Private Collection and Pre-Holiday Sale

We've been airing out the closets and opening those bottom drawers over here at The Little Thimble That Could!  You may remember that the purging process started a while back, HERE.  Well, we're about to have the culminating event folks.

And, the organizing has bled into our own personal textile collections and we've all decided to let go of a few things.  So, not only will there be major sale prices on things from the shop and the back room, there will be vintage quilts, vintage quilt tops, gorgeous curtain panels, linens galore, vintage bed spreads, flour sacks and much, much more price to sell and only available October 1st - 6th.  Then, it's back to the closets with them (if you haven't all snatched them up!)

In this pile and pile behind are fabulous bedspreads, 1930s quilt tops, a crazy quilted pig.

Hand painted curtain panels from the 1940's from Emma's collection

Lace bedspread, classic early 20th century peach bedding, and darling simple picnic quilts

SO MANY EMBROIDERY TRANSFERS!!

Martha Stewart Living anyone?

GORGEOUS Work Baskets from the 1930s - 1960s.  SO MUCH INSPIRATION!

Pamphlets, pamphlets and more pamphlets!  Dating from the 1930s - 1980s.  Covering everything from tatting, crochet, doilies, hot pads, afghans, sweaters - the list goes on and on!

Flour Sacks!

This picture does not do this basket justice!  Those bags have ADORABLE quilt pieces dating from the 1930s (Dresden Plates People!) to the 1960s.

A few stragglers.  Untreated raffia just in time for the holidays!

This is just day one of setting up so I'm excited to see what day two brings about!

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.

It's patchwork! It's bright! It's a quilt!

Hello T3 readers. It's Hannah writing to you today. How is everyone?! It's been a while since I wrote a blog post for the Thimble. I'm home for winter vacation and am thoroughly enjoying my time here at the shop. Stop in and say hello! Yes, yes indeed that IS a quilt. Mom, Emma and I love the line of fabrics called "The Woodlands" by Anthology fabrics (available on our Etsy shop, here, for those of you interested!) Inspired by the very chilly weather and the longing for summer warmth and color, I decided to make a small quilt with those cute fabrics.

With that decision made, the rotary cutter and I decided to be on agreeable terms, I saved up some patience, and painstakingly cut out 216 5"x 5" squares. The logistics went something like this: 1/2" seam allowances, little (to no) concern over matching corners, a flannel middle, cotton backing, cotton extra wide double fold bias tape, and embroidery floss used to tie the quilt roughly every other square.

I am not a quilter. I've never claimed that, nor do I ever plan to. I want to make this clear to everyone: quilting can be fun and finicky-free. Sometimes customers come into the shop who are so concerned that their quilt will be judged if the corners aren't matched perfectly, if the colors don't match exactly, and if it's not a fancy pattern. Ladies (and gents, if you're reading) take that quilting stigma, crumple it up and throw it away with those precision laser-cut squares. Quilting is a beautiful art form that doesn't have to center around perfection. Look closely! Do my corners match? Nope. Does my binding twist a little in some areas? Sure does. Is it sized precisely for a twin bed? I dunno. Probably not. 

Long story short, if you've never tried quilting you really should. It's fun! It's a great way to use up fabric and you can make endless color combinations. Don't get caught up in worrying about the perfection or complexity of it all. Some of my favorite quilts are a jumble of mis-matched fabrics that have been sewn together with no rhyme or reason.