Why Can't There Be An Aurifil Thread Store on the Corner? (And what do I do with these prints?)

I just finished the first block of my 2015 (yes, you heard that right--my stab at realism) Vintage Trick or Treat Quilt from Crabapple Hill.

I like a good embroidery project now and again, especially if I get to use 12 wt. Aurifil thread on it. Sadly, I've only got about 39 colors of the 12 wt. and am missing 7 that are crucial to this project.  Damn!

It's not easy to find 12 wt. Aurifil-even at the large quilt shows. Jeez, around here, it's hard to find 40 wt. Once you convince a shop they need to carry it all they want to carry is a dozen or two colors of 50 wt. I don't know about you, but when I start a project I want a 50 wt to piece with, and at least a 40 wt to quilt with. I buy all my thread in pairs, 1 color, 2 weights.

So, until I can find someone who sells the 12 wt Aurifil colors I need, I'm forced to use the Sulky 12 wt. cotton thread....which sadly,  holds no comparison, but it will just have to do. Sigh. Vendor recos highly appreciated.

And since we're being difficult and whining today, here's my other insurmountable (to me at the moment) problem....

When I was in Portland I managed to be in the right place at the right time and scored a couple of free lunches, and a couple of free dinners, so I had some cash from my per diem calling out to me....'Mad money, mad money....buy something fun, honey'. It doesn't take much to separate me from my cash or credit card, especially if I can justify that what I bought was basically 'free' (which is what money for dinner that you don't spend on dinner is). So with that in mind I headed to the Friday/Saturday Market in downtown Portland on my one Sunday afternoon off. (I know....)

The first thing that caught my eye was this print:

Let's all give a big 'awwwww, isn't that cute'.  I thought, what a great print for a child's room, and gosh, maybe someday my daughter will suck it up and expose herself to the same frustration and humiliation she rained on us by having her own little spawn.  MUST BUY!  But certainly there is another like print to go with it because a PAIR hanging would look so much cuter.

They now sit in an interoffice envelope in my workroom closet...waiting...

As I continued to flip through this girl's work (Catherine Lazar Odell - canyoufeedthedog.com), I found these:

 OMG!  A fox in red socks, listening to the tunes the

barefoot kitty in the red dress is spinning.  How Mad Men! The fox just needs a cigarette and a martini!

Okay, get a grip, they fit in with no other art in the house, but let's see...need a justification....let's reach in and see what I can pull out of my hat.....I WILL GIFT THEM to someone. (yeah right)  I can start with the hubs..."Instead of bringing you back a stupid Portland OR hoodie you'll never wear, I thought I'd bring you these really cool prints" (he wasn't impressed). Backup plan, we can give them to soandso for Christmas. (yeah right).

The longer these prints are in in my possession, the more they attach themselves to me. On a recent trip to Ikea for some frames for the Day of the Dead art we picked up in San Antonio in May (which hangs in my workroom with my DOD collection and Pez dispensers), I slipped them into the folder with the other prints--you can't really gift them (yeah right) unless they're framed, right?

Look what I found:

Red lacquer frames that perfectly match the dress and the socks. (a bargain at $4.95 each). Their 'cool' factor just increased about 1000%.

While there really wasn't anywhere for these to hang in our house before they were framed, popping them into bright red lacquer frames certainly made it even harder to envision them on any wall in our boring, somewhat traditional home.

The hubs has condoned my keeping these  ("I can see how much you like them, so you may as well keep them for yourself") (Oh, so sorry soandso, they were almost your Christmas gift). But the problem is what the heck am I going to do with them? I could take them out of the red frames and maybe slide them into the studio where everything is framed in white, but having seen them in red, I just can't go back. Aarrgghh!

What to do, what to do.I mean, we could use new furniture for the family room, and it wouldn't hurt to paint the walls and get new carpet......