Bobbing winding has become an important part of our preschool curriculum around here. I personally can't see what's so exciting about it, but I can't wind a bobbin, or do anything that sounds like winding a bobbin, without eager little helpers materializing beside me.



There's lots of discussion about how many bobbins we've wound and how many we're going to wind and stopping and starting and taking turns. And only good little boys get to wind bobbins. Isn't that just the weirdest thing you can imagine bribing little boys with?

One of the projects on Stashbusters this year is keeping track of how many spools of thread we use. I like the idea, because it'll help me figure out what's a realistic amount of thread to order from Connecting Threads.

So far this year, I've used five of their 1200 yard spools and a 500 yard spool that came with my sewing machine. And I'm running out of the neutral color I use for piecing and most of my quilting. Didn't I just order thread?

Whenever it actually was, I put all of the thread in a big Zip Loc in the drawers next to my sewing machine. At the time, it was bulging and barely zipped shut. Now it's less than half full. Which makes me think I might need to order thread soon.

I'm good at convincing myself that I need to order thread (yarn, fabric, etc.) whether I really need it or not, so I've decided to wait until I'm down to my last spool of off-white. Now the question is whether or not I should use up the colors that I can use for scrappy piecing before I get to that last spool of white...

Typing this got me thinking and I ran out to the sewing room to see how much thread was actually there. Most of it has to live in the sewing room because the thread holder is so tippy I constantly knock it over. Not something I'm going to put in a house with the rabid preschoolers. Or the nine-year-old. Or the girl.

And while I was up there, I decided to try something --



The drawer came from Grandma's antique mall. She had a whole stack of them, from two different treadle cases, and asked if I wanted a couple for my sewing room. Like she had to ask!

Then I got to wondering if the thread would fit as nicely into the drawers of the treadle that lives next to my sewing machine. Yup, they're exactly the same size. So now I've got to figure out where to put the things that live in those drawers and I can have most of my thread right where I sew.

I have more thread than I thought I did. Yay!