Beginning of the End

Mike's final week of work has arrived! Holy smokes. Each of us worried that it would never get here, and this month of April has really dragged. Day after day of rain hasn't helped. In spite of all of that, I think this week is going to fly by. There's a little send-off for him this Thursday, and I'm invited. Then Friday, he'll just go in for half a day and call it quits. For good. He hasn't ruled out the possibility of doing short-term projects in the future, but for at least the next year, his calendar will be free and clear of anything work related. We are both itching to get on the road and do some traveling.

But, alas. There's still the next few days to get through with the old mundane stuff of cooking, sewing, gardening, and cats. Always the cats. Sadie's new harness arrived yesterday. As you can see, she loves it already!

The dragged herself around on the carpet for a while trying to rub it off. This was actually a pretty good test. I was a little dismayed to see that it fastens only with velcro, and I worried how well it would hold. As it turns out, it's pretty stout velcro, and her pulling herself around didn't budge it. It has the advantage of being much easier to put on than the previous buckles. I just laid it on her back and then used my hands to wrap it around her little body, and voila! Fastened in! The challenge will be keeping the cat fuzz from taking the "stick" out of the velcro over time. Also, we'll have to get her outside to see if pulling at the leash will cause the tabs to pull loose.

She's quite fashionable, don't you think? That red bandana is very becoming next to her black fur.

Puh-leeze! Get it off! Get it off of me right now!

Wow Sadie...what did you do to offend the kitty gods? Can't help you with this one, my furriend. No thumbs, you know...

So, I took pitty and only made her wear it for a few minutes. She's a petite little thing, and the extra small size is just right. If she grows any more, however, we'll need a larger size. Her face is still kittenish, but we're not really sure about her age. She could grow a little larger, but time will have to reveal that secret.

Also in yesterday's deliveries was this new book announcing my newest thing-I've-never-tried-but-really-want-to-learn.

During CSA season, some of my fellow CSAers are into fermenting some of the veggies, and their concoctions always look so tasty. I decided I wanted to make an effort to learn how to ferment some stuff, and so I found this book, which is widely considered to be the bible of fermentation. It's something of a tome at nearly 500 pages of small print. There aren't even very many pictures! So...some light reading to keep me busy in our travels. I'll get a start on it some time today, but it's going to be a commitment to get through the whole thing. Possibly, I won't need to read it all in order to get started.

As for today's activities, I just have a couple of short housekeeping tasks to take care of. Also, I started my bread dough rising this morning. That will probably take most of the day before it's time to bake. As for sewing, I've been considering my options now that I have quilts for quilting. I'll probably put off starting on those until the beginning of May. For the remainder of the month, I'd like to work on some blocks.

Some weirdo started this challenge a few years ago called the NewFO Challenge. She even had a little gadget for it,

and she roped a bunch of silly quilters into joining her in starting a new project every month with no need to ever finish anything! Can you imagine? And some of those quilters have never forgiven her for this foray into madness. And I had so danged many projects going that it was complete insanity, and so I actually had to put some of them on the proverbial backburner in order to start whittling the list down to a manageable size.

Fast forward to today, and I'm down to just about eight projects (not including embroidery and quilts to be quilted) with just two still on the backburner. That all changes today because I'm going to get back to work on those remaining two projects this week. First up will be the next block(s) for the Pony Express quilt.

That's how the quilt looks if I were to finish it in the same way it was made originally, but I had some problems with this pattern. Now I'm doing my own thing with it. I wrote about this some in a previous blog post. I'm embarrassed to say that the last time I worked on this quilt was at the end of March in 2014 when I made this block:

So after a three year delay, I'm ready to get back at it, and that's where I'll start today.

The other project I'm taking off the backburner is this little quilt called "The Birds Return." I was all ready to blame my friend Sharon and her "Let's Book It" challenge, but no. It's the crazy cat lady and her NewFO Challenge again. It's the cover quilt from this book:

When I was working on this "regularly" (as if there was anything regular about this), I was making a vertical row at a time. And I'm hanging my head in shame in admitting that the last time I worked on this quilt was in January of 2014, when I completed the second vertical row:

So, I'm kind of determined to get a little more accomplished on each of those quilts this week. On the bright side, these are both scrap quilts and my stash of scraps is bigger than ever!!!

Here it is noon, and I haven't done a thing. Better get to it.

A Winner and Whatnot

Say good-bye. The time has come to announce the last winner of the NewFO Challenge. Mr. Random has spoken, and he has selected:

#10--Vivian!

Congratulations, Vivian. I've sent you an email, so check your inbox.

Ordinarily now would be the time for me to tell you not to despair if you didn't win, but this time, I'll forgo that cheery advice and tell you to go ahead and cry. The NewFO Challenge bites the dust for the last time. I'd be lying if I said I had no plans to bring it back. Actually, I don't, but you never know. I actually have some other ideas about games for the blog, but 2015 is going to be the year of catching up.

That said, I've been luxuriating in the freedom of a day at home this morning. I spent a couple of hours doing embroidery. The Gingerbread Square piece is about 1/3 of the way finished now. As long as I was unrolling it to move my hoop, I decided to iron it and let you see.

It's a fun piece to work on with all that color. Given that I'm going back to the gun metal gray of Vintage Tin when it's finished, I'm basking in the color while I can. And now it's hooped and rolled and ready for me to continue.

A couple of days ago, I gave you a peek at my quilt for the January doll quilt swap. After giving it some rational thought, I decided it was okay to show you the whole thing. For one thing, I'm reasonably certain my partner doesn't read my blog, but also, this quilt kills two birds with one stone because I'm also using it as my piece for the first project in Season 6 of Project Quilting.

Even though it's Season 6, it's only my first time participating. The theme of "Trees" caught my eye since I had already decided to make a tree quilt as my quilt for the doll quilt swap. The theme for the doll quilt swap this month is "A Good Book". After giving it some thought, I decided to use A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson as my inspiration. If you've never read any of Bill Bryson's books, you are missing out on some seriously entertaining reads. A Walk in the Woods is one of my favorites. So all of that to introduce my little 16 x 16 quilt, which is sort of a take off on a little quilt created by Jacey of Jaceycraft. You can find her tutorial right here. 

This has been on my list of quilts to make for a long time, and mine ended up looking quite different from hers. It's also a take off on my own Shine On quilt since I added the moon up there on the left.

That background fabric is some my daughter-in-law gave me for my birthday a couple of years ago. This seemed like a good time to use it. Yesterday I sandwiched it and let my applique top-stitching serve as the quilting. Here's how it looks from the back.

The moon is pebbled to give it some craters. I used a pearlescence thread that would have driven me crazy if I'd had much to stitch. It was a cheapy thread, and it kept unraveling and causing me grief. We got 'er done, but not without a little bit of swearing thrown in. This being such a small quilt, I decided to go ahead and do the whole thing on Big Bertha, but I covered her ears before I started swearing.

Then this morning I used an image from the book cover to create the label. I'll print that off in a little while.

Now that the NewFO Challenge has ended, of course the first thing I'm going to do today is start a new project. You knew I couldn't resist, didn't you? It's actually a small little thing...a gift for a friend, and so I won't be able to show it to you right away. In any case, I might actually finish the whole thing today. With that as my goal, it's time to get sewing. I need to fill the bird feeders, and I have a couple of housekeeping chores on my to-do list.

What are you doing today?

Boredom Be Gone

Well, I'm excited to report that my waterproof headphone/iPad solution worked great this morning. I had a few issues with it that should be easy to fix, but I'm really quite excited that this seems a solution to my terminal swimming workout boredom. I only talked about this a little bit yesterday, but I wanted to show you exactly how it works.

A while back, I saw a Groupon for this waterproof pouch for an iPhone. It seemed like a good deal, although I wasn't entirely sure how we'd use such a thing. I got one for Mike too, and then in David Letterman style asked Mike, "Is it anything?" We weren't sure. But then Mike built on the whole idea when he gave me some waterproof headphones for Christmas. 

I'll have to say I was a little worried about immersing my iPhone in water, and so I tested out the waterproof pouch last night by inserting some tissue inside, sealing it up, and then immersing it in water overnight.

When I took it out this morning, the tissue was absolutely dry.

So, here is a link to the case that I have, and here's how it looks when it's all put together. 

With some determination, it's possible to operate all the phone buttons, including the touchscreen, through the plastic cover. There is a jack inside the case that plugs into the phone. Then the phone is inserted into the pouch. (Jack first works best and keeps the cord out of the way of the waterproof seal of the pouch.)

Once you've got the phone inside the pouch, simply seal the waterproof closure and then plug your waterproof headphones into the back of the pouch. Here's a link to the headphones I have.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, the only way to attach the whole thing to your body is to stuff it down the front of your swimsuit. Surprisingly, that worked fine, and it was hardly noticeable. It was also comfortable that way. And then...I went swimming! And it worked! Hallelujah!

I have been a lap swimmer since I was 8 years old. Of course, back then I was on the swim team, which was its own reward. Now that I'm all grown up and don't look forward to hanging with my teammates, lap swimming has become a much more boring routine. I love lap swimming as a form of exercise, but I have yearned for decades for some sort of waterproof device that would give me something to listen to. I am so happy to have lived long enough to see such an invention. 

So here are the issues I had with it:

1. The cord for the headphones was kind of "swimming" (sorry) around and getting in my way. I solved that problem by threading it under my swimsuit strap, and that worked just fine.

2. The earbuds didn't completely prevent water from seeping into my ears. With water in my ears, it was a little hard to hear my book. I like these headphones because they have customizable earbuds. I chose a size that felt comfortable in my ears, but I'm going to try a larger size next time and see if I can get a more water-tight fit.

3. The whole apparatus was pretty distracting, which made it hard for me to pay attention to the book. I was so in awe of the fact that I could actually be swimming while listening that I was paying more attention to how ultra-cool I was rather than listening to the story. I think that problem will solve itself once I get more accustomed to with the whole thing.

There was another woman there today who had a different MP3 device. Hers was tiny...no larger than a book of matches. She felt the downside of hers was that it was a hassle to access the iTunes store, and that an iPhone made that problem easier to deal with. She experienced the same water-in-the-ears problem I did. Nevertheless, she said she was using hers for the fourth time, and felt that she'd had the best day yet. That was encouraging to me on the "distraction" front.

So, there you go. A modern miracle. "Reading" while swimming. Who would have thought it possible?

After I'd finished my workout, I went to the grocery store, and I'm just about to go get back to work on my doll quilt. I didn't want to close, however, without linking up to:

Today's theme is "Machine Applique" and it seems a perfect time to link up to a fusible machine applique tutorial I wrote as a part of the "Quilting Secrets Blog Hop" way back on New Year's Day, 2013. You can find my post right here.

Finally, it's the last day to link up to the last NewFO Challenge. Don't miss out. You can find the linky party right here. Winner announced tomorrow.

December NewFO Linky Party and Giveaway

Happy New Year's Eve! If this is your first time linking up to the NewFO Challenge, I have good and bad news for you. The bad news is that this is the End of an Era! We've been creating new UFO's for our to-do lists for three full years, but it's time to bring this one to a close...at least until my to-do list gets shorter. It's possible I might bring this back some time in the future, but for now, we're calling it quits. 

Now, dry your tears because today's party is a celebration of that stack of unfinished quilts we've all accumulated. Today everyone who links up with a NewFO started in December will have a chance to win two great prizes. In addition to our usual lapel pin, 

I'm adding this 12-fat quarter bundle of Half Moon Modern Zig Zag from Moda fabrics.

Just look at all these delicious colors!

So I hope you started something new last month because that's what it takes to win these beauties.

As for me, I started two new projects. One of mine is a finish, but don't let that stop you because finishes have never been required for the NewFO Challenge. All you have to do is start something new!

Here's what I've been up to:

This little "Sew Helpful" character for the Let's Book It Challenge. It still needs quilting and binding.

Also, this little Home Sweet Home stitchery from Bird Brain Designs.

And now I'm ready to see your NewFO's for this, our final challenge. Here are my simple and friendly rules:

1.  Please link-up with your newly started projects from December, finished or not.  If you feel like it, show us the progress you've made on any other previously posted NewFO projects.

2.  Please link back to this post from your blog.  Also, please link to your blog post, not your blog. Links to entire blogs will be edited.  Links provided for the sole purpose of promoting other events or shopping experiences will be deleted without apology. Please do not link to your Etsy shops or other giveaways and/or promotions you have going on your own blog. To be clear, it is okay to link to other events, but I want to see your NewFO's as a part of your post. 

3.  Don't have a blog?  Upload an image to this FlickR group and link to that.  If you have questions about how to do that or about how to link up, please email me.  If you're having trouble posting your image, email it as an attachment, and I will be happy to post it for you.  Please know that it takes a bit for your thumbnail to appear, so don't despair.  It will appear eventually.  You might need to "refresh".

4.  Obviously, I need some way to contact you no matter how you link up.  No email address and no other way to contact you equals no entry in the giveaway.  Email me separately if you need to.

I'll leave this linky party open until one minute before midnight on Tuesday, January 6, 2015. Winner will be announced on Wednesday, January 7, 2015! We will ship anywhere in the known Universe, so everyone is welcome! 

It's your last chance. Don't miss out!  

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The Day After and a 2015 Preview

It's the day after Christmas, and we're starting to get back to normal here. We had a really nice evening with family. You may recall that we decided to do away with the gift exchange and spend that time planning a weekend get-together as a family for some future date. I'd been calling this an "experiment" since I had no confidence whatsoever that six people could agree on a place, let alone a date. My family amazes me, however. We had decided both in the span of about five minutes. Next!

Okay, then. Time for dessert. When I last wrote anything of substance (although arguably, nothing I write here is "of substance"), I was speaking of that certain special substance known as "Cranberry Cheesecake". I was saying that I was going to try to remember to take a picture of it once I cut into it, and remember I did.

It makes such a pretty and festive dessert for Christmas or Thanksgiving, although pumpkin pie is still my favorite for Thanksgiving. This recipe is from an ancient issue of Bon Appetit...sometime during the 14th Century, no doubt. I searched online so that I could link to the recipe for you, and I couldn't find it. Apparently it predates quill and ink days, let alone the internet. 

With that in mind, I'm giving you the recipe right here. Erik declared it the best cheesecake he'd ever eaten...which can't possibly be true because I've made it before, and he's eaten it before. So, I'm assuming he meant it was the best cheesecake he'd eaten since the last time he ate it. Anyway...the recipe which is not for the feint of heart. Here it is:

Cranberry Cheesecake

Cranberry Filling:

1 bag (12 oz.) fresh or frozen cranberries

1 1/3 cups sugar

1/3 cup fresh orange juice

Cheese Filling:

4 packages (8 oz.each) cream cheese, room temperature 

1 1/3 cups sugar

4 large eggs

Crust:

12 vanilla sandwich cookies (such as Golden Oreos or Vienna Fingers; 6 1/2 oz.), broken into pieces

5 tablespoons unsalted butter -- room temperature

1/4 cup sugar

Topping:

2 cups sour cream

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For cranberry filling: combine cranberries, sugar and fresh orange juice in heavy medium saucepan. Bring to boil over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat and simmer until berries pop and mixture thickens, stirring frequently to prevent sticking, about 10 minutes. Cool cranberry filling completely.

For cheese filling: Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until well blended. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Set cheese filling aside.

For crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Position rack in center of oven. Blend cookies, butter and sugar in processor until crumbs stick together. Press crumbs on bottom and halfway up sides of a 9-inch diameter spring-form pan with 2-3/4-inch-high sides. Bake crust 10 minutes. Set aside. Maintain oven temperature.

Pour cheese filling over crust in pan. Spoon 1 cup cranberry filling over cheese filling. Reserve remaining cranberry filling for topping, for eating, or discard. Using small sharp knife, swirl to form marble pattern. Bake until center of cheesecake is set, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Transfer cheesecake to rack and maintain oven temperature.

Meanwhile prepare topping: Mix sour cream, sugar and vanilla in small bowl. Gently press down any raised edges of cheesecake. Spoon topping over cake. Bake 5 minutes more. Transfer cheesecake to rack to cool. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Release pan sides.  Transfer cheesecake to platter. Cut cheesecake into wedges and serve, passing additional cranberries separately, if desired.

Cheesecake can be prepared 2 days ahead.  Refrigerate.

NOTES : If crust sticks to your fingers while you are making it, lightly flour fingertips.

So beyond stuffing my face with cheesecake, I've been mending my relationship with the Quilting Snowladies after abandoning them in favor of another stitchery last week. This morning I gave them their faces, hair, noses, scarves, and hats. It was one of those times when I kept telling myself, "I'll just finish this part and then I'll quit." Only, I was lying. I just kept going, and going, and going, like the Energizer Bunny.

The piece is pretty close to being finished now. Just a couple of trees, the snow, and the flagpole are left to do.

We're heading off to Bend this weekend to visit some friends, and I was thinking I needed to get my next stitchery ready to go just in case I finish this one up while we're gone. I started getting the first block of Gingerbread Square ready to go...

but then I realized there was no way I could have it ready for stitching before we left. Once the piece is traced onto fabric, the next step is to do the shading with crayons. Then, I can start the stitching. I guess I can do the shading while we're gone, and so I'll go ahead and trace it out and pack along my crayons. When the shading is done, the color is heat set with an iron. I can drag along my travel iron too, although I'm fairly certain our hosts will have an iron. In any case, it's going to be a bit of a production getting this one to the stage where I can actually start the embroidery. It's a process new to me, and so I think it will be fun.

We had some excitement in the house this morning and, as you might guess, it involved you-know-who. 

After spending hours with a mouse cornered in the pantry, Smitty finally chased it into the living room. I grabbed the cat and threw him downstairs, shutting the door behind him. The mouse took off at the speed of light while Mike and I took turns trying to herd it out the door. After about three minutes of excitement, the mouse was safely liberated to the outdoors once again. We really should have our own reality show. 

As for Smitty, he is bereft. He is so totally disgusted with this family he finds himself living with. How are we going to survive if we can't hunt any better than that? Geez. He tries teaching us, and we refuse to learn.

Okay, so I spent some time yesterday writing up my to-do list for January, only it got so ridiculously long...partly because I was including projects that I probably won't start in January. So I thought better of it and decided to give you this little preview of the sew-alongs, quilting bees, swaps, and group projects I've signed up to participate in this coming year. I don't think I'll be bored.

First, Jenny of Elefantz is doing a free BOM next year, and I love her stuff. I decided to participate. Usually I use fabrics from my own stash for these, but her suggested fabric is so cute, that I decided to go with that. It's called Home Ec by Michael Miller. The UPS man just delivered it today.

I got mine from Fabric.com, and they give you free shipping if you spend a certain amount. I figure I'd rather spend that shipping money on fabric, and so I got a couple of yards of this plain Jane fabric as well. It'll make a good background fabric for my many embroidery projects. Yeah, it's not much to look at, but fabric should be more than just a pretty face.

Next, I'm participating again in the 2015 Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

That button signifies a special challenge that included a special hand-dyed fabric bundle from Vicki Welsh. I understand the fabric bundle is now sold out. No worries for me because I'd already selected my own project for the 2015 Challenge, this "Cats in the Attic" quilt designed by the late Pam Bono. I first saw the quilt made up on Piece N Quilt, a blog by Natalia Bonner. 

Natalia did the beautiful quilting for this quilt made by Karen, who blogs at KaHolly. There's a story behind Karen's quilt, and I've linked to it right there. When I saw this quilt, I fell in love with the design and knew right away that I wanted to make it for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt in 2015. Pam Bono's website has been taken down since her death, but as luck would have it, I'd already printed off the pattern ages ago. I found it in my cat fabric bin. Yay! The original design has four different blocks, and I'm planning to make some of each for my quilt. 

Also next year, I'm participating in a couple of Bees. I'll be making blocks for the We Bee With It modern block bee.

Also, I'm participating in The Global Quilting Project 2015. This is a Facebook group, and I'm not sure yet what's going to happen next. We've been in the sign-up stage. So many have signed up from the USA and Canada that there is now a waiting list for those countries, but this truly is a global project with quilters participating from all over the world. If my count is correct, there are 34 countries signed up so far. It should be fun, and I love being a part of these large endeavors.

My friend Marei put me onto this next one, and I've decided to make a quilt for Another Little Quilt Swap 9. This one isn't due until April, but I'm going to at least select a project and possibly get started on it next month. This is a different take on swapping. If you're afraid of commitment, check out the rules. You might want to sign on for this one.

So that begins my preview of things to come in 2015. We're heading off to Bend tomorrow, and so I won't be blogging while I'm gone. I'll be back Monday afternoon, but probably won't resume blogging until Tuesday. In the meantime, I've got a "year in review" post ready for you while I'm gone. 

Also, don't forget that the NewFO linky party for December goes live on New Year's Eve, and this one includes a nice giveaway. You still have time to start something new and be eligible to link up and win.

I hope you'll join us because when this one is over, the NewFO Challenge will be gone for good.

Giveaway Day Winner!

Generating a number at random, I've selected the winner for Giveaway Day. The winner of the Spot On bundle of fat quarters from Robert Kaufman is:

#315--Joanna Jenkins

Joanna, I've sent you an email, so check your inbox.

Not a winner? You can come to the grand finale of the NewFO Challenge on December 31st, New Years Eve. Start something new during the month of December, then come to the party and link up for a chance to win. No finishes required!

A Winner, A Winery, and a Wickedly Helpful Tutorial

Awesome Alliteration: You know I'm not above using inappropriate adjectives and making up words to achieve it. So with that said, I have a lot of ground to cover. Here goes:

A Winner

First, it's time to announce the winner of the November NewFO Challenge Linky Party. Thanks to all who linked up. Mr. Random Number Generator has spoken and he has selected:

#8--Mary Crowther

Congratulations, Mary! I've sent you an email, so check your inbox.

Don't despair if you didn't win because there are two big giveaways coming up during the month of December here on Cat Patches. I'm participating in 

which starts tomorrow bright and early. I have something terrific for you, so be sure to check back tomorrow.

Also, we have one more month of NewFO Challenges. During December, I'll be giving away this "Pine Tree" lapel pin. 'Tis the season, right?

But that's not all. We're celebrating the end of the NewFO era with a special giveaway, and I'll have something else to give away to one lucky winner. Be sure to start something new during the month of December so you can link up and win!

A Winery

Last night, Mike and I attended a nice dinner party at the Sokol Blosser winery where we have been members for a long time. 

In fact, we've been informed that we are the "oldest members" of their wine club. The woman who informed us of this hastened to say that we were the members of longest standing rather than the oldest chronologically, which only made me feel the tiniest bit better at this dubious distinction. 

The winery hosts these dinners at least once per year, but this was the first time we'd attended one in their brand new tasting room. (You can see photos of their fancy new digs right here.) The events we've attended in the past have always been held in the wine cellar, which was wonderfully rustic, if a little chilly. Last night's event was so much more elegant. Can you tell we were prepared to drink some great wines?

They served up a sparking Evolution when we came through the door, and then a pinot gris with this yummy shrimp cocktail. Something else new is that they've hired their own chef who did all the cooking last night. She's also starting a line of food products to sell at the winery, including their own cocktail sauce that was served alongside the shrimp last night.

After that they served up the first course which was a caramelized onion & wild mushroom bisque with truffle oil. This was to die for. 

With that, they started serving up the pinot noirs, which are my favorites. We had both a 2011 and a 2012. The 2012 was more to our liking and it was an estate bottled wine, meaning that the grapes came from their own vineyards. 

Mike and I always love reading the descriptions. The 2012 was described thus: "ripe raspberry, baking spice, tarragon". And I said to Mike, "I totally picked up on the 'baking spice', didn't you?" (Not.) Still, it was smooth and tasty. And then they served up the main course, which was prime rib and a "root mash". It wasn't potatoes. We agreed with the Canadian couple sitting across from us that it contained some parsnips, but there were some other root vegetables in there too. It was delicious.

And we really enjoyed the Canadian couple. They have traveled by RV quite extensively in the United States, and so we had a lot in common. They are Oregon wine lovers, and they travel down from Vancouver, B.C., fairly frequently to purchase their limit of six bottles to take back across the border.

Then they served up the dessert, which was a really nice spice cake with orange zest goat milk ice cream and their Sokol Blosser maple rosemary nut brittle. That's a hunk of nut brittle in the foreground...a kind of candied nut that was perfect with the spice cake and ice cream.

And here we are. I was feeling so smug having actually found a pair of dress slacks that I was happy with. 

Just now I noticed the arrow extending from my head to the sign that says "salty". And just to be perfectly clear, I am only salty when I'm sewing with metallic thread. (See my Wickedly Helpful Tutorial below.)

On the way home, we had to turn around and go back to stare at this home in an ordinary residential neighborhood, all lit up for Christmas...complete with music!

Wow!

The lights were delightful, but I'm not sure I would enjoy having the accompanying music if I were one of their neighbors.

Okay, so now I'll get on with my

Wickedly Helpful Tutorial

It might be an overstatement to call this a tutorial, but enough of you commented on my use of metallic thread 

from yesterday's post that I wanted to say just a little more about it. I've used metallic threads both successfully and unsuccessfully, and I always think the best place to start is with a list of all the bad words you know...just in case. You don't want to be at a loss for words when you need to really let loose. Everyone in the house will be safer. Trust me on this.

Once you have your list in place, take a look at your thread. You want to use a good quality thread. Yesterday I was using Sulky brand, and it was a dream to work with. I've also had good luck with Superior's metallic threads. The spool on the right in the image below is Superior. The one on the left is a no-name brand. And not to pick on any particular country, but this one was made in a country whose name begins with C-H and ends with I-N-A.

You can tell just by looking at them on the spool that the thread on the right is of higher quality. Unwind them from the spool, and you can really see the difference. In the image below, you can see that the thread on the right comes off the spool without kinks, while the one on the left...oh my. That is going to cause you difficulty every time one of those kinks passes through your needle.

The kinks can be helped by the use of a thread stand. My quilting from yesterday was done on my mid-arm, which has a nice long path for the thread to travel before it passes through the needle. On a domestic machine, you can achieve the same thing by using a thread stand. While it doesn't seem like it would make much difference, that extra several inches gives your metallic thread time to relax and uncoil and it will give you fewer headaches in your sewing. 

Also, use a metallic needle. You can read about the different kinds of needles on this helpful chart from Schmetz. The the bottom line is that a metallic needle has an elongated and larger eye than a universal needle as you can see in the image below.

Finally, as I mentioned in my post yesterday, the Sewer's Aid is a very helpful product. 

It is a silicon-based lubricant that will lubricate your thread and allow it to pass through the eye of your needle without snagging. The silicon will not absorb into your fibers either. Just run a thin line from the top to the bottom of your spool, and then massage it in like hand lotion. I've given you a link above that image to where you can purchase it on Amazon. While the price might seem high for such a small amount, that little bottle will probably last you for the rest of your life. And your life will be longer if you use it when you are sewing with metallic threads. Trust me on that too.

So, just to be clear, I'm not an expert on sewing with metallic thread, but these are some things that have worked for me. I hope they'll work for you too.

Today I have some housekeeping chores to do, but I'm going to continue on with my quilting. I hope you have a lovely day.