Prunes and Threads

Repurposing Plus

Prune Container

Today I’m giving you two ideas, one is for storage and the other is for controlling those threads.

I use prunes a lot – well I eat two a day. I used to buy them in the smaller tube container but then switched to the larger pack that is just a plastic bag. Well now I’ve switched back to the tube packaging for a while. Why?

Storage containers

I discovered I could remove the plastic label and the container is the perfect size to hold my pencils, brushes, pens, etc. So after throwing several away in the recycle bin I have found a use for them and I need more.

Next up came from my embroidery projects. First if you read this post you know I’ve been working on organizing and storing my floss. Well the little labels sold to be used on the floss bobbins do not stick to the plastic ones very well. While I was working on a project I put the selected colors on a binder ring. By the time I had finished the project the labels were everywhere but on the bobbin where they should be. After researching on the internet for a solution I decided to use a fine black sharpie pen and write the number on the bobbin. Make sure you use a pen that is waterproof and smear proof. You might want to test your pen out first on a few bobbins before doing all of them. Okay that was just an aside to what I really wanted to share.

Floss Bobbin with sets looped in hole

When I start to work on a project – small or large- I cut off a length of floss, separate the strands and then group them by the number of strands I plan to embroider with, 2 – 3- 4 etc.  If I’m not sure how many strands I will be using I will put all six back together. I then tie a single overhand knot at the bottom of each set. Now I’m ready to embroider. But wait! I am only using one set at a time. What to do with the rest? I was using a carbone ring to hold them but sometimes the colors are so close that I had a hard time distinguishing them. Looking at my thread bobbins it dawned on me, they all have a hole in the top of them for putting them on an organizing ring. Well I store mine in boxes so I don’t really use the hole. Yup you guessed it! I take the extra sets and loop them through the hole. Perfect! 

Thread sets ready for storage

And when I’m done and still have sets left I keep them looped in the hole and wrap them around the bobbin top to bottom. Nice and tidy.

Happy Stitching!

Rose

Tangled

Tangled Floss

Remember this?  I have been working on organizing my floss and came across several skeins that had become quite tangled. As I sat working out the knots and tangles I was reminded of another time I spent untangling. I was sitting in my Dad’s living room with a large skein of yarn that had become impossibly tangled. I needed it for a project I was working on and didn’t have money to buy a new skein. So I worked and worked at it all the while my dad was sitting nearby reading the newspaper and watching me. Finally after several hours I was done and now had a nice round ball of yarn ready to be used.

My Dad just looked at me and shook his head “You must have a lot of patience.” he said “If it was me I would have thrown the whole lot away after five minutes and bought some new yarn.” Well that wasn’t an option for me at that time, but I am a pretty patient person in most areas of my life. However if circumstances had been different I may well have done just that.

As I was thinking about that I thought how our lives sometimes become so tangled through bad decisions we make or even how we react to circumstances beyond our control. Some of us became so messed up and tangled that even our closest friends and family were ready to throw us away as a lost cause, beyond hope, of no value.

But thanks be to God He sees the tangled mess and says I can work this out if you’ll just let Me. And with His help slowly the tangles come out. I was so deep in sin about to give up and end it all when He heard my cry and saved my life. He’s still working on my tangles and knots.

Even when He runs into a big knot His love and grace keeps working at it until the knot is loosened and the tangle is freed. Some of us are so tangled it may take our lifetime to get it all straightened out, but as long as we rest in His hands we have the assurance that He will continue until we are perfect in Him.

Happy to be His!

Rose

Some Updates

TAST2012

These are continuing and I’m doing my scribbles with them. The last three are:

Bonnet Stitch

Bonnet Stitch

This is an old stitch that is not too well known. I had never heard of it but I managed to do it. I thought I would have a difficult time with it but it actually went quite well.

Up and Down Buttonhole Stitch

 Up and Down Buttonhole Stitch

This was a little more difficult for me to get going on. I had to view a video of someone (Mary Corbet of needlenthread.com) working this stitch with my laptop upside down to get the left hand aspect of it. Worked it awhile before figuring out the best way to hold my hoop and work the stitch. Now I like it. Oh the joys of being left handed!

Basque Stitch

 Basque Stitch

I watched a video (Mary Corbet of needlenthread.com) for this stitch too. It actually went quite well. I left my scribble mark so you could see the way the stitch went around the sharper points. I only had one line not two lines to stitch between.

FLOSS BOBBINS

 In my last organizing post I talked about the plastic bobbins made to wind embroidery floss on. I said I preferred the DMC ones and I still do but I have to report this incident. I needed more floss boxes to store my floss bobbins in. So, I went in search of the larger boxes. I didn’t find any but at one of the craft stores I found the regular boxes at a good price and with 50 free bobbins included. They were being sold under the DMC brand so I thought great and bought a couple of boxes. Was I disappointed – the “free” bobbins were not the same as the nice DMC ones I had previously bought. 


These were in fact far worse than the other brand I had purchased. You can see in the photo (you may need to enlarge it) that they had all kinds of problems even the slots for anchoring the threads were bad. Tsk, tsk, DMC, maybe it would have been better if you had sent them back to the manufacturer as inferior quality rather than offer them to your customers as “free”. Now I’m nervous that they are dumping their high quality products for cheaply made ones. I hope not!!

EMBROIDERY HOOPS WITH SCREWS

New Oval Hoop

Oval Hoop with Plastic Cover

I recently found two new oval hoops. I prefer the oval shape when stitching as my hand can hold it better. These secured the fabric better than my wood ones and all I had to do to protect my threads from the screw is cut a longer piece of the plastic tubing. The only think about this style of hoop is the ridge on the inside ring. I would not leave my fabric in the hoop for very long. (You are should remove the fabric at the end of your stitching session anyway.) But it you stitch for a long period of time I would recommend releasing the fabric every now and again (30 minutes?). Sometimes though I set mine down to do something quick and don’t always get back to it like I had planned. I’ll let you know how it works – I will be damp stretching my work for sure.

Inside hoop

NEW PROJECT

Yes you read right, as if I didn’t have enough going on all ready! But I took another online class, what can I say the price was right! This one was from Big Picture Classes called “Happy Go Lucky Stitchalong “ taught by Amy Powers. We’ve been working on a grid of 25 1 and ½ inch squares using mainly six strands of floss. I’ve never worked that small and I’ve never used that many strands at once. So this was a new experience for me. I’ve only done 5 of my squares. I’ll post more about this project later.

Happy Stitching!

Rose

Organizing is a Hard Word For Me!

Not in spelling or saying but in doing and maintaining. I have people around me who are good at organizing. The problem with that is they don’t always organize for the way I work. But something has to give. I know I would get a lot more done if I could only get to a more organized, less cluttered state. Now I’m not talking minimalist here just a somewhat state. Plus my grandson is crawling now and he knows “Tutu’s Room” is full of neat, interesting stuff. So I have to be able to at least close the door.

So I’m starting and I plan to share as I go along. Maybe you’ll be inspired by something I do. I’m starting small. I have a lot of different materials to organize, threads  (both sewing and needlework), yarns, beads, buttons, buttons, and more buttons, books and magazine, tools, just to name a few. So I’m attempting to clean off my sewing/work table. Next I’ll tackle my cutting table and then the floor. Yes the floor! In the process I’m going to investigate others methods of organizing and see what might work best for me. Staying flexible is a must here!

Floss

For the organizing I’m starting with my embroidery floss. Remember I said I’m starting small. I’ve attempted various solutions in the past.

Floss on Sewing Machine Bobbins

One time I started winding partial skeins of floss on empty sewing thread bobbins. I had discovered I was using the wrong type of bobbin in my machine. Unfortunately I had purchased a lot of them. So I thought this would be a good way of using them. Not so.  For one thing I did not know the brand or color number once the floss had been removed from their packaging. So I abandoned that idea. 

Floss Bags

I’ve also tried the plastic bags on a binder ring (too bulky and the bags deteriorate over time).

Floss Bobbins

 Another attempt was bobbins made for floss which could be stacked. Same problem as my sewing bobbins although these closed so that the floss didn’t unravel. 

DMC Thread Store Displays

Another way was the old DMC store displays (a wood box with drawers that were divided to hold individual colors of floss). I was fortunate to get three of these boxes when I worked for Walmart. These are not convenient for finding colors and the floss is not protected from dust, etc. I’ll use those for something else.They hold my cards of rickrack, binding, etc. just great. 

Another idea was to wind the floss on old wooden sewing spools but I have way too much floss for this to be a good storage solution. Although they do look cute as a décor item. So you can see I’ve tried a lot of different methods.

This is what I’ve decided to do: I’m using the little flat plastic floss bobbins and the number labels (DMC).

I’ll wind the floss on the bobbin and store it in a plastic box (or 2 or 3 or 4) made for these bobbins. First I will store them by number and later by color groups. By numbers first so that once I’m done I can check my IPhone app to make sure it is up to date and accurate. And then I’ll re-sort them by color because that is the way I work. If I ever need to find a color by number I can go to my app and look up the number, that will give me a color square and name so I know where to look for it.

Thread Tracker Logo

This app Is called Thread Tracker and is for DMC floss and lets me track how many I have of each color (or if I don’t own it) and I can add it to my buy list so I know which ones I need to buy. Also if I’m at the store and see that floss is on sale I can whip out my phone and check to see which colors I need or which ones I don’t have yet. They also have apps for other types of threads so it's worth visiting their site for more information about the apps including one called Thread Replacer.

I do have some floss that does not have the number and brand notation and some where the brand is no longer being made. I am winding these on some cardboard bobbins (I bought these before I found out how thin they were). I do not recommend getting the cardboard bobbins, there are two different brands of plastic bobbins that I’ve found. The DMC brand is thinner than the other so they will take up less space. Consider this if you have a lot of floss to store. Also the other brand I have has little burrs, spots where they were punched out. DMC ones have very smooth edges.

OK this is my floss storage and the beginning of my organization story. I still have ribbon for ribbon embroidery for which I’ll probably use the same method.  You can write the color and number on the bobbins. My thread for Brazilian embroidery which is a rayon thread will be stored in the floss bags for now. That leaves my metallic floss and specialty threads to store and organize. I think the bobbins will not work well for these threads. Any ideas?

How do you organize your threads?

Next I'll be working on my fabrics. Stay tuned!

Happy Stitching!

Rose

Happy Stitching!