Embroidery – Thimbleanna

Aurifil Christmas Ornament

225 Comments / November 13, 2012 June 22, 2013 / Embroidery

Hello and welcome to my turn on the Aurifil Christmas Ornament blog hop!

Sherri Falls is the genius behind our cute little ornament design and she has done all the work preparing the. pdf patterns for all of you. (Thank you for all of your hard work Sherri!) I had great fun stitching my ornament and I love Sherri’s simple construction method — it really makes these ornaments go together quickly. For my ornament, I chose to do Christmas stockings waiting to be filled by Santa.

I also played around just a bit with Sherri’s basic ornament design. I added mini ric rac around the outside of the inner circle. I really wanted to put ric rac or piping around the outside of the ornament too, but I just didn’t have time. If only my sewing machine were set up in BigDaddy’s hospital room!

You can download the pattern for my ornament HERE. Don’t forget to check out Pat Sloan and Emily Cier — today is their ornament day too. Also, don’t forget to leave a comment on each of our blogs for a chance to win some great prizes from Aurifil.

Have fun stitching!
XOXO,
Anna

Happy Valentine’s Day!

58 Comments / February 14, 2012 June 22, 2013 / Embroidery, Holidays

Yipes — I’m sneaking in just under the wire to wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day. I hope your day was filled with Chocolate!

I managed to get my little Valentine’s embroideries done and one of them finished into a pillow to give to MeMum for her Valentine.

I started these a few years ago, so I’m counting them as another UFO finish for this year. WooHoo! They’re from an old Bareroots pattern that I’ve had for quite a few years.

And just to prove my true love for Mummy, I took one for the team. I was sewing along on the machine and zipped my thumb right under the needle.* Slick as a whistle, that needle zipped in one side of my thumb, poked out the other side, and then withdrew. It was a case of perfect timing — I heard the machine groan a bit and snatched my thumb out of there in the split second that the needle was up before it came down and started stitching again. In all my years of sewing, I’ve never done that. The needle didn’t even break.

I was kind of disappointed that the bobbin didn’t engage, which would have attached me to the pillow. I could have left that thread hanging through my thumb. A body piercing badge of honor. All you belly button piercers got nuttin’ on someone with a sewing machine!

Valentine Smoochies!

XOXO,
Anna

*Pardon the goofy picture — I know it looks like someone’s big toe. You try taking a close up picture of your own thumb at a weird angle — it’s not easy! ;-D

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

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

51 Comments / March 17, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Chat, Embroidery, Sewing

Wow! You guys are the best readers anywhere! Thank You for all the mug cozy love! I had several questions about how to make that little mug cozy and you’d be surprised at how easy it was to make. I think it only took me about 3 hours, start to finish.

It’s just a little rectangle mini-quilt. Draw a few little flowers out on a piece of fabric, embroider them, and then add 1-inch blocks around the outside. Finish it just like you would any other quilt with a backing, batting and binding. Then sew two buttons to each end. Wrap it around your mug and stretch a small sized ponytail holder between each set of buttons. (You just can see them in the photo above.) Easy Peasy! I would have taken a better picture of the button thingy, but it’s now at work doing its job. It’s either working well, or I’m drinking my tea faster, but the tea isn’t getting cold now until very close to the bottom of the mug.

Among all of your fab comments was one from Isabelle suggesting that I make a patchwork roof cosy. Which is exactly what I’ve been thinking.

That’s precisely why I have nothing else to report today — you wouldn’t believe how long it takes to make a quilt big enough to cover that south end of the house. And then, being the over-achiever that I am (ha!), I had to make more than one for a little change up now and then.

I’m thinking this could be a new market niche. Wouldn’t it be cool if you could drive down the street and see a quilt on every roof? And certainly, today deserves a quilt all its own. Somewhere, way back in my genealogy, I remember seeing someone born in Ireland. That probably makes me about 1/50th Irish, but I’m counting it.