Blue, Green, Yellow, Red — sort, sort, sort

Every color under the rainbow — and then some. A collection of a lifetime; actually about 4 lifetimes as this array of embroidery floss is a combined collection of my stash plus the stash of three other people. It took me two days (and nights) of sorting and winding to get it fairly well organized as you see here. Truly, it’s only basically sorted as to color, enough so that when I need a red, I don’t have to paw through my fruit cake tin of threads to try and find the right shade. I had fused the label onto my grandson’s map quilt but felt uncomfortable leaving the raw edges, so I embroidered a very lazy herringbone stitch around the label. It works o.k. and will keep the label affixed. I’ll do better at putting the label on the next one..

As I sorted the various skeins of floss, some had one paper band still affixed (each skein typically has 2 labels, a narrow one with the color number printed on it, and a larger one with the name of the manufacturer and the size of the thread). I noticed that there was a wide variety of label styles, even within the same manufacturer. The length of floss included in each package also varied, from 8 yards to 9 yards. I imagine the yardage varied according to the manufacturing costs. It’s the same as the proverbial 5 pound sack of sugar, which is now a 4 pound sack, but you still pay the same as you did when it was actually 5 lbs. A number of other grocery items have also been mysteriously reduced (coffee and ice cream to name a couple). If you’re like me, you don’t notice the reduction in size until one day you happen to pick up the item and notice it feels lighter. Voila! You check the label and realize that you’re paying the same price you’ve always paid (within a few cents), except the item is not the same weight as it had been. You stand there in the grocery store, talking to yourself and wondering when it was that they slipped one over on you. No telling — because they surely don’t announce it to the public.

Back to the embroidery floss swamp, I found that eventually, instead of a price noted on the packaging, there was a UPC code. Note the cream and navy blue labels from J&P Coats–they’re from 1921! And in he first row, there’s a silver band that says 3/10 cents. Mind you, the current price for a skein of embroidery floss is $1.29 (minimum). The amount is still pretty much the same–9 yards, but that price is astronomically high now. I bought 1 1/2 yards of fabric and it cost me $17.05. No wonder people no longer make their own clothing. At any rate, I still enjoy sewing and making things, especially for my two grandsons.

That’s all of the nonsense I have to share today. Be safe, be well and please be happy. Take each day and find something to appreciate. Be grateful for your blessings as there are so very many people who have less than you do in material wealth, and so much more than you do in physical/emotional pain. We are blessed…