New Loves

Oh, my.  Oh, my.  Oh, my!!  Why didn't someone tell me about silk embroidery floss before?  Santa brought me a couple of the small Kreinik Silk Mori sampler packs and I just tried them out on the drum.  Wow.  I am in love.  I really expected it to be like the DMC satin floss.  Pretty, but entirely too much trouble.  If you haven't tried this stuff, take it from someone who is really impatient with stubborn threads, fabrics, and needles.  Silk Mori is like the proverbial knife through butter.  If this is the kind of floss our Victorian ancestors sat around using, I understand why they were always acting so dainty.  It was so they could embroider all of the time!!!
Don't get me wrong, I still love my plain Jane DMC that I've been playing with for more than a few years (read:  decades).  And I have an awful lot of that to use up.  But I will definitely be saving up my fun money for more Silk Mori. 
This is my new toy:

It is a circa 1931 Singer Hand Operated Pinker and was a gift from a very good friend and her brother.  Because it was their mother's, they shall remain nameless because I don't want any children getting bent out of shape.  Why did I get it?  Because I appreciate such awesome sewing paraphernalia. I also appreciate awesome friends, and not for the cool stuff.  
This is what it does:

Don't you love my daughter's pink toenails in the picture?  I was going to crop it, but changed my mind.  This is the true story of where we live.  It was the middle of January and we were barefoot on the porch taking pictures.  Now it's cold again, though. 

This thing will reportedly cut through fabric, paper, and leather.  It has dials you change to adjust for the thickness of what you are cutting.  As my son said, it looks like an "old" pencil sharpener.  I remember when those pencil sharpeners weren't "old," but you get the idea.  There are other blades for the pinker, but they are a tad expensive and difficult to come by.  Hopefully some day I will get others.