Thimbleanna – Page 131 – My little online diary.

A December Book Group

42 Comments / December 11, 2008 February 18, 2011 / Books, Crafting

Ah, yes…it’s that time of year again. I’m reading more and more posts where people don’t have time to blog. I haven’t had time to read blogs! It was busy, busy here all weekend as I was getting ready for my book group which occurred last night. It’s always a lot of work to clean my little pig sty up and even more work when there’s decorating and cooking to do.

We used to be a normal book group that just discussed the book and then had dessert, but several years ago someone started serving dinners, so now we all do it. And since it’s Christmas time, I thought I’d bring out my MeMum’s Christmas china. (Please excuse the dark pictures — it’s mood lighting LOL!)

I love my candle holder. I used to borrow MyDadLovesMeBestSister’s candle holder, but I think she got kind of sick of it, so she bought me one of my own. (Hey — it’s a technique — you should try it sometime!) It’s always fun to arrange different things around those candles. In this case, I cut a few branches off of our pine trees and added some little red balls, drums, and nutcrackers.

And then I added the dogs to the table because our book discussion was about The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. (Which we all LOVED, btw. I hated the ending, but LOVED the book. Some of the passages were really beautiful — especially his passages about the relationships that the dogs have with the characters. And there were more than a few places that brought tears to my eyes. One member was sitting on a plane to NYC between two big burly guys when she hit one of those passages. She had to slam the book shut and wait until she had a little more privacy LOL!)

On the menu we had:

Baked Brie in Phyllo Dough (YUMMY!)
Strawberry Romaine Salad with Raspberry Vinagrette
Chicken Madeira
Ina’s Raspberry Cheesecake

Here’s a close up of the place setting. I think MeMum’s nutcracker china is so pretty. I made each guest a little soldered pendant to take home. One side said “She is too fond of books and it has addled her brain” and the other side had a black silhouette of a woman reading a book. Thank you again Beckie, for teaching me how to make those pendants!

So, whew! Now that’s over, and as MyDadLovesMeBestSister says, I can get busy doing stuff for the really important people. Indeed. It would be really nice though if there were four weeks left, instead of two. TWO! As Ms. Farmhouse so eloquently put it, there’s a knot in my stomach! How are all of your plans coming???

XOXO,
Anna

Emergency Sewing

59 Comments / December 7, 2008 February 18, 2011 / Quilting

Ok, show of hands….how many of you treat yourself to a little present while you’re out there Christmas shopping? C’mon, tell the truth — a few of you ‘fessed up last year! My little treat last year was the Williams Sonoma peppermint hand and dish soaps and this year I just couldn’t resist Ina Garten’s new cookbook. I LOVE, LUV, LUUUURRRRVE Ina. Her recipes are so straight forward and she uses normal ingredients. As much as I love Martha, I’m not a huge fan of her recipes — she uses too many weird (to me!) ingredients. (And while we’re talking about Martha and Ina, whatever happened to that twosome? Did they have a nasty split? I kept looking for the scoop on the Enquirer front page in the grocery store, but it never appeared.) Anyway, I’m embarrassed to say I have all of Ina’s books and when I saw that she had a new one out I just couldn’t wait for Christmas. (It’s awesome, btw.) Sorry loved ones who can’t think of anything to get me LOL!

On the sewing front, Hester’s back all healthy and happy. WooHoo! I picked her up yesterday and rushed home so I could make an emergency tile cover-up. I’ll be hosting my book group this week and I just couldn’t face another year of bare-naked ewe-gly tile. I have the most hideous tile on this side of the Mississippi River. No…make that the Pacific Ocean.

I hate it so much, to paraphrase a Brigette (who just put up a fabulous nut carmelized tart picture and recipe link!)-ism, “it makes me want to throw up a bit in my mouth”. Eeeewwww! Whoever put that tile in this house, was smoking sump’in. Forgive me if you’re a counter-top tile fan, but this tile has made me hate tile. I mean…you can’t roll out a pie crust or cookies on tile. And spill anything. It all runs into the grout. Sugar? Into the grout. I can’t wait until we can Get. Rid. Of. It!!!

Since the tile’s all green-y, Christmas-time, with all the red and green stuff, is the only time it even remotely doesn’t burn my irises. I had some Christmas fabric scraps, so I just hurried and stripped them together. I was feeling all Crazy Mom-ish. Speaking of which, how does that woman get so many fabulous quilts done — she’s amazing!

The emergency tile cover-up runner will look even better on book group night when Ina’s fabulous raspberry cheesecake is sitting on the end of the runner that’s empty! I’m off to bed — hope you’re all having a great weekend and getting lots done!

XOXO,
Anna

Carrot Puff

38 Comments / December 4, 2008 February 18, 2011 / Recipes

I love this time of year in blogland. Are you all finding as much holiday inspiration as I am? I need to quit blog surfing! I was editing pictures, and then I started snooping around the picture services (where at one time or another I loaded pictures for printing) to see if I can get digital copies of my pictures (since I lost most of them when our hard drive crashed). Did you know that they charge you to download your own pictures??? That’s pretty funny! (Not.) They’re my pictures and I have to pay for them. Huh. I guess I just need to be re-educated and change my thinking to look at it as paying for storage services.

Oh well, once again, it’s the first Thursday of the month so that means it’s time for another recipe box swap. Our hostess, Randi, at I Have to Say, has chosen Holiday Favorites as our theme this month.

Wow. How to choose? We have several holiday favorite recipes in our family that we have every year. It’s not quite cookie baking time for me, so I’ll wait for our favorite cookies. And it just didn’t seem right to make MeMum’s fabulous steamed cranberry pudding or our beloved egg casserole when it’s not Christmas Day. So, I’m going to post our favorite holiday vegetable — Carrot Puff. MyDadLovesMeBestSister came home with this recipe several years ago and it’s been a favorite ever since then. We don’t always have it with one specific meal (Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year’s) but we do always have it at least once during the holidays. I hope you like it as much as we do! (And excuse the odd pictures. Carrot Puff is about as photogenic as Cinderella’s ugly stepsisters, but it tastes a WHOLE lot better.)

Carrot Puff

1 lb. carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla

Grease an 8-inch square baking dish. Place carrots in medium-size saucepan and cover with salted water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes or until carrots are tender. Drain.

Place butter, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder and vanilla in blender or food processor. Add carrots a little at a time and puree the mixture. Pour into prepared baking dish.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until firm. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

This carrot puff is very sweet, so you might want to cut down on the sugar a bit. We love it though! And because I was a little disturbed that the carrot puff is so orange and autumn-y looking, I put a bow on it and put it under the Christmas tree for you.

Enjoy!

XOXO,
Anna

Working on the Catch Up

35 Comments / December 1, 2008 February 18, 2011 / Knitting

Boy, I hope all of you in the US had a good Thanksgiving. It sure went by quickly, didn’t it? I’ve been trying to catch up on a few blogs — I’m so far behind! Like many of you, I can’t believe December is here already. I guess I should come to grips with the fact that Christmas is only 24 short days away. Aaaacccckkkkk!

I managed to knit four hats for Jean‘s hats for the NYC homeless while we were just sitting around with the in-laws over the holiday break.

I used the jogless stripe method that I mentioned in the previous post, but I had trouble with it when there were consecutive single rows. Guess I’ll have to get that figured out and, in the meantime, I’ll just cross my fingers that Jean, being the expert knitter that she is, won’t look and laugh. Just remember, Jean — Look ‘n Laugh — it’s like Drink ‘n Drive and it’s a no-no!

Some of my bears decided to model the hats. Their heads aren’t big enough though, so they’re looking a little goofy. Don’t worry, those hats will conform to a normal human head shape and they should look ok. I really enjoyed knitting them and it was a great way to use up some yarn scraps. The red was left over from a hat and scarf set that I made TheFirstChild in his college colors (red and gray) a few years ago. I’ll try and take some pictures of the scarf later this month.

Look what came in the mail the day before we left for Oklahoma:

I ordered two needle punch kits from Karen‘s online shop, Farmhouse Woolens. I love doing needlepunch and I thought these patterns were cute. My big problem is that I never know what to do with these when they’re finished. My wall space is pretty limited and you can only have so many pillows. (Note: No plan didn’t keep me from ordering LOL.) If any of you have any great suggestions for needlepunch pieces, I’d love to hear them!

Anyway, look at the beautiful thread that Karen included! I couldn’t believe it when I opened the package — what a wonderful surprise! Aren’t those colors beautiful? I can’t wait to use them (after the mad Christmas rush, of course.) Karen’s service is fantastic — her shop is easy to use and she has quick service. Go check her out — maybe you’ll find something you love there too!

So. On to the big one. I’m. Not. Ready. A lot like We’re Not Worthy, only I’m. Not. Ready. So much to do. Guess I should get off of this computer and get to work, huh???

XOXO,
Anna

Hat Knitting

31 Comments / November 26, 2008 February 18, 2011 / Chat, Knitting

Well Hello there! If you’re in the US, are you sprinting to the finish for Thanksgiving? I’ve lucked out this year and won’t have to do any baking, as we’re visiting the in-laws. I will miss my pie baking though — my family always lets me bake the pies, which is really fun for me. So…….sorry, there won’t be any fun Thanksgiving pictures here!

Anyway, as I mentioned in my last post, since dear Hester is out of commission and I’m not in charge of any holiday cooking, I’m going to try to squeeze in a few hats for Jean‘s hats for the NYC homeless. I started knitting one yesterday and it’s moving along pretty quickly.

TheManoftheHouse says this will be too small, but not to worry. I’ve made these before and they fit just fine. If they’ll fit my big-headed boys, they should fit most people. In case any of you might like to knit some of these hats for Jean, I thought I’d share my favorite easy pattern. Although, I must say, taking a peek at the hats already starting to arrive at Jean’s, I’m thinking I need to go in search of that rolled brim hat too — it’s pretty cute! Oh, and check out this exciting post — Jean is giving prizes and some of them are REALLY cool. Go on — go check it out — it will make you want to knit hats. I’ll wait.

Tap…Tap….Tap…

Ok. Are you excited now??? So, here’s the pattern I’m using. I got this several years ago from our LYS, which, sadly, is now out of business. They used to give this pattern out for free if you purchased the yarn at their store.

Beginning Knitter’s Basic Hat

Materials: 1 skein of yarn + scraps if you would like to add a stripe. Light worsted weight (Cascade 220 is nice).

Instructions are for knitting on straight needles, but I like to knit them on circular needles so that I don’t have to sew up a seam at the end. If knitting on circs, start off with 80 or 84 stitches, depending on where you fit on the gauge spectrum. Also, if knitting on circs, and adding stripes, there’s a fantastic tutorial here for making jogless stripes!

Gauge:

4.5 sts = 1″ on #8 needle

Beginning at lower edge cast-on 82 sts.

Row 1 (WS): P2, *K2, P2, repeat from * across.
Row 2(RS): K2, *P2, K2, repeat from * across.

Repeat last 2 rows until piece measures 1″ from cast-on, ending with a WS row.

On next RS row dec 2 st evenly across row. 80 sts remain. Continue in st st until piece measures 6″ from cast-on edge, ending with a WS row.

To shape top of hat:

Row 1(RS): *K8, K2tog, repeat from * across.
Row 2 and all WS rows: P.
Row 3(RS): *K7, K2tog, repeat from * across.
Row 5(RS): *K6, K2tog, repeat from * across.
Row 7(RS): *K5, K2tog, repeat from * across.
Row 9(RS): *K4, K2tog, repeat from * across.
Row 11(RS): *K3, K2tog, repeat from * across.
Row 13(RS): *K2, K2tog, repeat from * across.
Row 15(RS): *K1, K2tog, repeat from * across.
Row 17(RS): K2tog across.

Cut yarn leaving a 20″ tail, thread through remaining stitches, pull tight and sew back seam.

Abbreviations: dec-decrease, inc-increase, K-knit, P-purl, RS-right side, st st- stockinette stitch, sts stitches, tog-together, WS-wrong side.

It will be a few days before I can do my normal blog visiting, but if you’re in the US, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. (If you’re traveling, travel safely!) And if you’re not, you should make a pumpkin or pecan pie just because they’re so darn good!

XOXO,
Anna