Chat – Page 6 – Thimbleanna

Un-Productive

26 Comments / January 16, 2016 January 16, 2016 / Chat

OhMyGosh. I need to post just to get that Happy New Year greeting by Winston to move down a bit. Holy Smokes — the year is getting away from me already, and we’ve barely started.

To be fair, our year hasn’t started off great. BigDaddy had a fender bender just after my last post. He’s fine and was lucky to land with only a few broken ribs and a broken nose. I know it’s awful of me to say it, but the raccoon look was kind of cute on him! He was in the hospital for a few days and now he’s in a rehab center — mostly just to learn how to get around a little better and to help the soreness wear off. It’s meant a lot of time shuffling MeMum back and forth and visiting. Good thing I have my Trip Around the World to keep me busy — I toss it in my little basket and it’s a great portable project — even though it’s getting big now. I’m on row 36, but these last rows are so slow, I’ll be lucky to be on row 40 by this time next year!

My basket makes me feel like Little Red Riding Hood, which is perfect since a bunch of Little Red Riding Hood fabric has arrived this week. I’ve started a little project featuring Little Red and Grandma — that Grandma is just too darn cute! It’s the Little Red line by Cori Dantini and I love it! I have big plans for her, but I’m waiting on some more of the fabric before I can keep working on this little quilt.

And there’s another Little Red fabric out — Moda has a new line called Lil’ Red by Stacy Iest Hu.

Look at that cute wolfie. He’s just full of love, isn’t he LOL??? I don’t have a plan for this line yet, but I’m sure something will happen sooner or later. I do have one fat quarter pack left though, and it’s in my etsy shop, in case any of you are interested. Lots of cute coordinating prints!

And finally, I was very sad to read that Alan Rickman passed away this week. So many of you posted on Instagram about his movie Truly Madly Deeply and now I really want to see it. I can’t find anywhere to rent it though — if you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them. I also saw this picture on a blog — even though he never really said the “Always” quote that so many people attribute to him, I love the sentiment. If only it truly could be 1946 – Always.

Ok kiddies. I hope your January is proving more productive than mine. At least our days are getting longer, right?
Have a great weekend!
XOXO,
Anna

Five …

21 Comments / December 13, 2015 January 16, 2016 / Chat

…Things I Did This Week:

1. I made little soldered ornaments for this year. I like to stick with the Santa theme and I’ve been doing them for a few years now — I think they’re fun!

2. We have the neatest Christmas Tree man. He and his trailer come from Michigan each year and we’ve been buying trees from him since we moved here in 1999. The last few years, when we get our tree, he always asks how BigDaddy is doing because BigDaddy took him donuts one year. So, this year, I decided to get a selection of goodies and take BigDaddy down there for a visit. We went on a week night when I knew he wouldn’t be busy and it was really fun to watch them visit — I think it made both of them happy to see each other. He told us a really fun story too — how he had three girls and decided he wanted a boy, so they decided to adopt a little boy from Russia. Only, when they were filling out the paperwork, the people asked them what they were going to do about the little boy’s sisters. He’s skeptical that they really are the boy’s sisters, but they adopted the two little girls anyway. The children are all grown and gone now, and I loved getting to know more about our Christmas Tree guy. Everyone has a story, isn’t it amazing?

3. Today was the making o’ the gingerbread, in prep for our annual gingerbread competition. I can’t wait to see what everyone has up their sleeve this year!

4. Sample Spree fabrics arrived and I still have a Vintage Picnic fat quarter bundle available. It’s $110 + flat rate postage — if you’re interested, let me know.

5. If you’ve been around here a long time, you know there are two things I avoid discussing — politics and religion. I think whoever said politics and religion should be avoided at parties was a wise person. I do love a good political debate, but most people have their minds made up and all too often people get their feelings hurt. So. This is not a political post and I’m not endorsing anyone*! Presidential candidates rarely come to our little fly-over town, so when Ben Carson stopped by for a quick visit, I decided to go check it out. Long before I even knew what his political leanings were, I was a huge fan. I remember back in the 80’s when 60 Minutes, Time Magazine, etc. all wrote about his amazing gifts as a young neurosurgeon and I loved reading about all the children whose lives he was saving. Whether you like his politics or not, he really is an amazing man. Would he make a good president? I have no clue. I always told my boys to Be Kind and Work Hard, and I do know, if kindness and hard work were the criteria to be President, Ben Carson would win. Hands Down.

Ok Kids — that was my week — how has yours been going? Are your Christmas plans on track???
XOXO,
Anna

*No political comments please — I don’t want to delete you! ;-D

Just Checking In …

17 Comments / December 6, 2015 December 6, 2015 / Chat, Store

Wow — I need to post just to move that turkey down the page! I can’t believe how quickly Thanksgiving came and went. We went to Dallas to visit TheSecondChild. We had lots of fun — in spite of six days of non-stop rain. Seriously — it rained the whole time we were there — I don’t think we saw the sun once. (And people think it rains too much in Scotland — at least we saw the sun there!) Since TheSecondChild has a teeny little apartment kitchen, I decided it would be too hard to make a big fancy turkey dinner with all of it’s extras. Instead, we opted for TheSecondChild’s favorite meal — he loves our traditional New Year’s Day dinner, but he never makes it home for New Year’s anymore, so I thought it would be fun to treat him. We make a Standing Rib Roast and Twice-Baked Potatoes. Much easier than turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and etc. It made for a different Thanksgiving dinner, but it sure was good!

So, now we’re back — right in the middle of that busy, busy time of year. I compose blog posts all the time in my head, but it’s been so hard to get the time to actually post now. Especially during the week — I did get a new blog header up though — I’m trying to be better about it this year!

I spent the weekend cracking down on the decorating around here. We usually have two trees — one fake and one real. The real one won’t go up until around the 15th, but I worked on the fake tree and the outside decorations today. And bonus, I count the fake tree as part of my outside decorations, since it can be seen from the front window. Otherwise, the outside decorations are pretty simple — a garland around the front door, two little trees on either side of the door, and Martha Stewart’s glittered bells in lieu of a wreath.

A few other little areas were decorated too, but mostly cleaning up sewing stuff I had lying around and playing with a few ornaments that will go on the real tree. It doesn’t sound like much, but it took a long time and was a lot of work. How are you guys all doing? Are you on track with all your holiday plans? I’ve got a plan for everything and most spare minutes are allocated. No fun sewing or knitting this year, but we’ll definitely be squeezing the gingerbread competition in there. All the kids will be home this year, so it should be lots of fun to see what everyone dreams up!

There are also some new goodies in my little etsy shop — you know, in case you need a gift, or have some Christmas money to spend on yourself! ;-D I’ve listed my very favorite little scissors — they’re Dovo scissors and I love them. The top ones are pretty little embroidery scissors and the bottom ones are my go-to scissors when I’m doing applique. Mine got a lot of use when I was working on The Aunts’ Quilt.

Lots of low-volume fabrics have also arrived. Top to bottom, they are:

Library Gardens by Amy Sinibaldi
Happily Ever After by Amy Sinibaldi
Stamped by Amy Sinibaldi (Yay — Amy Sinibaldi — aren’t they all beautiful?)
Bees & Bits Spring by Bari J. (Bees, people — BEES!)
Floral Dums Punch by Art Gallery Fabrics In-House Studio (Ohmygosh — I LOVE these cute flowers!)
Modern Background Fabric by Zen Chic

The top five fabrics are also available in a half-yard bundle — for speedy ordering ;-D.

And, finally, for you travel-lovers out there, the fun Japanese fabric shown below. It’s called Tour Round the World by Suzuko Koseki for Yuwa fabrics. The images are pretty big on this fabric (each shot in the collage below is about 20″ wide) and the repeat is about 1 1/4 yards. Perfect for big travel accessories or a back on a quilt to remember a fun trip!

Ok, this little break is over. Paperwork to do before I can go to bed. Have a wonderful week!

XOXO,
Anna

Knitting Happened Here

21 Comments / November 10, 2015 November 23, 2015 / Chat, Knitting

Well, what the hay??? It’s been 10 days since Halloween already. How. Does. That. Happen? We’re in the middle of November already. And before we move on can we just discuss this Halloween thing? We only had one trick-or-treater. One. (At least he was adorable — a little 5 year old pirate!) What’s up with the kids these days? Granted, it was a little drizzly out there, but we had chocolate! Are the kids just lazy these days??? When we were kids, NOTHING got in the way of us and our trick-or-treating! We couldn’t wait to get out there with our pillowcases and get them filled up. The real fun happened when we got home and dumped that candy all over the floor — that’s when the bartering started. Is it because parents are doing a better job of raising healthy kids these days? And they’d rather eat broccoli than chocolate???

Ok, so in the middle of all my pondering, I actually finished a knit. A few weeks ago my buddy Brigette became a first time Grandma! It’s all very exciting and I’m so happy for her. Her daughter had a bouncing baby boy, so I had to make him a little sweater and beanie.

I made them to hopefully fit a 6-month size, although it’s probably more like a 3-month size. How would I know — I need a baby around here to try one on LOL. I’m a little worried that the neck will be too small when he gets big enough to fit into the body — you know how babies’ heads are bigger compared to their bodies. Anyway, for you knitters, the little sweater is from the Baby Pullover from Knitting Pure and Simple and the Beanie is the Rolled Brim Baby Hat with a Topknot by Laurie Longinotti. Congratulations Brigette!!!

In other news … ;-D … new fabric in my little etsy shop. The Bright Sun Pebbles in Bisque by Sheri and Chelsi have arrived. I love that they’re a low volume fabric and I think they’ll make a perfect background for applique quilts. Or anything that screams for a subtle polka dot.

And finally, if you’re not a rabid anglophile (like some of us LOL) you may have missed the 2015 John Lewis Christmas ad. Bring your kleenex.

XOXO,
Anna

Friday Five

20 Comments / October 11, 2015 October 11, 2015 / Chat

Haha — it’s not Friday, but I have five things anyway. Sunday Five just doesn’t have that zing to it. ;-D

1. I’m feeling a little sad about taking the last stitch in The Aunts’ Quilt this month. This has been such a fun project. The 15th will be our last reporting day — the year sure went by quickly!

2. I finally spent part of my Christmas Amazon gift card. I just haven’t seen many books this year that floated my boat. I love the City Walks London cards and I’m hoping I’ll be lucky enough to have future trips where I can try some of them out. If not, they’re really fun to read. Great Cookies is a Great book. ;-P It looks like there are some really good recipes in it. I had to buy a used copy because there weren’t any new ones available — it doesn’t matter, the recipes are all the same. And I haven’t had time to look at Red & White Quilts yet, but I’m really looking forward to it.

3. New knitting project! New projects are always so fun — hopefully this one won’t take so long that it’s not fun anymore. ;-D

4. This will be my last year for a big zinnia patch. For the last several years, I’ve planted zinnias, zucchini and tomatoes, but the zucchini and tomatoes just never do well. So, inspired by my visit to Scotland and Pam’s beautiful garden, I’m going to see if I can do any better with perennials. I’ll leave a little space for a few zinnias, but there won’t be a great number of them.

5. I’ll leave you with this little gem from facebook. Oh, to have the opportunity to execute such a plan LOL!

Have a Great Week!
XOXO,
Anna