Pandora's box of thread

I'll start with the Virtual Challenge -- I have 10.33 KM to walk today to meet my goal, so that should be EASY!!! 

Here's the quilt of the day, and I'm happy to report that, while it still took a long time to quilt, I started much earlier in the day, so I finished shortly after dinner, and it wasn't a super late night - at least not because of quilting! 

Customer quilt - DONE

This version of Wanderer's Wife has large borders on all sides to fit a queen-sized bed! 

Another large one awaits me today. I love when there are no issues with the quilts, and again this one quilted up beautifully. There was only one minor glitch with the software when I got an error message, and everything shut down, but I recovered in 2 minutes and was back in business. 

My User's Group tells me it's a corrupt file in the software, but it happened only occasionally? I don't understand, but I know how to recover, and that's all that matters. 

So while I was babysitting the quilt, I went down a rabbit hole instead of working on something that needed to be done. I decided to dig out all my thread and sort them. Oh boy.....................

I don't know where to begin the story, as it's such a mess, and how can one use those threads when you don't even know what you have. OH -- I remember why I went down this rabbit hole. I was searching for some thread to use with the serger, and well, the rest is history. 

Some of my thread was stored in these small cabinets on a shelf in the stash room. 

Drawer unit full of thread

There are two cabinets, and you can see that I've had to put some spools on the shelf in front as it no longer fits in the drawers. 

A second drawer unit filled with thread

But the good news is that I found where I had hidden my stuffing forks! I had several of them and wanted them a while back, but no idea where I had put them. Now I should remember where they are, and I also found more tube turners. You can never have enough tube turners! 

My stuffing forks

I did not pull out my embroidery thread as I had recently sorted through that, and it's nicely sorted and stored. It's sorted by color, and the system works for me as I love pulling out the box of thread and putting it beside the sewing machine. 

My embroidery threads

I left all the tubs of thread for the long arm in the cabinet, but you can see some pretty empty shelves there -- there was a LOT of other thread in that cabinet. 

Thread for the long arm

I also didn't sort through the 50-weight colored spools, as those were recently sorted. The top two orange containers are also 50-weight colors, which do not fit in the drawers! It's always a challenge to get things sorted and stored properly, and I might use some of those drawers to put ALL of the 50-weight colors in rather than be in those little tubs. Plus - I found MORE, so I have to do something. 

Spools of 50-weight colored thread

This is what the sorted drawer looks like. There is some polyester in there as well, but this works for me. 

Spools of 50-weight colored thread

This is what else I found for the 50-weight colored thread. Yikes -- those really need to be sorted and put with the rest, but because these are larger spools, they will fit, but not as nice. I may have to use ONE entire cabinet, so all the 50-weight fits in one spot. 

More 50-weight thread

And then there are the neutral colors that I use for piecing. At last, all that is together, and YIKES -- I found quite a few spools and cones hidden away!

50-weight thread for piecing

I took all the drawers, except the sorted one, out of that cabinet so it was empty. You can see a container of embroidery floss sitting on top of it. I did not go down that avenue!

The cabinet is empty

This is the mess once I had emptied all the cubby holes and before I started sorting. 

One of the work tables is half consumed by thread

At least it was all in some sort of container! OK - so I had to dig out some empty tubs from storage to put it all. But what a mess -- I almost didn't know where to start. 

More thread to be sorted

And the ironing board was covered as well. I guess I do not need to buy thread any time soon. 

The ironing board is filled with thread

I did NOT go through the bobbins that are housed in a drawer. It's been sorted recently. 

The drawer of bobbin thread supplies

So I started to sort and pulled out all the long arm thread that is NOT sorted by color. When I get a chance, I'll sort these by color into the bins that are in the cabinet. Then when I want a color, I have some variety. I have the thread; I should put it where I'll use it! 

More thread for the long arm

My collection of Superior Bottom Line thread is neatly stored (by color number) in these trays, and they are back in the cupboard. 

Bottom Line thread

I pulled out the invisible thread. OK -- how much invisible thread does one need? And I have fusible thread, elastic thread, and wash-away thread. Sigh....................

Invisible, wash-away, and elastic thread

I'm trying to sort what remains by thread weight or style, and then I'll need to find containers to put them in. I have the containers; I just want to figure out how best to store them. And then I guess I better label everything as well. But oh my --- what an exercise! 

I knew this was going to happen and will continue to happen. While my thread was in three different locations, it was technically together, as is most of my stuff. But it's this refinement that is going to take time. Yep -- the thread is there, but if I have no idea what I have or how much -- -how can I possibly use it? So sorting by type and weight or color will be key! 

I did not finish yesterday as I was getting tired of dealing with the mess. So I hope to do a bit more today. However I made good progress, but there is still a mish-mash to sort through. 

I took one bag of kits to Diane yesterday and came home with more quilt tops! One more trip today.

Community projects quilt tops

At one point during the day, I had to chuckle. When I'm at the long arm, I look right and see this wall of photos, ALL of which are crooked. How did that happen? 

The wall art is askew

I won't be getting rid of any thread as the thread is a treasure, and you never know when or how you'll use it, and let's not even think of how much money is in those threads -- so I had better start using them!

It's Monday sewing! We have a show and tell at 11 AM every Monday, and while it's mostly the work of the group that we share, there have been loads of quilt shows, and someone usually takes pictures, and we get to see the quilts that way. Today is no exception -- I see I have many pictures to insert in the presentation, plus the ones from our gallery show on Friday night! 

You gotta love Mondays!!!!

And yes -- I'm off to spin class as well. Yeah!!! 

I also made an appointment with a chiropodist for May. I met up with a chiropodist on my Camino last year, and we chatted about my feet. She lives about an hour from me and gave me her contact info. So I touched base with her, and she provided me a couple of reference places and provided a TON of information as well. I need to thank her for that. So all is good!!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!