Valerean

My guy and I were out walking an antique mall last week when I spotted a bundle of vintage DMC floss in a bunch of very old plastic bags held together by a key ring. I knew even for $9.95 no one would probably buy it (the bags were soiled and worn, and the floss had probably been in them for decades) but when I looked through the floss and saw how pretty it was I decided to take it home with me. The ring held thirty bags of floss, some with multiple skeins. I'd date it back to the 60's or 70's. Once outside the old bags the floss glowed like it was brand new -- 44 unused skeins and 16 partials. To pay less than ten dollars for it is a major score, because it's worth about fifty bucks. The seller obviously didn't know (or didn't care) about how much floss is worth. I do. DMC just raised their prices this year, and on average floss went from .79 a skein to .95 a skein. That doesn't sound like much to people who don't embroider, until you ...

I love old sewing thread. I collect wooden and paper spools with old darning silks on them. I also have a couple hundred spools of vintage threads that came in old sewing boxes, bags of thrifted notions and auction lots. Most are still in good shape, but I rarely use them for anything except basting here and there. For quilting and textile art I prefer Gütermann thread, which I think is the best quality on the market. I have Gütermann in basically all colors. When I saw this video by Maeli Designs about turning sewing thread into yarn I simply had to try it, and pulled twelve spools of my vintage threads in different shades of blue. I did the technique from the video by hand because I don't own a yarn winder, and it works just like the video said. I then crocheted this little disk with a 4mm hook. The gathered threads are not like yarn, so they're hard to hold together. It's easy to turn the threads into a bunched mess with a slip of the hook (and I shou...

As I mentioned earlier I bid on three listings this week that I wish I could own but that are likely going to be grabbed up by others. I loved this quilt the moment I saw it, so I bid with my maximum upfront in hopes that I might win it. Alas, I didn't. The bidders swarmed and the quilt ended up selling for $119.88 This gorgeous chest of Madeira thread that I already knew I wouldn't win finally went for a whopping $182.31. In the end I was glad I didn't win it because the thread is actually rayon and not silk like I thought. Finally, did I win this immaculate-looking sewing machine? I sure did! I had only one challenger, and they dropped out right away, so I got it under my max bid amount. I'll tell you more when it arrives, but one wish out of three is great! Image Credit: all the images is this post came from the original auction listings at ShopGoodwill.com.

I'm bidding on three things this week, but they're not wannbuts -- they're things I wish I could own but that are likely going to be grabbed up by others. I still bid on them anyway because you never know. For example, I loved this quilt the moment I saw it, so I bid with my maximum upfront in hopes that I might win it. Since it is such a pretty quilt, I probably won't. This sewing machine looks brand new in the listing. Because I don't know if it needs repair, I only bid a small amount. If I win this one, and it works, it will become my light duty sewing machine. I also plan to lend it out to a neighbor who doesn't own one. New-looking machines generally get fought over quite a bit at the auction site. I confess, by the time I wrote this post I'd already been outbid on this gorgeous chest of Madeira thread. I'm not going to continue to bid on it, but I do want to see what it sells for. Stay tuned to the blog to find out if I get l...

This was a lot of embroidery threads that I bid on, but quickly fell out of the competition as the bids skyrocketed, ending with a winning bid of $68.77. That, in my opinion, is too much money for partially used and blemished perle threads (that's how they were described in the listing), even if you do get the rainbow of colors. The same day I dropped out of the bidding we stopped by our local brick and mortar Goodwill, where I found a bundle of yarn, crochet hooks, knitting needles, notions, sewing thread and yes, two nice-size bags of perle and embroidery floss in a rainbow of colors -- probably twice what was being auctioned online. This kind of thing happens to me so frequently I sometimes think the universe is rewarding me for being frugal. Anyway, I paid $5.99 for the whole bundle. My locally thrifted thread is colorful, pretty, and exactly what I wanted -- for a whole lot less than I thought I'd have to pay (and it came with all the other stuff, too.) S...

My guy and I were cruising a favorite antique mall back in January when I spotted these bags of perle embroidery thread. They're Anchor, DMC and more than a few Finca (and one very big surprise), and most of them were barely used. Every bag had been marked "bowl filler." I couldn't believe expensive embroidery thread would be used to fill bowls, and I kind of had to save it. Epecially seeing as I only have a couple balls of DMC because it costs so much (like $3.50 to $5.00 for one ball. A set of six can run up to $30.00.) I've also been looking in thrift stores for perle thread because it is so expensive. Here are the 33 balls out of the bags. They're in mint condition. What you're looking at here is Valdani variegated perle thread, aka the big surprise, which runs about $6.00 per ball. That's also why I never buy this brand: because it's so freaking expensive. Just these six are worth $36.00. If you add the other 27 at $3...

I'm pulling together materials for several spring projects, including some fat quarters I found at the Dollar Tree. They're bright and pretty, and quite colorful, which hopefully inspires me to step outside my November beachy comfort zone. I've never worked with proper faux fur, only Minky, so I thought I'd also try to sew some bunnies from these Dollar Tree squares. Finally I've put together the background fabric and embroidery thread pallete for my vintage linens quilt. The fabric is actually European linen scraps from a sheet maker that sells their manufacturing trimmings, which I already used in two linen quilts in the past. It's really dreamy stuff.

Many years ago I put together an inspiration box for myself filled with kimono scraps, sashiko threads, hand-dyed silk velvet and some mini patchwork blocks. I wanted to make something out of them, but nothing ever came to mind. So I packed them away for a time when I was feeling more creative (like last month!) Having beautiful materials to work with is always inspiring, but also a little intimidating. When I work with such precious things in the back of my mind I'm always thinking Don't waste it and Don't screw it up . This time, however, I was able to conquer those doubts. I started by making a foundation for a wall hanging out of one long piece of kimono silk, which I folded in half, batted and sewing together. Stay tuned to see how it turns out.

My guy and I are taking time each week to walk around the downtown areas of places we've never had time before to visit, which is how I came across a lovely fiber art supplies shop wth amazing handspun art yarns and hand-dyed embroidery threads from local artists. Fine silk embroidery thread is literally impossible to find in my part of the country, but not anymore. I also loved the amazing selection of hand-dyed flosses. I even found some tiny seed beads for my current project, and a gift for a quilter friend. While I try to thrift as much as I can for my art quilting and embroidery these days, I love the chance to support our my local weavers and dexters.

One of my weirder habits is to photograph the thread snips and fabric bits that I clean out of my thread catcher when it's filled. I think it looks neat. I also try to match up the layers with the projects I've worked on in the past few months. There is a lot of perle thread snips from my recycled linen quilt, and pretty embroidering floss from my calendar scroll project. I also save what I clean out in little sandwish baggies. I'm hoping to find a way to resuse these bits in a craft project one day, but until then they live in my sewing recycle bin. Yes, I know -- I warned you it was a weird habit! Ha.

My $13.00 lot of thread was definitely worth what I paid for it; even used the thread alone is worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $100.00. The majority are polyester, but there are a few cotton, one viscose and a spool of invisible thread. Those nice Fiskar pinking shears retail for $44.99 new, and the Crayola thread pack runs around $6.99. Also, that little sunflower diamond art painting kit retails for $15.52 on Amazon (had no idea they were that expensive!) The vintage crochet hooks and metal bobbins are priceless, and went to the Notions Retirement Home, as just being able to preserve them is a treat for me. This one spool of Auifil retails for $6.99 new, which this one is. That seems insanely expensive to me but there you go. I'd put the value of the entire lot at somewhere around $250.00.

Today is supposedly the first day of fall, so it's time to get busy on my holiday projects. Although I'm finished thrifting fabric -- at least for a few years -- I needed some thread, which isn't getting any cheaper these days. What I was looking for was included in a seven pound craft lot that cost me $13.00 plus shipping. Let's unpack it and see what more I got. The original owner must have embroidered; there are two hoops, two small sharp scissors and a brand-new Crayola 24 skein thread pack. Some kits also came with the lot; a crewel that has already been started, a small beginner macrame (which I've never done) that is new, and a small diamond art kit. On the latter, I said I'd never do one again after that dragon I made, but if everything is in the kit I'll give it another go. The thread was perfect -- 77 clean, mostly full spools in white, black, blues, pastels and a few greens and reds. There were also some old fashioned metal bobbins...

My second Goodwill gamble arrived; this is one I paid ten bucks for last month. Just inside the lid was a big roll of plastic mesh that I think is for latchhook work. In the auction listing it looked like fabric to me, so that was unexpected. Someone at the seller's end was nice enough to put a note on this pinned fabric. I'll put on my gloves before I take it out to inspect it. The embroidered green fabric turned out to be 1-1/2 yards of sequinned and three-dimensional designer fabric. I'll guess this cost somewhere between $20.00 to $30.00 a yard, and it's in pristine condition. But here's a shot of everything in the lot, which is mostly crafty odds and ends with a small amount of cotton fabrics, a large amount of synethetic fabrics, and some other surprises. The original owner of these was probably a Catholic school teacher; these beads, crosses and medallions are the kind of rosary kits for kids to make at Sunday school or Bible camp (and s...