September 2010 – Thimbleanna

Blue & White: Done!

70 Comments / September 28, 2010 February 22, 2011 / Quilting

Ok, Boys and Girls, raise your hands if you’ve been around long enough to remember when I finished this blue and white quilt top. I recognize a few of you out there (thanks, btw, so very much for sticking around with me for so long!) Over three years ago, I shipped it off to a hand quilter. She had it for about a year and a half and it’s been sitting around waiting for it’s binding since then.

The long drive to Oklahoma last week was the perfect opportunity for Mama Bunny to get busy and git-r-done (that’s Oklahoma-speak.) I don’t know why it always takes me so long to get around to the binding details. I think it’s my favorite part of quiltmaking and it really doesn’t even take that long.

The fabrics for this quilt came from a fabric exchange that I had with the quilty peeps and a few other quilt friends a looong time ago. We all showed up with enough yardage of several blue prints to make quarter yard cuts for everyone that was there. Then we each went home with lots of new blue prints and the challenge was for each of us to create a different quilt.

I chose the Lady of the Lake pattern. I remember that Gurney was going to make a blue bow-tie quilt, but I can’t remember what the other girls were going to make. Send me your pictures girls – I’ll put them on the blog LOL!!! (I think this might be the first time I’ve ever beaten Jewels to the quilting punch — she always finished our little challenges first.)

Anyway, I Looooove my little blue quilt. It’s Me. I’ll have to look, but I think it’s my favorite quilt so far. Sorry I don’t have a full size picture. The above pictures were taken while we were in Oklahoma and in true Oklahoma fashion it was windier than all get-out (whatever that is.) Then, it was rainy and gloomy here yesterday, so I didn’t get the deed done. You can see a full-size pre-quilt version on the old post (not to be confused witht the Old Post Corral where I took these pictures {wink}{wink}), if you’re interested.

So, chalk up a finished UFO. Yipee! And if that didn’t make me happy enough, look at the wonderful little gift I found in the mail when we returned home from our trip:

A darling charm from Kim. I’ve already put it on my little sewing kit scissors. Isn’t the packaging gorgeous? Kim always adds the most perfect touch to her gifts. It’s all just beautiful — thank you so much Kim — I Love it!

Now … off to wrangle up some dinner. SweetiePie is here for a visit, so I must hurry — there are card games to be played!

XOXO,
Anna

Pops

44 Comments / September 24, 2010 February 22, 2011 / Travel

TheManoftheHouse and I had a quick trip this past week to Oklahoma to visit the in-laws. It’s a long drive (about 15 hours) and we make it in one day. In July, Dawn posted about Pops Soda Ranch, a fun place to visit just northeast of Oklahoma City along Route 66, and I took note. I knew it would be the perfect reward after a long day of driving.

I love their bottle cap logo with the bubbles — too cute. Pops is a retro-looking service station with a diner and they claim to have over 500 different types of soda pop. It sure felt like more than that. Orange Soda anyone? My favorite!

Everywhere you look, there are colorful, beautiful soda pop bottles. The window display bottles are all glued to the glass shelves.

All the bottles for sale are in refrigerators and it’s really fun to look at the variety.

Pretty much any flavor you could dream up. Dog barf or dog drool anyone? Sodasgusting LOL.

We arrived just in time for dinner and as we were leaving, the sun was setting.

The big soda pop bottle wasn’t lit when we first got there, but luckily we were there long enough that they turned it on, and we were able to see all the pretty colors.

So, if you’re ever near Oklahoma City, keep Pops in mind. It’s a fun stop to stretch your legs and have a break.

I managed to get some quilting done on my wall hanging and a binding done on a UFO while we were gone, so that’s a good thing. Finally a finish, coming up in the next post.

XOXO,
Anna

Channeling My Inner Finny

47 Comments / September 20, 2010 February 22, 2011 / Chat

For a few years now, I’ve been reading several blogs that, while generally crafty sorts of blogs, talk occasionally about running. After awhile, your start to think, “Hey – maybe I could run a bit too!” So, late last summer (as in 2009) I decided I was going to become a runner. I ran every other day for about 3 weeks and after the first week, my knees started killing me and by the third week, I could barely walk. I consulted My physical therapist CrazyBIL and he said “What do you expect, you’ve been a lazy-bum couch potato all your life, so give it up!” Ok, not really, but he did say that my leg muscles were weak, which was causing my knees to take the brunt of the impact and he gave me exercises to do.

I occasionally faithfully did the exercises over the winter and decided to try again in the spring. This time, I tried the couch to 5k program with a friend from work. After three weeks, my knees were doing great, but my legs were killing me. Fortunately, quilt market came along and saved me from myself. After market, I tried to pick up where I’d left off, but had to quit again after three weeks. Walking around peg-leg-like isn’t a good look.

So, I sat around for a week or two and gave it some thought. I decided maybe I was running too often. I started going to the Y and working out every day on the implement from hell elliptical machine. That way, I could keep up with the aerobic part of running and minimize the impact to my knees. After a week or two, I started running on the track, once every 4 or 5 days. It worked! No more soreness at all. I found the ticket, except for two things: I loathe the elliptical machine and running on a track is soooo boring. I’ve decided I’ll just have to suffer and give myself the occasional reward, like this one below, after the first time I finally made it to a mile. Suffering requires trade-offs!

I’ll never be a Finny or Raina or Jen, but if I can run a little now and then, I’ll be content. So far, I’ve made it up to 1.5 miles on the track and yesterday, I decided what-the-heck, let’s try for 2 miles outside — should be easy without the boredom of the track, right? Ha! I hadn’t factored in the heat and humidity and slight hills. Lucky for me, at 1.25 miles I had to stop to cross a busy 4-lane highway, so I bagged it and walked the rest of the way home. One must improvise when required.

I have no clue where my little running adventure will take me. I’m not really losing any weight (see reward program above.) Unlike Jan, exercise doesn’t discourage snacking. Quite the opposite — the little devil on my left shoulder says “Oh, go ahead, you just burned off some extra calories.” Apparently Jan has the little angel on her shoulder. Anyway, just in case you’ve been having trouble running or exercising, I thought you might benefit from the knowledge of what seems to be working for me. Don’t try to run too frequently (but exercise in between) and a little extra sugar never hurts. ;-)

XOXO,
Anna

P.S. Thank you SOOO much for all your wonderful comments on my ghastlies. I had several questions on where to get the fabric. It’s getting pretty hard to find now, but there are rumors that Alexander Henry plans to rerun the fabric next year with a new set of coordinating prints. I hope so — the frenzy that these fabric companies create by short fabric runs drives me crazy!

Piecing

75 Comments / September 15, 2010 February 22, 2011 / Quilting

I finally had a chance to bust out the Ghastlies this past weekend. It took me awhile to figure out how I wanted to set them and I thought long and hard about whether to incorporate some pieced blocks, like pinwheels or something.

In the end though, I decided that might be a little too busy so I opted for the wonky log cabin. These guys are wonky so they need some sort of funny setting to go along with them. Some of the log cabins could stand to be a little more wonky. I’m a pretty traditional quilter, so this is new for me. We’ll see if I can loosen up as I go along.

I love that funny little guy with the invisible dog. Actually, all the characters have a reason to love them.

It’s hard to see, but the little girl is holding a hammer. ??? I worried that her pink dress would clash with the orange, but I like it. As you can see, I’m using orange, black and gray halloween colors – that way I can throw some of my traditional self into those ghastlies.

Hey, do you like my design wall? I don’t really have one, so I pinned them to a screen door. Even TheEmptyNestChild is in awe. That’s not going to be such a neat trick when it’s 10 degrees below zero with six inches of snow out there. Hopefully by then I’ll have a fun Halloween quilt to keep me warm!

XOXO,
Anna

It’s the Weekend!

32 Comments / September 11, 2010 February 22, 2011 / Chat

Yay! I love it when the weekend rolls around. Sleeping In. Catching Up. Quilting. Knitting. Whatever!

I’ve been the very lucky recipient of two lovely packages this week. First up from Anne — she sent me some beautiful stitchery patterns that she drew herself along with a pretty postcard. Very cute angels and a fab thistle. I’m especially drawn to the thistle which probably comes as no surprise with my Scottish addiction. Thank you so much Anne — they’re adorable and you’re such a sweetie!

Theennnn….I was lucky enough to win a fabric giveaway from Quilt Taffy. Four fat quarters of Punctuation from American Jane. It’s such a cute fabric and I LOVE the alphabet print. Someone asked me what I’m going to do with it. I have no idea — any fun suggestions? Corrie and Des are so amazingly generous — they’re always having fat quarter giveaways. If you don’t subscribe to their blog and you love fabric, you should. Thanks for the great giveaways ladies!

So…on to the weekend. I hope you have a fun one planned. I’m in the middle of phase three of the kitchen paint project at MeMum’s and I’m hoping to do a little quilting this weekend too. I’ve been lucky enough to quilt a bit each night this past week. The big fat EmptyNestChild helps every night too. He’s so funny — he sees me sit down with my quilt and then he jumps up to cuddle up under it. I have a few straight pins along the edge and I’m wondering if maybe he got stuck, as last night he was nipping at one of them. He’s certainly entertaining!

Oh, and a little blog note. Thank you so much to all of you who stop by here and comment. I try so hard to always answer my comments but in the past week or two, some of the comments aren’t being forwarded to my e-mail. I can’t remember how I figured it out and I can’t seem to find out what triggers it. It seems totally random, but for example, of the last 5 comments left on the last post, only 3 were forwarded to my e-mail. Anyway, it’s really hard to answer them if they don’t pop up in my e-mail. Just didn’t want anyone to think I don’t love and VERY much appreciate your comment if you don’t hear from me!

XOXO,
Anna

Month: September 2010