April 2013 – Thimbleanna

Yo. Yo.

77 Comments / April 27, 2013 July 13, 2013 / Quilting

Yipee! The YoYo quilt is finally finished!

It was a bright sunny day when we took pictures of the quilt and sadly, bright sunny days don’t always make for good picture taking. We hung the quilt on the outdoor quilt holder swingset at MeMum’s and I waited almost two hours for the sun to go down past the roofline of the house. I finally had to give up, snap the picture and get home to make dinner for TheManoftheHouse. Sorry for the shadow — pretend it’s not there.

While we were waiting on the sun, MeMum and I had fun taking pictures in her guest room, on her beautiful antique bed. She wanted to put some of her dolls and teddies on the quilt, so we had fun playing around.

I’ve mentioned before that Ms. Barefoot Daydreams was my total inspiration for this quilt. It’s been almost 6 years since I saw her red yoyo quilt and then, a year later, she made her black yoyo quilt. They’re just gorgeous and I knew I wanted to make one.

These quilts are a lot of work and I’m amazed that Ms. Barefoot made more than one. I could see making another one — but it will be awhile LOL. There are 868 yoyos in my version. I figured I could make 12 – 15 yoyos in an hour, so that’s about 60 hours making yoyos. And then it took about an hour to sew down 10 yoyos, so that’s about 86 hours to sew down yoyos. Add to that the time it took to sew borders, draw the big yoyo grid, pin baste, machine quilt and then bind the foundation quilt.

It was fun work though. I really enjoyed watching movies and doing all the handwork. I’m feeling a little lost now without a handwork project, I need to plan something soon. It took about seven weeks to sew all the yoyos to the quilt. After all that time and apparent kitty naps when I wasn’t home, the quilt required a bath.

I held my breath when I put the quilt in the wash on gentle cycle. I was afraid those yoyos would fall apart but, happily, there were no thread incidents. Unfortunately though, there was a bit of color running (in spite of fabric pre-washing and two color catchers in the wash). The color running is faint though, so it’s nothing I can’t live with. The yoyo fabric on the left, in the picture below, was the culprit. And the fabric on the right is my favorite fabric. It’s hard to tell all scrunched up in a yoyo, but it has pretty little calligraphic letters on it.

And just to prove that spring has finally arrived here, we took a picture of the quilt with MeMum’s pretty daffodils. Luckily, spring has been late in arriving this year because now, there is a LOT of yardwork to be done.

So, I’m a happy camper — I finished the yoyos just in time.
Have a wonderful weekend!

XOXO,
Anna

Charm Pack Quilts

35 Comments / April 22, 2013 July 13, 2013 / Quilting

Oh man! Mother Goose had a big scare today — they decided to mow the lawns at work. I could hear the mowers but it was about 15 minutes before I could go check on her. She was off the nest and didn’t look too happy about going back. The good news is that Father Goose was right there with her — it was nice to see him for a change. A friend of mine said she was watching when the mower went by and the poor parents both went flying off. A few of us watched her for about 5 minutes and she was just staring at the nest. And the wind was blowing the feathers around a little which made us all think maybe the eggs were hatching (we’re a little far away to see clearly). False alarm! When I left work tonight she was happily (well maybe) sitting back on the nest again. Whew!

In the meantime, Guess What Guess What???? The Yoyos have been conquered! Hopefully I can rustle up a few pictures and get back here later this week. While I was sewing the yoyos with reckless abandon, I was thinking about my next project. Which made me start thinking about charm packs. When charm packs first came out, I just didn’t get the attraction. Why would anyone buy little packs of squares when you can buy bigger pieces? Fortunately, the internet is full of people who “got it” and now I’m seeing the light. I decided to make a mosaic of some of my favorite types of quilts that can be made with charm packs. Even though some of the quilts in my picture were made with scraps, they could easily be adapted to charm packs.

1. Cute Pinwheel Quilt by A Quilting Life
2. Baby Coin Quilt by Tall Grass Prarie Studio
3. Sheets and Shirts HST by Creative Chicks at Play
4. Scrappy Hour Glass by Pink Penguin
5. Patchwork Triangles by Freda’s Hive
6. Baby Spring Triangle by Film in the Fridge
7. Pink Hourglass by Red Pepper Quilts
8. Christmas Quilt by Diary of a Quilter
9. Strawberry Hearts by Helen Philipps
10. Tumblers by Making More with Less
11. Scrappy Squares Baby Quilt by Teaginny Designs
12. Stacked Coins by Hamburger Liebe
13. Hexagons by Nana Company
14. Kansas Dugout by Red Pepper Quilts
15. Slanted Star by Camille Rosekelley (the only picture I could find was with her cute baby!)
16. Triangle Quilt by Blue Elephant Stitches
17. Reverse Hopscotch by V & Co.
18. Simple Nine Patch by Penelope Waits
19. Baby Lattice by Amy Smart
20. Isabelle’s Quilt by Me

I know there are LOTS more quilts out there that could be made with charm pack squares. As I noted in my EPP stars post, I’m going to be making some stars out of charm squares. They’re definitely not as limited at they seem at first glance.

XOXO,
Anna

Mother Goose

39 Comments / April 17, 2013 July 13, 2013 / Chat

Hi There. I thought maybe I should let you know I’m on baby watch. Not the human kind, but it’s sort of exciting anyway. We have a nesting Canada Goose at work. I call her Mother Goose.

She built her nest right in front of our building and right next to the handicap ramp. At first we thought she was crazy — that nest seems to be totally unprotected. But, in doing a little research, it seems that Canada Geese prefer to have their nests completely out in the open. It gives them a clear view of any pending danger. (Awww, look, she’s resting her head on the wall.)

Talk about being a devoted mother. I see her several times a day when I’m in the stairwell and she’s never off of that nest. The gestation period for goose eggs is between 24 and 30 days, depending on which source you read. We’re going on week three and she’s faithfully tended that nest through all kinds of crappy weather. I read somewhere that the mother will frequently turn the eggs so that they will properly develop. And sure enough, I hung around by the window one day and caught her turning the eggs. She’s ever so gentle while she turns her head completely upside down to carefully roll the egg. It’s really fun to watch. I zoomed in on one of my pictures and it looks like there might be eight eggs in the nest. Eight! Supposedly they leave the nest within the first 24 hours — I so hope we’ll be able to see them before they’re gone.

Life is precarious for those little goslings though. The first week Mother Goose was on the nest, we saw a hawk flying in circles above her. Probably scoping out a future meal. When her nest was first discovered, rumor had it that the DNR had been called to move her. I think it was just a rumor though, as it’s illegal to disturb nesting migratory birds. Her biggest threat might be those pesky engineers. They’re all too lazy to take the stairs — everyone uses the handicap ramp. She seems to be used to them by now, although, it’s been said that if you stop to look at her she’ll hiss at you. You don’t want to mess with a mother goose. (There goes a smart engineer now — look down, don’t make eye contact.)

And where, you might ask, is the father? We rarely see him. I’m guessing (well, hoping) he might spend a lot of time on the roof (where we can’t see him) watching over her. Occasionally, we spot him patrolling the parking lot. We’ve never seen him up on the grass next to her. Slacker. I always wonder how she eats or goes to the bathroom. It’s really pretty amazing. (Did you notice Father Goose in the parking lot picture? Here, I’ll point him out.)

So, that’s the excitement around here. I know I’ve been fairly absent, but I’ve been plugging away at the Yoyos. Yoyo Count: Yoyos: 135 Me: 733. Netflix, as always, is my yoyo companion. When Upstairs Downstairs ended, I watched Daniel Deronda (fun to see Downton’s Hugh Bonneville in a different role) and then decided I’ll take a BBC break. There seemed to be some blog excitement over the return of Don Draper, so I checked it out and I’m now officially hooked.

Yum-Yum! Off to yoyo now –Yipee — it’s almost the weekend!

XOXO,
Anna

Chocolate Chip Cookie Wars

34 Comments / April 7, 2013 July 13, 2013 / Recipes

Gee Whiz. I guess I should write a post just to move those Happy Easter pictures into the past, huh? Not much going on around here to post about. It’s tax time you know. That means cleaning out files and wasting time looking for tax stuff. Yoyo production has slowed down as a result, but I’m gaining on the little devils. Yoyo Count: Yoyos: 290 Me: 578.

In the meantime, how do you take your Chocolate Chip Cookies? Cake-y or Chewy? Regular or Jumbo? I’m not a huge Chocolate Chip Cookie fan (Oatmeal Raisin any day baby!), but I try to do my part to keep the Chocolate Chip Cookie lovers in the family happy. For years I’ve made a recipe that a friend gave me when the boys were in high school. She kept the sports teams happily supplied with after practice snacks. When she moved away I begged her to give me the recipe, you know, for the boys. She’s a sweetheart, and very kindly obliged. They’re tender and cake-y and almost everyone loves them.

But, a few people prefer chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies and recently, I found a recipe that fit the chewy bill. Last time I made them, I made them regular size, but today, I made them jumbo sized. They’re a little more cakey in their jumbo form, but they’re still really good. (In other words, if you prefer them even more chewy, make the jumbo sized recipe, but scoop them into smaller cookies.)

In the event you’d like to experiment, here are the two Chocolate Chip Cookie recipes that we love. You’ll notice they’re almost the same recipe. A big difference in the cakey vs. chewy technique appears to be oven temperature.

Regular Chocolate Chip Cookies

3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and set aside. Using an electric mixer, cream butter, sugars and vanilla together. Add eggs, one at a time. Add flour mixture to the butter mixture in thirds. Stir in chocolate chips.

Line 4 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop the cookie dough onto cookie sheets. Bake until cookies start to brown, 8 – 10 minutes. Makes 24 cookies.

Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream the butter, sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla. Mix well and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Mix into the creamed butter, scraping again. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop the cookie dough into 12 large (1/3 cup) mounds. Bake until cookies are flat and very light golden brown 15 – 20 minutes. Makes 12 jumbo cookies.

And here’s another bonus to the Jumbo cookie recipe:

It’s fun to stack them in the cookie jar!

XOXO,
Anna

Month: April 2013

Regular Chocolate Chip Cookies

Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookies