Skip to main content

Taming the Stash Monster - Step 1: Books

Well, if bookaholic isn't a real word... it should be!  I have very eclectic reading tastes which lean mainly towards non-fiction... any kind of non-fiction.  Sometimes this words to my advantage.  I took a course recently on an obscure type of lace - Carrickmacross Lace to be exact - and when I looked at home after, lo and behold, I actually had a book on it!  Mostly, though, my inability to leave any stitching, craft, or fibre art book on the shelf in a store when it could be in my home is not a good thing, or maybe it is just too much of a good thing.
So, step one in taming the stash monster is to get my book collection under control.  The first step was donating three boxes of books to the local youth embroidery chapter.  There are three boxes sitting on the porch right now waiting to go to the thrift store.  Seven or eight boxes have already gone there.
And still, this is what it looks like at my house...
This is a bookshelf by my computer table... There are two more of these white bookshelves in my sewing room full of books.

This bookshelf is down in the living room and it has all my Inspirations magazines, Piecework, A Needle Pulling Thread as well as more books!
I gave lots of books away last summer to the local public library and they gave me a tax receipt for $1000.00+ so you would think that would have lessened the number left here.

There are a total of five of these bookshelves in the library in my house.  Yes, that is actually what we call that room!

I have always liked the look of bookshelves that are half empty and have room for little knick knacks.  Instead I have full bookcases with piles of book on top!
 Still the books are piled on chairs...
 ...and on the floor....
 ...and on pieces of furniture where books don't belong!
 Not just one chair either!  I hope confession really is good for the soul - it would mean my soul is in really good shape after sharing these photos.
There are three more bookshelves in the pantry with just cookbooks on them and still they are piled on the tables.
So, what am I doing?  Giving books to the library, giving books to the youth embroiderers' group, taking them to guild meetings and giving them away!  And I don't think I have made a dent yet!

So, now I am listing them for sale on Amazon.  So far I have 475 listed!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Giveaway Day! (CLOSED)

I am very happy to be joining in the Giveaway Day through Sew, Momma, Sew .  I have chosen to share one of my finds from a shopping trip, or treasure hunts as I think of them.  This is an antique sewing box -  I could not resist it when I saw it for sale!  Were you able to guess the item from the sneak peek earlier in the week? The box itself is fairly small, 8 inchs X 6 inchs and 4 inches high (20 cm X 15 cm and 10 cm high).  From my research it is of Asian origin. Inside the sewing box is lined with hand-painted silk.  The inside of the lid features a neat little needlebook. In the bottom of the sewing box there are more beautiful hand-painted blossoms and an attached pincushion.  I hope you are as charmed by this little box as I was when I found it and that you will enter my giveaway.  I will be pleased to mail internationally so everyone is invited to enter. To enter, visit my Etsy shop and then come back and leave me a...

BAS - Week 81 - Sequin Flower with Tutorial

This Build a Seam (BAS) Challenge is a little different - not exactly a stitch per se.  It is a technique for making sequin flowers which can be a wonderful addition to a seam treatment or motif. You will need cupped sequins for this - flat ones will not work properly - and some seed beads.  Mark your fabric with a center dot and five evenly spaced dots around the outside.  Bring your needle up through one of the dots on the outside and string on one sequin (cup upwards), a bead, another sequin and two more beads.  Take your needle down through the middle dot.  Carry on making another leg in the same way on each of the other four outside dots, always going down into the center dot which will be the middle of your flower. This is what you end up with after you have done all five legs - a nice little sequin flower!  You can add a bead or two more in the center of the flower if you wish.  You can also vary the number of legs depending on the size of t...

Giveaway! (Closed Midnight Monday!)

While packing my stash for the move to the lake I found duplicates of a couple books. What can I say? It must be really appealing to buy it twice! So, I have two books to giveaway. The first one is "45 Fine & Fanciful Hats to Knit". My knitting skills aren't up to this, I'm afraid - I wish they were because it is a gorgeous book! The second book for giveaway is "Tatting Doilies & Edgings", edited by Ruth Weiss. This is a good one because it has lots of edgings that can be tatted and used for crazy quilting. Of course, you could tat the doilies and edgings for anything you like! lol So, to enter the giveaway simply leave a comment with your email address and indicating which book you would like to go in the draw for. I'll draw names sometime on Monday. Thanks!