thimbly things

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.

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.

Here’s a glimpse of my current project.  Truly, I have about 10 things in the works right now, but this is the most involved.

Sorry for the wrinkly faces.

This seems to have become an “On My Desk” blog.  I apologize.  There’s much more going on around here than me arranging stuff on flat surfaces.  But anyway.  On my desk today is a bowl full of various trims and scraps, small yarn balls, embroidery floss, and an unwieldy stack of fabric.  I can’t tell you yet what all this business is for, but I promise to keep you updated.  Lord willing, that is.

In today’s quest to procrastinate from the aforementioned secret project, I fiddled with Flickr’s Picnik tool.  Which I suppose is akin to Photoshop.

Yeah.  This is kinda addictive…  Especially when one has Hundreds of pictures of sweet babies.

(a day late) you’ll find the latest Living magazine, grapes, an Anthropologie catalog for inspiration, and a collaborative piece of crayon art.  I think I effectively taught Emily to layer colors.  It’s kinda pretty, don’t you think?

And on the floor this week are my favorite buttons.

Some are old, some new, some borrowed (or handed-down, rather), and some blue.

I really love the blue ones.  They were thrifted almost 2 years ago in the cute little antique-filled town of Dewey, OK.

And I’m also loving this golden-yellow and grey color scheme.

Speaking of color schemes, I found yet another addiction.  And this one has many practical purposes.  So go ahead.  Click.  You know you want to…

Today I signed up for it.  We’re talking 6 months of making new stuff from old stuff.  I’m game!  I got a head start this month as I tried my hand at sewing my own clothes for the first time.  Here’s one shirt I made from an old skirt I bought at the Gap several years ago.  I wore the skirt on my graduation weekend.  It was a size ZERO!!!

I can’t believe I ever fit into it…although, I’m remembering, it smooshed my internal organs quite a bit.  I must have found it on sale.  Anyway, I used Simplicity 4589 for the yoke and kept a lot of the fullness of the skirt.  I suppose it can double as a maternity shirt at some point (but not yet, for goodness’ sake!).

So I may be dressing like a dork for the rest of the year, but I will be a handmade dork!  Somewhere along the way, I hope to acquire a sense of style.  I can tell what’s fashionable when the clothing stores put it on the racks, but I’m not sure that I can make it from scratch.  We’ll see.  Everything I’ve made so far smacks of the country side of “Town & Country.”  I’ll attempt to make more “town” looks in the future, since I don’t actually live on a prairie.

Oh, and expect to see more pictures of me gazing awkwardly out of this window.

The Pledge

I, Kristena Derrick, pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of “new” manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 6 months. I pledge that i shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovated, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftyness brings! Signed Kristena Derrick.

I missed this last week, but on my desk today are pattern pieces, elastic, woven fabric in navy and green, and some shirts than need to be spiffied-up.  I love this Built By Wendy pattern.  Over the weekend, I finally tried it out (a year after purchasing it), and the results were not too shabby.

I shortened the sleeves from what you see here because I looked very much like a yellow triangle.  Then I wore it out last night, and it got stinky from a bonfire–so no pictures.  But I really like it!  Now I want to make another one in a more flattering color and a thinner fabric.  Meanwhile, I plan to use the pattern pieces to add new yokes to old shirts.  I’ll let you know how that goes.