Challenge Accepted

We here at the little Thimble that Could are on a mission. Have you ever seen "the back room" here at the shop? Well if you have you know that it's packed. If you haven't, it's full to the brim...I mean it's really full. We have zippers, snaps, sewing machines, needles, fabric, patterns, rick rack, bias tape, quilt pieces, tracing paper, hem tape, ribbon and books all boxed, labeled and stacked on shelves that literally tower over our work space. We have fabrics that are posted only online all color coordinated, shelved and organized by category. There are irons placed shoulder to shoulder in the window sill, spinning wheels, hangers and display pieces that precariously hang from the ceiling. It is, to say the least, an exquisite, creative, organized disaster. In an attempt to bridle this wondrous, mostly-vintage mess, we have began a purge of our lesser favorite pieces. Emma and I (Hannah) have been frantically posting items to our Ebay and Etsy shops in hopes of dispersing our stash of totally cool and practical items.

We love our vintage needle books. We just can't get rid of them. We think they'd make lovely stocking stuffers or gift card holders. 

Online fabric sales are just another retail outlet for our little business!

Patterns, patterns, patterns. 

For our long-term customers, remember all of our aprons in the original shop? They're making a come back!

Our personal stash of our favorite vintage patterns. 

The view from my desk. Is that safe? Probably not. A little terrifying? Yes. Do all those boxes contain awesome things? Absolutely.

We Love Him!

This adorable yo-yo clown was made by our wonderful instructor, Linda Pietz. We just think he is so cute! Linda used all kinds of our vintage fabrics to create the yo-yos for him. 

Here's a close up of his adorable fabrics

I love yo-yos. They are so versatile and add great details to all sorts of projects. The vintage fabrics Linda used are just perfect. They complete his vintage-y feel. And there's god news if you love him as much as we do! Linda is teaching a class on how to create a yo-yo clown of your own. May 15th from 12:00-4:00. Call us for details and to sign up! 

All of here at the Thimble say hello! As always, we hope you're busy with your spring projects and we always love to see them.  

Mom's (handmade) Summer Wardrobe and Beautiful Antique Lace

Ta da!

So, as promised, here is the second piece of mom's handmade 12 piece collection.

Again, this was made with a vintage pattern and a fantastic vintage border print cotton. The fabric has this really beautiful smoky grey/brown background which makes those coral roses pop! Mom fell in love with it as soon as we got it. I don't think it ever saw the shelves.

Remember, we'll be showing you more! So check back soon.

Inspired...

So, motivated by mom's sewing marathon, I decided to start making myself a few things for summer as well. All week I've been picking through magazines and my favorite online stores to find clothes I loved and today I found patterns to match! I'm very excited to go home and sew! 

In Tin Thimble news, a very sweet customer of ours came into the shop last week and gave us her Grandmother's handmade lace trims and dickie. They are exceptionally beautiful. 

The crocheted dickie 

Emma and I were doing the math, and these pieces are definitely over 100 years old. The dickie is crocheted with teeny-tiny thread. 

The gorgeous trims

The little trim at the top is tatted and the other three are also crocheted with itty-bitty thread.  They're to die for! 

Soft Spot

Mom, Hannah and I all have a soft spot in our hearts for all of the little unfinished embroidery pieces that seem to gravitate their way into our shop.  How can you not?  All that hard work into a piece that has sat in a drawer or a basket for years because it was never finished.  It seems nowadays that the beautiful, finished pieces barely get brought out let alone the unfinished pieces!  So, here's some embroidery love for your day:

What I did today.

Mom and Linda convinced me to leave my desk work today and join the sock animal class. I thoroughly enjoyed it! This is the monkey that I made for my nephew, Connor, for Christmas. He's a Curious George fan so I'm hoping they can be buds. We had so much fun with the class that we made sure to schedule one more session before Christmas. So the next date is Saturday, December 12th from 1:00-5:30 and you have time to finish one animal in class. You have the option between a monkey, cat or dog and Linda is working on an elephant that may be ready in time for class. Hope to see you there!

Yo-Yo Clowns and Sock Animals

Linda Pietz is returning this fall to teach some wonderful classes! She'll be teaching us how to make yo-yo's and turn them into this adorable yo-yo clown!


And she'll be helping us turn a HUGE pile of vintage socks that we have into sock dogs, sock kitty's and sock monkeys!

Meet Trixie:

Meet Dexter:
And, Montague:

They're buds and like to hang out here in our shop! :-)

Baskets Full

We are so excited to have Rita Carl of Reets' Rags to Stitches coming to teach in our shop again!

Here are the details:

Baskets Full Pincushion or Sachet with Rita Carl of Reets Rags to Stitches - Monday, February 9 5:30-8:30

In this class we will be focusing on the pin cushions and sachets from Reets' darling pattern - Baskets Full. Join us in welcoming back Rita Carl while she teaches us the tricks to her beautiful folk art style. A materials list will be availalbe upon registration.

Instructor: Rita Carl
Class Fee: 35.00

All 12 Squares

And here they are:

Henbane

Olive

Apple

Thistle

Oak

Foxglove

Pine

Pomegranate

Barberry

Comfrey

Mistletoe

Weybrode

She's piecing it today! I can't wait to unveil it at the Folsom Quilt Show along with the kits!

Auntie Claire's Embroidery

My Aunt, Mom's sister, Claire has been embroidering absolutely, fantastic towels for us! Just look at these!Look at that satin stitch! And mom had those gorgeous crocheted pieces to put at the bottom of the linen towels!

And the pinup girls! Aren't they darling? There was a third pinup girl but we sold it before I could get a picture of it. A friend of mine bought it for our rockabilly, pompadour sportin' friend for Christmas! It was the perfect gift for him.

Mom's quilt is coming along lovely! I can't wait to get all of the kits together. It's a big job but so many people are going to enjoy putting these squares together it's going to be so worth it to see everyone's projects. Very exciting!

Progress has been made.

Mom has been up in her little mountain getaway since two days after Christmas and she called me to tell me that she has been appliqueing like crazy. She has four more squares completed and a fifth one in progress. I'm excited to see them and photograph them tomorrow - we open the shop back up tomorrow! Back to work we go - our little holiday was fantastic! I'm looking forward to a new year at the Little Thimble that Could! It should be a good one!

Brazilian Embroidery

Oh my gosh! I had never seen Brazilian Embroidery before! Isn't this gorgeous? We are so excited to have Beth Kauffman, an absolutely darling lady, come and teach a free class in this technique. She called us weeks ago and said that she wanted to give back to community that had given her so much and that she wanted to volunteer her time teaching lessons! How wonderful is that? Visit www.thetinthimble.com/lessons.html if you're interested in taking the class - all of the details are there.


I haven't forgotten my promise of pictures! I'll get there, I promise! :-)

I promised a preview.....

It's really more of a teaser. Mom's new wool creation.

I love it when customers share like this!

I still get excited when I look at these pictures!!  Isn't this the cutest baby quilt square you've ever seen???  Loretta brought this in a while ago and I think I actually jump up and down.  :-)  She said that her Grandmother made it for her Mother when she was born but she never finished it.  She actually got from A - W but never finished X, Y & Z.  Loretta found the quilt in one of her Mother's rooms and then she found the newspaper pattern pieces in a completely different room!  
Loretta got on eBay and actually found reproductions of the X, Y & Z squares!!!!!!!!  She's going to finish it.  Oh, I hope she comes in and shares her progress!

She also brought in this little Gem.  It was a printed piece of cotton organdy that I think she said her Grandmother embroidered.  It's supposed to be finished into a pillow.  Gorgeous!