I need to just let it out....

...I'd like to think I am a bit of a "silly goose" most of the time, but another side of me has been surfacing this past summer, and it's time for me to just accept it and let it out. While Cold War Kids blared through my headphones (if you haven't heard of them...find them!), I found myself pouring buckets of tears as this little stitched number was completed.



...You see, I normally create pieces with bits of humour here and there, so creating something quite serious feels foreign to me. So much so, that although this idea has been looming in my head for quite some time now, I have never built up the courage to just "go for it". However, when those tears came rushing out the other night, I realized taking that plunge was much needed. It felt good. It felt therapeutic.

...Our eldest son is going through some difficulties.....difficulties that we have only recently been able to get an official diagnosis for. (although something we have been suspecting for quite some time) It brings not only a sense of relief for knowing that we weren't just seeing things and can now work on understanding him better, but it also raises our concerns as to what lies ahead. We worry. We get scared. We cry.

...And with that came this sewn journal page. The first of many that I need to make, because I need to just let it out.

Happy Anniversary......

...has it really been eleven years since I twirled my pogo-stick body into the wee hours of the night? (pogo-stick meaning any lack of flexibility whatsoever to perform the simplest of dance moves.....I prefer to look at it as a rare talent)

...It's hard to believe that seventeen years ago I was sitting in a coffee house in Madison, WI waiting for him to meet me for our first date. I was quite the nervous soul as I waited for him to arrive, with my legs (adorned with tartan socks and brown penny loafers) anxiously twitching about, petrified about what to say when he'd walk in. I was "prepared" to impress, and let it be known that I type this with a smirk on my face, as I replaced the pennies in my penny loafers with dollar bills in a pathetic attempt to dress on the "wild" side. (I was preppy beyond belief, and he was a skateboarder, so naturally there were some insecurities on my part.....)

...I'll spare you all the awkward introductions and jump straight to the "juicy bits". After a few moments together, I completely panicked and excused myself to the back of the shop. A collect call was made, and seconds later my sister and mum were on the other line. A quick plea to my sister was given to retrieve her journal and bring it back to the phone. As I spilled out my new discoveries, she sifted through her journal and found the information that confirmed my need to call her in this frantic mode. Confused?

..Jump back a year. My sister was living in France for the summer, and when doing so, lived with a woman who could "see" things. Long before this first date, this woman professed that I was to marry someone 5 years older, Irish, wore really baggy clothes, wanted to be a professor, and tilted his hat back when focused.

..And now? Well, it turns out I was sitting across from someone who was 5 years my senior, studying to become a professor, wore insanely baggy pants (which I never quite "got"...but then again, how could I when I considered hanging my necklace over my turtleneck "hip" ?), and had a father who came to America from Ireland. And if that wasn't convincing enough, after a few weeks of dating and going to the coffee shop together to study, I knew not to disturb him when he would tilt his hat backwards to work.



(note: With generations of the British "no chin" on my side of the family, it was nice to know that our kids would have a chance to break free with a chin like his. When taking this picture, I had my mother's voice in my head shouting; "don't forget to stick that chin out"...a saying that has "saved" many a picture)


...So here we are today, eleven years later with two cheeky little monkeys to add to the mix.
He may not wear the baggy pants anymore, nor I the mighty penny loafers, but we are still just
as crazy about each other as we were back then. (and yes. they did inherit the chin. thank goodness for that....)

...Happy Anniversary!!

of course I would do this now because........

...of course I would do this when I really shouldn't be doing this at all. but I did.

..let's see. Book about to come out? yes. No time to work due to a couple of very busy little monkeys bouncing about the house all summer? oh yes. Panicking because deadlines are suddenly knocking at my door and I have so much yet to accomplish? check. Guests coming over the next day for dinner and I still have to make the house "look" like it always looks that way and figure out what to make? yep. Feeling like the sudden need to repaint the living room for the fourth time far outweighs any of the former statements? yes. yes. yes.

....and I did it. (with raised eyebrow stares and head shakes from the husband included)
Besides, I had to do something to welcome my new print from Inaluxe....


...oh, and of course I really must change those frames on my lovely prints from Le Train Fantome. I'm thinking antique gold? Come to think about it, the pillows don't quite work now, and the ottoman needs recovering, and............

portraits are a comin'!

....my favourite set of faces are ready for a little launch at the shop tonight! As much as I wanted to wait until the fabric actually arrived before putting up a post, I realized that a pre-launch was in order this time around. (and yes. I have ironed out all of the quirks that came along with my first pre-launch event.....it can be such a learning process, right?) I have had many e-mails requesting this design, and in order to make enough available, I am going to list the pattern tonight and subsequently place the order by the end of the week.

...I already have plans to take my own stash and recover a little worn footstool (after a summer of boys running in and out the house in bare feet, my little stool is in desperate need of some attention....oh how much I am longing for socks and slippers again....)

what a nice way to wake up...

...what a lovely way to wake up this morning, as I was greeted with the most wonderful (and very comfortable looking) little treat.


...Fallon from the wonderful shop Olive has made the most glorious pillow out of my milkman fabric. Didn't she do such a beautiful job? It is the first time I have seem something made using my fabric, and I must admit, I am now hooked. So please......I would love to see what else has been created with mummysam fabric, and thus encourage all of you to send me some photos!

...you can find Olive's delicious pillow in her shop....and oh, how tempted I am to snatch it for myself ...

some bigger jar for the kitchen, perhaps?

(scale shown here, thanks to the assistance of my seven year old....)

...Many of you have e-mailed me about adding a larger option of jar fabric to the shop.
Well, I can happily say that this larger version is now in and ready to go to some good homes!
(My portion has already left with a friend to get transformed into an apron for the kitchen....which, by the way, I already have six of. I think it's becoming a bit of an "obsession"? )

late night sketching....

...a rough little sketch I am playing around with as the kids snore themselves deeper into bliss...

...a quilt perhaps? a textile pattern? I shall have to see what I think in the morning, as this little brain of mine has turned into a late night mush.

...night night...

it's time for a book tease....

...I have come out of summer hiding to introduce a little "book tease" for all of you to enjoy....



...a book "tease" that was an absolute must after I lost my voice screaming with excitement when my little advanced copy showed up at the door....


...a little "tease" that gives you a better taste of what I had worked so hard and so long to pull together this past year and a half. (has it been that long already?)
Not only are there a bunch of my favourite pieces ready for all of you to make at home,
but also a variety of hand-drawn options to help make them your very own.....


(I particularly like these options for doors.....)

Everyone at Stash Books has been an absolute dream to work with, and I could not imagine my experience being any better than the one I had. Pop over and pay them a visit, and while you're at it, please read my acquisition editor's extremely "cheek blush provoking" introduction!

...look for my book this September!

....it's called kids....

...it's called kids.
...it's called summer vacation.
...it's called very few moments of mum time to really get anything going.

..so please.
..please excuse my ever so absent postings as I focus this time on enjoying (for the most part...I am being realistic....) the freedom of hanging out with my boys.
..please know that come September I will be back in full force and ready to go.

...and in the meantime...
...in the meantime allow me to share some beginning rough sketches of some upcoming fabric designs. I am thinking a no-sew alphabet quilt design is in order?

..so there you have it.
..so now you know. I'll see you soon.......