MAGPIE'S MUMBLINGS

A blog about my interests, which include fabric landscapes and various and assorted other artsy pursuits and sometimes known to contain mumblings of a random nature.

Monday, June 07, 2021

A needle - in a haystack....or.....

 The Saga of the Red Thread

by Your Intrepid Stitcher

Chapter One

As we enter the sewing studio of your intrepid stitcher  (hereinafter known as IS) we are greeted by many different little piles.  Here a pile of yarn, there a pile of little stitcheries, and over there - yes, over there - we see a pile of plastic boxes chuck full of embroidery flosses.  As the scene unfolds we see our IS stitching merrily away but coming to the realization that if she were a clever person she would damp stretch the little stitcheries as she goes along.  "Yes, a marvelous plan" said she to herself and proceeded to pin out a number of little bits onto her board.  A spritz of water and our IS went back to stitching more.  "This is fun" she thought.  

Chapter Two

Time unfolds.  Drying happens and our IS decided it was time to remove her freshly stretched stitcheries.  But wait!  What's this?  "Oh, no...... (bleep, bleep)...."  Just look at this....



Some of the red embroidery floss has run!!  It's made a huge mess.  And now our not-so-thrilled IS will be re-stitching several of the wee stitcheries.  Good thing she's stubborn!

Chapter Three

As this tale unfolds, the IS is eyeing her plastic box chock full of different shades of red threads and wondering 'Which one is the Culprit".  "Which one needs to be thrown into the Great Wastebasket Collector?"  Our IS is also bemoaning the fact that for once in her stitching life she actually put something AWAY as she went and therefore the offending culprit is now merrily sticking their tongue out at her and saying 'catch me, if you can'.

THE END

Epilogue: 

As this story goes to press, your IS is pleased to inform you that the offending stitcheries have been re-stitched....with non bleeding thread AND the little blighter has been banished to the Wastebasket Collector.


Today your quote is courtesy of Winston Churchill... "Success is not final, failure is not fatal.  It is the courage to continue that counts"

23 comments:

  1. Oh dear! I feel for you. I just have to think that unlike me who waits until the last minute to do Christmas projects, you are blessed that you found this out now so you can redo what you have to. Thanks for the lesson though.

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  2. Oooh nooo!! What a drag--but happy you found the culprit red thread...hugs, Julierose

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    1. Yep, caught the little devil red-handed (get it??)

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  3. Lovely tale, and Idea to stitch out the colors like that! It boggles the mind why anyone would make floss that runs.

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    1. Yes, it is one of the mysteries of life -and floss. Red is notorious for it.

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  4. Just for grins it might be fun to soak the original one to see if the red will come out. I've had that happen with red thread and it did come out in a good soak.

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    1. Too late - I already stitched new ones (and 'filed' the offenders).

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  5. I'd say your quote today was written by your IS. Thanks for today's humor that actually resulted from a disaster.

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    1. Ah - you got it!! That quote was chosen specifically for the occasion. And glad you appreciate my sense of the ridiculous too.

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  6. Thank goodness the IS followed her own advice and decided to block as she went along..... just imagine if she had stitched all the motifs and blocked all in one go only to find them all with the same problem! Might have to add a few more bleeps into the story!!! Christine xx

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    1. Too bad said IS hadn't been smart enough to test the red threads first! Oh well, live and (hopefully) learn.

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  7. Ooooooh! I was moaning along with you. I'm seriously curious what brand that bleeding red thread was. When I first started my "red" sampler, I tested the colorfastness of the thread, but I haven't tested every single skein as I start a new one. It's DMC. Can a person trust the label that says "colorfast"?

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    1. I would say that if it's labeled 'colorfast' you should be okay...fingers crossed. As for the brand - I have absolutely no clue. It could very well be one of the flosses I inherited from my grandmother in which case the label is long gone.

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  8. But what brand was the offender, so we can all, look out for this nefarious blighter of projects?

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    1. Oh, but I wish I knew! I inherited a ton of floss from my grandmother and I'm still, 50 years later, trying to use it up. I suspect this one is of the 'vintage' category and back then perhaps they didn't have the technology they do now.

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  9. What a bummer!! Yep, red thread can be a problem sometimes. Glad you got beyond it and have things back on track.

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    1. Now I view all red embroidery flosses with great suspicion, that's for sure.

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  10. I feel for you, about your running red. I'm sure you will remember to damp stretch first, after this mishap. Looove those trees and Japanese purse.

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    1. The funny thing is that I often advise other people to test their red flosses before use - and do I follow my own advice?...obviously not!!

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  11. HA! Good for our IS!! You nailed the offender and got the last laugh.

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    1. Well, I'm not sure about the laughing part but at least I had the fun of doing some more cross stitching!

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  12. Oh no, it looked like a child thought it was a real candy cane and made it a mess of stickiness!

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