Sewing – Thimbleanna

Little Pinky the Third

7 Comments / November 28, 2022 December 1, 2022 / Quilting, Sewing

Well, hey — I made it back before spring LOL. All the usual excuses and a busy fall. And, boy, was it a beautiful fall here. It’s just barely getting cold now, and on a sunny day, it’s still pretty nice outside. I’ve been busy sewing and playing with the grandbabies — lots of fall school activities which have been really fun. Plus, I stayed with the girls while their parents had a week’s getaway in October. It almost killed me but it sure was fun and I loved every minute of it. And then I slept for two days when it was over LOL. Oh, and TheManoftheHouse had his right shoulder replaced in early October — that was NOT fun, poor guy. It’s a pretty painful recovery, but he’s doing well now. It creeps me out to even think about it.

Since I posted about FinallyAGirl’s birthday dress last time, I thought I should post the birthday dresses for the littlest two cherubs. (Excuse the poor cell-phone photos!)

FinallyAnotherGirl (on the left) turned 4 in September, so I made her a little fall dress. The pattern is the Back-to-School free dress pattern from Classic Sewing Magazine and the fabric is Belle and Boo’s Autumn Ditsy. I worried about making a seasonal dress that wouldn’t get much wear, but she wore it a lot (Grandparents Day and Thanksgiving among them), so it was well worth it. HurrayAThirdGirl turned 3 this past weekend, so I made her the Wiksten Baby + Child Smock Dress out of a cute little floral print by My Mind’s Eye. The girls all love pockets and the smock pockets are big enough for her beloved little babies. ;-D

But enough of the fall chit-chat, because …….. TA-DA:

I’ve finished HurrayAThirdGirl’s baby quilt! Better late than never!

I LOVED every minute of making this quilt. This is the first lone star quilt I’ve ever made and I was a little worried that it would be really time consuming, but the star went together more quickly than I expected. I used the method outlined in The Lone Star Quilt Handbook by Blanche and Helen Young. It’s an old book that I’ve had in my stash for years, but surprisingly you can still get a copy on Amazon. I got the Star pieced along with the background fabric behind the star, but I didn’t have enough of the little Le Creme Swiss Dot background for the borders, so I had to order some more and wait awhile until it got here.

When it arrived, I finished the borders and then, I took it outside to baste it on the driveway (because it was during the time when I forgot we have a basting frame {doh!}) and LOOK what the sunlight showed! Can you see it?

Ohmygosh! LOOK at the difference in the dye lots of the background fabrics. The older Le Creme dot fabric was more yellow. The astounding thing was that when the quilt was in the house, you couldn’t see the difference at all — the first picture was taken inside and the second picture was taken outside. What a difference sunlight makes. Or maybe it just doesn’t say much for the quality of the lighting in our house! Anyway, I was having a cow and briefly thought I’d just go ahead and quilt it like that, but I just couldn’t do it. I knew I’d never be happy with the quilt like that. I suppose I could have told SweetiePie that the quilt could never see the light of day haha. Anyway, I spent a few days, carefully unpicking each of those eight background sections by the star points and then replacing them with the new fabric, one section at a time so the whole thing didn’t fall apart. Then, in the summer, I put the quilt on the quilt frame and spent most nights for the next 2-3 months quilting. And just like the piecing, I loved every minute of quilting this quilt. Here’s a picture of the ceremonial last stitch.

The fabrics in the quilt were all from the stash (well, except for the new dots LOL) and I used a little pink and white baby print from the stash for the backing.

I debated how to quilt the star points — most of the quilts I looked at online quilted through the middle of the points. I briefly considered that, but then opted for quarter inch quilting around each diamond, which took a lot longer. I’m so glad I did though, ’cause I love the result.

This is the third of my little pink baby quilts and I loved making each one of them. I didn’t mean for the last quilt to be so much bigger than the other two — it just happened. I guess, if you have to wait so long for your baby quilt, you get a little extra prize. ;-D SweetiePie noticed that the star quilt is bigger, with more quilting, and she thought maybe it was the difference between working and being retired. But, I was retired when I finished the smallest quilt too. I just picked what I wanted to make in each case, and this is how they turned out! The family reunion shots:

And here’s our little sweetheart in the bright sun, noticing the flowers on her new quilt.

It’s such a nice feeling to have their baby quilts all finished! Whatever will I do with all my time now haha? I guess I should start thinking about their wedding quilts.

XOXO,
Anna

Summer Zipped By …

10 Comments / September 24, 2022 September 24, 2022 / Chat, Sewing, Travel

Well, here we are. Fall Already. I have NO idea what happened to summer. It came and it went. Life spins by exponentially as you get older, I’ve decided. I seem to remember it was a mostly fun summer and not too miserably hot. But what do I know … I stay inside and sew a lot LOL.

We have had a fun summer with our cutie patootie little granddaughters. We had cookie baking, tea parties, lots of coloring, ice cream, homemade funnel cakes, sleepovers, star gazing on quilts, and one afternoon we even had HurrayAThirdGirl all to ourselves.

What a joy they all are! I find myself wishing they could stay little forever, but then I get excited to see how their little personalities will develop. I used to be so sad that I didn’t have any little girls of my own, but I think this is the way to do it — I’m loving these little girls SO much and I don’t think I would have had time to really enjoy them as a mother!

There’s been a fair bit of travel this summer. TheSecondChild decided to move to Florida in July, so I had several trips helping him with the move. I didn’t know much about Florida, having only been there for the standard Disney World trip when the boys were little, but I loved it. Even though it was hotter than hades, and moving is hard, we had a great time. One weekend, we snuck away to Key West for a little getaway. I’ve always wanted to go and see Ernest Hemingway’s home and it was the highlight of the visit. Here’s the famous author’s desk:

And, as expected, there were cats everywhere.

I had previously also been blissfully unaware of the iguana situation in Florida. I felt like I saw an iguana almost every day — they’re like squirrels. This was poolside at our hotel in Key West. Swim with a rooster and iguana anyone???

Someone even told me that they climb trees and if/when the temps get below freezing, they temporarily freeze (because they’re cold blooded) and fall out of the trees. Maybe on your head if you’re walking by. Ewwwww! One day, back in the mainland, we were in the drive-thru line at Wendy’s and I looked over to see this:

Needless to say, I became a little iguana obsessed LOL.

There’s also been a lot of sewing over the summer. I made a little dress for FinallyAGirl’s birthday at the beginning of the summer.

The pattern is Ginger from The Children’s Corner store, and the fabric is the cute Children of Liberty print in my little shop.
I also FINALLY finished the hand piecing on my Trip Around the World quilt. I think I finished with 42 rounds and it should be a double size quilt when finished. This is a picture of the back, right after I finished the last round.

It took me TWO weeks, working a few hours a day while watching tv, to get those seams ironed down in the right order. That was a job! I’ve also been steadily hand-quilting away on HurrayAThirdGirl’s baby quilt (it’s late haha) — I’m about half-way through at this point and hoping to be done by the end of November. There are also some Christmas quilt tops that are almost done, but they will have to wait for another post.

Which at this rate, may be in the spring LOL.

Happy Fall!
XOXO,
Anna

Tonie Bags

4 Comments / December 27, 2021 December 27, 2021 / Holidays, Sewing

Ohmygosh! It came and it went. And it’s over so quickly! It all happened so fast, I didn’t even have time to hop on and post my traditional Christmas morning breakfast. I did take the picture, just didn’t get it to the computer. So Sad.

Nothing new really. Just the traditional big three cookies — Angel Slices, Sugar Cookies and Grandma’s Brown Butter Cookies. This year I added Snickerdoodles to the mix because TheManoftheHouse loves them, although I don’t really consider them a Christmas cookie. Darn, I should have used red sugar — maybe that would have made them more festive. And, once again, I didn’t get caramels made. I love to make them, but oh, how we don’t need them! Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We had our whole family here and we had a great time — we’re so lucky to have such a fun group of kids to play with!

There was also some sewing this year. My favorite project was the last minute bags that I made for the grandbabies. About 3 weeks before Christmas, I was discussing Christmas gifts with another Grandma friend and I asked her if she had any great ideas. She said her grandkids’ other grandmother had bought her grandson a Tonie Box but the oldest granddaughter loved it so much that she was using it all the time. So, I decided to investigate, and we ended up getting them for the girls. They’re sweet little devices that play stories and songs — all audio, no video. I think they’ll be amazing for bedtime. Anyway, I decided to make them each a little carrying case for their boxes and the little “tonie” characters that are used to play the stories and songs. I raided my stash of story fabrics and started piecing.

It was so fun to choose all the fabrics, but I was in a hurry (by now it was only a few days before Christmas) so the stitching seemed a little tedious. I tried to get all the characters for the tonies that I gave them. I think I was successful with the exception of Peppa Pig.

Each tonie comes with a little piece of paper that lists the stories/songs on that tonie, so I put a little pocket on the inside of the lid where those papers can be stored. I’m sure they’ll get lost though LOL. (Hopefully the tonies won’t get lost or end up at the bottom of a toy box!)

The boxes are all the same except for the binding color. I also embroidered each of their names on the front of the lid, just above the handle. Just to be sure there’s no arguing over who owns each bag ;-D.

So, that’s it for the Tonie Bags! I also made one other project for a gift, but I’ll save that for next time.
XOXO,
Anna

Summertime

8 Comments / June 21, 2021 June 21, 2021 / Chat, Sewing, Travel

Wow. I can’t believe summer is here and almost half of this year has gone by already. Spring came and went in a flash and I’ve been remiss in posting, but we’ve been having lots of fun here in ThimbleannaLand.

There’s been lots of sewing, which is good — it keeps me happy! I made this fun little Cute as a Button bag from a pattern published by Zakka Workshop.

I also used another print of that cute Belle and Boo fabric to make a beach bag using the free pattern from Polkadot Chair. (Now I just need a beach vacation LOL.)

Most of my sewing this spring involved machine quilting this big quilt. I think it’s about 90″ x 98″ or something like that, so it took about 6 weeks for me to get it quilted. It’s all done now (except for a label) but I can’t show it until it’s gifted, which will be in a few months.

And lastly, I made a cute little dress for FinallyAGirl, who, unbelievably, turns 5 years old today. I’m in denial — she can’t be that old yet! The pattern is “The Skipper” from Merchant & Mills and this is the second time I’ve made it for her. She loved the first one so much, but it’s almost too little for her now, so I thought I’d make her another one. As you can see, this one is a bit big (it’s a size 5), but that’s good — hopefully it will carry her through the school year. Both dresses were made out of Rifle Paper Co. rayon — the first dress was a different floral though.

It hasn’t only been sewing around here though. There has been lots of fun with the babies. I went every weekday for six weeks to swimming lessons with the girls. Or, really, I would call them survival lessons in the water. Each of the three girls had 10 minutes a day with the instructor and it was amazing to see their progress. The oldest two went from not wanting to get their faces wet to swimming and jumping in the pool. And the baby learned how to float. The instructor would flip her underwater (which is disorienting) and she would always come up and float. For graduation, they have to swim (or float in the case of the baby) in winter clothing. Here’s a picture of the two youngest in their snowsuits.

I was really surprised that the baby’s snowsuit episode was done with glasses, patch and contact but the objective is to simulate if they were to fall into water fully dressed. And I think the two-year-old is giving me the stinkeye in that picture LOL. Anyway, highly recommended swim lessons!

Also, a few weekends ago, TheSecondChild and I had a little weekend hiking getaway to the upper peninsula of Michigan. We spent an afternoon on Mackinaw Island riding bikes. Luckily, tourist season was just barely starting — we had the ferry to the island all to ourselves, but the return trip was full. I can’t imagine how crowded it must be in the summer. We were there at the perfect time too — there were lilac bushes all over the island that were in full bloom — Sooo Beautiful!!!

The second day in the UP, we made a quick stop to see the bears at Oswald’s Bear Ranch. We were worried that it would be a bit Tiger King-ish, but it was pretty interesting and they seemed to be taking good care of the bears. My least favorite part was watching people get their pictures taken with the bear cubs — it definitely seemed exploitative and cheesy, but I guess they have to pay the bills. {Sigh.} It was worth the stop though and I’d recommend it if you’re in the area.

The rest of the day we took a 10 1/2 mile hike in Pictured Rocks National Seashore. It was beautiful and the weather was perfect. And, I suppose, for posterity, I should note that halfway through the hike I tripped on a tree root and face-planted on the trail. The mouthful of sand, bloody forehead and scratched glasses weren’t pretty, but it is kinda funny. I was just glad not to have broken anything LOL.

Soooo, if you stuck it out this long, Thank You! It’s been a fun spring and I’m looking forward to summer. I’m hoping to spend lots of time with these yayhoos and maybe get back here a little more often.

Happy Summer!

XOXO,
Anna

Home Sweet Home Sewing Book Tour

5 Comments / November 12, 2020 November 12, 2020 / Sewing

Hello! Is everyone hanging in out there? Boy, it’s been a wild ride this year hasn’t it? I’m SO thankful we have our sewing and knitting to keep our hands busy so that we don’t implode from all the excitement. Especially if we live in places that are locked down — no one is making fun of my fabric stash now LOL!

Anyway, today is my day on the Home Sweet Home Sewing book tour. This is a wonderful new book by Helen Philipps and Tuva Publishing and it’s chock full of fun projects to keep us busy. I was so excited when my book arrived — I flipped through the pages and quickly decided to make some cute little pretty patchwork drawstring bags. They’re super fun to make and if you’re a fussy-cutting fan like I am, this is a great pattern.

I knew right away I would want to fussy cut some of the cute Belle and Boo fabrics that I’ve started carrying in my shop. The ballet print seemed perfect and I think this will be a fun little gift bag for one of my granddaughters. The pink fabrics, ric rac and ribbon all came from my stash and the blue fabric is the Wiltshire print in the cornflower colorway from the Wiltshire Shadow Collection by Liberty. (I love those Wiltshire prints — they make such great coordinates.) I also added a little bunny stamp at the bottom of the bag — just for fun.

I originally planned to make just one bag, but it was so fun and quick, I decided to make another one. This pattern is perfect for charm square packs, so I popped open a pack from the Swell Christmas fabric line by Urban Chiks. Everything for this patchwork bag came from my stash — most of it leftover from when I made these Christmas quilts two years ago.

I think these little bags will make great gift bags. Helen’s instructions are easy to follow and the photos are beautiful. And, this book is chock full of fun projects — quilts, pillows, coasters, ornaments — it’s a long list! You can see more of the projects if you check out the #homesweethomesewing hashtag on Instagram – the book tour isn’t over yet, so more pretty projects are popping up every day.

Thank You so much Helen and Tuva Publishing for inviting me to participate in the book tour. This is a beautiful book that will be a great addition to any quilter’s library!

Have a Great Week!
XOXO,
Anna