Thimbleanna – Page 155 – My little online diary.

Over-Achievers

31 Comments / November 27, 2007 February 18, 2011 / Sewing

Ok, I’m thinking of starting a 12-step program for all you over-achievers out there in blogland who have your Christmas decorating all done. You guys are making the rest of us look bad! What the Hey! I still have leaves on the ground. A TON of leaves. They came down so late this year, it’s ridiculous. In fact, some of them are still in the trees. We spent all day yesterday with BigDaddy’s Big Leaf Blower, in the sleet and rain, cleaning up leaves. And we only got the front yard done. This means another wasted Saturday to get the backyard cleaned up. Assuming snow or ice don’t beat us to it. I think I’m going to be sick.

So, here’s Step 1 for you over-achievers. I have to go on a work trip tomorrow. While I’m gone, how ’bout you guys come and get those *^%$%#ng leaves out of my backyard. Deal? ‘Cause I have things to do. I’m WAY behind on the making gifts list. My giftees will probably get half-finished projects with IOUs in their gift boxes. And I don’t even want to talk about the decorating yet — the house is dirty. It’s a never-ending cycle. I’m starting to feel the panic in the pit of my stomach. Just another week or two and I suspect it will float to the top. Aaack!

Anyhoo, enough complaining. Because I need a picture to cheer me up, I’ll show you a project I completed a few weeks ago. I needed some baby gifts and I had to wait until they were received to post them.

When I heard last spring that Jill was having a baby, I thought how fun it would be to make her a little treat. I hadn’t made a baby gift in years and I missed it — baby gifts are my favorite thing to do. Then, shortly after Victor was born, I received a baby announcement from an old work friend, so I made two hooded baby towel sets.

I also hadn’t played with my embroidery machine in quite awhile, so that was fun too. (If you have an embroidery machine, the little duck design is a freebie available in the baby section of Ann the Gran’s free designs.) The towels are made from a 36″ square piece of terry cloth. The hood is made from a 14″ square that has been cut on the diagonal. The whole thing was edged with bias binding, just like you would bind a quilt.

Naturally, TheEmptyNestChild had to get in on the action, checking out the new baby. I briefly contemplated having him be the baby model, but thought that the recipients might not appreciate a new baby towel covered in cat hair!

I’m off to throw a few things into a suitcase. Over-achievers — Chill Out! LOL!!!

XOXO,
Anna

Chocolate Swap, Part 2

18 Comments / November 23, 2007 February 18, 2011 / Bunnies

My Chocolate Swap partner Nicole finally got her package from me, so I can show you what I sent to her. And, more importantly, I can show you why Brown bunny was sulking with his back to the camera in the bunny family photo. He really isn’t Brown Bunny at all, he’s Chocolate Bunny and if he’d shown his tummy back then, it would have been pretty obvious who he was going to, what with the chocolate swap looming, don’t you think?

A few weeks after Sharon announced the chocolate swap, the Quilty Peeps and I were in NYC and I saw this chocolate fabric at City Quilter. I thought it would be just perfect for the chocolate swap and for a section on a chocolate bunny. I love the pink background — it’s hard to see but it has a very subtle white stamp to it that is a bit elegant. I love this fabric so much that I bought some more of it at The Fabric Shack on Tuesday. I plan to use it for some lounge pants for a friend’s Christmas gift this year.

Part of our chocolate swap assignment was to make a container for the chocolate.

I made a little box and used the pattern from Amy Butler’s In Stitches book. I changed the handles though and ran into a little problem. Apparently I wasn’t paying attention when I drew the spaces for the handles — they’re the same size, but the handle on one side is lower than the handle on the other side. The ribbons around the handle are my lame attempt to cover that fact up.

Shhh, don’t tell Nicole — maybe she won’t notice LOL! In addition to Chocolate Bunny and the chocolate, I tucked in a few pieces of brown and a pink piece of fabric. And sweet Nicole has sent me a very nice Thank You.

I hope if any of you braved the Black Friday crowds that you survived it. I’m not much of a shopper, and I’m definitely not a fan of the crowds, so I stayed home. Yay! I have to venture out tomorrow though to replenish a few sewing supplies. I hope everyone has a good weekend — we’re hoping to tackle our leaf problem and finish the yardwork for the season.

XOXO,
Anna

Happy Thanksgiving!

23 Comments / November 22, 2007 February 18, 2011 / Holidays

Today has been a wonderful fall day. Rainy, chilly and perfect for being inside with all the busy-ness of getting ready for Thanksgiving. I’m the designated pie maker in our family and today was pie day. What’s your favorite pie? I like them all, but Pecan is by far my favorite. If you’re outside the US and you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you have something that gives you the opportunity to gorge on pumpkin and pecan pies — I think Thanksgiving is about the only time we take the time to enjoy them!

In the spirit of so many of you who do frequent gratitude posts, here are a few things, both big and little, that I’m thankful for:

First and foremost, Family. All the characters over there on the sidebar.
A gloomy rainy day that makes me happy for a nice warm home.
Thanksgiving Pies!
My goofy, kind brother-in-law who makes me laugh and who needs a character name so he can appear in the sidebar too.
Fabric. Thread. Patterns. Sewing Machine. Iron. You get the picture.
All of you. Your blogs so full of daily inspiration.
SweetiePie really is a Sweetie Pie.
A week off of work to be able to do a few things that I never have time for.
MyDadLovesMeBestSister is hosting Thanksgiving, so I don’t have to work so hard this year.
The Quilty Peeps.
That I can humor two grown boys who spent time yesterday while I was gone, laughing at their mother’s blog.
My job. I’d much rather be home, but it’s good to have a job.
Sump pumps.
Time to clean out the linen closet that I wanted to clean early last spring.
TheManoftheHouse keeps up with our computers.
Time with the family to play Hand and Foot.
Rolo candy.
This little indulgence. It made my pie making so fun this year.
Thanksgiving is early this year, which makes the gap between Thanksgiving and Christmas longer.
We have a “chance” of snow accumulation tonight.
TheEmptyNestChild hasn’t eaten anything requiring surgery so far this year.
Good health for everyone in our family.
The best parents a girl could ever wish for and a very happy childhood.

Well, I could go on and on, I’m very, very blessed. If you’re in the US, I hope you have a very wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by loved ones.
XOXO,
Anna

Having Fun

12 Comments / November 21, 2007 February 18, 2011 / Chat

Just popped in to say I’ve been busy sewing, cooking, cleaning and playing while I’ve been off work this week. Highlights include:

A YUMMY Sunday Dinner — Filet of Beef Bourguignonne thoughtfully provided by Ina Garten. I LURVE Ina — it was awesome, you should try it if you like Beef Burgundy.

Dinner followed up by Black and Whites Cookies. When the Quilty Peeps and I were in NYC, we loved the Black and White cookies that they’re famous for and Junie promptly came home and found the recipe here. They’re surprisingly like the real thing — Thanks Junie!

SweetiePie, MeMum and I went to Waynesville, Ohio today for a little Christmas shopping. Waynesville is full of antique shops and more importantly The Fabric Shack. Holy Cow — I could move in there! They have a great selection of fabric. If you’re anywhere in the vicinity of Dayton, Ohio, Waynesville is more than worth the visit. In one antique shop, I saw a blue and white Christmas tree that I really liked. (And because you bloggers have corrupted me, I just happened to have my camera with me.)

Those little blue bulbs are old flash bulbs that have been “spent”. The whole tree (a 6 – 7 ft. tree?) was covered with these little bulbs. Where on earth did they find so many of them? I don’t know what era they’re from, but it hasn’t been any recent decade! Each little bulb had wire wrapped around its neck to make a hanger. I think this is a really cute idea and would also be fun with the colored old-fashioned Christmas bulbs.

Up tomorrow: Pies! Pumpkin, Pecan, and Apple. Hope you’re having a great week!

XOXO,
Anna

Chocolate Swap, Part 1

18 Comments / November 17, 2007 February 18, 2011 / Uncategorized

Look! Look! My Chocolate Swap package has arrived!!! Sharon hosted a Chocolate Swap and I jumped right in. My partner is Nicole and just look at all the wonderful chocolate she sent me!

There’s enough chocolate in that box to last until Easter! And, WooHoo, she included lots of See’s candy. I LURVE See’s candy — it’s my favorite candy. I even love it better than our local “gourmet” candy shop. In addition to all the See’s, look at the cute little Santa bag that has some peppermint candy in it. (I might just have to scan that little Santa in to make some cute tags for Christmas!)

And look here — Peppermint Crunch Junior Mints. I’ve never seen these before — are they common here in the US? Of course I had to try them out already and they’re yummy! I’ll be looking for them in our local stores.

So, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You Nicole — I love it all!!! And my family thanks you too — Chocolate will keep my lil’ ol’ self happy while I’m wrapping and baking this holiday season — and you know that saying about when mama’s happy, everyone else is happy too. Chocolate makes it happen! And Thanks to you too Sharon for hosting!!! It was WAY fun!!!

I thought I’d also show you an old picture of TheEmptyNestChild. The wallpaper on my computer screen accidentally got deleted this week. It used to be a little box that had the Glittering Eyes* saying by Roald Dahl in it. I was pretty happy when it got deleted, ’cause it made me start hunting around for a new background picture and I came upon Scruff and his big ol’ eyes. So, I added the quote to Scruff’s picture, and now it’s the new background on my desktop. (If you want to see the quote better, you can click on the picture to enlarge it.)

I hope you’re all having a great weekend. It’s raining here and I’m hoping that the rain will knock all the leaves to the ground so I can get the yard all cleaned up before I have to go back to work in a week!

XOXO,
Anna

*”Watch with Glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places.” — Roald Dahl