July 2013 – Thimbleanna

Sewing

30 Comments / July 24, 2013 August 25, 2013 / Sewing

Thanks for all the quilt love on my last post. You guys are pretty funny. Most of you made me feel better about that 90’s green and wine. Barb’s buddy No-blog Jill even took a peek into the future to suggest tomorrow’s red and green. (Hint: they’re spelled r.e.d. and a.q.u.a. LOL.)

Not much quilting going on around here this week, but I have managed a little sewing. Do you remember my toaster pillowcases? I’ve been busy making more of them.

Thought I’d stock up the gift pile.

I threw in a few Dr. Suess pillowcases. Can you guess the recipient’s name LOL?

I also caught up on some WAY overdue wedding gifts. A bride and groom cookbook and Mr. and Mrs. aprons.

So, no progress on my summer list. I’ll be working on #10 in a few days though — it’s almost time to visit The World’s Greatest Aunt while TheManoftheHouse holds down the fort (and tends kitties!), poor guy. While I’m gone I might be glued to Instagram though — I discovered #campthepigeon today and I’m in love. It’s going to be very sad if the story doesn’t end happily.

Be good while I’m gone!
XOXO,
Anna

Friendship Stars

56 Comments / July 18, 2013 August 25, 2013 / Quilting

Hello??? Anybody out there??? It’s SO darn quiet in blogland! It would be nice to say that some of you are on summer vacation, but sadly, I think you’ve abandoned your blogs. It’s that darn Instagram!!! What are you guys thinking? Quick and Easy? Hmmmm??? (And hello — a post of your instagram pictures doesn’t count — we already saw those pictures on your Instagram!!!) Come Back. I Beseech You!!! Come Back!!! (How’s that for old English??? Begging never works — how ’bout beseeching???) I miss your posts!

{Sigh} and Whatever.

Back to this Friendship Star subject. I had a fun surprise about two weeks ago — I got the quilter’s call that my Friendship Star quilt was finished. Yay! A quick binding and she’s ALL done. (She looks wonky on the long grass, but rest assured, she’s nice and flat and even.)

The quilter always does a wonderful job. I usually give her a loose idea of what I have in mind and then she runs with it.

In this case, I told her 1/4″ quilting on the stars in the middle of the quilt, cross-hatching on the applique border and whatever she wanted on the other borders. I love her choices.

Here’s a blurry close-up of her pretty little stitches.

I’ve mentioned before that some of the stars in the middle were made by the girls that were in my old Friendship Quilting group. The stars were done probably around 1992 or 1993. Then it took me the next 20 years to get the rest of the stars and the border done. There are some ugly fabrics in here LOL! (I can’t wait to see which of the fabrics that we swoon over today will be the butt-uglies of the future!)

I had forgotten until I was taking pictures that I put our initials in this quilt. It’s a king-size quilt and I originally planned it for our bed. Sadly, that plan happened back when mattresses were thinner, so it’s not quite big enough now. It will work as a coverlet though, with a plain quilt under it. You know, if wine and forest green are ever back in style LOL.

Too bad the call didn’t come before I made my 10 Things this Summer list. I could have listed the binding as a task and then taken credit for a completed item! Oh well, a finish is a finish and I’ll take it — one less UFO!

Have a great weekend!
XOXO,
Anna

Five on Friday

28 Comments / July 12, 2013 August 25, 2013 / Chat

1. I’m making progress on my steampunk blocks. I’m slow, but I’m taking my time and having great fun.

2. MeMum and I went to Shipshewana last week. While I was in Lolly’s (I would link, but it looks like their website is no longer there), I noticed Primarily Quilts by Di Ford behind the cash register. I’d been checking it out on the internet, so I took the opportunity to save money on postage and treated myself.

There are some gorgeous quilts in this book. I particularly have my eye on Phebe. Because, you know. Sheepies!

3. A month or two ago, I came across Esther Alieu’s blog. Are you following along with her Love Entwined quilt along? There are hundreds of women making this quilt (which is certainly not for the faint of heart) and I think it’s going to be great fun to watch their progress. It’s SOOO tempting to join in, but. I won’t list my lame reasons. Anyway, I’m really looking forward to seeing the many variations of this quilt. You have to join the Yahoo Group to see all the pictures. Totally worth it!

4. I won a giveaway from Meredithe. She makes beautiful quilting templates and she sent me the set for this fun Cheddar star block. Thank You Meredithe!

5. Summer is in full swing around here, as evidenced by my growing coneflower bed. I love my coneflowers and look forward to seeing them bloom every year. It’s been hot and miserable and muggy (thank you rain!) for a week, but it broke yesterday and we’re in for a perfect weekend.

I hope your weekend will be great too!
XOXO,
Anna

#5. Finish the Quilt I Started in May

28 Comments / July 7, 2013 August 25, 2013 / Quilting

Yipee! I can tick my first item off of My 10 Things This Summer List. I started this quilt in May — it’s a high school graduation gift for my favorite nephew. (He’s my only nephew, but he’d still be my favorite!) I’ve always loved the slanted star quilt pattern, so that was my choice. I made a trip to the outdoor quilt hanger for pictures.

I think this pattern is a good choice for my nephew — he’s a fun-loving, great kid. He’s a star!

I used different blue, red, and gray fabrics that I had in the stash and I chose to back it in the Children at Play bike print. My sister’s family are a bunch of bike riding maniacs. I originally thought I’d just use a meandering quilt pattern and I quilted about 1/4 of the quilt and decided that I hated it. After TheManoftheHouse unpicked the mess, I decided to keep it simple and just quilt in the ditch and I Love it. It’s nice and puffy and comfy now.

You can probably guess that this quilt is late. We had a busy spring this year and I failed to plan ahead. Oops! At least it’s finished before he goes to college. While I was taking quilt pictures, I played with the quilt on the bench by MeMum’s pretty flowers.

And along came Sally for a comfy little place to sit. She sat there batting her tail around, thinking this is her quilt. (‘Cause you know — I know what runs through a quilt-sitting cat’s mind.)

Awww, look. Kitty Paws.

Of the five grandchildren in our family, CuteNephew is the 4th. TheFirstChild graduated first (ha!), TheSecondChild was second, and CuteNiece1 was third. One more graduation for us — CuteNiece2 will graduate in two years. I’ll bet you can guess what I’ll be giving her for her graduation LOL.

XOXO,
Anna

The Calm After the Storm

20 Comments / July 3, 2013 August 25, 2013 / Around the House

Finally, we saw the sun today, here in ThimbleannaLand! We’ve had days of rain and drizzle and water and water and water. Get the picture? Look at my happy little Shasta Daisy. Water = Happy!

On Saturday we. got. dumped. on. Buckets. Along with some hail. I had six pretty little rows of zinnias coming up and I watched out the window as they got pelted to death. I thought they might recover, but Sunday brought a steady rain that just pounded a lot of the little leaves into the dirt. So sad.

Not sure what to do about them — guess maybe I’ll try some more seeds. Summer will probably be over by the time they really get going though.

In other news, Nicolette and I had a little e-mail exchange about our Steampunk blocks. We were both having some problems and she mentioned that she was going to order some templates that have holes for marking the seamline in the corners. I thought about that for awhile and then decided to make some templates with the holes. I use the big templates to mark the cutting lines and the little templates to mark the stitching holes.

I can’t believe the difference it makes to have those little corners marked. I line the dots up and the blocks I’ve made using the new technique have been just right. No more wonky centers (not that it mattered that much, since they’re covered by a circle of fabric) and no more ripples on the edges. This block doesn’t look very straight, but it’s square. I’m almost sad to cover the center — I’ll probably never get another one like it LOL.

Just a thought, in case you’re going to make the Steampunk quilt. Think about getting the templates with the holes in the corners.

Not much else going on around here. It’s going to be a quiet 4th of July and I’m a little sad about that. The kids are all scattered this year. I know we’ll have other years when we’ll all be together, so we should probably just enjoy the quiet (haha — firecrackers!) with MeMum and BigDaddy. At any rate, if you’re in the US, I hope you have a Happy and Safe 4th of July!!!

XOXO,
Anna

Month: July 2013