Brain via Bullets

* hihowdyho

*I'm sorry this post title sounds like a surgery documentary that I would cover my eyes through.

*That Anna (the other one) is too nice. What started as her making fun of me to my face (which is what helps her keep her job) ended with her saying very nice things on my blog.

*She was promptly scolded for that.

*Kidding. I wuvher.

*If you were to photograph the inside of my brain right now, I am certain it would look exactly like the above.

*That is my book cover.

*Kidding again.

*Last night I walked by Isabela hunched over the dining room table trying to draw something with her left hand and I overheard her mumbling I wish I was both-handed.

*Good thinking, I told her. Then I spent five minutes staring at the ceiling and wondering if I were both-handed would I also then have enough coordination to be able to type with one hand and sew with the other? Which would do which? Hm.

*I am so looking forward to getting on the other side of my book deadlines for many reasons not the least of which is the fact that I can actually hear that giant expanse of prepared soil that I worked on all last summer begging me to plant, plant, plant. I hear it. It has a kinda whiny voice. That could be my own voice in my brain I imagine.

*But reporting back on how that cardboard method of weed control is going: AMAZING! Just a few weeds that are the springy type kinda sitting on the surface and really easy to yank out.

*We are planning a vegetable garden in the back yard which we've never done, and thinking it will be a built raised bed, and also the kids' responsibility. The weather is telling me we better get going. They seem excited, and especially when we all talk and plan together. I'll report back.

*The neighbors are getting chickens.

*No fair.

*I told the kids if they take good care of their vegetables this year then we will consider chickens next year.

*I know that chickens are not much like vegetables. But they will both be in the back yard. And they do taste delicious together. Although we just want their eggs. And to give them swanky old fashioned names. The chickens, not the eggs. Yea. I'll do some reading. Promise.

*Some kid called the house the other night and asked for Nick

*I told him he had the wrong number

*Pause

*Pause

*Is this #xxx-xxxx?, he asked

*Yes, I said (duh)

*And Nick Horner doesn't live there? he replied.

*ooooooooohhhhhhhhh NICOLAS? I exclaimed. I'm sorry I thought you said MICK.

*I didn't think he said MICK. I made that up fast because I was too embarrassed to admit my denial and therefore mental incapacities with regard to my son's NICKname. I really had no idea who that kid was talking about. Nick?

I do hope you're having a good day, xoxoxoAM

The Devil Wears Pajamas, Chapter 1

Hi Folks!

Anna here. And by Anna, I mean Anna Michelle, not Anna Maria. That's right, today while Anna Maria Horner is in crazy-person-writing-a-book-on-a-deadline mode you get to sit through the ramblings of her intern Anna Michelle Johnson.

Some of you may have read our interview from this past summer, and know that I started habitually reading this very blog several years ago - which means that I was completely, totally and absolutely over the moon when I had the opportunity to become an intern. I had a general idea of what a day in the life at designer's studio would look like, and the thought of working alongside someone as known and recognized as Anna Maria was literally a dream come true for me. So naturally I felt every initial fear and insecurity that would expectedly come from a young girl meeting and working with her role model. Luckily for me, those feelings were all completely unnecessary, and quickly overcome. Unlike my expectations, AMH has made it evident from day one that her goal is not running a business but simply to create beautiful things, and inspire others to do the same (and I think we can all agree that she more than lives up to it). This has made for an extremely interesting and rewarding work environment for me.

On any given day I can be found cutting fabric stacks, helping AMH prep for classes and trips, assisting (or modeling) in photo shoots, or filling orders for the shop; so basically it's an ideal job for a fashion design student and all around craft lover like myself. However, you might also find me picking paint from a quilt market project out of my hair and fingernails, sweating in the attic over boxes of pillows and patterns, or chasing down an escaped dog (or toddler) or two. Glamorous, I know. But despite how much fun and how useful it is for me to be getting this much experience in my field (or out in her field), that's not the reason I've stuck around to graduate from summer intern to part-time. I keep coming back for the craziness that is Anna Maria Horner. She's kind of a freak, did you know that? Mother, wife, daughter, friend, business woman, painter, stitcher and all around magician. Now how many people can say that they've successfully accomplished all of those things? And all before the age of (don't tell her I told you this) 40! How does she do it? Well, after almost a year of close examination, I have made almost no earth shattering discoveries. She is just a woman doing what she loves and was called to do, and she has motivated me become that kind of crazy as well.

So whether or not it comes as a surprise to you, my "Devil" wears pajamas. All day, almost everyday. And in fact, she would encourage anyone to do the same.

And now back to Isabela painting my nails for a book photo shoot which Anna asked me to do once she saw what I was wearing today. She is waiting impatiently for my nails to be ready as the sunlight fades. She's doing that in her pajamas.

xoxo
Anna Michelle

Springing

Whether or not I had the time to make these bags myself, I knew they needed to be made. I love having pals that will take on some sewing for me when I am struck by such a bug. I did take the great personal pleasure however in picking out the materials for her. Then poof. Done. They are a ribbon-y version of the Art Student Tote, and I daresay lurvely.

Here's another had-to-happen-happiness in spite of my current workload.
Thank you to Pierrette, my little gif fairy for that one.

Happy Spring friends, xo, Anna

Rainstorm Position

I didn't remember until I was uploading these pictures of Eleni and Leo, that my sister (Eleni) and I used to do the same thing when we were waiting for a rainstorm. We would pile all of our stuffed animals and blankets in front of the sliding glass door in the dining room and watch and listen.

We enjoyed rain, thunder, lightening, and a sunny outdoor meal this weekend.
Spring is so crazytown. xoAM

Keeping me up at night

Above is a detail (really small in comparison to the whole thing) of one of the wool tapestry blankets that was made by my Yiayia (my Greek grandma). I haven't had enough muscle around here yet to get it up for a full shot, it is incredibly heavy (and of course extremely warm). At the same time mom told me more about Great Grandma's quilt blocks, I asked if dad could tell me what he remembers about his mother working on these blankets. Of course typing that himself would have thrown off his entire equilibrium so my mom typed it for him. In fact if I got an email from my dad which was also typed by my dad it would throw off my whole equilibrium. I would never have an equilibrium again. If I ever even started with an equilibrium. Ahem. Here's what she errh he errrh she says:



"As for Yiayia's loomed blankets: You may remember seeing the loom in that back storage building behind the original house. Dad says that in the years she was using it that it pretty much stayed in the lower level of the house where she worked on them. He remembers her doing it for a few years. The blankets were made primarily for dowries for the daughters, but there was a stack of blankets in a bedroom in the "new house" that was as high as the "doulapi" (I think this means cupboard maybe- dad? I dare you to type a comment yourself and answer that question for us), so she also made them for the granddaughters. Artisans came around to the villages and "set" the looms for the design. The wool is primarily from their sheep, but Dad says she may have also needed to purchase some wool. She did spin the wool after cleaning it. Dad thinks that she also did the dyeing and assumes that she purchased dyes."



She purchased the dyes? What a slacker! Kidding, of course. Seriously let's all take a moment to process that process......

There. Gracious. She had 6 children running around her home (hmmm sounds familiar), but what she managed was quite remarkable. I am going to be including some images of her work in my upcoming book, and will share more here eventually too. The above detail is a snippet of one of the needlepoint projects from the book. My feeble attempts with beautiful wool- wool that is not raised nor fed nor herded nor sheared nor spun nor dyed by me.

I do however feel Yiayia's presence in the blur of my hand working the surface, late almost every night. xoxoAM

ps. does that young buck look familiar?

Hotel Texture

Spokane is lovely. Really lovely.

I can't help but think that this hotel made sure that I knew that and won't let me forget.

A hotel is a hotel, but after having been in quite a few lately, I am beginning to really appreciate those that are uniquely comfortable.

These are some of the details of the old charming Montvale Hotel, settled downtown. Each and every little nook, cranny, and floor was entirely different and loaded with rustic antiques, evocative paintings and sink-into furniture. Above is my door.

I felt sure there were ghosts. Classy ghosts with great taste in paintings. It was so extremely quiet, save some creaks in the floor, it seemed I was one of just a handful of people staying there over the weekend. Which of course made all the chairs seem simply occupied by ideas of past visitors instead of present and visible ones.

I was so transfixed by the details and furnishings that I carried my family around the whole place by way of Skype on my laptop to give them a tour.

Upstairs, downstairs, through the 3 restaurants attached which earned several hellos from strangers to my digital family. Hiiiii the kids all said together through the screen.

I held them up close to several paintings, and Isabela would say oooooo pretty.


My time speaking and teaching at the Top Stitch could not have been more enjoyable. Layers and layers of wonderful in that shop and the group of women I spent two days with. Everyone kept thanking me so earnestly for "coming to Spokane" as though no one ever goes to Spokane.

I can't wait to go back to Spokane.

More soon on my time there... for now, lots and lots of here happening.
xoxoAnna

Quilt + Words

So they brought me a car load of family handworks to photograph. The best gift. One favorite and very rare example of quilt making in my family is this beauty that my mom put together from her own grandmother's blocks. I asked her to tell me more about, so the following is her description:

"My grandmother Hooton made the blocks; they are hand pieced. (She died in 1948, so they were made some time before that.) I found them in the cedar chest in {my mother's} attic when we were cleaning out for the "sale" before she moved to assisted living. I didn't want them to go to waste, so I put them together to use as a baby blanket. I found the "tea colored" flannel that I thought would look more vintage. Unfortunately at the time I didn't know about quality quilter's flannel, so it's the cheap stuff. I did use it for some of the grandchildren when they visited, but after a few washings, I decided I wanted to keep it as more of an heirloom."

Thanks Mama! This quilt usually hangs above the crib in my parent's house. None of the piecework is especially practiced or perfect, but it all feels so entirely wonderful to me. Given the general era it was made, I'm captivated by thoughts of what else each of the fabrics was used for, as it is unlikely they were purchased just for these blocks. I find the colors so very beautiful. I especially love the bold, solid black accents. Go great-grandma. I am inspired to use this exact palette for sumthin.

Jeff and I are headed to see Mumford & Sons tonight. Soooooo excited!!!

smack! AM

HeartWarmers

This past week amongst 7,253 things that I did, I asked my mom if she wouldn't mind going through our old family photo albums and pull any pictures that had anything that she made shown in the picture. As expected she relished in the task and a few days later I got this big manila envelope (in fact it blew right in with the tornadic weather yesterday) filled with some of my favorite photos, as well as some I couldn't remember ever having seen. What a joy to see. I'm working on a meaningful way to try and save some of them long term and also include in my upcoming book. It got me thinking about the documentation of handworks, especially as my mom remarked on the phone this morning that the process unearthed several memories of things she had made but couldn't find photos of. It made me thankful for this space, obviously, where I document small and large works.



Today, after being begged since my waking hour, I sat down with the kids to watch an episode of Phineas and Ferb (Season 3, Episode 16- absofruitly hysterical, really). I looked over at Isabela snuggled up to me and she was wearing these knit by my mom leg-warmers that first warmed Juliana's legs. I instantly wondered if we had a photograph. Two instants later we had exactly these photographs.

So there you go Mama, one more for the books.
Don't you think it would be wonderful if you had a bound book simply with images of what you've made (or your mama, or grandma) whether knits, patchworks, cakes, paintings, drawings, gardens or the like? So many resources make this possible.
Anyway, just thinking about it today.
xoxo, Anna