Love that Aurifil Thread!!!

So I've been buying Aurifil 50 wt thread one spool at a time for my applique - often waiting days for a spool to be delivered so I can complete some bit of applique top stitching.  I decided I was wasting a ton of money on shipping and such.  I discovered that Aurifil has this awesome treasure Chest of Drawers... Filled with their small spools of every color thread they make!!! 

I simply HAD to order it right away.  It arrived about a week ago.  It's WONDERFul, but it has no handles to carry it to classes/retreats/and the like.

I learned there is a wonderful place in Australia that was offering a pattern for a carrier bag to fit the chest of drawers if you ordered from them.  Unfortunately, I couldn't afford the shipping from Oz to the US, but I contacted the shop in Australia anyway, and they very sweetly sent me the pattern anyway.  They are called Always Quilting and I highly recommend them, not only as a wonderful and well-stocked online shop, but as wonderful people too.

I made the bag for my thread and it fits perfectly, though I did have to do a little finagling to convert from metric to inches, it still sewed up quick and easy and with no problems, even though I am a novice at making bags.

Here are some pics of my new bag:

Here's the bag just standing up looking all spiffy with the box of thread inside.  I used a prequilted fabric because I was too lazy to quilt my own, lol... though I'm sure it would have been better to use up some stash.  I saw this green and purple and cream print, and I just LOVE green and purple together and I had to use it.

Here's the bag laying down with the box of thread inside.  You can JUST make out the Aurifil logo on the right side of the box.

Here's a view showing the inside of the bag, more green and purple fabric... *love it!* but I wanted the stripe on the outside, I thought it would be more interesting.

I posted some pictures of the actual box of thread and the drawers here.


Anyway, that's what I've been doing with my quilting time.  Not very productive of late, but I am gearing up for my trip to Sisters, OR for the quilt show there, and haven't been doing a lot of quilting.  I did make another Woodland Creatures block, but I haven't done the edge stitching or embroidery on the block yet.

The new block is a bluejay, with some flowers, leaves and praying mantis... that little brown blob at the bottom left is a beetle, which will have legs and antennae after I do the hand embroidery.  Right now, it's just a brown blob though, lol...

Anyway, that's my quilting journey of late... Hope yours is alive and well.