Crafting – Page 4 – Thimbleanna

A Shower Gift

41 Comments / June 14, 2008 February 18, 2011 / Crafting

About a year ago I saw a fun idea for some personalized casserole dishes while I was blog hopping. I wrote the idea down in my trusty little notebook, knowing that I would want to make some this spring for our bride and a few other kids who I knew were getting married. Then I promptly forgot about it.

Fortunately, in March, Kairle came along and saved the day. Just two weeks before we had our first bridal shower for SweetiePie, Kairle posted a great tutorial for how to make these casserole dishes. Thank You Kairle — I love this idea! I made one for SweetiePie and one for a shower that SweetiePie and I attended last weekend.

I was very surprised at what a big hit this dish was! This was a really crowded shower and everyone was talking, so you really couldn’t hear much about the gifts when the bride opened them. But when she held up the casserole dish everyone noticed and there were lots of questions about how to get that name etched into the glass. We also got the bride a few other things from her registry at Williams Sonoma — one of which were these dish towels that I personalized for her (I put the “K” in the corner, rather than the middle of the towel, in case she wants to display them without the “K” showing.)

I love going to bridal showers. They’re so happy and fun. I picked up another cute idea — the hostesses put fresh flowers in their gift to the bride — a blender. These flowers were on the food table and they were so pretty, I didn’t even notice that they were in a blender until the hostesses presented them to the bride.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have windows to clean. I spent about 6 hours yesterday cleaning windows inside the house ( I’m blessed with lots of windows LOL.) I still have a few more inside windows (they’re double paned — about every 5 years I clean between the panes and this is the year so it takes longer than non-in-between-panes cleanings) and then I’ll move outside.

I love doing windows outside, especially on a beautiful day like today. (Although, I’m not looking forward to all the mosquito repellent involved — we’ve had so much rain this year, the mosquitoes have run amok.) If you never hear from me again, you’ll know that climb up the ladder wasn’t successful!

Have a great weekend!

XOXO,
Anna

P.S. Oh And happy Father’s Day to all those Papas out there.Â We’ll be having pies with the men in our family — by request, there will be lemon meringue and I’m trying out a new Strawberry Pie recipe that looks great!

Tea Party Thumb Tacks

44 Comments / May 6, 2008 February 18, 2011 / Crafting

A few weeks ago, my sweet quilty peep Jewels gave each of us quilty peeps some of this adorable Susan Branch Tea Party fabric that’s covered with cupcakes. (We are, after all, in the middle of a cupcake obsession. Is everyone sick of cupcakes yet? Not me — I still think they’re cute.)

Anyway, that cupcake fabric has been staring at me whispering “Make me….Make me…” But, into what? I’ve thought of a few ideas that I will probably try in the next month or two, but in the meantime, I remembered that Susan Branch seemed to like the little thumb tacks that I made last year, and voila! This fabric is just right for some little cupcake thumb tacks!

They’re so fun and quick to make — I think it only took me about an hour (if that) to make twelve of these.

I’ll take these to work — I need more thumbtacks on my bulletin board there. And we don’t have nearly enough cupcakes at work. In fact, we don’t have any. Unless you count the recent college grad that they just hired who sits at the end of my row. She’s an adorable little engaged cupcake — and apparently all the male engineers in the place think so, ’cause they hover around that cube a LOT. But, I’m sidetracked … cupcakes can lead you astray.

Thank You, Thank You Miss Jewels! Jewels is so sweet and kind and generous. She’s always giving us little gifties — ’cause she’s just like that. You know I heart you Jewels — and you other quilty peeps too!

I hope you’re having a good week. I’m enjoying trying to get caught up with everyone and seeing all the wonderful glimpses of spring around blogland.

XOXO,
Anna

P.S. On a totally unrelated note … I’ve noticed many bloggers have started to respond to their comments in their comment section. I realize that that is a much more efficient way of answering comments (it sure beats having to open and close all those e-mails), but do you realize that many of the people you’re directing your answer to will never see that answer? I almost NEVER make it back to someone’s comments — if comments were on our main pages, that would be different, but because they require a click (and thus a wait) and I’ve already been there once, the odds that I’ll be back again are next to none. There’s just a whole big wide blog world waiting out there and I’m off chasing it! I guess I’m just mentioning this because if someone responded to me in their comments, I would miss thanking them for their reply. Does that make sense? Just sayin’ bloggy peeps, just sayin’!. Sweet dreams!

P.P.S.S. Check out this recipe contest. Do you have a 20 word recipe? Enter it and win $50!

Bloggy Peeps

19 Comments / January 19, 2008 February 18, 2011 / Bunnies, Crafting

Yesterday was a very exciting day for me, as I had not one, but two fun bloggy meet-ups. I also managed to procure some Synthrapol and Shout Color Catcher so that I can ponder the solution to MeMum’s bleeding tree skirt.

Anyway, first I stopped in on Clementine’s to check up on Ms. Cami. Holy cow, is she ever a hoot! (You may remember that TheManoftheHouse and I stopped into Clementine’s last fall, so all that awkward first meeting stuff was behind us.) I was there long enough to take off my coat and feel at home. And as an added bonus, I got to meet Robin. I really wish I’d had more time — I would have pulled out some knitting, sat on a big comfy chair, and knit a spell. That’s going to be next time — I’ll drag the quilty peeps along and we’ll spend 1/2 day ~~knitting~~ bugging Cami and 1/2 day hitting the other shops in the big city. It was really fun to talk to Cami and Robin and see what they are working on. Cami is making the CUTEST baby sweater and I was kicking myself all the way home for not taking a picture of it! (Cami — please put a pic on your blog when you get done — everyone needs to see that cute twisted stitch on the button band.)

But I digress. Lookee what I came home with:

Isn’t that color heavenly? (I stuck the cute little stamp from Cami’s shopping bags in there too.) Cami is a knitting goddess. She’s convinced me to try doing two socks on one circ — one size 0 circ. I have to finish my current pair of socks-on-dpns but I’m really anxious to try Cami’s suggestions. I suspect I’ll be cursing her name until I get the hang of it. She’s tried to also convince me to do toe-up, but I’m definitely not ready for that yet. Besides, I secretly like doing the kitchener stitch and I think I’d miss it. Cami also has a GREAT selection of Westminster fabrics — she’s probably the only one in the whole state who does. If you’re in the vicinity of Franklin IN, you must stop in — you won’t regret it! (I even overheard the clerks in one of the other local quilt shops saying how neat Clementine’s is — BTW, Cami — could you puh-leez move up here? At least to the north side of the big city????)

After Clementine’s, it was on to meet Beckie. Several months ago, I commented on Beckie’s blog that I loved the little soldered pendants that she makes. She graciously offered to teach me how to make them. We decided to have a little bloggy trade — a bunny pincushion for a pendant lesson. (Guess who got the best of that deal?) Here’s my her little BeckieBunny wearing one of the soldered pendants:

Beckie is a sweetheart and I had a great time seeing some of her crafty projects. (Her bottle cap magnets are adorable.) She’s a great teacher and she was very patient with my questions and lack of speed. I love making these little pendants and I’m sure there will be more of them in my future. All the way home, when I wasn’t kicking myself for not taking a picture of Cami’s baby sweater, I was dreaming of all the ways I can use this new skill. Here’s the front view of the little pendants that I made:

And the back view:

I just love them! I really don’t advocate having a first bloggy meeting in a non-public location, it’s probably not “right bright”. We joked about how I didn’t end up in a pit in her backyard (someone recently watched The Silence of the Lambs LOL) and that I didn’t tie her up and kidnap the baby (tempting though it was — he’s soooooo cute!) Beckie, I can’t thank you enough for sharing your skill — I’ll cherish it and take good care of it. Your family and neighbors are very lucky to be in the midst of your fabulous talents!

I hope wherever you are, you’re staying warm (or cool, for those of you down under.) We’re having a pretty cold weekend here in the midwest. I sure hope someone is letting my goats stay in the kitchen LOL!

XOXO,
Anna