Chat – Page 25 – Thimbleanna

Tidbits

29 Comments / April 26, 2011 April 26, 2011 / Chat

I hope you had a wonderful weekend! We had a nice, quiet Easter dinner with the family, minus the boys and SweetiePie who couldn’t make it home. Boohoo. MyDadLovesMeBestSister outdid herself again as hostess and everything was wonderful. MeMum made a delicious ham and a corn casserole. MDLMBS made scalloped potatoes, carrot puff, broccoli salad, fruit salad and a carrot salad. Yum, Yum.

I made dinner rolls (which I love, but here’s a tip — don’t try to transport them just before they’re set to go into the oven — they’ll fall!) and Ms. Humble’s Lemon Marscapone Cream Cake. The cake was super fun to make — time consuming, but not nearly as intimidating as it sounds and it was pretty tasty. It’s definitely a European style cake though — not a fluffy American style cake. I would make it again, but, TheManoftheHouse is an American style cake guy, so I don’t think he was as excited about it as moi.

As I mentioned in my last post, I’m getting really excited about market. A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon the Sarah Jane Studios blog and she mentioned that she has a new line of fabric that will debut at market. Her illustrations are just gorgeous, so I’m super excited to see the fabric. If it’s anything like her art, I’m thinking it will be The Pips on steroids!!!

And one last thing, you’re familiar with Despair.com, aren’t you? Here in ThimbleannaLand, we’ve loved their funny posters for years (probably 15?) — the procrastination poster is our all-time family favorite. Anyway, here’s a knockoff poster for all of my friends who have recently suffered with the Verizon (or whatever they’re calling themselves now) shenanigans (Warning: If bad words offend you, Look Away!)

Ok boys and girls — off to bed!

XOXO,
Anna

Edited to add: Oops! I should note that the Verizon complaints were from home Verizon users who had their rates raised unexpectedly. We have Verizon Wireless and love them!

Five on Friday

37 Comments / April 22, 2011 April 22, 2011 / Chat

One.

Poor, Poor Blog. She’s been so neglected. It’s been all play and goofing off around here this week, so there hasn’t been much to write about. Last year, my good buddy Jewels told me that her kitchen re-do took all summer. I just laughed and thought no way. Boy, was I out to lunch. It’s going to take me that long just to make the decisions. Our kitchen work started today and now we have a hole in the ceiling. Our range was never vented to the outside, and since we were going to change a few things, we thought we might as well do the venting. If everything goes this well, it’s going to be a great experience. The workmen were awesome. They ran a vent through the kitchen ceiling, floor joists, the linen closet on the second floor, the attic, and the roof. All in just 4 short hours. I’m pretty darn sure, nothing else will happen that quickly!

Two.

During the few evenings that I was home this week, I got a good start on my UFO applique borders. Sadly, I thought all of the pieces were already prepped, but, I was about 70 leaves short.

Three.

Quilt market is almost here and I’m so excited I can’t stand it. I can’t wait to see the Gulls again and show them some of the fantastic things that Utah has to offer! I’m thinking I might cancel the hotel reservations and we’ll camp out in the mountains, coming down just for market. That’ll show us what they’re made of, won’t it? Haha — not really, but wouldn’t that be fun! Besides, what’s a little mountain lion or bear when you’re used to deadly snakes and alligators? Anyway, I leave just two weeks from today so that I can spend a day or two with family before market week — Yipee!

Four.

Our local Borders is closing — Boo. I was in there the other day and managed to pick up Where Women Cook at half price. I’ve always been interested in the Where Women Do Anything magazines, but this is as close as I’ll get to owning one. They’re nice magazines, but at fifteen bucks, they’re just too frippin’ salty for me.

Five.

It’s been raining all week here. Here’s proof — I snuck a picture of these hard-core golfers. You can’t really tell, but it was raining pretty hard.

Ok. Wait. I’m sneaking in Six for Friday since it’s almost Easter. Via Pinterest (I’m officially addicted) I saw pictures of Peep S’mores. A Must Try. I think when we have our family Easter Dinner on Sunday, I’ll pin all those skinny people in MyDadLovesMeBestSister’s family to the floor and force them to have a Peep S’more. Put a little fat on their bones.

Ok, that’s it — I hope you have a wonderful weekend. And since I probably won’t make it back here by Sunday, have a Very Happy Easter — May you find all of your eggs!

XOXO,
Anna

Drowning

45 Comments / March 30, 2011 March 30, 2011 / Chat

Arrrrgh! Sorry I’ve been gone for a few extra days there. There’s just so much going on around here, I’m having trouble keeping my head above water. I’m way overdue on choosing the winner of The Quilter’s Bible Book, although that hasn’t seemed to disturb many of you. Apparently you’re all busy too!

So, The Random ManofTheHouse Generator came up with Becky as our big winner. Becky mentioned in her comment that she’s fairly new to quilting and this book is perfect for a beginner, so I’m really happy that she’s won. Congratulations Becky!

Not a stitch of sewing going on around here. Lots of appointments for cabinets, floors, appliances, drainage people (that’s for outside, not the kitchen!) etc. It’s hard to keep it all straight. We’re slowly making some headway though.

Appliances have been ordered and cabinet changes worked out. Still need to choose flooring and the countertop decision is probably going to kill me. I just can’t seem to figure it out. There are too many choices and they all have their pros and cons. I think the best thing to do is put them all up on a wall and throw a dart.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to sew or crochet or do some little thing with a needle this weekend — I can tell I’m having needle withdrawal and I’m getting cranky. As you can see, I’ve been reduced to playing with LegoMan. I guess if you’re going to drown, doing it in buttons is a pretty good way to go!

XOXO,
Anna

Better Late Than Never

61 Comments / March 25, 2011 March 25, 2011 / Chat, Recipes

Well, how did the week go? It was a stressful one in ThimbleannaLand. Big layoffs at work yesterday and it was very sad to see some of my friends lose their jobs. Especially in this economic climate where it will be hard to find a new one.

So, it’s in that frame of mind that I’ve read several posts on several different blogs about the “Dumbing Down of Quilting”. I’m too lazy to look up the links, but I’ll bet a google search will get you there. I think both sides of the argument have valid points. I get that a lot of what we see on blogs seems simple and without challenge. I even roll my eyes when I see another “pattern” pop up for a square-in-a-square quilt. And I get really frustrated when something appears with the idea that it’s a new concept. There’s really very little that’s new in quilting. Our grandmothers nailed most of the geometric shapes out there, a long time ago. (Although part of the original complaint may have included “art” quilts, that’s not what I’m talking about here.)

On the other hand, someone, somewhere made the statement that we need to push ourselves and do something more challenging. If we’ve made tons of quilts with half-square triangles, we need to move on to applique, or something like that. Really? Do I NEED to do that? I love a good challenge….I like to make different quilts….but is it required that I do that? If I’m perfectly happy to just make big ol’ one-patch quilts for the next three years then shouldn’t that be ok? (The simple quilts are still some of my very favorites.) I’ve been sewing a long time — I’m pretty sure I have the skills to make most of the more “challenging” quilts. So, I hope if I make an “easy” quilt that it will be ok. Or if I make a quilt with a fat quarter stack, that that’s acceptable. It’s not that I don’ t enjoy picking my own fabrics. I LOVE scrappy quilts and almost all of my quilts have been scrappy. I do understand that using precuts seems lazy and dumbed down — I’ve even complained about it before. But sometimes, a collection comes along that I love so much, I just want to have fun playing with that collection and only that collection (re: Bliss. And if I could come up with something, The. Pips.)

Well, that’s my two cents worth. I could ramble on, but in the big picture, I think we’re all just taking ourselves a bit too seriously. Quilting should be whatever you want it to be, but most of all FUN. If you can sell a pattern for something that I can draw up with a little graph paper, then more power to you. I might roll my eyes, but you go girl LOL!

Ok, at the risk of dumbing down our cooking, I have my late entry for Randi’s Recipe Box Swap. I love a challenge in the kitchen, but after a long day at work, I want something simple. My good buddy Gurney (who is a fabulous cook — I’m so lucky that all my quilty peeps are awesome in the kitchen) gave me this recipe years ago and it’s become a family favorite. It’s unbelievably easy and in about 30 minutes(during which time, you can be watching tv or whatever), you can have a delicious dinner. (Btw, Randi requested main dishes, but this recipe is the whole dish — main and sides. Also, Disclaimer #1: This recipe calls for frozen green beans and I didn’t have any, so I didn’t add them to this recipe. We still ate green beans, but they were canned. So….this is a case of “do as I say, not as I do!” ;-) )

Skillet Pork Chops and Rice

4 to 6 lean pork chops
1 – 6 oz. package Uncle Ben’s Long Grain and Wild Rice mix
9 oz. frozen, cut green beans

In large skillet, over medium high heat, brown pork chops on both sides; remove and set aside. In same skillet, combine rice mix ingredients and water according to package directions; bring to boil.
Place pork chops on rice mixture.

(Disclaimer #2: Your pork chops sitting in the wild rice mixture won’t look exactly like this — I inadvertently added too much water. Not to worry though, I siphoned the excess off, and as you can see in the first picture, it all turned out just fine.)

Reduce heat; simmer covered 20 to 25 minutes or until pork chops are tender. Arrange green beans around edge of skillet. Cover; simmer an additional 7 to 10 minutes until water is absorbed and beans are crisp tender.

Thanks for a great recipe Gurney!

Have a good weekend …
XOXO,
Anna

Happy Birthday Billy Collins!

19 Comments / March 22, 2011 March 22, 2011 / Chat, Holidays

Well . . . I had perfectly good intentions of posting a recipe for Randi’s Recipe Box Swap tonight, but this morning, The Writer’s Almanac arrived in my inbox and promptly announced that today is Billy Collin’s birthday. If you’ve been around here for awhile, you know what a huge Billy Collins fan I am, so, being that this is practically a national holiday and all, I just couldn’t let the day pass without a big Billy Collins Happy Birthday Wish. And I certainly couldn’t ask Dear Billy to share billing with my paltry pork chops, now could I?

No. that would NEVER do. So, the pork chops will have to wait a day or two, while we pause a moment or two to revel in all the beauty that is Billy Collins.

I’ve written about Billy Collins before, HERE and HERE. He’s written so many poems that I love that it’s hard to mention only a few. (My top two are noted on the previous posts). If you really want to reward yourself after a long, hard day, spend a few moments with a book of Billy Collins poetry. Preferably in a nice, hot, bubbly bath.

The Writer’s Almanac for today tells a bit about Billy Collin’s background. Here’s my favorite part: “He was an only child. Before he even knew how to read he would page through books and pretend that he was reading whenever his parents had company. He said, “I would say it was a fairly happy childhood. But they say he who says that is just better at repressing things.”” He has such a wonderful sense of humor, which is certainly why I love his poetry.

The Writer’s Almanac also included his poem Forgetfulness, which you can listen to him read here:

If you happen to live in or near Long Beach, you’re a lucky duck. The Carpenter Center will be hosting an evening with Billy Collins on May 21st, 2011. The cost is a meager $35 and based on past experience, it will be worth every. single. penny!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILLY COLLINS!!! May we never forget your name!
XOXO,
Anna

P.S. If you’re interested in The Quilter’s Bible, don’t forget to sign up for the drawing HERE. I also forgot to mention that the book was originally published in the U.K., so, if you’re in the U.K., even though you’re not eligible for this drawing, you should easily be able to find the book.