Thread Keeper Tutorial

What do your embroidery threads look like?  A tangled mess, where you can't find the end.  I know mine did.  Do you wish you could remember the number of the thread you bought so you could buy some more to finish a project. 
I have a cheap and easy way to keep them a little more organized and they will look so pretty.

Supplies:
8.5" X 11" Card Stock paper
Stamps
Stamp Inks
Paper Scissors (not your SEWING scissors)
hole punch*
Frixion pen*
and of course some embroidery thread!
            *optional*

 Paper:

This picture should explain it all, draw a line 3.25" down and then another one 6.5" down the 8.5" side of the paper.  Then draw lines every 2" between these 2 lines.  Now I have made a "pattern piece" and I trace the top and bottoms with it.  For the top part, center a American penny or a 10 cent euro coin and trace around it to get that first top curve, then make 2 smaller curves on each side to the edges of the tag.
After making one you can cut it out and trace the rest, especially the bottom 3 pieces, they are a perfect 2" across you just have to get the height correct.
Now the fun part,
Stamping:
I have a stamp set from Close to my Heart, called "Love Tags", but it is at least 8 years old.  Use what ever stamps you have on hand, have fun with it.

 My inks are even older, 11 years, so some of my more favorite colors are, well, a little low on color.  But this gives me the perfect time to add a little touch of whimsy, and for me that was some Sea themed stamps.

After you have cut out each individual tag, punch a hole in the top (optional) and trim the sides a little.  Now you are ready to organize!  P.S. you might want to "set" the ink, if you used a Frixion pen to draw your lines just place a paper towel over the tags and give it a quick little press with a warm iron.
Thread:
Just wind the thread around and put the loose end through the holes on the top, write the company name and number of the thread in pencil, on the back.

Now to put them in my new pretty needle book, Thanks Sheri!

Oh yeah!  I got lots more to do.

This has become my favorite "extra" swap item to include, it doesn't take much time and it only cost a little bit for the thread.  And you can make it special with what type of stamping you do, you could even just draw on them if you don't have stamps.

Saturday Swaps

Linking up to the fun of Drowning in Fabric, Saturday Swaps. 

Swaps that are still open:
The 8² European Fabric Swap (hosted by me) - more details can be found here on my blog, or hop on over to Flickr.

The Summer Vacation Swap - pretty colors.

The Fabric Scrap Swap - deadline to join is July 18th.

The Secret Tote Bag Swap - this round is making a Noodlehead 241 pattern, deadline to join July 19th.

Super Swaps-August Swap - swapping pouches or fabric baskets, deadline to sign up is July 30th.


I received this lovely swap package on Friday from Capi. for the English Paper Patchwork Supplies Swap.

the extra's a mini "Winter Wonderland" charm pack, handmade ribbon, 3/4" hexies

A whole stack of fabric scraps

Love these cute little postage stamp sized pieces.

Lots of lovely Christmas fabrics

She sent the tape measure to match my new bag, I love it, now I will be shopping in style.

 This tape measure is really, really nice, it has inches on one side and cm on the other, when you pull it out, it stays out, to pull it back in, you push the button down and it rolls in on itself.  I go to the haberdashery shop all the time with my big ol' tape measure that it all over the place and since my patterns are in inches I am always figuring out what size of zipper I need, this will come in so handy and be so pretty too, hope my daughter doesn't find it :)

She sells these tape measures in her shop, it is awesome!

 She was spot on, I asked for some Christmas fabric and she sent me a whole bunch.  I can't wait to do some redwork embroidery with the Winter Wonderland mini charm pack.
My partner also got her little stack of scraps.

I am now working on my Big Stitch Swap present, my partner has really different taste than from me, so it is a fun challenge in making this, I love it.  I don't want to show much, because her taste are very specific.

The embroidery here is supposed to depict air, what do you think?  to much, should I rip it out?  or add more?

I also just got my partner for the Strawberry swap, and I thought I would pick up something super sweet for her, I am in the process of buying some Liberty Tana Lawn fabric, yippee!!  I am ordering from Ali of Very Berry Handmade (sounds like a good shop to pick up some Strawberry fabric).  She has a shop on Etsy and also on Folksy.
Speaking of Liberty if you want large amounts of it, Massdrop is having a Liberty Tana Lawn drop and you can get some extras with your purchase, like 3 spools of Aurifil.

I also posted a poll for buying BOLTS of fabric, for like the background of your quilts when you need large amounts of the stuff, especially with Modern quilts, you can check out the poll here.

8² - The Fabric Swap Group!

I am so excited to start a European fabric swap group.  You can join at any time and participate in any swap you are interested in.  This is mostly for European's but anyone is welcome to join, especially after you hear that I got 2, that's 2 shops to sponsor the swap with discounts to both.

First the Rules, I am not very good at writing rules but here goes, (I have taken some of the wording from the American based F8 swap group put together by Laurel)

1. Each swap is run in groups of 8. Each person may sign up for one or two groups (interest permitting) You will buy one yard (or a little more to be safe) of each of the specified amount of fabric designs (to be described in the swap group) and cut into eighths approx. 11x18. I have chosen this size instead of a regular 9x22 eighth because even with shrinkage, you may still yield a 10x10 and/or several 5x5 charms.
2. Please remove selvages, measurements are approximate due to selvage removal, fabric width, and seller cutting. Try to cut straight and measure correctly.
   Each group will send and receive 8 F8s per yard, plus 8 brick sized charms
   Please do send all 8 F8th pieces to me plus the extra 8 brick charms - you will get back one of your own per design for the F8th but will recieve 8 different designs other than the one you sent in of the brick charm.
   Please reference this picture for cutting your F8: 
   
3. Fabric info: Fabric should be quilt shop quality 100% cotton fabric. For each swap, I will get a shop to give us a discount.  If you already have the fabric in your stash, or if you get your designer fabric for $5 clearance, good for you! But don’t buy the cheap stuff, y’know? We want to trade the same quality. Do not prewash. Do iron.
4. Mailing info: Mail to me deadline is announced when groups fill - date is usually 2-3 weeks after filling. I will send out an email to all participants with my address and further instructions and the discount codes when full.  If you do not have that month's theme in your stash and wish to purchase only 1 yard of fabric and not a whole package of fabric from a shop, send a communication with me and I will purchase the fabric and have it sent directly to my house and cut it for you.  I will paypal the invoice to you of the cost of the fabric, plus the divided cost of the shipping and the cost of shipping of all the fabric back to you.  The cost of the 8² groups fabric to a European destination is 3.30Euro, you can pay this either by paypal or if you want to tuck in the coins with the fabric you send, you can also do that ;)  If you join more than one group of 8² the shipping cost from Greece to you goes to 6.30Euro's.
5. Sorting and packaging info: Please place your fabric in ziplock bags or wrap in cellophane plastic. If you are signed up for two groups put each group in its own separate ziplock/cellophane plastic. Please also include a card or sticky note (I write it right on the plastic bag)  your name, address, and flickr name.    If you are in two groups, please get a different set of fabric for each group, as I can’t guarantee you won’t have some of the same people in both groups. I don’t personally care about duplicates, but others do. Please post photos of your fabric choices and/or list your fabric selections within your group to avoid duplicates and/or see what you are getting. Similarly, though I am doing everything I can to avoid duplicates, I can not guarantee there won't be some. Sorry. 
6. PLEASE only sign up if you can follow through. 

You can go here to fill out the form and also pop on over to the Flickr page that I set up to put your name down.  Either way you do not have to commit to each swap, I will contact you to see which swap you are interested in.  The first swap will be for Text fabrics, the second for Low Volume.
  

I want to post this but will add more later, the kids.

Sunday Stash- FQS Haul.

FQS- Fat Quarter Shop, they had a 40% off International shipping a few weeks ago and I took advantage of the savings and purchased 2 Flat Rate Envelopes of Fabric.  Plus as a bonus I used my Gift Certificate that I bought during their Mother's Day promo of 20% off, So I only "spent" $40 for these packages.

I should confess something, I have been having a crush on Red and Aqua, they look so pretty together.

Fabrics Left to Right: Spot On Cardinal Tonal Pindots (LOVE), Winterfall Words (also Love), Candy Cane Red Ditzy Motif, Candy Cane Red Dot Aura, these 2 are from the same line, but are 2 different reds, they should be called shades of red, the second one is like a faded in the sun red, I like the first one better.  25th and Pine Peppermint Sleigh Bell Trail (I'm going to use this as a binding, it will look great.

Fabrics Left to Right:  Winterfall words (the words are a light blue), Stella Dot Teal and Navy, Aqua Medium Tonal Chevron, Star Spangled Aqua Bikes (LOVE) and it is 40% off today at the FQS, use code PATRIOTIC

Some yardage of American Made Brand Solids:

I got Aqua, Dark Aqua, Dark Turquoise, White, Light Cream, Gray and Light Navy.

Let's talk about these solids, they have a nice hand softer thank Kona, but not as soft as AGF.  But here is the thing, I think the color is like painted on, I'm not an expert or anything, but you know when you buy colored paper and if you tear it some products have color all the way through and some papers are white on the inside when you tear them, that is the way AMB is, it is almost textural in the color cause not all of the fibers absorbed the same amount of color this was most apparent in the Dark Aqua, it gives it a nice color and really looks like water.  There were a few little white fluffs and after moving them, there wasn't any color underneath.  So what do you think this means?

the best picture I could get, of the white underneath a loose thread.

I already started playing with some of them, the AMB aqua and dark aqua went into the Aurifil July block of the month.

And Erin's Sew At Home Mummy Classic Meets Modern July Block, I followed her lead on this also, but used Kona Red and Kona Robin Egg.

Linking to Sunday Stash

Swaps In and Out

For the Need a Little Needlebook Swap, I got a great rainbow 30's needlebook from Sheri of Sunshine in the Attic. 

LOVE IT!

The little rabbit is a stamp, she stamped it on fabric and on the matching card, LOVE IT!  I tried to stamp on fabric and it's hard.  I love the rainbow of colors and the 3 tiny little buttons, so cute.

Inside of the front cover, a zippered pocket and 2 slip pockets.

Inside of the back cover, again 2 pockets with 1 slot for a pen.

Look at the amazing job she did on the inside felt part

My new favorite color is the pale lavender DMC floss that she sent

I had actually bought the same color in Greek Petalouda thread, so it was meant to be.

And the scissors, she gave me a pair of scissors, happy dance!  

My first pair of real embroidery scissors,

I have been using the kids nail scissors, they actually work pretty good.

Thank you Sheri it is perfect and fits in what I will be using as my traveling

work station, much better than my older bag.

My new stitching on the go bag from Renee of Quilts of a Feather.

(my old Dorothy Bag behind) the new needlebook fits inside.

I sent this little pack off, not sure if it has made it or not, I know that 2 other packs made it to the States and in record time too, 5 days, that is a record!

Debra's favorite colors are grey and pink, the elephant needlebook, an elephant pin cushion and a scissor keep (free tutorial here).

My favorite new thing to send in swaps are the paper embroidery thread organizer's, they are fun to make and you can write the number of the thread on the back so when you get low you know which one it is.  Otherwise I always loose those little tiny bands, so this is perfect.

The inspiration for the elephant this cute flannel pink and grey fabric scrap.

Do you like my cute elephant?  Should I try to figure out how to do a PDF so you can get the pattern for him, he is a cutie.

I also sent this package off for the 200 grams fabric swap, it weighed .204 grams at the post office and the guy wouldn't let the .004 grams go, you see if it is under 200 grams it cost 3.30euros to send, but at 204grams it would have cost 4.50euros, ridiculous right.  So I took the hexie papers out, I figure she probably already has some of those.

I got my partner for the Big Stitch Swap and she likes birds so I figure I can use my recently finished feather for a little something small as an extra gift.

It turned out okay, 2 things, I don't think I will ever embroider on denim again, at least this denim had a stretch to it, you know like your favorite pair of jeans that can fit over your thighs, so it stretched as I was stitching.  Also since it was a dark material I used some tear away stabilizer to copy the pattern onto, and well let's just say it was a pain to get those little pieces of paper out from underneath all of the stitching.  I will use a wash away kind the next time I get to purchase some.

Coming Soon:  Come and Join:

Fabric Swaps:  

Summer Vacation Swap -Spain (inspired fabrics)  hosted by Belinda of Stitching @ the Green Desk 

Text Swap hosted by me :)

Hand made gift swap:  Super Swaps, this time around a zippered pouch or fabric basket, sign up end date is July 30th.

And Linking to Saturday Swaps, the place to talk about swaps!

Happy 4th of July

I know I am writing this in Greece the day after, but since I also secretly blog as well as secretly stitch, I couldn't write anything yesterday since my husband was home watching the soccer games in Brazil.  Is anyone else's husbands really into the soccer games, glad they will be over soon ;)
For our 4th celebrations we ate some good ol' American Ice Cream, oh yeah, delicious, the best ice-cream you will find in Greece is sold by the German grocery store LIDL.

The kids can eat this whole thing in one sitting, I try to make it last at least 2 days, but it is so so good, the little cookie dough pieces are yummy.

OPA!  All gone, guess I will have to go out and buy some more ;)
But speaking of Ice-Cream did you hear that July is National ice-cream month (the US comes up with the funniest things)  So in Celebration of this ByAnnies is having a summer contest, I have posted the details below that I got from their e-mail to me.
The Challenge:
1. Join our event "ByAnnie.com's Summer Giveaway and Challenge" on Facebook.

• If you haven’t already done so, please like us as well.
  

2. Make your own Just Desserts Pint-Sized Ice Cream Case.

• Download the FREE pattern at our website. Watch our blog for step-by-step tutorials coming soon.
  

3.  Post a photo of your Just Desserts creation to the event page before July 21.

• Tell us your favorite pint-sized frozen dessert, too. We're always ready to try something new!
  
• Feel free to like and comment on your photo as well as other participants' photos.
  
• We'd love it if you'd share the photo and contest on your own page, too!
  

Option for those without Facebook:

If you don't have Facebook but want to participate, please email a picture of your Just Desserts creation and tell us your favorite flavor of ice cream. We will then post the info to our page on your behalf.

The prize:

• A 20% discount coupon for those who post a photo of a Just Desserts case!*
  
• A chance to win a special grand prize** — a $50 gift certificate from ByAnnie.com!
  
• Warm hands, cold ice cream!
  
• A chance to work with Soft and Stable!
  

*Coupons for 20% off your next order will be sent on July 22 to anyone who has posted a picture before the July 21 deadline.
**From the posted pictures, we will randomly pick one grand prize winner who will also win a $50 gift certificate from ByAnnie.com.

---

 If I do this I will have to make 2 and then I will need to start buying 2 containers of ice-cream, uhoh, that's horrible, lol.

I made a cute little 4th skirt for Kat.

It is actually an up-cycle project, the top needed a bigger opening for the head, she has a big head and butt, guess she got those things from her mom, oh wait, that's me, oh yeah.  The "skirt" was previously a top from when she was 2, I cut the head and arm part off and added a elastic band that I made from a pair of old leggings.  I have a few more pieces to add to the skirt part, but will wait till fall to do so, this skirt size is perfect for our hot summers.  Just don't bend over kiddo....  She also got her final shot yesterday, so she is all ready for pre-school and as a "present" for being good at the doctor she got a new little Barbie fairy and Nik got that water squirt gun for being a good big brother and holding her hand, he really is such a great big brother.

Happy 4th of July, my American buddies!

Some Fun Things

Why didn't any one tell me there are only 30 days in June, lol, I was totally counting on there being a day 31 to get some extra stuff done and then, poof, June was gone and I didn't do any of my normal end of the month linky parties.
This last week I was too depressed to do anything, it was a really tough week for me, so that's not the fun stuff.  But this morning I got the most awesome e-mail, that cheered me so greatly!  I was the #1 Winner of Chris W Designs Photographic Contest!  Yippeee.... I had the hardest time picking a photo and I guess Christine did also, because she had her daughter pick and she picked mine!

 The awesome prize: I get to choose any 5 of her bag patterns PLUS $50 store credit to buy some hardware kits.  Skipping with joy, I am happy today!

Some fun things happening this month:
A Quilt Design Contest for Sara's Jungle Ave. Fabrics, due date July 7th (that's this coming Monday!)

The Free Motion Quilt Along is coming soon, over at Elven Garden Quilts.

The Spain Fabric Swap, now you can easily use these fabrics to depict Greece too :), I couldn't get the flickr link to work, but I am sure she will fix that soon.  Sign up here on Flickr.

Also don't forget to check Mel's blog, it is where I put all of the giveaways I find up on her giveaway linky.
Have a great day.
Mara

TGIFF

I know it is Thursday, at least I think it is Thursday?  Since Nik isn't going to school I loose track of time, well I am just so darn glad I got all of this in the mail.

Oh Yeah all of those packages left the house today, my 4 giveaway packages, 2 just cause I like you packages, 1 swap, 1 PIF (Pay It Forward) and some cash I owe a good friend.

Very Heavy!  Costing 44euros or like $60 some dollars!

Now you are really lucky if you are getting something, cause my daughter wanted to open them back up, lol, I had a hard time convincing her that these "packages" were for OTHER people and not for her.
1 package contained the 4 FQ's that I put together for Natasha, I am so glad I asked her for more details in her favorite colors (aqua and grey) cause she sent me to her Pinterest board and she has the cutest fun prints pinned.  So I really hope you like these fabrics.

4 FQ's and 2 Threads from Greece

 "Adventures" by Stephanie Wright for RJR Fabrics, "Everything But The Kitchen Sink" for RJR Fabrics, and "Apple Jack" by Tim Beck for Moda.

 Plus some Valori Wells "Metamor-Stonewash", now she asked if there was any Greek designers, and although I do not think there are, I do know that Anne Marie Horner is of Greek ancestry, and at first I was totally thinking this was an AMH print and then found out it wasn't, but it fit her colors so well, that I decided to go with it anyway, hope you like it!

Full picture of the FQ, it is a very "Large" print.

Plus Butterfly Fabric and Butterfly Thread just go together!
I also sent out a little surprise and my first attempt at making a fabric postcard.

Get It!  Tou-Can Party, the name of the bird on the fabric is a Toucan!

 I won't show you the other side, it is a surprise!
I also sent out this little surprise.

Again only showing a little, the full reveal will happen next week!

And letting you in on a deal, make sure to go over to Massdrop, yes if you follow this link and sign up, then I might get a package in the mail, yippeee!!!!

 Okay so Massdrop is having a super deal on Aurifil Threads, this is a small box of Tula Pink's Collection, you will be getting a large box!! with 12 spools (the small boxes only have 10)  9 of the 12 are shown above, they are ALL variegated threads, you just have to play with them, although my favorite the one below is not included, so sad, as you can see it is on the machine having quilted the above projects is almost gone, boohoo..

Aurifil 4660

My other fav is the pretty variegated yellows of 4658

They also have 3 other boxes that you can choose from, but Tula's has all of the Variegated threads, the 2 extra though are not variegated.  The price is $79 and in the US you get free shipping so that comes out to $6.70 a spool, you won't find a cheaper price and even with the $13 shipping to Greece it still comes out to a good deal at $7.75 a spool.
So be sure to go over and check out Massdrop and see the good deal on Aurifil and read my friend Erin's post if you are looking for a new Iron!

One of my favorite sayings is "Go Big or Go Home"  they are doing another poll for the Aurifil boxes on Massdrop, so if none of the boxes above tickle your fancy then you post another one on the poll, go here for the Aurifil kits part 2 poll, have fun.

Linking to these good linky's - New to Me in June - for the fabric post card.
Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday - on Friday.
and maybe some others, will post when I do.
Have a great weekend, oh and if you get a package from me, be sure to save the stamps, they are from Greece!!!
Hugs