Organizing!

Greetings.  In continuing the floss storage post, I thought I would show a craft room that will make you sigh. 

Julie, if you read this, I tried to contact you before featuring your posts but I get nowhere when I click your email button.  Julie's blog, I'll cross that leg when I get to it, showed her craft room back in 2009 which is more organized than any room in my home.  You can see it all here (take a peek).  Happy to see I'm not the only one that needs a fan.

 

But if the room isn't enough to make you swoon, take a look at her floss storage.  The post about this enviable project is here.   I'm so sorry that I didn't keep all the old storage drawers that my dad kept his nuts, bolts, and nails in.  They were much heavier and deeper than today's lighter versions.  You can find them in big box stores or online here. Everything is being made so much cheaper, yet costs so much more.  I gave the bakery clerk a look the other day because the cake and sour cream donuts are so tiny it's ridiculous.  Same price of course.  They were regular size last week!  Calculating our Consumer Price Index is so deceitful.  Our "basket of goods" example several months ago included steaks, fresh asparagus and broccoli, oranges, apples, pineapple, a gallon of milk, turkey breast from the deli, sliced swiss cheese, multi grain bread.  A few months later our basket of goods, because the prices had risen and we weren't buying the same items, had high fat ground beef, canned beans, frozen broccoli, canned fruits, half gallon of milk, processed bologna, processed cheese slices, white bread.  Well let's see....the second "basket of goods" costs about the same as the other so our numbers look pretty good.  Based on what we are buying, what's in the basket, not the same exact item from month to month, yields a much better report than the other two methods of calculation. 

Was off on a tangent but I'm back on track now.  I haven't mentioned it in quite a while but YES my hormones or lack thereof still flip a switch every once in a while.  Sometimes I look around and ask "who was THAT?"

Another great idea I saw on Pinterest is the shallow stacking drawers from The Container Store here.  Using the zip lock bags you can store a ton of floss by number and have the number sequence labeled on the drawers.  This 12 drawer unit on wheels is $139.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It also comes in a 4 drawer unit with dividers, great for speciality threads, at $49. They have other options too but I like these units because of the stacking feature and these two do not have lids for each section like the 3 drawer chest does.

 

There's always the bobbin boxes and tackle boxes and multitude of containers that we can use, but I thought these were a little different.

 

 

I just heard the wind and looked outside to see HAIL!! At the same time, several shots rang out in the woods. Hunting season. I better call the brats to come in.

Gotta run!!

Thanks for visiting.

 

 

 

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SANQ

Hello people.  For the first time in 20 years I subscribed to Sampler and Antique Needlework Quarterly.  I know the majority of stitchers receive this publication but I stopped mine after the first few years when my stitching shop closed and I put down the needles. Where are those first issues?  Gone, just like my Scarlet Letter, Essamplaire, and Examplarery charts from back then.  Yesterday my first issue was in the mailbox and I am surprised to see how thin the publication is compared to what I remember.  Maybe there's not much difference and I'm mistaken.  An added feature - digital back issues I can download.  Several years worth!  There are projects that I am not interested in but I found simpler reproductions that I would love to stitch.  What a great bonus!

 

I saw the Fall issue's Frances Swartz reproduction and that prompted my order, but I also wanted the Ellennor Whitehouse sampler from Fall 2013 and now I have that too.

 

Plus these from other past issues.

Jackpot!  Very nice to include these back issues for download to new subscribers.  I assumed that most of their projects were more detailed and elegant, but found there is something for everyone.  Thank you SANQ. 
I'm hoping to snag a few projects from Ebay and one is already over $20 with 5 days to go.  Mary Monier.  I've missed bidding opportunities or been outbid several times and I'm about to give up on her.  I remember having this chart years ago and don't know why it's gone.

The tree people that saw me contorting all by myself have not yet entered their estimate.
Dance like no one is watching,
Love like you’ll never be hurt,
Sing like no one is listening,
Live like it’s heaven on earth.
It's a good thing I wasn't singing too.  When I do that, large predators run toward what they think is an animal in distress, and birds take flight thinking they heard the screech of a hawk.

Carole's exam was fine and the mammogram was benign.  Her diagnosis was Stage 0 a few years ago, long before it would have formed even the tiniest lump. The area was removed and radiation followed.  Early detection and treatment is important - please have an annual mammogram.  Color with pink highlighter the first day of every month on a small calendar as a monthly self exam reminder and keep it in your bed/bath room.  October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.

Thanks for visiting!

 

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Dance like no one's looking...

unless you asked a tree service to come for an estimate.  And the trees are right outside the windows you are contorting in.  Then don't.  I've been hearing Jackson's Beat It on the radio (yes I still use a radio in my car) for several days and decided to play his video and jump around like a rock star when I got home.  We've all seen this and the image came rushing back to me.  So if you want to dance like no one's looking, make sure they aren't.

Here's my slow but steady progress on Eliza.  She should have been finished by now but deciding on which color to use while making other small changes created too much time wasted on decisions.  I love her. 

And my little boy Nitzy came in after a hard day of hunting in the woods for a nap.  He is the filthiest cat we have ever seen.   Squeak is eating but still very very thin.

And about those @#*% cabinets.  We finally got the back brackets to install the new deep pull out drawers into our existing base cabinets.  Dominic made them....too tight.  They are too tight by a hair!  So I have to take them back and have him rabbet the sides for the glides to fit into, or cut off the sides and make them narrower.  Rabbeting 1/2" plywood would not have a nice edge and the screws holding the glides would then be too long.  I don't know.  I have to call him, maybe just make all new ones.  He made the cabinet for these and they are fine but that circled glide wasn't figured in with the measurements for the existing cabinets.  Do you remember TV's Murphy Brown?  Loved that show.  I wish Halllmark or TV Land would pick it up.  She hired Eldin the painter who became a permanent fixture in her home because her projects never seemed to be completed.  Dominic is my Eldin, but he doesn't live here.  Eldin (Robert Pastorelli) died at 49 from heroin.

 

Cutting the grass today and playing taxi again tomorrow for Carole's mammo and breast surgeon visit.  I broke down like I always do and bought a few mums and pumpkins, even though I hate fall.  It's not that it isn't a beautiful season, it's the precursor to my most hated season.

 

Have a good week!!

 

Thanks for visiting.

 

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Thread storage

Hello people.  Hope all is well and life is good.  I've been weeding and shopping and errand running for sis for a few days and I think this week she will venture out on her own, cane in hand.  Her friends took her out for lunch Friday and although exhausted, she managed fine.

 

So how's your thread stored?  A pain isn't it?  How can we keep it easily accessible, neatly stored, out of sight, and dust free?  I have my big floss box and Floss Away bags which works really well for my needs.  I don't do silks, gave away most of the specialty threads, and prefer DMC or Sullivan because it's readily available and perfect for the early look that I prefer.  I have lots of Ginnie Thompson (and DMC) flower thread that I vowed to use one day, but they are all on their cards in one bag somewhere in this house and may never be seen again.

 

What do stitchers do with various brands of silk, over-dyeds, and specialties?  I found a great post showing all types of storage and can't remember where I saw it.  So I started searching and found a few items that are beautifully made (and expensive) from DMC.

A UK site has this box on sale for $580 and Amazon has it for $799.  No bobbins, just skeins laid in dividers.

 

 

 

Several nice looking chests came up in my search from Herrschners and they are very reasonable.  Or add them to your Christmas wish list.  This 17" tall unit is $100 and states that it can hold up to 450 bobbins.

 

Three drawer version obviously holds less but may be perfect for over-dyeds or silks, less than $100.  I guess you could use full skeins between the dividers instead of bobbins but it looks like they would have to be folded.

 

The double holds 240 bobbins for $130.

Since I always have several skeins of the same color, bags are my preference.  Too many DMC colors vary greatly and I want to see the difference and choose the skein. Having them wound on bobbins would not work for me. 

Using the bags takes more space but these cardboard Floss Totes hold over 100 3x5 bags and are only $10.  Right now my extras are in business sized envelopes in heavy boxes from good paper (the paper that we used for typing business correspondence back in the day).  For the price, I may order these since they would be easier to handle and take less space.

 

I'm finding a lot of other options, mostly the plastic boxes for bobbin storage, but I will keep looking and show what I've found next post.  Many of you have already seen these but for those of us living no where near sources, I hope you see something new that you might like to try.

Lots of outside work to do today - better get started.  If you start seeing verification for comments, it's because I received over 400 spam comments yesterday.  It's getting ridiculous!

 

Enjoy your weekend and stay safe!

 

 

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Whew!

Good news for a change.  Our cardiologist thinks she should not jump into another procedure without exhausting all options.  YAY!!!  My sentiments exactly.  An increase in meds, possibly a change to another, and we'll see how the heart rate is affected.  If it helps, great, and we're hoping it will.  If not, the AV node disconnect can be scheduled.  When we talked to the first nurse, she said that two people in the office had it done.  When I asked how long they had their pacemakers before the procedure she replied that they don't have the device.  ???  You can't survive without it after AV node ablation.  She claimed you can and proceeded to give Carole information on having it done.  ???  Do you know what AV node ablation is dipstick?  NOOOooooo you don't, so stop giving out information that is incorrect!  Dammit.  Then the second nurse came in, took one look at Carole, teared up, and said she was at the hospital during her crisis and never had the cardiac ward experienced the anxiety and panic of that day.  So she goes back in 2 months, monitor again in 3 weeks, and the pacemaker box will continue reading.  Did you know that the new devices have an in-home box that sends all your information to a computer?  If there is a problem detected in the pacemaker function or a problem with your heart rate, it will send a report to the doctor.  You can even press a button and have it record the heart activity when you feel a problem.  No extra charge - it comes with the device.  Our advanced technology is mind boggling.  Green or not!   Doc appointments are over for a while and I got her groceries, so all I need to do is give her house and yard a good cleaning.  We stopped at Panera and got their new Autumn Squash soup.  DELICIOUS!!  It killed me to spend $4.60 for a tiny cup but we were giddy on the way home and splurged. I'm such a cheapo. Do I lead a boring life if I celebrate with a cup of soup? 

 

I'm feeling less anxious and will enjoy the next few days of warmer weather.

 

Enjoy your week!! 

 

Thanks for visiting, listening, and caring.

 

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Just had to share this

Good morning.  I received an email from a friend with this message and found it interesting.  True, and interesting.  We get blamed for a lot but when you look at the power used by later generations, no comparison. 

Fat Budman and Skinny Squeak are happy the ridiculous cold night will turn into a warm day.

No surgery for Carole tomorrow.  We will find out more with the second opinion today.

 

The message that made me smile this morning. (my nut twisty donut helped too)

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In a checkout at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.
The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days."

The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

She was right -- our generation didn't have the "green thing" in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over.  So they really were recycled.

But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage bags, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks. This was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings.  Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags.

But too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then.
We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn't have the "green thing" in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throwaway kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

 

But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana . In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right; we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing." We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smartass young person...

We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off... especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smartass who can't make change without the cash register telling them how much.

We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.--Benjamin Franklin.

 

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