Goodies, spoils, plunder, loot...

I've said it here before, I'll say it again: One of the joys of being a stitcher is that you find yourself delighted by very simple things. And the ability to be delighted by very simple things seems to be something we lose as we age and life gets more complicated. I think that capacity for joy and fun keeps us young... or at least young at heart. There is a sense of "play" in needlework. Pretty colors of fabric and floss in endless combinations. "Toys" of all kinds, from sparkly needle minders to scissors in our favorite color. Rainy afternoons spent "playing" in--also known as "organizing"--our stash. Daydreaming about our next project. All of those things are just fun, and fun is good for you! And we haven't even gotten to any actual stitching yet!

Something else that's fun about being a stitcher is always being on the look-out for goodies that can be turned toward stitchy uses. Sometimes you find stuff in the most unexpected places. Yesterday, Mr. Wonderful and I had a rare day out together, and one of our stops was Home Depot. Look at this cool set of boxes I found for less than $8!

The big one measures roughly 10" x 4" x 6" and the little one that fits inside measures roughly 7" x 1 1/4" x 4 1/2". They had this purple color and the teal color you see on the sticker on the top of the box. These are perfect for stitchy tools and small projects. An assembled 6" x 6" q-snap will fit in the bottom of the large box, under the large tray, and the lid will still snap shut (you have to leave out the smaller box). The more I fiddle with this set of boxes, the more I'm tempted to go back and get a few more, maybe to put by for small gifts. They're just neat little boxes.

More goodies. Found this beautiful fox puzzle at A.C. Moore, along with this super cute fat quarter of fabric I'll be using for finishing Christmas ornaments. See those little foxes?

Also found some pretty silver acorn charms to use in finishing. These have a nice weight to them.

Those are my fun finds from yesterday, and here's something else from yesterday. These weird tiny snow pellets were all over the ground when we went out in the morning. It's called "graupel." We'd never heard of it. 

Isn't that strange?

We've got more interesting weather on the way, so I'm off to tidy my sewing room and hopefully start a new project, because there's just nothing better than stitching when it's nasty outside. 

Happy Stitching! And remember to keep an eye out for stitchy goodies in unexpected places!