July 2009 – Thimbleanna

I’m Ba-a-a-ack…

59 Comments / July 30, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Travel

…and even though it was a long vacation, it wasn’t long enough.

Las Vegas was HOT. (How DO you kids in the southwest survive it?)

The North Rim of the Grand Canyon was GORGEOUS.

Zion National Park was SUPER delicious.

Bryce National Park was HAZY. (A forest fire had half of the park closed.)

The family was FUN. (I don’t think that frozen t-shirt game will ever get old.)

Arches National Park was SWELTERING for our hike. (But it was fun anyway.)

And now July has slipped away. I’ve missed you guys — I would ask what you’ve been doing, but it’s clear you’ve been blogging. My google reader doesn’t count past 1,000 posts and it took me a few days of clearing to get below 1,000. I’m trying to catch up with everyone, but I’ve had to do some skipping. (Guaranteed skippage happened if you’re a blog that makes me click through to read your post. Sorry. )

Thanks for all of your wonderful comments while I was gone. I’ve had to call a truce on comment answering and will try to start up again this weekend. Next time, I’ll be back with a tale of a fantastic blog meet-up that some of you already know about. Have a good weekend!

XOXO,
Anna

Roadtrip 2009

60 Comments / July 11, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Travel

Hmmm. Vegemite — apparently, you either love it or you hate it. Thanks for all the advice — I’m very anxious to test it out. I’ll give you a full report when it happens. ;-)

In the meantime, remember these pillowcases?

It’s time, once again to bring them out. The kids and I are leaving in the morning to head “out west”. WooHoo! Ah Loves Me A Roadtrip! SweetiePie has never been west of Colorado Springs and I’m really excited to be able to go out there with her. We’ll be visiting family, hiking The Narrows in Zion National Park, and visiting the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. (Not to mention the quilt shops and a few other things.)

So, I’m leaving you with pictures of our coneflowers this year. We had a gorgeous bumper crop (which prompted a banner change, in case you hadn’t noticed).

I want to remember them and I’m hoping they’ll still be here when we get back.

Behave yourselves while I’m gone and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do! ;-)

XOXO,
Anna

My First Quilt & More

53 Comments / July 8, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Quilting

Camille and Carrie are hosting a “My First Quilt” show, so I thought it only fair to burn your retinas with a little 1980’s pink and blue. Oh wait, it was “mauve” and “country blue” back then, wasn’t it?

This was my first quilt. It was 1987 and I was on the verge of birthing TheSecondChild, so being on maternity leave and having unlimited access to the master quilter (MeMum), we decided that I should learn how to quilt. We had a new little house and I made this quilt to hang in our entry hall.

Camille also asked what we have learned between our first quilt and our last quilt. I’ve learned that I wish I could get back to hand-quilting. It’s always been my favorite. My quilts now seem to be easier and quicker. It would be nice to go back to more detailed blocks and hand quilting.

I’m also supposed to show you my most recent quilt. Here it is:

Oh, I’m KIDDING! My most recent quilts were those t-shirt quilts and seeing them once is enough. THIS ADORABLE little quilt came all the way from Australia from Toni of The Red Boot Quilt Co. Isn’t it the sweetest thing?

I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I love the happy, bright colors and the big fat flowers. And Toni’s work is PERFECT. Perrrr-Fect! It’s just beautiful. Look at those pretty stitches! And look at all the other goodies Toni sent. Three (THREE!) of her patterns– they all have flowers on them. Eeeek, they’re so cute! And, I LOVE TimTams Toni — how did you know? We had them here at Target for about 5 seconds and now they don’t carry them anymore. I’m going to HIDE savor every single cookie. They’re my favorite combination — chocolate and carmel. Yum, Yum!

But wait! There’s more! Vegemite. I haven’t dared try it yet — TheSecondChild said he tried it in Sydney and didn’t like it. I’m not going to let that prejudice me though — Toni gave me a tip for eating it. If any of you other Australians have any great tips for becoming a Vegemite lover, I’m all ears! It can’t be all bad, can it — look at that gorgeous packaging!!!

Toni! Thank you, THANK YOU so much for your generosity! I already have the perfect place picked out in my little sunroom where I’m going to hang your cute quilt. I can’t wait. What a wonderful gift — you’ve made my day. And if the rest of you haven’t visited Toni, run over there. She’s on a little blog break, but there’s lots of great stuff to see and I promise, you won’t be sorry!

XOXO,
Anna

Happy July 4th!

49 Comments / July 4, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Cupcakes, Holidays

For those of you in the US, Happy Independence Day! We’re off to our neighbor’s house for our annual cookout where we play games and eat, eat, eat. We’ll toss eggs (in the rain), play cornhole (in the rain), hula-hoop (in the rain) and I have a secret new game for the kids — I froze some t-shirts and the first one to get their frozen t-shirt on will win a movie ticket. (Have you ever tried to unpeel frozen fabric??? – the rain will be their friend!) There will be lots of food — we’re taking baked beans, spaghetti salad, and of course, cupcakes!

Happy, Happy Weekend!
XOXO,
Anna

Edited to add: OHMYGOSH! If you’ve never played the frozen t-shirt game you should try it. Take some t-shirts (I found some at Menards for $1.99 each), get them wet, fold them like you’d put them in a dresser, and then freeze them. Then, when you have a bunch of people together, hand them out and make it a race. The first one to get that frozen shirt on wins a prize. We had the best time. Before I even had my instructions out, TheSecondChild was running into the house to throw his in the microwave. My niece was right behind him, and ran to the sink to cover hers with hot water. TheFirstChild ran out onto the wet grass and was on his hands and knees, rubbing that t-shirt back and forth in the grass trying to get it to thaw. The other five participants were doing all sorts of other tricks like sitting on them, squeezing them and prying them apart. They all said when they did get them on, it was freezing cold. It was HYSTERICAL! Highly recommended for a LOT of laughs!!!

Month: July 2009