Holidays – Page 10 – Thimbleanna

A Ghastlie Night

38 Comments / August 3, 2011 August 7, 2011 / Holidays, Quilting

Wow — thanks so much for all of your wonderful comments about Dad. It was really fun to read them all. Dad was pretty excited that people on the other side of the world know that he had a birthday. Isn’t the internet an amazing thing?

After Dad’s birthday this weekend, the stars all aligned and I managed to sew. WooHoo! It felt SO good — I’d been having major Hester withdrawal. I HAD to sew — the new Ghastlies arrived and I was beside myself with excitement.

I mean — LOOK! It’s the long awaited knitting witches. I LOOOOVE them! I made the ghastlie quilts before the knitting witches were available. If I’d known there were going to be knitting witches, I would have waited to make the quilts. The only thing better would be quilting witches. (Hmmm, maybe that will be on the next line?)

Anyway, since the knitting witches aren’t in the quilts, I decided I’ll make some pillows to coordinate with the quilts. Well, ok, just one pillow for now. I did an envelope back with orange buttons and put a little ghastlie cat on the back. PaulKitty decided to pose for a picture with his new kitty buddy. Do you think they look alike?

I occasionally get questions about how I made the ghastlie quilts, so I made a page with some ghastlie quilt info. It’s not even close to step by step instructions, but hopefully the info will be helpful to anyone who would like to make their own ghastlie quilt.

I also had a lot of requests for the original ghastlie fabric but I didn’t have any. So, this time, I put some of the new ghastlie fabric, “a ghastlie night”, on my fun fabric page in the Thimbleanna store. (Update: The Ghastlies are all sold out — Thank you so much for your orders!) There are three main scenes in “a ghastlie night”, as shown below (the knitters, the Dr. and a big dinner table scene). I think I love this new print even more than the original one for quilt backs – the ghastlies are much more social this time around.

Now I can’t wait for Halloween to decorate — it’s just around the corner you know! ;-)

XOXO,
Anna

Happy Birthday Billy Collins!

19 Comments / March 22, 2011 March 22, 2011 / Chat, Holidays

Well . . . I had perfectly good intentions of posting a recipe for Randi’s Recipe Box Swap tonight, but this morning, The Writer’s Almanac arrived in my inbox and promptly announced that today is Billy Collin’s birthday. If you’ve been around here for awhile, you know what a huge Billy Collins fan I am, so, being that this is practically a national holiday and all, I just couldn’t let the day pass without a big Billy Collins Happy Birthday Wish. And I certainly couldn’t ask Dear Billy to share billing with my paltry pork chops, now could I?

No. that would NEVER do. So, the pork chops will have to wait a day or two, while we pause a moment or two to revel in all the beauty that is Billy Collins.

I’ve written about Billy Collins before, HERE and HERE. He’s written so many poems that I love that it’s hard to mention only a few. (My top two are noted on the previous posts). If you really want to reward yourself after a long, hard day, spend a few moments with a book of Billy Collins poetry. Preferably in a nice, hot, bubbly bath.

The Writer’s Almanac for today tells a bit about Billy Collin’s background. Here’s my favorite part: “He was an only child. Before he even knew how to read he would page through books and pretend that he was reading whenever his parents had company. He said, “I would say it was a fairly happy childhood. But they say he who says that is just better at repressing things.”” He has such a wonderful sense of humor, which is certainly why I love his poetry.

The Writer’s Almanac also included his poem Forgetfulness, which you can listen to him read here:

If you happen to live in or near Long Beach, you’re a lucky duck. The Carpenter Center will be hosting an evening with Billy Collins on May 21st, 2011. The cost is a meager $35 and based on past experience, it will be worth every. single. penny!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILLY COLLINS!!! May we never forget your name!
XOXO,
Anna

P.S. If you’re interested in The Quilter’s Bible, don’t forget to sign up for the drawing HERE. I also forgot to mention that the book was originally published in the U.K., so, if you’re in the U.K., even though you’re not eligible for this drawing, you should easily be able to find the book.

Gingerbread Houses 2010

44 Comments / January 3, 2011 December 29, 2011 / Family, Gingerbread Houses, Holidays

Whew! I hope you all had a wonderful New Year’s weekend. It sure whizzed by quickly — in fact the whole Christmas break is just a blur to me. As much fun as it was, I’m thinking it will be good to get back into a routine. Thanks for all your fun comments on my blogiversary giveaway (if you missed it, the drawing is still open until Jan. 7th, just go HERE.) It’s been really fun reading all of the comments, especially from those of you who are just discovering blogs. There are so many wonderful blogs out there — prepare to be inspired!

Anyway, lots of you mentioned the annual gingerbread competition. You’re all so cute — thanks for being interested! I’m sorry I made you wait so long, there just hasn’t been any time to go through the pictures. I didn’t think we were as inspired as last year, but we still had lots of fun. So, let’s get to it!

Team 1 was supposed to be MeMum, CuteNiece1 and TheSecondChild, but TheSecondChild had to work late on the 23rd, so he wasn’t able to come home until the morning of the 24th. We jokingly refer to this group as our crazies and we laughed that the team draw put them all together. I think they had big plans to make a psych ward, but somehow that changed when TheSecondChild couldn’t make it.

We had a CuteFriend of the boys’ stand in for TheSecondChild at the last minute. CuteNiece2 was working late so CuteFriend and MeMum started building the house. CuteFriend had never built houses with us before and as he was constructing the house, MeMum was often heard to utter “just wing it”. They were having a terrible time and when CuteNiece2 arrived, she rolled up her sleeves to get things straightened out, but by then, CuteFriend was also saying “just wing it”. Sadly, “just wing it” wasn’t terribly effective and their house collapsed and they threw in the towel.

Team 2 surprised us with an adorable American Eagle house in honor of CuteNephew’s new job at our local American Eagle store. He and SweetiePie made a wonderful team and they did a great job. They left a roof off so that the inside of the store could be seen with all the clothes and mirrors. I love all the special touches on this house – especially the swirly frosting. Very, very cute!

Team 3 was TheManoftheHouse and me. We did a camera shop and didn’t even manage to finish our house. We wanted to put lots more frosting on the front and back and a line of kids waiting for Santa photos, but I spent most of the first hour fixing bad frosting bags for everyone (note to self: use plastic bags next year). While the initial construction on our house was drying, TheManoftheHouse was busy building that adorable little camera on a tripod.

Team 4 was CrazyBIL, TheFirstChild and BigDaddy. Their house started out looking suspiciously like last year’s house and when BigDaddy was spotted making a sleigh, someone asked them what they were making. CrazyBIL said a Sleigh Wash and we all started laughing. It WAS just like last year’s house. The funny thing is, before we all started, the three of them discussed whether a sleigh wash had ever been done, and none of them could remember one. After that discovery, they changed course and made people going into the sleigh wash or something or other. There was serious cheating going on when they ripped off a big hunk of cotton from my nearby snow village scene and used it for smoke coming out of the chimney.

Team 5 was MyDadLovesMeBestSister and CuteNiece2. They made a super cute art studio and I can’t believe I didn’t manage to get a good shot of the front of the house. Look at those adorable little topiaries that MDLMBS made from Lindor truffles and Reese’s peanut butter cups. Those were my favorite touch from all the houses. Followed closely by the cute little pretzel easels featuring Christmas art work. Oh So Clever!!! They left the roof off of their house too (ok, it might have kept falling off) and it made for perfect views into the arteeeest studio.

And the winner by votes? The Camera Shop. I’m thinking it was either a sympathy vote because we ran out of time or because everyone loved the little tripod camera. We gave the prizes (movie tickets) to the runner up team — SweetiePie and CuteNephew.

So, there you have it. We’re all running out of ideas for houses, so hopefully it won’t be even more downhill from here!

XOXO,
Anna

That was Fast!

31 Comments / December 28, 2010 February 22, 2011 / Holidays

Well Hello There! Just popping in to check on your Christmas. I hope it was wonderful — ours was fabulous. MyDadLovesMeBestSister and CrazyBIL hosted this year and we had a ton of fun. Remember this little bundle who was the star of the show last year?

Well, he still managed to be the center of attention for much of this year. He’s a big baby and he was in the middle of everything. He kept us entertained during the down times.

Which were almost never. We ate, opened presents, ate, opened more presents, ate even more and played some really fun games. We downloaded a free one-hour trial version of family feud and projected it onto the wall. It was SO much fun — I’m definitely planning on buying it for next year. Our family splits up perfectly — MyDadLovesMeBestSister has 2 girls and a boy, and with SweetiePie, we have 2 boys and a girl. Perfect family teams of six each when we added MeMum and BigDaddy to the teams. I’m proud to say that the Thimbleanna family whomped up on the CrazyBIL family. As it should be.

After the one-hour trial (which was really longer than an hour) was up, we played Catch Phrase. For those of you who don’t know Catch Phrase, you have this little disk that you pass around a circle of people. As each person gets the disk, a word or phrase appears on the little disk, and it’s that person’s job to get their team members to guess the word by giving hints, but without actually saying the word or phrase. This time we played girls against boys — again, we have a perfect split of 6 on each team. We laughed hysterically at a lot of the word descriptions. The most memorable was when CuteNephew and TheFirstChild had us on the floor because CuteNephew couldn’t get his team to guess “Break the Ice” by describing a hammer and frozen lake. So he moved on to the dating version of the phrase and it went downhill from there. The guys were just funny in general — time always seemed to run out on TheSecondChild, no matter where he sat — and BigDaddy would get frustrated that his team wasn’t getting the word, so with no warning, he’d just calmly blurt out the word and pass the disk on. Anyway, the girls won! Again — as it should be LOL!

So, it’s all over for another year. I didn’t touch a computer for four days and it was heavenly, although, I’m having withdrawal symptoms now. Time to do some reading. Oh, and the Gingerbread Houses were lots of fun too and as soon as I quit being lazy, I’ll get to those pictures. But first there will be the little matter of a blogiversary. I’m off to figure it out!

XOXO,
Anna

Let the Magic Begin

34 Comments / December 23, 2010 February 22, 2011 / Holidays

Christmas Cookies for Breakfast! Yuuummmm — it truly IS the most wonderful time of the year.

The house is all quiet now — SweetiePie and the boys haven’t arrived yet, and TheManoftheHouse is out running Christmas errands, so I thought I’d sneak in a quick visit here in ThimbleannaLand. We only managed to get four of our standard Christmas Cookies baked this year — Lemon Gems, Raisin Filled, Grandma Hill’s Browned Butter, and the we-can’t-live-without-cookie, Angel Slices. MyDadLovesMeBestSister is baking the cut-out sugar cookies as we speak and we’ll decorate them tonight. I’m hoping to sneak in some quick shortbread cookies tomorrow morning — just in time for Santa.

And, guess what else we’ll be doing tonight?

Yipee — the annual Family Gingerbread House Competition! The teams have been drawn and there’s been some advanced planning. Late last night, while sitting in the glow of the Spaceship Christmas Tree, I was reading over the gingerbread competition re-cap from last year. It’s hard to see how we’ll top the last few years, but I’m really excited to see what everyone dreams up!

Ok, time’s up! Wishing you the Very Merriest Christmas! I hope you all have a holiday filled with family and friends, love and laughter, and LOTS of magic!

XOXO,
Anna