thimbly things

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!

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!

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.

Here is something I’m pretty sure you’ll love if you’re female and have babies.  And if neither of those things are true of you, you still might enjoy it.  But no guarantee.

We got a package in the mail today.  Yes.  Another.  Because we have so many kind and generous people in our lives.  Evan’s parents are packing up their home and moving, so a few neat items were passed on to us in the process.  Mom D also made Emily a dress, but I have to do a little something to it before it’s finished.  Then I’ll share.

Aren’t these plaques adorable though?  The first one reminds me of Emily and Jacob.  The second reminds me of my niece, D’Lorah.  I never see her, but I imagine she looks something like this.

I found a similar plaque at the QTS a while back.  These two were made by Mom D.  And the potholder was made by her grandmother.  It’s destined to go on the wall too.  But I might frame it first.  Hmm.

Welcome to our home, sweet little sentimental things.

(The “Sugar” and “Coffee” needlepoints were thrifted from the Salvation Army a few months ago.  I just never got around to sharing.)

Thanks for the love and the laughs, everyone! Jacquie and I had some really great times as roomies. It’s too bad she’s in San Diego now, and I’m in Tulsa. One day, Jacquie, we’ll live within driving distance again… Right?

So have I ever told you how kind Evan’s grandparents are? Here’s some stuff they sent Emily for Valentine’s Day. The other day we received a package for both Emily and Jacob. It’s especially nice when folks think of Emily and Jacob. The book is for her, and I assume that the gray and pink bunny is too. Of course, she has adopted both bunnies for now, taking good care of Jacob’s bunny until he can at least see the guy. But that sweet Pooh quilt is just for Jacob. Grandmother Derrick made two quilts for Emily and mended Evan’s baby quilts for her when she was born.  And now it’s his turn.

She is extremely skilled in hand-quilting. I’ve only ever done a tiny bit of machine-quilting, but I know that even that is quite time-consuming. Her work is very impressive, and she always embroiders names and dates on every quilt. At some point, I’ll have to gather together all her work for a photo shoot.

Thank you, Grandmother, for the beautiful heirlooms! We appreciate all the care and thought that went into every stitch.

We’ve been home since Saturday and trying to get into a routine–one in which everyone gets enough to eat and enough sleep to be sweet, sweet. I haven’t shared much in the way of crafting in a while. It seems that most of my entries have involved babies lately. And that’s OK. But here is something I’ve been working on. I’ve actually made much more progress, but with all the transitions in our life right now, well… Like I said, just trying to get the hang of things.

I am honestly scared of what tomorrow will bring with Evan returning to work. Any of you moms out there remember the first day you were all alone with two little people? Or even just one? That was scary too. Thankfully, newborns can be pretty easy to care for, and 18-month-olds will sometimes obey.

Edit: I thought you might like more Jacob to feast your eyes on.

And for all my readers who don’t know, WIP stands for “Work in Progress.”  I got your back.

Around these parts, I’ve been focused on swelling, hormonal changes, an upcoming baby shower, and…

Easter!   It’s so much fun to have a little person to make cute little things for.  Emily might not even care all that much about getting a new toy, but one day she’ll be able to ask me to make something for her and give me all the specifics.  And it feels good knowing that I might help her carry out her very important vision.  I remember having those dreams as a kid.  I would draw out elaborate dollhouses or design clothing collections for my dolls.  The imagination of a child is such a fabulous thing.  The only problem is seeing those imaginative designs through to completion.  Well, this mama will be happy to step in and help out.

Here’s a peak at Emily’s Easter Bunny (pattern by Wee Wonderfuls, embellishments by me):

And here’s the start of a friend for Bunny:

I know, it doesn’t look like much yet, but just wait.

This past weekend, I opened my JoAnn circular to realize that I had several coupons that were on the brink of expiration. I thought quick. What do I need? What do I really need? With a tiny allowance (and not wanting to spend it all) I headed over and purchased only needles and thread. That was it. No fabric. No yarn. No buttons. Just the basics, which made coming home and emptying my bag of goodies a rather dull experience. But! But then came the inspiration for the evening.

Pincushions=gratification. They’re quick, easy, require very little material, very few tools, and are so small and pretty. And my new sewing instruments became beautiful to me. Shiny, sharp, glistening pins. Ready to take on all manner of crafting.

This little pincushion is based on the pattern in Sew Pretty Homestyle (Thanks, Mom D, for the Christmas present!). This is the first thing I’ve made from it, but believe me, there is more to come. I love how the cushion came out looking very much akin to a mushroom.

(Oh, and remember my thrifting trip from a couple weekends ago? In my grab-bag, I found a little wooden ring which is now the base for this pincushion. How I do love thee, Quality Thrift Store? Let me count the ways…)

I was also inspired by the needlebook pattern in Sew Pretty, but I modified the design and materials and ended up with my own pattern. The one in the book doesn’t use felt or buttons, and it seems larger. I was determined to use my scraps of fabric because I have quite a pile-up in my craft room. So now my pincushion has a matching friend to organize all my fresh, new, beloved needles.

I thought about sharing one of these each day of the week, but it’s so nice to see them all side-by-side. I came across the set on Saturday at an antique store here in Tulsa. The colors and designs are wonderful, but I could not imagine paying the $36 asking price. They do provide some great inspiration though, don’t you think?

Alicia Paulson at Posie Gets Cozy recently made some lovely designs inspired by her favorite kitchen items, and I’d rather embroider her patterns than fork over the money for these.  But still, they are nice.

My Joann circular informs me that March is National Craft Month.  Every month is craft month for me, but having an excuse to craft more is fine fine fine.  In honor of this month of awesome, I will try to make a little something every day.   Perhaps with the exception of Sundays.  On Sundays, I craft little dreams during my afternoon nap time.

A bit of crochet that may turn into something bigger:

And another bit of crochet:

What is it about crochet that makes one compulsively crochet things that aren’t quite useful?  I have no idea what to do with this pretty little square.  But I had to make it.  It’s about the size of a coaster but clearly cannot function as such.  I’ll work it into some project.  (Both of these designs are from 200 Crochet Blocks).

Saturday was another beautiful day.  A day when a mama can not only venture out… but venture out alone.  And I found that I don’t have to venture far to be satisfied.  Across the street, to be exact.  Across from our neighborhood is a kinda gross strip-mall.  Strip-malls are the bane of Tulsa life, but I digress.  I think I’ve been to this particular strip-mall 3 times now because it simply isn’t much of a destination point.  However, I was determined to do a bit of thrifting this weekend…

What better place to start than a shop calling itself Quality Thrift Store?  Though overpriced on the most arbitrary of items (ex: used pillowcase (just 1!) for $4), I made $16 go farther than I think I ever have before.   We’re talking .48 teacups and a grab-bag of crafting goodies for $4.  I was giddy for the rest of the day, perhaps from my great finds.  Or perhaps because I found treasure just across the street.

Thanks, Myrtle.  Wherever you are, you’re awesome.  And thanks lovely, though smelly, Quality Thrift Store.