Bit of History

As I was sorting through my stitching magazines I came across an article about DMC and thought it was interesting.

History of The DMC Coporation
DMC was founded in Mulhouse, France, in 1746 by Jean Dollfus. When his son, Daniel, married Anne-Marie Mieg and added her name to his, the company adopted the name Dollfus-Mieg et Compagnie to recognize Daniel's contributions. DMC began producing sewing and needlework threads in the mid-1800s and first manufactured embroidery floss in 1897. The first manufacturer ever to mercerize thread, DMC still double mercerizes its threads, which accounts for their strength, colorfastness and brilliance.

The article was in the USA magazine 'Just Cross Stitch'.

It is just a shame the threads cost so much in the UK - something I have never understood. It seems crazy that the trade price in the UK is dearer than the retail price in the USA.

A Favourite Quote:
"Chocolate: Proof that God loves me, and wants me to be happy!"

Slice of Lemon

When I was going through some "Beautiful Stitches" magazines yesterday evening I came across this interesting fact about lemons:

"No one really knows where the first lemon tree flowered, but they were growing in Spain and North Africa by the year 1200. Quite foreign to our shores for many years, a lemon was produced as a delicacy at Anne Boleyn’s coronation. It cost six silver pennies!"

It is interesting to me as we have a lemon theme in our kitchen, well if you call three cross stitched pictures of lemons and some coasters shaped as lemons a "theme".

Here are photos of the three pictures I have cross stitched:

I have tried a couple of times to grow a lemon tree but haven't been successful yet; I hope one day to manage though.

A Favourite Quote:
"Humankind has not woven the web of life; we are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web we do to ourselves."
Chief Seattle

Rolling Snowball

This has been a crazy week! It started off busy on Monday and gradually day by day has been building steam. By this evening I am ready to curl in a ball and hibernate. It has been like a snowball starting small getting larger until it is too big to push any further. I just need to turn it into a snowman and have some fun.

When I was going through magazines yesterday evening I came across an interesting article on Mrs Beeton, most remembered for the 'Book of Household Management' - yes, if I stopped reading the magazines I would actually get through a lot more. I always thought she was an older lady and as the article suggested a 'matronly figure'. It turns out this is completely wrong as she tragically died at only 28 years old, only eight years after getting married. She was apparently a 'handsome young woman with boundless energy and great talent'. She only started her writing career after she got married. It was her husband who published her books as he had his own publishing company until it faced disaster during the collapse of a bank in 1866. He died young as well and only lived 12 years longer than his wife.

A Favourite Quote:
From a Garfield cartoon
"If 11 donuts stick together it counts as one, right?"