Share Your Thimbles April 2010 closed & Flowers Follow-up II

We had 8 people and 20 thimbles/rings this month including two people who shared their very first thimbles. Now it's time for a lucky draw!

The winner is number 4, ludovic XIV, who shared her lovely ring in blue and metallic stripes. ludovic XIV, please send me an e-mail for shipping address, you can do so from my profile page.

I have received enquiries from time to time where to find some thimble design patterns. I am regret to tell you all that there is virtually no free on-line design sources, even in Japanese. There are a few web pages (in Japanese) which shows you how to make thimbles but the only one available design is bi-coloured scales design and you all know how to make it. Debi from Temari Train ... of Thought kindly shares her diagrams and explanations so you might want to check in on her blog.

I suppose most of the Japanese people who are interested in thimble making may firstly look up online and make their first thimbles, then go buy the books for further designs. The below two books are the most popular;

"Kagano Yubinuki" ISBN 978-4140311400

"Kagano Yubinukito Hanatemari" ISBN 978-4837703082

The latter book features both temari and thimbles so it's useful for temari design sources, too, however, you need to be aware that the way the author tells you to insert a needle is from the edge toward the center while I do it the other way around, that is, from the centre toward the edge. If you are familiar with the way I do, you may find it confusing. The way she represents the design on a diagram is different, I suppose because of the way she make stitches. However, it's a great book none the less. Needless to say, both books are in Japanese.

I created links so that you could jump to Amazon Japan who ships overseas but their shipping charge is extremely costly because they only ship by courier service. I would suggest you firstly try your local bookshop or online auctions, search key words being "kaga" and "yubinuki". If you cannot find a book(s) at reasonable shipping charge, I may be able to help you. If you are interested, please leave a comment in a way so that I can contact with you, like leaving a link to your blog, web page, or profile page from where I can send an e-mail to you.

Now, peonies update.

The Blogger and I are still not on a very friendly term where uploading the large pixels photos is concerned. I took the photo this morning and I had to squeeze it to about a quater,and as a result the photo does not convey how delicate these petals look, like below.