Thimbleanna – Page 16 – My little online diary.

Little Pink Dress

24 Comments / October 15, 2017 October 15, 2017 / Baby Oh Baby, Knitting

Ahhh. Another few slow weeks sped by. That sounds like it should be some sort of oxymoron, but it works like this: Not much going on around here, but time sure seems to fly by — I’m a little scared by the fact that it’s mid-October already. I have been doing some handwork while watching tv with MeMum. We’ve started watching Call The Midwife. I knew it would be a good series, but Oh. My. I LOVE it! I intentionally waited through several seasons before I started watching – hoping the episodes would pile up so we could have some great binge-watching. It’s sure been worth the wait. Aside from scenes that make me cry and BABIES, how can you not love a group of ladies that get together during stressful times and make granny squares to give to one of their beloved group?

I was also cleaning out a few pictures and realized I’d never showed this little dress that I knit for FinallyAGirl. I made it for her last winter (it may have even been a Christmas gift?) but it was a little large. She finally grew into it over the summer and wore it a time or two when we visited over Labor Day.

The pattern is the Mabel Dress from Simple Knits for Cherished Babies by Erika Knight. Unfortunately I can’t remember which yarn I used — maybe a Spud and Chloe? I thought I’d made a 12 – 18 month size, but the pattern shows the biggest size as 6 – 9 months, so, not sure what happened there either — FinallyAGirl is 14 months old in these pictures.

I love everything about this dress. The sweet yoke, all the plain stockinette stitch, and the garter stitch highlights. That back hem is a little pesky, but I think it just needs to be blocked a little after every washing. The pattern didn’t have any buttons down the back — just a ribbon at the neck. I looked at the versions on ravelry and I didn’t like the way the opening left a big gaping hole, so I added a little band of extra stitching on the left side of the back yoke and added buttonholes on the right side. Then I took the pico edging on the neckline and extended it down the right side of the opening. A quick, easy way to close up that hole, plus, it added the fun of choosing some cute buttons.

And, just like that, another weekend is over. Back to the dungeon tomorrow haha. I hope you have a wonderful week!
XOXO,
Anna

50 Years

24 Comments / September 27, 2017 September 27, 2017 / Sewing

One day this summer, I was just sitting around thinking about things and it dawned on me that this year marks a very special anniversary for me. Although the math is a little hard to work out (me being barely 29 and all ;-) ), it turns out that it’s been 50 years since I learned to sew. It hardly seems possible and makes me feel really ancient.

One day, way back when, BigDaddy came home with the surprise of a new machine for MeMum. She said she didn’t really know what to do with it (although she knew the basics of sewing) and “it sat in the dining room for a year “. Finally, she took a class or two at the local community college. I loved watching her cut out the pattern pieces and put them together to make something. I think I must have bugged her to let me sew something, so she finally gave in and taught me how to sew. I wonder, did she have any idea what that gift would mean to me in the coming years? My very first project was a little wrap around dress. The perfect beginner dress — no buttons or zippers. I remember that my bias tape edging wasn’t perfect, but I wore my little wrap-around proudly.

Long-time readers probably know that I’m a die-hard Husqvarna Viking fan, in part because I was taught to sew on MeMum’s Viking (and mostly because they are amazing pieces of technology). Here’s MeMum’s little beauty herself — the prized Viking 2000. This machine is a fantastic little workhorse. It has the ability to drop down into a lower gear (do machines even have that feature anymore?), so it can do some really heavy-duty sewing. I even repaired the back of a leather shoe once with this machine. (I found a fun little video extolling the virtues of the Viking 2000 by a sewing machine repairman on YouTube).

When I was 13, MeMum and BigDaddy got me my own sewing machine for Christmas. It was a Singer and, after a year (and a lot of frustration), it was decided that I should get the Viking 2000 and MeMum got a new machine (this time an Elna — nothing close to the power of the Viking, but it had a gorgeous stitch and MeMum made all of her beautiful quilts on her Elna.) The Viking took me through high school and college and a lot of sewing my own clothes. As newlyweds TheManoftheHouse and I were stationed in Germany and we decided to take advantage of the “bargains” available living so close to Sweden, so we bought a new Viking — the 6690. It was the first electronic Viking and I made lots of kiddie clothes and learned to quilt on this baby.

Then came the era of embroidery machines. By now, the kids were in high school, and, of course, I neeeeeeded one. Enter Hester. My beloved Hester. The only machine, for some reason, that I actually named LOL. This model introduced the even-feed foot — no more walking feet for machine quilting — yipee!

And last year, I guess in retrospect, to celebrate 50 years, I upgraded to the Epic. I didn’t really need a new machine — Hester is still going strong. But, Hester’s technology scares me — she takes her instructions on a floppy disk. You can’t even buy a computer with a floppy disk these days — it’s an obsolete technology. So, darn it, again, I neeeded to upgrade. I was forced. Against my will. LOL. I’ll probably never even come close to using the features of this machine — so far, it’s just been a few simple embroideries and a lot of quilting. I love the 1/4″ quilting foot which I moved from Hester to this machine. I know just how to adjust the machine to get the perfect 1/4″ seam.

So, anyway, that’s 50 years of sewing for me. I can’t imagine my life without sewing in it — I get a little cranky if I can’t sew at least every few days LOL. I would say I’m looking forward to the next 50, but I think we all know that’s not logical. I’m hoping to get close though!

XOXO,
Anna

Emma & Myrtle

14 Comments / September 20, 2017 September 20, 2017 / Chat, Sewing

Brace Yourselves Kids — I actually have a finish from my sewing room! A month or two ago that cute little CrazyMom sent me some fat quarters from her new fabric line, Emma and Myrtle for Connecting Threads. Soooo Sweet — and I LOVE the name! I’d been wanting a little travel sewing kit for a long time, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to make one.

I looked at lots of different sewing kits on Pinterest and then I just made it up as I went along. I decided on a tri-fold style (the size when it’s closed up is about 6″ x 9″) and wanted to do a little applique on the front. When I saw CrazyMom’s cute spool print, I thought it would be cute to use for flower centers.

When the cover is opened, there was another surface to decorate — I took the lazy way out and added a little sewing badge, some hand stitching and called that surface done. When opened fully, there were lots of choices to be made!

I knew I wanted one see-through pouch and I’d planned to put pockets for pencils and needles on the right-hand side, but then I started to think about things falling out of the pockets. So, I opted for another see-through pouch for security. Then, finally the middle. I knew I needed a pin-cushion and a place to store scissors. And something for needles. I had this adorable beehive needle keep sent to me by a sweet friend, so I tucked it into a vinyl pocket and added a crochet edge. And, just in case the scissors wanted to fall out of the pocket, I decided to make a flap to cover everything.

As a bonus, it provided a surface that could be appliqued ;-D. I followed the needle-keep’s lead and went with the beehive theme and added some bees. They really do have little white felt wings, they’re just hard to see.

My sewing kit has already been pressed into service and I’m looking forward to many years of use. Unless I decide to make another one. Haha.

XOXO,
Anna

Waldorf

16 Comments / September 13, 2017 September 13, 2017 / Chat, Sewing

Wow. Can you believe we’re in the middle of September already? My last few weeks have just disappeared — partly because we took a trip to see the kidlets in Utah. We can’t let FinallyAGirl go too many months without seeing her! We had a great time — playing, eating and hiking. I think I may have had a wee bit of altitude sickness on one of our hikes. Or maybe just a bout of outofshapeness LOL. Either way, I had to sit down for a minute and I had a raging headache that started about the time we reached the top of our mountain until we got back down. Hiking is so fun in the mountains — the views are spectacular!

Anyway, back to the title of my post. Waldorf. Are you thinking Salad? Astoria??? Or, if you’re thinking dolls, you’re on the right track. I wanted to make FinallyAGirl a little Waldorf Doll and I decided to make a baby doll, since she’s still so young. It was my first Waldorf doll-making experience and it was lots of fun. The web is full of great information! I found this kit for a doll that I liked — Loetje by Bibidolls.

The pattern is a pdf and the instructions are great — very detailed and with great pictures. I had a bit of trouble stuffing the doll with as much stuffing as was recommended (she tells you by weight how much each part needs) and I feel like my little doll ended up being fatter than the original LOL. The head was particularly tricky — I had to have TheManoftheHouse help me tie off the pieces so that I could get them nice and tight. She explains that the reason for stuffing so tightly is so that the little doll won’t end up too flat as the stuffing compacts over time.

I had planned to get a picture of FinallyAGirl kissing her baby or dragging her around, but she didn’t pay any attention to her. She already has a favorite little baby doll. I’m hoping she’ll pay a little more attention to this little Waldorf baby when she gets a little older. (Oh, and little Loetje doesn’t have lipstick smeared all over her face — the pink around her lips is the reflection of the flower. She has some red cheeks, but I took the pictures before I remembered to paint her cheeks on. Ooops.)

So, instead of a FinallyAGirl-Really-Loves-Her-New-Baby picture, how ’bout a shot of all the pretty fabric that arrived while we were gone? Lots of pretty florals (I LOVE those Chelsea Market prints from Blend Fabrics) and some more Japanese prints. And I couldn’t resist that Sheepie (!) print when I saw it at quilt market. They’re all in my little Etsy shop in case you can’t resist.

Now I’m off to watch a little tv with MeMum before bed. The evenings slip by much too quickly! Hope you’re having a good week!

XOXO,
Anna

Tube Socks

15 Comments / August 27, 2017 August 27, 2017 / Knitting, Socks

Well, it’s been too long, but I finally have another knitting finish. Remember this picture I posted in January?

That’s the Mind The Gap yarn by Trailing Clouds and I’ve finally finished knitting the socks that belong to it. The yarn is so named because the colors in the yarn are supposed to match the colors of the tube lines on the London Underground map.

They were a fun knit, but I felt like they took me a lot longer than normal (whatever that is LOL). Usually, I don’t care if the stripes match up on stripey socks, but I really wanted these socks to match. I couldn’t see how to do that using my normal two-socks-on-one-circ method, so I reverted back to one-at-a-time sock knitting on dpns. It was a nice change of pace, but it seemed to take longer.

{Ummm. Excuse Me Paul. I’m trying to take pictures here.}

I’ve been thinking about the UK a lot. I’m right at 2 years since my last trip and I’m homesick LOL. I NEED a trip! I’m thinking I NEED to plan one for next year.

Sounds like a 2018 plan to Me! Have a great week — I’ll be dreaming of UK travel LOL.

XOXO,
Anna