Sewing – Page 15 – Thimbleanna

Moving Right Along

32 Comments / December 15, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Chat, Sewing

Well, how did the weekend go? Did you all get tons of stuff done? My holiday mojo finally kicked in and I got all my decorating done (well, sort of, I scaled back a bit this year) and half of my shopping done. I even had time to help MeMum and BigDaddy with their big Christmas tree. It was lots of fun, although they probably didn’t think I was having fun — I’m pretty slow stringing those lights and it’s not real fun up on the ladder. But, we finished the tree and it’s very pretty!

In between the decorating, I squeezed out a little smock apron for my MIL.

It’s very similar to the one I made for my Aunt last summer. These smock aprons are so comfy and they cover lots of area for sloppy cooks like me — I need to make some for myself!

Also, on Saturday, after a looooong day of shopping, I was super happy to find a Straight, No Chaser special on PBS. If you don’t know about them, they’re a men’s acapella group that met at Indiana University about 10 years ago. They became “famous” on the internet a year or two ago where an exec at Atlantic Records found them and they’ve now made an album (or two.)

You can go here to play a video clip of them singing The Twelve Days of Christmas the song that made them famous. (I sure wish the embed command at YouTube would work with wordpress!) The video clip isn’t the greatest quality and certainly doesn’t do them justice, but it gives you an idea of what they’re all about, if you’ve never heard of them.

Anyway, it was a 90-minute special, well worth the watching. If you’re a Straight, No Chaser fan, I’m sure PBS will repeat it again before the holidays are over (it repeats on Christmas Eve in our area).

Ok…off to bed! Hope you have a great week — fun times are just around the corner!

XOXO,
Anna

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

Random Chit-Chat

33 Comments / August 25, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Chat, Sewing

Thanks for all the birthday love for MeMum and TheFirstChild! BigBoy’s present from SweetiePie was a skydiving adventure with her and four of his friends. They sat around the air field all day on Saturday, but the weather was bad so, they decided to try again on Sunday morning. At 10:57 a.m. on Sunday I sent SweetiePie this text message: “Well? Are we having any luck?” At 12:13 p.m. she replied with “We just landed!!! That was F—ing amazing! Will call in a bit!” SweetiePie never swears, so to get a “F” and three dashes means it was pretty darn incredible!

Remember when Toni sent me some Vegemite? Well I finally got around to trying it. Just like everyone said — with toast and some butter. The good news is I didn’t hate it. The bad news is I didn’t love it. It must be an acquired taste and I probably didn’t love it because I expect something sweet on my toast. It was definitely fun to try it out though — thanks again Toni!

The Very Cool Penny has decided enough is enough. She wants Free Spirit Fabrics to start printing their Flea Market Fancy line again, so she’s started a blog that will act as a petition of sorts and a place to share the Flea Market Fancy love. So, if you’re a Flea Market Fancy Lover, run over to the new Flea Market Fancy Freaks blog, sign up and share the Love with us!

Did you know that The Vintage Workshop has a new blog? I love their clipart for craft projects. If I were smart, I’d wait until September 1st to tell you about them so that you won’t know about their very cool fabric giveaway. But you know I love you, so there ya go.

The Little Red Hen posted an interesting way to quilt fabric with the decorative stitches on her machine. I decided to give it a whirl on some potholders that I made for a friend, and I LOVED it! I used a simple wavy stitch and I’ll definitely be quilting that way again. (Embroidery design from embroidery library.)

Shutter Sisters had an interesting post about Aha Moments the other day, probably just as I was having a huge Aha Moment of my own. But not in a good way. Fortunately, I have my beloved Hester and I can retreat to the dungeon to do a lot of little mending.

And last but by no means least, Don’t Look Now (haha), but ….well, Kellie is having a FANTASTIC giveaway. RUN over there and sign up!!!

Whew! That’s it — thanks for hanging in there. Hope you’re having a good week!

XOXO,
Anna

Oh, p.s. — my e-mailbox filled up on Monday night, so I missed responding to a few of your comments from the last post. Sorry — I’ll catch you next time!

A Little Machine Embroidery

43 Comments / August 19, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Sewing

I’ve been playing with my embroidery machine a little bit. A week or so ago, a friend brought me some fabric and asked me if I’d embroider a monogram on some fabric for her. Even though I’ve learned to say no to some requests (when I was younger, I didn’t know how to say no, but MeMum taught me how to gently decline some of those gracious “offers”), I’ll never be able to repay this friend’s kindnesses to my boys, so I gladly accepted.

My friend is re-doing her daughter’s room and has purchased a little 2-seat ice cream set for one corner of the room. Several years ago, I monogrammed the seat backs for our ice cream set and she wanted to duplicate the look.

Our ice cream set sits in the corner of our sun porch. Doesn’t that adorable quilt that Toni sent me look cute hanging there with “She likes to Nap”? (It’s true — I Love to Nap!)

Thank you again Toni — I had an ugly wreath hanging there and your quilt is just what that corner needed!

Now…here’s to a happy slide into the weekend for all of you!

XOXO,
Anna

(P.S. Some technical info for those of you with embroidery machines: these letters come from the Arabesque Monogram Set at Embroidery Arts. I love Embroidery Arts monograms — they’re beautifully digitized. I doubled the letter size with my Easy Sizer software. Easy Sizer is a product of Echidna Sewing (an Australian company) and if you don’t have good re-sizing software, this company can’t be beat. I looked on their website and didn’t see the Easy Sizer software, they may have sold out to another company by now, but I’m sure an e-mail to them would get some answers. Years ago, I read on a Yahoo board that they were the best sizing software available and that certainly has been true for me. My Viking sizing software can’t handle increases more than about 50%.)

A New Apron

59 Comments / August 12, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Sewing

Thanks for all your compliments on my sleek, humid, stickpeople look! All that weather talk put a pox upon us — the day after I blogged about how hot and humid it was, the A/C went out. Thankfully, we were only two days without cool air, and it really wasn’t too bad. A little sweaty, but doable.

In the meantime, I worked on an apron pattern that I picked up when I was in Utah. I saw this fabric in several of the stores and liked it, but couldn’t think of what to make with it. Then, when we were at our last shop with Kim, I spotted an apron pattern that I liked, so the match was made.

This is a really fun apron to wear. And because I finished reading Precious Bane (Yum!) this weekend and I can imagine our heroine, Prue Sarn, wearing just such an apron (minus the bright colors, of course), I’m thinking maybe I’ll call this apron my Prue Frock. So far, I’ve worn it cleaning and those big pockets are just perfect for all the little odds and ends that I picked up as I moved from one room to the next.

The pattern is pictured below. It’s the Lilly Apron by Busy Bee Quilt Designs. I made the band that sits on top of the bust just a bit narrower and moved the pockets just a bit closer to the center. It’s open in the back and that “bust band” ties in a big bow in the back. It probably looks a little funny, but that’s okay, it’s soooo comfortable. And of course, I didn’t want to overshadow the pattern model with my new frock hotness, so I hung it on MyDadLovesMeBestSister’s planter instead of modeling it.

Oooh, and see my new little pincushion plate? I saw those in several quilt shops in Utah too and had to have one. It adds just a bit of elegance to the dungeon. A chandelier and a pedestal pincusion — gosh, I need a diamond to complete the sparkly trinity. (In my dreams!)

XOXO,
Anna