Dear Practicality,

Please accept my deepest apologies. I just couldn't help myself. Fall made me do it.

Sincerely, Anna Maria

Stockpiling Spectrums

There's a piling up of all manner of colorful goods as though a winter with no end were imminent and all that will pass the time is drawing and sewing in front of a log burning fire. Not at all for real, but sounds quite nice. I do think that I'm squirreling away supplies as a promise to myself, evidenced in my last post. (Oh, and I need to point out that the colored pencils did not produce the drawings laying next to them in the photos. Those are some marker sketches from the summer....the pencils were just lying there in jealousy, waiting for their chance.)



A long since sad willow finally laid itself down in our yard after the last storm. We felt a cremation was in order. We offered condolences by snapping, cutting, breaking and piling every last bit of it into orderly piles categorized by size. The kids flipped out when Leo carried a small/medium stick in his mouth and then actually dropped it in the small/medium pile. He's a genius they laughed. Then they got their wish of campfire hotdogs and I got poison ivy. The hot dogs were so much better.



The littlest girl staying home today, who has a bit of a cough and runny nose, was crazy pleased to pile up these new little spectrums atop our woodpile. She said it would make a beautiful rainbow campfire.



Oh but the thread, yes. While I would recommend only cotton thread for your machine and hand quilting, have you guys tried out the new & improved Coats thread? I am in love and went a bit crazy on colors, but it is hard to have too much, no? The quality is greatly improved, perfect for garment sewing (especially if you work with more than just cotton fabric) and I am a sucker for the fancy new wind-up at the top of the spool . Eleni fancies playing a sort of Jenga with them more than sewing with them, but we'll work with that.



Leo the genius dog sat guarding the small/medium pile the whole time we took pictures. Come to think of it, looking at these pictures I think he was waiting for his fetch command. Okay, now I feel bad. One or two throws won't put me too far behind.

enjoy your weekend friends! xo,Anna

Monday morning

Eleni had Nilla wafers and milk this morning and it made me wish I was little. In her typical kind manner she politely offered me a few from the pile on her paper towel. After responding with a smile and a nothankyou, I realized how far I am from being little. I was content with my coffee. Once Jeff joined us at the breakfast counter content with his coffee, Eleni began describing why she likes Nilla wafers so much, and it has something to do with how chewy they are.
"Oh, I think of them as crunchy," I replied.
"No! They are chewy," Jeff confirmed.
"Don't you remember that? That's what I've always loved about them." he added and then "when was the last time you had one?"
"I dunno, maybe a few years ago," though I couldn't say for sure.
The both of them took to getting dressed, while I savored my warm cup staring out the sunny window. I looked over to notice that there were two wafers and a swallow of crumb-free milk looking back at me. I took a bite. Crunch first. Then YES, chewy. Then the next I had to quickly dip in the milk before the little one who does not like crumbs in her milk ran in, almost completely dressed, for her last gulp. (Made it just in time. I do however still feel a ripe old 36.)



In maybe not so unrelated news, I cannot stop dreaming about scribbling around with my new colored pencils the moment that other priorities are swept aside. I can already see the little forms in my head that I want to play out which have been developing from one day to the next, and its time to get them on paper before they float off. The images are happy and charming and I don't want them to go anywhere until we've had a chance to talk. I've had the new pencils (and cute new inkwell sharpener) on my work table in the studio for precisely 4.5 days. I am growing very impatient to release some of their smooth hue onto a clean white board. I messed around with markers plenty this summer, preparing thoughts for new designs, and I'm ready for pencils now.
This will be the indulgence waiting for me today, whatever age that makes me.

xo,Anna, who encourages cookies AND coloring

It started innocently enough

This isn't what it looks like. I was only conducting field research whilst naming the new fabric stack combinations for the shop. I did find myself dreaming about all varieties of treats that were impossible to chew (until today). Its not like I went straight from dental work to chewy stick to your fillings candy. There were like 3 days in between.



And during those days, as evidenced above, I indulged rather tamely, thank you. It was quite fun and I have absolutely no business having any fun! There is work to be done. Which promptly makes anything more fun. I told myself it would just be a wee small bit of quilting, just for kicks. Then no one was safe from the sweet seduction of fabric triangles.



Even Isabela could not keep her hands out of all the goodness and spent a long while in front of the new design wall devouring one triangle after another in search of the perfect configuration.



And I have no idea who's composing that large-scale thing to her right. I certainly don't have the time for that.

(more candy corn fun here, 'member, from last year?)

xoAM

Meds, Movies, Mumbling & 'Moothies

This very, very busy week has ended this morning with the extraction of four teeth that, in the opinion of my good doctor, were not doing me a lick (or a bite) of good. And all I got was this lousy t-shirt. The nurse showed it to me right after the medication was slipping me into a silly state so I have more of an affection and a giggle for my party favor than I may have otherwise. I have loads to tell/show you people, but one pic of a not very exciting topic is all I can muster today. I have slept and mumbled an awful lot, but Allie has either been too nice to laugh or my numb mouth is actually functioning decently. Jeff and I brought home some movies to keep me occupied. I was able to keep my eyes open for Miss Pettigrew Lives for A Day (very sweet and fluffy, and I noticed that Jane mentioned it and me today too - thanks dear girl). And I'm looking forward to the Heartbeat Detector and The Counterfeiters once my knight in shining armour arrives home brandishing a smoothie for my dinner.

Nkay. The good news is I'm starting to feel my mouth a bit now. The bad news I'm starting to feel my mouth a bit now. So back to item #1 of that title, I believe. Are you ever kind of okay with a mild infirmary as a welcome chance to be still and comforted?

Wishing you health, happiness, and rest this weekend, xo,AM

For a deer girl

Well this little bundle made the 'would'a blogged it if I were bloggin' list and its getting blogged too. Do you remember how great 7 was? I can remember thinking that it was good to be a kid around then. Totally excusable if you wanted to play, and totally acceptable if you wanted to do something grown-up too. In thinking about this, I wanted to make something for Bela that would help her do both.



I mentioned that we have had a pair of does in the yard a lot lately (though we haven't seen them in a bit) and no one has wanted to approach their sweet speckled bodies more than Bela. They seemed not very conditioned to be afraid of us, and so she came rather close to them a few times. But each time there was just enough natural human fright for a gentle skip away, and I watched my girl pound her fists into her thighs gently in anguish. Nuts. Missed 'em again. She just wanted to help take care of them and be kind. Remember feeling that way? I do.



So for the sweet frontier girl spirit I see in her, I thought she would enjoy embarking on another of my own childhood favorites. I so vividly pictured all the scenes described in this book, and I know Isabela's little mind and I see her imagination painting it all there in the air as she reads to herself. Oh, and the doll bed, I just kinda figured out, but definitely knew it should have handles to carry along on adventures. The quilt is a small whole cloth quilt with this on the front and this on the back and this cut on the bias for binding. (I designed that fabric totally bc I wanted to see it as a bias binding. Joy.) I started it at the beginning of the summer (which is why its shown here) as a way to teach myself an improved hand-quilting technique, and I'm getting there. I've been playing around with different needle sizes and thimble combos to find what works for me....I'll share more on that soon. I did not stress too much about completely finishing all that I wanted to before giving it to her, because I know that one day she may thread a needle and do a little work on it herself. Which would be like a gift right back to me.



So for today's adventure of being both little and big, we practiced swaddling babies (twins, no less) and then she was off to the little house in our not so big woods.

One happy seven year old. Check.

xo,Anna

Involuntary Motion

Some things I might have blogged these past few weeks:

:*: Isabela welcomed 7 with ice skates on and sugar cookies cut in the shape of 7s instead of cake. So clever is she. I spent time making a babydoll bed and doll quilt for two little stuffed deer as her gift. The stuffed deer were given in lieu of the real motherless pair we continue to see munching clover under our trees.

:*: Martha sent me a thank you gift for sharing the stage with her in San Antonio comprised of a huge whisk, red and white dish towels, a lovely ceramic mixing bowl, number cookie-cutters and her Cookie book. (7-shaped cookies make sense now?)

:*: I decided to rest every time I got tired.

:*: During one of those afternoon easy-does-its, I heard the rhythm of our basketball being pounded into the asphalt which triggered a little kick in my heart to go swish a few with whoever was out there. I haven't felt that kick since I was about 11. I let Joseph spell HORSE with precisely 4 o's.

:*: I hosted supperclub like last year only this time all the husbands and children came too which amounted to nearly 50 people and great fun.

:*: I flew to Cleveland to tape a segment of Quilting Arts TV and enjoyed the company of my pal Melissa who was doing the same. I got to talk about color for nearly 10 minutes and everyone actually wanted me to. That was fun. (Airing in December, I think.)

:*: Allie was on vacation for a week and I'm never letting her do that again (kidding). I did not know that I moved at the speed of at least two people until I was one people again.

:*: Last night, we sat atop a very very high and luscious green hill in a grassy clearing overlooking a breathtaking view of our home town. Cicadas, crickets, sparrows, frogs and a few bats all sang summer off while my love and I inhaled togetherness and watched the grey evening sky become sapphire.


Just in case you were wondering. Thanks for the sweet hope-you're-okay emails.
better than ever here, Anna Maria