My quilting room sparks Joy!

Precious Cargo Inside

In an interview recently, I was asked what my preferred brand of thread is, and that question became the impetus for this week's blog post. I am becoming more aware of the amount of supplies that one accumulates as a quilter - the fabric, the books, the rulers, and yes, the thread - and the amount of space that it occupies in my home. There may come a time when I need to downsize, but for now, what i have is sparking a lot of joy. It's all about the joy. I may have slowed down my fabric purchases for a bit, but I'm learning to appreciate the items that I have picked up along the way.

I will get to my brand preference shortly, but I ask your indulgence for a moment. Thread is a very important (and potentially expensive) supply in my sewing space, While it's spacious, I don't have an unlimited amount of space - or multiple rooms - to store things. It's all here, and it's all in tidy boxes, which make a tall tower when stacked on my cutting table.

I'm a sucker for the storage boxes...

The top box is where I keep my colors of piecing threads - which has evolved to pretty much beige and grays. I keep this box on my sewing table, where it's available at a moments notice if I (dare I wish) finish a spool and need to make a quick change. The large cones in the box are Bottomline threads by Superior.

This is the box that has all of my other threads -

The bottom box in the first picture in the post is for the collection of other threads that I have been using over the years...Superior, Mettler, Gutterman...they all have been in the rotation for a bit, and they are all where I can get to them easily when I need to. There is a bottom layer in there, and it's all easy to access.

This brings me to the middle box, the Holy Grail of my thread. Aurifil threads, in all the pretty colors.

This box isn't as chaotic as you might think, and the thread weight I prefer is Aurifil's 50 weight, the orange cone.

You can see that I've got several gray tone spools, several white, and still more beige tones. Most of my piecing is done in tones of gray or yellow, and I'm trying to clear some space in the box to add additional colors. I am hoping to have cleared some space in the box in the next month of so, allowing me to decide which new colors (if any) I will be adding to when I go to the MQX show in Manchester in April.

Here's a lesson I have learned along the way...

Keep all your thread in one location; when you begin a project (in a box, or in a planner), keep notes as to which threads you want to use with which project. The note goes with the project, the thread goes back into it's home. That will eliminate this from happening to you....

I hate it when this happens...I need to make a purple quilt.

And if you know me at all, it's no surprise that I have several spools of turquoise. It's a fun color!