Store – Thimbleanna

Remember When …

17 Comments / May 5, 2019 May 5, 2019 / Around the House, Chat, Family, Liberty Love, Store

It’s been a long (yet somehow speedy) and busy spring, so I thought I’d just check in and dust off ye ol’ blog …

Remember When I posted here about our little newlyweds just starting med school? Unbelieveably, that was ELEVEN years ago. FINALLY, all that hard work has come to an end and it’s time to start their real life without school. We’re very happy and excited that they’ve accepted a job here and will move back home this summer. Yay for living close to the babies!!! SweetiePie sent this cute picture a few weeks ago. The babies are growing quickly. I’ll let you think on this picture until the end of this post too LOL.

Remember When I went to Shetland last summer? And I promised to write all about my trip? I finally did just that and posted about it here in the travel section of my little blog.

Remember When I posted here about the squirrels using my patio chairs for nest materials? Well, I replaced those chair pads a few years ago, but last fall was so busy I totally forgot to bring my chairs in for the winter. Maybe I’ll learn my lesson {sigh}. (Oh, and they’ve stepped up their destruction level — they’re now gnawing on the metal parts of the table and chairs — you can see it along the edges of the chair handle.)

Remember When I used to actually quilt and sew around here? There is still a little of that going on these days. I do occasionally drag my Trip Around the World UFO out to work on it. I think I’m on round 38 or so and I think I decided I need about 44 rounds. Only 5 or 6 more rounds to go! Sadly, each round is taking me about 15 hours to complete, so there’s still a LOT of work left. Not to mention ironing all those seams — not looking forward to that part.

Remember When I had an etsy store and used to tell you when new fabrics arrived? Well, I still have that little shop and new fabrics arrive alllll the time, I just can’t seem to find the time to post about them. Here are the latest arrivals in the Liberty department. I LOVE the classic prints. That 4th-down-from-the-top print makes me all twitterpated.

Thanks for sticking it out to the end. Now … did you have a think on that first picture??? And get the message??? We’re beside ourselves with excitement that FinallyAnotherGirl is going to be a Big Sister late this fall (let the blog naming begin LOL). And if you’re counting, that means those two little babies will only be 14 months apart. Good thing the kids are moving back home — they’re going to be BUSY!!!
Have a great week!
XOXO,
Anna

Sheepies

13 Comments / January 14, 2019 January 14, 2019 / Knitting, Store

Well Hello — is your new year off to a ripping start? It’s busy, yet slow here. I guess that’s another way of saying that it’s busy, but nothing much going on to write home about. It’s all good though — we have snow on the ground and a working furnace, so we’re happy campers!

Last summer, during my trip to Shetland, I was working on a little sweater for FinallyAGirl. I finished it shortly after I returned from our trip, but couldn’t post it because I was saving it for a Christmas present.

The patter is Sheepish by Alana Dakos of Never Not Knitting. The yarn is a variegated gray yarn by Swans Island with some scraps of a darker gray for trim and some cute fuzzy mohair yarn for the sheepies. (I used this same yarn on the little pink sleep sac that I made for FinallyAnotherGirl in the fall — warning! — the yarn says it’s washable, but it WILL shrink. ;-8 ) This was a super fun knit and it worked up pretty quickly. I made the 2 year old size (the largest size on the pattern) and it fits our little cherub just perfectly right now. She’s 2 1/2 and, although the pattern calls for size 6 needles, I went up one size to a size 7 and it worked perfectly.

Many thanks for Ms. CityHomeCountryHome for helping me find those adorable little sheepie buttons. I think they’re just perfect for this little sweater!

In other news, Tilda’s BEAUTIFUL new Apple Butter collection of fabrics have arrived in my little Etsy shop. I LOVE this sweet collection! Tilda kind of went off on a little tangent of more modern designs for the last few years, but with her last collection and now Apple Butter, she’s returning to her sweet floral roots. These little retro-chic flowers are just SO adorable!

Ok — must run and cut some fabric. Happy Monday — I hope you have a fun, productive week!
XOXO,
Anna

Randomly in February

14 Comments / February 3, 2018 February 3, 2018 / Around the House, Chat, Store

Happy Eat Ice Cream For Breakfast Day!!! Really. It’s a thing. And definitely a thing on a COLD winter day in February. Sprinkles are mandatory in the middle of winter ;-P.
It’s FREEZING out there. But that didn’t stop us from having our patio doors replaced yesterday. I had no idea anyone would want to replace windows/doors in the middle of winter. When we planned this in the fall, the installers were backed up into January. I thought we might have to wait until spring, but they said no, they work all winter. It was 15 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday while they were working. Poor Guys! Here’s an in-progress shot (don’t I have a lovely crop of frozen plants?)

And here are the windows all finished. Those old doors were so hard to open, lock and unlock. And the seals were broken on several of them, so they would fog up between the layers of glass. I’m so excited for spring so we can really use these new doors!
My winter sprinkle kick started a week ago when I made some cupcakes. Then I threw some thimbles in there and made a new blog header — because the Christmas header really needed to go. It seems pretty obvious that after 11 years of blogging, I’m running out of header ideas LOL.
There has been knitting and sewing going on around here, just nothing finished to show yet. I’ve been steadily working on quilt blocks for the The Happy Flower Quilt and I’ve been working on a little sweater that I’m now blocking. The instructions said to sew the shoulders together, but I really didn’t like the way mine looked. So, I undid the shoulder bind-offs and kitchener stitched them together. I’m a little worried that it’s going to look funny without a shoulder seam — I guess we’ll see when I get it all sewn together.
And finally, lots of pretty, pretty fabric has been arriving in my little Thimbleanna Etsy shop!

Happy February! I’m off to clean a little — this place is a disaster!
XOXO,
Anna

November. {Sigh}

16 Comments / November 1, 2017 November 1, 2017 / Chat, Store

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. It’s November already. Can you believe it??? I’m still firmly planted in July, so, I’m in denial. I have a few projects that I want to make for the looming holiday, so I should probably get in gear. It’s hard though — I feel like I need to spend more time outside and enjoy the last little tidbits of fall. I’m sure I’ll get my chance shortly — the leaves are finally starting to come down and leaf blowing is a big job around here. I’m really looking forward to it this year though — I guess because I’m inside most of the time, between work and hanging out with MeMum.

In the meantime, did you have a good Halloween? Ours was very uneventful — sadly, I didn’t even get any decorations out. SweetiePie provided us with some entertainment though. From all accounts, they’ve had a beautiful fall this year in Utah. Here’s our little cherub being attacked by a hoard of pumpkins LOL!

I mailed her a little Halloween package with a pumpkin smocked dress that I made a few weeks ago. I loved seeing her wearing the dress — SweetiePie is so good to send us lots of pictures. And here’s FinallyAGirl in one of her several Halloween costumes — perfect for my love of sheepies, don’t you think? This is definitely my favorite-ever sheepie picture LOL.

I don’t really have much else, but here are a few tidbits:

You probably know I love most things Ina Garten does. Have you seen her little list of Magic Tricks? And did you know Ina hates cilantro? I’m so disappointed — I LOVE it!
It’s too late for this year, but this quilt is a serious contender for next year — I love everything about it and I think it would be fun to make.
Have you seen Julie’s latest pattern? Oh. My. Oink. Gosh. It’s just Tooooo Cute!

And last but not least, there are lots of new fabrics in my etsy shop. This picture shows just a few of them. The section of what I call “basics” is growing too — there are several Dear Stella Little Heart prints, Riley Blake Ginghams, and Cori Dantini’s little seed prints will be in the next few weeks.

Also, Tilda’s new Cottage Collection is here. Fat quarter packs are listed, there’s only 1 stocking kit left, and a few of the prints should be available in yardage in the next few weeks.

So, that’s it from here. Off to pack a few orders and hop in bed….

XOXO,
Anna

Whoosh!

24 Comments / April 9, 2017 April 9, 2017 / Family, Store

That’s the sound the last few weeks made as they flew by. Holy Cow, it’s been crazy here and I’m looking forward to Easter just to catch my breath!

Last weekend, we had a flyby driving trip to Dallas and then back a longer way through Oklahoma — I should maybe back up a little. A few months ago, TheSecondChild moved back home while he looked for a new job. That was around the time that MeMum had been sick with pneumonia, so when she got out of the hospital, we moved her in with us too. We have plenty of room for both of them, but their “buddies” made it a little extra interesting. MeMum brought her cat Sally (she’s made appearances on the blog before) and TheSecondChild brought his two cats with him. For those of you keeping count, that’s five cats (and according to Anne five too many LOL). That’s too many cats to referee!

Fast forward a few months and a lot of poop-scooping, and TheSecondChild found a great job back in his favorite town of Dallas, so we packed him and his kitties up and took a roadtrip. One 15-hour drive day, one unload the truck and drive to Oklahoma day, one quick visit with family and 5-hr drive with a fly-by to The Mercantile, and one 9-hr drive day back home. Whew! Before we left, we tried to get a Five Cat Family picture, but it was impossible. We were throwing treats here and there to get them all in one shot, but it was a no-go. Poor little Sally hates all the other cats, so she wouldn’t play at all. The other four aren’t all that crazy about each other either, so they weren’t exactly co-operating.

Here’s a shot with Scruff and two black cats.

And here are three black cats. They must have some rule that 4 cats couldn’t all be in the same picture at once.

Scruff was feeling very outnumbered — four all black cats and his little ol’ gray and white self LOL. Anyway, the trip was quick but a success — TheSecondChild now has his first week at the new job under his belt and it looks like it will be a success.

THEN, three days after we got back, our little cherub FinallyAGirl brought her parents for a 4-day visit. We had a great time — what a little doll! She wore us out though — she doesn’t sleep much and she goes a mile a minute. We had several days of pretty weather and we took her for her first wagon ride (in her daddy’s wagon ;-D) — she LOVED it!

I made her the little Pixie hat — the pattern is The Jovie Pixie Baby Bonnet. I made the largest size (and sized up the crochet hook by 2 sizes) and I won’t even tell you how many times it took me to get the right size — but it was lots of crocheting and ripping out and it may or may not have been more than three times! ;-D

And finally, in the middle of it all, lots of new fabric arrived in my little etsy shop. Lots of Atsuko Matsuyama prints from both Yuwa and Lecein …

and this super cute little kitty and macaron print from the Yuwa Live Life collection.

Ok, I’m tired and off to bed! I’m hoping to get caught up on blog reading this week — have a good one!
XOXO,
Anna