I just started doing this. My bushes and trees have thread and wool yarn in them, so pretty.

My DH made several (for me and friends) when I had a Bernina that did not play well with cones. He took a 5" round of a lovely hardwood scrap and drilled a hole partly into the center into which he put a 3" of 1/2" dowel, which he pounded and glued into place, then ran a screw into it from the bottom. At one side of the flat base, he drilled a tiny hole and inserted copper welding rod, about 12" long, with the end twisted at right angles ending in a pig tail shape through which the thread goes from the spool. Since this was from shop scraps, the cost was only a bit of glue and 1 screw.

I don't have room to keep all of my machines out at one time. When I have to put my serger away, instead of unthreading it, I pull about a foot of extra thread off each cone before I cut it. I then gather the extra length of threads and put them in a loose coil on top of the serger and secure it with a small piece of blue painters tape. When I need to use the serger the next time I have long enough thread tails to tie on a new color without having to rethread the entire machine. I stick the piece of painters tape tape on the side of my serger below the hand wheel wheel until I need it.

Here's one - save your scraps (the ones you know you won't use, even for crumb quilts) in a plastic grocery bag. When the bag is filled, make a quick pillow form out of muslin and stuff it with your scraps. This way you have pillow forms whenever you need one.

Good thought! But, some of us are still using sewing machines that have no computer. Works great for us!

Does anyone have pictures of these Christmas lights? I would love to see them.

This sounds like a break in the electrical "flow" to the machine motor. Most likely it's because your motor brushes are worn down and need to be changed. That's an inexpensive fix. Also check your cords and plugs. If the machine is older the cords or foot pedal could need replacing.

Everyone is gaining on me. This thread is growing faster than I can read!!!
1.Someone mentioned a magnetic dish. Mine are "mechanic's parts dishes" from Harbor freight. The come in a number of sizes. I keep them on the window sill behind my computer. I throw pins in their direction and they attach nicely. I also use one for my metal bobbins.
2. magnet on a telescopiong stick. My current on is from Jhittle.
3. I also cut scraps to standard sizes and use them as leaders and followers for string piecing as Janet Leigh suggested then I have premade 4 patches for scrappy quilts
4. I cut a slit in a plastic corn starch container. I put 'dead' sharp objects into it as I go, then put tape over it when I toss it.
5. binder climps are great. I use a row of them on a molding strip over my closet door to hang up quilts for picture taking.
6. I keep getting magnetic ads (bus cards). I put one into an altoids box for a portable pin/needle container for take alongs.
7. I had that stopping problems and was sure my foot control had gone bad. It was actually just lint. I did not know you need to clean out the foot pedal when you do a major machine cleaning.
8. change rotary cutters and needles regularly. I went to a retreat with my guild. The cutter I borrowed (out of laziness) was super dull. When I went back to my stuff to get a new blade for it, I found it was RUSTY inside. I changed blades and oiled it. I find that my guild sisters are really bad about getting rid of dull stuff. Those really slow you down and mess up your work.

I use the foam hearing protectors that people use in noisy environments and a thin long quilting pin like the flower pins instead of the expensive Pinmoors to pin layers together before quilting. MUCH cheaper. You can get the foam hearing protectors off e-bay very cheaply.