Chat

Ooops, I was supposed to be here yesterday to announce the winner of the Brit Bunny Giveaway. I do have a good excuse:

TheSecondChild is here for a quick, surprise visit and he’s brought his Mookitty with him. Poor Moo — he does look unhappy, doesn’t he? The first day of a visit is always a little stressful for him as he re-adjusts to Paulkitty and Scruff. Moo really is excited though, ’cause he wants to tell you that The Random ManoftheHouse Generator belted out Number 25 as the Bunny Winner. BARB — that’s you, so send me your address!

Meanwhile, I’ve been floundering around since I returned from the UK trip, trying to decide what to make next. Or more likely avoiding the next step of my yoyo quilt. It’s going to be a tricky process and I’m a-skeered! So, to bide my time I trawl pinterest. I love pinterest but it gives me a very unsettled feeling. Like I’m looking for something that I’ll probably never find. {Sigh.}  I am trying to get a little done, so I’ve decided to make use of this down time and try to pre-wash and fold some of the stacks and packs of fabric that I’ve accumulated over the last several years. That way, when I decide on the next project, the fabric will be ready to go. Or so I think.

Oooh, hey — did you see that cute little clothespin people fabric? Jenny alerted me to that fabric several months ago and I forgot all about it. It’s a Heather Ross print that was available at our local Hancocks fabric store.

Isn’t it cu-u-ute?  Like most of my fabric, it has no plan. Yet.  But I’m working on it.

Have a good week!
XOXO,
Anna

Oops. We interrupt our regularly scheduled Top Five Things to bring you Five Other Very Important Things:

One.

Out to Sea has arrived in ThimbleannaLand!

I was very well behaved and limited my choices to mostly stash building stripes. I LOVE a good stripe — especially when well placed on a binding. And Sarah Jane’s stripes are fantastic. I have red, blue, butter and raspberry. Plus that super cute little chevron — I couldn’t resist it in the “water” colorway. And look at that adorable map! I LOVE LOVE that map so we had to have some! I can’t wait to see what projects will start to appear using this super cute map.

If you’re feeling the need for some stash builders or the map, you can find them HERE and they’re 20% off!

Two.

The Aurifil Block of the Month for September is up! It’s by Amy Ellis of Amy’s Creative Side and it’s the pretty autumn leaves you see below. Go to the Aurifil blog to read more about Amy and get the free pattern. And don’t forget to add your blocks to the Aurifil flickr page — there’s a free Aurifil thread drawing each month!

Three.

After a months-and-months-long dry spell of movies from Hollywood, I’m really looking forward to the next several months.
Anna Karenina:

Great Expectations:

On a different note, James Bond (Oh Mr. Craig…):

And, not a movie, but SOOO excited for Season 3 of Downton Abbey. Can’t wait to see the sparring between Shirley MacLaine and Maggie Smith. Here’s a little teaser:

Four.

I’ve been a long-time follower of Morgan Moore’s blog One More Moore. She’s starting a new venture via kickstarter. If the The World’s Best Apple Pie/Crumble/Crisp recipe that she has just shared is any indication, she’ll be wonderfully successful. Go check it out HERE.

Five.

Earlier today, I pinned this cute little cork baby on Pinterest.

And then Ali made a comment(Thanks Ali!) that it linked to a nasty, nasty website so I immediately deleted it. After a little searching, I found a real link for it and re-pinned it. I suppose every single link should be checked out, but who has the time for all that click-through? It makes me REALLY mad when creeps hi-jack the good things on the internet.

And with that, have a good weekend!
XOXO,
Anna

Wow. Here it is August 7th already and I haven’t even posted once in August. Pitiful! There’s lots going on around here, but nothing exciting. I’m super happy to finally see August arrive. Summer is my least favorite season (not a heat fan) but I think August is my favorite month of Summer. There’s just a hint that summer will soon be over. ;-D

So, here are a few tidbits for your August:
We’ve finally had some fairly regular rain showers in the last few weeks. I don’t think we’re officially out of a drought, but there has been enough water to green things back up around here. That makes for very happy flowers. And me!

My little garden plot is paying off and I’m loving it. Every night I can go outside and grab a handful of tomatoes for a salad. And the absolute best is driving by on the lawnmower and popping a tomato or two into my mouth. Yuuuuum Yum! Here’s the tomato haul from last night.

We’re not growing any corn, but one of my very favorite things about August is the corn from the local farm stand. Last week I tried the microwave method of cooking corn in the husks. Oh. My. Gosh. I couldn’t believe it actually works and it’s fantastic. I think I thought it would bomb like the microwave cakes in a mug. The corn was yummy and tender and best of all — no corn silks! If you haven’t heard of this method, you can watch a video here:

While we’re watching videos, I saw this VERY funny video on Pinterest. You don’t need to speak German to get the gist — “So Papa, how do you like the iPad we got you?”:

Another reason I’m excited about August is that it’s vacation month for me. I’ve been busily planning a trip. And that means I haven’t wanted to start any big projects before I go. I am planning a little project though — it involves these towels. ;-D

And one last video…in honor of the olympics!  A special gymnastics demonstration by Paulette Huntinova.

Have a good week!
XOXO,
Anna

We’re having a severe lack of balance here in ThimbleannaLand.  Not that I want to complain or anything, but somebody has to do it.

Rain Balance:
For Starters, there’s this annoying drought.  The farmers are really being hit hard and it’s so sad.

But many of you reading this live in areas with too much rain.  TheSecondChild called this morning and said it’s been raining all week — just 6 hours south of here.  He lives on a second floor overlooking the apartment complex pool and all the rain is cutting into his sightseeing.  (If you know what I mean and I’m sure you do.)

Work/Life Balance:
It’s a Corporate America buzzword.  But, there’s too much work in my work/life balance and it’s cutting into my quilting time.  I did manage to make these pillowcases (with stash fabrics woohoo!) for BigDaddy using Cassie’s fabulous tutorial.  I LOVE this pattern.  No more manky pillows peeking out from under the cute fabric.  And as you know — every man wants a scalloped crochet edge on his muscle car pillow cases.  ;-)

Quilt Shop Balance:
Do you have the quilt shop finder app for your iAnythings? (I tried to find the link with no success – if anyone knows where it is, let me know and I’ll add it here.)

Here’s a map of quilt shops for my area:

And here’s a map of quilt shops for the Salt Lake City Utah area:

WHAT????? Is that even fair???? You Utah girls are hogging all the quilt shops! No wonder you all make such gorgeous quilts.

OK. I’m done whining now. It’s TheManoftheHouse’s birthday so I must run and scare up some birthday activities.
Have a good weekend!
XOXO,
Anna