Magpies

It's getting cooler out, so naturally I feel compelled to get out embroidery thread and fabric and more embroidery thread and stitch away, because isn't that what everyone does when the leaves turn? Embroidery is about as zen as I know how to get, the perfect activity for cloudy days and spicy apple tea and cozy blankets. Aside from the finished product, my favorite part of embroidery is the little pile of rainbow hued threads which I end up with at the end of a project. I have to fight my natural urge to burrow the little pile away for use another day, as if there was anything I could possibly do with a hundred one inch thread scraps. I'm pretty much a little magpie, saving (or resisting saving) every pretty, sparkly, colorful little do-dad I see "for another day".

We were at my Granny's house the other day doing "research" (hanging out) for one of Lily's school projects and we dug up decades of old magazines and catalogs. Granny would chuckle with slight embarrassment every time we opened a box or pulled something off the shelf. There may have been several 90s Spiegel catalogs, a 1979 Sears Catalog and some 70s travel brochures among the magazines and books.

Joy to my vintage loving heart! I showed great restraint by only bringing home what I have dubbed the "Hipster Bible" (the Sears catalog and there will be much more on that later. I promise.) and a 1976 Family Circle, which has a recipe for Italian Nut Balls that my kids (yeah, ok, me too) have been laughing about for dasssys. It's a cookie, I swear.

Seriously, I deserve an award or something for only taking two vintage magazines rather than every single one in the house. I left the 70s Florida brochure that had what I am now fairly positive was a drawing done by Herb Ryman (or heavily influenced by). I may or may not have considered going back for it every day since our last visit.

Wow. How did a post about embroidery floss become about Herb Ryman? Oh, right.... Floss piles. Pretty. Magpies. Collecting. Magazines. Herb Ryman. All that to say, I got my magpie collecting tendencies honestly via my Granny.

I had more to say about embroidery, I am sure, but the magpies hijacked this post.