Thimbleanna – Page 88 – My little online diary.

Decisions, Decisions

70 Comments / March 4, 2011 March 4, 2011 / Around the House

Well Hello There! Did you all have a nice week?

It’s been a little busy and stressful here in ThimbleannaLand as we start in on the fun (it is fun, right?) of choosing all of the little goodies for the kitchen/family room update. We made our first purchase this week — a ManChair for TheManoftheHouse. As far as he’s concerned we’re done now. To which I reply — let the spending begin! (Darn it!)

UglyGreenTile, your days are numbered — Yipee!!!

I’m a terrible decision maker and the hardest thing will be deciding on countertops. There are soooo many choices.
Corian. (Btw, these aren’t actual samples, just pics from the internet.)

Granite. Granite is leading the pack, although FreeDesignerLady is trying hard to get me to change my mind. She doesn’t have any other suggestions, but she said that several of her clients have told her they’re sorry that they chose granite. And I saw a year old countertop with chips in it this week, so I am having second thoughts.

Stainless. Perhaps a little too modern for me?

Ok, clearly, this isn’t working. Let’s move on to something I know. Don’t you think toasters are a good choice for the kitchen?

Or, what could be more perfect than polkies?

No Wait! I think I’ve found it!

(Just as a little sidebar here….I read some trivia in The Writer’s Almanac this week about The Cat in the Hat. Did you know that The Cat in the Hat was written specifically to help children learn how to read? Dr. Suess (Theodore Geisel) wrote the story with only 220 words — words that most first graders know. And Green Eggs and Ham has only 50 words, and only one of those words (it’s anywhere) has more than one syllable — amazing!)

So, Whaddyathink about the countertops? I’m all ears if you have any suggestions!

XOXO,
Anna

BTW, I’m STILL having problems with my comments being forwarded to my e-mail, so if you don’t hear from me after you comment, it’s not that I don’t love you anymore. I do love your comments, but I just can’t devote any more time to copying comments from wordpress into my e-mail so that I can respond to them. It looks like I’ll end up rebuilding my wordpress theme, and since all of my non-wordpress pages are tied to the theme it’s going to be a lot of work. And after all that work, I’m not terribly confident that the problem will be solved — I have a sneaking suspicion that my webhost has traffic load problems and that could be the culprit. I probably won’t start on it for a few weeks yet, but if you happen by and things look amiss, don’t panic, it’s just me playing around. {Smooch}

Photo Scavenger Hunt: February

45 Comments / February 28, 2011 February 28, 2011 / Photo Challenge

Time for the February Photo Scavenger Hunt, hosted by Kathy! I love this scavenger hunt because a) it’s so fun to see pictures of the same thing from all over the world, and b) there are some really fun interpretations of the same word (“eye” was a good one this month!) My photos aren’t from exciting London, like Kathy’s and Abi’s, but I still have fun anyway. And I love that the monthly assignment gets me out exploring my neck o’ the woods.

So, here are my shots for this month:

A Big Truck: I did not text and drive!

A Big Round Clock: Our federal courthouse — er, maybe that’s county courthouse.

A Bridge: Pitiful. I waited too long in the month for this picture and I’m sure there are much more beautiful bridges around here. Rust is beautiful though, right?

An Instrument: Poor neglected piano — I had to dust her keys before I could take the picture.

A Newspaper Headline: Interesting juxtaposition of Luxury and Default.

A Park Bench: Well sort-of — it’s along a running path out in the boonies.

A Postbox: Classic model. I love how the blue paint faded.

Eyes: Young and wrinkle-free.

Something Heart-Shaped: The heart doctors.

Something Red: Are you seeing red? {Har Har}.

Something with Stripes: Tell me zebras aren’t the first thing that pops into your mind when someone says “stripes”.

Your Shoes: I bought these for quilt market in the fall and had to quit wearing them on the first day — I spend all my time crawling around on the floor and I was rubbing the finish off of the toes. Looks like those toes need polishing again. These may be the most comfy shoes I’ve ever had — I love ’em.

Thanks for hosting Kathy! There’s a flickr group if you want to see more photos — there are some really fun photos uploaded this month. I can’t wait to see what the March assignment will be!

XOXO,
Anna

Kitties and Winners

30 Comments / February 26, 2011 February 26, 2011 / Scruff

Wow! Are you guys all Aurifil-ed out? Thanks to everyone for playing along — it was a fun blog hop.

Now to the real reason you’re here — the winners of the two little sample packs:
LauraLovesQuilting and CateringQuilter
Congratulations Ladies! Please send me your addresses and I’ll get your packages shipped off to you.
For the rest of you, you still have a chance at the grand prize — Pat will announce the winner on her blog on Monday!

Otherwise, not much going on around here. I’ve started the big (ok, huge, for me) task of figuring out how we’re going to update our kitchen and family room. At long last, the end of the UH-GLY green tile is in sight. (The downside is that it will be the end of the 18-year-old threadbare couches — I doubt we’ll be so lucky to find couches that will last as well as these old babies have.) It’s going to be a long project and I’m not really looking forward to it, but it will be nice to be rid of a lot of the tile around here. And guess what? I enlisted the aid of one of those free design services from a furniture store, and she said I need a big quilt to hang on a high empty wall that we have. Ooooh baby, that’s right up my alley!

The kitties aren’t very impressed with all the furniture and fabric talk going on though — they’re back to their usual antics with the rug. Something moved under the rug, so PaulKitty pounced on it.

So it stopped moving. As if I’m supposed to do something about it.

He bravely reached in under there to see what’s shakin’.

So, it stopped moving again and he waited it out.

Aha! It moved out to the end, so Paul Kitty jumped on it.

They tussled around for awhile.

Then decided a good knucklebump was in order and called a truce.

If only this decorating adventure could be that easy!
XOXO,
Anna

Aurifil Blog Hop – The Letter I

608 Comments / February 23, 2011 February 27, 2011 / Chat

Welcome to The Letter I (well, the first letter I) in the Aurifil Blog Hop! I is one of my favorite words – thank you for giving me I, Pat!

Pat asked us to choose a word for our letter, so I choose I!

Ok, not really — that might be just a teeny bit self centered, don’t you think? Instead, I‘ve chosen the word

Ideal describes Aurifil to a T I, and it’s therefore the Ideal word to describe Aurifil thread! (You’re probably not allowed to construct a sentence like that in the English language, but you guys are all Invisible, so it’s ok.) Like Kathy, I have to confess that I‘ve never really paid much attention to the thread that I use for quilting. But, I‘ve heard a lot of buzz lately about Aurifil, so when Pat asked me to participate in the Aurifil blog hop, I jumped at the chance to try this new-to-me thread. And boy, oh boy, am I glad I did!

Inquisitive, I decided to go to the Aurifil web site and read what I could about the different thread weights. There’s lots of info on the site, and you can even watch some videos of Pat discussing the threads.

Immediately after I read about the threads, I pieced my Aurifil Spring block. Heaven! That thread is Amazing Incredible! No wait — it’s IDEAL! I used the 50 weight and it’s so nice and thin and smoooooth — pressing block seams is so easy. And the best thing is that the thread isn’t splitty or linty like some other threads that we all know and love … or not.

Ok, so, as a little reward for participating in this blog hop, at each website in the hop (locations below), you can pick up a quilt block pattern. Since winter is hanging on with a vengeance in our neck of the woods, I decided to create little block to give us some hope for warmer weather. I wish I could tell you that I stuck a few strands of Aurifil thread together for the embroidery, but I didn’t — I used DMC embroidery floss. You can pick up a copy of the pattern here.

But Wait! There’s More!!!
Leave a comment and I‘ll choose 2 winners to receive a sample pack of Aurifil thread (with a few little goodies thrown in from me.) PLUS, at the end of the week, Pat will draw a grand prize winner who will win a Pat Sloan Kit Art 50wt Amazing IDEAL Aurifil Thread Set. (Do you think it would look rigged if I won???) Look at all the pretty colors!

And, last but not least, be sure to visit the other blogs in the blog hop for your quilt block patterns and even more chances to win Aurifil thread. (Not to mention the fabulous posts — Pink Chalk Studio and Lizzie B Girls started things off with a BIG Bang!)

Monday Feb 21st

Pat Sloan Starter Block

Tuesday Feb 22

Pink Chalk Studio (Letter A)

Lizzie B Girls (Letter U)

Wednesday Feb 23

Erin Russek (Letter R)

Thimbleanna (Letter I) — That’s Me I!

Thursday Feb 24

Stitchin’ Heaven (Letter F)

Quilting Gallery (Letter I)

Friday Feb 25

Sew Cal Gal – (Letter L)
I Have a Notion (Letter T for Thread!)

Pat Sloan Final Quilt Layout

XOXO and Good Luck,
Anna

And btw, if I missed any I‘s please don’t tell me I!!!

Recipe Box Swap: Your Favorite Recipe

26 Comments / February 22, 2011 February 23, 2011 / Recipes

It’s time for our monthly Recipe Box Swap, hosted by the ever-so-sweet Randi, at I Have to Say.

Randi has chosen “Your Favorite Recipe” as our theme this month so I decided to make one of TheManoftheHouse’s favorite dinners, Teriyaki Steak. I have a few different recipes for this dish and I’ve kind of combined features of them all for this recipe. I love this dish — it’s perfect for a dinner to make someone feel special or for a busy weeknight dinner (30 minutes start to finish — and it only takes that long because of the rice.)

Teriyaki Steak

1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
3 minced garlic cloves
2 T rice vinegar
1 T grated fresh ginger (I’ve also used the dried spice with equal success)
2 t. cornstarch
2 strip steaks, about 1-inch thick
2 T vegetable oil
3 scallions, thinly sliced
2 t. toasted sesame seeds (cook in dry skillet over medium heat, stirring often, until golden and fragrant — about 5 minutes)

Whisk sugar, soy sauce, garlic, rice vinegar, ginger and cornstarch in a medium bowl.

Heat oil in skillet until just “rippling”. Cook steak until well browned and cooked until desired doneness — 4 – 6 minutes per side. Transfer to cutting board and cover with foil.

Wipe oil out of skillet and pour in soy sauce mixture. Simmer over medium-low heat until thickened. Slice steak thinly and place slices on top of bed of rice. Pour sauce over steak. Sprinkle with scallions and toasted sesame seeds. Serves 4.

Enjoy! And don’t forget, tomorrow is my day with the Aurifil blog hop — stay tuned for more!
XOXO,
Anna