Gridding Fabric and Sorting Floss is Not the Fun Part

I didn't want to start a new cross stitch project until I finished the lighthouse. One abandoned project is better than two or three abandoned projects, right?

Then I had the lighthouse finished and nothing else ready to work on and spent three or four days avoiding the task of sorting floss and gridding the fabric. Nowt that the boring part is done, I'm enjoying myself.

The fabric is 18-count, which is harder on my eyes. But the needle is thinner and that's making the stitching easier, once I figure out where to jab through the fabric. My stitches are getting neater, too.

This is one of those little Dimensions Gold kits. I have absolutely no memory of buying it, but it was up in the sewing room and has clearance stickers from Craft Warehouse. And it's definitely something I'd pick out if I was shopping today. 

The Second Panel

I got the second panel for my project bag done last night. 

The corners don't match. In some spots, they're wildly off...but I'm willing to live with that since I'm making it for myself and after the events of the past couple of weeks I'll be much happier to have it finished and ready to use than to have it sitting in a drawer forever waiting for me to get it right.

Although I do wish my machine was cooperating and I could free motion a really dense stipple pattern that would hide the mistakes...

This post is linked to Design Wall Monday. 

Someone Else's Stash of Notions

Remember that box of buttons that I posted about yesterday? I kept wondering about it, especially after I took a closer look at the labels in the picture. The box itself is probably worth something, and I need curved safety pins and bobbins. 

We had to run up to Salem again on Friday and were even on the right end of town, so I stopped by the thrift store even though craft stuff always gets scooped up fast.

Look what was sitting there waiting for me --  

It leaked buttons and needle threaders all over the car on the drive home. I think I've got someone's entire notions stash here and the folks at the thrift shop just wrapped some clear plastic around it to hold the drawers shut and slapped a price tag on it. That's not their usual pricing strategy.

There are at least ten packs of unopened machine needles that will fit my machine, along with some others I'm not sure about. I think the others might work on the Featherweight, but I'll do some research first. None are my preferred size, but there are leather needles and denim needles and ball point needles...all of the stuff that I need once in a blue moon but refuse to make a special trip to town and spend money on.  I'll use those. Or my daughter will.

There are twenty full packages of hand sewing needles -- tapestry needles, darning needles, applique needles, and those wicked curved ones for fixing upholstery. I never ever have enough needles, so these are a welcome addition to my stash.

I've now got all of the sew in snaps and hook and eye closures I could ever need...

I don't know if a needle threader will help with my stitching, but now that I've got a few I'll give it a shot.

Don't forget about the buttons. I counted 190 complete cards of them and didn't even try to figure out how many loose buttons there were. Our mystery stitcher also apparently kept every one of those little envelopes with extra buttons for repairing your garment. They're not old enough to be interesting, but buttons are buttons.

The very specific labels on the drawers intrigued me. No bobbins in the bobbin drawer or curved safety pins, but there were eighteen iron safe nylon snaps in the drawer that claimed to hold them. The machine brush and seam ripper were there as promised.

It would be smart of me to clear out the drawers and fill them with my own notions. I'd feel a bit bad about removing the labels that are already there, but I don't have enough nylon snaps to keep a specific drawer for them.

How do you organize your little notions?

{Thrift Shop Temptations} The Doll in the Box

Lots of pictures this week, even though the boys and I only visited two shops. We didn't find what we were looking for but we had an absolute blast. 

I keep hearing that raising girls and raising boys are completely different endeavors. This week's thrift shop find might settle that argument once and for all -- 

A little girl would probably see a pretty doll... My sons (and me too, I've got to admit) are sure there's a sinister reason she's sealed in that box. It's a custom wooden shelf with plastic wrapped around the front and hadware to hang it in a corner.... Someone made that. There's got to be a story behind it. If it had been 50% off day, we would've brought her home and named her.

My sons don't want dolls. Possibly cursed dolls in creepy enclosures are different, though...

If I had a bigger house, I'd have room for more furniture, and I'd probably get myself in trouble when I saw pretty things like this...

I'd also have more wall space. Our house is full of arches and windows and things that get in the way of landscapes like this one.

Pre-Pinterest string art!

This is the thing I left behind that's starting to haunt me a bit...

The drawers were stuffed with buttons and notions. The more I think about it, the more I think it would have been fun to dig through...especially now that I see the drawers marked "curved safety pins" and "sewing needles."  Who has enough needle threaders to designate a drawer for them?

If you did ceramics in the 80s, I bet you made one of these cats. Mom had one and I think both grandmas had them. I come across them on a fairly regular basis, but never like this one....

That's little individual triangles of fabric glued to its surface.  And the cat was solid plaster so it weighed an absolute ton.

I was telling my sons what we were looking for when I rounded  the  corner and this beauty took all of the words away. It's soooo pretty. And soooo overpriced. And missing whatever bottom piece enabled it  to stand upright. (But still worth sixty-five bucks according to whoever determines the prices.)

We've all got our personal list of things we absolutely won't buy at the thrift shop. Smoke detectors, even new and sealed in the box, never made my list because who would even think of that as an option?  I just looked and these are being sold as "collectible" on ebay. Now I'm even more confused.

How about you -- find anything great this week? We came home empty-handed, but had fun looking.