Jackpot!

A few weeks ago Aurifil asked their Facebook fans to take a survey for them. At the end of the survey you had the option to give them an email address to be entered to win one of 10 thread collections. I love Aurifil thread and since they were asking for feedback, I went and took the survey. It didn't take very long, maybe five minutes.

Well... that five minutes of my life was well-spent because my name was drawn! My prize arrived last week.

I won the above Pastel Collection. Of the twelve threads in the collection eleven are colors I don't already have. The one I do have is the one in the middle on top. This is the one I use for the clothesline totes I've been making lately. I use about one spool for every two large totes I make, so winning a spool of this color is fabulous. 

Thanks Aurifil!!

Time to Get Busy

After completing my first of the remaining applique blocks for the commissioned Christmas quilt I'm doing (see this post and this post), I realized that I really need to invest in some thread for this project. So I got out my new Aurifil thread card, the remaining fabric kits for the blocks and placed an order. My order arrived earlier this week.

That is 25 small spools of thread. Here they are all lined up for a group photo.

Now it is time to get busy tracing, cutting and stitching.

And I can go back and fix a couple of the pieces on the snowman that I wasn't happy with. I know it isn't noticeable in the photo, but after living with it for a couple of weeks I'm not happy with a few of the thread colors I used on him and I need to fix it. My applique skills aren't good enough to hide the fact that I didn't have the correct color thread for stitching on those pieces. It won't take me long to remove and redo, then I can do the embroidery and finish him up.

Recent Shopping

I made a couple of purchases recently I thought I'd share with you. First I bought one of the ultimate machine quilting packages from Leah Day at Day Style Designs.

I have the original slider, but this is the Supreme slider. It has a self sticking bottom so that it will stay put without having to tape it down. My original slider works well but having to remove the tape every time I change a bobbin is getting old. And it has gotten a bit bent up over the years from regular use. I also already have a pair of Machingers gloves, but I thought having two would be nice. I have never tried the magic bobbin washers but others say they are great. I've been wanting to try them to see what all the fuss is about. I'll let you know.

My second recent purchase was thread.

After my recent machine quilting nightmare with the YLI variegated thread, I decided to try Signature variegated thread based on recommendations from friends. Again, I'll let you know. I also bought two spools of Aurifil in fun colors. I'm in LOVE with the turquoise. The photo above does not do it justice. Have you ever gotten thread you loved so much you designed a project just so you could use it? I've got to come up with some project to use this turquoise thread on! The green is also wonderful, but it is a replacement spool. I already have some of the green but used most of it. It is such a good color for me that I just bought another spool to have on hand.

Finally, it is snowing here today. Goldie is sitting in the window trying to catch snow flakes!

Silly girl! One photo can't capture the frequent head turning and little meowy growls she is making.

My Lucky Day

I awoke Monday morning, checked my email and almost spilled coffee on myself. I had an email from Pat Sloan, the Pat Sloan, telling me that I had won her "Things that Make Life Better" giveaway. This cute-as-a-button collection of Aurifil thread. Aren't the colors great?

It arrived today! She also enclosed two patterns, one each for her current fabric lines. Thanks Pat!! Now to put these to good use ...