Other people's babies

(Just to prove that I can talk about more than the yet to arrive baby boy, here are babies, gathered from various sources, that have indeed arrived and do not belong to me - but they are all wearing my fabrics - so I'm willing to discuss....ahem.)



The kind folks at Ottobre were nice enough to share their latest Summer issue with me which includes some of the most adorable uses of Good Folks I've seen yet! (Though there is much Good Folks cuteness to be gandered here too!)



If you've never received an issue of Ottobre, do yourself a favor and subscribe! The seasonal magazine is loaded with nothing but irresistable European sewing designs with the patterns and instructions included. (They even named that tunic up there after me !) I do think that the patterns are intended for the intermediate sewer, as the instructions are very general, but the patterns are all provided within the magazine. Well worth it if you ask me, which you didn't, but you are reading this so its sorta like you asked.



Leila & Grey is a new line of young girls' clothing, based out of Atlanta, and they are producing some seriously smart little items. Lovely clothing, reasonably priced, and their presentation is enchanting.



I was recently alerted that this pic ran a full page in People magazine. Well. Always glad to see a mom with good taste.

Hope everyone is having a good week! xoox, Anna Maria

(ps, I've added some info to the post below regarding curtains & paint colors...)

Make Way Day

A made bed. A rare and welcome occurrence in our (newish) room. (Just ask Martha how rare.) Are you like me and only make your bed when you need to use the bed as a stage for some other task? Please say yes. Anyhoo, the task......



I was almost knocked over with excitement by these two when I asked who would like to help me untag, and sort all the new baby clothes so we can wash them? Where would you do that, but the biggest bed in the house, I ask? Exactly. New baby clothes can't be put on the floor even if you are about to wash them, and the dining room had the ripple growing on it + Nicolas & laptop working some garage band. So.



Oh the squeals and the gasps and the high-pitched little exclamations of ohh and ahh at every little cute (mostly striped it seems) outfit, burp cloth, bootie, hat, crib sheet, sock and towel. They had more fun than me, which is nearly impossible as I have been daydreaming about washing and folding baby clothes for months. I often just stop what I'm doing, stare out the window, and think about pouring in the Dreft, waiting for that smell as it washes, then folding, and humming.



What we now have is that daydream mid-progress. I have passed through the pouring and wash smell part, and saving the folding and humming for tonight.

Yes I did just blog about laundry again.

And the baby again.

And he's not even here yet.

Just wait.

You poor people.

Humm, humm didah didahhmmm.

xo,Anna

A note to answer some questions: Wall color is Behr's "soft heather" and curtains are Anthropologie.

If I could bend over......

I would take the day off and work in the breezy, sunny garden all day long.



Like that weed down there. I would pull that weed. Pull it with joy and thankfulness.



Yes I would. If I only could.



(thanks for all the boy congrats~ we are so excited to even the score around here~ 3 & 3 )

good weekend, xoAM

Little = Happy

A little promise of their very own bouquet of flowers = just enough inspiration for Isabela and Eleni to get their room into a clean and orderly (for now) state. Always works for me.



A precious little blue handknit from my mom delivered in person on Easter Sunday = just enough to let you in on a little baby gender secret.

5 or 6 little weeks to go = one very excited (and not so little) family

xoxoAM

Dear Jeff

Hmm.

Mother's Day is so close to when we'll be having our new baby this year.

Hmm.

This sure is pretty.

Kinda like that one I got you for Father's Day that year.

Hmm.

That was nice, wasn't it?

I'm not sayin' anything, I'm just saying its pretty, that's all.

love, xo, A

(print found here)

Friday Plait-time

Taking advantage of the slow pace of a day off from school, I finally had some uninterrupted time with Isabela's head. One day last week I told Jeff about Jennifer Peterson. Jennifer Peterson was a perfectly beautiful little girl who had a German mother and occupied the seat in front of me in the sixth grade. Almost every single day she came to school with her angelic spun gold hair plaited into a crown of glory that you could not find the beginning or the end of. Even if you spent the entire leftover time after you'd turned in your algebra test starring and looking for it. It was perfection.



I had tried it on my Barbie dolls so many times, but Barbie has quite a lot of hair for such a small head, and though I managed to get it into a circular braid, I never managed to do away with the dairy-queen of synthetic hair on top of it. Jennifer Peterson tiptoed back into my brain last week. It occurred to me that she had absolutely no idea how beautiful she was, and likely still is. She was a quiet, modest, bookish sort, and always looked like a little maiden from a painting, not at all what was considered hip in 1983. And she was everything that I love about a braid. In fact some of my favorite paintings of all time embody everything that I love about a braid. Such an honest and natural effort at adorning oneself.



So today I got to twitch a young girl this way and that with only a few squeaks of discomfort, while my hands played out the process that I've gone over and over in my head. First attempt mind you, but so satisfying. I have no advice on doing this. I just know that if you studied Jennifer Peterson's head the way that I did, you would know how to do it after 25 years.

Our Easter is celebrated next week, but all my love to rest of you this weekend!
xo,Anna

Scenes from Sewing

What are you sewing?

And if you're not, please explain yourself.

xo, AM

April Tuesday ~ home visit

~sewing~ something pour moi. I was entirely too jealous of this shirt that we got for Jeff while in NYC, and it reminded me of these fabrics that I bought in Portland last spring. And yes, I would say that one year is about the amount of time that it usually takes me to get around to making a blouse I have in mind. But I would not say that last year I expected it to be a maternity blouse.



~leaning~ against my studio wall is this old painted ladder that I've had my eye for a while to hang on to the growing collection of studio quilts. I guess that folk dance needs to come off that felt wall if I'm going to hand-quilt it.



~lining~ the drawers of an old chest that we inherited from Jeff's Nani who passed a few months ago. A good cleaning with Murphy's oil and some pretty new lining paper (ala Target) will land this beauty into the girls' room for sharing. I had originally intended to keep it in the dining room to house all the handmade table linens that I planned to, well, hand make, but have yet to. I also had the thought to buy enough lining paper to match the repeat on it where it needed to be seamed. Neither of these thoughts is realistic or unusual for a person such as myself. Sigh.



~sitting~ in my living room is this new acquisition from my favorite local furniture store, which, sadly for me is closing its doors. I'm happy for Carissa though, as she has had her fourth baby and now completely following that path. If you're local, take advantage of the sale! I can't wait to nestle into that corner with a new nursing baby. That is, if Isabela's nose and whichever book she has it in will make room. (Pillows & rug ala anthropologie)



~budding~ everywhere I look. Outside my window this sycamore (I think) has the most gorgeous shade of spring buds every year, and I keep telling myself this will be the stuff of some fabric print somewhere. One of these days.



~waiting~ for his (human) brothers and sisters to come home. Most of the time he sits with me in the studio, but I'm starting to notice he is more particular to the dark foyer on rainy days. We have a huge storm predicted and possible tornado watches for this afternoon. Maybe he's anxious for them to get here. Me too, boy.

thanks for coming , xo, Anna