Holidays – Page 13 – Thimbleanna

An Advent Calendar

73 Comments / November 30, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Holidays, Sewing

Whew! December is here. Can you believe it??? I have big plans for a relaxed holiday season this year. (Ha!) No last minute rushing around. I’m not really making any gifts this year (I might make one or two little things), so that will help. One thing I’ve always wanted to make is an advent calendar. TheManoftheHouse thinks it’s heresy to have anything other than those cute little German Advent calendars that have a piece of chocolate behind each door. That’s what we always had when the boys were little because I didn’t get my act together back then and make a homemade advent calendar. Since I don’t have much to make this year, I thought it would be a good year to finally make one.

Better late than never, and this way, I’ll be ready for Grandkids, right? I couldn’t decide if I wanted an advent calendar with little doors, or to just wrap up gifts and put numbers on them. I’m pretty sure I won’t go the gift route, but I do like the idea of having a little chocolate or an activity to do together in each pocket. So, I compromised on medium sized pockets so that I’ll have a little flexibility in the future.

I used Monica’s Pennie Pocket pattern — omitting the hanging tie and opting to fold over the back triangle in order to make a channel that will allow for hanging. Like the Valentine pockets I did in February, I used felt for the front flap and crocheted around the edges. I also embroidered the numbers on the flaps using my embroidery machine. I haven’t quite decided how I’ll want to hang them. I thought of several options…in rows on a wall,

strung along a fireplace or a window,

or running up our staircase. For this year, I think the staircase will win out.

Do you like the little numbers?

For those of you with embroidery machines who might like to make an advent calendar, I’ve packaged those 24 numbers into a downloadable zip file (the numbers would work on all sorts of advent calendars – even just plain little pockets). They’re currently only in .hus format — I don’t have the time or the software to convert all those numbers into all the different embroidery machine formats. Hopefully you have the software to convert to your format. And, as always, if you use them for anything, let me know — I’d love to see what you make!

XOXO,
Anna

Happy Thanksgiving!

48 Comments / November 26, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Holidays

I thought I’d just pop in here while I take a break from all the Thanksgiving festivities. The pies have been made,

the linens have been ironed,

and the table has been set

with one of my favorite projects ever, the Give Thanks tablecloth. (It’s a project from a Better Homes and Gardens magazine from 4 or 5 years ago — “Give Thanks” and maple leaves are repeated along all the borders of the tablecloth.)

Now, I’m just waiting for the big bird to cook and the family to arrive.

If you’re in the US, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving this year and that you’re fortunate enough to spend it with family and friends!

XOXO,
Anna

And P.S. — when you’re trying to figure out what to do with all those leftovers, don’t forget the Turkey Cranberry Crescent Pinwheels!

Monsters

51 Comments / October 13, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Holidays, Recipes

Holy Cow! Can any of you explain where this month is going? We’re almost half-way through the month already. How depressing — I have a bunch of Halloween projects I’d like to do and there’s no way I’ll get to them. Maybe I should just throw in the towel and move on to C-C-C-nope, I just can’t say it. Sadly, I guess I’ll just wrap some of those UFOs back up until next year. I wish I could remember how many years I’ve unpacked them, missed the deadline and then packed them back up. ??? It’s a sickness!

I meant to post last night but I was busy making a few Halloween snacks. Our public school system has a voluntary tutoring program where they partner with local businesses that provide tutors. Once a week they bus kids to our workplace and we have an hour to work with them. Today was my day to bring snacks.

Fortunately, the awesome Rachel at OnePrettyThing posted these Rice Krispy Monster Cookies from Woman’s Day last week. I had started to wonder what I would bring for my snack day and when I saw these, I knew they were perfect.

If you remember, I’ve mentioned here before that Rice Krispy snacks are one of my all time favorites. And smear icing all over them? H.E.A.V.E.N! Mmm…mmmm. They were yummy.

I have the cutest little guy for my study partner. We always get our snacks right after the children arrive and then we study while we snack. The snacks are usually healthy, but we agreed that once a month, we’d relax the rules a little and have something a little more fun. It was really fun watching my little guy munch on his monster while he read me his homework about Christopher Columbus.

If you have a Halloween snack need this month, these are really fun and easy. They’re a little unruly though. They squirm a lot when being stuffed into their little bags — you have to be careful … if you bump their scar, they bleed all over. And we had one escapee. I put them in the refrigerator last night and apparently he jumped out. We found him tucked into the back of the fridge when we got home last night. He only avoided his demise an extra few hours. ;-)

XOXO,
Anna

Happy July 4th!

49 Comments / July 4, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Cupcakes, Holidays

For those of you in the US, Happy Independence Day! We’re off to our neighbor’s house for our annual cookout where we play games and eat, eat, eat. We’ll toss eggs (in the rain), play cornhole (in the rain), hula-hoop (in the rain) and I have a secret new game for the kids — I froze some t-shirts and the first one to get their frozen t-shirt on will win a movie ticket. (Have you ever tried to unpeel frozen fabric??? – the rain will be their friend!) There will be lots of food — we’re taking baked beans, spaghetti salad, and of course, cupcakes!

Happy, Happy Weekend!
XOXO,
Anna

Edited to add: OHMYGOSH! If you’ve never played the frozen t-shirt game you should try it. Take some t-shirts (I found some at Menards for $1.99 each), get them wet, fold them like you’d put them in a dresser, and then freeze them. Then, when you have a bunch of people together, hand them out and make it a race. The first one to get that frozen shirt on wins a prize. We had the best time. Before I even had my instructions out, TheSecondChild was running into the house to throw his in the microwave. My niece was right behind him, and ran to the sink to cover hers with hot water. TheFirstChild ran out onto the wet grass and was on his hands and knees, rubbing that t-shirt back and forth in the grass trying to get it to thaw. The other five participants were doing all sorts of other tricks like sitting on them, squeezing them and prying them apart. They all said when they did get them on, it was freezing cold. It was HYSTERICAL! Highly recommended for a LOT of laughs!!!

Memorial Day 2009

41 Comments / May 25, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Holidays

In the US today, it’s Memorial Day — the day we remember those who serve our country and have given their lives for our freedom. A year or two ago, a group of people at work started a new tradition. Employees can buy small flags to honor someone they want to remember. One day before Memorial Day, employees gather during lunch hour and place the flags in rows on a hill outside of our building.

The flags cost $1 each and all the money is given to our local Veteran’s Hospital. They were hoping to raise $2500 this year, but when they presented the check to the hospital, it was for $3500! I think this is such a cool thing to do, and it reminds us, as employees, to pause and reflect on the importance of Memorial Day.

If you’re an American, I hope you’re doing something special to commemorate the day. (I love this link, if you need any suggestions. ;-) )

XOXO,
Anna