Chat

Holy Schamoley!  It’s been crazy around here.  You probably heard that we had some really bad storms, here in the midwest, last Friday.  Here’s the radar pic that we pulled up on a cell phone — we were at work with a perfect view of the incoming storm when they took all our fun away and made us move away from the windows.  Something silly about tornado warnings.  Look at that hook — that’s not good!

They’re calling it a Super Derecho.  I’ve never heard of a Derecho before, but it’s basically an inland hurricane.  We were lucky and aside from a few snapped trees ;-(, didn’t have any problems.  BigDaddy, MeMum and MyDadLovesMeBestSister didn’t fare so well though — they’ve been without power since the storm, so they’ve been staying with us.  It’s been a good time to have house guests, as the family room is spread throughout the rest of the house while we drag out the painting as long as possible.  Here’s the “aerial” view of the family room — we left the couch parts and a chair to bunch up in the middle.  The couches are currently serving as beds to whatever kids happen to be here — that’s TheFirstChild and SweetiePie as we speak.

It’s working out well for me though — I go to work in the morning and come home at night to a gourmet dinner.  The school where MyDadLovesMeBestSister works has been out of power too, so she hasn’t been working.  She’s an awesome cook and she’s made me realize that I need a wife.  I could get used to this!

We’ve had a little crafty fun too.  TheCuteNieces love to raid the dungeon and they decided to make message boards the other night.  My heart lurched a little when CuteNiece2 chose some of my Ghastlie fabric for her board, but I gladly sacrificed the last of the tree print.

Here’s a finished shot, taken with her cell phone, that she sent me while I was at work.  I think she did a great job.  CuteNiece1 chose old jeans (which I had no problem sacrificing thankyouverymuch), but her board isn’t done yet.

Anyway, that’s been the excitement this week in ThimbleannaLand.  No time for much else, so I’m recycling an old picture to wish all of my American friends a Very Happy 4th of July.  (And a Very Happy Birthday tomy not-invisible-blog-friend Isabelle today too!)  If you live in an area that doesn’t have a fireworks ban, light one for us!

XOXO,
Anna

Ok, so raise your hand if you’re an Ina Garten fan.  Anyone?  I’m a big Ina fan — I don’t think I’ve ever made one of her recipes that I didn’t like.  And over the years, I’ve collected all of her books except the last one, Barefoot Contessa How Easy Is That?  As much as I love her books though, I can’t ever remember which book contains the specific recipe I’m looking for, and it drives me crazy.  So, when I just have to make her Blueberry Coffee Cake, for example, I have to drag all the books out and check the indexes.  The recipe I want is almost always in the last book I check.  Murphy’s Law.

About a year ago, I started thinking that I needed a master index.  Ina has an index but the reviews weren’t the greatest.  There’s this funny poster on Pinterest that says “Pinterest  – when your husband is watching something dumb.”  We have a lot of dumb tv around here and I discovered that it’s also good for making an index to Ina’s cookbooks.  I worked at it slowly over time, and it’s finally done.  Finally, no more searching – Yipee!  Just in case you’re an Ina fan too, you can download a copy of the index HERE.  I’m not a professional indexer ( ;-) ) so, keep that in mind.  It’s not perfect — I didn’t index everything the way Ina does and I added some of my own links.  I’m sure there are typos and remember that the recipes in How Easy Is That? aren’t included.

In other news, I managed to get a little garden planted in the new space created by the retaining wall that I built last fall.  The next day, as if to laugh at me, the local chippies convened a convention on the edge of the wall.  I’m pretty sure they’re plotting what to eat first when the seeds come up.  I’m thinking that the chippies are going to be moved to luxury condos when I return from quilt market.

Speaking of market, I leave in just a few days, so I’m going to take a break for a few weeks.  Hopefully, when I return there will be lots of fun market news.  If you’re going to market, please stop by and say hi — I’ll be in the Don’t Look Now booth with Kellie.

Have a wonderful Mother’s Day Weekend!

XOXO,
Anna

Can you believe it?  It’s May already (not that I’m telling you anything that you don’t already know).

For May Day I made a little quilted bag for MeMum.  Just a little something to hang some pretty flowers from her doorknob this morning.

It’s hard to see from the picture, but there are grommets in the sides so that I could tie the ribbon to the bag.

And what better flower for May? Lilacs are a favorite of ours — I’ve often wondered if it’s because the name contains the name of MeMum’s mother — Lila. So pretty!  (And they smell soooo good!)

Anyway, that’s not the only reason I made this little bag. If you remember correctly, it’s May. And I’m Miss May in the Aurifil Block of the Month. I’ve created the little Maypole embroidery for the May block and I wanted to work it up in a different colorway just for fun. Here’s my block in the fabric and Aurifil colors that were provided to us for the Aurifil quilt.

You can read more about my block and get the pattern on the Aurifil blog.  (If the post isn’t up yet, it will be soon).   And don’t forget, if you’re making the Aurifil blocks, you can post your block (and see lots of other pretty blocks) on the Aurifil Flickr page.

And Scruff would like to say Thanks for your visit — but he’s busy trying to get a whiff of those flowers.  Have a good week!

XOXO,
Anna

A month or two ago, my long-time blog friend Jody posted some cute Cath Kidston shoes on Pinterest.  “Ooooh, those are cute” I thought to myself.  And then I clicked through to the Cath Kidston site thinking it might be fun to have a little look around.  Oh. So. Naughty.  For I had a weak moment and clicked all the way through to the shopping cart and ended up with these little tennies.  (Not the same ones that Jody originally pinned, but I felt the darker color would be safer for picking up dirt.)

They’re terribly comfy, but now I have a dilemma.  Nothing to go with them.  I plan on wearing them with jeans, but clearly, I’ll need a top that coordinates.  I thought a little check or gingham might look cute, so I went to my stash to try a few things out.  I do love the red gingham.

But the pink is cute too.

Or maybe my aqua gingham?

The aqua gingham is from my Children at Play stash and I discovered that most of my “children” fabrics would possibly work too.  The meadow….

Or dots.  I have several dots.  Red…

Aqua….

Or pink on pink.

I even like the pink in the hopscotch print with the pink in the roses.

Decisions, decisions.  It’s going to be a VERY tough choice — but a good problem to have, don’t you think?

In other news, it’s a fun weekend here in ThimbleannaLand.  Yesterday was MyDadLovesMeBestSister’s birthday.  (Happy Birthday Weinerhead!)  She’s 29.  Again.  We had a little get-together for her last night (not quite as exciting as this birthday) — look at the beautiful Italian Cream Cake that MeMum made for a surprise!

Yum Yum Yummy!  And, to add to the excitement, TheFirstChild has surprised us with a weekend visit.  So…I’m outta here!  Have a great weekend!

XOXO,
Anna