Looking Forward to a Whole New Year!
Thank you everyone for yet another good year here at Thimbles and Acorns! We have spent the last year reorganizing, reevaluating, and readjusting our focus and are settling in happily with all the changes and looking forward to what’s in store for this next year. Eve and I have several patterns on the drawing board and we will start moving full speed ahead on them once we get past some of life’s little road bumps. We just finished the prototypes for the next “A Girl for All Time Doll”… but for now, that is all I can tell you until Frances big reveal.
The Best Pattern Release Ever!
Did everyone get a chance to take advantage of our free pattern offer on January 9th at Pixie Faire? We gave away a whopping 6,820 patterns! Now that is what I call a celebration! While putting this pattern together, I contacted the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historical Society to get permission to use to original picture on the pattern cover. After our conversation, the director asked if they could market printed versions of the “Mary and Laura” and “Carrie” patterns in their tourist shops. If she only new how much that meant to me! I finished brand new cover layout for the printed version of the “Carrie” pattern and am working on the “Mary and Laura” pattern now. Next time any of you visit a Laura Ingalls site, let me know if you see my patterns there!
Celebrating 700 Likes on Facebook
We have already reached and exceeded 700 Likes on Facebook … which is making 1,000 look like it is not that far off. To celebrate the 700 likes as well as the success of our “Carrie” pattern giveaway…. which was ever so close to 7,000… I am going to give away two sewing kits to make the “Carrie” dress just as it is shown on the cover. Just tell me your favorite scene or quote from one of the “Little House” books in the comment section below and I will draw a winner on January 31, 2015.
Down But Not Out
In case you are wondering why this months newsletter is running a little late, I have been having problems with kidney stones for the last couple of weeks which culminated into a weekend stay at the hospital with a kidney infection. All is well, but recovery has been slower than I would like and I still need to go back to have a stone removed next week. Needless to say, the last couple of weeks have been miserable and I am missing being able to work down in my studio. All is not lost however, through Facebook and e-mail I have been able to stay in touch and enjoy watching all that has been going on in my little sewing community. Thanks to all of you who brightened my day with the well wishes on Facebook, as well as sharing all your funny little anecdotes, latest projects, and inspirations… it helps to fill that void I feel when I can’t be creating myself!
I can’t recall a specific scene or line, but I did thoroughly enjoy any scene that showed Nellie getting her comeuppance! She was not a nice girl, was she? I hope you are feeling better soon.
I read that series of books more than 40 years ago and still remember my favorite scene. It was in the book where Laura was teaching away from home in the winter and a big storm came in. The scene is when her soon to be husband is considering not going to get her and someone comments comments to him about being a coward or a quitter (I don’t remember which) and he braves the storm to get her.
I don’t have a specific quote, and there are just so many memorable scenes. Two of my very favorites are when Ma gave Laura her doll Charlotte, and when Pa played the violin at a gathering in the Big Woods. But there are truly so many enjoyable scenes–now I need to go and read all the books again!
It’s been a long time since I’ve trad the books, but I always liked the part about the bear in the corral. That must have been so scary! I hope that you feel better soon.
I have several favorite scenes from Farmer Boy–the sledding on Sunday, the blacking brush hitting the parlor wall, and others!
I have read all the books a couple times to my daughters long ago and even went in to the Rose books and some of the autobiographies. We loved the show as well. Even this Christmas dinner my brother, sister, and I once again tried to explain to my teenage daughters how wonderful the shows were as well. We can all quote many lines. One of my favorite parts in the books was when the little girls met Isaiah. He was quite a character and they didn’t know what to make of him!
It has been a long time since I watched Little House on the Prairie although the theme music still swirls around in my head. I do remember that Michael Landon (PA) used to call Melissa Gilbert ( Laura ) Half-Pint.
It’s been a really really long time since I read the books so I guess I’m a little more familiar with the TV series. But I couldn’t quite think of any specific quotes so I had to research a little bit. The favorite of the quotes I found online was “There is no great loss without some gain.” I’m sure that one was probably utilized on the TV series because they always did stress hard work, sometimes they lost all they had but the main thing was they were together as a family. I don’t even know where my daughter’s old set of the books is so I could look up a quote from there, sorry.
If enough people think of a thing and work hard enough at it, I guess it’s pretty nearly bound to happen, wind and weather permitting.
My faovrite scene is from The Little House in the Big Woods, and it is when Laura and Mary play with the pig’s bladder as a balloon. I don’t know why I love the butchering scene. =)
Love the books and the tv show.. still watch them. Read books many years ago.. but the TV show that I love most is when Nelsons go camping with the Ingalls and the kids collect leaves. Nellie found the soft one that no one had. Poison Ivy… laura just let her pick it… oh my what a surpise when they all had been rubbing the soft leaves on their face … next morning it was all over them. Harriet too..
Hope you are feeling better. Wow! Almost 7000 Carrie patterns downloaded! That’s a lot of love.
You know I love the Little House books. My favorite has always been A Long Winter. I don’t know why. I think I like thinking about hunkering down and surviving on what they had. I am currently reading this book to my almost 13 year old daughter. We just got to the part (spoiler alert) where the trains aren’t coming till spring and Pa gathers all the girls around them and tells them the story of the train Superintendent who didn’t have enough patience or perseverance to clear the cuts at Tracy. Manzo is about to go look for the farmer with the rumored seed wheat with Cap Garland and save the town.
I do genealogy and although you know that these are real people she is writing about, I looked up the census records for De Smit, SD one day. There they all were! It was such a revelation to me.
My very favorite Little House was Mr God, starring Ernest Borgnine. I loved how he dealt so kindly with Laura when she wanted to give her life in exchange for that of her brother.
My favorite quote is “Home is the nicest word there is.”
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Wow…to pick a favorite scene…it’s been years since I first read the first two books in the series, and have since (within the last year) gone back to the library to try to read the rest of them. 🙂
I remember when the neighbor boy was stung by the hive of bees after tormenting them…and when they made maple syrup candy in the snow or smoked the meat in their outdoor smoker (for some reason, I really enjoyed learning about their food!). And when the girls played with their dolls in the pantry attic together. And, of course, the scenes of Pa on his violin reminded me so much of my dad playing his guitar every night for us as children, so that always hit home. LOL…as I sit here, more scenes come to mind of Indians on the prairie and scary mountain lions and such. Such good books worthy of reading over and over and over again. 🙂 Can’t wait to read them to my kids.
Thank you again for the free pattern to celebrate your anniversary. I can’t wait to make it!!! Your Laura and Mary pattern always sells well in my shop — people must love it as much as I do!
That’s wonderful news about your Little House patterns! I’m sorry you haven’t been feeling well, and hope you continue to improve.
Carrie is downloaded and printed out. I’d love to make it in the AGFOAT size to go along with Mary and Laura in AG size.
It’s been several years since I read the original Little House series and the books about her daughter Rose. A few of the scenes I remember best are making maple candy in the snow, the excitement about calling cards, and Almanzo driving to bring home Laura when she was off teaching.
I always liked The Long Winter when Pa and Laura make hay sticks to keep warm.
When the Ingalls and Nelsons went camping
Favorite was the first Christmas, and Laura got her doll, but was still concerned about her “corn cob doll’s” feelings. Christmas always felt so special in those books.
I remember watching a Christmas episode with my dad. The story involved pa and Laura buying gifts for each other….I don’t remember what happens on the show so much as seeing a tear in dads eye when it was over.
I remember a dance in Little House in the Big Woods. It was either Ma or Laura’s aunt who had a dress trimmed with buttons shaped like ripe berries. For some reason that image has stayed with me ever since my first reading of the book when I was a child.
I grew up in a town not far from Walnut Grove , so the
Little House books were fascinating to me at age 8 and 9. I still love the dugout on Plum Creek.
Being a francophone living in Quebec, it’s in French that I have read and watched Little House in the Prairie – so for me, it’s hard to have a quote. But there are 2 episodes that I really remember vividly, the one about their first Christmas in their new house, and the one about the Long Winter, where you could feel how difficult it must have been to be a pioneer.
I found this quote in English, though, that I really like and reflects what Little House in the Prairie is a lot about for me:
“The real things haven’t changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures; and have courage when things go wrong.”
As for your printed patterns being sold over there: congratulations! I’m not surprised they asked, though!
And last. I’m amazed at the number of downloads you had from your giveaway! Wow!
The Christmas when the snow was to the roof and Pa had to go out the top attic/bedroom window to get outside to take care of things. Can’t remember it that well but that particular passage always stuck with me. Then getting a piece of candy a shiny penny for Christmas.
Reminded me of my Mom’s accounts of Christmas in a poor rural area when she was a child many years ago. Being excited about a small toy, a bit of candy and an orange.
Reminds me of how materialistic our society is today.
I read all the books over and over as a child, and loved every minute. What a great history lesson! My favorite, and what comes to mind first, is when they made the maple syrup candy in the snow. Growing up in New England, maple sugar candy was always a special and favorite treat. The Ingalls family did not have great fortune, but they had great wealth in their family values, and have always inspired me!
I sincerely hope you will be better soon, and look forward to more of your beautiful creations!
I’ve always love the little bits in the book describing their rag dolls , rag dolls have always been fascinating to me, but I’ve never been able to make or find the perfect one! 🙂
I always liked when Nellie always got shown the better way in the end.
My favourite book is Little House in the Big Woods because it follows one whole year from fall to fall. My favourite scene is the one where Laura is running to ma with hickory chips held in her apron., so that Ma can smoke the meat in the smoke house.
My favorite story was when the family was traveling to their new home and they lost their dog, Jack. Finding him was such a happy event.
I have many personal favorites from the books, but I think my most cherished is from FarmerBoy when before any change of scene Almonzo would take “a donut on one hand and a cookie in the other” before moving on to his next adventure. I read the complete series to my parents when they were in nursing care in their final years, and my father truly enjoyed this book the most of them all. After reading a description of cutting ice from the lake he told me about watching his uncles do the same. Both he and my mother who could barely communicated due to aphasia would both anticipate and say the line along with the text whenever Almanzo was filling each hand with food.
I remember reading the books but that was more than 50 years ago so don’t remember specifically anything except the warm, loving people (well most of them) and there interaction with each other through life experiences.
Must have read that entire series to my 4 children at least 4 times when they were small; haven’t re-read them lately and thinking I need to do so! Well, the one scene that I remember most fondly was when the little dog, Jack, had died and the children were worrying about him….Pa reassured them with these words, “God won’t leave a good dog like Jack out in the cold.”
I really enjoyed the tales of the dugout and life in that time period. We can still learn a lot from the determination and grit of that family!