To-Do Tuesday 6-20-17 | Kids, Fabric, and Stitchy Box

Hello, again! It’s To-Do Tuesday and time to evaluate our progress from last week and makes our lists for the upcoming week.

My two youngest kids spent last week with us and we had a great visit. I didn’t spend hardly any time stitching as I wanted to be present with them. We spent time visiting family, did some sight-seeing, and took a day trip to the Oregon coast. We planned the coastal visit for Thursday. We checked the weather about 5 days ahead of time and the forecast said Thursday and Friday would be sunny and warmer than the rest of the week. Turns out the forecast was a couple days off. That day was the wettest of all! We still had a good drive there, and stopped in Depoe Bay to have a delicious lunch at Gracie’s Sea Hag. I will say that the best clam chowder I’ve ever had was at the wharf in Monterey, CA, until I tried Gracie’s chowder two years ago. I had to have the kids try it as well, and from the moment of their first bite, they both agreed with me that Gracie’s chowder was a step above the Monterey wharf’s chowder. Gracie also has the best Mozzarella sticks I’ve ever eaten. They are about 4 to 5″ long, and about 2″ in diameter. They are huge, homemade, and served fresh daily with a side of chunky marinara sauce. HEAVEN! This lunch was our early celebration of Father’s Day with the Mister before the kids headed home on Saturday. They arrived safely in California, and just in time for a big heat wave that puts their temps in the mid-100’s. I think they’ll be glad for the memory of being in 60-ish degree weather just last week.

After I made sure the kids made it through security at the Portland airport, the Mister and I drove to Fabric Depot only a few miles away. We wanted to stay nearby in case anything should happen prior to their take-off, and I wanted to see if I could find some great novelty fabrics for bag making when I return to Arizona at the end of summer. Yes, I found tons of great fabrics, but not great prices. Everything was between $12.99 and $14.99 per yard, with most fabrics being right around $13.99. I did find five prints in the clearance section that would work–two Halloween prints, one fall print, one Christmas print, and a bag interior/blender print. It wasn’t until I had the fabric cut and stood in the checkout line that I noticed the sign stating that all fabrics were 30% off in the store. *sigh* I had already spent a long time there and the Mister and I were anxious to head home, so I just shook my head at myself and left with my clearanced fabrics. Still, I think I did pretty well, and didn’t strain my budget on this earlier-than-expected fabric purchase.

I also received two now-cancelled Stitchy Box subscriptions. I don’t think I’ve talked much about it here, but about a month and a half ago I had a real awakening in regards to my budget and financial situation and had a serious talk with Brad about it. I decided to cancel all of my hobby subscriptions and I have been very carefully making decisions about purchases. I asked Brad to be a “financial counselor” so to speak, so I have been bouncing my thoughts off of him for purchases I am making or want to make. It has helped me so much in deciding whether I need to make a purchase right away, if it’s something that can be put off for a while, or if it’s something I really want to spend my money on right now. This process has really been a good thing for me, and, ironically enough, very liberating. I no longer feel guilty about any purchases or feel the need to hide them or receipts; a habit I picked up from a previous marriage where I shopped without restraint. Having said that, I had two outstanding Stitchy Box subscriptions that were pre-paid back in March. My Just The Threads subscription for May 2017 arrived in the middle of last week. These are some beautiful specialty flosses! The flosses are (L-R) 6 stranded floss in Lemon Drops from Gentle Art Sampler Threads (GAST), 6 stranded floss in Peoria Purple from Weeks Dye Works (WDW), 12 ply silk Soie Cristale in Bright Yellow #4022 by Caron, 6 stranded floss in a Limited Edition color (name unknown) by GAST, 6 stranded floss in Saffron by WDW, and 12-stranded spun silk Belle Soie in Cake by Classic Colorworks.

Also this week I received the May/June 2017 Stitchy Box subscription with the Stitch It Up and Bling It Up add ons. This is a fun box that comes once every two months. It contains fabric (type and count chosen by you), flosses/threads, embellishments and/or other stitching goodies. This month the theme was Sunflower Field and included a 28 count Lugana dyed by Fiberlicious in Summer Sky, a gorgeous blue color. Threads included are 6 stranded flosses by GAST in Wildflower (Limited Edition), Sunflower Field by Ship’s Manor (Exclusive to Stitchy Box), 8 ply silk in Avocado by NPI, 100% Soysilk Soy Luster thread in Acid Green by The Pure Palette, crewel wool thread in Dusk by WDW (Stitchy Box exclusive), and Kreinik Micro Chenille in Black. The embellishment pack included Sunflower quilt fabric, a Honeybee charm, one vintage orange flower bead, three Czech 10mm faceted avocado round beads, and a 2 gram pack of 10/0 2-cut Czech aqua seed beads. The Stitch It Up Add on is the Sunflower Panel Chart designed by Lindsay Lane Designs.

The Bling It Up add-on was comprised of gorgeous 1- and 2-gram bead packs. They came in various colors of turquoise & aquas, yellows & oranges, greens, and a brown, perfectly evoking the image of a gorgeous Sunflower Field. The beads I liked the most were the three hand-carved butterfly beads, and the large, hand-painted Sunflower bead. I am not a huge fan of sunflowers, but this box was full of such beautiful colors I’m likely to change my mind about them! As far as my budgeting comments, I would like to say that I absolutely loved the Stitchy Box subscription. It was incredibly hard to give up, since I had only received two subscriptions before cancelling, however there are other things that must be the priority right now. I believe the Stitchy Box is definitely worth the money, and it is a subscription that I may rejoin in the future, once I have my budget firmly under control and various bills paid off. I most likely will not include the Bling It Up or Stitch It Up add ons in the future. I enjoyed them, but I found that felt like I may or may not stitch up the charts included, and although I love the beads I prefer to buy those as charts call for them. Right now I have a small amount of beads in my stash that contain commonly called-for colors so I don’t really have a need to add more beads to that stash. What I love most about the Stitchy Box are receiving flosses/threads to try that I wouldn’t normally seek out to buy for myself, the dyed fabrics, and embellishments that I wouldn’t think to use. All in all, this is a fun subscription box for the stitcher! Note: The link is NOT an affiliate link and I’m not being paid for any of these comments… These are just my own thoughts on this subscription service.

This week we are planning on doing a little thrifting, and I plan on working on Sleepy Hollow. I am excited to read what you’ve been up to and see your plans for the week!

This week’s To-Do list:

• Work on Sleepy Hollow border.

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