Chat

Ooops!  I didn’t mean to be away from here for so long.  There’s just not much exciting going on this week, so I haven’t had much to tell.  I spent most of last weekend painting kitchen cupboards at MeMum and BigDaddy’s in the kickoff session of the big kitchen re-do of 2010.  They have pretty new countertops and the cupboards are still in pretty good shape, so they decided to paint them.  One section of cupboards are now painted — three more to go.  Now we just need more free weekends!

The highlight of my week has been receiving this fabulous package from Chookyblue!  I participated in her trip around the world several months ago and she sent me all of these gorgeous notecards as a thank you.  I was astounded when I opened the envelope — I expected one or two notecards — that Chooky sure knows how to pack an envelope.  All the notecards feature Donna’s beautiful photography and I just love them!  Look at that cool old metal wheel (sorry, it’s upside down) — and all the gorgeous flowers.  Thank you so much Donna — now I can write notes in style!

Oh hey — wanna see what I bought at sample spree?  Here’s a peek — Anna Griffin’s new line  (CrazyMom is doing her new quilt-a-long from this fabric and I’m totally blaming her for this little indiscretion), Oliver & S’s new line, Happy by Me and My Sister, and Lily and Will by Bunny Hill in pink.

I kind of went just a little bit crazy at sample spree.  I think I’ve only ever bought 2 “kits” in all my years of quilting (which are still sitting in the dungeon), so I’m not sure what I was thinking.  And full disclosure — this isn’t everything (I’m just too embarrassed to show you).  I may or may not have purchase the green and blue colorways of Lily and Will.  And quite possibly the new Flower Sugar line from Lecien.  And there might have been something else in my bag, but I’m suffering from amnesia.  Just in case you-know-who is reading.

For my money though, it was a great deal.  How could I pass up beautiful satin ribbon with my name on it?  Those Windham people — they’re so thoughtful!

I hope you have a good weekend planned.  There WILL be quilting here in ThimbleannaLand – otherwise I might burst!

XOXO,
Anna

It’s been gift central around here this week and I’ve been very, very lucky!  First up was a wonderful package from SweetiePie.  I couldn’t figure out why she would be sending me a little surprise.  I mean, a BIG surprise — just look at the fabulousness:

A super cute cupcake decorating kit with cupcake cups and little birdy picks.  Aren’t they sweeeeet?  And LOOK at that necklace.  Do you know what it is?

It’s a Brighton Lanyard!  A clip for my I.D. badge at work.  Isn’t it gorgeous?  I Love, Love, LOVE it!  Once again — SweetiePie has lived up to her name — all these goodies as a Thank You to me for the wedding quilt.  My goodness, I never expected this.  A MIL couldn’t ask for a better DIL!  Thank you so much SweetiePie — You. Are. The. BEST!!!   Smoochies!

And then, if that wasn’t enough, we arrived home one night to find a package all the way from Australia on the doorstep.  I had no idea what it could be.   I squealed with delight when I opened it and TheManoftheHouse came over to see what was going on as I was unwrapping the first gift.  “Boy, someone sure took a lot of time to make all those packages look so pretty” he said.  Ooops!  He was right, so I ran and grabbed the camera.  Sorry, the picture is blurry and the pretty packages are a bit disheveled, but I was in a hurry!

When all was said and done, I’d unwrapped a treasure trove of goodies from Emma of Ballarat Patchwork.   And then it dawned on me — this was my package from the spring swap.  Oh. My. Gosh — how lucky could I be?  LOOK!  My picture isn’t the best — I’ve sadly cut off the head of the orange screen printed birdy, but trust me, he’s cute.  And the colors!  They’re all just fantastic!  I’ve been on a lime green and orange kick lately so I really love this package.  Can you see it all?

A yoyo maker, 2 screen-printed pieces, 4 pieces of fabric, 4 reels of ribbon, 1 spool of super delicious lime green pearl cotton, 4 lime green buttons, 3 beautiful postcards from Ballarat (I so love those — now I want to visit) and the pièce de résistance:

{Squeal!}  Look at that adorable little turtle pin cushion.  Oh, how I love it!  Thank you so very much for everything Emma — you hit the nail on the head.  Scored a home run.  It’s the perfect swap package and I love it all!  And thank you so very much Trashy for hosting the spring swap — what a fun time!

Now, Emma, you must cover your eyes, ’cause you won’t want to read this next part.  Late in the middle of the night that I received the package, I awoke to thumpy noises from the cats.  I got up to check, but didn’t find anything amiss, so I went back to bed.  The next morning, I found that beautiful spool of green thread unwrapped all over the house — through stairway spindles, under chairs, wrapped around piano legs and on and on.  Unwrapped to the very end.  Fortunately, the thread is just fine and I’ll still enjoy using it — it’s just not in a pretty spool anymore.  Bad, bad Kitties!  Rest assured — they’ve been punished.  They’re in the corner in timeout — hoping to be allowed out by the weekend!

Thank you SweetiePie and Emma for my wonderful gifts. You’ve both made my week!
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

XOXO,
Anna

P.S. A few tidbits for you:

• How gorgeous is this Easter party? Makes me want children around again. (Thanks JunieQuiltyPeep for telling me about that blog years ago.)
• Via Peabody, this interesting blog about the Top 1000 Awesome Things.  Wouldn’t it be fun to start a list and write one awesome thing every day?

Ok, so let’s not talk about that Superbowl, ok???  Really, I don’t care who wins or loses.  And I am happy for all the Saints fans!  Besides, everyone knows that you watch the Superbowl for the commercials, right?  I wasn’t exactly bowled (sorry) over by those commercials this year.  There were a few good ones, but they don’t stand up to some of my favorites.

I’ve mentioned before, this is my all time favorite commercial:

My second favorite ever commercial is an old McDonald’s commercial that I couldn’t find on YouTube.  It features a young father and his little boy enjoying a meal at McDonald’s because Mom is in the hospital, having just had a new baby.  It always brought a tear to my eye when I saw it.  Does anyone remember that one?  McDonalds had some great commercials back in the 70’s and 80’s.

And this gem, is my new current favorite — whenever it comes on, I stop whatever I’m doing and watch it all the way through.  It just makes me super happy:

Miss Jean blogged about this commercial about a month ago.  She has a fantastic smiley face and you should run over there and take a peek at it — it will make you laugh, especially if you have a sewing machine.  Now, I find myself looking for smileys everywhere.  Here’s one in one of our bathrooms, much like in the commercial.

One I provided the smile for, and a tongue sticking out in the laundry room (it holds the odd change I find in pockets).

This little guy isn’t exactly smiling, but he’s kind of funny.

And this one is my favorite find.  Can you tell what he is?  I see him everyday in the ladies room at work (sneaky guy).  Can’t beat that pinocchio nose!

Do you have any fun smileys at your house???

XOXO,
Anna

I have to tear myself away from the Superbowl — it’s too stressful!  (Ok, I’m kidding — I’m going back in a minute!)

Yesterday was our (MeMum and I) annual visit to the kids’ old school to sneak a peek at their big yearly auction and dinner.  The theme this year was Springtime in Paris.  Our sneak-in-excuse is that we want to view all the things that are being auctioned.  There were lots of cool things to buy — items ranged from a real puppy (this year a golden retriever) to a trip to Paris.  MyDadLovesMeBestSister works at the school and she and CrazyBIL auctioned off a crepe making party at their house for high school kids.  Their auction  basket is in the picture below.  (I embroidered the little french chef on the towel for her.  ;-) )

As you enter the main room, you walk through a hallway.  The ceiling of the hallway was covered with upside down umbrellas and lights — it was pretty cute.  Once inside the main room, there was a big Eiffel Tower all lit in blue lights.

It was really dark in there this year, which made picture taking a little difficult.  We went earlier this year, to avoid the disapproving looks we got last year, but imho, it turned out to be a little too early.  The tables weren’t completely set yet.  I love seeing them with all the wine glasses for all the different courses of the meal.

I have to say, I was a little disappointed in the decor this year.  It wasn’t nearly as pretty as it has been in past years.  My favorite years have been when they select children’s books as their theme.  It makes for much more colorful and cheerful decor.

It’s really hard to see in the above picture, but if you look to the left, you can see the flower baskets that they had hanging over each table.  The baskets had lights, and it wasn’t until I got home and looked at pictures that I realized that they also had candle holders.  I wonder if they put candles in them for the evening — if they did, it would have made them really pretty.

No matter what the theme, they always have gorgeous flowers on display.  This year was all about spring and therefore lots of tulips.  I also took a picture of this little tray of chocolates — you know, in honor of my word of the year — chocolate.  ;-)

I suspect they’ll start planning for next year’s gala in the next few weeks.  I sure hope they go back to a children’s book theme!

XOXO,
Anna