Casts versus threads

I have a new excuse for why I didn't get a lot of sewing done today.  (I know the machine back for repairs, the snow and book club have been used.  This is a new one!)

My sweet husband Cliff broke his ankle.  When, you ask?  Why yesterday on the way into the Illini Basketball game in Champaign, Illinois.  Cliff skids, slips, falls and hears a pop immediately followed by pain.  Does he then have my son in law, Joe, take him home or for medical attention? Oh, no, they go in and watch the game as Cliff's ankle swells...and swells.  He could barely get up the stairs by the time they got home.  He was convinced it was just a sprain so ice and advil for our Basketball fan. 

He went to the doctor today who took an x-ray and sent him to the Orthopedic guy where I met him after teaching and snapped this picture of my guy complete with cast and crutches.

Cliff is relieved he'll be good by golf season but I didn't get much sewing done today. So let's talk thread!

This rack is behind my machine and on it I keep the colors I used the most that are all cotton.

I prefer to sew and piece with all cotton.  My favorite kind of thread is Aurifil.  I like the ones on the orange spools.

If you haven't tried this kind of thread yet, you should.  I think you will love it if only for the gorgeous bobbins you make with this thread!

Here's a link to their website.

My favorite thread

Here is a drawer full of all the threads I don't use very much.  Most of this drawer is polyester thread or dual duty, a nasty kind of poly/cotton blend.

Before I quilted I used these kinds of threads and my Mother did too.  I inherited her threads.  I keep them for emergencies, when I really need a certain color. 
Before polyester thread, cotton thread was the norm and the spools were all wooden.  If you look on the extreme right you see some like these.  I keep them for sentimental reasons and they are all from before 1970. 

I have an additional thread box that my friend Vicki gave me.  I was at her house once, in her sewing room, and I saw reconfigured wooden wine boxes that her Father had fitted with little compartments for threads of every hue for her step Mother, Martha.  They were things of beauty and I may have blurted out, please put it in your will that I can inherit these!

Fearing perhaps that I would hasten her demise, she gave me this box with a magnificent array of Aurifil threads.  It is terrific and is almost as divine as her thread boxes. Almost. 

I keep my collection of Sulky thread in there also which I love for the color even though they are not 100% cotton.  They are in front and very shiny.  I have cones of Aurifil thread on my machine and on the lid of this box.

My spools of thread have not always been this organized.  I recently got a surprise present of an old post office box bank from a dear man that works with my husband.  I decided to put it in my sewing room and put all my quilting threads in there as they are heavier and I hate it when I accidentally use them to piece fabrics.  One thing led to another and you see the slightly OCD result, perfectly organized thread collections. 

   I loved the surprise of getting this terrific gift; I hated the surprise of Cliff breaking his ankle.  Life is like that, sometimes you spend time at the doctor's office and other times sorting and organizing your thread.

I am hoping all your surprises are the thread variety!