flashback on friday

Just came across this cute picture of Miss Maddy and Ben taken October 29, 2005, five years ago today. Happy Friday!

Today I met Ina Garten.

I woke to pouring rain. No, not just pouring rain ... POURING RAIN, wind and darkness outside. It was only 7AM and looked like midnight. I was really worried that our day of fun wasn't going to happen because of the wicked weather but not so ...

DH took the day off so I could be solo, no little kiddo to haul around, Yay! I picked Mom up early and we headed over to Sur La Table. Ina Garten aka Barefoot Contessa, was doing a book signing there today for her new cookbook, How Easy Is That?, Mom and I were meeting up with our Ina following-friends, Nancy and Betty, for a frolic of good time with lunch, of course!, to follow. It was still raining when he got to the Sur La Table (a mecca for one who cooks, bakes, loves to be in the kitchen) and we managed to be #8 and #9 in line. We were fortunate to be under a breezeway but the rain had stopped so that was great however it was terribly humid and muggy. At least it was dry! Nancy and Betty got there soon after and shortly before 10AM the line had snaked around the corner of the store and by the time we were led in the store to wait awhile, the line had wrapped around the block as far as you could see! Still no rain - sun out and clear if still humid. They were selling so many of the cookbooks that they had to take a cart of them outside for people in line to purchase.

Ok, so we were in the store by 11AM and we were being well taken care of by the staff with goodies like coffee cake, pound cake, cookies and more cookies - all Ina recipes of course. It was fantastic! Once inside the cooking school room to where Ina and her friend/publicist sat, it was surreal. I've never met a cookbook author before and it was truly extra special. Not that meeting someone famous isn't special but meeting someone who you've invited in to your home for many years, into your kitchen, via TV ... you have a deeper connection just as recipes you prepare for your family can bring.

Anyway, it was really exciting and meeting her in person was most memorable. She was friendly and sincere and lovely. Meeting her was a true delight. The staff of the store took pictures for you and were most helpful. When we left with our signed cookbooks in hand, the sun had gone behind the clouds and the lines were longer than before. About 5 minutes after we got in the car to head to lunch destination and dish about our fun, the skies opened up and it rained and rained and rained. I felt so bad for those people in line ... hopefully they were able to get dry somehow.


It was a positively perfect way to spend the day.

new pattern, Thanksgiving 1789 Pocket

So once in every year we throng
Upon a day apart,
To praise the Lord with feast and song
In thankfulness of heart.
~Arthur Guiterman

I've always thought that there should be more patterns for Thanksgiving. For a holiday held most dear where gifts aren't exchanged, candy isn't doled out in handfuls, and stockings aren't popping full ~ Thanksgiving is a reflective time, a quiet time, a good-eating kind of time where family and friends gather whilst still making merry, being together to be thankful. Thankful for health, good times and bad, laughter and memories since the last. Counting blessings can be difficult for some and come abundant for others but when you take the time to be grateful, you'll find more goodness in and around you than you dreamed.

This new design, Thanksgiving 1789 Pocket, was inspired by antique sampler motifs, primitive Autumn charm, and Mr. Tom Turkey himself that sits on most tables for the feast but frolics around might proud beforehand. When I was thinking of a year to capture the design I stumbled on research for 1789, the year when President George Washington made a proclamation for a day set aside for a "publick day of Thanksgiving and prayer".

All details for new design can be found on the website! Click HERE.

got breakfast?

How about a pumpkin muffin? You know you want one. Go on ... click HERE.

Enjoy.

meow

relax ... it's almost week-end

::sneak peek!

Finally, some stitching! Here's a sneak peek at Thanksgiving 1789. Pattern will be ready on Monday!

The lawn was tidied up this afternoon like a full playroom but alas, more leaves have fallen so you'd never know it had been swept and cut. October sure is a messy month. It's like when I tell the boys to make their beds and they throw the covers over haphazardly as if they did the task. Ah well, it was nice while it lasted. Enjoy the rest of your day!

in the wee small hours of morning

Pushing 4 in the morning now and Zack woke with a nasty cough. I've got the air vaporizer going so hope that helps. Poor little guy. He's back to sleep but now I can't so I've been blog reading and here's what I found.

Jamie Deen is going to have a new show ~ looks good!

Mom wrote on her blog again ~ keep it up!

There are some sweet seasonal new designs by Jenny Hoffman ~ love these simple little prim patterns.

Wonder what these scones could taste like?! I so love apples and cheese ...

Speaking of food, I made this recently and could use a helping of it right now. It was really good comfort food.

I've never been to Greece ~ but Leslie went recently. Wonderful travel pics.

Recently I read this book. Loved it. Now I"m eager to read this one.

Can you imagine what this tastes like? I'm not sure.

Finally found a new series to start watching from the beginning season and can't get enough of it. Long for Tuesdays (yay! it's Tuesday) for Parenthood to air.

Ok, enough blogging. Back to bed.

the patch, the pumpkin PATCH !!

It was a coolish, perfect Autumn morning so I deemed it the day for Z's annual pumpkin patch visit. (Ben told me a few years ago he was too old for it. ::sniff sniff) So today, the beautiful sun did shine hard and soon after arriving we were shedding our sweatshirts but it did feel like Fall at least. I can't stand a seasonal event or activity in what I think is the wrong weather!! Last year's pumpkin patch trek was a very muddy one as we had had get-the-ark-out-kind-of-rain that week so it was dry this time around but Zack managed to get enough dirt on him to make up for the missing mud.

I won't make you linger too long for all the pictures but here are a few to share. I love those funny, silly, mirrors ... esp the ones that make you skinny. The various fast aluminum speeding slides, where you sit on a piece of rug (how old are those things?) were a blast all over again. Zack sat in my lap and off we zoomed to the bottom. He enjoyed running in/out/under/over wooden climbing things like trains, pirate ships, planes, undefined vehicles and a train. The hayride was spooky but he liked it. Especially the getting off the wagon part. The big dirt pile was a bit hit; you dig for plastic spiders (wow!) but Zack got a bigger thrill out of climbing to the tippity top (king of the world moment!) and then he slid all. the. way. down. You can imagine the dirt on him, everywhere. Everywhere. Being a mom of boys I've accepted that this happens. A lot.


Would you believe I forgot to get a picture of Zack sitting IN the pumpkin patch? I did take a ton of pictures to memorymake the day anyway. Besides, Z moves fast and you have to snap the picture when you think of it or he's off to something else.

I made another little Halloween display! A year or so ago I was on a Stacy Nash kick and stitched up several of primitive designs. I love them; two are shown here and the others are my designs. I'm ready for Halloween now.

and then you will hear

Ever stopped to listen to the quiet? I mean really stopped and tried very hard to hear silence? It's difficult. There's so much noise around inside the house and out in the world that it's almost impossible, I've recently found, to listen to nothingness. Lately I've wanted to pray in the quiet, true quiet, to try to hear for God's wisdom to guide, comfort, help but it's too loud ... I can't hear. I think I hear fragments, words, advise, but then shake my head as if to process or toss distractions aside and it's gone. The phone rings, the radio blasts, the horn beeps, the checker asks "debit or credit?", the lady says "for here or take out?", the toy repeats it's music ... it's just never quiet. I pray in the car, walking down the driveway to pick up trash cans, folding laundry, emptying the dishwasher, sitting in the school kiss & ride lane, at church, while eating, after eating, before eating, brushing my teeth, while filling orders, while stitching, when ironing ... you get the picture ~ I pray all the time ~ yes, I've got a lot to say. They might be short prayers and sometimes they go on and on and on.

Then I realize that sometimes I need to be quiet. My favorite scripture is Be still and know that I am God. I'm still. I'm waiting. Then I see signs that help just the same as a prayer like a breeze on my face, a perfect cloud in the sky, a soft smile that might have been mine when I was little, a door held open, kindness at an intersection, people working together on a project for humankind, kids getting along rather than bickering, good food that tastes like someone hugged you long and hard.

So in the busyness of the day, the week, the month, the year I can find comfort in these things when it is so loud I can't hear myself think and my prayers seem lifted to just above the noise level and I know that God hears me. After all, he has a whole world to hear while at the same time He listens to one of his children at a time. Have you talked to God today? He's waiting. Be still and you'll hear.

Edited to add chart for Donna ...
I had designed this last year for TSG Companion Christmas Booklet which is now OOP so will share it here. Enjoy.

Be still and know that I am God.
-Psalm 46:10

souvenirs from savannah

Mom taught a needlework workshop in Hilton Head, South Carolina last week and took her time getting back home, making stops in Savannah and Charleston before heading back. She ate at Paula Deen's restaurant in Savannah ~ how fun that must have been!! Mom came over to retell the trip's adventures and bring souvenirs. I love, love, love, love, LOVE the Paula Deen tote bag she brought me. (Nancy ~ I hear you got one too!!) Mom also brought me Paula Deen biscuit mix and a key lime pie (my favorite pie!) pot holder with recipe on it. She had a tour of the Davenport House which was very lovely and now I have a cross stitch pattern of that historic home. Yay! I'm a happy girl ... esp after dealing with a stuffy nosed little munchkin today ... these goodies for me make me smile.

Thank you again, Mom!!

Scottish Sampler, 1650 ... new pattern!

I'm too giddy over this new design to wait until Friday (mid month) to release SO it's now ready and available at the webshop. The design is inspired by old Scottish samplers with their rich colors and boldness in character. The verse on sampler comes from Scottish Psalter, 1650 and is a beautiful wording of The Lord is My Shepherd. Frame is made by Valley House Primitives. All details for new sampler pattern can be found HERE on the website.

Scottish Sampler, 1650
Design by Tanya Marie Anderson
Copyright 2010
The Sampler Girl

sunday sneak peek, scottish sampler, 1650

For those who follow my blog, you know I do design sampler style needlework however as of late, it's been posts about the boys, baseball, Halloween decorating, more about the boys .. and well, yesterday there was a free chart posted to share with you but today here's a sneak peek of a design coming out soon.

Scottish Sampler, 1650 is a cheerful one with comforting verse ... filled with traditional Scottish style of bold colors in blue, pink, rust, and gold. I've always been charmed by Scottish samplers mainly because they are so rich in color and make you take notice from the getgo with the luscious reds and pretty blues. I've Scottish Alexandria 1749 which I designed a few years ago and it is even stitched on pink linen! How can anyone be melancholy whilst stitching one of them? So here's the peek of Scottish Sampler, 1650 ... pattern due out soon.


Hope your Sunday has been as relaxing as mine. It began with church followed by lunch out and then an afternoon of stitching. Absolutely fantastic ... off to a bit more of it before the boys return from playing outside. See you sometime in the week. Till then ... be cosy and stitch!

new free chart, the weary needle book

Are your needles tired from late night stitching? Well, here's a needle book to rest them in! Pattern is complimentary ~ enjoy! (click to enlarge chart)

The Weary Needle Book

Copyright 2010
Free Chart by The Sampler Girl
***thier is spelled wrong!!! switch the letters to spell right: their :)

it's starting to look a lot like Halloween

Yay! Friday + a long weekend here ... I put a few more Halloween decorations around the house. The boys think everything looks spooky cool, especially the full candy bowls.

Happy week-end! Be silly & have fun.

observations, findings, discoveries ... call it what you will

::Someone took ALL the tags off my collectible little Madame Alexander dolls from McDonalds.
::My neighbor puts his car in the driveway after his wife leaves for work every morning and then puts it back on the street when she returns in the evening.
::I can never get used to the burning smell when the heat kicks on for the first time.
::Diet Coke really does save the day.
::Some things are hard to let go.
::I love to sign up for things but hate when I've signed up for things.
::Reading is the best escape.
::Poopie pull ups are getting annoying. More so.
::Flowers sitting in a vase can raise my mood from a 3 to a 6.
::I answer questions a lot.
::Some days I wish I were left handed.
::Leaves on a tree when the wind blows a certain way look like they're waving at me.
::I don't set good examples as I should. Especially at stop signs.
::Having the door open on a cool afternoon while I'm making dinner makes me feel extra domestic for some reason.
::Facebook is fantastic.
::I wish I had more time just to read magazines.
::I love to entertain but hate the clean up.
::One of my favorite things is to watch clouds move.
::Crumbs on a table urk me to no end.

::When I design something, it's finished ... but then it has to be stitched. I need a machine that stitches.

::Wish mornings could be a do-over sometimes.
::Flossing is useful I know but so boring.
::I wish I played the piano more often.
::Making lists is fun to me.
::The bed has to be made when I get out of it.
::Mice freak me out.
::I always wear an apron to cook.
::It's weird when you look in the mirror and for a few seconds, don't know who you are.
::Getting up early to go exercise actually doesn't bother me anymore.
::My oldest is getting too old ... I wish he was back in Kindergarten.
::My youngest enjoys preschool too much. I wish he was a baby again.
::There really should be a magic wand to organize floss and put it where it goes for me.
::Everyone's sneezes are so different.
::Took an IQ test recently which surprisingly was fun.

::Childhood programming gets more interesting every year. I guess at some point kids realize that animals don't talk.
::The grass is never greener, really.
::Parenthood is the best show on TV ... I get giddy when it's Tuesday night.
::Wonder where they find these people for some of the TLC reality shows? I think they are scraping the bottom now. How low can we go?
::Why is it some days you could care less and other days you are all over it?
::I'm the loudest (and most enthusiast) at Ben's baseball games but he's awesome. What can I say? Luckily he told me he doesn't mind me acting this way. Good because I can't stop.
::I'm thinking pumpkin bread would be ideal on a day like this.

Have you made any discoveries today?

boo, again

Michelle in the UK sent in her boo finish from TSG Companion Halloween Boo-Klet! More frightful fun.

o c t o b e r

Romy in Italy stitched boo from The Sampler Girl's Companion Halloween Boo~klet ... I love it, especially the embellishment of the bat! Too cool, too spooky cool.

Last night Zack asked me to show him how to draw a pumpkin. I had gotten two of those mini pumpkins at the grocery store this week for B and Z so Z asked if he could eat it and when I said no, he decided he wanted to draw a picture of it.

So, we sat side by side with our papers and he did exactly what I did. His turned out awesome. Not bad for a 3yr old!

Welcome October!