Family – Thimbleanna

Mummy

12 Comments / April 3, 2024 April 3, 2024 / Family

Oh dear. After my New Year’s post I had such great intentions of picking things back up on the blog. I’d planned to spend the month of January doing catch up posts to re-cap fun projects and events fun and not-so-fun from 2023. And then January disappeared. As did February and March. Most days I’m just baffled as to where the time goes.

It’s been very busy here this winter and we’ve been working a lot on the house. As soon as the holidays were over, we dove right in – moving furniture, painting rooms, cleaning closets, changing flooring and cleaning out a storage unit. Most of the hard work is done, but there are still closets and bins of papers and things to go through. There was a little knitting and sewing, but in general, working on the house has been better to keep me occupied. Just like these sentences that I keep typing, I didn’t want to get to the point.

Which is this. In November, we lost our darling Mummy.

I’ve hardly been able to even say it. I love this cute picture of her — I’m not sure the rest of the family likes it as much, but I think it’s just so … her. Sweet, pretty and funny. I don’t even know where to start. Her absence has left such a hole in our hearts. She (along with BigDaddy) was the center of our little extended family. They were the glue that held us all together. We were SO lucky – we had many years of fun – birthdays, trips, holidays and just happy everyday memories.

Wasn’t she a cute little girl? This is one of the only pictures we have of her when she was young. She had asthma when she was a little girl, so, it’s not surprising that she didn’t speak fondly of her childhood. But, luckily for us, she met Dad when she was young, and she grew up to be the happy, fun mother that we remember.

And she, along with BigDaddy, gave MyDadLovesMeBestSister and I the happiest of childhoods. The two of them together were a great team. I never remember them arguing when I was a child — that seems impossible, but it was true. She was the most even tempered person I’ve ever met. I never remember her yelling. Family was everything to Mummy and it showed in everything she did for us.

She adored her grandchildren, and more recently, her three little great-granddaughters. I loved watching her face light up when they came to visit. And even though there were a lot of day-to-day things she couldn’t remember, she never forgot how to be fun. Oh, how she would tease those little girls — and they didn’t always like it LOL.

I always thought Dad was the funny one of the two of them, but she definitely held her own. After she passed away, a friend of the boys’ told us a story from just a few years ago: “My favorite memory was when we were at her house and she was telling me that the only difference between her and Jessica Simpson was her face. She said her face showed age, but her body was just as good as Jessica Simpson’s. She proceeded to go into the kitchen, grab a grocery bag, cut eye holes in it, write “Jessica Simpson’ on the bag, put it over her head, and walked back into the room. She said ‘See … same thing!'” Classic Mummy!

I feel like these pictures just don’t do her justice. They definitely don’t reflect how I remember her.

And, I haven’t even discussed everything else about her — she was so smart (more than one of her friends told me she was the smartest person they knew), she was an amazing cook, a loyal friend, and her quilting skills deserve a post of their own.

When BigDaddy left us, I posted this picture of the two of them. I took it on their 60th anniversary. There were serious, more beautiful pictures taken on that day, but this one is, by far, my favorite. It’s. Just. Them.

Oh, how I wish they were still here.

We’ll miss and love them forever.

XOXO,
Anna

May You Be Blessed With Love and Happiness

20 Comments / August 27, 2021 August 27, 2021 / Family, Quilting, Wedding

Yipee! The summer is almost over and we’ve had our long-anticipated little family wedding. MyDadLovesMeBestSister’s oldest daughter was married in a gorgeous wedding ceremony in Maine. The groom’s family owns a little cabin in the woods and they were married next to the cabin, overlooking a beautiful lake. Everything was was absolutely perfect (well, not everything — something always goes wrong — but if you weren’t in the family you wouldn’t have know about the little glitches.) We were asked not to take pictures during the ceremony (so that the pro photos wouldn’t show everyone with their phones in the air LOL) so there’s not much to show now, but I can’t wait to see the official photos. Our three little granddaughters were the flower girls and they were cute as can be. SweetiePie did a fantastic job of finding the most gorgeous dresses with some amazing beadwork on them. We need to have another occasion so they can be worn again! I LOVE this cute photo that SweetiePie shot of the girls as they were getting their pep talk from Daddy before the ceremony. Everyone is paying attention! ;-D

We’re back home now after our 16-hour each way drive (MeMum was a champ!) and I can finally share the wedding quilt that I gave the bride and groom. Unfortunately, the only place I could find to take a picture where the quilt wouldn’t drag on the ground, was in mottled sunlight. So, use your imagination and pretend those bright light spots aren’t there LOL.

CuteNiece1 is a flower farmer, so this quilt was mostly about flowers. I appliqued a vase of flowers with a man and wife, initials and year of marriage for the center panel. Then, I surrounded the center panel with a Rifle Paper Co. print that turned out to be the perfect size.

My favorite thing about the quilt is the Always and Always print by Bonnie Christine that I used for the background of the center panel and the sashing around the star blocks. The quote says “I must have flowers … always & always — Claude Monet”. When that print first came out, I knew I would have to use it for the quilt — because I imagine CuteNiece1 says that daily. The 2021 in the center block used to say 2020 — the wedding was originally scheduled for last year, but Covid delayed it a year. Fortunately, I wasn’t to the quilting stage yet when plans changed, so it was an easy fix.

I really struggled with what to put around the center panel, but finally decided to just use traditional star blocks after I saw a picture of a quilt with a big applique center, surrounded by similar stars. I machine quilted the quilt on my domestic machine and I think it took about 6 weeks working in the afternoons to finish it. This quilt is queen sized and finished about 90″ x 99″ which was a lot of wrangling under a domestic machine. The center applique is outline stitched and stippled, the Rifle Paper Co. border has a cable, and the outside border just has straight lines spaced about 2″ apart. The stars and sashing are all stitched in the ditch and I did a little free form flower in the center of each star — those were really fun to do after the tedium of all that stitching in the ditch.

I had to take a picture of my favorite star block below. For some reason I LOVE that fun fabric — I’ve used bits and pieces of it on several recent quilts and I’ll be so sad when it’s gone someday. This might be why I hoard fabric — I love so many of them and I’m afraid I’ll run out! ;-8

For the back I used a Cathe Holden Flea Market Mix floral and CuteNiece1 loved it. It was the first thing she saw when she opened the quilt and she said “Dahlias!”. She had the most beautiful dahlias in her wedding — when a flower farmer gets married, you know she’s going to have beautiful flowers! The binding is an American Jane polka dot — it doesn’t really “go” with the quilt, but I ended up loving it — it just adds to the quirkiness of a traditional star quilt with a funky flea market-ish back. I also added a little tag to the back of the quilt. I don’t usually name quilts, but if I were to name this one, I think it would be the sentiment I put on the tag – “May you be blessed with Love and Happiness”.

So, all done with this one! The newlyweds are honeymooning in Canada and will return to Ashville, North Carolina to start their new life. (If you need fresh flower bouquets, CuteNiece1 can hook you up!) Rumor has it CuteNiece2 will soon be heading down the aisle, so I need to start planning a quilt for her. It’s going to be tougher to nail down a “theme” for her — wedding quilt suggestions gladly welcomed!

Have a great weekend!

XOXO,
Anna

An Easter Party

22 Comments / April 2, 2021 April 2, 2021 / Family, Holidays

Happy Almost Easter! TheFirstChild and SweetiePie had a little spring getaway and I was lucky enough to be able to take care of our three grand babies while they were gone for 6 days. Amid the usual routine, I decided to have a little Easter party and we had so much fun! I invited MyDadLovesMeBestSister and MeMum for the festivities, and having extra adult helping hands was a huge help!

We started off the party by decorating cupcakes the way MeMum decorated cupcakes with MyDadLovesMeBestSister and I when we were little. We colored some coconut with green food coloring and then made little bird nests filled with eggs (jelly beans) on top of the cupcakes. (I should add here, FinallyAGirl (age 4) loved every minute of this party — she was so excited and had so much fun doing all the activities. FinallyAnotherGirl (age 2) didn’t really understand some of what we were doing, but still had lots of fun, and HurrayAThirdGirl (age 1) was completely oblivious to the party LOL.)

After the cupcakes, we decorated Easter bonnets. I bought little paper bowls for the base of the hats and had lots of Easter grass, ribbons, lace, pompoms, artificial flowers, plastic eggs, and little bunnies and chicks for the decorations. FinallyAGirl had the best time decorating her hat — she was so into every little detail. She planned where every item went and then I attached the items with a hot glue gun. After she had everything on her hat, she saw some lace that she really wanted to use, so we put it around the edge and it made a cute ruffle. MyDadLovesMeBestSister helped FinallyAnotherGirl and they made a really fun little bonnet. FinallyAGirl also insisted that we make a hat for HurrayAThirdGirl too — maybe because she wasn’t ready for the decorating fun to be over LOL. Here are our three little pixies in their Easter bonnets:

After the hats were all decorated, we had a little Easter Parade. Earlier in the week, I told FinallyAGirl that we were going to have a party with a little parade and she was just beside herself with excitement all week over the thought of a parade. She was SO cute and led the little parade out the front door, down the sidewalk and all over the driveway. Everyone (MyDadLovesMeBestSister and I had bonnets and were in the parade too) had noise makers and luckily it was a beautiful day outside. I didn’t really get any good pictures, as we were enjoying the moment, but this one provides a little bit of an idea. The girls, of course, needed to wear princess dresses for a parade!

For the last of three activities, I planned a scavenger hunt. We’d had a Halloween scavenger hunt last fall and the girls loved it, so I thought it would be fun to do it again. On Halloween, we used the Belle and Boo Halloween scavenger hunt print-outs and luckily, Belle and Boo have a darling Easter Egg Hunt print out available. I gave the girls a copy of the map and they loved coloring in the little eggs on the map as they found each character on the hunt.

At each stop on the hunt, there was an activity or a surprise. Activities were things like do 5 jumping jacks, hug each other, and call Uncle TheSecondChild and sing Happy Birthday to him (because it was his actual birthday.) Surprises included bunny hair bows, bunny treat bags (filled with animal crackers), and, because it IS that time of the year, Easter Grammy Surprise Boxes.

I also made each of the girls a Little Cotton Rabbits mouse. I REALLY wanted to have the mice finished in time to be a surprise that they found at one of the steps of the scavenger hunt, but I couldn’t get them finished in time, so they were a few days late. (Silly me, I thought I might have a little knitting time during the week while I was watching the girls LOL.) I LOVE Little Cotton Rabbits patterns — they take me forever to knit, but they are so darn cute.

I took the mice to the girls a few days after our party. They were busy driving their little pink car around the driveway, so, of course, they had to load up their little mice and give them a ride too!

I’m almost recovered from my Grammy week and I had a great time — these little girls make life so fun! Maybe an Easter Party will have to be on the schedule every year!

Have a Wonderful Easter!
XOXO,
Anna

Checking In

6 Comments / October 10, 2020 January 23, 2021 / Chat, Family

Well Hello! Ohmygosh, another few months have flown by. I have to keep telling myself that it’s actually October — I’m still in August. (Ok, who am I kidding, I’m still in 2005 or something LOL.) See, here’s proof – does this look like October to you?

My zinnias were so pretty this year that I had to take a picture. I planted mostly pink ones and I’ve loved not having so many different colors. The flowers are definitely starting to fade though, so when I need to jolt myself back into October, I just have to walk outside. It’s been so beautiful this year — I hope the good weather will last a little longer. We had a visit the other day from this sneaky little guy — he’s definitely getting ready for winter. I had to run him off before he decided to bury that nut in my seat cushion. So far, they haven’t destroyed the cushions this year, but it probably won’t be long.

I feel like I’ve been really busy in the few months since my last post, yet I feel like I haven’t done much. I spent most of August and part of September working on a new website for my little fabric shop. I decided try to move things from Etsy — their fees are just so high and when you throw in advertising fees, I actually had a few listings that were costing me money. I like being able to offer items at a discount, so I moved to a new website where the prices can still be lower. For now, the Etsy shop will remain, but with higher prices to try to offset the fees a little, and with a smaller selection. The new website also has some fun features that Etsy doesn’t have, for example, you can create a “design wall” where you can view all the fabrics that you might be thinking about purchasing together. When I’m shopping online, I love to be able to see everything on the same page so I can tell if I like it together. You can also shop by colors, themes, supplier, or type of fabric (knits anyone?)

Also, a new website meant I ~~needed~~ wanted a new logo. I had seen some cute logos on Instagram done by cerigwen_shop, so I contacted her to create a new logo for me. She was so easy to work with — she created several options and then tweaked the final one I selected. I love that big pink thimble — if only sterling silver were pink LOL!

Just as we were finishing the new website, we had a little family getaway to our favorite place in Utah. Both boys, DIL, and the grandbabies went and we had a wonderful time. It was the perfect time to be in the mountains — the beautiful trees were just starting to show their fall colors.

We did a lot of hiking, which is a little challenging with three babies who are 4 and under. The kids were SO good though! I’m sure it was all that fresh mountain air (it looked really smoky and hazy from the California wildfires, but it was heaven to us.) And luckily, we had one strong adult for each baby, so no one had to walk when they were tired. (Although, no one offered to carry meee-e LOL.)

We always took a picnic lunch on our hikes, and on this particular hike, we were having a little picnic in a meadow and a really nice guy came by and offered to take our picture — such a fun surprise!

Now, we’re safely back home and starting to think all things fall. I’m still plodding along on too many UFOs — all with not much progress to report. Hopefully I’ll finish something up soon — I’ve seen a ton of new projects that I’d like to start, but I’m trying to be good. Not making any promises though ….

Happy Fall!
XOXO,
Anna

Remember When …

17 Comments / May 5, 2019 May 5, 2019 / Around the House, Chat, Family, Liberty Love, Store

It’s been a long (yet somehow speedy) and busy spring, so I thought I’d just check in and dust off ye ol’ blog …

Remember When I posted here about our little newlyweds just starting med school? Unbelieveably, that was ELEVEN years ago. FINALLY, all that hard work has come to an end and it’s time to start their real life without school. We’re very happy and excited that they’ve accepted a job here and will move back home this summer. Yay for living close to the babies!!! SweetiePie sent this cute picture a few weeks ago. The babies are growing quickly. I’ll let you think on this picture until the end of this post too LOL.

Remember When I went to Shetland last summer? And I promised to write all about my trip? I finally did just that and posted about it here in the travel section of my little blog.

Remember When I posted here about the squirrels using my patio chairs for nest materials? Well, I replaced those chair pads a few years ago, but last fall was so busy I totally forgot to bring my chairs in for the winter. Maybe I’ll learn my lesson {sigh}. (Oh, and they’ve stepped up their destruction level — they’re now gnawing on the metal parts of the table and chairs — you can see it along the edges of the chair handle.)

Remember When I used to actually quilt and sew around here? There is still a little of that going on these days. I do occasionally drag my Trip Around the World UFO out to work on it. I think I’m on round 38 or so and I think I decided I need about 44 rounds. Only 5 or 6 more rounds to go! Sadly, each round is taking me about 15 hours to complete, so there’s still a LOT of work left. Not to mention ironing all those seams — not looking forward to that part.

Remember When I had an etsy store and used to tell you when new fabrics arrived? Well, I still have that little shop and new fabrics arrive alllll the time, I just can’t seem to find the time to post about them. Here are the latest arrivals in the Liberty department. I LOVE the classic prints. That 4th-down-from-the-top print makes me all twitterpated.

Thanks for sticking it out to the end. Now … did you have a think on that first picture??? And get the message??? We’re beside ourselves with excitement that FinallyAnotherGirl is going to be a Big Sister late this fall (let the blog naming begin LOL). And if you’re counting, that means those two little babies will only be 14 months apart. Good thing the kids are moving back home — they’re going to be BUSY!!!
Have a great week!
XOXO,
Anna