puddles

Lots and lots and lots and lots of rain today,
the last day of September ... see you in October!

Clara's Worke 1891, new pattern !!

Clara's Worke 1891 has just been released on the website, as well as few cuts of the backing fabric used in the finishing. She joins her similar designs, Clara's Skating Sampler 1891, and Clara's Christmas Dance 1892. I have had requests for another Clara design so here it is! Hope you like it.

Above is a picture of all three Clara designs. Click HERE to visit the website ~ enjoy your Wednesday!

Can you smell the chicken?

Roast chicken in the oven with sweet onion, rosemary & thyme ... the aroma is intoxicating. I had a hankering for sweet potatoes so that will be yummy side dish topped with marshmallows. My oldest is Mr. Picky Eater so he's suffering through his homework smelling it. Wait till he finds out he has to eat what's on his plate tonight. The little one eats just about anything but follows the big brother's lead more these days, lovely. School and preschool in full swing now as October approaches later this week. September has nearly flown by with the leaves.

This afternoon I put a few Halloween displays around the house. Here are two of them ~ fun! (Nancy D. ~ thank you again for the pumpkin box!!)


My Facebook page is growing every day ~ lots of wonderful fans from around the globe there, closing in on 800! If you're on Facebook and want to join The Sampler Girl page, click here. I post design updates and such. Keeps ya connected!

New pattern releasing tomorrow ... Clara's Worke 1891. Till then!

quaker boo, now available!

This design was offered a few years ago in a limited release and now is available as a pattern for purchase. Model stitched by Ann Slater. For all details, CLICK HERE!

Quaker Boo
Design by Tanya Marie Anderson/The Sampler Girl
Copyright 2010

it had to be done

This week has been so long. Today, even longer. While I've been telling Miss Maddy that the mats on her furry Maine Coon back are not runway-style this season, she kept getting more so the vet insisted on a lion cut for her today. She had never had one and goodness, that is quite a cut, move like a shave. I hope she forgives me ... and that it grows back quickly in time for winter. In the meanwhile, I'm following her around with a kitty shawl because the air conditioning is cranked up here ~ it reached 100 here today! Where's Fall by the way?

Ok, here's Maddy lion after she got home this afternoon. She is extra soft and feels like peach fuzz. It will take some getting used to, for all of us! Zack doesn't like the change at all ... when he saw her mostly covered with the shawl a few minutes ago, he said oh good, she grew back.

I dropped off some model projects with my model stitcher this week and she had something for me to finish into a hanging for her. Ann's granddaughter is top notch at softball so she stitched this for her Christmas present; it came out very sweet.

Sent off my ornament to Kirsten at The Gift of Stitching for her Ornament issue coming out end of November. Fun design ... hint sheep! Busy work week and add to that church/school/sport activities/meetings ... well, you can imagine the weary self.

I'm grateful for Friday, pizza night. Finally. Happy week-end!

wordless on wednesday

lately

Which of my all important nothings should I tell you about first?

-Jane Austen in a letter to her sister, Cassandra

::getting organized
::coming up with a plan
::found my exercise groove & sticking with it
::cooking good food
::running around town
::fall ball
::savored moments alone
::feeling good
::worried & then prayed again
::read more
::adding new music
::listening to school days in review
::filling the cookie jar
::discovering apps that are wicked cool
::watching favorite shows come back for the new season
::wiping runny noses
::perusing used books
::loving salad with fresh lettuce rather than bagged
::being alert
::going here and there
::watching pretty clouds move
::worked hard at something
::wishing for cooler weather to wear new sweater
::cried my way through a good movie
::watched the news for a change
::made pizza, again
::been thankful for friends I've never met in person
::went down memory lane

slow down, gorgeous

That's what Zack said to me as he followed me to take care of our trash at Panera the other day. The older happy meal toy this phrase was adapted from says well hellloooo gorgeous ... too funny. Kid never misses a beat.

now it's his turn

From Zack's early days of talking as soon as we'd drop Ben at school, Zack would pipe up from the backseat and say me too, I want to go to school, too, Mama!. That seemed like forever ago and happily I thought it would be a longer time that I'd have him all to myself before his days of school came around. But this year when 6th grade started for Ben, Zack could chime his excitement that he too would be toting around a backpack and going to school as well. Of course Ben has told him on numerous occasions, don't be in such a rush to start school, dude, Zack walks to the beat of his own drum and merrily wants to know what all this school talk is about.

So today was the day. Z's first day of Preschool! He'll go 2 days/week and while that seems like a lot to me, this morning's three hours went by like a flash. He ran in and hung up his backpack and quickly got to serious work like legos, play doh and crafts. When I picked him up, he ran to me for a big hug (my favorite part of this deal) and immediately demanded food (their snacktime isn't enough for him apparently) so we lunched asap and then he napped, hard. Nothing like a day at preschool to tucker you out!

Zack, after his nap: I learned a lot of things in school, today.
Me: oh really? like what?
Zack: something cool
Me: like what?
Zack: I don't know. I can't remember.

where were you

On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was getting ready to clean the living room. Ben was in his playpen and I was watching the Today show, about to change the channel for a kids show to occupy him while I did housework when the world stopped. There before me, in my living room, was the horrific news of the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, PA. I think time stood still and then it raced. I was crying so much it was a blur, not believing what I was seeing and hearing ~ picked up Ben and ran to the phone at the first news. DH worked in Arlington at the time and the company was already huddled in the conferences rooms planning their routes out of the city. They had felt the vibration in the office building as the Pentagon wasn't that far away. I then spoke with my Mom and we just couldn't believe what was happening. I clearly didn't do any housework that day but carried Ben around in my arms for what seemed like hours. It took hours for DH to get out of the city and I don't even remember what time he did get home but that morning is as vivid as if it were yesterday.

The days, weeks, months, and years that followed have never been the same. At first there was fear everywhere you went, heavy sadness in the air and silent, long faces as you passed each other in the grocery store, the sidewalk and in church pews. As time passed so did some of the fear, the worry but it never went away. It won't now. Living in the burbs outside the nation's capitol has its highs and lows (wonderful history everywhere you look but the traffic, oh the traffic) ; 9/11 rocked our foundation as I'm sure it did in your part of the globe. I'd like to think it brought us as a country a little closer together even though we all never agree on resolutions and in our sorrow, we stand together. Strong. It is a scary world but beautiful too. Find the joy in it, and in each other, today.

Smile

Smile, though your heart is aching

Smile, even though it’s breaking

When there are clouds in the sky

you’ll get by

If you smile through your fear and sorrow

Smile and maybe tomorrow

You’ll see the sun come shining through

for you

Light up your face with gladness

Hide every trace of sadness

Although a tear may be ever so near

That’s the time you must keep on trying

Smile what’s the use of crying

You’ll find that life is still worthwhile

If you’ll just

Smile

i went to turkey ...

... via my brother's iPad. He & his fiance (doesn't that sound great!) came back last night from their Istanbul trip and this morning I enjoyed visiting with them and seeing pictures & videos from their time away. Wow. I feel like I've been up in a hot air balloon, ridden a camel, seen old ruins, eaten delectable foods, lounged by the pool with the Bosporus in view, floated on choppy waters, hotel hopped, shopped, walked through a Palace, and witnessed a faraway culture upclose, all in an hour's time.

And see my souvenirs?


Lucky me ... I can't even tell you how soft the scarf is. Wow. Glad to have you back on this side of the world, Will & Ashley. Thank you for my beautiful treasures!

i don't make this stuff up ... just cookies

Zack (in the car taking Ben to school): Ben, do you have your lunch?

Ben: yes, Zack
Zack: good. do you have your dinner?

. . .

Me: Zack, did you make poopie?
Zack: no
Me: Then what do I smell?
Zack: you smell the piano
Me: You have to make poopie in the potty, Zack ... remember?
Zack: well, well, well

. . .

Zack: what time is it, Mama?
Me: 1 o'clock
Zack: make it 2 clock, Mama, that is better, ok?

. . .

Zack: can I glue today, Mama?
Me: sure! what shall we glue you think?
Zack: everything

. . .

Me (on seeing Zack not taking his nap but rather surrounded by books on his bed): so, what are you doing, Zack?
Zack: i can't take a nap, Mama, sorry ... I have too much energy

. . .

Oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips make a day extra good, don't they?

back to school + back to work = reality returns

Well, it was bound to happen ... school had to start sometime. Might as well be today. This is Ben's last year in elementary school (sob, sob) ~ 6th grade!! Wow. I might not be ready for summer to roll again that quickly.

The leaves have already started to cluster about & swirl around the driveway; there is a feeling of Autumn in the air. Zack and I seemed somewhat off balance without Ben around today but we managed; routines have begun well so that always helps everyone. The calendar (thank goodness for those magnetic dry erase boards!) is filling up and greets us with fun stuff ahead. The boys' rooms have been redone and my studio is organized and cleaned from summer clutter that landed there.

Orders received during my summer break begin shipping tomorrow. My assistant will see to it.

eat. pray. love., free pattern

Last night was girl's night out. A favorite friend picked me up and we dined on fantastic Thai food and then went to see a late showing (late for us!) of Eat. Pray. Love., the movie version of Elizabeth Gilbert's bestselling book. Our bookclub had discussed this book a year or so ago so we were very eager to see it on the big screen. I loved it. Every scene, every meal, every thought provoking part.

The book was well written - one of those powerful memoirs you read but for me, the movie was even better. It left me feeling happy, renewed, ready to find balance in my life ... and eat lots of pasta. The author's lack of passion for life and desire to change within was contagious; while we all can't go about it the way she did, we can still find balance in our life and be truly happy.

Life has its good, bad and ugly days for us all and surprisingly, is never bump free. Imagine. Yet there is happiness around us and within if we can take the moment to see it, hold it, capture it. I am going to strive to find that balance in my own life and know that when I do, I will know myself all the better. Want to join me?

My new mantra is simply the title of the book, eat. pray. love. ... stitch the free chart and hang it somewhere you will see it often to remind you to be the person God wants you to be. Find that happiness and hold on to it. Enjoy the free chart and thank you, Elizabeth Gilbert, for sharing your life lessons with the world.

"Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it."
- Elizabeth Gilbert