Posts Tagged ‘kaizen’

How do I love thee, Dr. Bob? Let me count the ways…..with apologies to Elizabeth Barret Browning.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee Superior Thread in all the many colors

My soul can reach, when sitting at the Machine

As I contemplate the line of stitching.

I love thee to the level of sewing’s

Most needy time, by sun or Ott light.

I love thee freely as we strive for Kaizen.

I love thee purely as they judge the stitches.

I love thee with a passion put to use

As I strive to meet a juried deadline.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

As I ripped and swore and rethreaded.

Smiles, joy – all my projects – and, if it be,

I shall love thee even better seam after seam.

So why the ode? I was working on a fabric bowl yesterday with some “free thread” given to me at a sewing expo a while back. Now I talk about Superior Thread regularly on this blog. Ever since my School of Threadology in April 2010, so many of my problems and frustrations with needle and thread have gone away. I love sewing and quilting now. Everything always works.

Except yesterday, when I was working with this new thread. Why? Because the multi-colors would work with this particular fabric. Well, that was a mistake. First of all, these were “sample” spools, so I wasn’t really sure just how much thread would be on this spool…and of course, I ran out about four inches from the end of the project…which I wouldn’t have done had the thread not kept breaking every six inches or so.

Grrrr. Then, I could actually watch the thread fray as it passed through the eye of the needle. And…it felt like rough twine.

So while I have solved my tension and breakage problems, and even gone back to using my Sulky threads, when it comes to doing anything for a gallery or a juried show or an heirloom project, Superior Threads will be the only ones for me.

Dr. Bob, Mother Superior, Ricci, and all the folks at Superior Threads are some of the best people in the world to do business with. Their philosophy of “kaizen,” or continuous improvement, shows every single day, in them and in every one of their products. In case you didn’t know, “no ka oi” is Hawaiian for “the best.”