It has been one of those miserable days - grey and dreary, with drizzle in the air. Some of our rooms have small windows and can be a bit gloomy, so I have been looking online at CSN Stores for lights - you may remember that is where I got the tagine and the slow cooker from. I was very impressed with the service, so will have fun later browsing through their extensive selection of lights.
However, I had no trouble with light on Saturday, when I was taking photos to show you the different weights of thread. So - why is thread categorized by weight? Thanks to Dawn Cameron-Dick, I can tell you! When a new thread is created, it is fed through a machine which measures the yardage. The thread ends up on a scale, and once the scale shows one pound, the yardage is checked. A thick thread will have fewer yards to the pound, so if the length is something in excess of 40,000 yards, it is a 40 weight thread .... more than 50,000 yards, it is a 50 weight and so on. This information is shown on the spool
50 weight - probably the most commonly used thread
35 weight - a much thicker thread
I decided to be brave, and fit the scary foot to my new machine
the free motion foot, with three options
calico layered up for some practice
first attempt - could be better
oops , the stencil moved so the lines are slightly squint
but not as squint as my sewing - it's terrible!!
slightly better, but I am so out of practice at machine quilting
it should look like this, with even stitches and smooth curves
Never mind, at least while I was stitching I was nice and cosy, with the stove lit for the first time .......
...... which helped the lavender to dry out more quickly
On Saturday I also put food on the bird tables - I don't feed the birds over the summer, as there is plenty of food available in the fields and woods for them. We knew that the sparrows had raised two broods this year, but I didn't expect to see quite so many .......
on the ground .......
on a large shrub .......
and silhouetted against the sky on the hawthorn tree!