Winter gems

Well, I still haven't gotten to much around here - unfortunately the rounds of winter sickness are continuing! Based on other blogs and facebook, it seems to be the norm this year. Boo. Can't wait for warmer weather and no more colds!! I did think I would share some beautiful gems I received for Christmas this year - my husband's aunt pulled my name in the grab bag, and she's a professional embroiderer, so she got me all sorts of sewing goodness! First up is this gooooorgeous box of Sulky Blendables - I seriously just sit and look at the thread sometimes (ok, that's really dorky, but I'm sure some of you can relate!).

She had told me awhile ago about the Blendable line, since she knows I love Sulky. I haven't been able to try it yet since haven't seen it anywhere in stores and I still can't get used to buying thread online!

This line is cotton 30 weight. I usually use the regular Rayon Sulky, which is a 40 weight thread, and very shiny. A lot of people I know don't want to use it because it's so shiny, but the colors are so vibrant that I thought it was worth it. Buuuut, seeing this cotton thread makes me contemplate switching away from rayon completely - it really gives a different look! I also love chunkier thread, so the 30 weight is really attractive to me.

The Blendables line also boasts gentle color changes. All of them are variegated, which is my favorite kind of thread to quilt with. Some of the rayon variegated threads (like the gray on the left) also have gentle changes, but a lot of them have the more drastic shifts (like the black and light gray spool pictured), which I don't like as much. So I'm pretty pumped about the increased options here :).

She also gave me a gift certificate to Westwood Acres, with which I promptly snatched up some AMH True Colors (eagerly awaiting their arrival!) and this book:

It basically is eye candy of a bunch of designer's workspaces and some of their thoughts on their creative journeys. I was just flipping through and was so surprised and excited to see one of my quilts in there!!

It's my Madrona Road Challenge quilt, which showed at Michael Miller's booth at Quilt Con - so excited! Definitely an add-on Christmas present. She didn't know it was in there, and neither did I, so I was wigging out a bit, as you might imagine!

Well. Hopefully I'll have some AMH fabrics soon to start playing with :)