Thanks for Sharing

I have been having a great time writing this blog approximately once a week since last August and I need to give credit where it  is so eminently due. When I stumbled onto Confessions of a Plate Addict while searching information on Quimper Pottery.  I was immediately enchanted and reading her blog and oohing and aahing over the great pictures and ideas led me to the great and wonderful and aptly named

The discovery of the treasure trove of fabulous images led me to resurrect an old love of working in fabrics. That in turn caused me to create a whole lot of stuff that I love but cannot actually use so I am now "sharing" those items on Etsy at CherylThimbleFingers.

Last week Karen at The Graphics Fairy posted another of the six young girl images I sent to her. She has shared three of them so far. They were found in an old sewing book acquired from friend who happens to be a blogger about rare and antiquarian books, Books, Art, Life and a Cat.

I finally used one of the little ladies myself this weekon a reversible apron. This is the girly side. To see the other more unisex side click HERE

























So, the point of all this rambling is that I want to return the favor and share some more. I have no idea how Karen at The Graphics Fairy technically does it but today I am posting an advertising card found at a New York City flea market. The colors are so pretty and rich that maybe the words won't make you think UNDERWEAR!

I hope you can copy and paste it and do what you will with it. I haven't done a thing with it yet. Maybe I'll see this on Brag Monday soon.

Footnote: While browsing on Etsy I found someone selling one of the "sewing book girls". Before you buy an image, check if it's free from Karen at THE GRAPHICS FAIRY!

      

Bagging up the scraps

 This French Provencal fabric is very precious to me. In fact, it is precious to everyone in the sense that it is very pricey. It is only printed in France and is not cheap even when in France. There are other patterns but since I am a sucker for blues and especially when paired with yellow.
You can order it from French Rendevous online.

I only had a very small scrap left and it either could be made into a very teeny pillow or a small bag. Zippers scare a lot of sewers and I have been avoiding them for years, but have recently met the challenge.

 





















The inside lining of the bag is evn better for consuming the large stash of remnants that we accumulate as they can coordinate or SURPRISE!

When the leftovers are boring just create your own fabric with the help of THE GRAPHICS FAIRY.  The transfer gave this a nice feel as well and the label is perfect for cosmetics. I swear by Lesley Riley TAP paper.



 

A Graphics Fairy French postcard image complets the back and then I had a place to use my tiny scrap of beige toile inside.

The next one is not a scrap inside , but I have been obsessed with polka dots lately and decided I better use some up and they go so nicely with the ticking in brown and black. And I even had the transfer printed out just waiting for the right moment

 

Please come visit my Etsy shop HERE I may be listing some of these soon



Thimble Fever

I slacked off again this week and didn't create a whole lot but decided to write about thimbles this week. I just love these tiny objects and for the most part they are useful.  Germany, Austria and Switzerland were my greatest thimble hunting grounds. The German word for thimble is FINGERHUT. I was told to pronounce it "finger hoot".
In Ireland they called it a TIMBLE, no TH blend sound.

 

 

I did get out my Lesley Riley TAP paper, though and using the Graphics Fairy image which has become my logo I put it

onto a nice deep aqua fabric. I "framed it with a simple 12"  embroidery hoop, trimmed it with pinking shears and added a big black grosgrain bow. The edge got a banding of thin balck grosgrain as well.

 

If I had a store I could hang it as a sign.  I guess it will just hang out in my computer/art/sewing room that I have started to refer to as THE SHOP.

Blue is my favorite color so these little charmers are among my favorites. The one on the upper left is especially nice as it is a Meissen that I bought in a Meissen shop in Germany. It has a much more matte surface than the picture shows and has the Meissen crossed swords mark inside.

The windmill on the upper right was purchased in...you guessed it,  Holland. On the lower right is a Royal Copenhagen from Denmark and is marked Lindnet Mulfs Bavaria.

I haven't made a big study of thimbles as I like them just for what they are, but I do own this book which hasn't been cracked open in awhile.

 

I would love to hear from anyone else out there who has hoarded these and why. My "why" is spelled out in my first blog entry HERE. Also, do you know the word for thimble in other than German?

If you like your thimbles big, go to Toronto, Canada  The wikipedia article on thimbles shows this huge one atop some mammoth buttons.

Key West Break

We took off for Key West, Florida last week but thimbles and sewing were never completely off my mind EXCEPT when we did this! About 10 to 15 years ago we had a day in Key West and I remembered a cool  place with hand-printed fabrics. I googled it and came up with a directory address but no website. Here is why.

It has been closed for about four years I was told and had not done hand-printing for a time before that.

 

I was really disappointed but I was directed to another place by a woman in a cute little interior design/art shop to a place she thought I might like. Hubby was, of course, thrilled to wend our way off the tourist track to 1103 Truman Ave. He actually visited a ratty pawn shop nearby rather than look at the gorgeous printed fabrics.

The Seam Shoppe

 

 

My purchases

I got a great piece of linen in one of my favorite colors and a selection of prints plus some cool buttons and two RUBBER thimbles. One to wear and one to display.

The turquoise one is rubber. I got one with Harry on it at the Harry Truman Little White house and at the upper left is a gold one from a very tiny little antique shop. The upper right is one I have had for awhile.

I also picked up a very nice wooden button to finish off the back of a pillow I just completed. This is the back and here is the front.

 

I wanted a silhouette of an elephant and I scoured the images from The Graphics Fairy and printed out the elephant and traced around it. It looks entirely different but The Graphics Fairy always comes through for me.

 

These pillows are available at my Etsy shop CherylThimbleFingers.