When I was in the 2nd grade, my family lived down the street from a huge family that had 10 kids. There were five brothers and five sisters. Three of the sisters were close to my age and became my playmates. The two older sisters- teenagers, were my babysitters. I was still an âonly childâ and found myself influenced by all these sisters. Year round the sisters often brought up Christmas and what they would gift each other. I loved that and by December, had also saved up a little stash- thanks to my grandpa Misha, who gave me a dollar every time we were together. Our family celebrated Hanukkah, it was time, I gave back. Letâs shop. I was thrilled to go along.
In the late 1960âs, it was perfectly normal for school kids to explore the city limits . I often rode my bike into âdowntown San Mateoâ to visit my mom at her job or to lust over the toys at Talbotâs Toyland, a toy store so wonderful, that there was a scene filmed there for the movie âNine Monthsâ with Robin Williams and Hugh Grant.
As December approached, we made our lists. On mine were my grandparents and my parents. I went into town with the girls and we looked everything over. My grandmothers would each receive a bottle of Blue Waltz. The grandpas and Dad got pens. They were very simple gifts but they were the first gifts that I chose and bought unsupervised. I found I liked the challenge of shopping – yikes.

Last blog, I did promise a Shoppers list for gifting the creative embroidering freak in your life, not much time left but here are some items to consider.
1. A product or a whole slew of products from Stencil Girl products. Short on inspiration or drawing skills? Poke thru this site and find inspiration or the stencil you need to create your vision.

2. I want this ! If your embroiderer loves to play, Youâre welcome. Who wouldnât want to customize their floss. Donât forget to look thru this website while youâre there.
Dharma Trading Co.https://www.dharmatrading.com/

3. Yarn/ Thread Cutters
When carrying snippers isnât practical, the embroiderer can just wear this and not have to feel around for scissors. The lowest priced is the handy Clover cutter, then thereâs these cute, colorful cutters made by Bothin which costs a bit more but itâs pretty. And, if youâre up for the hunt and willing to spend up, thereâs more specialized cutters out- like the cat cutter from an Etsy vendor.

4. Snippers, nothing beats a great pair of snippers, when what you need are a great pair of snippers. Behind makes cute snippers with colorful designs and I would not be surprised if there are people collecting them. Also, I saw some snippers for lefties.


5. Gift certificate for fantastic needlework books and products, go straight on over to CTPublishing , heh.


7. Mystery Boxes
As you all know, I gift myself mystery boxes of yarn when I am rewarding myself. My favorite San Francisco shop has a variety of mystery boxes, let them know the yarn will be used for embroidery- and should be lace, fingering and sock weight range. The store offers 12 different types of Mystery boxes and each type comes in different sizes. You just need to check it out. ImagiKnit

Wishing everyone a happy, easy and fun time. Thanks for checking out my blog đ«â€ïžđč