Jammer boxes--an explanation

I got a few questions in regard to my Jammer box post the other day. I didn't realize the whole world hadn't gotten swept up in the frenzy around them that developed in the spring of 2007, when I got mine.

This is a Jammer box next to a regular bobbin box for size comparison:

They sold them in Walmart. Not in the craft section. In the toy section. They were designed to hold the little metal cars. Apparently they didn't sell well as that function, but leave it to a stitcher to figure out that, stood on end, wound bobbins of floss fit in there.

People said it held a whole set of DMC. They are double-sided, so this is possible. Maybe one day, I'll get organized enough to try it. It would make it easier to travel.


I keep my hand-dyeds in one. Except Crescent Colours. Those get their own box. They're my favorite. Though a favorite would be hard to choose with all these colors.

The Joann boxes are as close as I've seen to the Walmart boxes. I am hopeful they will work as well. They, of course, are already sold out (you know someone at the company is asking what caused the demand to rise and is really confused). If I see more, I will post. They're a good investment at the price.

I pulled this out this morning to work on today, while I'm waiting for February. Last night, I worked on Summer Ball, but I realized that isn't really easy to work on on lunch, so I got this one.

This is Heart of America, by Little House Needleworks. All I had done was the "T". I think the fabric was what stopped me on this one. It's Wichelt that I had in a bin and I liked the color, but I really don't like Wichelt linen--it's too skimpy and I've been accused of carrying threads because you can see through it. I don't carry thrat and I hold a grudge against the fabric for that reason. But, it's here, it needs to be used, and I don't feel like starting over, so I'm using it.

So that's all for tonight. If you see any Jammer boxes, or whatever they're called, pick them up and see if they work for you.

Ornaments #6 and #7 are complete!

My photographic skills may start improving soon, since I finally got so frustrated with the flash that I sat down and read the manual. What a difference it makes. Whoda thunk?

Anyway, I promised pictures of the ornament finishes from the weekend. I'm going to try to finish-finish these this weekend. Fingers are crossed.

This is Fresh-fallen Snow. It took a lot longer than I expected, but I think the finish is worth the extra work.




And here is JBW, Love and Joy. I used the recommended threads on Monaco. It's a very simple finish, but I think it is so fresh and pretty.


I think the next ornament I do from the issue will be one of the ones that intimidates me. I don't want to leave the difficult ornaments til the end of the year, because I won't do them then, and that would be quite the bummer.

Can you believe how fast January went? I can't believe I'll be starting th February Itty Bitty Kitty square on Wednesday. It seems like I was just starting it last week, now it's time for the next one.

Thread Heaven

Nope, not a review of the product. It's the place I'm in right now. Because I finally went through the Jammer box I have my "to be filed" floss that is wound on, and organized it. One side for the regular DMC and Anchor, the other side for the silks and over-dyeds. And you would not believe how much Gentle Art floss I found. I had started to wonder because, a few years ago, I bought every color of Weeks and GAST threads (ah, those glorious days before car payments), and I added to it over the years, so where did it go? Apparently, all into that Jammer box. At least it's all together now, and the new Jammer boxes I ordered are at my mom's, waiting to be picked up. I know, the next logical step would have been to put it in the box with the rest of the bobbins, but I'm redoing that box, too, so I just took comfort in organizing it halfway. All my Crescent Colours are wound and are in the box together--I realized I have an astonishing amount of English Ivy, Brandied Pears, Country Road, and Brown Sugar. The Ivy and Pears are from last year's LHN series, but I don't know about the other two.

When I got that done, plus the laundry and grocery shopping, and putting away the last few pesky Christmas decorations, I decided to reward myself. I finished Fresh Fallen Snow Saturday night, and had the threads ready for JBW Love and Joy, so worked on that. Left-brain somehow happened on the "Life is not worth Living" feature on FX, so I watched that with him. It was "Armageddon", one of my favorite movies due to the presence of Ben Affleck, and the hopeful message, then "2012", which I will NEVER watch again, too hokey and I, honestly, don't like movies where the vast majority of people die and no good comes of it. After that was "Taken," with Liam Neeson, which was a great movie about a horrible topic. Much better than 2012. I actually managed to finish the ornament--yeah me--and will get pictures tonight.

Thank you all for your suggestion about how to deal with the magazines. There are several that I think will really work for me and I appreciate the help.

Organizing, Weekend 2

We've been kind of busy this weekend--birthday party for my FIL, had to run errands in Metro Crazyville yesterday, including trying to buy a gift for my mom for her birthday in our inky-binky shopping mall (I ended up finding a pretty shawl/wrap thing in Dress Barn that she can wear if the weather is how it is right now), and then went through my car to take out some Christmas stuff that needs to be put away. Apparently, last weekend, one of the people in the development had a guest of the sticky-fingered kind. He went to the neighbor's house, broke into her car, ransacked it, then went to one of Left-brain's friend's house, and tried to get into his brand-new truck. They know this because it snowed and they followed the dumb-arse's footprints back to his girlfriend's house. But the woman whose car was ransacked didn't press charges. Maybe turning the other cheek makes her feel good, but that means this dude has access to the rest of the neighborhood's vehicles. So I made sure mine had nothing to attract attention. I've had my car broken into 3 times--it may just be my personal hystrionics, but, when that happens, I feel quite violated. This neighborhood is supposed to be safe, but I am not so dense to think that it can't happen here.

I did manage to clean out under my side of the bed yesterday. Of course it's all stitching stuff--I swear I'm like a squirrel, I have deposits all over the house. I was looking for the chart for Icy--I think it's still under there, and I can't reach all the way to the middle. Left-brain may have to help with that. I am trying to, as I gather these things together, to immediately organize them--fabric goes into the drawers, magazines and charts into the boxes. It feels good to do this.

One of the questions I am trying to deal with in this whole process is how to handle the magazines, particularly the charts I want to do. Do I put them in a separate box? Pull 10 at a time, and put them in a basket? Write them in a notebook and hope I get to it at some point? I don't want to pull the charts from the magazines, because at some point, I might want to give the mag away at some point, or, as part of my master life plan, donate the entire collection to my alma mater to start an American Needlework library, and pulling it apart doesn't seem to jibe with that.

Any suggestions?

A WIP and some finishes

I am going to try to be a little more constant in posting photos and wanted to share what I've been doing this month.

This is my current WIP, the afore-mentioned Fresh Fallen Snow from the JCS issue. These are my color choices, and I think they work quite well.


You're a Lucky Dog, bought as a kit from Needlecraft Corner. I still have to put the buttons on, but the stitching is done.


Yuletide, by Plum Street Samplers.


And my cute little Spring Has Sprung, which was kitted up by my LNS a couple years ago. It is going to be made into a scissor fob.



Small finishes, but they're finishes!

Rage against the dying of the light

For some reason known only to the power company, we lost power at some point over night. I woke up at 4AM this morning, and realized the whole house was out, as were the neighbors' houses. I figured it was a glitch, so waited for it to come back on. It didn't. Finally at 5 or so, I woke Left-brain and said, "Just so you know, the power's out." Don't ask me why I did this to him--it seemed like a good idea at the time.

His response: "Wha---hunh?"
Me: The power's out. The cable box is off. I know you paid the electric bill.

He got up and stumbled out to the living room, to check out the situation. And, in coming back down the pitch-black hallway, stumbled into something. And uttered the expletive one would consider appropriate at said time.

Because, you see, last night, I got one of the tubs out of my sewing room, and attempted to organize it. When I was done organizing it, which always turns into an, "ohhh, I should stitch this next, or this," deal, I asked him to put it out in the hall. I meant for him to put it on top of another box I had out there, which was not in the traffic flow, but he put it right across from the doorway, because he's not a mind reader and I didn't make myself clear. Now, neither of us is a tiny person--he's tall, and I'm big, and a tiny voice in my head said, "That is really not a good idea, you need your little toes." But, I deferred to my husband's decision making skills . . . and he paid the price.

And somehow managed to do it again when he was going into the office to check on the downstreet light, as well as tripping over something else in the office doorway. I mumbled, "You know I was cleaning, you have to watch where you're walking" and then, since I was following him, tripped over our wedding centerpieces, which were on the office floor--proof a couple of them need rehomed. I at least said, "Birdcages to the left. Steer clear."

We managed to not break any bones in this whole debacle. We're still married, despite my messiness. I did call in the outage to be helpful. Our power company actually sent someone out, and they were there within MINUTES of me hanging up the phone (If you know the problems with the power companies in the DC suburbs, you can understand being delighted with this. My mother has much problems with getting them to come out when they lose power in a storm, since they do it based on how many customers are served by that particular line, and she's on a little line. We don't have these issues.) When I left the problem had not been fixed, but I managed to get dressed in my own clothes, that do match. And that box of stuff is getting put back tonight--oops.

I tried to work on Fresh Fallen Snow last night, but it didn't work out too well. I didn't think this would take me this long to get finished, but, for some reason it has. Hopefully, I can get it done tonight or tomorrow--kind of hard to finish 76 ornaments in a year if I finish one a week, you know. At least I know the fabric I will use to back this, so I don't have to make that hard choice, and, since my finishing bits are getting organized as part of the entire process, it won't be hard to get this done.

Stuff happens . . .

Not the best title, but . . .

The Chinese New Year started yesterday. It's the year of the Dragon, the luckiest year! I might be a little biased, since I am a Dragon as well (1976 was a good year all around), but apparently, in many Asian countries, birth rates are increasing as people try to ensure their babies are born this year. I knew there was another reason I knew 2012 was going to be a lucky year in Crazyville! Now I just need to find a few small dragon charts to stitch (and finish Icy Dragon, whose chart seems to have gone on an adventure) to celebrate the event. Would anyone like to join me?

Yesterday was a thoroughly rotten day, weatherwise, and I must have felt it, because I could barely lift a needle when I got home. I discovered a mistake in Fresh Fallen Snow--the little snowflake, bottom right, the top right arm(is that what that is, arm, spike, tentacle?) has a mistake. I discovered it after repeating said mistake on 2 other arms. I'm too OCD to leave it in, so picked it out. That must have completely worn me out, because I was asleep by 8:30, then woke up at 10:55 because Beazer was snorting on the other side of the bed (this must be a characteristic of short-muzzled breeds, this snorting thing. I've always had long-muzzled dogs, Robbie is quite the silent one when he wants to be. Which isn't often). Anywho . . .

Oh, while I'm here to mention it, I know a lot of stitchers use Jammer boxes to hold their floss. When you can find them. Apparently the Jammer people found out we do this, and are remarketing them for stitchers. Joann's is carrying them now. AND THEY'RE ON SALE!

Jammer Boxes!


I ordered three, since I rounded up all that floss. Now, if anyone knows a good source for bulk paper bobbins, I'd be a happy camper.

Progress Report

It's only been one day and the sewing room looks much better. I started early yesterday morning, and worked a good portion of the day. It's not finished by any stretch of the imagination, but you can see the floor! Hallelujah! I did pull ALL the orphan floss I found and put it in a basket to be filed--there is NO reason I should have to go buy floss for a while. I organized all my fabric into neutral and colored and put them in drawers--found out I tend to like the cooler tones of fabric, by the way. All my UFOs are in one place, all the kitted up projects are together, all the commercial kits are together. I even went through the books I've read this year and ruthlessly culled out the books that will be donated--it was hard, but I think they will do better going to someone who will LOVE them for a bargain price, than staying on the pile of someone who just liked em OK. Who knows, maybe that will send some thrift store book shopping karma my way?

I did happy dance because, after two years of trying to reconnect one poor UFO to its chart, an endeavor which took me from my mother's house to our house to back again, I FOUND both pieces within 24 hours of each other and they are now, happily, reunited, in my UFO box. Left-brain did not understand my particular enthusiasm for this; he is not congenitally disorganized, though, and does not understand how things like this are an accomplishment. I also managed to reunite the pinto Chincoteague pony WIP with its chart; they've been separated since we went camping in May. I actually do feel much better having that particular project back together; it's been bothering me.

I celebrated these small victories this morning by starting another ornament from the JCS ornament issue. I chose Fresh Fallen Snow by LHN, but, since my budget is not conducive to lots of Belle Soie, I swapped out the colors for CC Green Onion for the white part and Blue Corn, also by CC, for the parts that are green in the original design. I have to say, I like this color combination A LOT. I'm using Lambswool linen for the fabric, and like how soft the Green Onion is against it, it really lets the blue pop. I plan on doing this and Crescent Colors' Jolly on the same fabric, hopefully both can be completed this week, and I might be able to do some finishing. Wouldn't it be loverly to see some completed ornaments, waiting for the tree?

Weekend purgatory

If you hear screaming and cursing, wailing and slamming doors this weekend, floating by on the wind, it's not a ghost. It's me. I'm cleaning. As so often happens, my sewing room has become the catch-all room. There are a lot of things in that that need to be taken to Goodwill, as well as decorations for various holidays that don't fit into normal boxes, so they've been dumped unceremoniously in that room. And then we have the stitching items that seem to overflow their storage, and the pull-out couch that is "for guests" which has been replaced by our camper (trust me when I say our camper makes a better guest room than a room full of pull-out couch), that needs to go. I'd like to make a headway on that room this weekend. I told Left-brain this, he said, "Well we need to clean out the office too," and I replied, "Let's not get in front of ourselves here."

My dream for that room would be to have an over-stuffed chair, or at least an arm chair in the corner, with a table for finishing work, and whatever else I could use that room for, with just my stitching lamp on it. That lamp wasn't cheap and it's in the corner of the basement, unused. I'd also like a file cabinet or a shelving unit with those nice decorator baskets on it to store things attractively--why is it that you feel so much more organized if your stuff is stored attractively? And then maybe a dresser in the closet to hold the detritus of my craftiness, and hang more of my framed work up, I think that might actually make it a useful and inviting space.

I can already see, though, the key for me, and the fight, is going to be that, once I get an organization system in place, to stick to it. I have a half-way system that I started last year, where all the orphan thread went in one box, and that was supposed to be the only place I put it, but then but I opened a box last night, and
darned if there wasn't a bag of hand-dyed floss in there, along with a bag of fabric that was SUPPOSED to be in the closet in a drawer in there. It is NO WONDER I can never find what I need, and then I have to go buy more. I CHEAT myself out of a simpler existence through my own unwillingness to commit. THIS HAS GOT TO STOP. What is the point of having these things if I am so unorganized that I can't find them to enjoy them? It's madness.


So my goal is, by the time spring comes, I will be more organized. Our life is going to be a lot more hectic soon and the one thing that I can control is how I maintain that room. It really is up to me. I know that. I'm taking the first step this weekend.

The light at the end of the tunnel

I think I am finally getting better. After a lecture from my doctor, a doctor's note excusing me from work, and a mandate from my boss to not come back til I feel better, I've spent the better part of the last two days in bed, and I think this cough/cold/primordial gack is finally loosening its hold on me.

I did manage to finish You Lucky Dog this weekend, and completed "Yuletide," Plum Street Samplers' JCS ornament for 2011. I will post pictures tonight. I think it's a pretty little thing, but my advice if you are stitching this one, DO NOT USE CINDERS. It's a funky little black/red combo from Gentle Art that probably works really well in another context, but I was not pleased with it. Apparently my skein has more red in it than the designer's skein, and by red, I mean red, not wine, so I now have red and black reindeer. Not quite the effect I was hoping hoping for. The DMC conversion shows a brown/black for this color, so, if I were stitching it again, I'd go for something like Dark Chocolate instead. Or make sure that your Cinders has little to no red and then don't use that part--I know these skeins exist, because a friend of mine said all she could find had no red, probably because all my LNS got was lots of red.

I've sort of figured out how I'll incorporate new projects into my stash this year, especially since the UFOs either bred in captivity or were hiding--I found 5 last night in a box that I KNOW was only supposed to be for charts I "intend to stitch soon", and I'm starting to find ones I really don't remember starting, but I must have, because why would I have them? I've decided that, if I finish 5 UFOs, I can add a new project into the mix. Likewise, if I finish 5 ornaments, I can add something new. I think this is the only way I'm going to keep from being bogged down by having too much of one thing.

And I am still laughing at myself because, out of the UFOs I found, all but one of them had been abandoned with less than 100 completed stitches. The one I picked up to work on and finish before I lost the teensy beads had so few stitches in it that I couldn't figure out which way it was supposed to go, so I picked the whole thing out and started over. And it's almost finished already. Probably less than 2 hours work and then I can make it into something. I didn't kick myself for doing it, after all, this year is a chance to break old habits, and start something new. I can not change how things used to be done, I can only improve starting now, and I'm doing that.

2 Finishes and a WIP.

My current WIP, a UFO from Just Another Button Co, Stitch Every Day, called You Lucky Dog. I hope to be done with this over the weekend. Please excuse the shadow on the fabric, my camera has decided that the flash requires me to sell my first-born child in order to work, and that ain't happening:




And my 2012 finishes.

January square from Vals Stuff, Itty Bitty Kitty Quilt series (say that 10 times fast!). I am planning on doing one of these squares a month, and there are two squares per chart, but I will count each square as a finish. The border should count as a finish too, due to all the work, but that would be being too nit-picky, and I'm not actually finished it, so I won't.


And the SNN kit finish. I still have to decide about the beads, but I am gifting this finish to my dear friend, Kathy.



I know these are not big finishes, and I'm not sure how many of those 2012 will bring for me, but they're finished. And that is pretty good. I think finished projects take up less space than UFOs, don't you?

That's not thunder you hear . . .

it's coughing. Coming from me. I think I might be getting better, but I'm not sure yet. I've been sick since last Tuesday. Left-brain brought this home, he had it first, was out of work most of last week, got better, then I got it. Much worse than he did. One of the things I've realized over the past week is that, if you are not 100% healthy to begin with, all the cold remedies that they have that are safe to take don't work for anything. Or my body doesn't want them--Robitussin did not agree with me. My doctor gave me cough medicine with codeine, but I can't take that and drive, so I can't take that that much, since I practically live in my car. Left-brain said I need to take a day off work and rest, since I will never get better just "go-go-go." I rolled my eyes at him. But I can almost pull a full breath today. That is an improvement!

I haven't been stitching very much as a result. I did finish my Secret Needle Night kit on Saturday, right on time. I'll try to get a pic of it, without the beads and buttons since I am changing those out. It's OK, but I can't think of anything to use if for myself, so it's out the door as a gift for a friend. I pulled out an old JAB Co Stitch Every Day kit, called Lucky Dog, and I'm working on that one. I used to order these all the time, and really not sure why I never stitched them. Probably for the same reason I never stitched all the Secret Needle Night kits, I just got overwhelmed and gave up trying to do them.

I wonder if we super-stashers could be labeled as some type of hoarder? When I look at my sewing room and think of all the money that has been spent of charts and threads, is it really that different than those people on A&E? I'm not saying that my sewing room is full of trash and feces, and dead animals (scratch that, my sewing room does have a dead animal in it, but does it count if it's the cremated remains of my dog and I do actually know where she is? She's on the bookshelf.), but, seriously, if someone came into your stash storage area and said, "You need to let this go, because it has no value," would you docilely agree, or would you kick and scream and try to explain why your world is a better place for having every cross stitch magazine ever published? Do hoarders ever feel that momentary guilt when they look at their stuff that occasionally runs through me, like, "You could probably have a really good stock portfolio or a nice down-payment for a house if you hadn't bought all this stuff?" Fortunately, that guilt is quick and goes away.

One of the things that I am going to keep harping on myself about this year is to become a better caretaker of my things. To have more respect for them and to be a better steward of the blessings I have been given. So far, that has manifested itself in this determination I have to consume less and use what I have, since what good is it to have a pretty chart and never stitch it? And I am proud of myself--I'm planning to stitch Hallow Eden by Plum Street Samplers as a wedding sampler to display during the fall, and part of me says, "Don't dig through the giant tub of floss, or the bobbin boxes, buy new, get the rush, you know you wanna!" and, thus far, I've been able to tell that part to shut up. Sometimes it's not that easy. But, thinking about using the $4 saved from using floss in my stash to frame the finish, and being a good steward of both the floss I have, and the money I could use for framing, that helps a lot! Don't get me wrong, our CVS is by Michaels and it was quite a fight to not walk into Michaels after picking up my cold medicine on Saturday, but I felt pretty good when I got home . . . and it wasn't because of the codeine, LOL.

Does anyone else ever have this internal conflict? I know a lot of people have shied away from S.E.X. in large quantities, but it makes me wonder if I'm a freak or just normal . . . whatever passes for normal.

How to make a UFO

One of the days this weekend, probably Saturday or Monday, I decided to pick through my UFOs and work on one, to get myself ready for the new year.

I pulled out one of my 2011 Crazy January starts, Ms. Mitchell's Christmas Pageant. I know I had thought I would make MUCH more progress on that one because that first kid went very quickly the first day I worked on it. I started working on the next kid, and discovered I didn't have the color I needed. Apparently, I NEVER had the color I needed, because I was particular about not robbing those projects. I thought I had kitted it completely up before starting the darn challenge, but I guess it must have been one of those disappointing Michaels trips where they didn't have all the colors (BTW, I emailed them about that little situation to ask if they were intending to stop carrying DMC and they claim it's a stocking issue. Seriously, AT EVERY store in Montgomery and Carroll Counties? In case someone from Michaels reads this, hire new stockers or investigate your supply chain, Joanns and AC Moore don't have these issues, and I actually bought DMC from the LNS the other day, it may cost more, but at least they have the colors). Since I still don't have those colors, and I wasn't running out to the store that day, I had to put it back in the bin.


Next, I pulled out a picture of Carousel Horses. I think I started that one in 2004, but, apparently, I robbed it of the floss color I needed to use between then and now. I didn't feel like digging through the bin of floss for another skein (or maybe the original one), so that went back in the bin. Finally I pulled out my current UFO WIP and am working on that--at least I know I didn't rob that project, LOL. My large Chestnut project by White Willow will also suffer from this theivery, if I remember correctly. BUMMER.

I find this to be one of the uniting factors in my UFOs, the self-created lack of all the supplies. Not all of them are placed as UFOs for that reason; it almost seems like I will start a project, realize the stars are not aligned that will allow me to enjoy said project, and put it down, then I rob it blind, like an old car that breaks down, is left sit, then you come back for it with a towtruck, and find the tires are gone. Does anyone else do this? It really is kinda frustrating, when I think about it. Does anyone else do this?

Happy New Year

I had the best intentions of posting over the weekend, but didn't get time to do it. It was a very busy weekend in Crazyville. We hosted New Years Day dinner, and had to clean the house for that, plus celebrated Left-brain's birthday. I had to work a little on Friday and then yesterday was the day to do all the laundry and clean up after the party.

I did, miraculously, find a few hours to stitch. My first start of the New Year has been "Itty Bitty Kitty Quilt" by Val's Stuff. My aim is to stitch one square a month, so it will be a year-long project, but I managed to stitch the first square and part of the border between Sunday and yesterday. It's a neat little piece, done in DMC, mine is on oatmeal Aida, which I think will work well with the muted colors of the piece. I'll try to post a photo tonight, but you'll have to excuse the hoop marks--I didn't have time to iron between hand-washing the dishes and sorting out the clothes.

One good thing we did figure out how to do was to make pulled pork. My mother bought us a 7 pound pork roast for 5 people this year, and I don't eat that much anymore, so there was a LOT left over (we have a lot of food left over in general--my fridge is groaning right now). Left-brain mixed it up with some jarred South Carolina barbecue sauce we had, and we had sandwiches last night. So good, even without coleslaw!

I even found time to start working on one of the UFOs I have chosen to finish this year. It's the January 2006 Secret Needle Night project. Nothing fancy, but it needs finished as it's now a 6 year old UFO. After we got the house back in order, I sat down to watch a Law and Order Criminal Intent Marathon and worked on that. It's not really one of my favorite projects, and there is a reason it was a UFO for so long, but I made good progress on it, and, hopefully, it will be done by the weekend. My goal is to get 12 UFOs done this year. I know I can't get them all done, but it would be good to get one done a month--that's progress I can be proud of.

On my last post, Joyce asked what LNS I go to. My closest one is Stitching Post in Catonsville. I found that one in 2001, and it's really added to my addiction over the years. They are the largest LNS in Maryland, and it's not hard to get there. I try to not go to an LNS unless it's a special occasion, or I really need to, I usually mail order, since things fall into my basket, but it's good to know they are close. I did go over on Friday and treated myself to hand-dyeds, which were on sale 25% off. I did buy two charts by Victoria Sampler, but since they were the last two charts I intend to buy for a while and they were 25% off, it's OK. We are somewhat spoiled here in the DC area, with 3 great shops within an hour and a half (Stitching Post, Needlecraft Corner, and In Stitches, down in Alexandria), plus my favorite shop, Salty Yarns, in Ocean City, but, since OC is out of my driving range right now, per my doctor, I'm going to have stick close to home.