Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Halloween & Back Patting

Finally...I have some stitching to post about! This is Happy Halloween by La-D-Da from the 2009 JCS Halloween issue:

Here are all my finishing materials. Isn't the backing fabric just adorable! I love it. I'm going to edge it with ric rac and fill with crushed glass and it'll be one long pin cushion!

Below is where the back patting comes in! Right now my "stitching room" is masquerading as a guest room until such time as I completely turn it into my stitching room (lucky for me, we have another guest room!) for good. I always had a bunch of projects spread out over the bed. It was a pain finding anything and a pain when someone comes to stay. I thought there had to be a better way.

So Monday I went to the dollar store and I found these white baskets, which happen to fit a JCS magazine just perfectly I might add. I only got 3 because that's all they had in white. I hope they get more because so far it's working out perfectly for me. I hate disorder and hated the wasted time trying to find what I was working on, my scissors, etc. I have my Christmas by the Letter in one, my Harvest exchange piece in the middle and my Halloween exchange materials in the third.
Now I just need to figure out how to organize my DMC floss and I'll be a happy camper! I hate the bobbins, tried the Stitch Bow. If anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear them! I don't have tons of every colour, maybe 2 skeins for the odd one so I don't need something that hold gobbs of the stuff. Does anyone out there use Floss-A-Way Bags?

Happy Stitching!

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Your pincushion is going to be so pretty when it's finished. The design is very cute and I love your fabric and trim choices.

I use snack sized zipper bags with a 3x5 index card for stability to store my flosses. I have all of the DMC in *sheepish whisper* 18 *ahem* plastic shoeboxes from Kmart. I got them a couple of years ago in 10 packs for $10 each. The overdyes and silks are also bagged with cards, but I put eyelets at the top left corner of each bag. I put them alphabetically by color name on 2" binder rings, one ring per brand. I don't have a lot of specialty threads yet (I had NONE when I bought the boxes), and the two leftover shoeboxes were already in use to store ribbons, beads, and assorted notions. I suppose I'll have to buy more boxes as my collection grows...

Daffycat said...

I use the floss bags and love them. It keeps more than one skein plus any loose threads and they are super easy to sort and pull. See this link on my blog where I explain how I do them...

http://itsdaffycat.blogspot.com/search/label/Where%20I%20stitch

Sandra :) said...

That's going to be a pretty pincushion when it's done :D

I keep my floss in regular white envelopes in a plastic storage container. On the outside I write the number and the color name, then they're arranged by number. It's not fancy, but it works for me :D

Blyn said...

I saw on someones blog that they use those bins that guys have in the garage to keep screws/nuts/bolts. I bought one at Wally world the other day for 10 bucks. It will hold 30 different colors so I am going to get several more. I think they would look great all stacked up. I then use the bags and rings for each project. Nice blog I enjoyed reading. Blyn

lenna said...

I use two different systems. Both work for me. I have zip lock bags I got at Hobby Lobby in the scrapbook dept 4x6 is the size. I put them in photo boxes I also got at HL. There are four photo boxes for all the numbers of DMC. I line them up by number. When I need some thread to kit a design I just go and pull that zip lock bag. I then put them and the pattern in a bigger zip lock bag.
I also use the snack bags and do the same thing. I do also use white envelopes and put the number in the left hand corner and then file them in the boxes.
When I finish a project I re file the threads in the boxes they go in. I also have two bigger plastic boxes that I put just one each of every color thread I have. If I can't find the color thread in the numbered boxes I look in the bigger boxes.
You can stack the photo boxes and with the numbers contained in the boxes on the front it is easy to know which one you will need.
Pin cushion is going to look great when finished.
God Bless ~
Lenna