Tis the Season...and a Tip

I had the odd sale on my cafepress site a few weeks ago which reminded me I should promote it a bit on my blog. (Disclaimer: I HATE marketing). I've never had a lot of sales but I do usually sell a few calendars and perhaps some gift items this time of year. Think of it as going to an art museum and then buying a postcard or print of a favorite painting at the gift shop. You may not be able to afford the original of any of my quilt art, or perhaps a favorite piece is not for sale or already in a private collection, but perhaps you might find an image of it on an affordable mug, greeting card or decorative tile or treasure box. There's even a journal with four different choices of paper. And who can't use a calendar in your studio or office? I've always been pleased with the quality of the merchandise cafepress prints my images on and the images themselves are high quality as well. Treat yourself or get a start on your holiday shopping at my shop!

Now as a reward for suffering through that commercial break, here is the promised tip. One of my art group was admiring the way I'd paired filled bobbins with their matching spool of thread by stacking the pairs on the pegs in my thread rack. Unfortunately, not all of my thread will fit in this rack, although it holds a lot of thread. So I shared this alternate method for spools stored in drawers or shallow bins. It merely requires ordinary cotton swabs. I don't remember where I read about it but I was skeptical that it would really work. But truly it does...look!

Finally, circling back to "tis the season", I've treated myself to a new lightweight winter jacket in a color for which I have no suitably colored scarf. But I was pretty sure I'd bought a very luxurious yarn a few years back that had some blue in it. It didn't take me long to find it (while I have a yarn stash, it really isn't very big), and I was so pleased to discover it not only had the right color of blue, but also some teal green that matches the jacket lining. So I've started knitting a cowl scarf from this wool/silk hand-painted fingering yarn while I watch a little snow fly outside the window.