September 2008 – Page 2

Bedtime Stories

27 Comments / September 13, 2008 February 18, 2011 / Chat

Holy Cow! You guys are hysterical!!! I knew I’d get some great ideas for how to use that cookie writer! What a clever and ambitious bunch you are. I’m really happy that so many of you managed to get one of them — I’m thinking I need to write the seller and ask for a commission LOL!

Other than all the cookie writer excitement, it’s been a quiet week here in Thimbleannaland. A little boring actually, and it worries me that it might be the calm before the holiday storm. (Notice I did NOT use the “C” word — I’m not ready!)

Anyway, I caught TheEmptyNestChild yawning and it reminded me of the big yawns I’d get out of the boys when we read bedtime stories. We loved reading together and I thought I’d tell you about my two favorite memories of those times.

One night we were reading 2095 by Jon Scieszka. (2095 is from a great series for early readers called The Time Warp Trio — a group of books about three boys who travel in time. Most of the time they traveled to historical eras in the past, but in this book they were traveling to 100 years in the future. Kids love these stories ’cause they’re so funny.) Anyway, I read this passage:

“What’s the date today?” I asked.

Director Green slid her finger across another panel. The blue numbers 9/28/95 appeared.

“September 28,” she said.

And then I stopped reading and we had a wow moment and a laugh — the actual date that we were reading was 9/28/95. What were the odds of that??? Ok, maybe you had to be there, but we were really excited!!!

(Hey Look! I won a prize at Anna’s and it arrived in the mail this week. Thanks for the moda squares and chocolate Anna, I love it!)

Here’s one of my favorite passages from a children’s book, ever. It’s from The Twits by Roald Dahl and it’s describing Mrs. Twit. (Oh how we love Roald Dahl.)

But the funny thing is that Mrs. Twit wasn’t born ugly. She’d had quite a nice face when she was young. The ugliness had grown upon her year by year as she got older.

Why would that happen? I’ll tell you why.

If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until it gets so ugly you can hardly bear to look at it.

A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.

How cool is that? Did I mention that we love Roald Dahl? Well…speaking of bedtime… I hope you all have a great weekend. I get a sewing day with the quilty peeps tomorrow. Yipee!!!

XOXO,
Anna

Playing With a New Toy

74 Comments / September 10, 2008 February 18, 2011 / Recipes

Back in July, Tartelette had a fantastic giveaway. She was giving away this really cool Brigitte-Keks “Ausstecher-Set” which is a tool to “write” on cookies. I seriously wanted this new little gadget, so I left a comment and I won!

Ok, I didn’t really. Are you kidding? I’ve won a few giveaways lately, but there were 493 comments in Tartelette’s contest! I’m not that lucky! I searched all over the place to find one and they seemed to only be available here, on Amazon Germany. I decided shipping would probably be too much so I gave up. About a month later, I got an e-mail from an enterprising person selling them on e-bay. I can only assume this seller contacted all of Tartelette’s losing commenters.

Anyway, I ordered one and I’ve been having fun playing with it. I made a batch of shortbread (using Ina’s recipe) and “wrote” on some cookies. It’s really fun and it really works! (Of course it works better if you actually know how to make shortbread. Since I didn’t have my Baking Buddy Extraordinaire here to advise me, I rolled my shortbread too thin and many of the words disappeared by the time the cookies came out of the oven.)

My next batch of shortbread should be perfect though, ’cause “third time’s the charm”. The first time I made shortbread I cooked it too long and subjected the quilty peeps to really cute snowflakes that were as hard as rocks. I’ll be ready for that recipe next time — I’m even thinking about getting something like these rings to help me roll the shortbread out to the proper thickness.

Just think of all of the possibilities for this little gadget. I think they’d make great stocking stuffers or gifts for friends. You could make cookies that say “Welcome Baby” or “Hello” or even individual names that could be used as place cards the next time you have your peeps over. How ’bout insults? Or Jokes? The sky’s the limit! I even had fun making a cookie for that darling little boy who belongs to Dear Fii.

I just wish he lived closer so that I could give it to him!

XOXO,
Anna

P.S. I was going to provide the link to the ebay store where you could buy one of these gadgets, but the link appears to be empty. I’m guessing the seller has sold out. Hopefully, it’s just temporary. His/her name is tesa999 in case he/she gets them in and you want to check later.

Excuse Me, Please…

38 Comments / September 6, 2008 February 18, 2011 / Embroidery

I’m interrupting this mighty-fine weekend to show you the wonderful package I received in the mail today. A few weeks ago Nancy of Nancy’s Sting Og Ting had a blog anniversary. She gathered her comments, randomly selected one, and yelled “Thimbleanna, Come On Down!” Today, the fabulous prize package arrived!

Just look — an adorable bag, a Norwegian moose magnet, a thimble and a note to me on a very pretty card.

I was so excited to see the pretty thimble — isn’t it cute? It’s from the town where Nancy lives.

And look at Nancy’s exquisite hand embroidery. I LOVE embroidery and hand embroidery is the frosting on the cake. Look at those perfect little stitches. And I love the way Nancy colored a little shading inside of the embroidery lines.

Every little detail about this bag is fantastic, from the label inside of the bag, to the drawstring cording with it’s own little pouch on the end to protect the cords from fraying. Nancy’s workmanship is awesome. I’ve been carrying the little bag around with me all day. I feel like Nancy came over here and gave me a big hug. Thank you so very much Nancy for making me feel so special!

And while we’re on the subject of embroidery, I’ve done a little embroidery this week too. Natalie at Cinderberry Stitches offered this adorable free pattern a few weeks ago. It came along just at the right time for a little project I’d started. I was amazed at how small the little birds are — I’ve put a nickel in the picture to provide some scale.

Thank you so much for your gift too Natalie! I’ve really enjoyed this little embroidery and have learned a few things. I grew up embroidering on dishtowels and I always forget to put an extra layer behind my embroidery. I didn’t notice until I took this picture how much that extra layer is needed. I also love this new way of doing straight stitching. I’ve always used a traditional running stitch, but this method seems so much cleaner.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled, busy weekend. I hope it’s a fun one with great weather where you are!

XOXO,
Anna

The Ugly Tree Models

40 Comments / September 4, 2008 February 1, 2021 / Sewing

On my break last weekend, I finally managed to squeak in a little sewing. I made Funked Out Peasant Blouse (which I purchased at Clementine’s — mecca for all things “funked out”), skillfully modeled for me by our Ugly Tree.

(Wait. Look at this tree first. Do you think this is an ugly tree??? TheManoftheHouse hates this tree and says it’s SO ugly. That’s why we call it the Ugly Tree. I love it. It reminds me of a weeping willow pine tree.)

Anyway, back to my blouse. Unfortunately I don’t have a cute, hot little body like Lila Tueller, but it will do. Equally unfortunate is the fact that the Ugly Tree doesn’t have breasticles. This blouse looks lots better with a bust to fill it out. I’d show you mine, but then you’d see my spare tire and that would never do. (Hey! Maybe that’s why TheManoftheHouse doesn’t like this tree — it has no breasticles!)

I altered the pattern a little. Lila has a zipper in the side of her version (which she notes in her pattern errata, is not listed in the supply list.) I skipped the zipper and inserted elastic under the breasticles. I also changed the sleeves a bit.

I was afraid the billowing version of her sleeves would just annoy me. I’ve been wearing my shirt all day and it’s very comfortable. The sleeves can end either above or below the elbow, depending on how I choose to wear them.

I love to sew and I’m hoping to do more of it this weekend. I have some use-it-or-lose-it vacation time to take tomorrow, so with the extra day I might be in luck. I hope you have something fun planned for your weekend too!

XOXO,
Anna

P.S. Are you in a swappy mood? Jo-Anne of The Carter Clan is hosting a Christmas Ornament Swap and Sharon’s at it again, this time with a Polka Dot and Ric Rac Swap. Go forth and sign up!!!

Cupcake Swap Part II

38 Comments / September 1, 2008 February 18, 2011 / Crafting

Well Hello There! Did everyone have a good weekend? Mine was great and VERY busy. I managed to keep up with my e-mail, but I didn’t get a chance to read any blogs, so I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone has been up to. I did finally get a little bit of sewing done and I’ll show some of that later.

I was gone all day Saturday and when I got home after midnight I was VERY surprised to see that Sharon‘s cupcake swap package had arrived. My gosh, she mailed it on Thursday — it only took two days to get here! Sharon completely spoiled me — just LOOK at all the goodies (there was so much stuff I couldn’t get it all into one picture!):

Sharon sent LOTS of Wilton goodies — a cupcake box, decorating tube with decorating tips, cupcake liners (both silicone and paper), sprinkles, and halloween cupcake picks. Then there were little doodads like the measuring spoon, tiny sieve and an adorable cupcake card with a polka dotted hanky. And then, that VERY COOL bake sale cookbook (THANKS Sharon — I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had that in my hands — I love it!). Look at this cute little cake tester:

How Perfect! Now, I don’t know what’s going on over at Sharon’s blog, but there’s some sort of debate going on about what a cupcake tester looks like. Sharon…Hell-o! I took a close-up picture for you — just in case you’ve forgotten LOL!

And if all of that weren’t enough, check out this adorable make-up bag. Sharon’s been on a sewing frenzy making these for all of her peeps. And look, it’s lined with that adorable Susan Branch fabric:

And last, but CERTAINLY not least…this ADORABLE little quilt:

How cute is that??? I LOVE it Sharon! And look at all the details on the cupcakes:

Just cute as can be! I love all the bead and button details!

THANK YOU THANK YOU Sharon — you’re a sweetheart! I LOVE every last piece of my package. You’re so very thoughtful and kind. And an extra special thanks for hosting this swap. Those of us who participated had a great time!

XOXO,
Anna

Month: September 2008