Just 3 Things | #35

Summertime is here at last. The days are hot and muggy but we have enjoyed a shower or two every now and again. On days like these, I'm just glad I no longer have fifty cows to milk each morning and afternoon!

- What I've Been Reading -

I truly love reading almost more than anything else in this world. I like to find a character that I enjoy or learn about a person who intrigues me. I love learning about events and places. I always have questions and look forward to finding the answers. My daughter, Bridgette, and I discussed this recently. She and her younger two daughters had a wonderful opportunity to take a bus trip out west and saw so many wondrous things. She messaged me and told me that she had sort of become like me and would read and learn more about places and things she was seeing or was getting ready to see the next day. Her reading would cause her to pose more questions and she would have to search and find answers to those as well. 

Luci, Bridgette, and Lydia on their wild west tour!

She would send me photos of the wondrous things she was seeing and I would have questions. Some of them she knew the answers for and others we wound up searching online to find some sort of answer. I've never travelled to the part of the world where they went last week. So, I was intrigued by the things she was photographing and sharing. Was Old Faithful 'on time' with the spewing? How hot are the hot springs? What causes the hot springs? Is that basically just like a volcano? How did they build the walkways without getting injured by the hot springs? Oh, I had loads of questions and she said she did as well!

I find myself doing that sort of thing on the daily. When I read my morning news feeds, I will question something related to what I am reading and go down multiple rabbit holes learning more in relation to the subject at hand. So, I'm glad to know that the pursuit of knowledge is working in the next generation.

- What I've Been Loving -

I am a firm believer that every single person needs to find something that brings them joy and engage in that pursuit of joy. I also firmly believe that we need to be grateful for the opportunities and blessings that are provided for us. There are so many things that bring me joy and I have so very much to be grateful for!

As I was pursuing one of those joyful opportunities in my office/sewing room this week, I looked out the window and saw a mother deer and her baby go strolling by in our yard. I guess that means I enjoyed a two-for. Daily, I find that I am thankful for the opportunity to be retired and enjoy slow days, days when I can just pick up and go visiting my children and grandchildren like I did this past week, and days when the only real work I have to do is picking up things the Mister and I have left out or sweeping the floor where we have tracked in or washing the mound of clothes we have dirtied. 

I've also been finding I'm thankful for the means to purchase a fancy sewing/embroidery machine and having the time to putter and play with it to see what sorts of things I can create. I believe we all sort of come alive when we are creating something or crafting something. I also believe that we truly enjoy time spent with those we love and I am ever so grateful for those opportunities as well. 

This past week I got to go watch our oldest grandson play ball.  I got to see him pitch a no-hitter and to hit a couple of home runs - true home runs. I was informed a couple of years ago that when he scored on errors, it didn't really count as a home run. He said, "You know Grand B, it's not really a home run until you hit it over the fence!"

Bryan, Jessica, Linley, and Harris, the homerun hitter

I guess I can say that this week I really and truly loved the retirement life more than any other stage I've enjoyed in life so far. We celebrated the Mister for Father's Day with my bonus son and his children, I was enjoying the updates from the travelers via pictures and text messages. Then, I got the pleasure of visiting with my son and his crew doing something the entire family seems to enjoy. What a great week!

- What I've Been Working On -

Maybe I'm a cheapskate but I don't like to throw away something that I feel certain I might use at a later date. That causes problems for me, though. I like for things to be organized. I seem to function better when things have a place and most things are in their place. Yet, when I save fabric scraps, that seems to cause me problems. I know that a large fabric scrap might be just what I need for a project and I would never think of tossing it in the trash. Yet, I'm finding that smaller fabric scraps can come in handy as well but, how is the best way to store all of those smaller fabric scraps? For that matter, what is the best way to store all of the larger fabric scraps? 

I love having the fabric scraps. For all of these projects that I have completed lately I have just been using my scraps. It is wonderful because I don't have to spend money on fabric and I generally wind up with something really nice. (Of course, sometimes a scrap of fabric is combined with a stabilizer and thread and winds up just being a mess. I will practice a couple of things on it. I will try out an idea there. Then, into the trash it is tossed. That part of having a stash of fabric scraps has been great. The storage of usable fabric scraps just isn't working out to my liking.

So, this week I have been trying to get my sewing supplies organized better. I'm not feeling very successful at getting organized either. When my mother was a seamstress, she had large bags of fabric scraps. She would take time and sort them by color every now and again. Then, when a project called for a small piece of blue fabric, she would dig around in the blue fabric bag till she found what she needed. I've tried doing something similar with large, clear, plastic tubs. I fold the larger pieces and sort of roll the smaller pieces of fabric. However, when I dig around in the tub, all of it seems to just become a jumbled mess. So, for the largest pieces of fabric, I've folded them and hung them on a hanger. Medium sized pieces get folded and stacked in a tub. Smaller pieces just seem to go into a tub as a jumble. 

There has to be a better way. I am determined to find it. I hope the idea comes to me soon. 

Organizing Machine Embroidery Supplies

There is nothing I like better than to be organized. Since I knew going in that my new sewing/embroidering hobby and sewing machine would have plenty of accessories and supplies, I was a bit proactive and began looking for ways that other folks had organized their supplies. I also just searched online for different ideas using key terms. Here is where I have landed...for now.

When I got the sewing/embroidery machine, I also grabbed up several spools of pre-wound bobbin thread. They were dropped into a shopping bag and rolled around loose in there for several days. I knew that I would be ordering more of these but I needed a way to keep the ones I already have organized. Plus, I will probably be winding different thread colors onto bobbins for sewing projects where I want the top and bottom threads to be the same. So, I searched, clicked, and added a nice little clear storage box to my virtual shopping cart right away.

Bobbin Spool Box

The first thing I knew that could get out of hand is a thread supply. When I purchased my machine, I also bought a small starter kit of embroidery thread. My initial thought is get just the basics - sort of like a basic box of crayons - primary and simple secondary colors. (I wish my grade school art teachers knew that such a thing had stuck with me!) Those ten spools were just dumped into a plastic bag. I also ordered a starter kit box of different thread colors. The starter kit seems to have all of the colors that are used for projects in the manual and the designs that are pre-programmed into the machine. They came in a nice box and were packed efficiently. However, I knew that I would want to be able to see the colors clearly and read the assigned numbers easily. So, this box would not work as a storage organizer.

 

Embroidery Machine Thread Kit

When I got home and began my first practice project, I knew I had to get something to corral the thread right away! In my search, I had noticed that there were some handy clips that would help prevent the unravelling of the spool and tails of thread trailing around everywhere. So, I added those to my virtual shopping cart. They sort of remind me of slap bracelets that were fun for kids to wrap around their wrists. They are made of silicone and just hug the spool to hold the thread in place.

Thread Spool Huggers

I also knew that I needed an efficient way to store and organize the spools of thread. Each color is assigned a number. So, when following a pre-created design, sewists can simply look for that number of thread in a rack at the store and purchase the exact intended color to create the design as it is shown. I debated on storing my thread by color family at first - shades of reds, shades of blue, etc.. Then, decided to just keep it numerical and follow what the manufacturer had started. I looked at pegged racks that could be hung on the wall but I was afraid that something like that might make my office seem cluttered. So, I landed on clear plastic bins. I knew that this would also help prevent the spools from getting dusty and would make it easy for me to see the different colors and their numbers when searching through my stash. My original crayon box set of ten colors that I brought home are 1000 yard spools. The starter kit of colors has 550 yard spools. The 1000 yard spools are a bit taller and wider than the 550 yard spools.

550 yard spool on the left and 100 yard spool on the right.

I ordered a small stackable storage organizer. There are several different sizes and I decided to just go for a simple three layer bin to give it a try and knew that I could order more when I needed to do so. It works perfectly for the 550 yard spools.

Twenty 550 yard spools

I love the way it keeps all the spools tidy and makes it easy to see the number for each color. I love how it stacks and snaps together and that it has a handle for easy carrying from the closet or shelf to the sewing table. It is just perfect for the 500 yard spools. However, the 1000 yard spools are a bit taller and wider and it doesn't work as well for them. 

Stackable Clear Storage Organizer

Maybe I could use this sort of organizer for the larger yardage spools but it would not be as efficient because I would have to space them out and leave some spaces empty. Plus, that extra wee bit of height made it iffy about snapping the box together tightly. Below is a comparison of how the different size spools fit into the organizer.

Top bin has 1000 yard spools and bottom has 550 yard spools

So, it was accept that the organizer will be a bit less efficient for larger spools or go back to the drawing board to find something that works better. I searched for different options. I finally landed on a double-sided organizer that has adjustable compartments. 

Double-sided storage box

I can remove every other divider and the larger spools fit alright. Notice the three smaller spools in the lower left corner and how much better they fit in the compartments, though. The box is a bit strained when I snap it closed and the spaces are not used as efficiently as with the other size thread spools and the organizer for them. It will work for now, though.

My next organizing task will be to find the perfect way to store the different sized hoops and the stabilizers.