Chat – Page 31 – Thimbleanna

Springtime in Paris

33 Comments / February 7, 2010 February 22, 2011 / Chat

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

Just Another Random Monday

37 Comments / January 18, 2010 February 22, 2011 / Chat

Things are slow here. Really, really slow. Sorry to be so boring! I’ll just list a few random unrelated things, in case you’re interested:

Thanks for all the great comments on my sister’s mouse house. If you liked that, you should check out Madre Karin’s latest post — she doesn’t just have a mouse house in her wall, she can accommodate a whole family!
Parsley, Beet and the Bots are in the house. WooHoo!!! I love these cool patterns from the Amazing Ms. Ric Rac. Jodie has wonderful service — she even threw in a few keychains, a birdcage kit and a bunch of mod fabric scraps, ’cause she knows I want to make another nine-patch quilt. THANK YOU Jodie!!! Now to locate a few extra pairs of Paddington Bear boots so Parsley and Beet can be stylin’.

Check out Jaquie’s great quilt raffle — not only is she donating the funds raised from her quilts, she’s matching the amount!
We went to visit TheFirstChild and SweetiePie on Saturday. While TheManoftheHouse was otherwise occupied, I snuck (is too a word!) down to see Cami. A bunch of Kaffe fabrics jumped in my bag because a) I don’t have a Kaffe stash and b) I’m suffering from some sort of delusion that I’ll actually make Kellie’s Joseph’s Coat quilt someday. Notice how I have two color families going on there — when I DO make the quilt, I can’t decide whether it will be green/blue or pink/orange/yellow. Decisions, Decisions.

I’m currently enjoying several new-to-me blogs:Sweetopia – as I read somewhere, you’ll get cavities in your eyeballs just looking at this blog
A Feathered Nest – Very, very Pretty! (found via Ms. Barefoot – thank you!)
Just Something I Made – Don’t go here. Really. It’s a huge Rabbit Hole!!!

Whew! That’s enough for tonight. I hope you’re off to a good start to your week!

XOXO,
Anna

A Random New Year’s Start

49 Comments / January 4, 2010 February 22, 2011 / Chat, Knitting

Thank you so much for all the gingerbread love! You are all so kind! After SweetiePie read my post, she noted that I forgot to show you the inside of her house. She and TheFirstChild very carefully created two little workers folding up parachutes and placed them inside of their Jump School. I hadn’t even noticed them! So, here for SweetiePie (and you) is a picture of one of the little workers. Can you see him back there with the big parachute on the ground?

I’m so sad that the holidays are over — even sadder that I have to go back to work tomorrow. BooHoo. I spent most of the weekend cleaning up around here. The house is all nice and clean now — too bad I can’t have a few more days off to enjoy it. By the time I’m off work again, it will be messy again. {Sigh.} When I was cleaning up this weekend, I couldn’t quite bring myself to throw the gingerbread houses away, so I put them out in the snow on the patio table. Maybe one of the seven little squirrels that were chasing each other around the patio a week ago would like a sugar high. Or maybe not. In any case, it made me smile every time I looked out the window while I was cleaning.

Normally, about now, I’d show you all the homemade gifts I made this year. Only I didn’t really make any. On December 22nd, I read this post from Jessica and was inspired by those beanies. I saw them on A Friend to Knit With when they were originally posted, but seeing them on Jessica’s blog too, gave me an idea. I called up my oldest niece and suggested we have a knit night and make some for the girls in the family.

She came over that night, and we had a fun time knitting in front of the warm, cozy fire and watching old episodes of The Office. By the next day we had six hats all knit and packaged up to give to the ladies when we all went bowling. There really are six — four in the picture above, one on me behind the camera and one for MeMum who wasn’t with us. We had lots of fun looking dorky together! (And ahem. I like them much better hugging the head — some of us were a little worried about our bangs!)

I love this pattern and will definitely be making it again. It’s very comfy and knits up just as quickly as Leslie promised. Thanks for a great pattern Leslie!

And one other note: I’ve tried to change my header and background — the holiday look really should go, don’t you think? The new header is drab for winter, but I can’t get it to appear. (Maybe it’s a sign?) I was on the phone with tech support for too long and they’re blaming it on WordPress. (Gee, funny, I was able to change the clock back from red to blue….) I’m not buying it, but don’t really know what to do at this point. So, we may be enjoying peppermint for Easter.

XOXO,
Anna

Oh. My!

79 Comments / December 24, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Chat, Quilting

Whew! We’ve had a whirlwind of a day here in ThimbleannaLand! TheFirstChild and SweetiePie were here for a very short 10 hours (it’s their year to spend Christmas with her family, so they stopped by here early.) It was non-stop fun — we went bowling, held the gingerbread competition and had our little gift exchange. They left at 1 a.m. and hopefully they’re home safely by now.

In the middle of it all, there has been some serious — and I mean SERIOUS — hyperventilation going on around here.

OHMYGOSH!!! It’s Here. IT’S HERE!!!

It’sHereIt’sHereIt’sHereIt’sHere!!!!!!! HERE it is!

And Holy Cow — it’s absolutely gorgeous! I mean Really. Words can’t express how beautiful this quilt really is. And the pictures truly don’t do it justice. (I had to take some snow pictures — Just for you Kellie! It’s so amazing to me that in only five days, this quilt went from being in Hot Australia to landing in the cold snowy midwestern United States. Poor shivering little quilt — it probably wishes it could go back home!)

Oh. Just in case you’ve been hiding under a rock you’re new to this blog or Kellie’s, several months ago I won this fabulous quilt from Kellie at Don’t Look Know. Shortly after I ripped open the package today, I took it to our family get-together where there was MUCH oooohing and aaaahing and quilt fondling. And fortunately, I came prepared with paper bags.

Because, there was MORE hyperventilating. I had BIG plans for this quilt. I reasoned that if I could only SEE Kellie’s fabulous machine quilting up close and personal, surely I’d be able to teach myself how to machine quilt the way Kellie does. Silly Me. There is No. Way. On. Earth. I could ever quilt as beautifully as Kellie does. She jokingly mentioned in her note “don’t look too close”. That just made me laugh. Seriously. Those quilted circles are perfect. PERRRRR-FECT! So, So Beautiful! (And look at the adorable bead eyes on those birds!)

I feel so Very Honored to have this quilt. And it means so much more to me than just a quilt. The fact that quilters who live half a planet away from each other can become friends, never ceases to amaze me. And then…to have such a beautiful piece of workmanship to remind me everyday — wouldn’t you hyperventilate too? Look at this adorable quilt label that Kellie put on the quilt. It tells the story of the quilt.

Kellie. I wish I knew how to truly thank you. There just aren’t words — and words aren’t enough. Thank You. Thank You SO Very Much! I’ll treasure this quilt always, and I promise I’ll take very good care of it. Did I tell you thanks? Danke. Dank u. Merci. Grazie. Obrigado. Gracias. Thank You from the bottom of my heart. You. Are. Amazing!

And, (and for the rest of you too) a very heartfelt wish for a very Happy Holiday season. Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate.

Merry, Merry Christmas!
XOXO,
Anna

Moving Right Along

32 Comments / December 15, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Chat, Sewing

Well, how did the weekend go? Did you all get tons of stuff done? My holiday mojo finally kicked in and I got all my decorating done (well, sort of, I scaled back a bit this year) and half of my shopping done. I even had time to help MeMum and BigDaddy with their big Christmas tree. It was lots of fun, although they probably didn’t think I was having fun — I’m pretty slow stringing those lights and it’s not real fun up on the ladder. But, we finished the tree and it’s very pretty!

In between the decorating, I squeezed out a little smock apron for my MIL.

It’s very similar to the one I made for my Aunt last summer. These smock aprons are so comfy and they cover lots of area for sloppy cooks like me — I need to make some for myself!

Also, on Saturday, after a looooong day of shopping, I was super happy to find a Straight, No Chaser special on PBS. If you don’t know about them, they’re a men’s acapella group that met at Indiana University about 10 years ago. They became “famous” on the internet a year or two ago where an exec at Atlantic Records found them and they’ve now made an album (or two.)

You can go here to play a video clip of them singing The Twelve Days of Christmas the song that made them famous. (I sure wish the embed command at YouTube would work with wordpress!) The video clip isn’t the greatest quality and certainly doesn’t do them justice, but it gives you an idea of what they’re all about, if you’ve never heard of them.

Anyway, it was a 90-minute special, well worth the watching. If you’re a Straight, No Chaser fan, I’m sure PBS will repeat it again before the holidays are over (it repeats on Christmas Eve in our area).

Ok…off to bed! Hope you have a great week — fun times are just around the corner!

XOXO,
Anna