Thimbleanna – Page 123 – My little online diary.

Quilts from …Well, You Know …

39 Comments / April 21, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Quilting

Thanks for all your nice comments about my friendship quilt. I hope you’ve all been having fun checking out all the quilts at Amy’s Quilt Festival. Amy must be wondering what kind of a monster she’s created — there are sure a lot of beautiful quilts to enjoy.

I wish I could tell you something exciting. I spent my weekend wrestling my have-to quilting project. I’m determined to get these t-shirt quilts done for a friend — they’ve been sitting here nagging me for over two years. I’ve promised myself that I won’t start anything new until they’re finished. The tops are put together (two of them) and I quilted the first one this weekend. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Oh, to have a long-arm. My dear Hester didn’t like that heavy t-shirt material one little bit, poor girl.

I hope to never make another t-shirt quilt. Maybe in a weak moment, but, in general, I’m just not a fan. In the meantime, not being able to start something new and fun has been torture. There are so many pretty, new quilts and fabric on blogs — the inspiration is endless. Only one more weekend to get the other top quilted and then maybe I can work on something fun.

I’m off to NJ in the morning for a quick trip. I’m hoping you’ll all keep me entertained in the evenings!
XOXO,
Anna

A Virtual Quilt Festival

60 Comments / April 17, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Quilting

Well, Hello There! By now you’ve probably heard that Amy is having a virtual quilt festival.

Since we can’t all go to the same quilt show, Amy has decided to bring the show to us and she’s asked us all to show our favorite quilt. You know, that’s kind of like asking a mother to choose which one of her children is her favorite. Oh, the pain! I’ve already shown you my very favorite quilt (several times), so I’ll give you my runner up.

There are so many beautiful, modern quilts being shown today, so, I’m feeling a little frumpy with this throwback-to-the-80’s quilt, but I love it anyway. This is the very first quilt that the quilty peeps and I made together. We formed our quilt group and I got to go first because no one had been in a “friendship” group before, so we used my quilt to learn how to do it. (And btw, I took pictures of the quilt on the really cool big ol’ dump truck in our driveway. We don’t have a dump truck — so you know what that means? It means the roofers are in on the house! WooHoo!!!)

We started out with 11 girls in our group and I gave each of them the background material and the pattern for the bear’s paw and requested that they make the bear’s paw out of their own red and blue scraps. I love how everyone chose different fabrics. Then I asked them to embroider their name, where they were from, the date, and something they loved. Of the 11 blocks that I got back, 1 was unusable, so I asked MeMum and MyDadLovesMeBestSister if they would each make a block to round the number out to 12. Here are blocks from my best buddy quilty peeps and MeMum. They love(d) houses, old jukeboxes, cats and fairy tales. I wonder what they would put now, 21 years later?

I love that everyone chose something different. (Other fun things were “my dog”, daffodils, chocolate, rainbows, wee babes, flowers, baskets, and crafts.) And I love that you can see everyone’s handwriting. And I really love that of our original group, four of us have stayed together and we’re best quilty peeps!

So…now, you’ve seen one of my favorite quilts. Git along lil’ doggies and run over to Amy’s — there are enough quilts being shown to make your fanny tired from sitting at the computer! (Oh, and Thanks Amy for hosting — what a fun idea.)

Have a great weekend!
XOXO,
Anna

P.S. If you want to see something funny, go check out the quilt that Carolyn just finished for the Quilts of Valor program!

Sah…low.

53 Comments / April 14, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Chat, Sewing

Have you all recovered from your weekend? We had a nice quiet Easter. There’s not much excitement going on here in ThimbleannaLand these days. If it gets much slower, I’m afraid that time might stop. I have a ton of projects I want to start, but I’m trying to get some UFO’s done first — I’m tired of them nagging me. Most of the weekend was spent working on “have-to” sewing which wasn’t terribly fun. Then, there were lots of little odds ‘n ends. I finished a few pincushions that have been sitting all cut out and waiting on my sewing table. They’re from the Posy Pin Pie pattern by Jill Finley and they’re perfect for sitting near a cutting mat.

I’ve also resurrected a sweater that’s been maturing in the closet. I was in the middle of a yoke when I put it down and every time I thought about picking it back up, I only had a few minutes to knit and I was afraid it would take me a long time to figure out where I was in the pattern. All that procrastinating for nothing though — it only took 5 minutes to pick it back up. The back and two fronts are now done and I’m starting on the sleeves. I’m hoping to channel my inner Finny and get it done in short order.

I’m thinking this is the calm before the storm. May is shaping up to be a busy month, so I’m hoping to make some big progress while I can. Are the rest of you working on anything exciting???

XOXO,
Anna

To All My Imaginary Friends…

41 Comments / April 11, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Holidays

XOXO,
Anna

Little Cotton Rabbits

62 Comments / April 8, 2009 June 30, 2016 / Knitting

Boy, you guys are a ruthless crowd! Thanks for all your squirrel comments — I had a good time reading how much you love or mostly don’t love rodents LOL. I’d like to re-cover my patio cushions, but if that darn squirrel is just going to eat them again, I probably won’t waste my time. Maybe the patio chair fairy will come along and take care of the problem for me.

In the meantime, it’s been a slow week here in ThimbleannaLand. Easter has snuck (is that a word?) up on me this year and I’m so late with decorations that I think I’ll just skip it. The one Easter thing I did do this year though, was to knit these little egg cozies.

I can hardly bear their cuteness! I’ve been a huge fan of Little Cotton Rabbits since I found her shortly after I started blogging. I used to stalk Julie and send her e-mails begging her to sell her patterns, but one day she very politely asked us to stop bugging her. So I did, but that didn’t mean I loved those bunnies any less. And then, a month or so ago, Julie announced that she would sell a pattern to knit these little egg cozies. I think I screamed out loud when I read the news and then I bought the pattern as soon as I could!

Julie’s pattern is exquisite. It’s beautifully illustrated with VERY clear instructions that are so easy to follow. I do hate to gush, but I really think it’s the prettiest pattern I’ve ever purchased. The hardest part about the whole process was finding the yarn. I looked on-line for the yarns that she called for, but I didn’t see the colors that I wanted. I ended up going to my local Michael’s and purchasing some Paton’s Grace 100% mercerized cotton and crossing my fingers in hopes that it would work.

I’m very pleased with how they turned out, although I’d like to see if I can find a bit darker color for the rabbit skin. I was hoping to make enough for each place setting at our Easter dinner, but I don’t think that will happen — maybe next year?

If you’re a knitter and you want to make a Little Cotton Rabbit Egg Cozy, there’s still time! You can download Julie’s pattern for a ridiculously low price HERE. (Thank you Julie for such a great pattern!) And if you’re not a knitter, Julie’s little rabbits are whispering to you to learn how to knit LOL!

XOXO,
Anna

P.S. I was surfing around the other day and got lost somewhere and stumbled upon this very funny post about leaving a little message in a hotel room. Oh, how tempted I am to do the same thing next time I travel!

P.P.S.S. Did you know they’re making a movie of Where the Wild Things Are? Oh. My. Gosh! I can’t wait!!! You can check out the trailer here — but bring a napkin for Wild Thing costume drooling. Now, if they’d just make a movie out of my all time favorite children’s story, I’d be in hog heaven!

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