Ten Things You Should Definitely Know About

In no particular order, except for this first thing, which is obviously the most important.

#1
Tiger Lily got a super cool new fort for the move/trip. We never let her loose in hotel rooms, and since we'll be between homes for a bit, we got her a posh fort. (Ever tried to disassemble a hotel bed to get a scared cat out from underneath it? It's a mistake you only make once!) This thing folds flat for travel and pops up in a minute. Awesome.

#2
When it's super cold, the ground does bizarre things. We've had little ice skyscrapers growing in our mulch. So very weird.

#3

These little polka dot scissor sheaths are my current favorite thing. I've found them at a couple different Etsy shops, this one and this one, and have always had good service from both. Be warned, both of these shops have so many stitchy goodies. I've been raiding them for my mini stash!

#4

Toothbrush holders make great fabric containers for travel. When I prepare fabric for a project, I cut the size I need, iron it, and leave it flat until it's ready to go on the q-snaps. All of my projects for my mini stash are small, so they all fit flat in my Super Fancy Hefty Zipper Seal Project Bags except this one, which was too long to fit without folding. Solution? Toothbrush holder.

#5

It's cold and it snowed again.

#6

There's more beautiful snow linen from The Primitive Hare. This one is called White Flakes and it's the reverse of her Snowfall linen: brown flakes on light linen instead of light flakes on brown linen. You can see both in her Etsy shop.

#7

My mini stash that I put together to get me through the upheaval of moving is proving to be a great stress reliever. Thinking about it, playing in it, adding to it... it's a great distraction. I highly recommend putting one together for yourself if you find you're in need of a diversion. I talked about my mini stash in this post and when we get settled in our new home and I've had time to really road test this idea, I may have a much longer post about it. (Note my Super Fancy Hefty Zipper Seal Project Bags. So fancy.)

#8
I have created the world's greatest homemade finishing tool. Behold! From a humble Tupperware orange peeler and a leather thimble pad comes... The Perfect Pin Pusher. Don't we all have a handful of these orange peelers in a kitchen drawer? I discovered I have four, and was about to pitch three of them, and I thought, "Eh, those might be useful for something else, I'll keep 'em." A few days later, I was doing some finishing and sacrificing my finger tips in the process of pushing in pins, when I was attacked by an idea: stick a leather thimble pad on the flat end of an orange peeler. It works like a dream. The greatest thing is that the small, flat end of the peeler is ideal for pushing tiny pinheads in between the folds or cords of trim to hide them. That's hard to do with your fingertips. This is now my favorite finishing tool.

#9

Flowers are good for you.

#10
Tiger Lily is a very good girl.

And now you know lots more stuff than you did a few minutes ago. Sometime next week, I hope to have a post that you might find helpful about preparing needlework for a move. I'm waiting on some supplies to arrive, so stay tuned.