Chat – Page 3 – 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

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

Happy Thanksgiving

14 Comments / November 23, 2017 November 23, 2017 / Chat

It’s Pie Day! Or the day after Pie Day (when I make the pies), but the day we get to EAT Pies!!!

We’re in that funny time of the year when there’s not much to blog about because the days are filled with running errands and working on secret projects that can’t be shown. Except for pies. I can show you my pies LOL.

Luckily, I don’t have to host Thanksgiving Dinner this year — MyDadLovesMeBestSister is doing all the work. Except for the pies and dinner rolls. We’re having our usual fare — Pecan, Apple and Pumpkin pies.

Yum Yum — I do love a good Thanksgiving Dinner. The best part is getting together with family and playing games. We have a fun new one this year — Cover Your Assets, and of course, the crowd favorite, and very rude, Crimes Against Humanity. (Those are not affilitated links, btw.)

I hope all of you in the US have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

XOXO,
Anna
(P.S. The beach scene blog header has finally been replaced ;-D)

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

Emma & Myrtle

14 Comments / September 20, 2017 September 20, 2017 / Chat, Sewing

Brace Yourselves Kids — I actually have a finish from my sewing room! A month or two ago that cute little CrazyMom sent me some fat quarters from her new fabric line, Emma and Myrtle for Connecting Threads. Soooo Sweet — and I LOVE the name! I’d been wanting a little travel sewing kit for a long time, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to make one.

I looked at lots of different sewing kits on Pinterest and then I just made it up as I went along. I decided on a tri-fold style (the size when it’s closed up is about 6″ x 9″) and wanted to do a little applique on the front. When I saw CrazyMom’s cute spool print, I thought it would be cute to use for flower centers.

When the cover is opened, there was another surface to decorate — I took the lazy way out and added a little sewing badge, some hand stitching and called that surface done. When opened fully, there were lots of choices to be made!

I knew I wanted one see-through pouch and I’d planned to put pockets for pencils and needles on the right-hand side, but then I started to think about things falling out of the pockets. So, I opted for another see-through pouch for security. Then, finally the middle. I knew I needed a pin-cushion and a place to store scissors. And something for needles. I had this adorable beehive needle keep sent to me by a sweet friend, so I tucked it into a vinyl pocket and added a crochet edge. And, just in case the scissors wanted to fall out of the pocket, I decided to make a flap to cover everything.

As a bonus, it provided a surface that could be appliqued ;-D. I followed the needle-keep’s lead and went with the beehive theme and added some bees. They really do have little white felt wings, they’re just hard to see.

My sewing kit has already been pressed into service and I’m looking forward to many years of use. Unless I decide to make another one. Haha.

XOXO,
Anna