Chat – Page 21 – Thimbleanna

Into Africa

21 Comments / February 1, 2012 June 22, 2013 / Chat

Man oh Man. It’s February already. What a strange winter this has been. We’re having spring-like weather and I can’t even remember most of January. All work and no play….

Oh well, a week or so ago I conducted my annual recon to the kids’ old school to check out the prep for their black tie auction and dinner. (I don’t actually attend the auction, but I enjoy seeing all of the decorations – you never know when there might be a fun idea to take home. Shandi came from one of these events.) At the end of my post about the auction last year I said “And now, if I start a new traditional closing line, maybe one day it will come true … I hope they go back to having a children’s book theme next year.”

Nope. Not Workin’.

The theme this year was Into Africa. (They seem to be stuck on travel themes — maybe so they can auction off exotic trips?) There’s always a fun entry into the auditorium.

Once past the zebra curtains the safari them starts in a hallway. (Locals will recognize that jeep from our local children’s zoo.)

And after walking through the swampy marshes, you enter the auditorium. Lots of zebras hanging from the ceiling.

And wild animals hovering at the edges of the tables.

Every year they give the attendees a take-away and this year it appeared to be a zebra mask attached to each chair.

The dinners are served in multiple courses with different wines and the table settings are always so pretty.

I think this year was my least favorite though. The centerpiece was a “tree” with pretty flowers around the base. They always have beautiful flower arrangements and I’m sure it was difficult to come up with something that was truly “Africa”. (Not sure I’m buyin’ the roses LOL!)

Wild animals lookin’ at you. (With a grill to be auctioned under them. ;-D)

The desserts were stacked outside, wrapped in cellophane. MyDadLovesMeBestSister works at the school so she’s lucky enough to attend. She reports that these were delicious cupcakes. Cute!

So, I must continue my mantra. “I hope they go back to having a children’s book theme next year.”

A girl can dream!

XOXO,
Anna

Five for Friday

34 Comments / January 20, 2012 June 22, 2013 / Chat

1. SNOW! It’s snowing here tonight. They said we might get as much as five inches. I’m trying not to get too excited, but. SNOW!!!!

2. I had a VERY lucky streak in blog winnings a few weeks oops, months ago. From Alison I won a beautiful set of Christmas ornaments. Aren’t they pretty? They arrived just in time for Christmas — Thank you Alison, I love them!

3. In another giveaway, I won a pattern for the very pretty Crossroads block from Meredithe. For some reason, when I won, I didn’t realize that the pattern included a template set. I love the pattern and the templates are just perfect. They’re pretty and sturdy and very cool. Thank you Meredithe — what a fun giveaway prize.

4. In yet ANOTHER giveaway, I won a gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop from Vreni. It took me a few weeks to make my selections, but it sure was fun to do a little shopping. I had to add a few new Cat-in-the-Hat prints to my Dr. Suess stash. That red dot comes from Moda’s Circa 1934 collection and the bottom two pink-ish fabrics are a Dear Stella line. Thank you SO much Vreni — it was really fun to add some goodies to my stash!

If you haven’t been to Alison, Meredithe, or Vreni‘s blogs, please check them out — they all have beautiful blogs and they’re lots of fun to read.

5. I’m hiking right along on my applique UFO. I’ve finished one more border since Christmas. Considering it took me 10+ (15?) years to complete the first two borders, that’s big progress. Jan mentioned these John James Gold’nGlide applique needles a few weeks ago on her blog so I thought I’d try them out. I like them! They’re a tad bigger than the needles I have been using (just random needles from the sewing box) but, true to their word, they glide through the fabric. Thanks Jan for a great tip!

Ok. Off for some stitching. Happy Weekend!

XOXO,
Anna

Five for Friday

54 Comments / January 6, 2012 June 22, 2013 / Chat, Embroidery

One.
I’m a day late with some Very exciting news! Several weeks ago Pat Sloan contacted me and asked if I’d join her and eleven fabulous ladies in creating the Aurifil 2012 Block of the Month. Of course, I said yes, and I’m so looking forward to the 5th of the every month to see what the new block will be. (I’m Miss May!) We’ll each be doing an embroidered block and you’re invited to join the fun. LOOK at this fantastic block that Miss January, Roseann from Rosebud’s Cottage has created:

Isn’t it ADORABLE? She’s certainly set a high standard for the rest of us to follow. You can read all about the block of the month HERE. Be sure and join in, add your blocks to the flickr page, and be entered to win free Aurifil thread every month. It’s going to be a fun project — especially if you love embroidery!

Two:
I’m hoping to celebrate the end of my lovely winter break by having a little Netflix Downton Abbey marathon tomorrow (today?) while doing some applique. Not sure it’s going to work out though — we’re VERY fortunate to have TheFirstChild home for six weeks as he does a surgery rotation here in our fair city, and he’s just coming off of a 24 hour shift so he’ll need some sleep. The telly (see, getting in the Downton Abbey mood) acoustics in our house are NOT conducive to sleep almost anywhere in the house. Either way, I’ll find a way to sew somehow. My winter break consisted of … not enough sewing!

Three:
TheManoftheHouse and I went to visit SweetiePie this week. While we were there, we found this little blue and white vase at Anthropologie. I had to have it for the kitchen. The kitchen was going to have red as the accent color, but it just never felt right. I’m a blue girl, so blue it is and now I finally feel settled about that decision.

Four:
It was love at first sight when I saw Amy Butler’s new corduroy fabric at spring market. I finally got my mitts on some — there will be a snuggly shirt in my future.

Five:
Do you love reading blogs like I do? I love how everyone has their own personality. Some are funny. Calm. Thoughtful. Inspiring. I love how sometimes I’ll be scrolling through my reader and I’ll miss which blog I’m reading, but I just know where I am by the style of the writing or the photos. Gosh, I love the internet!

Happy Weekend!
XOXO,
Anna

2012

42 Comments / January 3, 2012 June 22, 2013 / Around the House, Chat

And just like that, it’s all over. What a blur! Did you all have a wonderful holiday season? Or how ’bout year? The weeks just fly by, don’t they?

We had a fun New Year’s and now I’ve been hard at work to get the house back to normal. I’m off of work this week and I had this grand vision to clean at least one closet each day, pick things up a little and then sew. Here we are at Tuesday, and so far, all that’s happened has been cleaning — and there’s still more. I’m going to look the other way and run to the sewing machine — the week is flying by!

I’m pretty sure you don’t want to see pictures of my dust rag, so I thought I’d show you a few gifts I received. SweetiePie and TheFirstChild gave me these bicycle drinking glasses. Look! There’s a banana bike! Aren’t they the cutest? Thanks SweetiePie — you’re always so thoughtful and I just love them!

Last year, when we visited TheManoftheHouse’s parents, my MIL gave me a sewing box that had been her mother’s. It’s such a pretty box, and I’m just thrilled that she has entrusted it to me. I asked BigDaddy if he’d make a stand so that the sewing box could sit at my end of the couch, where I sit and sew. I just love it!

Now, I’m off to the dungeon to see if I can’t scare up a project. (As if I don’t have any to work on — ha!) I was very excited this week when Amber from A Little Bit Biased asked me if I’d provide some Tips for Tuesday. If you click over there, you’ll get to see a few peeks of my sewing room — but just a few, ’cause my room is much more functional than it is pretty. ( If you’re a long time reader, some of it will be familiar to you.)

Thanks for inviting me to guest post Amber — it was lots of fun.

Happy New Year! A new year … a new start … I hope it’s a happy and healthy year for everyone.
XOXO,
Anna

Siri

44 Comments / December 2, 2011 December 2, 2011 / Chat

Dear Apple Corp.,

My beloved Blackberry picked a most inopportune time to croak. However, my loss is your gain, as I’ve finally decided to jump on the iPhone bandwagon.

I must say, I’m less than impressed with your e-mail app. (In the 50 yd. dash, you’ve taken three steps and the Blackberry is at the finish line!) But. You’ve more than compensated for this little e-mail indiscretion by providing me with my very own personal assistant.

You’ve called her Siri and I love her. (Although, I’d feel a little better if you could give me the option to choose a sulty gentleman’s voice with a British accent. I’d call him Gerard.) Siri is amazing. She understands my every word and even repeats my commands back to me. I asked her to take me to MeMum’s house:

We’ll try to ignore the fact that for some reason I have “Mom” in my contacts twice, but when I choose which location, the GPS is activated. Siri will take me anywhere I ask her to, which is very cool. Definitely better than Calgon!

When I ask for the forecast:

Siri provides her own opinion as to how the forecast is shaping up. We have the same tastes in forecast — definitely “not so nice” through Wednesday.

I’m sure I’m only scratching the surface of Siri’s powers (the fact that I can say “Text Someone” and then dictate my text message into the phone has me beside myself with joy). I have, however, found one little hiccup in Siri. She does have her limitations. I asked her to clean the toilets:

Instead of getting right on it, she claims she can’t find any public toilets. Clearly this is a diversionary tactic. I don’t want her to clean the public toilets — I want her to clean my toilets. She had a similar response when I asked her to clean the windows.

Overall, I’m delighted with your product. If you could just work on the e-mail and personal assistant domestic duties for your next software release, we’ll be lovers friends for life!

XOXO Sincerely,
Anna