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Ahhh, this getting back into a normal work routine is hard stuff.  I’ve been doing lots of little things around here, but nothing really substantial.  We’ve had a gorgeous weekend (well, until tonight — drizzly, just in time for the full moon that we can’t see boohoo!) so I did a little gardening.  MyDadLovesMeBestSister bought me this pretty hydrangea — aren’t the colors gorgeous?

Don’t worry — it won’t look like that next year.  It will look more like the picture below.  My hydrangeas have been pretty fussy the last few years and this year there have hardly been any blooms.  Who knows what the problem is?  There are a lot of teeny tiny wannabe blooms on them now — I’m wondering if the ridiculously wet spring we had this year made them not want to bloom — and now that it’s drier, they’re giving it their best shot.  It’s going to be too little too late though — a frost is surely not too far off.  Can you believe it’s almost October???

Now that The Aunts’ Quilt is almost over, I’ve been wondering what to work on next.  I’d love to start a new project to attempt to make a dent in my stash, but I’ve realized I have way too many UFOs and need to get to work on them.  They’re all really sloooooow, long term projects.  I might have to do something quick for a little instant gratification before too long.  I dragged out the UFOs — there’s the Chuck Nohara quiltalong (which I’m not really along-ing, ’cause if I were, I’d surely be kicked out by now), the Trip Around the World, some paper-pieced stars, and my little Liberty churndash blocks.

Sadly, in my search for these, I found other, older UFOs.  So … no starting a new project for me!  I’m thinking I’ll just work a little on each of them for awhile.  I worked a little on the TAW earlier this week.  It’s very slow going now that I’m on the bigger rounds — I’m estimating that one round is probably 5 – 7 hours of work.  I need to prep some Chuck blocks — those are fun to do.  The stars probably won’t get much attention.  Not sure where to go with them and I’m really not a fan of EPP.  And then there are those cute little churn dash blocks.  I LOVE them — but whose idea was this???  (I’m lookin’ at YOU Jan!)  I worked for several hours on them this afternoon and only got some hsts and long strips stitched and pressed.  Slow, slow, work.  Good thing I’m fairly patient!

There’s been a little work in my little shop too.  More new fabrics (it’s that time when all the stuff ordered at spring market arrives!).  These two cute little Japanese prints — a garden print and a cute little black check.

And teeny little Japanese mini-stripes by Yuwa.  Love, Love, Love.  These are perfect for stash-building.  I first saw that little black stripe at Amitie in Australia last fall and when I saw other colors at market in the spring, I knew I we had to have them!

And, lastly, I’m still going through trip pictures.  The last part of my fun trip was in London — I’ll show you more pics next time.

Ok, I’m off to trim up those little hst blocks. Have a Good Week!

XOXO,
Anna

Boy, I feel like all I do is make excuses for not posting these days. How is it that there’s not a lot going on, but it’s still really busy? Or, maybe there is a lot going on, it’s just not sewing and fun stuff to share???

For one thing, we’ve been put on mandatory overtime at work. Minimum is four hours, but, of course, they’d like us to work more. You can probably guess, I’ll be working the minimum. Their timing is poor — just as MyDadLovesMeBestSister and her family have gone on vacation, which means I’ll have helping MeMum and BigDaddy all to myself for 2 1/2 weeks — which means that there isn’t much spare time to be at work. Don’t feel sorry for me though — I’ll be going on vacation when she gets back.

I’ve also had fun in the kitchen. A cousin that we don’t get to see very often popped in for a quick visit. One night I made the Lazy Day Overnight Lasagne with some yummy Artisan Bread. The Lasagne isn’t necessarily guest-worthy, but it is good and I needed something that I could make while visiting with them the night before we actually had it for dinner. And Artisan bread is SO good and very easy too. The other night they were here, we grilled a Flank Steak — another delicious and easy meal. Just whip up a marinade of 1/3 c. oil, 1/3 c. vinegar and 2 chopped cloves of garlic, marinate overnight, and throw it on the grill for about 15 minutes. It’s wonderful, thinly sliced with a piping hot baked potato on the side. There was also chocolate cake for dessert! ;-D

I’ve been plugging away at this month’s assignment for the Aunts’ Quilt too. Working on the corner blocks …

And prepping some of the scallops that will be used around the borders. I’ve always wanted to make a clamshell quilt, so I played with the scallops a little. I can see that a clamshell quilt would be a lot of work!

And then … two more little things —
1) Pretty new Liberty fabrics in the shop!

and
2) Did you notice I updated the Thimbleanna header?  It’s been eighteen months.  P-I-T-I-F-U-L. I always seem to forget about the banner somehow. Or don’t have time. Or something!

Ok — zipping off to do a little stitching before dinner duties happen. Have a great week!

XOXO,
Anna

Hidy Ho! How’s it going out there? We’re having a good week, so far, here in ThimbleannaLand.

For starters, when I was answering comments from my last post, it occurred to me that there was one last place I hadn’t looked for the missing towels in the kids bathroom. The clothes hamper! Could it be that obvious? Well, Yes! I was thinking that the kids either threw their towels on the floor or brought them down to the laundry room when they left. But nooooo, they actually use the clothes hamper! Someone has them trained — it’s probably SweetiePie LOL. Mystery solved.

And then, today, I received a little surprise in the mail. I won a giveaway a few weeks ago from Amy. Amy had a very exciting summer and was able to spend a month in the UK with her family. She brought back some goodies and I was the lucky winner.   I’m hoping I’ll be able to use some of that cute fabric in one of my Union Jack blocks.  Thank You Amy — I share your love of the UK!!!

If you’re in the U.S., are you ready for a long weekend? I AM! I’m hoping to get some sewing time in. I need to make a little birthday present, so I went shopping in my own store (haha) and picked some fabrics. Here’s a picture with a big hint as to what I’ll be making. (From left to right that’s Surprise Birthday in Pink (because it’s for a birthday!), Essex Linen in Flax, and Up Parasol Stella Sky.)

I’m also hoping to keep plugging away on my Trip Around the World.  Our assignment for this month is rows 25 – 30.  I’m currently in the middle of row 26 and I’ve been auditioning fabrics for the next group of rows.  I had the fabrics hanging over the edge of my temporary design wall, and I realized that I could use these little numbered pins that I recently found to help me keep the fabrics straight.  I’m really excited about these pins — when I’m machine sewing quilt tops, I’m a chain-piecer when it works, and I’ve always ripped up scraps of paper and pinned them to my fabric to keep the rows straight.  These numbered pins will be SO much easier.

One last thing before I go — after my last post I had some questions about The Aunt’s Quilt.  Remember the Aunt’s Quilt?

After I saw it at quilt market I mentioned that it would be fun to have an Aunt’s Quilt quilt-along this fall.  Happily, there were a few of you who said you’d like to play along.  The pattern isn’t available yet, but if all goes well, I should have some toward the end of September.  I’m taking my summer vacation at the end of September, so the plan will be to start in October, after I get back.  (When I spoke with Jen at market, she said they had a quilt along in Melbourne for this quilt and they did one pieced block and one applique block each month, so that’s what we’ll plan on doing (with a holiday break or two!))   I’m planning on using mostly stash fabrics, but there were some fabrics that I really loved in the quilt so I’ve tried to pick up a few of them that I could find, and put them in my little shop.   ;-D

Also, I have no idea how many patterns to get, so if you really want one, let me know.

Have a great weekend!
XOXO,
Anna