Ina Index

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

Quack Quack

Hidy Ho Neighbor! Thanks for all the May Basket love — you guys are the sweetest. Did you have a good weekend? It was beautiful here in ThimbleannaLand. And pretty busy — that’s what happens in the spring — lots of yardwork to do.

So, no real quilting to speak of. I’ve been hankering (yes Barb, that’s my inner Ellie Mae speaking LOL) to start a new quilt project. Something that will be portable and fun. But I can’t seem to make a decision. I finally decided this might not be a great time to decide — maybe I should wait and see if something strikes me at market. So, I dug out the old yoyos and figured out how many I’ll need to make a quilt. I’ve made about 750 so far and I’ll need about 810. Not too bad — I should be able to whip those out in no time — I just need to sneak into the dungeon and cut up some fabric.

I also managed to bake a batch of cookies for BigDaddy. This weeks choice was a recipe I found on Pinterest. They’re Biscoff Oatmeal Cookies. They’re sort of crunchy and dry like the original Biscoff cookies, but with oatmeal in them. They’re perfect with a cup of tea. Or Diet Pepsi. ;-D

And finally, our ducks are still hanging around this year. I love it when they show up every year ’cause I know spring has truly arrived.  They’re usually only here for a week or two, but it’s been 5 or 6 weeks this time. About three weeks ago, we found a nest with broken eggs tucked up under the ugly tree. I think they’d been nesting in there and something got the eggs.  Nasty Critters. I was really sad, ’cause we’ve never known them to nest here — they sort of hang out and then leave. So I’m wondering if they’re confused by our long spring or lost nest or something. Three days ago the hen was wandering around quacking like she’d lost the drake.   Then, the last two days, he’s been wandering around quack quacking like he’s lost her. It’s kind of sad. I’m hoping there’s a nest somewhere and they really know where the other one is and they’re playing decoy.

So, now that I’ve psychoanalyzed the ducks, it’s back to work. Have a wonderful week!

XOXO,
Anna

Happy May Day!

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 Question of Pattern

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

Birds in the Air

Poor, poor little neglected blog. It’s been so boring here lately that there hasn’t been much point in blogging. Not that nothing has been happening — it’s been very busy, but there just hasn’t been much blog-worthy to report. Lots of cleaning, errand running, cleaning, visiting, cleaning — with all that cleaning, why doesn’t it look much cleaner around here? That drives me crazy — you work and work and work and things still look much like they did. At least there’s a big pile of garbage in the garage to show for the efforts. Too bad the pile isn’t bigger.

One little bit of excitement happened this weekend when MeMum and I put one of her antique quilt tops on the basting frame. I’d forgotten how much work it is to baste a quilt. We could just quilt it on this frame, but she has another quilting frame that tilts, which makes the quilting a little easier on the back.

We basted for a few hours today and there’s still a bit more to do. There was a little debate over whether we should quilt it at all, but in the end, we decided it might help protect the quilt. This is a very old, hand-pieced top. Some of the seams aren’t even 1/4″ wide, which makes them pretty fragile.

It’s been a fun basting job and I’m really looking forward to the quilting.  I love looking at all the different fabrics.  There are several pieces that were cobbled together — I always think that’s a fun thing to see in an older quilt.

And there are two or three tiny holes.  We’ll be doing a little research in how to best handle their repair as we do the quilting.  I’m looking forward to working on this quilt — I hope we finish it in this lifetime.  Our basting has been so slow, I’m beginning to worry a bit!

Alas, another weekend gone.  They always whiz by.  ;-(  Have a good week!

XOXO,
Anna