Rosemary... How beautiful the thimbles are ! I learned to make temari years ago....eggs, balls and the like.
But I did not know about these ! Not sure I have the fortitude to do fine work now ! At that time I
was doing fancy wraps on hand-built fishing rods for our customers in the tackle shop....another
lifetime entirely !! Thanks ! for showing and telling !

idaho wrote:
Yup, yup, Marilyn! But truth be told, one day last month, in the middle of listening to Ripples in the Rockpools while doing my (almost) daily FMQ practice (kind of like piano practice with Hanon and Czerny... you HAVE TO DO IT, whether you want to or not), I stopped and realized that my aha moment had hit: I was relaxed, my stitches were regular, the tension was right, and when I looked at the bottom of the piece, there were no bird's nests... my hands moving the fabric, foot on the pedal and sound of the machine happily humming away simultaneously... I recall thinking, "I think I found my FMQ stride!... finally!!!

The CD was Celtic Woman and yes, our dear Rita was right there in my room with her lovely voice interpreting this delightful piece! So, I decided to quietly acknowledge Rita's contribution to my learning with the Stipples in the Rockpools banner under my signature and it will follow me to the blog as a title, if I can make myself write one. It is also a nod to my nautical past... and the accompaniment of Ripples in the Rockpools is a little reminiscent of one of my favorite drunken sailor sea shanties... hic!

A chara Rita, go raibh maith agat!

What beauty! Thimbles...flowers...Eva and her amazing blue eyes...

Thanks for your comments about the thimbles. I now have one that I am using, and I have to say that it is lovely to work with - much nicer than a metal ring thimble, you don't get sweaty or rust rings on the fingers . I learnt to use ring thimbles from tailoring and place it on the end of the middle finger, as opposed to the japanese who place it between the 1st & 2nd joints of the middle finger.

This is where I first found out the details of making them http://mamercerie.blogspot.co.uk/
further details can be found here http://www.temarikai.com/yubinuki/yubinukigeneral01.html and a bit more here http://washi-and-silk.de/blog/2011/06/samstag-in-pink/ you will need to hit the translate button for this last one unless you can read german.
Finally http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/video/3074973350049837847AxgQba
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/video/3029339120049837847scAdsR
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/video/3009220150049837847MQUMPm will give you a 3 part video of how to make them, Personally, so far I make my thimbles 1/2" deep and prefer to use a strip of paper about 16" long rather than 2 turns of card, which I have tried but don't like as much for the finished article. I am also part way through making a bangle, so it doesn't have to be tiny.

Rosemary, I forgot to mention your lovely thimbles too! I know you posted a link about how to make them some time ago but I have lost it

Margo, that gardenia is beautiful! I can't grow things like that in my garden because we are in a frost pocket Glad you had a good day yesterday.

Rosemary, I forgot to mention those amazing thimbles. I have never seen anything like it and I am trying to figure out what you did to create them. I can't wait to see that vest. Margo, It gave me great pleasure to see your post this morning and even more to know that you got to spend Mother's Day with your "Grands"! Lois

Wish you could have been here for spot of tea and a fast and furious game of Scattergories with my Grands!
It was also a wonderful "Gram-Mother's" Day for me!
(The gardenia bush is just beginning to bloom and the scent is heavenly!)

Lorchen, Eva is a lovely, lovely child. We need a picture of her sitting amongst those gorgeous bluebells. What a picture that would be with those charming blue eyes. Good to hear that not only is she beautiful but that she has some spunk as well. Wonder where that might have come from? Renata and Rita, your peonies are beautiful too. What a lovely story that comes with yours, Rita. Celebrating, your birthday Lorchen, certainly brought a bright light to my weekend. Thank you all! Lois

Lorchen, I am so glad that you had a good weekend and I do hope you get to do some of that lovely work in your photo. Your granddaughter is such a beauty!
Renata, I love your tree peony! I have one but it has a yellow flower and a single bloom. It was given to me as a 3" plant by an 80 year old woman who was in my tutorial group in my first year at university. It is now a 6ft monster! Here's a photo.


Love the new signature!

Message to Eva - quite right too, about insisiting on having your own 'proper' glass at table. I hope you do the same this weekend coming as well.

A bit slow in posting the sewing I got up to over the weekend, but here it is -

First I finaly finished this thimble, (sorry the picture isn't brilliant)
It took me 3 times longer than the thimble on the right, purely because of the size of the thread
I also managed to get a bit of quilting in{!-- ia0 -->CIMG6504.JPG{!-- ia0 -->This is a short length of raw silk that already has self coloured embroidery all over it, I am quilting down the middle of the chain stitching (stab stitching) and will be making it up into a waistcoat (vest). There is only just enough fabric so I hope it doesn't draw in too much! The lining/backing fabric is a nice fine cotton, but I am using a perle weight thread so it is taking some pulling to get it through, but it makes me smile to see it advancing.

Renata..Have you been listening to Irish music??

I, too, was thinking that Eva has incredible blue eyes.

Lorchen, we're all glad that you had a good time, as our very best wishes for the continuing fun over the next week of more celebrating. BTW - That little girl is GORGEOUS - love love love those big blue eyes! Someone mentioned the word 'adoptable' ha! I think it might have been you! LOL Is she going to be a flowergirl?