Thimbleanna – Page 117 – My little online diary.

A Birthday Week

50 Comments / August 22, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Family, Knitting

It’s been a big birthday week here in ThimbleannaLand. First off, today is TheFirstChild’s 25th (Eeek!) birthday — Happy Birthday Big Boy! I know I’m his mom, but isn’t he a cutie?

When he was little, people used to stop us and tell us what a pretty baby he was. One time, when he was out having a sandwich with TheManoftheHouse, a man stopped to say “I’ve heard of looking like your father, but that’s ridiculous!” I’m happy to say that’s no longer the case (Yay! He has my eyes!), ’cause don’t you think after all that childbirth and labor that your baby should look just a little bit like you???

And then we have MeMum, whose birthday was on Tuesday. She was a cute baby too — naked and all! Look at those curly little yellow locks. We all love this picture documenting her early days into stripperdom.

MeMum collects beaded purses, so for her birthday, I made her this little blue beaded purse.

Thanks to Marsha’s kindness — I won a beautiful little white beaded purse from her a year or so ago, and knew right then that I’d want to make one for MeMum. Marsha was more than willing to share all the info on how to get started in beaded purse knitting. I ordered a beginner’s kit from Purse Paradise and thoroughly enjoyed knitting this little purse. Super fun, and I’ll definitely be doing beaded purse knitting again.

Marsha makes beautiful purses and she shows some of them on her sidebar (I love the gorgeous white wedding purse and the black purse!) AND she sells them — you should go and check them out! THANK YOU so much Marsha for all your help — you’re a peach!

Well, I’m off to spend the day with MeMum for a belated birthday get-together. I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

XOXO,
Anna

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%.)

Julie and Julia and CrazyMom and Me

40 Comments / August 16, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Quilting

Have you all had a good weekend? We’ve had a nice relaxing weekend here in ThimbleannaLand. The whole family made the trek to visit TheFirstChild and SweetiePie to celebrate the birthdays of MeMum and TheFirstChild which will occur next week. It’s always fun when we get together — the cousins are always entertaining and I love to see how they interact with each other. MyDadLovesMeBestSister probably wishes that my two now-grown boys would leave her three now-adolescent children alone, but hopefully all their lives will be enriched by the mayhem!

Before the big day out, TheManoftheHouse and I went to see Julie and Julia. Meryl Streep was wonderful and I thought Amy Adams was pretty cool too. I don’t know that I’d say I loved the movie, but I did really enjoy it — especially with the tie to blogging. The whole idea of “stalking” a chef from a blog sort of made me think about “stalking” a quilter from a blog. If I could stalk a quilter, who would it be? Who is my idol?

I finally decided that my true quilting heros are all dead. Long gone. I love old traditional quilts and the more I’m overwhelmed by all the fabric and pattern choices that we have today, the more I’m in awe of all those women who came before us. The amazing quilts they made with so few resources. Can you imagine what they would have done with the wide variety of fabrics that we have? It’s a little scary to think about it!

So, speaking of stalking quilters, I might be stalking CrazyMom. Did you notice that she’s having a second round of her 9 Patch-Along? (Day 27 already — where has the summer gone?) She said she just wanted to make another one, but I’m thinking this round might be for her flunkies from round 1, so that we can get caught up. A Remedial Quilt-Along.

A second chance – I’m going to do better. Really. I’m ready for you this time, CrazyMom.

XOXO,
Anna

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

The Weather and Such

51 Comments / August 9, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Around the House, Recipes

Oh Dear, I’ve committed a blogging faux pas. In my last post, I said “when you start talking about the weather, you’ve run out of things to say” and several of you rather eloquently proved me wrong! I take it back. I’ve really enjoyed reading your weather posts and I look forward to many more!

Maybe it’s just that our weather has been rather, well, boring this year. Beautiful, but boring. Well, until this weekend — now we’re back to our regularly scheduled summer weather. Hot and Humid. Hot. Humid. Ick. I mowed the lawn this weekend in the heat and humidity.

You can just see the humidity in the air. That’s me on the mower — see how straight and stringy the humidity makes my hair? And sweat. You just have to walk outdoors and you’ll start sweating. That’s why I’m a mere shadow of my former self there on the lawnmower — I’ve sweat myself into peoplestickdom.

Ewwww. See? Weather-talk just doesn’t work very well here, at the moment. I’m pretty sure you didn’t tune in to read about sweat. I’ll try to make up for it by giving you one of our favorite summer on-the-grill recipes. It’s fast. It’s easy. And there’s no clean-up, other than your dinner plates.

Kielbasa and Vegetable Packets

1 ring (1 lb.) fully cooked kielbasa sausage, cut into pieces
12 new potatoes, cut in half
1 green bell pepper, cut into pieces
1 medium onion, chopped into wedges
2 medium zucchini or yellow squash, cut into pieces

Seasonings (add what you like):
Cajun seasoning
Garlic salt
Salt
Pepper

1. Tear off four approximately 18 x 12 inch size pieces of aluminum foil.
2. Place 1/4 of each of the sausage and vegetable groups onto each square of foil.
3. Drizzle each packet with a little bit of olive oil and some of your choice of seasonings.
4. Fold foil over kielbasa and vegetables and seal to make square foil packages. Leave a bit of room for heat circulation and expansion.
5. Place packets on medium-hot grill and cook for 30 – 40 minutes. When done, open up packets and serve.
::Makes 4 servings.

You can make these no matter what kind of weather you’re experiencing. Well, ok, it might be a little difficult in Jody’s hail — I hope your weather this weekend is less exciting that that!

XOXO,
Anna