hot, hotter, and hottest and ...

Hello, I am back.  Not that I was on holiday or was ill.  Thank you for visiting my blog while my absence.

It's August.  The most detested month if you ask me.  Most Japanese people do not like summer (in my opinion), unless you are on the beach side.  It's really, really a miserable month down here.  However, this year I have my beloved ice cream maker with me.  I have of course made a regular ice cream but I find sorbet is easier to make and more to my liking.  To make fruit sorbet, you just process your fruit through the blender, sieve, and chilled it in the fridge, then process it in the machine.  My absolute favorite is watermelon.  Oh, how I love my ice cream maker.

As you may know I live in Japan and one of the traditional performing arts is called Noh.  Kabuki is the other and more famous and fancier.  Kabuki has been performed in both Europe and North America so you may have known what it is like.  Noh, on the other hand, is a masked play, mostly singing and dancing.  The singing is on a little monotonous side and sounds like chanting and dancing is very subdued, so subdued the performer almost do not move.  No set or prop on a few metres squares of a stage.  Not for everyone but it's beautiful nonetheless, especially if you could catch the meanings of chant like singing.  There will be a performance held at the Noh Theatre near our place later this month and I am looking forward to it. 

In case you are wondering if this is still a craft blog heavy on Japanese silk thimbles, here are two of my latest thimbles:

I used to make a lot of this design.  This is a weaved nine patch diamonds but I like to call it "Harlequin" because it reminds me of the cover of Agatha Christie's "Mysterious Mr Quinn".  

This one is the same design I have been making recently a lot; pinwheel.  Because of the colours I chose for this one, red, green, and gold, it resembles poinsettias.

I have added the poinsettias thimble to my "Share Your Thimbles" at Flickr and found out that we have a new member to the group.  Please kindly go over to the group's page here, and welcome our newest active member, May as magic_pochacco.  She has uploaded a lot of lovely thimbles and beadings.  May, if you are reading this post, please kindly mention the size and material of your work in the description field of the photo. 

If case you are interested in purchasing my thimbles, here is a link to Etsy.

prototype I and II

It's already halfway past the month and I finally managed to upload my contribution to Flickr photo sharing. 

When I announced this month's photo sharing earlier, I gave you a small peek of my current project.  It was a needlework tray and pin cushion set as many of you figured it out.  I have stitched two third of the tray and pin cushion and before continue stitching the rest, I thought it would be very prudent to make a prototype to determine the colours I chose would really work fine. 

Not too bad, but not exactly what I thought it would appear.  The darker blue and green are too conspicuous and needed to reduced it to a single round.  Toup and silver look too much alike and no, it won't do.  Perhaps much darker colour might have worked better?

Sorry about the blurry picture, but one less dark blue and green with dark charcoal and dark olive, the pin cushion appears completely differently.  The pin wheel parts and squares appear more prominent and this is not the effect I prefer for this particular project.

So, it's white that I finally chose for the tray with silver metal thread.  My metal threads are smaller in size than the silk I use and since I reversed the proportion of silk and silver for the last part of the stitching, I encountered the small problem of coverage at the edges and it shows as you can see.  I really should have made the third prototype.  The stitching part of the tray is finished and it only require attaching the lining to the inner bottom.  I am not really sure if velvet works better than satin but as I have some velvet in my stash and no satin at all, it's most likely I would use velvet.  I will show you when I finished lining the bottom, in either material, along with the new pin cushion in matching design.  In the meantime, wish you happy stitching.

Share Your Thimbles June 2011

It's June and it's time for "Share Your Thimble" on Flickr.  Last month we only had four people who showed us their thimbles.  All are regular participants and their works are lovelier than ever.  If you have not visited the Flickr to admire these little beauties yet, please do so from here.  Although all the May's thimbles were advanced design, the simple yet elegant and sophisticated two-scales are always welcome.  "Share Your Thimble on Flickr" is a photo sharing group where anyone can upload the photos of their Japanese silk thimbles and not a contest.  No one win.  No one criticize anyone's work.  Just the place to show off your thimbles.  You can join the group with your very first thimbles. 

Here are the rules:

1. The thimbles (or any other rings) have to be your own work.

2. Although the name of the group reads as "thimbles", your work is not necessarily a thimble and you can make your rings in any size you would like, as small as a focal beading for a necklace or as big as a bracelet, or even bigger.

3. As stated above, they have to be your own works however, you can use the ring base from the kit if you choose to do so. It may not seem to be fair, considering I sell the kits, however, they are many other kits available (at least in Japan) and some of you may be able to obtain them, and it is definitely not fair to exclude the people who is brave enough to share their first work with us from the group.

4. No technique restriction applies. You can use back stitch and weaving in addition to the forward stitch, and even embroidery on the surface if you choose to do so. This is not a contest. You do not need to use these techniques if you are not up to them or you simply do not feel like it. A simple yet elegant two-scales design is always welcomed (and it's one of my favorite designs).

5. You can use any material, and in any colours, you would like.

6. Please state the size of the mould on which you formed your ring base in the description field of the photo, either in millimeters or in inches. Please also mention what threads and padding you used, too, so that we could compare notes. In case you bought one of my kits, here are the sizes and materials: "first thimble" is 50mm in circumference and Tire Silk size 9 & floss silk padding. "small pincushion" is 61mm in circumference and Tire Silk size9 & floss silk padding. "medium pincushion" is 103mm and Tire Silk size 16 & knitting yarn for padding.

7. You can upload as many photos as you like. You can upload several photos of one thimble if you choose to do so.

Now, please start uploading your photo from here.

I have not finished my contribution to this month's photo sharing yet however, it's preferable when the post is with photos, any photo.  So here is a small peek...

Can you guess what they would be when finished?

Share Your Thimbles May 2011 part II

I have realized that I have not added my thimble for this month's photo sharing yet.  It's now on Flickr as well as Pat's lovely thimble.  There are more than 10 days for you to make your own.  Look forward to seeing your work there, too.

Share Your Thimbles May 2011

One third of the month has already gone, but I would like to officially announce the start of the thimble photo sharing on Flickr today.   But first thing is first, I have to announce the end of the last month's photo sharing, i.e. our first ever "thimble of the month challenge".  Although we did not have many participants last month, either, I believe it was a moderately successful challenge.  If you have not visited Flicker yet, please pop in there to have a look from here.  You can find very beautiful work there.  Some of them did not fit the challenge, but it doesn't really matter, does it.  The purpose of the group is having fun and not a contest.  Oh, and we have a new member this month.  Please kindly welcome Yuenman.hk to our group.  Her thimble on Flickr is was not a scales design (it's bluewaves) but beautifully done.  Lydia (Quiltsummes) wondered if her thimble was called a scales design.  Well, it's technically not the scales I expected you to make, but it's also called scales design, "vertical scales" to be exact.  As I told you many times before, collective triangles are called scales in Japanese design and as you can see in her thimble, the triangles are shifted by 45 degrees, hence vertical scales.  It involves back stitches and my complement to Lydia.  I half expected Debi and Dorian would gone for finer scales than period of 32 sections, but their colour schemes are very beautiful: Debi's being with distinct yellow frame and lavender and green composition is very unique, and Dorian's is very bright and festive!  It's hard to believe that these two thimbles are same design, only in different colours.  Natalie (beadturtle) shows us her beautifully done arrow's shaft feather design.  Using the only two colours by placing them alternatively gives the unique arrow design which you can find in many classic kimono.  Pat shared her lovey rainbow colourd thimble and "kanoko" design.  "kanoko" or "hitta-kanoko" is a kind of tie dye design and she reproduced it on her thimble.  Surya's thimble is with repeat of four in three colours which I am still wondering how best to describe the design and her second entry to the photo sharing is a lovely bracelet.  She found something you would like to know about in the process and she mentioned it in her blog post at Sunshine Craft.  I should have included it in the post where I explained about row and round. 

Probably not very soon because I will need some preparation time, but I hope we would be able to have another challenge sometime later.  Now, back to this month's photo sharing.  We are back to regular photo sharing and that means you can share whatever you made using the thimble making technique with the group:  i.e. no size or design restriction applied.  As we are not going to have a lucky draw this month, either, there is no reason to set the closing date but the end of the month.  I have set up a discussion board at Flickr and I would like you to leave a comment there once your photos are up, and that discussion board I will close on the last day of May.

Here are the general rules of "Share Your Thimbles"


1. The thimbles (or any other rings) have to be your own work.

2. Although the name of the group reads as "thimbles", your work is not necessarily a thimble and you can make your rings in any size you would like, as small as a focal beading for a necklace or as big as a bracelet, or even bigger.

3. As stated above, they have to be your own works however, you can use the ring base from the kit if you choose to do so. It may not seem to be fair, considering I sell the kits, however, they are many other kits available (at least in Japan) and some of you may be able to obtain them, and it is definitely not fair to exclude the people who is brave enough to share their first work with us from the group.

4. No technique restriction applies. You can use back stitch and weaving in addition to the forward stitch, and even embroidery on the surface if you choose to do so. This is not a contest. You do not need to use these techniques if you are not up to them or you simply do not feel like it. A simple and elegant bi-coloured scales design is always welcomed (and one of my favorite design).

5. You can use any material, and in any colours, you would like.

6. Please state the size of the mould on which you formed your ring base in the description field of the photo, either in millimeters or in inches. Please also mention what threads and padding you used, too, so that we could compare notes. In case you bought one of my kits, here are the sizes and materials: "first thimble" is 50mm in circumference and Tire Silk size 9 & floss silk padding. "small pincushion" is 61mm in circumference and Tire Silk size9 & floss silk padding. "medium pincushion" is 103mm and Tire Silk size 16 & knitting yarn for padding.

7. You can upload as many photos as you like. You can upload several photos of one thimble if you choose to do so.

Now, please start uploading your photo from here.

Wish you happy stitching.  Chloe P.

Share Your Thimble April 2011

****** updated ******

I feel the need to tell you the definition of scales design. The scales design is made when each stitching path is done alternatively and each path in solid colour. Either the number of sections or colours used doesn't matter. As long as all the paths were stitched alternatively, it's a scale design. I am not very sure if "arrow's shaft feather" should be included, especially a path makes rounds, but I decided to include it, too, at least this time.
Thank you. Chloe Patricia

****** update ******

Since suggested, I have been toying with the idea of Monthly Challenge.  When I firstly started the photo sharing at Flickr, my intention was to start from the simple bi-colour scales and to proceed to the more complexed designs.  However, I soon realized that it wouldn't work like that.  My photo sharing is not a monthly subscription programme which allow anyone start any time from the very beginning therefore choosing one particular design may exclude some people from joining the group and it's not my intention at all.  My group has to be something everyone can join.

After considering the options, I have decided to have our first challenge this month, the challenge being scales designs.  This may not be what you have expected.  I understand that challenge is something worth challenging and scales is just scales, the most basic design.  One of the reasons I chose the design is my lack of preparation time however, the main reason is I feel scales design is underappreciated and you might enjoy re-discovering the possibility of the design and of course scales design can allow the new people join the group with their very first bi-coloured scales, too.

For the people with advanced skills, I would like to suggest to try the narrower sections.  The above picture shows you my contribution this month and it's 32 sectioned thimble with period of 8 sections in three colours.  I can tell you it's a challenge to have a marking paper sectioned into 32 and stitching with eight thread simultaneously. 

To make the challenge worthy to be called a challenge, I would like to restrict the size and shape to a thimble and thimble only this month. 

Here are the rules:

1. The thimbles have to be your own work.

2. For the sake of the challenge this month, the rings you make have to be thimbles.  That means the size of the mould should be about 5-6 cm in circumference.

3. As stated above, they have to be your own works however, you can use the thimble base from the kit if you choose to do so. It may not seem to be fair, considering I sell the kits, however, they are many other kits available (at least in Japan) and some of you may be able to obtain them, and it is definitely not fair to exclude the people who is brave enough to share their first work with us from the group.

4. The design has to be scales.  The number of the period of sections is up to you from bi-coloured scales (period of two) to whatever you would like. 

5. You can use any material, and in any colours, you would like.  Please note that you do not restrict yourself to use four colours for period of four design.  Two colours or three colours, or even single colour will work just fine.  Mine in the picture is period of eight sections with only three colours.  Please experiment on the colours, you would be surprised to discover the possibilities there.

6. Please state the size of the mould on which you formed your thimble base in the description field of the photo, either in millimeters or in inches. Please also mention what threads and padding you used, too, so that we could compare notes. In case you bought my kit, it is 50mm in circumference and Tire Silk size 9 and floss silk padding. 

7. You can upload as many photos as you like. You can upload several photos of one thimble if you choose to do so.

8. The closing date is 21st of April 2011, Japan time. Please note that we are 9 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) in Japan. You can still upload your photo after the official closing date and share it with use since I do not close the photo sharing pool.

Now you can start uploading your photos from here at Flickr.


I am sorry but no lucky draw this month.  Not that I do not want to give my contribution of the month away.  Although the photo sharing has been successful, we seldom have a new member and I am not very comfortable to keep a draw in such a small group as most, if not all, of the participants have already won at least once.  Until we have a large number of the participants I will withhold the draw.  However, the discussion board is open at Flickr for this month's sharing.  Please feel free to leave your comments there once your thimbles are up.

Will you please invite your friend to join the group.  Thimble making is not particularly difficult when compared to other needle crafts and it does not need much material to make while it's fun.  For those of you who have not made one yet and wish to start a new hobby (mind you, thimble making is addictive), I have sort  of tutorials under the tag of "how I do" and for those of you who are wondering what "period", I will publish a post and explain it within a few days, so please be patient with me.

Share Your Thimbles First Quater of 2011

Hello there, thank you for reading my previous two posts.  The situation in affected area has not improved much and we have new problems but since this is supposed to a craft blog post and I have decided to concentrate on it from now.

Have you visited Flickr recently?  There are many beautiful thimbles and pin cushions from simple scales to more complexed design and you should really visit and have a look.  Here is a link for you.  We had seven participants this month including a new member.

I am facing a difficulty uploading the photo so I cannot show you the result of the lucky draw so I just give you the winner here:  the sixth entry, beadturtle who shared her lovely woven thimble in brown with us.  Would beadturtle kindly contact me via e-mail for shipping address? 

Tomorrow I am going to start a new photo sharing.  Come back for the detail tomorrow.  It will be our very first Monthly Challenge.

Share Your Thimbles - First Quarter of 2011 (Jan-Mar)

It has been quite awhile (two months, to be precise) since my last post.  It was not my intention to disappear completely for such a long time and I am sorry to have you made worry about me.  We had a bit of a crisis, which I do not wish to discuss here, and keeping up with the world of world-wide-web became just too much for me.  Thankfully the everything is back to normal, at least as normal as it could be and I am back to blogland and trying to catch up.  I would like to thank everyone who was so kindly worried and asked about me, sending me an e-mail, send me a message at the comment section... Thank you and your kinds words helped a lot.

During my absence some of the ladies continued uploading their beautiful works at Flickr.  If you have not visited there in two months, please do so now and admire their rings.  Lydia suggested on the discussion board at Flickr that we may choose one design and every participants make it, like monthly challenge.  The idea intrigues me but I need some more time to organize it and I wonder by choosing one particular design we may exclude some of the people who are new to thimble making.  I would like to know  what you think of the idea.

Some of the new readers may not be very familiar with my monthly photo sharing called "Share Your Thimbles" and let me explain briefly what it is.  As the name suggests, it's a monthly photo sharing of the Japanese silk thimbles you made.  It's not a contest or anything, just the group of us who make thimbles (or any other objects using the same technique)  upload the photo of the work at Flickr.  It says monthly but actually the photo pool at Flickr is never closed, therefore you can upload at anytime as you like.  However, We are going to have a monthly lucky draw and it has a close date.  I am repeating myself but this is not a contest and anyone can join the group and no criticizing at anything at all.

Here are the general rules of  "Share Your Thimbles"

1. The thimbles (or any other rings) have to be your own work.

2. Although the name of the group reads as "thimbles", your work is not necessarily a thimble and you can make your rings in any size you would like, as small as a focal beading for a necklace or as big as a bracelet, or even bigger.

3. As stated above, they have to be your own works however, you can use the ring base from the kit if you choose to do so. It may not seem to be fair, considering I sell the kits, however, they are many other kits available (at least in Japan) and some of you may be able to obtain them, and it is definitely not fair to exclude the people who is brave enough to share their first work with us from the group.

4. No technique restriction applies. You can use back stitch and weaving in addition to the forward stitch, and even embroidery on the surface if you choose to do so. This is not a contest. You do not need to use these techniques if you are not up to them or you simply do not feel like it. A simple and elegant bi-coloured scales design is always welcomed.

5. You can use any material, and in any colours, you would like.

6. Please state the size of the mould on which you formed your ring base in the description field of the photo, either in millimeters or in inches. Please also mention what threads and padding you used, too, so that we could compare notes. In case you bought one of my kits, here are the sizes and materials: "first thimble" is 50mm in circumference and Tire Silk size 9 & floss silk padding. "small pincushion" is 61mm in circumference and Tire Silk size9 & floss silk padding. "medium pincushion" is 103mm and Tire Silk size 16 & knitting yarn for padding.

7. You can upload as many photos as you like. You can upload several photos of one thimble if you choose to do so.

8. The closing date is 21st of March 2011, Japan time. Please note that we are 9 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) in Japan. You can still upload your photo after the official closing date since I do not close the photo sharing pool, however, I do close the discussion board for entry to the lucky draw.

Now you can start uploading your photos from here at Flickr.

We are going to have a lucky draw at the end this month, as stated in the first part of this post. One lucky winner will receive a thimble of my contribution to photo sharing which shown as above. To participate in the draw, please leave a message at the discussion board at Flickr under the subject of "Thimbles of First Quarter of 2011". As stated above, you can upload as many photos as you like however, you can enter the draw only once. The winner of the draw will be announce here at my blog, NOT at the Flicker, by the end of the month.

You may noticed that I haven't named this month's photo sharing as March 2011, but First Quarter of 2011.  As I said, some of the ladies have kept thimble photo sharing going during my absence and I would like to include them even if they won't add more of their work this month. 

If any question, please don't hesitate to ask.  You can ask your question as a comment on this particular post, or send me an e-mail directly which you can find in my profile page at Blogger. 

I look forward to seeing a lot of beautiful works by the end of the month.
Happy Stitching.

Share Your Thimbles December 2010

This month we have six participants with 10 thimbles/rings/ beading, despite the fact that it's December, one of the busiest months with holidays.  They are all very lovely and if you have not admired our work yet, here is a link to Flickr.  As you recall I have lifted the technical restrictions this month and you can see back stitches and weaving were used on a few thimbles/beading. 

We have six entry to the monthly lucky draw and the lucky winner of this month is number 4, quiltsummse, who shared her beautiful thimble named autumn forest with us.  

Quiltsummse, will you please send me an e-mail for shipping address? No hurry though, because the local post offices are now closed for New Years Holidays and won't be open until 4th of January.

Guess what?  I finally went ahead and made my own temari.  I have wanted to make temari for a long time but haven't got around to make one until now.  One of the main reasons why I didn't was the size of temari.  As I assumed that it was quite possible that I might be addicted to temari making, I feared I would need a lot of space to store temari.  One temari won't take too much space, but five or ten will require a substantial storage space, you know.

To save the storage space, I opted for a miniature temari.  In this size, I can store a score of them in a chocolate box easily.   

I used regular machine thread to wrap the ball and size 9 silk hand sewing thread (the same one I use for thimble making) and I am not very happy with the result.  It's quite possible that it is everything to do with my wrapping being so floppy (I know I need more work here) and nothing to do with the thread size being so similar but don't you think it looks too busy?   I am thinking silk floss for Japanese embroidery, the one untwisted silk fiber, for wrapping so that the background  would look much smoother.   Would temari experts kindly help me out?

Share Your Thimbles - December 2010

I just can't believe it's already December.  I haven't completed as much projects as I hoped at the beginning of the year, but I am very proud of myself that I have been hosting a thimble photo sharing at Flickr throughout the year and this is the last occasion for you to join the group this year. 

As I told you the other day that it's our one year anniversary and our photo sharing is now into the year two this month.  I am not sure how this is going to affect the group, but I have decided to lift the ban on the technique you can use on your thimbles:  From now on you can use back stitch and weaving as well as embroidery on the surface.  My contribution to this month's photo sharing is orange pin cushion, in the same colours as Japanese maples (which do not produce maple syrup by the way) at the moment.  They won't last long and within a week or so these beautiful leaves will be all gone. 

Here are the general rules:

1. The thimbles (or any other rings) have to be your own work.

2. Although the group name says "thimbles", your work is not necessarily a thimble and you can make your rings in any size you would like, as small as a focal bead for the necklace or as big as a bracelet, or even bigger.

3. As stated above, they have to be your own work however, you can use the ring base from the kit if you choose to do so. It may not seem to be fair, considering I sell the kits, however, they are many other kits available (at least in Japan) and some of you may be able to obtain them, and it is definitely not fair to exclude the people brave enough to share their first work with us from the group.

4. No technique restriction applies.  You can use back stitch and weaving in addition to the forward  stitch, and even embroidery on the surface if you choose to do so.  This is not a contest.  You do not need to use these technique if you are not up to it or you simply do not feel like it.  A simple and elegant bi-coloured scales design is always welcomed.

5. You can use any material, and in any colours, you would like.

6. Please state the size of the mould on which you formed your ring base in the description field of the photo. Please also mention what threads and padding you used, too, so that we could compare notes. In case you bought one of my kits, here are the size and materials: "first thimble" is 50mm in circumference and Tire Silk size 9 & floss silk padding. "small pincushion" is 61mm in circumference and Tire Silk size9 & floss silk padding. "medium pincushion" is 103mm and Tire Silk size 16 & knitting yarn for padding.

7. You can upload as many photo as you like. You can upload several photos of one thimble if you choose to do so.

8. The closing date is 21st of December 2010, Japan time. Please note that we are 9 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) in Japan. You can still upload your photo after the official closing date since I do not close the photo sharing pool, however, I do close the discussion board for entry to the lucky draw.


Now you can start uploading your photos from here.


We are going to have a lucky draw at the end this month, too. One lucky winner will receive the pin cushion of my contribution to this month's photo sharing which shown as above.  To participate in the draw, please leave a message at the discussion board at Flickr under the subject of "Thimbles of December 2010". As stated above, you can upload as many photos as you like however, you can enter the draw only once.  The winner of the draw will be announce here at my blog, not at the Flicker, by the end of the month.

You are going to be busy with the holiday approaching but take sometime for yourself for a few hours and make a small ring and make it a pin cushion, or a tall ring and then you have a beading for necklace.  They are especially good as a stocking filler.  Happy stitching.

Share Your Thimbles November 2010 closed

This month I am prompt and now announcing that this month's "Share Your Thimble" at Flickr is officially closed.  I haven't closed the group at Flickr, but the message board, so you still can upload your photos to show us what you have made.  As a matter of fact, the photo sharing group is never closed.

We have five people who shared their work with us this month:  coral-seas who showed us her very first thimble, Temari Debi with her beautiful blue fins on brown thimble, Dorian E who shared us with her two thimbles this month, not beads, beadtutle with her lovely gold fish big rings, and suryaismail with her yellow and orange bead which she said look like trilobites but far lovelier than ancient creatures.  I would like to thank everyone who visited our group and left comments on our works.  I realize that Flickr has a new function of "recent activity" and we can see when signed in that someone has left a comment on the photo. 

As promised, one lucky winner will get my contribution of thimble to this month's photo sharing.  We  have four entries this month and ...

The winner of November is number 1, coral-seas.  Congratulations, coral-seas, will you please send me an e-mail for your full name and shipping address?  You can find my e-mail address in the profile page.  

Did you know that this was the 12th "Share Your Thimbles" this month?  I started the group in December 2009 and next month is our first anniversary.  I welcome any suggestion to improve the group, especially on how to promote our activities.  The fact that the thimble making is not very popular is a problem, not that people loathes it or anything, they just don't know what they are missing is all, I think. 

*** Shop Update ***

I have listed three of  "First Thimble Kit" at my Etsy store if you are interested.  If you placed your order now, I think they will still arrive in time for Holiday.  As for "Starter Kit with (almost) everything you need",  I appreciate your patience, it will take a little longer before it becomes available.

Share Your Thimbles -- November 2010

It's time to start stitching your thimbles again and here is a link to Flickr to share your work with the group.

This is a photo sharing group called "Share Your Thimbles" and if you make Japanese silk thimbles (or any other rings using the same technique, I would love to have you join us.  This is not a contest nor competition and definitely no critics.  Anyone is welcome.

General Rules:

1. The thimbles (or any other rings) have to be your own work.

2. Although the group name says "thimbles", your work is not necessarily a thimble and you can make your rings in any size you would like, as small as a focal bead for the necklace or as big as a bracelet, or even bigger.

3. As stated above, they have to be your own work however, you can use the ring base from the kit if you choose to do so. It may not seem to be fair, considering I sell the kits, however, they are many other kits available (at least in Japan) and some of you may be able to obtain them, and it is definitely not fair to exclude the people brave enough to share their first work with us from the group.

4. Your work has to be done with only forward stitches. No weaving or back stitches at this time.

5. You can use any material, and in any colours, you would like.

6. Please state the size of the mould on which you formed your ring base in the description field of the photo. Please also mention what threads and padding you used, too, so that we could compare notes. In case you bought one of my kits, here are the size and materials: "first thimble" is 50mm in circumference and Tire Silk size 9 & floss silk padding. "small pincushion" is 61mm in circumference and Tire Silk size9 & floss silk padding. "medium pincushion" is 103mm and Tire Silk size 16 & knitting yarn for padding.

7. You can upload as many photo as you like. You can upload several photos of one thimble if you choose to do so.

8. The closing date is 21st of November 2010, Japan time. Please note that we are 9 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) in Japan.  Though you can still upload your photo after the official closing date since I do not close the photo sharing pool.  However I do close the discussion board for entry to the lucky draw.

Now you can start uploading your photos from here.


We are going to have a lucky draw at the end this month, too. One lucky winner will receive the thimble of my contribution to this month's photo sharing which shown as above, one is pink stripes with white fins. In order to enter the draw, please leave a message at the discussion board at Flickr under the subject of "Thimbles of November 2010". As stated above, you can upload as many photos as you like however, you can enter the draw only once.

The winner of the draw will be announce here at my blog, not at the Flicker, by the end of the month. 
For those of you who are not a thimble stitcher or who chose not to join the group this month, you can still participate in the group as we participants of the group would love to have your comments left to the photos uploaded. When you click the photo at Flickr, you will find a dialogue box in which to leave your comment. I (and I believe you, too) would be so excited when someone left me a comment. Please come visit us here.

Share Your Thimble October 2010

My thanks to those of you who decided to participate the photo sharing this month , those of you who mentioned my photo sharing group at your blog, and those of you who visited the group to admire our works.  We have four participants with 10 thimbles/beads.

We had a lucky draw ...

and the winner is number 2, Temari Debi.  Congratulations, Debi, please contact me for your shipping address (I don't think you moved, just being remodeling but just in case).   By the way, I was able to establish the correspondence with the winner of August's lucky draw, Dorian.

Tomorrow is the first day of the month and I will start another photo sharing.  Start stitching thimbles, shall we?

Share Your Thimbles October 2010

It's time to start a new photo sharing at Flickr and everyone is welcome.

General Rules:

1.  The thimbles (or any other rings) have to be your own work.

2.  Although the group name says "thimbles", your work is not necessarily a thimble and you can make your rings in any size you would like, as small as a focal bead for the necklace or as big as a bracelet, or even bigger.


3. As stated above, they have to be your own work however, you can use the ring base from the kit if you choose to do so. It may not seem to be fair, considering I sell the kits, however, they are many other kits available (at least in Japan) and some of you may be able to obtain them, and it is definitely not fair to exclude the people brave enough to share their first work with us from the group.

4. Your work has to be done with only forward stitches. No weaving or back stitches at this time.

5. You can use any material, and in any colours, you would like.

6. Please state the size of the mould on which you formed your ring base in the description field of the photo. Please also mention what threads and padding you used, too, so that we could compare notes. In case you bought one of my kits, here are the size and materials: "first thimble" is 50mm in circumference and Tire Silk size 9 & floss silk padding. "small pincushion" is 61mm in circumference and Tire Silk size9 & floss silk padding. "medium pincushion" is 103mm and Tire Silk size 16 & knitting yarn for padding.

7. You can upload as many photo as you like.  You can upload several photos of one thimble if you choose to do so.

8. The closing date is 21st of October 2010, Japan time. Please note that we are 9 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) in Japan.

Now you can start uploading from here.


We are going to have a lucky draw at the end, too.  One lucky winner will receive the thimble of my contribution to this month's photo sharing which shown as above.  In order to enter the draw, please leave a message at the discussion board at Flickr under the subject of "Thimbles of October 2010".  As stated above, you can upload as many photos as you like however, you can enter the draw only once.

For those of you who are not a thimble stitcher or who chose not to join the group this month, you can still participate in the group as we participants of the group would love to have your comments left to the photos uploaded.  When you click the photo at Flickr, you will find a dialogue box in which to leave your comment.   I (and I believe you, too) would be so excited when someone left me a comment.   Please come visit us at Flickr.

Share Your Thimble -- September 2010

This month we had three participants to my monthly thimble photo sharing group at Flickr.  There were only one participant up until the very last minute and it worried me a lot.  Thank you for those of you who participated and those of you who visited Flickr to admire our works.  I will continue the photo sharing and look forward to seeing your works there next month, too.

As before we had a lucky draw and the lucky winner who got the thimble as a prize is Quiltsummse from Germany.  Quiltsummse, I will contact you about shipping later. 

I have not been contacted by the last month's winner, Dorian E, yet, for shipping information.  Dorian, if you read this, please send me an e-mail at chloe_patricia (at) hotmail (dot) co (dot) jp for shipping information.

Share Your Thimbles September 2010

Are you ready for this month's "share your thimbles"?  You can start uploading your thimbles from here at Flickr.  The rules are the same as before:

1.  The thimbles (or any other rings) have to be your own work.

2.  Although the group name says "thimbles", your work is not necessarily a thimble and you can make your rings in any size you would like, as small as a focal bead for the necklace or as big as a bracelet, or even bigger.

3.  As stated above, they have to be your own work however, you can use the ring base from the kit if you choose to do so.  If may not be fair, considering I sell the kits, however, they are many other kits available (at least in Japan) and some of you may be able to obtain them, and it is definitely not fair to exclude the people from sharing their first work with us.

4.  Your work has to be done with only forward stitches.  No weaving or back stitches at this time.

5.  You can use any material, and in any colours, you would like.

6.  Please state the size of the mould on which you formed your ring base in the description field of the photo. Please also mention what threads and padding you used, too, so that we could compare notes. In case you bought one of my kits, here are the size and materials: "first thimble" is 50mm in circumference and Tire Silk size 9 & floss silk padding. "small pincushion" is 61mm in circumference and Tire Silk size9 & floss silk padding. "medium pincushion" is 103mm and Tire Silk size 16 & knitting yarn for padding.

7.  You can upload as many photo as you like.

8. The closing date is 21st of September 2010, Japan time. Please note that we are 9 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) in Japan.

Now you can start uploading from here.

We are going to have a lucky draw this month, too, at the end and one lucky winner will get the thimble of my contribution to this month's photo sharing, shown above.  In order to enter the draw, please leave a message at discussion board at Flickr under the subject of "thimbles of September 2010".    You can upload as many as you like but you can enter the draw only once.

Let's start stitching the thimble and please come join us here at Flickr. 

** Dear Dorian, you are the winner of the last month's draw.  Please contact me for your shipping address.  My e-mail address is chloe_patricia(at)hotmail(dot)co(dot)jp

Share Your Thimbles 2010 August

This month we had four participants.  I would like thank Laura B. who said she now knew what she was doing, Dorian who participated in two month in a row, Debi who is one of my regulars, and Ludmila from Ukraine who chose to join us again after long absence, and of course all of you who visited Flickr and admired our works.  If you have not visited photo sharing yet, there is a link to Flickr on the right column.

Now, the winner of the lucky draw is Dorian who shared her lovely beads and thimbles with us.   Dorian, will you please send me an e-mail for shipping address, you can find my e-mail address in my profile page. 

Next week I am going to host another photo sharing at Flickr.  Details will follow on 1st of September.  If you make thimbles, or any other rings using the technique, please come join us there.


*** shop update ***

Bad news.....  As you know the currency exchange rate has been fluctuating drastically, in whose favor is depends on whose view point you are standing, but not mine for sure.  A dollar is always a dollar but when you live in a country which medium of circulation is not a dollar, it does not always hold the same value.  It fluctuated nearly 15% since I priced my merchandise and I cannot absorb the loss any more.    Therefore I am forced to reprice everything already listed at my shop with 13-15% increase.  New price will apply from 1st of September, Japan time.  If you are considering purchase,  it's best for you to buy it this month.  It may be a bit too early for thinking about winter holiday shopping, but perhaps you should start a shopping list now.  I am sorry I could not give you much warning about this unfortunate price hike but I hoped the intervention by Japanese government and bank of Japan would have some effect on the situation.

Share Your Thimbles - July 2010 -

Following to the previous post, we are now having an another "Share Your Thimbles" at Flickr this month, too.

Here are the rules, as same as last month:

1. The thimbles or any other rings (or even not in ring shaped ones) you are going to share with us have to be the ones you yourself made. No borrowing. I don't think any of you will cheat but I think I should make it clear and I hope you understand it and not be offended.

2. Although the name of the Flickr group is "thimbles", you can make your rings in any size. As small as focal bead of the pendant, or as big as a bracelet, or even bigger if you like.

3. You can use ready-made ring bases from thimble making kit if you choose to do so. I don't see any reasons to exclude the new people just because they purchased thimble making kits.

4. Your thimbles or any rings have to be made using only forward stitches at this time. No back stitches or weaving.

5. You can use any materials, in any colours.

6. You have to state the size of the mould on which you formed the bases in the description field of the photos. Please also mention what padding material and thread you used, too. In case you use the ring base from my thimble making kit, it's 50mm in circumference, floss silk for padding, and Fujix Tire size 9 silk hand sewing thread.

7. You can upload as many as you like.

8. The closing date is 21st of July, Japan time. Please note that we are 9 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) in Japan.

Now, you can start uploading your photo from here.


We are going to have a lucky draw afterwards. The prize is the thimble, my contribution for this month, shown above. My thimbles are working tools as a rule, however, I used gold thread for this one and therefore it is not suitable for actual sewing. In order to enter the draw, please leave a message at discussion board. Although you can upload as many as you like but you can only enter the draw once.

This is the eighth photo sharing since I started hosting it last year and there have not been many participants. As a result there may be an occasion, like last month, when the same participants will won the prize more than once. Last month's winner, Rebbecca, who had won the previous month, too, very generously offered to share the prize since there were two thimbles however, I think I had better to stick to the rules as I do not wish to set a precedent. It's not very fair a handful people won repeatedly however, it's not fair, either, to change the rules. I will draw one winner regardless of the past winning records and that is that.

I sincerely hope you understand. However, if there are many more of the participants, the repeated winners will not be such a big issue. Please, please join us at Flickr. I know for the fact that many of you make thimbles, don't be shy.


***** shop update *****

FYI, there are "first thimble" kits as well as medium pin cushion kits in five colours available at my shop.

the winner of June's lucky draw is ...

There were three participants with nine thimbles/pin cushion in June's Share Your Thimbles Flickr photo sharing. I have to say I am kind of disappointed with fewer people joined this month, but you all must have been very busy with other crafts as well as your daily obligation.

Although there are three people participated, only two of them entered the draw, Rebbecca of temari addict and Debi of temari debi. This is the reason I postponed to announce the winner so far. As you may remember, Rebbecca won the last month's draw. Since I started the monthly photo sharing I have been worried that someday same person won the prize, or everyone have won previously but one participant, because there have not been many participants. I just didn't expect to face it so soon. It's fair to draw the winner regardless of past winning record. Still I think it is also fair to award the person who never won before.

I thought it through and decided that I would just have to flip a coin because the rule is the rule and the winner of June's is Rebbecca of temari addict in Perth. I should have shown the picture of how she won, but for some unknown reason (again) I cannot upload a photo. I can swear that the coin flipping was done quite fairly. Rebbecca, I will post your watermelon thimbles tomorrow. Debi, I am sorry but will you please continue participating the photo sharing.

The next month's photo sharing will start tomorrow. I would like to expect more participants next month. Wish you happy stitching!

Share Your Thimbles June 2010

Today is the first day of the sixth month of this year. Time flies, indeed. So, the first day of the month means it's time to start another thimble sharing at Flickr. My contribution to this month's photo sharing is the one shown above. I really hope you would recognize what it is.

Here are the rules:

1. The thimbles/rings/pincushions/bracelets/etc you are going to share with us have to be the ones you yourself made. No borrowing. I do not think any one of you will cheat, but I have to say it here and I hope you understand.

2. Although the name of the group is"thimble", you can make your rings in any size you like, and not necessarily a circle shape either. I have made some oval shaped ones and they turned out just fine.

3. You can use ready-made ring bases if you like. I don't see a valid reason to exclude the very first thimble, just because it was made from the kit.

4. Your thimbles or any other ring shaped objects have to be made using only forward stitches at this time. No back stitches or weaving, please.

5. You can use any materials, in any colours.

6. You have to state the size of the mould on which you formed your thimble/ring bases in the description field of the photo(s). Please also mention what threads and padding material you used, too. If you are going to upload the thimble from the kit I sell, it's 50mm in diameter, silk hand sewing size 9, and floss silk padding.

7. You can upload as many as you like.

8. The closing date is 21st of June, Japan time. Please note that we are 9 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) in Japan.

Now, you can start uploading your photo from here.

We are going to have a lucky draw this month, too. In order to enter the draw, please leave a message at discussion board at Flickr after uploaded your photos. You can upload as many photos as you like, but you can only enter once. I am going to draw one lucky winner and she/he is going to get two watermelon thimbles shown above.

Yes, they are watermelons. If you didn't find them look like slices of watermelon, please humor me and just pretend you think they are. They need more work, especially where placement of the seeds is concerned.

Can you tell the difference between the two? The first one shows furrows while the second one shows a trace of distinct vertical lines. I am not sure which I like better. Putting seeds in is tricky. The easiest and neatest way to put seeds is to apply knot stitches or seed stitches. Although I like the "built-in" seeds, I may have to embroider, just to see what it will look like.