Sewing – Page 19 – Thimbleanna

Goofy Bags

52 Comments / July 24, 2008 February 18, 2011 / How-To, Sewing

Last weekend, when I decided to make a pit-stop into Clementine’s, I knew the girls would be feeding me goodies and therefore I wanted to make a little treat for them. Because it was a last-minute decision, I decided to make them some little bags like the Cousin Bags that I made for my cousins last year. I didn’t have time to come up with a fun new idea, so I stuck with the same ol’ cousin formula.

And ever since I made those cousin bags, I’ll occasionally get questions about how I made them. Poor Sharon even got tired of waiting on me to come up with some instructions and she made her own cute version. (Which shows that you don’t need a pattern and these aren’t rocket science!)

So, while I was making these little bags, I took some pictures and wrote up a little tutorial. Only I didn’t know what to call them — they aren’t Cousin Bags anymore. I thought about calling them Square Bags, but that was kind of boring. Or maybe No-Name Bags. I finally decided to call them Goofy Bags and you can find the instructions on a How to Make Goofy Bags page.

Obviously, you can embellish the outside of these little bags any way that you would like. The little crochet bags I made for the quilty peeps when we went to Chicago were made in the same manner — they’re just embellished differently. And for you zipper-phobes out there, there’s nothing to putting these zippers in — they’re easy peasy.

Goofy Bags are nice for controlling the clutter in larger tote bags. I made them for the Cami Peeps to put knitting odds ‘n ends in their knitting bags. The Goofy Bags for the quilty peeps were made to hold crochet items that are needed to make little crocheted cards.Â And I have a Cousin Goofy Bag that I keep my ipod and cell phone cords in when I travel.

So. Now you can all go and act Goofy. And have a great weekend while you’re at it!

XOXO,
Anna

Sewing Machine Poker

41 Comments / July 14, 2008 February 18, 2011 / Chat, Sewing

A few days ago, Nanette posted about her Bernina sewing machine and she mentioned that if she didn’t have a Bernina, she’d have a Pfaff. Now, if you know me very well, you know two things: a) when I discover little tidbits about you, I’m known to tease you incessantly (ahem, mashed potato Kim) and b) I’m a die-hard Viking fan. Much to TheSecondChild’s dismay, I’m not talking about the Minnesota Vikings. I’m talking Viking sewing machines which totally slipped under poor Nanette’s radar.

So, Nanette, I see your Bernina, and I’ll raise you a Viking! And since we’re on the blogger playground, all our quilty peeps will probably pound me to a pulp! Quilters are Bernina-Lovers. They go together like Fred and Ginger; like peanut butter and jelly; like needle and thread. What’s up with that? I blame this on PKM‘s celebrity, Alex, and on quilter word-of-mouth.

Not me though. My heart belongs to Husqvarna Viking. (Notice I didn’t say Singer Viking Pfaff. Or Pfaff Viking Singer. Or whatever they’re calling themselves. We’re not happy about this little indiscretion one little bit, so let’s not talk about it, ok?) This is the Viking I learned to sew on — the grandmother of my current baby Hester.

When I was a little girl, BigDaddy came home one day with this then top-of-the-line Viking. MeMum didn’t even know how to sew. She said this beauty sat in a corner for a year before she even touched it. She had no interest in sewing, but she finally took a sewing class and learned how to sew. They gave it to me when I left for college — what a workhorse of a machine It has gears so you can slow the speed down for heavy-duty sewing. One day I even sewed through the leather backing on an old penny loafer shoe! All these years I’ve thanked MeMum for introducing sewing to me, but maybe I should really be thanking BigDaddy. I mean, what if he’d never come home with that fabulous machine in the first place?

Here is Hester’s mother.

As young newlyweds, we lived in Germany where Husqvarna Viking sewing machines sold for about 1/2 of what they cost in the U.S. (that was back when the U.S. dollar was at an all-time high against other currencies.) It was a deal that was just too good to pass up — I think this was Viking’s first computerized model and I was star-struck.

And here is Hester’s newest little niece.

Just born last week, she lives at MyDadLovesMeBestSister’s house and will be used to teach my cute cupcake niece how to sew. This looks to be a great little machine for a beginning sewer, and of course, I’m excited that they chose a Viking — keeping it all in the family.

Now remember, I’m the shy little girl with braids over in the corner of the playground so don’t hit me too hard. Maybe some of you will come and play with me? ;-) And whatever you sew with, I hope you’re lucky enough to have a love affair with your machine(s) like I do!

XOXO,
Anna

P.S.1 Thanks for all your fabulous comments on Aunt Annie’s Awesome Sweet Rolls! Rowan asked a great question that others of you might be wondering — how much is a package of dry yeast? One package of dry yeast = a scant 2 1/2 teaspoons of dry yeast.

P.S.2 The fabulous Miss Melly has found a fun new obsession. This is my blog on Wordle. Go play and have fun!

Three Things

12 Comments / May 27, 2008 February 18, 2011 / Chat, Sewing

One: Thanks for all of your roof sympathy. Among the great e-mails, I actually did get some advice for making a 15 year roof last 16 years and for those of you who may also soon be needing a new roof, I thought I’d share:

Just consulted with the TJBMOTH (TheJukeBoxManoftheHouse). I had him take a look at the curling roof picture on your blog. He said that the way to make 15 year shingles last for 16 years is to go to Home Depot and purchase one of those blue tarps. Also buy a tall ladder while you are there. … Have TheManoftheHouse help you place the ladder at the side of the house. Have him hold the ladder so you don’t fall off. Make sure he has the camera with him so he can take a picture of you nailing the blue tarp to the roof so you can place it on your blog. In one year (after tuition hell is over), you can hire a roofing contractor to replace your curled roof and then you can finally remove the blue tarp that your neighbors have complained about all year.

Thanks for the laugh TJBMOTH — you’re awesome and I heart you!

Two: After a wonderful honeymoon, the newlyweds came home late Sunday night. To welcome them home, we had a family get together yesterday and watched them open gifts. I included this pillow I made to go with the wedding quilt that didn’t make it in time for the wedding (it’s hard to tell how big it is — the pillow form is 12″ x 16″):

Three: Erin gave me a no-pressure tag which I thought looked fun.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago today? We were living in Minneapolis and spending most of our time re-doing a 60’s style house. It was lots of fun and a great learning experience. That house was butt-ugly, but boy they sure knew how to build houses then. All the walls had two layers of sheetrock (wonder what they were thinking) and we replaced the roof for the first time — it was 32 years old — which the roofer said was a testament to how solidly the house had been built.

2. What five items are on my “to do” list for the day? Well, the day is over, but here’s what was on my list:

1- Fly to NJ (again!)
2- Work on two socks on one circ while flying (yay!)
3- Call a certain someone and admit I was wrong in a discussion we had a few months ago (sorry!)
4- Catch up on blogs in hotel room (not even close!)
5- Figure out where I’ve misplaced my expense credit card (gulp!)

3. What are my favorite snacks? Holy Cow. Do we want to be here all night? How ’bout Twinkies, Ding Dongs, Cracker Jacks, Cupcakes, Cookies, Almonds, Fruit with fruit dip, M & M’s, ….. hey…I have fruit in there!

4. What would I do if I were a billionaire? Probably pretty much what I’m doing now. Well, except that I definitely wouldn’t have a job and I’d travel more. I’d just enjoy staying at home. Homemaking. And “Do Good Works.”

5. What are the places I have lived? Logan, UT; Ogden, UT; Lancaster, CA; Dayton, OH; Manti, UT; Orem, UT; Huntsville, AL; Lawton, OK; Hanau, Germany; Ft. Wayne, IN; Minneapolis, MN

6. Who are some people you would like to know more about? Nanette took the words right out of my mouth. My ancestors.

Ok, Four things: Shame on me for not posting yesterday, on Memorial Day in the US. I managed last year, but I didn’t touch the computer on Sunday or Monday. Thanks to several of you who did post.

XOXO,
Anna

Warning: Busy Weekend Ahead

27 Comments / April 11, 2008 February 18, 2011 / Sewing

The quilty peeps and I are off to Chicago this weekend. I’m so excited — fabric, friends, and fun. Plus for an added bonus, we’ll be meeting up with Sharon and Carol. Sharon’s last post cracked me up — she briefly thought we were going to Kansas. It might be a California thing — if you live in paradise, all of the other states become a jumble? Ok, I know she was kidding, but it matches my true story! I used to work with a guy who lives in California (coincidentally, not far from Sharon….hmmmm, do you suppose it’s the smog?) and he knew I lived in Indiana. Every time I talked to him on the phone he always asked “So, how’s the weather in Kansas?” No matter how many times I reminded him that Ft. Wayne is in Indiana, he was convinced that I lived in Kansas. Indiana … Illinois … Kansas? What’s the difference LOL???

Sharon had another paragraph in her last post that I’ll borrow, ’cause it fits perfectly here: I did a little sewing for my trip. I made some bags of all the girls. I dont think they will see them now so I’ll show you.

ROFLOL!!! I didn’t see a thing Sharon, I promise! And unless they have a laptop with them, or the quilty peeps are doing a VERY last minute check of the blogs, I should be safe with my little secret too.

Sharon requested that we have a crochet lesson to learn how to do those little cards that I’ve made so I thought it would be fun to make bags just big enough for their crochet supplies. The fabric is a Holly Holderman vintage spool print that I had in the stash.

So, if you’re wandering around the Chicago quilt show this weekend and you see my backpack, please stop me and say hi! (I’ll be the one crying ’cause Sharon got there yesterday and there’s no fabric left LOL!) It will probably be Tuesday before I can check in on all of you — after I return home late Saturday night, I’ll be leaving early Sunday morning to go to Dayton for SweetiePie’s last bridal shower. And Monday, I’ll be sleeping at my desk.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

XOXO,
Anna

The Bluebird Table

40 Comments / March 25, 2008 February 18, 2011 / Holidays, Sewing

Well, that was a little unplanned blog break! A special thank you to all of you who took the time to send me an e-mail when you came here to leave a comment and found a bunch of gobbledygook. My webhost has been migrating to new servers for months now and I think it occasionally causes problems. Hopefully it’s over now, but I have my reservations — my site hasn’t been migrated to the new servers yet, so there may be rough patches ahead. Happily, I’m on travel this week, so that helped with the blog withdrawal LOL!

Anyhoo, when I made the aforementioned hot cross buns on Easter, I took the dough over to MeMums to rise and bake, as no one else in my family will eat them. While I was there, MeMum was setting the table for Easter dinner and she decided to use some new bluebird dishes that she got last year. Along with the tablecloth and napkins that I made her for Christmas. (I got the linen from Gray Line Linen in Manhattan — I love that place! It’s hard to find linen wide enough for a tablecloth, but they have several options.)

Oops! I never finished the binding on those napkins. (Oh, come on — tell me you’ve never given a partially finished present in the heat of battle!) So, while the hot cross bun dough was doing its thing, I worked on napkin bindings. I got them done just in the nick of time.

A few posts back I mentioned that if you only know one thing about MeMum, it’s that she’s a perfectionist. Well, another thing is that she LOVES dishes. Of all kinds. But especially if they’re blue. (Gurney! Avert your eyes! (Gurney doesn’t like birds — I think they creep her out — was it too many viewings of The Birds, Gurney?))

I thought I’d show you MeMum’s lovely table setting. Our dinner was divine and very traditional: Ham, cheesy potatoes, green beans almondine and salad. To be truly traditional for us, it should have been a jello salad, but MeMum opted for a tomato-vinagrette salad. I missed my spring jello, but the tomatoes were delicious. And fresh coconut (BigDaddy grates the coconut for MeMum) cake for dessert. Yum!

Have a good week!

XOXO,
Anna