Family – Page 2 – Thimbleanna

The Princesses

17 Comments / October 13, 2018 October 13, 2018 / Family

Hi Hi! How is it going out there? Are you feeling fall (or spring) yet in your part of the world? We’re having psycho weather here — last weekend we were all hot and sweaty outside with temps around 85F and this weekend we’re freezing with a high of 52F today. I’m ready for the fall weather though, and hopefully we’ll have some pretty, cool days before it gets too cold.

Last weekend, I was lucky enough to have a fun three days with our little princesses. You may remember this picture we took of FinallyAGirl two years ago —

And last weekend, FinallyAnotherGirl had her moment on the princess bed. We decided not to go with the naked look this time LOL.

FinallyAGirl looks so much older — I thought they were both about three weeks old, but I checked the dates and FinallyAGirl was almost 6 weeks old for her picture. They also might look a little different because of their very different personalities — FinallyAGirl is a little tornado (as her mother calls her!) and always has been, and FinallyAnotherGirl is just the sweetest, cuddly little baby — you barely ever hear a peep out of her.

I spent most of the weekend trying to keep the little tornado busy in hopes that Mama and baby could rest a little. We had lots of fun making the rice krispy monster cookies. FinallyAGirl was in charge of placing the googly eyes. She seemed to love the challenge and ate a LOT of spinkles in the process. (Fun fact: the day after your monster cookie clean up, if you happen to have missed sweeping up any sprinkles, you’ll experience the momentary horror that you have mice in the house!)

We also had lots of fun playing with our babies and taking walks. Babies love walks, in case you were wondering – and FinallyAGirl loved pulling them around in the wagon.

We also stomped in lots of puddles, which was super fun. I think my very favorite moment was when she scrunched down to check out the inner workings of a particular puddle. She was down there for a long time, so I finally said “FinallyAGirl, what do you see down there?” She instantly replied “ME!” Well, Duh, Grandma. (It’s pretty obvious in this picture, but it wasn’t at the time LOL.)

Meanwhile, FinallyAnotherGirl, was unimpressed by it all.

Sorry for the baby overload. We can get back to regularly (sporadic) scheduled programming now. It sure is fun being a grandma — I’ve even had some baby makes that I’ll post before too long!

Have a wonderful weekend!
XOXO,
Anna

Oink!

17 Comments / June 16, 2018 June 16, 2018 / Baby Oh Baby, Family, Sewing

Really? I popped by to check in, and it’s been two (TWO!) months since my last post. I feel like I should have started with “Forgive Me Father, it’s been two months … “. I think that’s the longest break I’ve had in my eleven years of blogging and it makes me so sad. I’d like to promise (at least to myself) that it won’t happen again, but, for the foreseeable future, it will probably, certainly be spotty posting. We’re dog-sitting our cute little Winston this week, and he definitely disapproves too!

The year is speeding by and I feel like I’m missing most of it. I do have a good excuse though — MyDadLovesMeBestSister and I have started cleaning out MeMum’s house and it’s been a LOT of work. Mummy has been living with us for a year and a half now and we decided that it just doesn’t make any sense to keep her house any more. Empty houses are very sad — they need families and people living in them to keep them happy. ;-( We started going through things in early spring, but it’s taking forever, mostly because a) we both work full-time, and b) it’s a big house stuffed full. Mummy loved collecting pretty things (downsizing was NEVER in her plan) and it’s been fun and hard and sad all at once to go through everything. There have been lots of tears (and smiles) and we still have lots to do. We’ve found lots of gems too — this is one of my favorites discovered last weekend —

All this sorting really makes you think about stuff. What to DO with all of it??? I can hardly bear to part with any of it — especially things that have been handed down through the family. It’s hard though because, at least for now, the grandkids don’t seem to be interested in any of it. I’d like to be able to save them from this same fate when my time comes, but will I be able to??? Maybe I’ll just keep it all in hopes they’ll change their minds as they, um, mature LOL. Oh, the dilemma …

Anyway, in happier news, I have been sewing a little here and there. I made a new little top for FinallyAGirl last weekend.

I noticed in quilt market reports that there was a new Korean fabric company at market this year and when I saw this adorable little piggy print, I knew I had to have it. I also loved the sweet little wildflower print in pink, gray and mustard and had to have that too. The little piggies kill me though — I might have to make myself a top out of this fabric. I probably won’t put an Oink! label on my shirt though LOL.

SweetiePie reports that the piggies fit just right and that they look cute with a little pair of denim shorts. Just what I was hoping for!
Have a Happy Father’s Day Weekend!
XOXO,
Anna

Memory Quilts

31 Comments / January 7, 2018 January 9, 2018 / Family, Quilting

Sometime right before Thanksgiving, MyDadLovesMeBestSister and I were looking at a few things of BigDaddy’s and we decided (maybe in a fit of madness?) that we should make quilts from his shirts for his 5 grandchildren. We decided on a simple 4″ patch quilt pattern and spent a few weeks sorting and cutting. We worked away at our little project and by Thanksgiving, we had the quilt fronts all pieced. As the mother of 2/5ths of the grandchildren, I lucked out and only had to make 2 of the quilts.

I tried to compensateMyDadLovesMeBestSister for her extra work by piecing all the backs. BigDaddy was known for some of his funny sweatshirts, so we decided to include a few of each on the quilt backs. (My favorite was a shirt with a dog skeleton that said “In Dog Years … I’m Dead.” Or, “If a man is talking in the forest, and there is no woman there to hear him, is he still wrong?” Classic BigDaddy!) We chose a blue flannel for the main part of the backs, and I used my embroidery machine software to digitize BigDaddy’s signature with a message that he’d left on a card to one of the kids. We also included a pocket on the back of each quilt, and into each pocket we tucked a few treasures for each child (now young adults) from their beloved Grandpa.

I chose to big-stitch the two quilts that I had to finish, but MyDadLovesMeBestSister knew that she’d never get three quilts hand quilted, so she decided to tie hers. I love them both ways! I also bound my two quilts with a print from MeMum’s stash — to add a MeMum touch to the quilts, and I love how they turned out.

Quilts made out of shirts aren’t that fun to make and they’re certainly not at all pretty. I mentioned these quilts to Jan shortly before Christmas and she compared this sort of quilting to sewing on buttons or hemming pants. Indeed.

But. Sometimes the payoff is really BIG. MyDadLovesMeBestSister and I predicted that there might be some tears on Christmas morning and we nailed it. I had big plans to take lots of pictures of all the kids holding up their quilts, etc. but the flu wreaked havoc with the rest of the week. It didn’t matter though — I took a few photos when the quilts were opened. The one below is my favorite — you can see at least two criers in this shot and there were more to follow LOL. It was a really fun and special Christmas morning.

Now Christmas projects are all over and we’re at a new year. A clean slate. Are we working on UFO’s or new projects??? Decisions, Decisions!

XOXO,
Anna

P.S. The adorable Puppy Love fabric by Anita Jeram (the illustrator responsible for those darling little P.S. I Love You Rabbits!) has arrived in my etsy shop. It’s accompanied by an adorable minky-style plush puppy spot fabric. Oh, the possibilities!!!

Back from Break …

24 Comments / July 16, 2017 July 16, 2017 / Family, Holidays

Well Hey Hey! I’m back from our super fun trip out west. It was supposed to be all business (moving TheFirstChild and his cute little family to Utah for a year), but we had lots and lots of fun instead. The move went great — MyDadLovesMeBestSister, MeMum and I (along with Winston) drove the kids’ cars out without a hitch. No traffic, no construction, no mess! Winston was in my car the whole time and he was the perfect travel companion.

After the kids were pretty much moved in, we played. A Lot. Here are just a few of the highlights:

Horseback riding in the mountains (the mountains don’t look very big, but that’s because we’re already waaaay up there ;-D ) —

Checking out teeny little cemeteries for my ancestors. In all the times I’d been to the little town where my grandfather grew up, I’d never been to the cemetery. I found lots of ancestors — as far back as my g-g-g-g-g-grandmother who was born in 1780. I Love these old pioneer cemeteries — it’s so interesting to see the really old ones that don’t even have grass anymore. So many stories to tell.

A ridiculously fun 4th of July in MeMum and BigDaddy’s hometown. My very favorite place to be on the 4th — they have the perfect small-town gathering with activities ALL day long — starting with a pancake breakfast in the park and ending with fireworks at dusk. This little doll couldn’t have been more cute —

Three-legged races —

Potato Sack Races (MAN DOWN LOL!!!) —

Egg Toss —

Watermelon Bust —

Greased Pole — it used to be only the boys who loved to do it, but the girls are all in now too. That pole is VERY slippery — the objective is to grab the greasy flags at the top. Look at all those spotters there to protect the girls in case they slip and fall —

And just all-round fun ALL day with family that we don’t see very often. Being the only small child around, our little FinallyAGirl was very popular —

There was more fun after the 4th too. It was SUPER hot in the valley, so we escaped to the mountains and hiked to not-so-secret Cecret Lake (where we actually saw a skier on those glaciers — in July!) —

Saw the largest flying US flag, hanging in Pleasant Grove canyon —

And the day before I came home, we did a 5k in lavender fields (luckily we took cell-phone pictures because my camera settings were WAY off and the pictures didn’t turn out — ooops!) —

And now it’s back to real life. Going back to work was Hard. And Depressing. Thank goodness I can sew and quilt and spend too much time on the internet for distraction LOL.

Have a Great Week!
XOXO,
Anna

Whoosh!

24 Comments / April 9, 2017 April 9, 2017 / Family, Store

That’s the sound the last few weeks made as they flew by. Holy Cow, it’s been crazy here and I’m looking forward to Easter just to catch my breath!

Last weekend, we had a flyby driving trip to Dallas and then back a longer way through Oklahoma — I should maybe back up a little. A few months ago, TheSecondChild moved back home while he looked for a new job. That was around the time that MeMum had been sick with pneumonia, so when she got out of the hospital, we moved her in with us too. We have plenty of room for both of them, but their “buddies” made it a little extra interesting. MeMum brought her cat Sally (she’s made appearances on the blog before) and TheSecondChild brought his two cats with him. For those of you keeping count, that’s five cats (and according to Anne five too many LOL). That’s too many cats to referee!

Fast forward a few months and a lot of poop-scooping, and TheSecondChild found a great job back in his favorite town of Dallas, so we packed him and his kitties up and took a roadtrip. One 15-hour drive day, one unload the truck and drive to Oklahoma day, one quick visit with family and 5-hr drive with a fly-by to The Mercantile, and one 9-hr drive day back home. Whew! Before we left, we tried to get a Five Cat Family picture, but it was impossible. We were throwing treats here and there to get them all in one shot, but it was a no-go. Poor little Sally hates all the other cats, so she wouldn’t play at all. The other four aren’t all that crazy about each other either, so they weren’t exactly co-operating.

Here’s a shot with Scruff and two black cats.

And here are three black cats. They must have some rule that 4 cats couldn’t all be in the same picture at once.

Scruff was feeling very outnumbered — four all black cats and his little ol’ gray and white self LOL. Anyway, the trip was quick but a success — TheSecondChild now has his first week at the new job under his belt and it looks like it will be a success.

THEN, three days after we got back, our little cherub FinallyAGirl brought her parents for a 4-day visit. We had a great time — what a little doll! She wore us out though — she doesn’t sleep much and she goes a mile a minute. We had several days of pretty weather and we took her for her first wagon ride (in her daddy’s wagon ;-D) — she LOVED it!

I made her the little Pixie hat — the pattern is The Jovie Pixie Baby Bonnet. I made the largest size (and sized up the crochet hook by 2 sizes) and I won’t even tell you how many times it took me to get the right size — but it was lots of crocheting and ripping out and it may or may not have been more than three times! ;-D

And finally, in the middle of it all, lots of new fabric arrived in my little etsy shop. Lots of Atsuko Matsuyama prints from both Yuwa and Lecein …

and this super cute little kitty and macaron print from the Yuwa Live Life collection.

Ok, I’m tired and off to bed! I’m hoping to get caught up on blog reading this week — have a good one!
XOXO,
Anna