Books – Page 2 – Thimbleanna

The Quilter’s Bible

80 Comments / March 21, 2011 March 21, 2011 / Books

Hi there — have you all had a good weekend? It’s been beautiful weather here — a teaser for spring and I think I might be over my snow fever. I’m still not ready for yardwork though!

A few weeks ago, the nice people at FSB Media asked if I would review a copy of The Quilter’s Bible and I said yes. I’d seen pictures of this beautiful cover, so I couldn’t resist. (I love that cover quilt!)

The Quilter’s Bible is 256 pages full of most everything you’d like to know about quilting. It’s divided into 5 sections: Getting Started, Patchwork, Applique, Quilting, and Finishing Off.

The Getting Started section contains lots of good information about tools, fabric, templates — mostly everything you need to be a quilter. There’s even a two-page spread on using technology in quilting, which is something you won’t find in older quilt books LOL!

As you might expect, the Patchwork section is the largest section. There are lots of pages showing different block types (I found a few new blocks I’d like to make.)

There are also many technique pages that show you how to construct blocks. Obviously every block can’t be covered, but the instructions vary from the more basic to even some tricky blocks.

A lone star quilt is on my someday list.

The cathedral window is on that list too.

There’s lots of good information for putting the blocks together. All the details are explained — from block settings to the proper way to measure borders before cutting your fabric.

I forgot to take a picture of a sample page from the applique section, but the format is the same as the other sections. All of the “standard” applique methods are discussed, along with some not-so-common methods like Hawaiian, Applique Perse (known as Broderie Perse here in the U.S. — which I always thought was Broderie Purse, so I learned something!), and Shisha.

The quilting section is comprehensive too. Techniques include hand, big stitch, sashiko, long-arm, and many more. Not only does the book explain how to do the actual quilting, there are also sections on choosing quilting designs that flatter your quilt.

Here’s the page on whole cloth quilting — another technique on my someday list.

The finishing off section contains fun ideas for binding and finishing quilts, to include techniques for hanging sleeve placement. There’s also a page of useful information like half-square triangle formulas, diagonal measurements of squares, etc.

There are lots of “Make It Now” projects throughout the book too, to give you practice on a technique that has just been taught. Shoot, I can’t possibly tell you all of the pop-outs and techniques and projects. This is a really nice book — all of the pages are color and the paper is heavy. It’s a wonderful resource for all quilters — and especially if you’re a beginning quilter. One thing this book is not though — it’s not a pattern book for making a specific quilts. And, imho, that’s a great thing! This book contains all the info you need to go off and create a quilt of your own, which is just how I like it. And, as a bonus, there’s some really pretty photography. I love this quilt (see previous lone-star mention!)

So the verdict? Highly Recommended!

Aaannnnddd, the good news is that the nice people at FSB Media said that if I pick a winner, they’ll send one of you a copy of this book! (The bad news is that you must be in the U.S. or Canada to enter — sorry.) Please leave a comment if you’d like to win your own copy of The Quilter’s Bible and I’ll draw a name on Saturday, March 26th.

XOXO,
Anna

Gift Books

55 Comments / March 3, 2010 February 22, 2011 / Books

Yak! Where is the week going? We’ve been swamped at work this week, and it’s flying by! Tomorrow will be the third day of being stuck in and all day meeting. I can’t say it’s particularly fun, either — I’m sure everyone thinks I’m sleeping ’cause I close my eyes to try to soothe the head.ache. Ouch!

Not much new to report here. I spent ALL weekend working on the wedding quilt. I made great progress until I put the borders on and then decided that I don’t like the inner border. TheManoftheHouse is watching tv and unpicking it as we speak. I decided re-doing it would be a lot easier than complaining about how I hate that border until the day I die. It’s a little set-back, but well worth it.

So, in lieu of anything exciting sewing-wise, I’ll show you the books I bought with my annual Amazon Christmas gift certificate that my in-laws gave me this year.

Beyond the Square Crochet Motifs, Itty-Bitty Toys, Giada’s Family Dinners, Chic Knits for Stylish Babies, Felt Wee Folk and A Passion for Ice Cream. It’s a great pile of books this time, and I’ve had fun reading through them in the last few weeks.

I’m particularly excited about two of them. Chic Knits for Stylish Babies, for one. Look at these cute little pants with zippers in them!

And this little dress! They’ll make really fun baby gifts.

And A Passion for Ice Cream. Oh My. My, Oh My, Oh My! I gained 5 pounds just looking at this book. How on earth could I resist this book, with recipes like Brown Sugar Ice Cream Chocolate Roulade,

Chocolate Banana Baked Alaskas,

or Warm Blueberry Filo Stacks?

Some of the criticism of this book says that the recipes are too detailed. No pain, no gain! They all look fantastic to me!

So, a few book recommendations in case you have some money burning a hole in your pocket and you’re looking for a little crafty inspiration. I’m off to make some Poppyseed Bread to take to work tomorrow in hopes of taming the headaches. I hope you’re having a good week!

XOXO,
Anna

October Book Group

58 Comments / October 30, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Books, Recipes

Last night was my turn for our monthly book group, which means it’s been a busy week in ThimbleannaLand. Our book discussion was The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold. Definitely not a fan favorite. As I heard one member put it, “That’s a few wasted hours of my life that I wish I had back.” I think the general consensus was that her writing was beautiful, but the story was awful.

My table setting was pretty simple. On Barefoot Contessa this week, I heard Ina say that when people start talking about tablescapes it makes her crazy. My sentiments exactly! A pretty centerpiece and nice linens and I’m happy. And for book group, as in previous years, I like to have a little takeaway. This year I gave the ladies some easy-to-make book labels found on this really cool site (spend some time snooping around there — they offer some really nice downloads).

I saw a centerpiece very similar to mine somewhere on the internet, so I asked BigDaddy if he could cut me a board to set the pumpkins on. Isn’t it pretty? I just love it and I’m sure I’ll use it for other centerpieces too. Thanks BigDaddy, the ladies loved your board and there was lots of oohhing and aahhing!

On the menu we had:

Crab Dip
Tossed Salad
White Chicken Chili
Sibley Station Swedish Apple Pie

Years ago, when we lived in Minnesota, the family all came to visit. We went to Pequot Lakes and ate at a restaurant that had wonderful food. They were giving away a few recipes and MyDadLovesMeBestSister wisely kept this Swedish Apple Pie recipe — it’s become a family favorite over the years. (We love it so much, it’s even in MyDadLovesMeBestSister’s section of our family cookbook.) I thought you might like the recipe too (and btw, it’s more like a cake than a pie, imho).

Sibley Station Swedish Apple Pie

1 1/2 cups peeled diced apples
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, mix apples and nuts. Set aside. In a separate bowl mix flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add to the apple mixture. In a small bowl, beat egg and vanilla, then mix well with the apple mixture. Spread mixture evenly in a well oiled 8-inch springform pan. Bake for approximately 30 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream and top with carmel sauce. Makes 6 servings.

This recipe came with instructions for a carmel sauce, but I’ve never been able to get it to work. It failed again last night, but I just happened to have a jar of carmel ice cream sauce, so I heated it up and no one was the wiser. Just in case you don’t have a favorite carmel sauce, here’s a family favorite sauce that would work well too.

Gorgeous Sauce

1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. butter
1/2 c. whipping cream

Cook over boiling water for 5 minutes. Serve hot.

Oh, and big news! I heard on the radio that in the next 4 to 5 years, US book manufacturers are going to start printing all US cookbooks with measurements by weight. That should help with the recipe language conversion problems we have in blogland. ;-)

Have a great weekend!
XOXO,
Anna

Distracted

52 Comments / June 23, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Books, Chat, Recipes

Well, I’m a little late with a weekend report, but I have a good excuse. I’ve had my nose buried in The Help. I completely avoided the computer last night and sat out on the patio reading until dark, enjoying the last of my peonies and savoring every word.

I couldn’t help myself. I loved this book and haven’t been as excited about a book group book in a long time. I finally finished it today on my lunch break. Fortunately, no one came into my cube to see the tears in my eyes. Yvette commented on my last post about how sad she was to see the book end and I couldn’t have said it better. Except maybe to use PKM’s favorite phrase — it was super delicious. More than super delicious!

Not much else to report from the weekend. Just a teeny little bit of sewing happened, but mostly yard and housework. And we had a Father’s Day cookout on Sunday. The weather was beautiful.

We even had blueberry ice cream using this recipe. Yum Yum! When TheSecondChild was 11 or 12, he wanted an ice cream maker for his birthday, so we gave him one. We’ve hardly ever used it, but making this ice cream was so easy and fast, it won’t be another 10 years before we use it again.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m way behind on blog reading. Hope you’re having a good week!

XOXO,
Anna

Grocery Shopping

63 Comments / June 19, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Books, Chat

Last weekend, TheManoftheHouse came home from his weekly shopping trip (he does the grocery shopping, which works for us — I’d rather be outdoors and, although he wouldn’t admit it, there’s great sightseeing to be had in a grocery store) and told me about this conversation he had with a woman in the checkout line.

She was meticulously placing her groceries in piles on the conveyor belt and he said “Wow, you’re organized.” She explained her system to him and proceeded to show him her shopping list on a sheet of paper torn out of a notebook. So, TheManoftheHouse showed her his shopping book list. He said the lady loved our shopping list, so I thought you might be interested too.

Each January, I buy one of those calendar books that tracks each week in a two-page spread. They’re usually available half-price. Then toward the end of each work week, I plan the meals for the following week. I write the menu for that day right under the day of the week. The groceries are written below the menu, organized by areas of the grocery store (dairy, vegetables, meat, etc.) It’s also a great place to keep notes about recipes, etc.

The book has little tear-corners on each page, so we can always open it up to the correct week. TheManoftheHouse takes the book to the grocery store each week. He keeps a red pen in the spiral spine of the book and he crosses the items off as he puts them in the cart. Then he brings the book home and I use it all week to remember what we’re having for dinner.

It’s been a good system for us for several years now. No lost grocery lists and (in theory) no lost recipes. No standing in front of the pantry after a day at work wondering what we’re going to eat. And when I’m in a menu rut, I can go back to previous years and get some ideas for things we’ve eaten in the past and liked. TheManoftheHouse is an excellent shopper and he’s great at sticking to the list.

How do you handle your menu/shopping? Have any secrets you’d like to share? And while I’m asking questions, do you have any big plans for the weekend? I’m hoping to get a little sewing done and then this sty will need some cleaning as my family is coming over for a Father’s Day cookout. I’m also hoping I don’t get sidetracked — for you readers out there, I’ve just started a new book and I Love it so far — if there’s even a hint of rain, I’m thinking there will be no yardwork and lots of reading. ;-)

Have a great weekend!

XOXO,
Anna