Just a little something

to share with you. My daughter stitched this for me

back in 1991. It is a Paula Vaughan

pattern. I made it into a large pillow and edged it

with some lace. Isnt it beautiful!

Happy Thanksgiving and May God Bless

You!

by Hopblogger

I wanted to share with you

ON HOW I STORE MY FLOSS.

My floss was stashed here & there, in boxes,

on rings, in bags. I disliked the rings because it

would not hold all of my floss. It was bulky,

often the floss got caught on the rings when it was

opened. It was a pain to take off those threads to get to

the one you needed. I even tried putting the threads

in bags & then on the rings. And when I placed them on

the large rings in order of color & not the number - well

I couldnt find what I was looking for. This great idea

did not work for me. So I have spent alot of time trying

to get my sewing area organized. I am far from being

finished - but I did get my floss organized. After months

of trying different boxes or places of where to store it all -

I finally came up with an idea

that works for me - & possibly it could work for you!

Who likes to wind floss on those bobbins? Not me.

These photos are what the top half of my sewing table

looks like. However it is far from being finished & I just cannot

bring myself to take a photo of the rest of the room just yet.

Its too messy!

I invested in these zip-lock SNACK size plastic bags. To be

precise - I bought at least 8 of these. They are the perfect size

for storing your floss. Also get you lots of index cards that

you can cut to fit inside the small bags. On the index cards

write down the floss number in one of the corners. My numbers

are on the upper right hand side.

Next, use your plastic see-through scrapbooking boxes!

Look - I even show you the sticker thats on top of the plastic

box - so you can be sure to get the perfect size. Now

fix the boxes to where you have 2 rows inside. Each row

holds about 30 bags - that means according to how much

floss is in each bag - you can store at least 60 floss bags

in each plastic box. As you can see I have 12 of these

scrapbooking boxes. 8 boxes holds my DMC floss. The other

4 boxes hold more DMC floss like the linen, satin & variegated

threads. The last box is literally empty - but I am sure eventually

I will have more floss to put inside.

On the left side - the 3 small plastic boxes with the purple lids

hold other floss like

some anchor, some coats & clark, & some floss

that is left over from kits. On the far right side of the shelf are

some small plastic boxes that stack on top of each other. This is

where I store those rings, needles & other things belonging

to cross stitch. That entire shelf is devoted to only cross stitch

threads. I even took some legal size manilla folders & cut

them long enough to make dividers inside each of the boxes. That

divider doesnt have to be made of thick cardboard.

Now these scrapbooking boxes also have carts with wheels on

them that store these plastic boxes. That would be a great

way to travel with your floss. Just make sure that these boxe sizes

fit inside that cart & then you are good to go! In fact, if you need to

you can permanetly store your floss in that cart. It would take less room

to store everything in that cart then it would be to store it all

on the shelves. At one time I remembered I priced that cart

& if I am not mistaken I believe the cart & about 6 plastic

boxes that go with it - sell for about $50. But do not quote me

on that price. I am so happy that ALL OF MY FLOSS is stored

where I can find it! The only thing left for me to do now is to number

the outside of the boxes. At this point I do not know how

I want to do that. No more winding floss for me anymore!

This system holds all of my floss.

I do hope that you really do look at this idea. I am sure that you

will like it.

Enjoy your weekend. Happy Stitching!

by Hopblogger

Another Letter finished and

this one is for my sister. L stands for Lori.

She requested that when I was done with it - if

I would make it into a pillow. Yes I will and hopefully

I will finish it soon once I find some matching

fabric. I will post a pic once I am finished.
These Alphabets are no longer at the address
that is printed at the bottom of the pattern page.
Click here to get these beautiful patterns in PDF
http://www.uneaiguilledansunebottedefoin.net/28-categorie-641086.html

Happy Thanksgiving!

by Hopblogger

A cute little Santa Star

is a pattern by Sam Hawkins. The design comes from

his book called '520 Christmas Cross-Stitch Designs. It's located on page 9.

It stitches up very quickly. I hope to be able to

stitch up many little designs & then make them all

into ornaments. Next year I plan on starting early.

Hopefully I can stitch up at least 1 or 2 ornaments a week.

And then in November I can fix them in order to display

them on my tree. So I have a goal - lets hope that I can

stick to it & do it while stitching up other items as well.

by Hopblogger

The Enchanted Sleigh

is a pattern by Susan Brack. My daughter stitched this for

me back in 1993. I absolutely adore it. As you see, it still

has not been made into anything nor has it ever been framed.

I just love to look at it. I cannot find the pattern for it although

I know that I have it somewhere.

by Hopblogger

Santa Moon

This is the beginning post for NIGHTCAPS.

This label is reserved for

small cross stitch items that you stitch

while riding in the car with someone,

waiting at doctors office's

or just before you retire for the night. It doesn't

matter how long that it takes to complete these

small projects - just that you do. I just

love these small Stitch-n-hang ornament,

greeting card kits. This one is called 'SANTA MOON'.

They are easy &

quick and this kit had never been opened.

This is first kit that I encountered that

some thread was missing. And I didn't catch the

mistake until after I finished it. Normally I never take

any of these small kit threads & sort them out. Mainly because

there is never alot of threads. Mostly you can see them at a glance.

It never dawned on me to make

sure all the threads were there. Well, the light blue thread

was not there and so I accidentally stitched it in the

medium blue not giving the lighter blue color another

thought. What was I thinking? Anyway that was the only

trouble I had with this kit. And you know me I will not pull

out that mistake. I will only work with it the best that I can.

It will have to be really bad for me to pull out those stitches.

So, dont you agree - its not a big deal.

I didn't back stitch the entire piece. I didnt want to make any of

the greenery stand out. Also I almost forgot. I stitched

the blue cap a little further down than intended & I left out those

white dots. But all in all its not too bad. Unless you

have the pattern you are not going to see any of the mistakes anyhow.

I hope you like Santa Moon.

by Hopblogger

Here are the patterns

for Heart of the Rose and Rose Fields.

My initial intention for this biscornu was

to make it lacy & to call it lacy rose. However after

many months of bad attempts I could not get it to

look like I wanted it to. So my idea was abandoned.

This was the best that I

could come up with. Once I saw that it created a

heart, hence the name change to the Heart of the Rose.

You will notice on Rose Fields that there

isnt any green. That is because I decided at the

last moment to add the green while I was stitching.

There isnt any pattern for adding the green X's.

Just add them randomly or to all of the little roses

as I did. The choice is yours. I also do not mind

if you change the colors.

by Hopblogger

The Heart of the Rose,

you see why I couldnt help but to call it that. The

back is called Rose Fields. This is two separate

patterns that I have placed together to make a

biscornu. I didnt intend for it to look so Christmassy.

It just happened that way. There are 4 points

at the corners of the Roses. This would be a great area

to attach 4 pretty rose charms or tassels. I will

post the patterns soon. This would be a great

pattern for Valentines Day!

by Hopblogger