What Came in the Mail

Today’s post is a long one. I didn’t think I had anything to say, and then I started typing . . .

I was the first customer at the tire place when it opened yesterday morning. They got the Jeep in right away and I was out of there in just under an hour. That business still has the “small town Montana” feel that we’re losing—their internet was down so they had no way to process credit cards. I didn’t have the checkbook or enough cash with me. They sent me on my way and said, “We’ll call you later to get your credit card number.”

I came home, dropped off the tires, then headed back to do a Costco run and get chicken feed. I was in the Costco parking lot when I got a text from the tire place saying their internet was back up but their phones weren’t and would I please call them with my credit card number. I did, and now that bit of winter prep is off the list.

Our new Costco is supposed to open in late November. This is the third Costco—hopefully the last?—since we moved to Montana. The problem with the current Costco isn’t the size of the store; it’s the size of the parking lot. The new Costco will be located about a mile north of the existing one.

I hit up the case sale at one of the local grocery stores. The store holds this sale every September and every March. I stock up on things like brown sugar, rice, canned pineapple, and evaporated milk. The store honors the case sale price on single cans of items, so even if you don’t need 12 cans of enchilada sauce, it’s still a good time to buy.

I also dropped off the quilt to go to Ritzville and stopped by the quilt store, where I bought a backing for the Kaffe quilt. I got a tone-on-tone print in acid green that matches several of the same shades in the front of the quilt. The front is such a riot of color that I thought the back needed to be plain and quiet.

All in all, a very productive day.

******

Two packages came in the mail Monday. The first was from Cali Fabrics. I’ve bought some beautiful deadstock fabrics from them in the past and I am on their e-mail list. For a few years now, I’ve had it in my head to make a simple long, lined coat using a herringbone fabric—I can see in my head exactly what I want, which is a rare—but I could not find the right fabric. A few weeks ago, Cali Fabrics’ weekly e-mail blast featured some wool herringbone deadstock they had just received. I saw the photo and thought, “That’s the fabric!” They had it in navy and black. I bought the black, but I am showing the navy because it’s easier to see the herringbone pattern:

It’s even more stunning in person. I’m going to have the length of fabric dry cleaned before I use it, just to factor in any possible shrinkage.

I also received my wholesale order from Wonderfil:

We sewists almost have too many choices, but some of the choices fly under the radar. Isacord is probably the most popular quilting/embroidery thread available. It is in every store I visit. Floriani may be the second most popular. Wonderfil makes a thread called Polyfast, for machine embroidery, but I have never seen it in stores. (Wonderfil is a Canadian company, so Canadian stores probably carry it.) I bought some to try on the 700 PRO. I also got a spool of the new variegated Softloc wooly polyester. I know Ashlee ordered this at Bernina University, but it hasn’t arrived yet. Softloc makes great rolled hem edges on linen napkins and I think the variegated will be very pretty. And lastly, I got some Fabulux. Fabulux is a trilobal polyester thread—just like Isacord and Floriani—but the difference is that it’s a three-ply thread, not a two-ply. You may wonder why that matters. A three-ply thread is rounder in cross-section, and that makes it sit up off the surface of the fabric. Fabulux is one of the six threads featured in my thread class, and everyone who tries it loves it. I used it to quilt my BU jacket.

[I could go on and on about the technical details of thread construction, but most of you probably don’t care.]

I also bought a sample pack of Wonderfil’s new stabilizers.

Wonderfil is going head-to-head with OESD in this area; Ashlee and I attended a presentation at BU by Andrew, the owner of Wonderfil, on these products. I am curious to see how they compare.

I have a lot of “studying” to do. Today, though, it’s back to the tomato trenches for another batch (or two) of sauce. If you read this far (Beth H and Sarah, LOL), thank you!