Hello Everyone!
I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving and were able to spend some time with family and loved ones. We made our annual trek to Phoenix and had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. Smoked turkey and brisket was a hit and the mashed potatoes this year were a new recipe – Robuchon Potatoes. I think these were the best mashed potatoes I have ever eaten. My nephew is a chef, and all I can say is hat’s off to him!!!
I want to talk about stranded floss for a bit. My go to stranded floss has been Anchor. I prefer it over DMC – I think it is a softer floss, it is colorfast and has many colors to choose from. Unfortunately, Anchor has switched their stranded floss from a skein to a spool. I am not a fan for several reasons. First, I bought a couple of spools at Joanns to try them out and I don’t think this stitches as well as the skein. I don’t know if it is the tension on the thread as it is wound or if the thread is a bit different, but it does not give me the full coverage that I get with the floss that is in a skein. 2nd, the spools take up much more room to store. Also, there are almost 500 colors, but Joann only has about a hundred of them. Most of the needlework shops that are around me are not carrying the spools, so Anchor is not longer my favorite.
I have started working with Cosmo stranded floss and this has become my new favorite. It is made in Japan from long staple cotton and feels smooth and silky. There are 500 colors and they are colorfast. They have been producing stranded floss for almost 65 years, even though they are relatively new in the US. I have been using Cosmo floss in my kits and I and my students have been happy with this thread.
The floss is $1.40 / skein and you can find it in many quilt shops. They don’t always carry all 500 colors, but have a selection of 200 or so, which is a nice start. Cosmo also has Seasons, which is 3 different variegated collections.
The first collection features colors that change about every 8 cm (about 3 inches or so).
The 2nd collection features colors that change in a color gradation, a gradual color change.
The 3rd collection has color changes that are random – both long and short lengths of color, and the colors are bright and bold.
Together, these 3 collection have 140 different variegated colors, with a retail of $2 / skein. If there is interest in these, I will carry these as well.
I am going to offer a Cosmo of the Month Club. Each month, you will receive 41 or 42 skeins of Cosmo floss, for a total of 500 colors, along with the plastic bobbins to wind them on. You will also get the storage boxes, and the floss colors that will go in each box. This is an organized way to keep your floss in order and for easy access when you are choosing colors. *This does not include the variegated colors*.
I have all of my Anchor floss, my DMC floss, and my DMC Coton a Broder #25 stored like this and it is so helpful to be able to pull out the boxes and play with the colors on my fabrics when I am designing.
This is the first time that I am offering the Cosmo line and the first shipment will go out in January – a perfect present for yourself for 2024! The cost for this is $55 per month, which is a 15% savings over purchasing it by the skein. If you are interested in joining, please send me an email and let me know, and I will get all of your information. vaune@vaune.com . I know you will love this floss as much as I do!
If you are a thread aficionado as I am, I also have the Floche of the Month Club ($50 / month over 12 months for 91 full skeins) and the Coton a Broder of the Month Club ($22 / month over 12 months for 176 colors).
I am going to try to post weekly for the next several weeks – I have some great fabrics that I ordered last January at the textile show when we went to in NYC. These have been sitting here, patiently waiting for me to get to them and I have not really had time until now. I have a few things to review as well. So much to do and so little time!
On another note, Cindy and I are working on the designs for our projects for our 2024 school – more information will be coming soon! I am also testing out my Stella GO (battery powered) lamp. I opened the box this afternoon and fully charged it. Now I am testing out how long it lasts on different powers of light. I will be posting on that soon.
Have a wonderful week, and Happy Stitching!
Vaune