Favourite Things Friday: Embroidery Floss

Take your needle, my child, and work at your pattern; it will come out a rose by and by. Life is like that – one stitch at a time taken patiently and the pattern will come out all right like the embroidery. –Oliver Wendell Holmes

There are very few things I buy just for the sake of having them. I'm careful about every penny I spend and if I can't find a use for it, I usually can't justify buying it. I do not have a huge fabric stash, because it seems a waste, no matter how pretty the fabric, for it to just sit in boxes not being used. I really try to only buy what I can think of a use for {and I fully intend to use everything I buy, although my quilting projects are really getting out of hand lately }. There are very few exceptions to this; Fairy Frost is one {and I even try to keep that in check} and DMC Embroidery Floss is another.

I kept my nice little box full of embroidery floss from the Precious Moments blocks and a few other cross-stitch things I did in my teens. I've held on to that box for a long time; probably 20 years now. When I got back into sewing, and quilting especially a few years back, I decided one day that I wanted to have every single color of DMC floss available so that I would always have the color I needed on-hand for doing appliqué or embroidery. I started watching for floss to come on sale for buy-three-get-one-free at JoAnn's {usually around Memorial and Labor Day and one other time during the year}. They almost always have a 10%-off-your-total-purchase coupon when the floss is on sale {double bonus}, which takes about 30% off the price and makes the floss four-for-a-dollar .

I think it has been about 2½ or maybe 3 years since I started collecting. By my calculations, I have 403 of the 460 solid colors of floss. 318 of them are neatly wound onto plastic bobbins labeled with their appropriate number. 266 of those are filed away in numerical order in big boxes {pictured above}. And the other 52 colors wound onto bobbins are being used in embroidery and appliqué projects. I put them on hinged binder rings while I'm using them to keep them together by project and keep them from getting lost. Look how pretty! Doesn't it make you want to do some stitch work?!

Look at these beauties; 85 colors waiting to be put on their bobbins.

I figure by the time I'm finished, I'll fill up one more large box {like the two pictured above} and this small one {again}. It was my original floss box. Right now I'm keeping empty-but-numbered bobbins in it until I can wind the floss on them. You see, the neat, tidy numbered stickers I bought to go on the bobbins lost their stick and started falling off the sheet {and the bobbins I'd already wound }. Still, it was neater than I could do with a Sharpie in such a tiny space, so I've been making due with glue {I figured the stick would just dry up on a new batch of stickers too, so no sense wasting, right?}. So far, I've only lost two stickers #704, which fell off a bobbin that was already wound {I'm hoping it turns up in the box somewhere} and #3352, which fell off the sticker sheet and was lost forever {and the only reason I discovered it was missing is because I need it for a project but couldn't find the sticker or a bobbin wound with that color anywhere}. I hate to buy a whole new sticker sheet for just those two numbers. We'll have to see which wins out – my need to not be wasteful or my need to have all 460 bobbins of floss numbered the same way .

Now that you're all inspired to do something pretty with embroidery floss, go check out my giveaway {which ends tonight} for an adorable embroidered witch hat.
• Zelda's Fancy Hat Giveaway {closed; congratulations to the winner, JaiCi. Pattern available here.}
[Editor's Note: This pattern is SO CUTE that I decided that I needed one for myself. This may or may not have involved a bit of pattern piracy. That largest ring of floss pictured above, the one with all the pretty graduating colors, is for Zelda' Hat.]

Today's post brought to you by:

Guy and Eva Giveaway Winner

I think men who have a pierced ear are better prepared for marriage. They've experienced pain and bought jewelry.
–Rita Rudner


I'm a little late getting the post up. I was busy wrestling with the cyber gnomes and I was determined not to let them beat me. Unfortunately, I lost. So, let's get on with it.

First, I would like to thank JaiCi for sponsoring this super fun giveaway ! Be sure to visit her on-line catalog, and if you book a party with her and mention I sent you, she's got a little something extra for you .

And now I'm excited to announce the winner of the Guy and Eva earrings.

Congratulations to
Cynthia L.
at Home Matters 1st.

Cynthia said, My daughter would love the first pair, I would love the second. So if I win, either pair would be great. They are beautiful. Cynthia, check your inbox . I'll need your snail mail address and your choice of earrings {I hope you don't mind me putting in my here; while I think it is really sweet of you to consider giving the earrings to your daughter, may I suggest that you treat yourself. You totally deserve it }.

I really wish I had a pair of pretty earrings to give to everyone who entered. You can find the pressed gunmetal earrings on page 36 of the catalog and the sparkly dangle beads are on page 29.

I also have a couple other giveaways going on right now, so check them out.
• Zelda's Fancy Hat Giveaway {closed; congratulations to the winner, JaiCi}
• Cutting with the Go! Giveaway {closed; congratulations to the winners, Marcia and Deb}

Woody's Tag of Many Colors

I cannot pretend to feel impartial about colors. I rejoice with the brilliant ones and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns. –Winston Churchill

I finished the tag for Woody's quilt. I knew that I wouldn't be happy unless I did an embroidered one {see also, ideas that sound good in my head }. I used a 4" {finished} square of red flannel in the center and included his name, birthday, time, weight and length, as well as the name of the quilt and who worked on it. Because of the small size of the lettering, I used two strands of floss to do the embroidery so that the thread wouldn't completely overwhelm it, but it kind of settled down into the nap of the flannel and doesn't look very neat and tidy. I think if I'd have used three strands, it would have been too much, so given the working conditions and climate, I think it came out all right.

Here's a close-up of the tag. I blurred out any confidential information and used a graphic to represent where Woody's actual name goes {you didn't think that my kids and nieces and nephews were really named after garden critters, now did you ?}. I used a different font for his name, just to set it apart. It's a little bit wonky, but I think it does the job. And based on the number of hours it took me I'm totally counting it as a finish.

Machine quilting by Karen's Quilting Services

Cat's Twilight Block of the Month: Block 6

The wolf closest to me, the reddish brown one, turned its head slightly at the sound of my gasp.

The wolf's eyes were dark, nearly black. It gazed at me for a fraction of a second, the deep eyes seeming too intelligent for a wild animal.

As it stared at me, I suddenly thought of Jacob. –Bella Swan, New Moon, page 244


I'm slowly closing the gap, getting caught up with Cat's Twilight Mystery Block of the Month. July's focus was Jacob. The beginner's block is the same as the previous two months; a heart, this time in Jacob-y colors. I used Fairy Frost in Coin for Jacob's russet colored heart.

I'm a very visual person, so I thought it would be fun to see how all the blocks I've finished look together. I'll probably put a black sashing between them with red setting squares at the corner, but I haven't decided for sure.

The advanced block for July is the cutest wolf block. Which presents a bit of a dilemma for me. As I mentioned when I posted my May block, I already had my layout decided on when Cat announced her BOM. I'd chosen to use her paw print to represent the part of Jacob who is Bella's friend, who she loves. And I chose Jennifer Ofenstein's Howling Wolf block {pattern here} to represent the part of Jacob that Bella can't stand, the pushy, obnoxious, moronic DOG! {Eclipse, page 332} Cat's wolf is too sweet to represent the angry, hurt side of Jacob and I've already got the paw print done for the nice side of Jacob, so to keep my pile of orphaned Twilight blocks from growing, I'm going to have to go with common sense and leave this wolf block out of my quilt.

Perhaps I'll do a wolf pack wall hanging sometime {after I finished the 572 other things I'm working on}, making the wolves in their different colors {yeah, I'm gonna list them all }:
Sam {black}
Paul {dark silver}
Jared {medium brown}
Embry {gray w/spots}
Jacob {russet}
Quil {deep chocolate brown}
Leah {silver}
Seth {sandy brown}
Collin {?}
Brady {?}

Sunday Sermons: A Book With A Promise

Although its history is compelling by itself, [the Book of Mormon] is a book of scriptural significance that should and must be received and read under the influence of the Holy Ghost.
–Craig C. Christensen



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