Simons thimbles

Simons has been making thimbles since the 1800's or earlier? Not sure of the history of this amazing company.

Anyhow, this is an antique thimble that I scored off ebay (yes, I'm an addict, no I don't plan to stop using ebay).

Their thimbles are the most beautiful I have come across. Perhaps you have some recommendations of others, but personally I think, their simplicity and craftmanship take the cake.

It looks like they even have a rimmed quilter which is my favorite style of thimble. How pretty, in sterling silver. Mmmm...

On a different note, I also ran into this pretty comprehensive guide of shopping in Japan. I appreciated the effort the author put into it, and thought others might enjoy reading it.

How far will you drive?

Yesterday, I drove 1 hr each direction to visit Thimble Creek quilt shop.

It was awesome in that I found some fabric by Japanese designers Chuck Nohara, and Yoko Saito. It was also a bit sad since I had not visited their new shop since the moved and the old shop was so much larger, brighter and nicer.

I did find my favorite thimbles there, however, and finally figured out how to buy them online. These are really the only ones I use for hand quilting, so check them out if you don't have one already.

Anyhow, it got me and our almost 2 yr old son out and about for a while so my husband could work on his car.

My mom and sister went on a quilt shop hop yesterday of their own and hit 7 quilt shops (that's a lot for 1 day). Hopefully they bought me tons of little goodies along the say..he he..

The above pens I picked at Kinokuniya. I previously have only used the permanent pens by Pigma, but these seem interesting. Not as many color options, but the tips work well for my label making.

Lisa of the doll quilt swap will soon be enjoying a little thank you gift I made using these. Thanks again for creating the doll quilt swap, and keep up the good work Lisa!!