New Thimbles!!

Yesterday I spent a lovely afternoon stitching with friends at Hi Fashion's Wool Gatherers.  I always love show and tell and seeing how talented and creative all these ladies are.  This hat was made by Ann - a fabulous knitter.  I took her beginning knitting class not too long ago, but I can't even begin to imagine how to make this!




The wool blocks of the month this year are cute little wagon blocks.  Becky is turning hers into pillows - here is her pillow for March.  The little sheep in the wagon ad the shamrock remind me of Ireland!

Kathy took the Summer Blooms bag class that I taught a few months ago and finished her beautiful bag!  I am SO impressed with the beautiful creative job she did on these flowers.  Zoom in for a close look because these are stunning!

Rachel is finishing up the Wee Ones block of the month from last year.  My daughter Megan is working on these too.










My brother travels a lot with his job and he just sent me two new thimbles from the Walled City of Bergamo in Italy!!  His pictures were amazing too - makes me want to go there 😊


Happy Quilting!!

A New Thimble

My daughter went on a trip to Charleston, SC and brought me a thimble for Mother's Day!  She said the houses along this walkway have to be (and stay) painted these colors!








Following are more amazing quilts from the quilt show in SLC!

Blue Anemone
Hand painted and quilted by
Andrea M. Brokenshire

2nd Place Art Innovative

Millefiori/La Passacaglia English Paper Pieced
Pieced by Sydney Haglund
Quilted by Wren Woodland

(This was my daughter Michelle's favorite quilt :)

When My Spirit is Set Free
Pieced and quilted by Teri Cherne

1st Place Art Innovative

(Teri Cherne is the featured artist on The Quilt Show this week!)

Wings
Pieced and quilted by Jim Smith and Andy Brunhammer

Blessed
Pieced by Rhonda Montgomery
Quilted by Charlene Nelson

On the Edge of Eternity
Hand painted on whole cloth and quilted by
Gayler Pulley

Honorable Mention Award

Treasures!

My brother stopped at the largest Polish Pottery store in the country as he was driving through Texas (http://www.polmedia.com)
and brought me three Polish Pottery thimbles for my thimble collection! Aren't they beautiful??
You can see my box is getting pretty full - only two spots left!  I may need to get another box - I couldn't possibly stop collecting thimbles....

At the quilt show in Salt Lake last week I found some treasures.  These cute Wonderful Winders can hold three or four of my specialty embroidery and embellishment threads and keep them all nice and tidy.

I found this cute little wire basket at the Global Market booth.  It was made in Africa and it's so bright and colorful.  Right now it's holding some pearls and beads I found at the Swarovski Crystal booth!

I couldn't resist this little Binding Baby.  I like to prepare my binding, sleeve, and backing as soon as I finish a quilt top - even if I'm not going to quilt it right away.  Now I can wind my binding around my little baby and when I'm ready to sew it on I just put it on the spool of my machine and away we go!  No tangled up mess on the floor as is usually the case :)


I hope you're "treasuring" each day! (Especially when we get to quilt :)
Have a great day!

Gifts

Here are a couple of gifts I received recently from my Mom and my brother.  My Mom gave me the Precious Moments thimble for my collection and the little Santa that looks like a bobbin!  My brother brought me a thimble from Nashville!  The only time I've been to Nashville was when I was 14 years old and I didn't collect thimbles then.... Thanks to you both!!
My Mom also gave me pewter scissors and some sewing machine pins :)

Odds and Ends

My Dad recently went on a trip to California and he brought me back a thimble for my collection from the USS Iowa!  He and my brother took a tour of the ship.  SO nice of them to think of me.  I love the thimble, it's porcelain with a pewter inlay.

My sister-in-law gave me the rest of my Dear Jane prizes for the challenge I participated in with her miniature group in Logan.  I did complete their challenge but have not yet completed my quilt top!  I need to get back at it!

Don't you love the fridge magnet that says:
"No Pain, No Jane"?  I have extra if you want one :)

Two more POTC blocks done!  Hand work keeps me sane!

Here are my finished dried herbs!  Now, I am going to go pin a queen sized quilt and get it ready for quilting!

Ornaments

Today was a crazy day!  We were supposed to have our Little Bits miniature quilt group Christmas luncheon at my house.  I had to hurry yesterday and get my Christmas decorations up for the party today, and then.... it snowed about eight inches today and we had to postpone the party until next week.  Ah well - at least they are all up now and I am ready for the season!
As I was decorating the tree I decided to take some pictures of some of my sewing/quilting related ornaments.  I have quite a few!  This one is one my friend Lori gave me.  She recently moved and had a lot of Hallmark ornaments so she decided to thin them out a bit and gave me some.  I love this one!  I will think of her every time I see it!

I bought this one in Houston a couple of years ago.  A gal from Texas makes ornaments and Santas (more on that later) out of old quilts.  I couldn't resist this one.  That is a little sewing machine under the snowman's right arm :)

Another one from Lori!  I love the use of the thimbles!

And another one from Lori, with a thimble AND a spool of thread :)

I made these "sugar cookie" ornaments last year out of wool. They were so fun to make and I really like the way they turned out.

These ornaments were made 30 years ago!  1983 - shortly after we got married,  I was working as a receptionist at a hair salon and going to college.  During slow time at the salon I would cross stitch these ornaments.  There are a dozen of them - all Disney characters.  And Pluto, on the right, Mike made!
The ornament behind looks "quilty".  It is made by punching fabric pieces into a styrofoam ball.  It is about 30 years old too.

One year in our Little Bits group we had an ornament exchange and this is the one I made.  It is six miniature log cabin blocks (2 inches finished) sewn into a cube and stuffed with a loop on one end for hanging and a tassel on the other.

A friend from my miniature group made and gave me this ornament last year.  If my memory serves me correctly, it was Sherida.  If I am wrong, someone please tell me!  I love this cute little owl!  It's only about 1 1/2 inches tall!

Maybe tomorrow I will start quilting my Market Fresh quilt, which I think is going to end up being called The Murphy Bed Quilt :)
I also have a Wool Gatherer's club meeting at Hi Fashion.  I am interested to see if the Downton Abbey fabric has come in yet!

Annie's Thimble Collection

My friend Annie, who lives just down the street, and is in my Little Bits miniature quilt group, has a wonderful collection of thimbles which inspired me to start my collection.

I had to post these pictures of her display case, made by her son-in-law Jeff!  Annie said that she gave Jeff a bag of old wooden thread spools and this is what he made with them!  It is really quite amazing.  From what I understand he is a very talented wood worker.  I have seen some of the other beautiful items he has made.

Here is a close-up of the frame and corners. He cut the spools into whatever shapes he needed to fit them together.

Annie has a wonderful collection of thimbles, some beautiful ones for display only, and many very old, but useful thimbles as well.  In her collection, as with mine, each one has a special memory attached to it.

I had to take a picture of these signs!  "Annie's a-Quiltin" and "Al's a-Cookin".  Al, who is Annie's 92 year old husband, is indeed the cook at their house which does give Annie more time to go a-quiltin! He has a big garden he tends to as well.  They are such a fun couple!  I see Al out walking everyday. He compiled a book of his Cowboy Poetry and gave each of us Little Bits ladies a copy.  It is even more fun to hear him recite the poems in person, by memory.  They are amazing, both of them, and we love them!

Thimbles

Remember that I collect thimbles?  It is a great collectible because they are cheap, easy to pack in your suitcase, and do not take up a lot of space when you get home either!  I like to pick up thimbles from places we have visited and sometimes friends give me thimbles too.  This is my collection so far!

There is even a little pair of Dutch shoes in there (2nd column from left, 6th row down) that was given to me by Ted Storm from the Netherlands when she came and taught a class at Hi Fashion several years ago.  She gave everyone in the class a pair!

Here is my Prince George of Cambridge crown thimble that I purchased at Westminster Abbey in London.

It says, "His Royal Highness, Prince George of Cambridge,
 22 July 2013"  It is pretty detailed for being so small!  But still inexpensive - only about three pounds.

I have to save the case because that has the Prince George sticker on it.  I usually do not save the cases as they don't fit in my little display case.


These are obviously for display only - not use!

Here are the other thimbles I bought this trip - from left to right:
Guernsey
Scotland
Scotland
London

I have a Waterford Crystal thimble that I bought on a previous trip (7th column, 6th row :) as well as some others from Ireland surrounding it.