Need Your Organizational Words of Wisdom

First up, my progress on Quakers and Quilts. Half way through chart #4.
I think of Heidi every time I pick up my scissors!

My favorite LQS is closing due to the owners retirement. The shop had been up for sale but a buyer was not found to fit within the required time line. A small section of the shop is devoted to stitching supplies. Everything was half off so I loaded up on Weeks Dye Works and Gentle Arts.

As you can see, I got quite a bit. I know what I'm going to organize it in. But do I do it by name or by color? And what if it's a grey green? Where would that go? So I'm probably going to "file it" by brand and then by name. But if I need a lilac, how do I know where to find one? Or if I have one? Do you keep some kind of master list of your inventory?

I'm trying to have good organizational habits. So help me out. How do you organize your floss/thread/silks? What works for you? What doesn't work for you? Share your words of wisdom with me....I'd really appreciate it!

Mail Call

This past week brought the mail man back to my house with a gift from Simone de Klerk from the Netherlands. She made me this sweet sewing mat! I had not realized how handy it would be to have a thread catcher exactly where you need one! Excuse the poor quality of my photos as they were taken at night. Also, make sure you check out Simone's blog. She is a very talented quilter and stitcher.

I love this!

I've not seen many sewing mats but I love the way Simone made this all one piece. The no slip part is sewn right in.

Simone, thank you so much! I'll think of you every time I sew!

I also received my Quilts for Kids kit. As you can see, the kit comes with the fabric cut out as much as it can be at this point. Some sub-cutting will be required later. All of the fabric is included along with the pattern. This is a wonderful charitable organization. If you're interested, you can request a kit here.

I hope you all have a great week. Happy Stitches!

Another Dyeing Adventure!

Last weekend at Midnight Knit at my LYS, Jane put together another yarn dyeing workshop for us. This time, we painted the yarn. You can find what we did last time here. Here is the table Jane had set up outside for us to work on. Buckets for yarn to soak in, plastic wrap, gloves, dye stock and squeeze bottles. There is also a microwave to cook the yarn so the dye sets.

Here is Jane demonstrating the method.

Ellyse hamming it up for the camera. Not only is she a knitter, she is a wonderful quilter!

Wrapped up and ready to be nuked in the micro. This is my yarn.

Cooling down.

This is my yarn. Since it reminds me of a bruise (the pink is more vibrant in real life), I'm calling it "You Should See the Other Guy".

Everyone had a great time but I neglected to get photos of the other yarns. I find it a lot of fun to learn new ways to do things. It's good for the soul to expand yourself creatively. And time with friends is always good!

Special Delivery

Tuesday the mailman brought me a special delivery all the way from The Netherlands. A few weeks ago, Heidi asked her readers what project we thought she would start next. I happened to guess correctly. Heidi made me this scissor fob for guessing correctly. Isn't it adorable?! I'm a new stitcher and I didn't have a scissor fob. I attached it to my scissors immediately! Check out Heidi's blog - she is a very talented stitcher and quilter.

I love the dragonfly!

Thank you so much Heidi. It's just beautiful!

I'm finally feeling better. After recovering from bronchitis, etc I had a bad reaction to a medication that left me feeling dizzy and nauseous for a couple of days. I finally figured out what could be causing it, stopped taking the medication and felt fine yesterday. I'm hoping to feel like sewing, stitching or knitting a bit tonight. I've missed it!

Mud Anyone?

Yesterday my son and his friend participated in the MS Mud Run. It's a 6 mile military/boot camp style obstacle course run through...you guessed it...mud! Not my idea of fun but Chris and Kristi were game. Here is their "before" shot:

And the after. A bit muddy but they made it!

And a couple of pictures along the way. There were very limited opportunities to see them.

It was fun watching the other participants. The pictures below show some of the obstacles.

This was the scariest to me. Crawling through a mud filled drainage ditch under a road.

On the way back to my car, I had the pleasure of walking with and talking to someone who was living with MS. His daughter, aged 12, was with him and hopes to run in his honor next year. He told me he was 40 years old and his goal was to live as healthily as he could so he would be healthy and strong when a cure was discovered. It was a very touching and emotional conversation. This fun day had a very significant purpose behind it - to raise funds for a cure. I sure hope they find one. And soon.