The Color Red

Have you ever heard the children's song, "Oh I bet you can't guess what I've got in my pocket"? It's on our Disney Silly Songs CD, and the child quickly lists all kinds of things in rapid succession, including a map of Connecticut. So with a deep breath, and knowing that some people really love to read funny details in blogs, I'm going to share and describe what's in my sewing box. A departure from my normal quick picture and brief explanation, I know. Blame my husband for taking the children for an hour and leaving me with free time in the office. I'll understand if you just check out the pic and move on.

It's a red box, given to me by Paul for Christmas last year (upon request), since Red is my fav color. Reba says red makes you look more attractive, so combined with my red IKEA cabinet, I must have the most sought-after fabric on a Friday night.

At the front of my box is a card my mother sent of her self-portrait when she went to Machu Picchu a few years ago. It's one of my favorites and I love that she went. I also saved a card my sister Leslie sent me, because it's about sisters and has 3 girls on the cover, that reads, "A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost." At the side are my smaller rulers, along with a picture of Mr. Darcy (Colin Firth) my other sister, Tracey, brought back from England for me. I have no idea why he landed there. All I picture when I see it is Colin Firth in spandex with his name on his belt at the end of Mamma Mia!

Inside the box is several other boxes (I did mention I'm obsessive about organizing): a lebkuchen tin left over from our last trip to Europe four years ago (wistful sigh at how far away that seems now), which contains needle, thread, scissors brought back from Switzerland from another of my mother's painting trips, and a thimble - everything I need to pick up and bind in front of a movie, with or without Colin Firth. There's another tin box with the French Quimper style on it, that I LOVE - which sister gave me this? It has all my threads, extra bobbins, safety pins, yo-yo templates, like I'm ever going to use those.

Yet another box is a traditional pencil tin with the Little Prince on it, one of my favorite books of all time, bought by me in the chapel in Paris where the author is buried. Very cool place. I've got a notebook that's supposed to be used to record books read and lent, but I just list quilts I've finished and can work on, and business cards of quilting friends. My fabric calculator, which is a fantastic gift from Leslie, labels to mark block order in more complex quilts, my niece's quilting hoop in case I ever get to my "primitive" (read disasterous) embroidery of the state flowers quilt top, and then the boring stuff: scissors, shears, rotary cutter, measuring tape, pins, etc.

And in honor of all the red in my life, and also because I have nothing new to share, I've also included this picture of one of my first quilts. It's a drunkard's path from the Underground Railroad book. I made an identical one for my oldest and best friend, Laura's wedding to the smashing Brian, two years ago.