Chat

Ok, so raise your hand if you’re an Ina Garten fan.  Anyone?  I’m a big Ina fan — I don’t think I’ve ever made one of her recipes that I didn’t like.  And over the years, I’ve collected all of her books except the last one, Barefoot Contessa How Easy Is That?  As much as I love her books though, I can’t ever remember which book contains the specific recipe I’m looking for, and it drives me crazy.  So, when I just have to make her Blueberry Coffee Cake, for example, I have to drag all the books out and check the indexes.  The recipe I want is almost always in the last book I check.  Murphy’s Law.

About a year ago, I started thinking that I needed a master index.  Ina has an index but the reviews weren’t the greatest.  There’s this funny poster on Pinterest that says “Pinterest  – when your husband is watching something dumb.”  We have a lot of dumb tv around here and I discovered that it’s also good for making an index to Ina’s cookbooks.  I worked at it slowly over time, and it’s finally done.  Finally, no more searching – Yipee!  Just in case you’re an Ina fan too, you can download a copy of the index HERE.  I’m not a professional indexer ( ;-) ) so, keep that in mind.  It’s not perfect — I didn’t index everything the way Ina does and I added some of my own links.  I’m sure there are typos and remember that the recipes in How Easy Is That? aren’t included.

In other news, I managed to get a little garden planted in the new space created by the retaining wall that I built last fall.  The next day, as if to laugh at me, the local chippies convened a convention on the edge of the wall.  I’m pretty sure they’re plotting what to eat first when the seeds come up.  I’m thinking that the chippies are going to be moved to luxury condos when I return from quilt market.

Speaking of market, I leave in just a few days, so I’m going to take a break for a few weeks.  Hopefully, when I return there will be lots of fun market news.  If you’re going to market, please stop by and say hi — I’ll be in the Don’t Look Now booth with Kellie.

Have a wonderful Mother’s Day Weekend!

XOXO,
Anna

Can you believe it?  It’s May already (not that I’m telling you anything that you don’t already know).

For May Day I made a little quilted bag for MeMum.  Just a little something to hang some pretty flowers from her doorknob this morning.

It’s hard to see from the picture, but there are grommets in the sides so that I could tie the ribbon to the bag.

And what better flower for May? Lilacs are a favorite of ours — I’ve often wondered if it’s because the name contains the name of MeMum’s mother — Lila. So pretty!  (And they smell soooo good!)

Anyway, that’s not the only reason I made this little bag. If you remember correctly, it’s May. And I’m Miss May in the Aurifil Block of the Month. I’ve created the little Maypole embroidery for the May block and I wanted to work it up in a different colorway just for fun. Here’s my block in the fabric and Aurifil colors that were provided to us for the Aurifil quilt.

You can read more about my block and get the pattern on the Aurifil blog.  (If the post isn’t up yet, it will be soon).   And don’t forget, if you’re making the Aurifil blocks, you can post your block (and see lots of other pretty blocks) on the Aurifil Flickr page.

And Scruff would like to say Thanks for your visit — but he’s busy trying to get a whiff of those flowers.  Have a good week!

XOXO,
Anna

A month or two ago, my long-time blog friend Jody posted some cute Cath Kidston shoes on Pinterest.  “Ooooh, those are cute” I thought to myself.  And then I clicked through to the Cath Kidston site thinking it might be fun to have a little look around.  Oh. So. Naughty.  For I had a weak moment and clicked all the way through to the shopping cart and ended up with these little tennies.  (Not the same ones that Jody originally pinned, but I felt the darker color would be safer for picking up dirt.)

They’re terribly comfy, but now I have a dilemma.  Nothing to go with them.  I plan on wearing them with jeans, but clearly, I’ll need a top that coordinates.  I thought a little check or gingham might look cute, so I went to my stash to try a few things out.  I do love the red gingham.

But the pink is cute too.

Or maybe my aqua gingham?

The aqua gingham is from my Children at Play stash and I discovered that most of my “children” fabrics would possibly work too.  The meadow….

Or dots.  I have several dots.  Red…

Aqua….

Or pink on pink.

I even like the pink in the hopscotch print with the pink in the roses.

Decisions, decisions.  It’s going to be a VERY tough choice — but a good problem to have, don’t you think?

In other news, it’s a fun weekend here in ThimbleannaLand.  Yesterday was MyDadLovesMeBestSister’s birthday.  (Happy Birthday Weinerhead!)  She’s 29.  Again.  We had a little get-together for her last night (not quite as exciting as this birthday) — look at the beautiful Italian Cream Cake that MeMum made for a surprise!

Yum Yum Yummy!  And, to add to the excitement, TheFirstChild has surprised us with a weekend visit.  So…I’m outta here!  Have a great weekend!

XOXO,
Anna

Wow — can you believe it? How can it be the first day of spring already? Or, in our case, we seem to have just skipped spring altogether and jumped into summer. Our weather has been unbelievable this week. Our trees are even leafing out. Here’s our pretty little crabapple tree in the backyard.  We didn’t even have enough of a winter this year to freeze the little crabapples off of the limbs.

The trees are leafing out SO early this year. Last year, we didn’t really see leaves until MyDadLovesMeBestSister’s birthday and if you’ve been a longtime reader, you know that’s at the end of April. The good news is that I’ll be able to enjoy the beautiful crabapple blossoms this year — last year they popped out while I was at Spring Market, so I missed them. The bad news is that mowing season will be starting earlier. I’m soooo not ready for that weekly grind. ;-).

The first day of spring is a big deal here in ThimbleannaLand ’cause it’s also TheSecondChild’s birthday. Happy Birthday BigBoy!!! I made a quick little birthday trip to see him over the weekend. We had a nice dinner, cleaned the bachelor pad a bit and did some birthday shopping. On St. Patricks Day, we enjoyed a St. Patrick’s Day bagel for brunch. Love that green!

Then, on the way back home I stopped in for a quick visit with TheFirstChild and SweetiePie. More shopping and fun. I LOVE visiting my kids and I miss them terribly. I try not to think about it most of the time, or … well, I don’t know what, but it’s not happy.

Anyway, back to the routine. Now that the applique quilt is done, I’ve been trying to decide on which UFO to tackle next. Plus, I’d like to start a new project just to mix things up a bit, but I’ve been a little overwhelmed by all the inspiration out there. Analysis Paralysis.  In the meantime, I’ve dragged the old bow-tie quilt back out. Maybe I’ll actually get it finished in this round of quilting. Only 3 more bow ties to go and then the borders. It really shouldn’t take THAT long — just need to buckle down and do it.

Can you tell that Bow Tie quilt is from the same decade as the applique quilt? What was your first clue? The wine and forest green LOL???

Ok. Off to quilt. Have a great week!
XOXO,
Anna