instant thread stash

Although I've got a decent thread stash, I've always envied the quilters who show off their hat boxes and thread organizers overflowing with random spools.

So when we were at a yard sale yesterday I jumped at the chance to get my own exciting thread stash for two bucks. It's pretty, a lot of it is on old wooden spools, and I can't tell you how tempted I am to use it for piecing.

I know....I've read the warnings.... and I'm still planning to experiment. (After all, I'm using fabric that's probably just as old!) The only thing that's really holding me back is how pretty the colors look wound around those wooden spools. I know I've got at least one more old jar that matches this one, and a few of the bluish ones with the glass dome tops. So I may just use the newest stuff and keep the pretty ones for decoration until I find a perfect project for the wooden spools. In case you haven't noticed, I'm easily entertained by vintage stuff.

(And while I was writing this, my thirteen year old daughter came in and asked me if I'd like Grandma M's old thread, which she's had in her room since my mom gave it to her. How did she get that?)

It was a good day for yard sale browsing. I got a new-to-me cutting mat (30x36, which is twice the size of the one I've had until now) for four dollars from a lady who made one quilt and didn't like it. And a nice box of cotton scraps and two quilts (which will get their own post later) from the same sale where I found the thread. And some odds and ends of old stuff that were too neat and too inexpensive to leave behind.