November 2009 – Page 2

Aaaatttt Laaaassssttttt…

89 Comments / November 13, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Quilting

I’ve had At Last running through my head all day long. At Last. At Last! I’ve finally finished CrazyMom’s nine patch.

As a two-time flunkie of her quilt-along, I’m feeling very happy to have finally finished this quilt. And I promise, those edges aren’t wavy — it’s just the way it’s laid out on the grass. I couldn’t find anything tall enough to hang this quilt vertically. It seemed like it took forever to finish. The day job is really crimping my style. (Though, not as much as unemployment would, I’m sure, so I’ll try not to whine.)

This past spring, Penny invited me to participate in a fabric swap. There were 8 or 9 of us, and we all swapped at least 25 small scraps of fabric. The deal was that we were supposed to swap fabrics and then make something out of our scraps and post it to the flickr pool by Oct. 1st. I flunked that assignment too, but I guess six weeks late is better than never. ;-)

I’ve been inspired by all the beautiful straight-line quilting that Ms. Red Pepper does, so I decided to quilt this nine patch that way. I love the way it turned out. I have no idea though, how CrazyMom and Ms. Red Pepper manage to get SO many quilts done. They’re incredibly inspiring!

While I was outside taking pictures today (it was gorgeous) Mrs. Ladybug came by to give her approval. I sang the little Ladybug song, and she dutifully flew away after posing for me.

CrazyMom made two of these quilts, and like her, I think I might have another one in me. I’d like to have a second one, so there will be one for each of my guest beds. This took me awhile to make though, so I’ll have to wait awhile before I start a second version. And it probably won’t be as cute as this one, because I don’t have as many modern scraps.

Thanks Penny for the fantastic swap idea. Thanks Ms. Red Pepper for sharing all your wonderful quilts. And Thanks CrazyMom for your endless quilting inspiration and for having a great quilt-along. Twice. ‘Cause some of us need remedial training!

Have a great weekend!

XOXO,
Anna

Muffins and Veteran’s Day

36 Comments / November 11, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Recipes

Not much happening here in ThimbleannaLand this week. This seems to be a bit of a recoup and plan week. There’s so much holiday inspiration popping up all over in blogs and magazines and I’ve just been taking a little extra time to read and decide how to go about organizing any projects I might want to do this year. I feel so unorganized!

Anyway, there’s definitely been NO time for sewing or knitting of any kind. I spent ALL weekend cleaning up the leaves in the yard. It was beautiful out there, so I almost didn’t mind all the work. My ribs are a little sore though from all that raking! So, you know how it goes around here — when I don’t have much going on, you get a recipe. This is my old stand-by, very favorite recipe for bran muffins. Someone gave me this recipe years ago, when I was a newlywed and I’ve just about worn it out. The fabulous thing about this recipe is that the batter keeps in the refrigerator, tightly covered for up to six weeks. I love to make up a big batch and then just bake one muffin while I’m getting ready for work in the morning. Then I can grab it and go. Yum, Yum!

Bran Muffins

3 cups sugar
1 cup + 2 Tbsp. shortening
4 eggs
1 quart buttermilk
4 cups Kelloggs All Bran
5 cups flour
5 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups Nabisco 100% Bran
2 cups boiling water
1 – 2 cups raisins (optional)

Pour hot water over Nabisco Bran. Set aside. Cream shortening, eggs, and sugar. Add buttermilk and Kelloggs All Bran. Add flour, soda and salt. Fold in Nabisco Bran and raisins.

(I included this picture with the spatula, because we haven’t been able to find Nabisco Bran Buds in the grocery store, so I’m not sure if they make it anymore. Last time I made this recipe, I substituted Kellogs Bran Buds, and it seemed to work just fine, although, I adjusted the water a bit. I wanted you to be able to sort of see how thick the batter should be when you’re done mixing it. And, I apologize to those of you not in the US, you probably won’t be able to find these cereals at all!) Bake at 400 degrees for 15 – 20 minutes. (Or, when I’m just making one, I turn the oven on, put the muffin in the cold oven, and bake for about 22 minutes.) Voilà!

Tomorrow is Veteran’s Day. For all those of you who serve, thank you for your bravery and sacrifice. Jean has a wonderful post tonight that you might want to check out. And I’m sure you probably know that if you’re a veteran, Applebee’s will give you a free meal tomorrow — what a nice tribute.

Happy Veteran’s Day!

XOXO,
Anna

Just Playin’ Around

44 Comments / November 6, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Chat, Knitting

A few weeks ago, I won an adorable brooch kit from Dear Fii. It arrived a few days ago and I couldn’t wait to sew all the buttons on my little kit.

Looking at the picture of my brooch, I realize that a) I need more practice to become as good as Dear Fii, and b) my brooch needs one more button there in the middle, to cover up that little gap.

It was super fun to sew this little brooch together. Thanks Fiona — I just love it and it will look so pretty on my winter coat!

Speaking of winter (oh, wasn’t that a sad segue?), I always want to knit more in winter. No time lately to drag out the needles, so I’ve amused myself with a few games. I saw this meme on One Dropped Stitch awhile ago, and had fun filling it out. Bold for things you have done, italics for those you want to do, and normal for ones you don’t plan on doing. There aren’t many italics – guess I’m not very adventurous.

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (=modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffitti knitting: knitting items on, or to be left on the street
Continental knitting (I’ve done it — didn’t say it worked!)
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Household items: dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies…
knitting socks- or other small tubular items- on two circulars
Dying with plant colours
Knitting items for a wedding
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with selfpatterning/selfstriping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

Let me know if you do the knitting meme — I’d love to read what you’ve done/not done!
And from Daily Yarns ‘n More, you can go find out what kind of Ewe you are — here I am:

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I’d love to finish my nine-patch this weekend, but we’re expecting beautiful weather, so I’ll be outside wrangling leaves!

XOXO,
Anna

November Already!

70 Comments / November 3, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Around the House

Kind of scary, huh? Did you all have a good weekend? It was very busy here and I had a great weekend! I even got a new blog banner done — extra special for my QueenNagger (with the spiffy new blog banner herself!) Bye, Bye Coneflowers! And just to clarify, that is not photoshop, those are REAL thimblecorns!

My weekend consisted of

Cleaning:

(Especially the dungeon where I had a big bag of walnut shells that I use for pincushion stuffing and I didn’t want it to spill all over, so I got a new jar and scoop to hold it all. It sits on my cutting table and I love it!)

Sewing:

(We were lucky enough to have a visit from SweetiePie — she worked on a project at one end of the table while I worked on my nine-patch at the other end.)

Sleeping:

(The lazy kitties upstairs, while we were toiling away in the dungeon. The fat EmptyNestChild on the left, Paul on the right.)

and,

Playing:

(We went to MeMum and BigDaddy’s to help rake leaves, but ended up playing more than working.)

And Halloween and lots of candy to boot. Now it’s over and the full on sprint to the holidays starts. I’m. So. Not. Ready. Are YOU???

XOXO,
Anna

Month: November 2009

Bran Muffins

Cleaning:

Sewing:

Sleeping:

Playing: