Tip of the Day

I know-it has been a couple of days. I hate it when we have a three day weekend. Well let's say I hate it when one of the days is spent on a road trip going to a place and coming right back. I am confused as to what day it is and when things are due and well-let's get back to the subject in hand.

Needle Threaders. Now do not laugh, well yes you can! In fact I hope this brings a smile to your face.

I have been stitching since I was 5 years old. My grandmother never really used a needle threader and neither did I. When I started teaching in 1989 the shop that I was working/teaching in kept giving out needle threaders. When I would teach a class all the students raved about threaders and how a stitcher could not live without one. Well, I thought I would try this contraption out. I put the thread in the hole of the threader and tried to push it through the eye of the needle. Yes, this is where you are suppose to start smiling then chuckling then laughing. Well, I did this over and over and I could not get the thread to go into the eye of the needle. Now is when you go and get the tissue to wipe away the tears of laughter.

I kept this little secret to myself and when my students kept telling me that everyone needed a needle threader and how they make life so much easier for the stitcher, well I would just smile and think in my head that all of these people were full of it and that it was a conspiracy from the Notion Departments to sell these stupid little metal things.

Then one day I was teaching and a student pulled out one of these little contraptions. I took a moment to stare at the contraption of torture. As I watched the student put the metal part of the threader through the eye of the needle then inserted the thread into the threader. The light bulb went off. And yes, for those of you that know me, I told the class my needle threader story. For the record no one actually wet themselves laughing at me, but they came pretty close to doing so.

I think of myself as mechanically inclined and an out of the box thinker. I want you to know that if I had not seen this person using this device I would have never figured out how to use it.....

So the tip of the day is to put the threader through the eye of the needle and then insert the thread. Pull the threader back through the eye of the needle and you are ready to go.

I hope that I have made you laugh or at least smile about this experience. And for those of you that are like me and could not figure out how to use one...you can now go out into the world and use this contraption with confidence.