making sure you have the corners and edges of the towel all the way up against the envelope seams. Pin in place, check on back of towel to be sure the back of the envelope is being pinned as well and lines up with the front of the envelope.



Now cut a strip of fabric about 70" in length by 4" in width. You could also just use strapping. If you use fabric, crease with an iron at the center fold length wise, then fold both edges in again towards the center crease and press. You should be left with a four thickness strap that is about an inch wide. Topstitch down both sides 1/4" away from the edges. Press.



The above diagram shows the placement for the straps. Lay the towel right side up. Cut a length of about 8 or 9 inches off of the strap and insert in the top of the envelope/towel where there should be holes left from the envelope stitching step. Make the strap take a nice tight diagonal turn and lay snugly along the top edge of the towel and pin in place. Pin the rest of the strap in place underneath the bottom of the envelope with each end equal distance from the center. Make sure the strap is not twisted. Topstitch all the way around the envelope about 3/8" away from the edge. You may want to go back and sew some securing stitches where the straps are sewn in even closer to the edges.



The steps above show how to fold the towel:
1-Fold in the sides towards the center on the whole length
2-Fold bottom edges up to meet the underside of the envelope
3-Roll towards top
4-Slip long strap into short strap
The kids are at day camp this week and we've been throwing their suits right inside the towel before we start the fold and roll. They think thats cool.



There, now if everything else was that easy I'd have a smooth summer!

Happy swimming pals. xoxo,Anna

Daddy-ness

This is one of my favorite young pictures of my dad before he was my dad. He left Greece at 17 in search of a better education, he married my mother here because he found love, and he stayed here to give his children the best life possible. And it has been the best life possible. No one on this earth exceeds my dad in compassion, generosity or self-reliance.


I've received too many gifts from him to name, but my most cherished gift is his artistry that showed up in my genes. He didn't choose to pursue an artistic career because he couldn't assure the well-being of our family with that. But he secured a world for me where I could choose that, or anything else.

The best choice I ever made was marrying the amazing father of my children. I had never met a college guy so nuts for babies. We would be on a date and he'd point out a cute baby at the next table. He changed Juliana's diapers for the first several days before I had it all figured out. Completely different kind of approach to fatherhood than my own dad, but equally loving. Whether it was bottle-feeding Juliana in the middle of the night to give me a break during my first trying days of motherhood, or helping the boys perfect their cannonballs off the diving board as he has been for more than a week now, we just can't do without him.


When a father takes pleasure in helping his children, whether monetarily, emotionally or in learning how to have fun, it's truly a blessing. And just like the motherly traits that seem to rub off on our girls, we see our boys taking pleasure in caring for their families too. Lucky us.

Anna Maria, daughter of Eleftherios Demacopoulos

$5 Daydream

I told you I would share my flea market purchase. This is so much more than a flea market purchase. This is a dream come true in a Pennsylvania Dutch plate, no? The dream goes something like this.....I wake up in my countryside home, that is situated somewhere between the green hills of Tennessee and at the foot of the mountains of Greece amongst the olive groves (which can happen in a dream, even if in real life that would put me in the Atlantic ocean)...how do I wake up you ask?? The rooster of course. Every ground floor window in the house is actually a French door, that opens up to a different garden vignette of flowers, herbs or vegetables. All the children (dressed in white or burlap-brown) are happily occupied chasing butterflies in the 12 acres that never needs mowing, and Jeff is building furniture in the wood shed (okay it gets fuzzy here, he's doing something manly).



After an espresso, I put on a long white apron over my charming but not too fancy red calico dress with piping on the pockets and walk barefoot to the kitchen garden. I am instantly greeted by the beautifully plump and ripened tomatoes and I gather up half a dozen or so in the lap of my apron. I walk into the kitchen to look for a suitable resting spot chosen from several wooden bowls and find one painted with gorgeous blue and tomato-red flowers that's just perfect (yay! that part is real!) I go on of course to make a lunch of fresh pasta with lemon, sliced tomatoes, brick oven bread, and oranges picked from the trees the night before. (In the dream we all cheered for Eleni who was tall enough to reach her first orange).



N'kay, dream over. I've been hunting and gathering for our kitchen for over a year, very slowly finding suitable finds that speak this dream to me. When we first finished the remodel it was hard to focus on details, largely because our eyeballs were popping out of our heads at the cost of it all. I always think the details should happen more slowly anyway. When I first set things on that mantle (which is about 150 years old!) it was all very symmetrical and basic by default. Lately I've been playing out color with those little creamers and such. I have a tendency to go completely overboard on color without thinking about it, so I put restraints on myself sometimes and do the simplest thing first...well aside from the aqua Italian tiles on the backsplash. I don't know what my style is or what the end goal is, I just get inspired or not when I see something.



I found a palette in this plate that was identical to that slipcover on the kitchen stools and the paintings in the kitchen. And its not that I ever want things to match but I was so happy to see someone else had combined color the exact same way in a completely different way decades ago. Not to mention I have a weakness for slightly folk-y things, so I brought it home. Who wouldn't for $5? In real life it will never hold fruit or anything else, but will rest on the wall.

Never mind that I don't know what it says and that even though I know its Dutch, it looks German, which maybe is the same, (is it the same?), maybe me thinking that might offend either a German or a Dutch, I can't remember how that works. I can't remember my own history let alone the world's. In my daydream, Greek, German, Dutch, English all get along beautifully, as they do in my kitchen and in my blood.

xoAM

Portraits of Self and Self-Portraits

I had to enlist my favorite photographer again for some new images to give to a German patchwork magazine. She had me laughing the entire time but managed to get what is likely a more accurate portrait. Yes, my hair keeps getting shorter and weirder. We can thank Juliana for that too.



Above is a self-portrait of sorts that I made before I could round her up to do one in the traditional means. It was a fun experiment though to compose something of yourself without yourself. Of course I did cheat a bit including a painted self-portrait I made about 5 years ago. But that's telling too.



If I got one thing pounded into my art brain in high school and college its that one can never do too many self-portraits. Juliana may have gotten the real me through snorting, giggling and tearing up, causing me to slide out of view. It's good though to imagine yourself every now and then too, I guess. Which I think I do almost daily here, as it turns out.

xo,Anna

In the Mix

I think what I enjoy most about the flea market is the intentional and unintentional collections that happen within each booth. I love that bad art can look really provocative sitting on a dirt floor when placed next to equally bad art. Or is it the quilt that makes the paintings look good? Dunno. But I like the way it looks.



Do you love this? I love this. So many of the flea market "collections" I photographed included the truck that brought them there in the background. Telling, I think. Does that Miller Lite neon work? Did that gold chandelier hanging from the mirror-less chest also once hang in a Catholic church? Sure looks like it could have.



I have to believe that there is an order that is happening in the mind of the booth owners as they arrange their goods. Are they displaying it the way I'm see it? Because a lot of it is really so randomly gorgeous that I feel like they have to be doing it on purpose. Did that tired old woman see how the flowered trim on that doll's dress looks kinda like a repeat of the blossom etched in that tin. And in that grey/green ceramic behind? With some of these flea marketers, its painfully clear that how well they sell today determines how well they eat tonight. Honestly. It feels guilty and tragic that I browse through on a whim for fun, by contrast.



There are others who know which type of buyers come through Nashville and what they should have on hand for their perusal. Some of these guys really know how to comb through estate sales to find the best deals. Others, sadly look like they've been carrying around the same odds and ends for decades. I've had some really interesting conversations with the button lady. The painted furniture girl likes hearing my ideas for color palettes, though she totally knows what she's doing. The guy I once bought an antique silver shaving cup from for 20$ was shocked when I told him later after some investigation that its worth about 200$. We then discussed whether or not he should raise his prices. He told me most people would not believe him if he told them the value and they'd likely walk away. True.



Then there are those who arrange their goods by color and I go absolutely crazy. Crazy, I tell you! I want stuff that I wouldn't have the first idea how to use. I try to think of and empty wall in the house where I could hang, nail, frame or dangle every last little thinger-ma-bobbin who's purpose completely escapes me and my generation.



Then there are really crafty souls who know just what the retail world is doing, what trends are ebbing and flowing. So they know before I do that I would blow bucks on vintage patterns. There were plenty on hand that Juliana wanted.



I didn't spend more than I few dollars this go round. We just took our time looking at everything. Of course everything was completely desirable since I put a virtual zero budget on the day. Thats how it works, as you know of course.

Thanks for coming with. I guess I need to find that thing I actually bought and show you next time.

xo,AM

Cheap Thrills

Pull up a seat. Going through pics from a recent flea market excursion with Juliana.



There were star sightings.



Superstars too. Hot superstars who desperately needed snowcones to be cool.



Tell me what is classier than fanning oneself in the heat? Or is it just us southerners?



Or dive in and swim with these handpainted fish. Speaking of fish, I have mahi mahi in the oven oven, so I gotta run.

More exploring soon, we're not done yet.
xoxo,AM

Mentioning a Mention

I picked up the June/July issue of Ready Made and was delighted to see the inclusion of one of my prints from Chocolate Lollipop. And not an especially chocolate-y one either. It is such a cool magazine, truly. Uberhip.



Isn't that the coolest two page spread ever? I want to make it.



Was happy to be thrown together with other designer-pals of mine and some people I have yet to meet who are printing their own textiles. Follow some of the links listed up there in that photo. You'll find wonderful stuff to be had. Although with some of the price tags on those, I am thinking a pillow. A small one. Anyway, you've seen my one strip of fabric now in all its glory, but its worth the buy for all the other snazzy ideas in the other features.

Hope you're happy today, I am. xoAM

Wash-y Strings

I love the soft, furry strings that unravel and do the tango in the washer and dryer. I have a few yards washed and ready for sewing. There have been times when I've been so anxious to work on something that I don't wash the fabric first. Confessions of a cotton addict. If the un-pre-washed items happen to be a garment for me, I just give it to my sister afterwards. She is the exact cotton-shrink-up size difference from me in height and weight. It's perfect. Anyway, this fabric reminds me of a lush lawn with a few dandelions popping up and other summery things. So it'll be a summer dress with summery madras as straps and it will be worn by me, even after its been washed.

But for now, I'm author-girl, and until I change out of that cape, it'll have to wait all soft and wrinkley for me. xoAM

NYC series-5-Reasons to be Home

Warning, serious home happiness is rampant throughout this post. If you're not willing to cock your head to the side and say 'awe', you should stop reading now.



Jeff and I arrived just in time last Wednesday morning from NYC to get changed and ready for Isabela's last day of pre-K picnic. This is such a big deal as she is on her way to kindergarten this fall. We only wish she could bring her teacher Ms.Pam with her. The amazing Ms.Pam who has taught several of our children not to mention who prepared those scrumptious strawberry delights for her picnic parents. Such a kind heart.



All the food we had in NYC was so delicious, of course. If you can believe it, I actually missed standing at my own stove and cooking a simple spaghetti dinner. I missed folding laundry (is something wrong with me?) and I actually craved a little housecleaning, sweeping, plant watering and weeding. Weird.



Would not have wanted to miss the first captive of the summer. Isabela insisted that this moth was a butterfly which is so much more beautiful than a moth. We soon set it free, but it actually seemed quite happy on her finger for awhile. There's also been several firefly captives who either managed to escape our jars or have been set free the following morning. I saw some gorgeous things in NYC but not one real butterfly or firefly.



I loved the flower stands perhaps more than anything during my sidewalk adventures. The idea of stopping and getting a new bundle every other day for my swanky flat in my imaginary life in the city seems a most perfect luxury. But I was needed here with my own homegrown roses to defend them against the threat of the strong boy-kicks behind that soccer ball (notice a few prematurely dropped petals).



I was very inspired by the windows, art and such that I found on my little snap-happy journey. I have several more "street" series photos to share, actually. Seeing all the references to the handmade made me itch to get back to my own projects in my own studio. I'm diving back into my book writing and feeling really fortunate about this project. It's the main gig for the rest of my summer, along with some other fun. Juliana's been joining me a little more in the studio since school's been out too. Sewing for herself pattern free, photographing her artwork, manipulating it in the computer. We'll share some of that later. Watching her work is like watching my favorite movie.



A few nights ago we had our first marshmallow roast in the fire pit at the back of the property. Most of that was spent with Jeff fending off all the bajillion questions from the boys about whether they can stir the fire or re-situate a log, or just light this one little branch to play with. I just kinda sit quietly and laugh at how annoyed he gets and how threatening to put the fire out or send them to bed doesn't stop the questions. Fire is just so stinkin exciting for goodness sake! That's a very blurry view from the campfire of our house, the hills beyond and the intense blue sky right before pitch-black. I guess blurry is fine. Having that perspective on the house, smelling the wood burn, cuddling one or more in my lap, is dreamlike and blurry.

Hoping you have a bajillion reasons to be where you are. Good weekend, xo,AM