Sharing Some Favorites...

While sorting through all those knitting and crochet magazines to add to my Stash Buster Sale last weekend (and this), I realized something important. I'm sick of being owned by "stuff". Stuff that takes up too much space, leaving little elbow room for the things I really love - or love to do.

I have a hard time cutting a few pages out of the magazine, when I could pass it on to someone else intact, and I also don't want to give the thing away that might have my next project between its covers.

For at least one favorite magazine, I've found a solution. Each year, Fons & Porter puts the previous year's complete magazine issues into a dvd format! How cool is that? I just purchased three dvds that have eleven years' worth of magazines in two small, compact cases! Everything, including templates, is on these discs. Fabulous, I tell you. Simply fabulous!

If you have limited space for your pursuits - or if you have lots of space that you'd rather not give up to magazines - I can suggest this as a great solution. Believe me. I'm going to be looking online to see if other favorite publications do this, too!

Now, I've had this little gem in my studio for at least a year, but truthfully hadn't even tried it yet. Last week, while at Paneras, I was having a heck of a time threading my needle to work on my scrappy plate applique' under their low light conditions.. So, I pulled my Clover Needle Threader out of the drawer this weekend and decided to see just how it worked.

What a great surprise! See the little circle-shaped slot there? (Um. The arrow says "needle slot" and is pointing to it in this picture.) Just put the needle, eye-end-down, right in there. Then place the thread across the groove marked "thread slot" (See it in the first photo? That's where it goes.) Then, push the white plastic lever, and it pushes the thread in a loop through the eye! Just pull the loop and voila! Needle threaded!

I took it with me to Paneras last night and it was a godsend! All the girls wanted to see my "toy" and a few of them said they're going out in search of one of their own!

I highly recommend this little tool. Especially if you're working in lower light, or your "mature" eyes are occasionally making life difficult for you. There's no shame in having a handy little helper!

I'll be back tomorrow with photos of my latest work, and don't forget...This week I'm celebrating my Third Blog Anniversary! You'll want to check back to find out about my celebration giveaway!