Up and downs of Ebay

Hiya.  I forgot to show my latest Ebay win.  YAY!!  Doesn't happen too often.  She is Mary Spinney from the Examplarery.

I never saw this before (that I can remember) and it's just my style.  Usually there are lots of photos of reproduction samplers when you search Google Images, but not this time.  Very surprising to me because I think it's a great piece.  Sometimes the bids are reasonable and other times, ridiculous.  I sold Mary Slatter a while back, she is offered often, and take a look at the difference in recent prices.

On 7/23 sold for $5.49 with free shipping and the paper faces, 9/4 she sold for $99.99 - on 9/12 a 99¢ offer did not sell - on 9/19 she sold for $26.51.   I've listed charts that I thought would get a good price and I got stomped.  Recently a BOAF Gold Santa went for around $7.50.  Not bad considering many went for much more.  I have my eye on several others and am surprised at some of the bids (so far) on antique pieces.  But you never know until the final seconds, or you forget completely and aren't there at that time to up your highest bid.  Hopefully I'll have a few more to share with you this week.

I'm spending the afternoon cleaning sis's house and waking up with a sore throat means I have to stay away from her.  That will work out fine though because she doesn't want anywhere near dust rags, vacuum cleaners, mops, glass cleaners, and all those tedious annoyances.  Her bedroom looks like an auction house.  Good grief woman!  There are so many bottles of lotions it's mind boggling.  I take a few every time I am there and so far she hasn't noticed.  The nursing home will get a large batch to pass out as bingo prizes along with anything else I can pilfer.  Most all of it are gifts from her many many friends.  You can only use so much and the older we get, the less we need.  Unless it's for a pastime or hobby of course.  When I was working, I suggested we each choose a charity to benefit from our exchange gifts but not one person agreed with me.  I threw a hissy fit because everyone was doing very well and there were others in much greater need.  I insisted my gift be given to animal welfare and in their quarterly newsletter, instead of listing the donation "in honor" of me, they listed the donation "in memory" of me.  The really sad thing - when I brought it in the office to show them for a laugh, the young people did not know the difference.  Since they didn't know that in memory is for deceased individuals, I didn't take it personally.

And look what's out of the family room and in the kitchen!  Mark made the runners and plywood cutouts will slide into them for tray dividers when the varnish is dry.  Lots of cookie and baking goods storage!  The doors will go on, and the fridge cabinet is finished.  Soapstone will be installed in three weeks and we have the area above the stove and next to the fridge to finish off with trim.

 The open shelf can be cut out to accommodate a higher fridge in the future if necessary.  We're used to throwing stuff on top of it so a few wooden bowls will hide our bad habits.

 

Have a wonderful week!!

 

Thanks for visiting.

 

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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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