Crocheting – Thimbleanna

Five on Saturday

23 Comments / June 18, 2016 June 19, 2016 / Chat, Crocheting, Knitting

Because I can’t get my act together to post Five on Friday! Ooops! Anyway …

1. No baby news yet. There’s still a little making o’ baby stuff going on while we wait. A little princess has to have a little pink crown, right? (Pattern available here.)

2. Are you a multi-tasker? Of course you are. You can walk and text right? Or cook dinner and help with the homework? Or do a million different things at the same time? BUT. Are you a Super Tasker??? Take the quiz and find out Here. It takes about 40 minutes and fair warning … it’s not easy. At least it wasn’t for me. There are three parts — audio, visual and audo + visual. I did great on the visual (confirming what I already knew about being a visual person — I even scored 100% a few times) but not so hot on the audio (I can just hear TheManoftheHouse now — “You never listen to me” LOL), so my combined scores put me just below the line to be a Super Tasker. Darn It. You’d think I wouldn’t have time for these games. But No. We’re Waiting on a Baby! Anyway, Give It A Try!!!

3. If you’ve been around for awhile you know I’m not a big fan of facebook. It REALLY honks me off that every time I comment or like something or whatever, it feels the need to inform the planet. And don’t get me started on the Ads. So, a few weeks ago, I had a new interesting facebook experience. When TheManoftheHouse was in the rehab hospital, he had an elderly roommate. The roommate had a daughter and granddaughter who are just beginning to learn the ins and outs of taking care of a parent at home. Having recently been through that experience with BigDaddy, I told the daughter to call me if they needed any references. About a month later, the granddaughter called and we had a nice conversation and I gave her some information. Then, about a month after that, facebook suggested that I friend the granddaughter. Wow! Granddaughter lives 4 hours away from here and we don’t have one. single. friend in common on facebook. How on earth would facebook know to recommend that I friend her? I’ll tell you how. Facebook is snooping around in my phonebook. WTF???? They’re snooping around in your phonebook too. #ieffinghatefacebook (Facebook and effing both start with “F” — need I say more?) (Gratuitous cat picture — #scruffhatesfacebooktoo).

4. More trying to keep busy knitting. A few little pacifier holders for baby. The pattern is in the book Itty-Bitty Nursery by Susan B. Anderson. (That’s not an affiliate link — I don’t get squat.)

5. A few beautiful Tula Pink fabrics have arrived in my little etsy shop. I LOVE this beautiful Chipper line and this colorway is even prettier in real life. I’m hoping to sew a little with it tomorrow. But, maybe the baby will come! ;-D

Hope you’re having a great weekend!
XOXO,
Anna

I Played Hooky

46 Comments / April 6, 2011 April 6, 2011 / Crocheting

Finally, there’s been a little project finishing here in ThimbleannaLand. I managed to sneak in some crochet time last weekend and finished the fun rainbow stripe bag from Attic 24.

While was working on the stripes for the body of the bag, I really didn’t like the way the colors were stacking up. Even up to the top of the bag I was a little worried. But, the scalloped edge seemed to pull it all together and now I love it.

The pattern is very easy to follow and it was pretty darn fun to work on. It’s a perfect pattern for tv watching, as it doesn’t require much concentration. It’s fun to have a bag now to carry my balls of yarn — while I was working on the bag, the yarn was just in a big ol’ plastic bag.

So, blowing kisses and a big fat Thank You to my Brilliant Invisible Friend who selected all the yarns and sent them to me in a swap.

In other news, we had a bit of excitement around here the other night. TheManoftheHouse happened to glance out the window and he scared me when he said “Holy Cow! There’s a turkey in the backyard!”. I jumped up, grabbed my camera and rushed outside to take pictures of not 1, but 4 turkeys. After 3 or 4 shots, I realized I didn’t have a memory card in my camera. Doh! I rushed inside, grabbed a card and ran back outside. By which time, the turkeys were two houses away — so … sorry for the blurry shot.

In all the years and houses we’ve lived in here, we’ve never had the fun of seeing wild turkeys. They aren’t cute like deer or furry animals, but it was still exciting!

Oh! And have you seen the “new Pips”? Aneela has shown a sneak peak of her new fabric line and it’s adorable. And here’s a little Pip Tip (ha!) — I don’t want to cause a stampede or anything, but if you see Pips and you think you want them, you should probably get them. It used to be that you could find quilt fabrics for years after their debut, but now, they don’t seem to last very long and that drives me crazy. I don’t think the hype was intentional in this case though (or I should say, more intentional than normal) — I just think someone seriously underestimated how well-loved the Pips were going to be!

XOXO,
Anna

Houston, We Have Pillowcases

61 Comments / March 25, 2010 February 22, 2011 / Crocheting, Sewing

Wow! Thank you so much for all your lovely comments about The Wedding Quilt. Several of you mentioned that I neglected to say whether the kids liked their quilt. Yes — I think they did! I received several wonderful text messages and a phone call from SweetiePie last week. And we had a surprise visit from TheFirstChild on Monday and he said he loved it too. Anyway, you’ve all been so sweet! I’m thinking you deserve a little reward — look for a giveaway right around the corner.

In the meantime, as part of my duties as a button-displaying member of Cassie’s crochet-along, I’ve finished some pillowcases this week. They’re super fun to make and I love them!

Cassie did a fantastic job with her instructions. They’re clear and concise and her photos are perfect. I do have just one little teeny, tiny complaint though. Cassie, dearest…I think you severely underestimated the number of chocolates required for Step 3, A Firm Foundation. Three??? Three measly chocolates for all that pain and suffering I had to endure while my yarn was all twisty and knotty??? The green crochet thread above wasn’t tooooo bad, but the pink yarn below was a pain in the b.u.t.t. Step 3 may or may not have caused more bad words to slip out than quilting the wedding quilt! I’m thinking at least 20 chocolates. Yes, that would definitely soothe the pain.

Shortly after I bought the pink flowers and green stripes, I found this little sheepy fabric. I love sheepies and I thought it would be perfect for pillowcases. I thought that pink yarn would be too heavy for this job, but it wasn’t too bad. If it just hadn’t tangled so easily! I really love the envelope style of the pillowcase — no more ugly pillows peeking out of pretty pillowcases. I’ll definitely be making more of these in the future.

And one last thing, Knitter Sue and Yellow Beach Dog have very kindly given me Sunshine and Beautiful Blogger Awards. Thank you so much ladies! As they say in the UK, I’m rubbish at this sort of thing, so, I’ll just pass these along to everyone who is reading!

Now, I’m off to prepare a little goodie for a giveaway. Have a great weekend!
XOXO,
Anna

Beautiful Thread, Etc.

25 Comments / April 18, 2008 February 18, 2011 / Chat, Crocheting

I have a few leftover items from our weekend in Chicago. On our way home, we stopped at a fun yarn shop, Idea Studio in LaGrange, Illinois. They have some very nice yarns and lots of shop samples. I especially thought these little dresses were pretty cute.

They made me think of a certain little Bub in Australia whose mother crochets like a dream! The woman in this shop told us all about a sock war they’d just finished (it’s mentioned on their web site). It reminded me of dish rag tag a little bit, although they were knitting fish socks ( I wish I had a picture — the cuff looked like fish scales and the top was shaped like a fish mouth) and not dish rags. And they weren’t in teams — it was every man for himself. Anyway, if you’re in the Chicago area, we thought this place was definitely worth a visit.
Another weekend leftover is my discovery of this fabulous thread.

Am I the only one who’s never heard of this embroidery thread? Ohmygosh, we saw a vendor at the quilt show who had several drawer-fuls of the most beautiful colors. I wanted one of each of them to bring home with me. I restrained myself however, and only purchased a little six-pack of pastel colors, plus a bit of red and blue for red and blue work. I read somewhere that this is the equivalent of using three strands of embroidery floss, so I’m a little worried about using it, as I’m a two-strand embroiderer. I’m thinking maybe the beautiful colors will take my mind off of it though.

And one last weekend leftover, I saw this cupcake fabric in a big pack at the quilt show but didn’t buy it because I didn’t want all the other prints that came with it. I found some at the Fabric Shack. Yipee! I love it! How ’bout a cupcake bunny???

Now, I have some VERY distressing news. You’ll probably want to sit down before I tell you.

Do you see any almonds in this ice cream?

No. You. Do. Not. That’s because we can’t get Chocolate Almond here anymore. According to the Baskin Robbins website, it’s now a regional ice cream and is only available in the southeast. What???? What’s up with that??? Are southern people the only ones who like Chocolate Almond ice cream? Can you southerners verify this — do you like it more than the rest of us???? Are they rationing almonds or something? Or maybe they’re trying to help us fat midwestern Chocolate Almond ice cream lovers lose a few pounds? I’m distraught. My summer just won’t be the same. I might have to send a letter.

Ok, I’m done now. I hope you all have a beautiful spring/fall weekend!
XOXO,
Anna

I Wish I Could Think of a Clever Title

38 Comments / February 5, 2008 February 18, 2011 / Books, Crocheting

We’re having the weirdest weather here in the midwest. Huge thunderstorms last night. We went to bed with four inches of snow on the ground and woke up to find heavy fog and all the snow gone this morning. Thunderstorms again tonight — just so odd for early February!

Enough about the weather, I thought I’d show you how I wasted occupied my time while waiting in the airport last week.

Last spring, PamKittyMorning showed a little button card with some crochet around it. Since then, I’ve wanted to try crocheting on paper. Why? I have no clue. It was fun to crochet again and I kept my waiting frustration to a minimum. And just so I didn’t completely waste all that time, I did get a little knitting done on my monkey socks. These little valentines required a lot less thinking though, so I worked on them the most.

When I returned home from my trip, I mentioned to Jade that I’d discovered Japanese quilting books while in NYC. (If you remember, Jade gave me my first Japanese craft book a few weeks ago.) I wandered into Koni-HoweverYouSpellIt (the Japanese book store) and I was amazed at the number of Japanese quilt books that were available. I could have come home with a huge pile full of quilt books, but I behaved myself and only bought two. I’m not sure I ended up with the two I thought I did — it was so difficult to choose and I think I confused myself. Anyway, Jade mentioned that she’d like to see them, so I cobbled together a few of the pictures from the books I bought.

Both of the books I bought ( ISBNs 978-4-89396-936-1 and 4-391-62072-3 — I have no idea why that first ISBN is so big) have around 50 projects in them. I think these books are a great untapped resource and I’m seeing more of them in my future. Very exciting!!!

Go check out Randi’s post today and get digging in your recipe box! I’ll be back Thursday night with a recipe to share and I hope you will too!

XOXO,
Anna