Thimbleanna – Page 6 – My little online diary.

Birds in the Air

17 Comments / February 27, 2021 March 1, 2021 / Quilting

Snow! We’ve had so much beautiful snow in the last week and I didn’t want it to pass without a little record here on ye ol’ blog. I heard that this was the most snow we’ve had on the ground at one time since 1982. If you’ve been around here for very long, you probably know I LOVE snow, so I’ve been in heaven.

I’ve seen lots of fun pictures of quilts in snow and I’ve always wanted to take a photo of one of my freshly made quilts in the snow. Sadly, I don’t have a freshly made quilt, and by the time I do the snow will all be gone (it’s fading fast boo-hoo), so I decided to take photos of an old antique quilt that recently came back from the quilter.

I’ve been putting the binding on, so at least the binding is something freshly sewn by me LOL. I actually put this quilt on the quilt frame several years ago in hopes that MeMum would start quilting again. I quilted the first two blocks (those two in the corner in the above picture) but MeMum just wasn’t interested. It didn’t take me long to realize that, with all my other projects, I’d be dead before I finished quilting this quilt, so I took it off the frame and sent it to our hand-quilter. Didn’t she do a beautiful job?

The original quilter used two different red and brown prints in this quilt. She must have not had enough of either print to use for the whole quilt — that’s just one thing I love about this quilt. It’s all hand pieced and her piecing is amazing — look at all those matching points!

I’m guessing the top was made in the early 20th century. It’s really fun to sit and look at all the different fabrics. Look at that Electric Green! And several blocks have some of those famous old bubble gum pink prints.

We backed this quilt with a reproduction brown print that came from MeMum’s stash. It was a good choice, ’cause even though it’s a print, you can still very clearly see the quilting on the back.

So, those are my quilt pictures in the snow! I should plan my quilts better so that they coincide with snow storms. Some years (like last year) we barely have any snow though, so it’s a hard game to play.

And speaking of games, we have had a great time playing in the snow this year. There have been snowmen and snow angels and even a little sledding. Both downhill and dragging babies around on a frozen lake. So. Much. Fun!

Happy End of February — Spring is just around the corner!
XOXO,
Anna

Another Pink Quilt

14 Comments / January 30, 2021 February 1, 2021 / Baby Oh Baby, Quilting

Hello Hello!
I hope January has been good to you! I’ve been hunkered down quilting and I’ve finally finished the baby quilt for FinallyAnotherGirl. Ta-Dahhhhh!!!

If you remember, I made a baby quilt for FinallyAGirl using the same fabrics, but a different pattern a few years ago. The pattern is from the book “In The Nursery” by Jennifer Sampou (Thank You So Much Miss Molly for remembering the name of the book!) It feels like this quilt didn’t take as long as the first one to complete, even though I didn’t finish it when I wanted to. It’s all hand quilted — I started the quilting last June and had about half of the quilt done by August, but then it sat untouched through all of the busy fall months. After Christmas, I decided that this quilt would be priority #1 for the new year and once I maintained a little discipline, it really didn’t take too long to finish the quilting.

I love the patchy simplicity of the middle of the quilt, and that sweet little swag border. It was hard to figure out the quilting for the border, but I pulled out my stencils and made something up. One stencil had the cross-hatch flower, so I put it above each swag and added a few leaves to it. Then, I decided to attach the flowers with a ribbon and I put a bow in each corner to tie them all together.

FinallyAnotherGirl is almost 2 1/2 now and it seems a little late for a baby quilt, but FinallyAGirl didn’t get her quilt until her 2nd birthday. I gave FinallyAnotherGirl her little quilt yesterday and she seemed pleased.

So, two out of three pink quilts finished! Just one quilt left for HurrayAThirdGirl — if only I could decide on a pattern. It will definitely be a scrappy pink quilt, just like her sisters’ quilts — and hopefully it will get done before she’s an adult ;-D

One month of the new year under out belts already — time flies when you’re having fun. Haha. At least we’re supposed to get some snow this weekend — THAT will be fun!

XOXO,
Anna

Happy New Year 2021!

10 Comments / December 31, 2020 January 4, 2021 / Holidays

In Kitty Cat Tradition, PaulKitty has donned his festive attire and he would like to wish you all a Very Happy New Year!

And Wow. Was that a year or what??? In spite of everything, it seemed to fly by and we were very lucky here in ThimbleannaLand. We had a relatively good year and certainly can’t complain. Limited exposure to other humans has resulted in less colds and other nasty germs, so there has been a silver lining to the dumpster fire. (I’m sorry, I really dislike popular phrases, but that one is just too funny. Plus, I like how “dumpster” rolls off of the tongue LOL.) Anyway, here is the traditional look back at the projects and travel that happened this year:

Travel? Did I say travel??? Hahahaha! 2020 sure took care of travel. We did squeak in one trip to Utah with the whole family and we had a great time. The rest of my travel this year was in my head, which is why I included the picture of the beautiful house out of my kitchen window — it reminds me of a house I might see in the UK, so I gaze at it frequently and dream. As for projects, another year of not-a-whole-lot, but some fun projects anyway and enough to keep me busy. I really should have more pictures of the grandbabies, as I feel that I spent more time playing with them than I did quilting or knitting — and I loved it! I also loved sewing the bags and project rolls — quick makes are always fun. And, there were a few projects started that still aren’t completed. If you remember, the “2020” was appliqued for a wedding that was supposed to occur in August. It was postponed, so I’ll be changing the 2020 to 2021 — but not until we’re closer to the date.

On to a new year at last! It’s so funny to look at posts from last year and how everyone dreamed of what 2020 would hold for us. No one saw THAT coming LOL. What does 2021 hold for us all? I feel like last year should have come with some sort of warning — you know, like Mr. Doubtfire always said: “Brace Yourself, Effie!”

So, off we go — hang on! I hope the new year brings you first and foremost, Good Health. Hopefully this pandemic will be over soon. And then, may you find peace and contentment — with a LOT of time to quilt and knit or do whatever your sweet hearts may desire. HAPPY HAPPY NEW YEAR!
XOXO,
Anna

P.S. Go check out my Instagram page for a sale code in my little fabric shop. It’s a great time to stock up for winter projects! XO

Merry Christmas!

3 Comments / December 24, 2020 December 24, 2020 / Holidays

Merry Christmas in a year to beat them all! It’s time for my annual posting of the Christmas Eve breakfast — luckily, some things stay the same. I’m so glad I’ve kept this tradition, as I can look back and see the sort of Christmas we’ve had. This year things are pretty quiet and low key — I only made 3 different types of Christmas cookies. Sugar Cookies, Angel Slices and Grandma Hill’s Browned Butter Cookies always make the cut — it wouldn’t be Christmas without them. I thought maybe this was the year that I’d made the least number of cookies, but I’d forgotten about the year that it was just MeMum and Me. That year, the Browned Butter Cookies were replaced with caramels. I’m definitely missing the caramels this year — maybe I’ll make them for New Year’s. ;-D

I didn’t really make any gifts for Christmas this year, so I haven’t had the crazy late nights trying to finish projects, like I have some years. I was knitting sweaters for FinallyAGirl and FinallyAnotherGirl but I ran out of yarn with 1/2 of a sleeve to go on FinallyAGirl’s sweater, so I lost steam. I bought the yarn in Iceland and I’m having trouble getting more of it. I hope she’s not grown by the time more yarn arrives.

So, that’s the jist this year. Low and Slow. I hope you have a Wonderful Christmas — and that you’ve been able to preserve some of your traditions even if your Christmas looks a little different this year. And if you’re still sewing (or will be after the kids go to bed) I hope Santa brings you time to finish your projects!
XOXO,
Anna

A Sewing Kit

5 Comments / December 19, 2020 December 19, 2020 / Chat

Boy Oh Boy. This month has just flown by! It’s been a messy, messy year, but I hope that this holiday season will be a good one for everyone. This is the first Christmas in years and years that I haven’t been working, so it’s been nice to not feel pressed for time to get things done. That’s good and bad — it’s relaxing, but I don’t get nearly as much done. I’ve sure been having fun playing with the grandbabies a lot though and I feel so lucky that they are living so close to us now. I’m not doing as much for the holidays this year. I didn’t decorate as much and we decided not to do a gingerbread house competition either. {Gasp!} Mostly because it’s one less event to be exposed to each other with Covid worries, but I just wasn’t feeling it this year. Baking all that gingerbread is a lot of work. I’ll get back to it next year ;-D. TheFirstChild and SweetiePie are moving into their new home on Monday, so we’ll be tending the babies. I thought it would be fun just to have the oldest two make little mini-gingerbread houses from store-bought kits (the sacriledge LOL) while they’re here. Something to keep them busy and keep up the tradition, even if in a very small way.

I haven’t sewn as much for gifts this year either, but I have managed to make a fun little sewing kit for a gift . (If by some random chance your name is Aunt Ann, LOOK AWAY! Scroll no farther LOL!) I have LOVED the sewing kit I made a few years ago when I was part of CrazyMom’s Emma & Myrtle fabric tour. I use my sewing kit almost every day and it’s so nice to have all my supplies in one handy place. So, I thought my sewing-loving-world’s-greatest-aunt might also like to have a little kit of her own. I was worried that I might not get it done in time for Christmas because I had to wait for my shipment of Rose & Violet’s Garden fabrics to arrive in my little shop. They arrived on Wednesday, so I quickly stitched up a kit and popped it in the mail yesterday, in hopes that it will arrive in time for Christmas.

I had fun choosing what to add to this kit – the first choice was a little Moda badge that says “Sewing makes me happy!” My Aunt has told me many times how much she loves to sew, so I hope she’ll smile when she opens the first flap and sees this little badge.

Then I just put some fun stuff in the middle of the kit. My kit has a needle minder that I rarely use, so I put a spool of thread in this kit instead. I also threw in a few notions before I shipped it off, including a little pair of embroidery scissors in the scissors pocket. I also included some Grandma Loves You tags — she has 27 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren and she still sews for them, so I’m thinking she’ll be able to use those cute little tags.

I’ve had people ask me about my sewing kit, so while I was making this one, I took some pictures and wrote up a little tutorial for anyone who would like to make one. It’s not a really detailed tutorial — mostly just a few ideas and measurements. The fun of these sewing kits it that you can make them completely your own and add the features that you want to have.

Ok, well, I have to get back to work! Today is present wrapping day and I’m planning to stitch up a few reusable gift bags for some of the more awkwardly sized gifts. We’ll see how that goes. Have a great last few days before Christmas — I hope you have enough time to get everything done!

XOXO,
Anna