Stash Sunday - Coton à Broder #16

Continuing in last week's 'theme' of coton à broder, today I've got a photo of all the skeins of the #16 gauge
that I own.  I'm unlikely to expand this much, if at all, as there's not much to expand with.  As you can see, there are a handful of DMC skeins in there too, but their collection is more or less as limited as Anchor's, but at least they had some nice, warm greens and a couple of cooler pinks.

This is another set of threads that I've had for several years, built on when the chance arose (i.e. when I found 11 shades I'd never seen before available via an e-bay seller and I grabbed them), but rarely used.  The ends of thread wrapped around the colour number the label shows that I've used two reds and one green, which I think all went on the C&G sample you see here back in 2008 (red French knot sections).  I also remember there being a small section worked in #16 in an old RSN stumpwork kit that I did about 10 years ago. What about you?  Ever used this kind of thread?

I had what you might call a near miss with stash building today as we went down to Bakewell for the afternoon and I had hoped to spend a very pleasant half hour in Wye Needlecraft.  However, they've gone!  According to a websearch, they sold up and the new owners opened up in Mansfield, but the person writing about it felt it was nowhere near as good as the old shop and seemed to be hardly ever even open!  Soon afterwards the new management decided to take the whole operation on-line and so one more LNS bites the dust, and an award-winning one at that.  They had a really good specialist stock - you could even buy goldwork threads there, but no longer.  Sad. =(

Having said that, and having just watched a video segment on simplifying one's life, esp. materially, I couldn't help but feel that it wasn't such a bad thing for me.  I mean, I own way too much stitching stash!  I know that there are stitchers who own far more, (we've all read stories of clearing out whole rooms/garages full of stash when an embroiderer has sadly died), but it's beginning to feel uncomfortable in the same way that the book collection that I used to love and swore I could never part with began to feel within the last year.  My whole view of stuff is rapidly changing and I'm pretty sure I'll be buying very little at the Harrogate Show.  My goal is to come back with less in my bag than I went with (I'll eat my packed lunch and drink all the water and juices that I need to take with in order to stay hydrated in that awfully dry environment that makes me feel ill otherwise!), and just to take a few notes, sketches and ideas away.  I'm not going to deny myself anything I *really* want, but I'll be doing a lot of questioning of myself as to why and whether I'm going to buy anything.

I. Just. Don't. Need. Any. More. Stash.

Whilst I'm not planning to de-stash to any great degree in the immediate future, I am still keeping an eye on what's used and what's worth keeping long-term as well as giving some thought to what a minimalist kit would be, both out of pure interest and also with an eye to possible changes in the long-term.  So, everyone get your thinking caps on this week and be ready to comment on what your 'must keep' items would be ready for next Sunday when I'm going to be posting about what I would keep if I were to par right down. What couldn't you do without?  What could you lose?  How much do you think you keep 'just in case', 'for the pleasure of owning/collecting it' or rather regret buying?

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2015