May 3, 2015

The Disappearing Threads, Needles and other things

My sewing lounge chair was very comfortable, a great recliner and it saw many projects stitched on it. However, it had one big failing. When I sat in it, of course it depressed the cushion, which meant that there were big gaps for things to fall down the sides into the innards of the chair.


And fall down they did! - scissors, pins, beads, pencils, but particularly threads! Those little thin bobbin squares were just the ideal size to disappear down my lounge chair. In the end, I left the stapled fabric underneath undone so that I could easily tip the chair up and extricate the latest thing to have slidden down.

Needless to say, I soon got sick of my threads disappearing, so when I saw a metal split hinged thread ring for sale, I immediately bought one as I figured it looked the next best thing since sliced bread - which it proved to be. All those threads on that ring just wouldn't slide down inside my lounge chair.


I loved my thread ring so much that I decided I could definitely do with a few more. The shop where I bought my first ring was no longer operating, so I did a search on Ebay and found them at a really good price and bought a packet of ten. So no more plastic bags full of threads, no more mixing up which threads went with which project and no more disappearing threads ... (and I've bought a new  lounge chair too!)

Then there were the disappearing needles. In spite of all the pretty pincushions I have made in the last ten years, I was still using the same old very ordinary one for everyday use. (Some times I get into the silly mode of thinking "This is too pretty to use on myself!") Well old faithful pincushion started wearing out at the seams so needed replacing. I like to use bran to fill my pincushions as I find it gives a good weight so that the pincushion doesn't fly off the arm of the lounge, and it keeps pins sharp. Now I didn't have any more bran in the cupboard, so I decided to reuse the bran out of the old pincushion. Of course I needed to check that there weren't any needles in the bran before I started to fill the new one 
and ...


OK - let's have some fun. 
Would you like to guess how many needles I found inside my pincushion? 
The prize for the closest guess will be one of my patterns of your choice. 
(If there are more than one correct answer, then I will draw the names out of the hat.) Leave your guess in a comment below and make sure I am able to contact you if you are a "No Reply blogger".
Competition closes midnight Saturday 9th May (Australian time).

I'm more sensible now with my pincushion and I don't put needles in it sitting out like a pin, but scoop them through the fabric so that they don't disappear inside!

Now onto other disappearing things. Did you notice I disappeared for a week or so? My husband and I were away on a birdwatching field trip with our local Birdwatchers' Club. We had a great time and saw lots of birds that we don't normally see and enjoyed the lovely company of our friends. Also spotted in a park in the little country town where we were based was this Koala:


Now that I'm back home, I've been disappearing into my sewing room and getting back on track with my projects. I finished this set of placemats for a friend:


 and had great delight in playing with this beautiful guipure for a wedding commission. (Show you more when its owner has seen it!)


Thankfully we didn't disappear on Friday when we had 7 inches of rain in 24 hours. Unfortunately, many people were less fortunate, there were many floods around Brisbane and five people lost their lives. Our main shopping centre looked like this:

Photo - Channel Nine News

We are thankful we and our families were spared to live another day.

I'm looking forward to seeing your guess on how many needles disappeared into my pincushion!

Val 

27 comments:

Ondrea said...

LOL Val! I remember finding around 30 pins hidden in my old favourite pincushion. I pressed down with a fork and out they popped! So I shall say around 30 ? I was totally amazed at how many pins fitted there. Hmm, you allow your hubby to go bird watching? Hehehhe. Lovely pic of the koala. Love your projects too. My parents flew up to Brisbane on Friday to visit my brother and his family. The plane had to keep circling for 50 minutes before it could land. My brother had to find 3 different ways to drive back to Ormeau seeing as it was all flooded. Good to hear you are safe and dry.

Anonymous said...

I am thinking roughly 24 so I will go with 24
have a beautiful week
Glenda

ferhiljoe@yahoo.com.au

Anita : Shabby Quilt said...

I guess 15. I will have to check my own now.

elliesue said...

I thought about ten! I'm with you Val, I thread my needles in the fabric now, as I lost too many.

Moira said...

I know how many ten to get lost in mine! So I'll say 25 needles. =)

Deb said...

It is amazing how many needles can get "lost" inside a pincushion. I am going to guess 21. I am so glad to see that your family is okay, but am o sad at the loss of life in the floods. How devastating.

sunny said...

Wow - I was going to go with 11. Now I think I need to check my own pincushion. I try to remember to keep some thread in my needle when I stick it into the pincushion.

Quiltsmiles said...

I initially thought 15 but since that number is taken I'll go with 23. Any number you guess is way too many for sure.

Lucía said...

Yo encontré 19 en mi viejo alfiletero. Digo esa cantidad.
Saludos desde España.

Unknown said...

I'll guess low at 6 since I usually don't put needles in my pin cushion.

Regina vicentini said...

Olá Val! Achei muito bom o seu desafio sobre as agulhas. Vou até tentar acertar: será que você encontrou 19 agulhas?Espero que eu tenha acertado.
Beijos querida amiga!
Regina Vicentini

Anonymous said...

Oh Val, I am guessing 42 needles were hidden in your pin cushion. :)

Tammy

twillyard@comcast.net

Anonymous said...

I'm going with 9, though something tells me it was more. =) That was my first thought, and I'm sticking with it. I love your little blue pincushion! I'm so happy to hear that you didn't wash away in the flooding. I heard about it from another friend who didn't, too. Here, we can go to the office supply store and buy those, called binder rings. I have them in all sizes for thread bobbins, silk ribbon, and other kinds of threads, too. They do stay out of the cracks between the cushions that way! I have a similar kind of problem, and go under every once in a while to find the things I know will be down there!
dezertsuz at gmail

Linda J. said...

So happy you are o.k. I will be wild and guess 18 needles. You are truly blessed with a wonderful talent.

Blessings,
Linda J.

earth visitor said...

I'm going to say 13 - but it would have been a hint if I knew the size of the pincushion

Life's a poem said...

What a great competition- some fun! And I didn't know about using bran in a pincushion- a great hint. I think 5 needles were lost.

Love all your blog posts.

Lorraine

Cindy said...

I will guess 38 because I've had so many needles simply disappear over the years. They must go somewhere!

Sherry said...

I'm going to guess my age, 57. But I hope it's not that many. LOL

Baa. xxx said...

WE think 17 needles got lost. They are very sneaky things!

Tammy said...

I am going with 5 needles were found inside...I chose a smaller number as I think this is a smaller pincushion. But who knows for sure.

SuperMomNoCape said...

My first thought was 7, so I'm going to go with that. Although with everyone else's guess, I think perhaps I'm being too conservative!... lol. Your new pin cushion is so lovely!! When you say you stuff yours with bran, so you mean the plain old oat bran for baking?

I've recently started a weekly Stitchery Link Party for all things hand embroidered and I would love to have you come link up your new pincushion to share with my readers.

Barb said...

You are clever with your slippage solutions Val. I like the placemats very much too - so sunny. Glad to hear you survived that atrocious weather, I was in Brisbane ready to drive back up the range on Friday and though uh uh, stay put. No of pins/needles? I reckon 47.

Unknown said...

I really enjoy your work and love everything you share with us. I think you found 53 needles in your pin cushion - maybe some of them found their way there with the help of little hands - my young grandchildren are fascinated by pushing the needles and pins right in to the pin cushion.
Pauline
perry94022 at hotmail dot com

Maureen Clare said...

Hi my name is Maureen and I would say 19 just because. I have been guilty of the same thing and would quite often get a nasty surprise if I hugged my pincushion. Hope I am lucky
Email- candy_cats@hotmail.com

Linda in Calif. said...

Val - what can I say except you do the most awesomess work. I love the little pin cushion. I'll say 18. (Sure is fun to make a guessing game of it isn't it?)

Michelle said...

You do so much hand sewing and machine sewing that I'm going to guess 32. You have some beautiful patterns.

The Vintage Journal said...

My guess is 12. They sure like to hide from us. Thank goodness the rain has stopped. Usually it is us in the north that gets the torrential rain, now it seems to have changed to down your way. Glad your safe.