thimbly things

I got a lovely email this morning telling me that the latest issue of Small Magazine was available. I’ve shared this once before. Every new issue inspires me so much that I just can’t not mention it.

This time, more than one photo made me want to knit a red hat for Emily.

Aren’t these Polaroids great?

And I pretty much love everything about this spread:

So feminine. So sweet. Braids. Dresses that I could totally make. Dancers. Fruit. :)

Well…

I’m decidedly not knitting a hat for the girl. But I am making a kerchief which may become a shawl. If I have enough yarn.

Funny thing - I cannot retrace the thought-process that led to me not making a hat. Huh.

But I will make her a dress like that pale peachy one.

If I can remember.

On my desk are more stenciled onesies, A Light in the Attic, freezer paper, freshly knit kitchen rags, and more scraps than I know what to do with.

Doing a quick search so I could provide you with a link to Silverstein’s book, I realized that it’s controversial.  Having grown up reading it over and over, it never occurred to me.  I think I always found the darker poems to be witty.  As much as a 5 year old can grasp wit, anyway.  Maybe it even helped me understand the concept of wit.

Regardless, I’m finding inspiration revisiting this classic from my childhood.  Here’s a poem from the book that captures the essence therein:

        Put Something In

Draw a crazy picture,
Write a nutty poem,
Sing a mumble-gumble song,
Whistle through your comb.
Do a loony-goony dance
‘Cross the kitchen floor,
Put something silly in the world
That ain’t been there before.

The winner is #9- Danielle. Congratulations!!! Look out for an email from me, and we’ll handle the details.

Thanks to everyone who participated! I appreciate all your ideas so much that next time I might just hold a contest.

Here are some of your favorite sources of inspiration:

• family… especially babies and kiddos
• blogs and websites (see my sidebar for a rather incomplete but still very inspirational list of blogs)
• nature: the ocean, the mountains, changing seasons, flowers
• vintage & thrifty things
• caffeine (YES!!!) & chocolate (YES, YES, YES!!!)
• Christmas
• fighting a worthy battle (Indeed.)
• music!
• beautiful but practical things (Shouldn’t all practical things be beautiful too? I so wish this was true!)
• gardening (Maybe next year… or this Fall)
• toile & beautiful papers
• Proverbs 31 (Couldn’t agree more.) and God’s creation (Yup.)

And some of your suggestions:

• airplanes (Perfect for The Boy!)
• books (Perhaps making them? Love this idea.)
• birds (Always. I can’t get enough of these.)
• fairy tales & traditional Celtic fairy book style art (I’ve gotta look into this.)
• vintage renaissance
• kitchen towels embroidered with vegetables or vintage “Days of the week” type embroidery — Monday wash day, Tuesday string beans, etc.
• embroidery of old children’s book illustrations
• hedgehogs, snapdragons, aprons, spinning wheels, goats (love the randomness of this suggestion!)

A veritable wealth of lovely inspiration. Thanks for sharing your ideas, everyone!

*Reminder- The Giveaway I posted about last week will be over tomorrow night, so please enter if you want to inherit some hand-embroidered napkins.  You still have a pretty good chance of winning!*

Happy Monday, everyone!  You know you must be growing up when you actually enjoy the start of a new week instead of dreading it with your life.   [Edit: Having been interrupted about 50 times while trying to get this post up, my attitude has changed.  But being aware of said change, I’m determined to make this a joyful Monday, dadgumit.]

The coasters above were a birthday gift for Heather that I made on Friday.  They were quick to whip-up, and I used felt as interfacing.  I got the idea from Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts.  Fabulous book.  I didn’t really follow the pattern- just guessed at the directions.

So Eric, a good friend of ours here in Tulsa, has decided to make his own cleaning products as he runs out of his old ones.  This is not only environmentally conscious, but incredibly economical.  Here’s an excerpt from an email he sent me:

“The advantages are HUGE: MAJOR cost savings; a healthier, toxic and chemical-free  home; and the stuff actually works. (Did I mention it was WAY cheaper than regular household cleaning products?!)… It’s a great way to get rid of everyday carcinogens and harmful chemicals. So far, I’ve tried the glass cleaner, bathroom/toilet cleaner, and laundry detergent. Once you try the laundry stuff, you’ll never go back. I also can’t get over how cheap all of it is.”

Here’s a site he linked to that has lots of great recipes for cleaning up your act.  I’m going to make the laundry detergent today since I just ran out.

And if you live in Tulsa, you can find the rather obscure Washing Soda at Reasor’s for about $2.50.

Finally, my husband is also having a giveaway at Movie Zeal.  Seriously.  If you like movies, check it out.

 a la Meet Me at Mike’s.

Seriously.

EDIT: The video that was on this post kept throwing off my site’s format. So… If you still want to see it, check it out here.

This is the 100th post here at Thimbly Things, and we’re celebrating with a good old-fashioned giveaway!

In the comments section of this post, tell me what inspires you or a design you’d like to see at Thimbly Things. Links are very welcome!

The deadline is Tuesday, August 19th at 11:59 p.m. CST. On The following Wednesday, I’ll do a random drawing to see who the lucky winner is.

And since embroidery was my first crafty love (Thank you, Page!), the prize at stake is a set of 6 embroidered napkins that I poured my heart into a few years ago. There are 2 of each design: a sugardish, a creamer, and a teacup.

Now let’s hear those fabulous ideas! :)

I would have called this “On My Desk,” but it’s so embarrassingly late that I dare not.  However, on my desk this week is a pile of onesies and some handmade stencils (on top of all the stuff from last week).  My “desk,” which is actually the dining room table, is a veritable war zone right now.

The babies are also “on my desk,” so to speak, as I have begun to teach them more purposefully.   Check this out.

Thanks, everyone, for the feedback on possible postcards/greeting cards.  It was really helpful to get a general idea of what people like, and now I’ll probably focus more attention on watercolors.  Out of curiosity, do you ladies buy thank-you cards frequently?  I probably buy a set of 12 or so twice a year on average.  (Though there are times when I need more and times when I could certainly thank more folks than I do.)

Another thing I want to tell you is (and I’m late getting to it) Evan and the fellas at Movie Zeal are having a Film Noir Month right now.  If you like these classic films, please check out the site to see if one of your favorites is being reviewed.  And if you live in Tulsa, you can check out almost every single film on the list from our amazing library.

As the summer is drawing to a close (fingers crossed), I thought it might be nice to reflect on summer adventures of old. This has been a fairly uneventful one for us, especially since we have two little ones. It’s truly difficult to get out and have adventures. Thank you, Dear Internet, for giving us a window to the outside world. ;)

First, let’s look at a typical college summer for us:

Pretty ridiculous, huh? I’m the one at the bottom of the pic, and I’m just not even going to try to explain this. Evan was there somewhere, but I doubt there are any pictures of us together from that particular summer. And that’s another story that deserves its own blog entry. Anyway, this was the summer of 2001.

Continuing with the theme of self-deprecation, here’s what I was doing in the almost-summer (actually it’s dated for spring, but it was hot, I was at the beach, and this is a pretty good indication of my life at the time) of 2004. You can find me on your own if you so desire. ;) There’s no Evan in the picture because he and I were a no-go at the time. And he was in Panama.

Two summers ago, Evan and I joined his family for vacation in England. Here we are with Paddington Bear in, of course, Paddington Station. I was 20 weeks pregnant (which is halfway) with Emily.

And our little family last summer:

This summer, the family is one larger. Evan and I are all grown up… no longer dressing like hooligans and traipsing about Myrtle Beach without a care. We’re focused on our little creative worlds and our babies. We may not be able to travel to Europe or even to the beach this year, but our lives are good. We are content to be in this exciting new season of our lives, teaching our children, writing, drawing, changing diapers, baking granola, staying cool, and loving one another.

About 5 minutes ago, I made him come look at some silly pictures I’ve been tinkering with.  Seriously.  Remember a few days ago when I mentioned printing postcards?  Well, I’m starting to get serious about this.  I have a flower theme, and now I just need to know if there’s any interest.  Here’s a sampling.

So what do you say?  Should they be blank greeting cards instead?  What do you folks like?  So far, I have 5 photographs ready.  But I would love love love your feedback! :)