Thimbleanna – Page 119 – My little online diary.

My First Quilt & More

53 Comments / July 8, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Quilting

Camille and Carrie are hosting a “My First Quilt” show, so I thought it only fair to burn your retinas with a little 1980’s pink and blue. Oh wait, it was “mauve” and “country blue” back then, wasn’t it?

This was my first quilt. It was 1987 and I was on the verge of birthing TheSecondChild, so being on maternity leave and having unlimited access to the master quilter (MeMum), we decided that I should learn how to quilt. We had a new little house and I made this quilt to hang in our entry hall.

Camille also asked what we have learned between our first quilt and our last quilt. I’ve learned that I wish I could get back to hand-quilting. It’s always been my favorite. My quilts now seem to be easier and quicker. It would be nice to go back to more detailed blocks and hand quilting.

I’m also supposed to show you my most recent quilt. Here it is:

Oh, I’m KIDDING! My most recent quilts were those t-shirt quilts and seeing them once is enough. THIS ADORABLE little quilt came all the way from Australia from Toni of The Red Boot Quilt Co. Isn’t it the sweetest thing?

I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I love the happy, bright colors and the big fat flowers. And Toni’s work is PERFECT. Perrrr-Fect! It’s just beautiful. Look at those pretty stitches! And look at all the other goodies Toni sent. Three (THREE!) of her patterns– they all have flowers on them. Eeeek, they’re so cute! And, I LOVE TimTams Toni — how did you know? We had them here at Target for about 5 seconds and now they don’t carry them anymore. I’m going to HIDE savor every single cookie. They’re my favorite combination — chocolate and carmel. Yum, Yum!

But wait! There’s more! Vegemite. I haven’t dared try it yet — TheSecondChild said he tried it in Sydney and didn’t like it. I’m not going to let that prejudice me though — Toni gave me a tip for eating it. If any of you other Australians have any great tips for becoming a Vegemite lover, I’m all ears! It can’t be all bad, can it — look at that gorgeous packaging!!!

Toni! Thank you, THANK YOU so much for your generosity! I already have the perfect place picked out in my little sunroom where I’m going to hang your cute quilt. I can’t wait. What a wonderful gift — you’ve made my day. And if the rest of you haven’t visited Toni, run over there. She’s on a little blog break, but there’s lots of great stuff to see and I promise, you won’t be sorry!

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!!!

Broccoli Salad

48 Comments / June 30, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Recipes

Thanks for all the Grandma-Shirt Love. You guys are all so sweet! I wore that shirt all day on Saturday and it sure is comfortable. I just try not to look in the mirror! ;-) I don’t have much else to report this week. My boss came in to my office at noon today and asked if I could make a quick trip to NJ for a meeting tomorrow, so I’m leaving in 15 minutes to go hop on an airplane. I thought my NJ trips were over for awhile, but I guess not. No time to plan a quickie visit into NYC this time {sigh}.

In the meantime, how about a quick summer recipe for broccoli salad? You probably have a favorite recipe of your own, but just in case, here’s one that I like:

Broccoli Salad

Salad:
2 bunches of broccoli
10 slices bacon (cooked and crumbled)
2/3 cup raisins
1/4 – 1/3 cup purple onion, chopped

Dressing:
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sugar
2 T. red wine vinegar

1. Wash and cut broccoli into bite-sized pieces.
2. Combine broccoli, bacon, raisins, and onion in a large bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, mix mayonnaise, sugar, and vinegar. Pour over salad and toss.
4. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving, tossing occasionally.

Easy Peasy. This makes a great salad to take to a 4th of July cookout!

XOXO,
Anna

Summer Sewing

62 Comments / June 27, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Sewing

So, how’s your weekend going? More importantly, how’s your summer going? Can you believe it’s almost July? I feel like it should still be May, at least.

It’s pretty lazy-going here in ThimbleannaLand this summer. I actually dragged out my embroidery machine last week and played with my endless hoop. The endless hoop allows you to embroider long, repeating designs for things like borders and edgings. I bought the hoop 4 or 5 years ago and have never used it — I think I was scared of it. Which, as usual, turned out to be completely unfounded. It’s easy as pie to use.

I was really fun to play with the hoop and watch the machine embroider. I decided to make a summer top and I embroidered a scallop for the edge a neck ruffle and the hem of the sleeves. The pattern is Simplicity 2651. Here’s a close-up of the neck detail.

And here’s the classic bathroom mirror shot of the shirt. The jury’s still out on this top. I feel like I’m wearing one of my grandma’s house coats, cut off at the hips. It’s really comfortable and will be cool for hot summer days, so, if nothing else, I can wear it around the house.

Now, I’m off to go visit BigDaddy and MeMum. Hope you have a good weekend!

XOXO,
Anna

Distracted

52 Comments / June 23, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Books, Chat, Recipes

Well, I’m a little late with a weekend report, but I have a good excuse. I’ve had my nose buried in The Help. I completely avoided the computer last night and sat out on the patio reading until dark, enjoying the last of my peonies and savoring every word.

I couldn’t help myself. I loved this book and haven’t been as excited about a book group book in a long time. I finally finished it today on my lunch break. Fortunately, no one came into my cube to see the tears in my eyes. Yvette commented on my last post about how sad she was to see the book end and I couldn’t have said it better. Except maybe to use PKM’s favorite phrase — it was super delicious. More than super delicious!

Not much else to report from the weekend. Just a teeny little bit of sewing happened, but mostly yard and housework. And we had a Father’s Day cookout on Sunday. The weather was beautiful.

We even had blueberry ice cream using this recipe. Yum Yum! When TheSecondChild was 11 or 12, he wanted an ice cream maker for his birthday, so we gave him one. We’ve hardly ever used it, but making this ice cream was so easy and fast, it won’t be another 10 years before we use it again.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m way behind on blog reading. Hope you’re having a good week!

XOXO,
Anna