Thimbleanna – Page 34 – My little online diary.

Five on Friday

14 Comments / March 12, 2015 March 12, 2015 / Chat

1. A friend of mine had a birthday this week and she shamelessly hinted that she’d sure like our favorite chocolate cake as a little surprise. How could I say no — I LOVE that cake! I think you need to make one too — really — it only looks fattening!!!

2. Have you seen this article about the oldest man in Australia? How wonderful would it be to knit to a ripe old age of 109?

3. Selina posted this quote by Gwen Marston on her Instagram account:

“I love sewing, so I’m not trying to ‘get it over with’. I’m not trying to wrap it up so I can go off and dust.”

I love that! I love sewing too and I love taking my time and enjoying the process. And this quote explains a lot. Why my projects take so long and why this house is SO dusty!

4. I realized that I never showed you what I ordered when I won the Minted.com giveaway over on Amy’s blog a few months ago. I can’t even remember everything I ordered, but I’ve sure been enjoying these little notecards. They’re printed on a beautiful, heavy paper, and I had so much fun choosing a notecard style. I love that get to see those pretty Liberty fabrics when I write a note to someone!

5. And speaking of Amy, I’m holding her responsible for the latest round of fabric that has arrived in my little Thimbleanna shop. A few weeks ago she posted about the new Maker line by Art Gallery Fabrics. Oh. My. Gosh. I LOVE this line and I had to have some of it. And while I was ordering from AGF, my fingers slipped and I ordered a few other prints too. Here are just some of the new prints in the shop:

And when I saw Hello Bear, I couldn’t help myself. I mean Come. On. It’s BAMBI. And her Mother!!! (I’ve had this problem with deer fabric before LOL.) Just tooooo sweet.

So…if you love these fabrics as much as I do, skip on over to my little shop and I’ll hook you up!

That’s it! I hope you have a wonderful weekend. I plan on being a Maker!
XOXO,
Anna

Itty Bitty Churn Dash

23 Comments / March 7, 2015 March 7, 2015 / Liberty Love

Thanks for all the Liberty Bib love! As I mentioned in my last post, I also made a few quilt blocks when I was making the bibs. I made some of these little 3″ Churn Dash blocks a month or so ago and I wasn’t sure if I’d want to continue making them. I think a quilt of hundreds of these little blocks would be so cute. I posted those first three on Instagram, wondering if I would be dead before I could make enough for a whole quilt, and the comments were so fun and supportive that they sent me over the edge. They’re time consuming little blocks, but, as Jan said, if I just keep chipping away at them, sooner or later, I’ll have enough to make a big quilt.

So, now I have a plan. I think I calculated that I’ll need around 360 of them. I’ll probably start out making three of each print and work on them for the next few years. They’re just so sweet and I love them!

I had a question about the dimensions of these little blocks, so I thought I’d show you how I made them — in chalkboard form.

Cut your pieces as indicated.

Just a little summary ;-D.

Stitch pieces together (right sides together!) as indicated. For the squares, draw a diagonal line on each of the 2″ white squares of fabric, pair each with a print fabric, and then sew a 1/4″ line on each side of that pencil line. Then cut along the pencil line.

Using your favorite method, square those little half-square triangles up. They should measure 1 1/2″ x 1 1/2″ when you’re done. It’s a tedious job, but it makes your final square so much more accurate!

Another summary. Be sure you’re pressing your seams to the print fabric side (we don’t do open seams in ThimbleannaLand!). Cut that 6″ strip into four 1 1/2″ lengths.

Sew together as indicated.

Press seams in the direction of the arrows.

Sew together as indicated. If you followed pressing instructions, your seams should nest right up against each other.

And … you’re done! Press those last two seams as indicated by the arrows.

Itty Bitty Churn Dash blocks are fun. Especially out of beautiful Liberty fabrics!

And, if that wasn’t fun enough, I thought you might like a picture of the squirrel buffet that BigDaddy is running at his house. This is the view from the kitchen table — MeMum and BigDaddy can eat their breakfast and dinner with the squirrels just 12 feet away. You can’t see it in the picture, but, just to the left of the feeder is a small Chinese Maple tree where there were two more squirrels waiting for their turn at the feast. BigDaddy loves his animals — No Squirrel Left Behind!

Have a great weekend!
XOXO,
Anna

In Like a Lion

22 Comments / March 1, 2015 March 1, 2015 / Liberty Love, Sewing

Well Hello March! The month when spring officially begins in the northern hemisphere. There are no signs of spring around here though. March has arrived deeply entrenched in winter — and it’s probably no surprise that I love it! We had another small storm last night and it’s a winter wonderland out there today. Big, beautiful, white, sticky snow. I should have gone out there and built a snowman!

Instead, I spent the day playing around in the sewing room. I tried to clean and organize a bit, but you’d hardly know it. I desperately need some organizational skills LOL. I also sewed a bit and played around with the latest batch of Liberty fabrics. I’d been waiting until the more masculine prints arrived so that I could make a boy version from Amy’s sweet little bib pattern.

Clearly, a ruffle would not do for a boy, so I added a little bow tie. I love that Checkmate print from Liberty — it’s just perfect.

And I used a blue alphabet print for the back of the bib. I’ve ~~hoarded~~ had that print almost since my boys were babies themselves.

And here’s my favorite part — Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee. Ohmygosh, I love the little Alice in Wonderland characters — they’re all just too cute!

I worked on some quilt blocks too, but more on those later. Have a wonderful week!

XOXO,
Anna

Back from Break!

22 Comments / February 23, 2015 February 23, 2015 / Store, Travel

Ahhhhh. I’m back from my little break, all rested (ha!) and refreshed. If you follow me on Instagram, you know I went to Utah. We love to go in the winter (well, we love to go any time of the year!) so that the kids can ski and TheManoftheHouse and I can just have a good time. Sadly, this time, TheManoftheHouse and TheSecondChild couldn’t make it.

I went out a few days early so that I could visit TheWorld’sGreatestAunt and a few of my cousins. I had fun playing with Aunt Annie — we talked a lot, played hand and foot and visited a few quilt shops. After I left her, I had a few hours before I needed to pick up TheFirstChild and SweetiePie from the airport, so I decided to drive up into the mountains. BigDaddy’s father spent his life in these mountains and I loved having the time to drive around and take in all the incredible beauty. Here’s a view along the ridgeline of the mountains — Skyline Drive. It’s rare for a little car, like my rental, to be on this road in February — usually, there’s a ton of snow up here in the middle of the winter and the roads are closed.

Looking across the valley to Mt. Nebo.

It was an unbelievably gorgeous day — about 50 degrees F and sunny – no coat required! There were even people in shorts flying kites — crazy!

I drove along the ridge and thought it was pretty funny to find an outhouse. Luckily for me, it was actually open ;-D!

After a few stops to enjoy the views and breathe in the fresh, crisp air, I left the mountains and went down to the valley on the other side. And while I was there, I decided to take a quick stop in a small town where some of my ancestors are buried. I’d never been there before and I was lucky to find a few graves of family members. I was also really lucky to see these beautiful big owls up in a pine tree. I’ve seen owls before, but only in zoos or raptor centers, so this was a super fun bonus to my day!

Anyway, moving right along with my week … I had a great visit with Bonnie one afternoon — Hi Bonnie! It’s a good thing that we don’t live near each other — we wouldn’t get much done and we’d wear our voices out! Then, after the kids arrived, along with the planned skiing activities (with warm temps and not much snow, the skiing wasn’t great this year ;-( ) we decided to do a few things we hadn’t done before. Not surprising for the kids, but as many times as I’ve been to Utah and all the years I actually lived there, we’d never been to the State Capitol. It’s beautiful!

And one evening, we went out to The Great Salt Lake (never been there either — it was about time!) to view the sunset. (That’s not snow on the ground — it’s salt.)

Some of my Instagram friends say the lake is really smelly, but we could only smell salt. Winter must be the best time to visit. It was chilly, but oh. so. pretty. Our Little Miss Crazy decided to wade out into the lake — we were wearing coats, so I’m sure her feet were freezing!

So, that pretty much sums up the trip! Home again, home again, jiggety jig. It’s been hard to go back to work, but finding a little surprise waiting for me when I got home, made it a lot easier. These beauties have arrived:

Mmmmmm. Lucious Liberty. They’re loaded in the little Liberty Shop (at always low prices haha!) if you need some Lovely Liberty for yourself.

Have a great week!
XOXO,
Anna