Thimble Psycho Gone Fishin'

Taking two weeks off. Mmmmm. . .

Notorious thimble mule nabbed!

The New York Times, 5 April 1870, p. 3.

. . .and a Happy Bloomsday to everyone!

Checks in the Mail

The items pictured above--the checks, checkbook cover, and address labels--are some of the things one can have personalized through Checks in the Mail, a mail order/internet company through which one can get what used to be called "designer checks" (maybe they still are--I just don't hear the term so much). You can pick your own picture (and do a better job of centering it than I did) and choose from about five different styles of checks, including some Disney-themed ones.
You need a JPEG, bitmap, or TIFF image, less than 4 megabytes, between 400 pixels and 4064 pixels wide and between 420 pixels and 2704 pixels high.
The prices for the customized items are:

• Duplicate checks: $17.99 for 1 box, $35.98 for 2 boxes, $71.96 for 4 boxes.
• Single checks: $15.99 for 1 box, $31.98 for 2 boxes, $63.96 for 4 boxes.
• Fabric Checkbook Cover: $16.99.
• Address Labels (set of 144): $9.99

Happy Flag Day!

What is Goofbay?

In the last week I've made minor changes to the layout of this blog. I moved the link to The Breast Cancer Site to the top of my links so that those who get here by clicking Next Blog>> will see it and might click on it before scurrying past the freakish thimble collector blog to something more interesting to them. I deleted the cumbersome Yahoo! "Translate this Page" box I had at the bottom of the sidebar and replaced it with the little flag links just beneath the title box at the top of the page. Again, so passersby can figure out what's up in their own language before they mosey along. (Alas, no Irish flag to translate into Irish!)
The third change I made was to delete the rolling eBay search, which made downloading the page really slow, and which leaves the bottom of the page to Goofbay search box (see above, right; use at bottom of page). So what is Goofbay? Goofbay is a search tool to find stuff being sold on eBay by people who either cannot spell or type as I do: very badly. For example, some people spell thimble as thimbel. Or thimbell. Or they spell the word thimble correctly but really can't type very well at all and don't go back and check themselves even though they really should. (The italicized part above was originally typed as: raekky can't typr very well a t all and don;t go back anf ckeck themselves eveb thugh they really shouf;.) So, Goofbay will search most of the boo-boos for you just in case some special treasure is hiding under the label of thmible or timble. They have other eBay tools: Negative Feedback Checker, Sellers Sold Items & Turnover, Regular Bidder Checker, Users 30 Day Bid List, and eBay Fees Calculator. Remember that the site is British, so it you are not British you might want to click on the appropriate flag at the top of the page just in case you miss something at eBay.com or eBay.ca or eBay.wherever.
There are similar sites to Goofbay. Google eBay misspelling and you''ll find several. IDA Express and Bargain Checker don't have as many variations in spelling errors, and came up with fewer, and completely different, listings for thimble last time I checked. In any case, Goofbay has the blog widget, so I used Goofbay.

La Folie des Dés à Coudre

This book, La Folie des Dés à Coudre, by Frédérique Crestin-Billet, is available through the French website Sajou, which has all sorts of lovely sewing accessories (I especially like their scissors). The title is roughly translated at the site as "Mad About Thimbles." It is paperback, sort of tiny--but not teeny tiny--(6"x6"), and 384 pages, and written in French (bien sûr!). The cost is 15.50€ (approx. US$20.62), plus S/H. One might also purchase this book through the American website, The French Needle, which also has many lovely sewing/needlework accessories, for US$26.00 (sorry, the book will still be in French).
Mme Crestin-Billet has also written a book, La Folie des Ciseaux, about scissors.
Sajou also has its own porcelain "souvenir" thimble in a variety of colors for 12.00€ (approx. US$16.00) each, plus a few other thimbles including some sterling repros from Spain for 30.00-40.00€ (I'm tired of converting Euros).

Tea will be served.

Oddment? Is an oddment like a tchotchke? A trinket?
I like the idea of a Barbaric profusion of thimbles.

Maritime Museum of San Diego

This little pewter thimble is available through the Maritime Museum of San Diego (CA), which is home to several old, historic ships, including an 1898 steam ferry, Berkeley; a 1904 steam yacht, Medea; and "the world’s oldest active ship," the Star of India. They also have some fine replicas, particularly the Californian, the state of California's official Tall Ship, and the H.M.S Surprise, a replica of an eighteenth century Royal Navy frigate.
For loads of money, "established"* groups or individuals may rent out the Berkeley, the Star of India, and the Surprise, and the Californian may likewise be chartered to sail. The thimble, above left, is $7.99 , plus S/H.
The boat (OK, ship) depicted atop the thimble is the Star of India.

The Maritime Museum of San Diego
1492 North Harbor Drive
San Diego, CA 92101
Ph.: (619) 234-9153
Hours: Open every day.
9 a.m.-8 p.m. Labor Day to Memorial Day.
9 a.m.-9 p.m. Memorial Day to Labor Day, inclusive.

*"Established" here would include groups or individuals with loads of money.

Lost in Space World

This thimble is from Space World and features the "official STS-121 space shuttle mission emblem," with the names of the seven astronauts from that mission: Mark E. Kelly, Stephanie D. Wilson, Piers J. Sellers, Thomas Reiter, Michael E. Fossum, Lisa M. Nowak, and Steven W. Lindsey. Space World has all kinds of space exploration collectibles. The thimble shown is $4.99, no extra charge for S/H.
There are other thimbles for sale, that may be similar but do not have pictures, such as:

• Apollo-Soyuz Program Thimble ($ 5.99)
• Gemini 9 Thimble ($ 5.99)
• Mercury 7 Thimble ($ 5.99)
• Skylab 2 Thimble ($ 5.99)
• STS-103 Thimble ($ 5.99)
• STS-107 Thimble ($ 5.99)
• STS-41D Thimble ($ 5.99)

I think there may be others, but unfortunately there is NO SEARCH BOX (aaarrrggghhh!) to be found on the website, so these are the ones I found by just noodling around the site. They didn't have one for Apollo 11, the first moon landing, but they did have the Junior Astronaut Wings! Yay! There are about a zillion embroidered patches available.

Augusta Sewing Before a Window

Augusta Sewing Before a Window.
Mary Cassatt. 1922.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York (from the Collection of James Stillman, Gift of Dr. Ernest G. Stillman).
So, there is isn't any discernible thimble in this painting. The point of my posting it here is not that it may or may not feature a thimble, but that it is one of several free e-cards one can send courtesy of Lion Brand Yarn. Granted, the vast majority of the e-cards depict knitting and crocheting, but they are all lovely, free e-cards with great paintings and illustrations of (mostly) women crafting with their hands. They also have free e-cards with "The Art of Lion Brand," which have more whimsical depictions of yarn crafts.

Truman Out-thimbles Dewey!

(Again, click on image to enlarge)
The Dallas Morning News,
12 July 1948.

Kindly avert your eyes if you're under 21.

This little souvenir thimble is from shopcaesars.com, the online gift shop for, I assume, Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas, though I know they have a casino in Stateline, NV (south shore of Lake Tahoe) and possibly one in Reno (?) or Atlantic City (?), so I s'pose one could get this thimble even if one didn't care for Las Vegas because it's so insufferably, hellishly, hot. This thimble is $8.00. I think it's pewter, but it doesn't say so at the website.
What it does say at the website is, "Harrah's (parent company of Caesar's) welcomes those 21 years of age and older to our website."
If they're referring to some other website, then perhaps this pleasantly-phrased restriction is suitable. However, as far as I can tell, the shopcaesars.com website consists solely of pages for souvenirs for Caesar's Palace, the Flamingo, and Paris Las Vegas. Assuming the "Paris" stuff only depicts the Las Vegas casino/capital of France and not the guest of the County of Los Angeles, it should all be tame enough for those under 21.

History of a Thimble

Dallas Morning News,
16 March 1893.

Patent: No. D52012: Thread Cutting Thimble

Patent No. D52012, Theresa B. Gates, Richmond, CA,
7 May 1912.

Heavens to Betsey!

The (London) Times, 20 July 1787,
page 4, issue 799, column A.

Woman Sewing

Woman Sewing.
Caroline Augusta Lord, ca. late 1890s
Oil on canvas.
University of Cincinnati Fine Arts Collection.

I have tried to find works of art with thimbles, but I am amazed at how many pieces there are from different cultures and in different media showing women sewing. I think I would like to write/edit/publish a book on that: Depictions of women sewing throughout history. Maybe there already is something like that? Gotta check it out.

Update: In Praise of the Needlewoman: Embroiderers, Knitters, Lacemakers and Weavers in Art. Hello! Yay! Still, I don't know how much sewing is shown. Hmm. . .

Craft in America

This program, "Craft in America," has aired over the last two nights on PBS (at least here in the San Francisco Bay Area). Absolutely wonderful. It profiles a large number of artists in clay, wood, metal, glass, and fiber. Jewelry makers, ceramicists, wood turners. Craft artists of every ilk. All beautiful work. (How do they not worry about rent? What would I do with my life if I didn't have to worry about rent?)
Anyway, the DVD is being released this coming Tuesday*, June 5th, wherever such things are sold, with the companion book not being released until October 9, 2007.

*New DVDs, Cds, and books are now released on Tuesdays, except for Harry Potter stuff, which gets released when and how J.K Rowling wants it released. In the case of the next book, however, I think she completely missed the boat. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (book 7) is being released on July 21st, 2007. It should be released on (Duh!) 7/7/07.