Thimbleanna – Page 124 – My little online diary.

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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Dear Mr. Squirrel,

43 Comments / April 5, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Around the House, Scruff

Whaddya think this is? This is not:

a) A Holiday Inn Express.
b) That lovely backyard where your California cousins live. (Don’t let this brief sunshine fool you buddy, snow is on the way.)
c) Nests ‘R Us.

We. Are. Not. Amused. Don’t make us call out the Catalry.

Sincerely,
The Management

April’s Recipe Box Swap

30 Comments / April 2, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Recipes

It’s the first Thursday in April, so that means it’s time for another recipe box swap. Our hostess, Randi, at I Have to Say, has chosen Pasta as our theme this month (well, ok, I helped choose LOL).

My pasta recipe is suspiciously a lot like the one that Randi posted. This is one of our new favorites. I wrote it down in one of my recipe books years ago and never tried it. A few months ago, I was looking for something new so I tried this recipe, and now we have it all the time. (And SweetiePie, I’m betting you and TheFirstChild would like this too.)

Smoked Sausage Primavera

8 oz. uncooked spaghetti — broken in half
8 oz. sausage, cut in slices (we like kielbasa)
1 head fresh broccoli, or 3 cups frozen broccoli
1/4 c. water
3/4 c. evaporated skim milk (I’ve substituted heavy cream before and it was fine)
2 Tablespoons butter
1/2 t. Italian seasoning
1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese

Cook spaghetti. Place sausage, veggies, and water in skillet. Bring to boil. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer 7 to 8 minutes or until veggies are crisp/tender.

Add milk, butter, and seasoning to skillet. Heat until butter melts. Toss mixture with spaghetti and parmesan. Let stand 5 minutes to thicken.

On an unrelated subject, here’s a little addendum to the twitter conversation we had a few posts back. I still don’t get it. I do get that it’s not facebook and that it could be a powerful tool, but I don’t get how it has much use to me. I’ve been very sad to see several bloggers move to facebook and now some are heading to twitter. Hopefully they won’t abandon their blogs, but I do think their blogs suffer. Because I’m a visual person, twitter just doesn’t appeal to me, and having another account to keep track of is even MORE unappealing.

All that said however, I have been reading of one AWESOME use of twitter. If you have some spare reading time, check out the story of twitchhiker who traveled half-way around the world, and all for free. If I could do that, I’ll bet I’d love twitter!

Have a great weekend!

XOXO,
Anna

Fun Times

31 Comments / March 31, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Books, Swaps

Ok, was that hysterical laughter I heard out of all you Siggy Swappers when I wondered out loud whether I could finish all of my siggy blocks in one day? So. Not. Funny! Boy, what was I smoking? Those little suckers are taking forever. For one thing, whose bright idea was it to put a thimble on my blocks?

‘Cause once you start, you can’t quit, right? These thimbles are really taking some time, even though they’re machine stitched. All that thread changing takes time. {Sigh} I will say though, that I’m really enjoying making these little blocks. You have to love a block that gets cut to size after it’s pieced. I love that technique — it hides a multitude of sins. Anyway, I only got 20 blocks done on Saturday. I have almost another 20 ready to go, and hopefully, I’ll have the rest of them done by the weekend.

In addition to the siggy swap, I’m participating in a scrap fabric swap with a small group of ladies. This should be a fun swap — we’re exchanging fabrics and then the challenge will be to make a quilt with the fabrics before October 1st. Or I should say a quilt top, in my case. There’s no way I’d have a whole quilt done by then. These are the packs of scraps that I sent out yesterday.

That will conclude my swapping for awhile. And that’s enough LOL!

In non-quilt related news, I met a few of my book group members last night to hear Geraldine Brooks speak. I can’t even tell you how cool it was — what an interesting woman! As you know, her Year of Wonders is one of my favorite books. And now I’m more excited to read People of the Book. Her presentation was fairly short, lasting only about 30 minutes. Then she had about 15 minutes of questions, and then a book signing. I was in and out in just an hour, as I didn’t have to wait to buy a book for the signing — I brought mine along with me. Here she is speaking. Isn’t she cute?

We discovered a fun fact about her last night — she got engaged right here in Ft. Wayne! Apparently, she was a journalist in Cleveland and her now husband worked at one of our newspapers. On one of her visits here to see him, he popped the question. There were a lot of gasps when she revealed that little tidbit — I think we collectively, suddenly felt a little more important LOL. I mean, she grew up in Sydney, has traveled the world as a journalist, and she’s a “Pulitizer Surprise” (as her young son called it) winner. Don’t you think that makes us a little more worthy???

What a charming woman! While she was signing my book I asked her if she had a relative in Australia that likes to quilt. (Because some time ago when I mentioned on my blog how much I loved Year of Wonders, someone commented that they were related to her and I couldn’t quite remember who it was. We figured it out though.) She thought for a minute and said, “Well, I like to quilt.” Ha! I knew I liked her! I wish I’d had the presence of mind to ask her more about that, but we went on to figuring out the link and then I needed to move on so she could get to the next signature.

Oh, and for you book lovers out there, someone asked her who she likes to read. She said her current “crush” is Marilyn Robinson. She loved Gilead and is currently reading Home. Which is so funny, because MeMum and I had just had dinner together and MeMum told me how much she loves Gilead and that she was now reading Home too. {Insert Twilight Zone music here.}

So, if you ever have the chance to hear Ms. Brooks speak, go do it! It was really enjoyable. And if you ever have the chance to embroider 60 thimbles on exchange blocks, that’s really enjoyable too, but you might want to pass. ;-)

XOXO,
Anna

Good Friday

43 Comments / March 27, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Chat

Not The Good Friday, but a good Friday anyway. Boy, thanks for all the purse thingy love! You guys are the best. This week hasn’t yielded any crafty excitement at all. I’ve been working on a few little things, but nothing is far enough along for show-and-tell. After goofing off around here this morning, I went to MeMum’s this afternoon and we watched a few episodes of Monarch of the Glen. Ms. Yummers recommended it to me several months ago and we’re really enjoying the series. Just the scenery alone makes it all worthwhile…and that’s not even counting the leading man eye candy!

Anyway, as you can see, I didn’t take Paul back to TheSecondChild last weekend. He’s just having too much fun with TheEmptyNestChild. And besides, TheSecondChild is fostering a kitty for a friend (she had him in her dorm room and got caught…oops!) until school is out. We thought we’d save Paul the trauma of a new kitty along with the move he’ll be facing when school is out. In the meantime, he enjoys watching the sunset from the patio widow with TheEmptyNestChild.

A few random things —

— Check out this cute quilt that Shawn is making. I really like the interesting technique she’s using…not to mention the cute fabric and the size of the pieces.

— What do you wear when you clean your house? I wear sweat pants and a t-shirt and look like a total slob. You must go see THIS adorable outfit. I LOVE everything about it and I’m hoping to change my ways. Thanks for the inspiration June!

— Here’s some really cute little posy pushpins that I’d love to make!

— Now, I’m going to whisper. Psst. Come closer. I just don’t get twitter. Call me a dinosaur. It just screams TMI (too much information), or information overload or something. What am I missing???

And finally, here’s a random pile of books in my living room. I’m hoping to read a little this weekend. Our book group has selected Geraldine Brooks’ People of the Book for this month’s selection. I loved her Year of Wonders, but for some reason I’m not really excited about this book. We’ll see. Anyway, totally by coincidence, Ms. Brooks will be in town on Monday night to discuss this book. In 17+ years our book group has only ever heard one other author speak and that was Barbara Ehrenreich speaking about her book Nickle and Dimed. That presentation was reasonably interesting, considering I thought her book was a bunch of (please cover your delicate eyes) Crap. I know Ms. Brooks is controversial in some circles too, but I have much higher hopes for her.

Tomorrow is siggy swap day for me. I must get going on those blocks or they won’t get done. Think I can knock them out in one day? Hopefully I’ll at least make a big dent in them. I hope you all have a great weekend!

XOXO,
Anna