Thimbleanna – Page 36 – My little online diary.

The Aunts’ Quilt and More

24 Comments / January 5, 2015 January 5, 2015 / Quilting

Hey Hey — Guess What??? I think the problem with my comments not being forwarded to my e-mail has been fixed {crosses fingers}! Now I can respond to your comments. Thank you so much to all of you who have been commenting and been so patient when not hearing from me. {Smooches!}

Don’t you love this time of year? I love reading everyone’s plans for the new year. Are you a person who chooses a word? I’m not — although, one year I chose “chocolate” for my word. How could a year with chocolate in it go wrong? Jodi has chosen a funny word this year. I admit, I wasn’t sure I understood when she posted it on instagram, but she’s provided more detail in her latest post. And did you read Suzanne’s phrase for the new year? I LOVE it. If I had a phrase, that’s what I’d want it to be!

So, it was back to work today {insert tantrum throwing, screaming child here}, but I did manage a little sewing before re-entry. I finished the Aunts’ Quilt blocks for month 2 — woohoo, I’m officially caught up! (And by the way — a standing ovation to Lina and Karen R for actually finishing their blocks on time this month — you ladies get big brownie points for keeping on schedule during the holidays! Check their blocks out — they’re all so pretty!)

Here are my two pieced blocks for the month:

And the applique block:

I LOVE doing these applique blocks. I’m having so much fun choosing the fabrics. Did you notice my favorite little part of this block?

He reminds me of Winston. I’m well on my way with the Month 3 blocks — only 10 more days to stay on schedule — how are the rest of you Auntlets doing? Hmmmm?

Before I go — Downton Abbey is back — WooHoo!!! Have you seen the fun Downton Abbey segments with George Clooney (the Marquess of Hollywood haha)? See Part 1 HERE and Part 2 HERE. If you’re a Downton fan, go check it out!

XOXO,
Anna

Happy New Year!

21 Comments / January 1, 2015 January 1, 2015 / Holidays, Store

Once again, the kitties of ThimbleannaLand are here to wish you a Happy Happy New Year! They’re looking a little like they have a hangover from the New Year’s Eve celebrations, but rest assured, we run an alcohol-free kitty hotel around here.

Can you believe it??? 2015??? Wow. We joke about how the weeks and months fly by and now, the years are flying by too! I’m pretty happy to kick 2014 out the door — it wasn’t a spectacular year. We all managed to survive, and I’m really grateful for that, but, I’m hoping that 2015 will be a lot more fun.

It’s been really busy around here these last few days, but I managed to have a little look back on the blog. It wasn’t a great year project-wise — especially when I see some of you over-achievers out there who have a bajillion quilts done in a year. My pace is definitely more like a turtle, but that’s ok, I guess. I’ve been doing a lot more hand work — it takes a lot of time but I really, really love it.

The really exciting part about January 1st is that the new Spring/Summer 2015 line of fabric from Liberty of London can finally be listed for sale. They have pretty strict rules about their campaigns — you can’t show or sell the fabric before the date (even though I saw a lot of sneak peeks) and, the killer for me, you can’t sell the fabric on etsy (even though Hello! — there’s lots of Liberty on Etsy!) So, I’ve been busy re-vamping the little Thimbleanna.com shop here on the blog so that I can sell the Liberty that arrived here last week.

It’s a small shipment to start, but Oh. SO. Pretty! It’s all about Alice in Wonderland this spring — have you seen the adorable little print with all of the characters from the story? I love love love it! I only have the gray colorway so far, but it’s a start! I hope you’ll have fun oggling the fabric — and I think you’ll find the prices VERY friendly for Liberty ;-D!

Ok, kids — must run. Time to get back in the kitchen. I hope you’re having a wonderful New Year’s Day. We’re having our traditional New Year’s Day dinner, even though we’re a teeny little crowd here this year. Thanks so much for hanging in there for another year — you guys are THE. BEST. readers anywhere and I can’t even tell you how much your invisible friendship means to me.

I Heart You.

XOXO,
Anna

P.S. I had to add a little human verification checkbox after the comment form. Tech Support wanted me to add some word verification stuff to solve the comments not being forwarded to my email problem, so I compromised with the checkbox. Sorry. It’s pretty quick though — just click on the little box when commenting and be on your way. It really has nothing to do with the problem I’m having, but they’re Tech Support and I’m trying to make them happy. Even though it didn’t solve the problem. ;-8

Ski Hats for Christmas

27 Comments / December 30, 2014 December 30, 2014 / Knitting

Boy, that week sure flew by in a hurry, didn’t it? I would say I don’t know where the time went, but I sort of do — we had a Christmas trip to Oklahoma to visit TheManoftheHouse’s family, so two days of the week were taken up with 16 hour long drives! Luckily for me though, TheManoftheHouse did the driving, so I could knit and sew when it wasn’t dark. Yay for roadtrips!!! (Oh, and btw, thank you so much for all of your wonderful comments on the last few posts. I haven’t been replying back to you because my comments aren’t being forwarded to my e-mail. More time on the phone with tech support — hopefully they’ll get it ironed out in the next day or two. Also, I think some of the feed readers are still not getting my feed, so you might have to re-subscribe. Which is kind of funny — if you’re not getting the feed, you’re probably not reading this LOL!)

I thought I’d show you the only real knitting/sewing that I did for Christmas this year. Ski Hats for SweetiePie and TheFirstChild.

We were sitting in a restaurant at the tail end of the winter olympics last year and suddenly TheFirstChild’s head did a 360-degree spin and he said to SweetiePie, “Did you see THAT?” SweetiePie must’ve seen it because she jumped up and followed a lady through the lobby and into a different part of the restaurant. The lady was wearing an olympic ski hat and the kids loved it.

When SweetiePie returned to us, she said it was a Ralph Lauren hat. Being a knitter, I popped out my phone and searched Ravelry for a knock-off pattern. Sure enough, there was a pattern out there, so I made a mental note and didn’t even think of those hats again until just after Halloween a few months ago.

Once I started looking at the Ravelry pattern though, there were several things that seemed a little off to me, so I decided to make my own pattern. There were lots of pictures of the hats online so I downloaded them to my iPad so that I could zoom in on them and count stitches. I made big charts and knit and ripped and knit and ripped. The first hat was pretty time-consuming as I tried to figure everything out, but I’m so happy with the end result! And I’m crazy happy with the top of the hat — that’s the one area that I couldn’t really see from any of the photos. I did a convoluted kitchener sort of thing with pleats and I love the way it turned out.

SweetiePie and I are in a hot debate though. Should the hats be worn slouchy (my vote!)

or like a cone-head (her vote)???

Since she and TheFirstChild will be wearing them, I’m betting cone-heads it is LOL!

Oh, and see the little American flag patch on the front of the hat? That’s my least favorite part. I couldn’t find flag patches anywhere that were that small, so I had to make some on my embroidery machine. They’re just too small to get good results in the star field, but the kids didn’t seem to care.

I think they were a big hit, which made my little knitting heart very happy. SweetiePie wore her hat all day even though it was pretty warm outside.

For you knitters, a few details:
Needles: Size 8 circular needles (size 6 for the ribbing and ear flaps)
Yarn: Erin 3-ply by Imperial Yarn Co. in Heart Red, Navy and Natural

Now. Are you ready for the New Year? I’m super excited that my little Liberty shipment arrived! It can’t go on sale until Thursday — so that gives me two days to get my act together!

Have a Wonderful and Safe New Year’s Eve!!!

XOXO,
Anna

Merry Christmas!

31 Comments / December 24, 2014 December 24, 2014 / Holidays

I hope you managed to get everything done and that you’re able to take time and enjoy family and friends. And if you’re one of those who’s up all night on Christmas Eve putting the last stitches on that special gift, I’ll be thinking of you — I’m not in that boat this year, but I have been in past years and those are some fun memories.

I was hoping to show you a picture of bolts of Liberty fabric under the Christmas tree — as proof what a good girl I’ve been this year. Apparently I haven’t been THAT good LOL. A few bolts of Liberty fabric were supposed to be delivered this week but DHL dropped the ball. Their excuse was that they forgot to load it on the truck. Sheesh. I’m glad Santa never used that excuse when I was a little girl! Instead, here’s a picture of some fake little bolts under some fake Christmas trees with a fake deer keeping them safe. Pretend they’re the real thing — they will be in a few days.

Anyway, save your Christmas money boys and girls because the Liberty will be coming to the Thimbleanna shop in the new year. There will be a giveaway and always low prices.

Until then, I hope Santa is good to you and I hope you have a Very Merry Christmas!

XOXO,
Anna

The Aunts’ Quilt – Month 2

18 Comments / December 21, 2014 April 15, 2015 / Cookie of the Month, The Aunts' Quilt

OH. MY. GOSH. Didyamissme???? Probably not — you’re too busy to even notice that I was gone. BUT. My happy little place here on the internet was hacked two weeks ago. Let’s just say, if you’re a middle aged man seeking a little blue pill to aid in your horizontal refreshment (as Sherlock (not THE Sherlock, but the American version) referred to it), THIS was the place to be. (See Carole? It wasn’t your imagination when the drug offer popped up on your screen!)

Anyway, it took 11 long days and HOURS and hours on the phone with tech support. There are still a few little things that are wrong, but they can stay that way for a few weeks — I’m tired of messing with it! And I’ll have you know — when I rule the world, hackers WILL be waterboarded. Multiple times. And then they’ll be drawn and quartered and then shot by a firing squad. The End.

Lots has happened around here in the meantime. You know … the holidays are upon us. The highlight was last weekend when TheFirstChild and SweetiePie came for an early Christmas (their year with the in-laws). We had a good time, but now I’m sad they we won’t see them again until January sometime. SweetiePie left her mark on the kitchen chalkboard, so, at least I can smile every time I walk through the kitchen.

Now, on to the Aunts’ Report. Your fearless leader fell behind this month, but I’m sure I’ll be caught up by the Month 3 report. I managed to get some stems and leaves stitched down. Still to do are the pieced blocks and choosing of fabrics for the rest of the applique block. I’m having soooo much fun with this pattern!

And, let’s not forget the Cookie of the Month! We must have refreshment while we’re stitching. You long-time readers may remember my Christmas cookie true love — Angel Slices. So, naturally, it only makes sense that those sweet little cookies should be the Cookie of the Month.

So, sorry to have been so late with the quilt report this month — if I’m late again I hope I won’t have a good excuse, because we don’t need any more of that brand of blog fun for awhile! In the meantime — only 5 more days! Are you ready???

XOXO,
Anna