Organizing metallics

This past weekend, I took advantage of a good sale at Joann Fabrics and picked up a box, originally designed for holding Sulky machine embroidery threads. One of the members in my ANG chapter had shown how she used this to hold her Kreinik metallic threads. Thanks, Mary Lou!

Once I got to putting all of my Kreiniks in the box though, I realized I had a problem. Ummm... I ran out of room.

The only solution was to head back to Joann's and pick up another box! I showed the result to MIL, who hadn't seen these boxes at the store near her, and she stopped by my store to buy the last one on her way home!

To give an idea of size, these two boxes are spread out between the arms of my stitching chair. At a rough guess (since I'm too lazy to measure and I just took them upstairs), the boxes are about 15" across, 17" high, and <2" deep.

***UPDATE: To answer one question about the boxes: these hold 108 spools. As for mine, neither is completely full, and I have a few random non-metallic spools (Silk Bella, Londonderry Linen, etc) in the second one.***

(This makes two posts in two days - but I'm not expecting this to be the norm anytime soon!)

I'm still here

All right. I'm going to stop making comments about how long it's been since the last post, because the gaps seem to be getting longer. I'll post when I post!

That said, it seems that my return to work 3 weeks ago has helped put us all on a schedule. That, and the fact that Erin's sleeping for (slightly) longer stretches means that we've been putting her to bed around 7:30-8 each night (ok, most nights), and she'll be ready to eat again in 3 hours. Which means DH and I have free time before we crash! So yes, a few times this past week I've taken the opportunity to stitch for a bit. Hooray!

As a result, my Floral Rondel (designed by Judy Souliotis) is growing. I may take a break from all of the silk work to put in some of the gold outlines tonight.

One delinquent blogger...

Wow. It's been two weeks since my last post. I'm still enjoying Floral Rondel when I get the chance. It's funny. I actually get most of my stitching done when I go to guild meetings or stitch night at the LNS - even though Erin comes with me. At any of these outings, I have an overabundance of babysitters (including Grandma/MIL). They actually start bickering about who gets to hold her, and I take advantage of it! (Though somehow she ends up back with me when the diaper bag is needed. Hmmm...)

Last night was our monthly ANG meeting. For the program portion of the evening, we ran an auction, with 10% of the proceeds going to the local food cupboard. Instead of bringing in a chart, canvas, threads, etc. to auction, I decided to raid my collection of completed projects for something I enjoyed stitching, but which I know I'll never do anything with in terms of framing/finishing. In the end, I settled on my rendition of Ilse Altherr's 17th Century English-Style Sampler, a former EGA group correspondence course. It was stitched on 36ct linen with silks. (I only just realized that I finished it before I started blogging, so I don't think I have a picture of it to show!)

Anyway, after only a few bids (darn economy!), it sold for $100. Our LNS owner sweetened the deal by saying she'd frame it for free if it went for at least $100. What a steal! The really nice part is that the woman who bought it will be putting it in a larger charity auction this fall. I hope it brings joy to someone! That's much better than moldering away in my closet! I'll try to get a picture of it at the LNS once it's framed.

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Erin update: Last week we had our 2 month checkup, complete with the first round of vaccinations. Other than being really upset about getting three shots at that time, Erin is generally a pretty happy baby (though of course she has her moments!).

Hi everybody!