Category: Floss

I Stitched May Away
cross stitch · Cross Stitch Patterns · Fabric · Floss · Hand Dyed Fabrics · knitted cowl · Knitting · Mermaids · Mystery Stitch A Long · Pillows · Stitch A Long · Tiny Modernist

I Stitched May Away

My Time Stitching3 Comments

Hello my blogging friends! Happy June! Let’s hope it doesn’t go by as quickly as May did. Sadly, I only had one post in May. I was sick for about 2 weeks shortly after my last post. And then getting back to normal took a bit. Nothing serious, but it was my first time getting sick in 5 years and I guess my immune system was sluggish. Hubby was sick first with a sinus infection, and maybe shared with me? We had also made the decision to go without masks, so maybe we picked up something while out and about one day. Anyway, I am feeling much better now and thought I would hop on to the blog and share what I have stitched on during the month of May.

First, I did finish the Anchored Waves Cowl by Stephanie Shiman using a beautiful Wonderland Yarn Blossom cake.

Just look at that fade!!! Wonderland Yarns really do have the most awesome yarns that fade so perfect. It really turned out beautifully.

I look forward to wearing this one in the fall and winter. I don’t have anything else on my needles except for my Airplane scarf, which is my travel project. I didn’t get a picture of it for this post. I have been wanting to make some summer tops for myself. I picked a crochet top from Berroco. So cute. But you know how my crocheting goes. If I don’t have pictures and specific instructions, it’s pretty much not going to happen. I couldn’t get gauge and my sides were not straight on my swatch. So, I decided to purchase a book with some summer tops from Berroco, using the yarn I had bought called Isola. The one I wanted to make does not have written instructions. Maybe they all only have charts, so I nixed that one, too. So for now, no knitting. On to cross stitch.

I stitched on the Ocean Pearl SAL from Tiny Modernist Cross Stitching.

The reason I decided to do this SAL is the Mermaid, of course. She is so cute. And on the right side of the treasure chest, the pattern has a pirate there. I wasn’t sure if he would be an important part of the rest of the design, but I decided not to stitch him. Instead, I added another mermaid 🙂

So cute!! I really enjoyed stitching on this one while I was not feeling well. I am using all of the called for Fancy Flosses and stitching her on 16ct Aida Cascade from Fabrics by Stephanie. I received part 3 and started stitching on it last night. This is how far I have gotten.

The snow globe is full of ocean life and I know I will love stitching on it over the next few weeks.

I also stitched on Blossom and I am still loving all of her beautiful colors.

Even with all of the color changes, it has been a wonderful piece to stitch.

I just started stitching the next page, from the middle towards the top. So I guess I am about half way finished. I had to take her outside to see if I could capture her brilliant colors. For the details on this one: She is Blossom from Mirabilia. Fabric is 16ct Aida Busy Izzy from Fabrics by Stephanie. I have put her aside to stitch on the Ocean Pearl piece and a few smaller pieces. I look forward to getting back to her later this month.

A few days ago I pulled out my June pillow kit.

The threads in these kits just come rolled up as shown in the picture above. Since there is only a few colors, I decided to make my own Floss Drops to put the flosses on.

I die cut the tags. Pulled out some stamps and stamped a few summer images. I used some different sized circle punches to hang the flosses on and to add them to a floss ring. It gave me a chance to use my beautiful floss ring I purchased from @themermaidsdaughter6 on Instagram. I love the look of Floss Drops. I love seeing all of the flosses hanging all together. But I will admit, I am not a fan. Seems like a lot of work to me. It’s not to say that I will never use them again for a small project. But I am happy being a bobbin girl. Anyway, I finished the pillow yesterday, in perfect time for displaying in June. Kit is from Pine Mountain Designs. These pillows are from 2007, so I don’t think they are available anymore.

I am so happy to have another monthly pillow off of my project to do list. Only 4 more to go!

So that is all of my stitching for May. I am hoping for a couple of finishes in June, but we shall see how it goes. I have been spending my stitching time watching Flosstubes. I have a few favorites that I love to watch and one of them is Nichol Sophr LLC. She is a quilter, cross stitcher and card maker and I don’t know what else she does, but everything she creates is beautiful. I don’t necessarily stitch what she does, but I love watching her and seeing her projects. I am not a quilter, but I want to buy all the fabrics and make project bags (I probably won’t, but I really want to, LOL) She has wonderful tutorials on her channel and her card making videos are wonderful. Yesterday she started a Patriotic SAL and I decided I need some Patriotic pieces to decorate my house. You can find all of the details on her Facebook page group. If you want to participate and be in her drawings each week, you have to stitch on a Cherry Hill Stitchery Patriotic piece. Or you can stitch on whatever you want and hang out each Wednesday on her Flosstube Live. I haven’t had time to gather things for it in time for the start yesterday, but I did purchase a PDF from Cherry Hill Stitchery last night and pulled some fabric and floss from my stash this morning.

I will be stitching Stars and Stripes. The fabric I chose is 16ct Aida Everything Else from Mystic Fabrics and all of the flosses are DMC. So, yeah, another new start, LOL It’s ok. It’s a small 😉

So that is what I have been up to. How did your May go?

Happy Stitching!

ginny

Stitchy Haul and Stitchy Progress
cross stitch · Fabric · Floss · Hand Dyed Fabrics · New stash!

Stitchy Haul and Stitchy Progress

My Time Stitching15 Comments

Hello blogging friends! It is 6:39 and it is still daylight outside! The sun is still out there, the sky is blue and the clouds are big and puffy. This makes me happy!

A few weeks ago I shopped at my Local Needlework Shop for the last time. They are closing in just a couple of days and this makes me so sad. They have been my go to shop for all things stitchy for the last 28 years. They have been open for 32 years and have decided it is time to retire. I will miss them so much, but I wish them much happiness in their retirement. So I went and picked up my Nashville Market goodies and did some shopping.

I love all wonderful stitchy stuff I picked up, but shopping that day was bittersweet. Just look at all of those luscious threads! Like I need more. Um, yes I do! LOL I would have added more, but it was a little difficult getting to everything with so many people in there shopping at a discount. I am just happy I was able to get there and say goodbye to the girls. I will miss them. The shop was about 40 minutes from my house. Not sure how far the closest shop is now. Too far. There is always the internet, right?

I have made good progress on my Spring basket. It is looking so cute!

I am really enjoying working on this little project. I am leaning towards finishing this as a little pillow to display on a table or shelf.

Today is day 4 of my Giveaway. You know how much I love hand dyed fabric! I have 2 beautiful pieces of fabric that I will never stitch on because they are not 16ct.

This one is a 28ct Jazlyn solo from Silkweaver. It is 18 x 26 and in the photo it is folded in half. The green is lighter in person and the splotches are purple to brown. I am sure I purchased this for a mermaid if that helps with the coloring. If you would like a chance to win this fabric, please put the code word Jazlyn in your comment.

This fabric is also folded in half and is a 32ct Lugana solo from Silkweaver and is 16″ x 25″. If you would like the chance to win this fabric, please put the code word Lugana in your comment. I will draw winners on March 31, 2023 and announce them in a blog post that day.

That is what I have been up to. What are you crafting on?

Happy Stitching!

Ginny

Spring Basket Progress and Some New Things
cross stitch · Fabric · Floss · Hand Dyed Fabrics · Mirabilia · New stash! · patterns · Stitch A Long

Spring Basket Progress and Some New Things

My Time Stitching14 Comments

Hello my blogging friends! How is your Sunday going? Mine was spent doing laudry, a visit from my kids and some stitchy time. Here is my progress on Spring Basket:

The design is not as small as I thought it would be. I was thinking it would go quicker than it is, but it is going well. I love the colors and have been thinking about fabrics I would like for the back if I do turn this into a small pillow. I think pink with coral flowers. We’ll see. Again, this is Spring Basket by Crocette a Gogo’ and I am stitching on 16ct Aida in color Dirty Aida.

So watching flosstubes has made me want to go through my stash and revisit my older patterns and fabrics and see what I have and what kit needs what. I do have the Xstitch app on my phone and am petty religious about putting new things in there and moving things that I start into the start section with a start date. But some of my patterns from 15-20 years or more ago are not in there. So that has been an ongoing project for the last week or so. I have the free version of the app, so there isn’t a place to put just a pattern. So when I buy a pattern and put it in the app, I have to put it in the kitted category even if it isn’t kitted. Kind of weird. But it reminds me of what I have. Do you use the XStitch app? Do you have the version that you have to pay for and do you like it?

One of my flosstube friends, Kenny, from Kenny Stitches showed some wonderful things he has added to his stash. One thing that really caught my eye was a Luca-S kit. I had never heard of this company before and had to find this kit:

This is White Santa with Christmas Tree. I immediately fell in love with this beautiful kit. I love the colors and just had to have it. I actually found this one on Amazon, so I didn’t have to wait long for it to arrive. I also love that it comes with 16ct aida fabric. Bonus for me as I pretty much only stitch on 16ct aida. And it comes with all the threads.

So beautifully laid out, too. They are Anchor threads and I don’t remember if I have ever used Anchor threads before. If I have, it may have been very little. I do have some Anchor threads kitted up for a Mirabilia conversion but haven’t started that one. The threads feel really nice on the cards and I am sure they will be fine. I think this kit is very well put together and I can’t wait to stitch on this one. I also could not resist adding this kit to my order while looking for the Santa:

Sakura. This is so adorable! I love Cherry Blossoms and the little Pixie is just so cute. It, too, came with a piece of 16ct white Aida and all of the threads.

Such beautiful colors! Those pinks and corals and tans just jump right out to me . I can’t wait to stitch this one up some day, too. I am really impressed with these kits. I love that the floss is wound on the cards and the symbols are printed above each thread. And if you look at the card on the right, there is a little hole to the right of the symbol that you can punch out to hang your extra threads until you need them. So nice.

I have one other project that I kitted up this week. This one showed up on Facebook from Tiny Modernist and just couldn’t resist purchasing it.

Hello, there is a little mermaid there! So you see why I could not resist. I don’t think I have stitched a Tiny Modernist pattern before, but I know that I have a few in my stash. Since I am not doing any SAL’s right now and this one is only 3 months long and it is small, I just had to jump on it. So I did a little stash diving for threads and fabric.

I found this small piece of 16ct Aida Cascade from Fabrics By Stephanie and thought it would be perfect for an ocean themed project. It is perfectly sized, too, so I think it was meant to be 🙂 I decided I want to do them in the specialty threads, but there is a DMC conversion also. I think the threads go well with the fabric. The Sea Glass color may be a little iffy, but we’ll see when we get there. I already can’t wait for the first of April!

That is all I have to share today except for my giveaway #3.

Since Mirabilia is another one of my favorite designers, I couldn’t leave one of her patterns out of my give-away. I purchased 2 of this pattern, Blossom, last March. One for me and one for a give-away for last year’s blogaversary, but it got away from me. So I put it aside for this year. I started stitching this one last year and have been wanting to get back to her the last couple of months. When I go to pick up one of my WIP’s, she is the one I will grab. So use code word MIRABILIA in your comment if you would like a chance to win this pattern. I will draw a winner for this and my other 2 giveaways on March 31.

Happy Stitching!

Ginny

Juggling Four Projects
cross stitch · Fabric · Fairies · Floss · Fox and Rabbit · Hand Dyed Fabrics · Knitted Shawl · Knitting · Mirabilia · yarn

Juggling Four Projects

My Time Stitching11 Comments

It is April 9 and it does not feel like Spring yet. I woke up to a dusting of snow this morning 😦 I had planned on going to a Spring Fiber Fest today, but too many other things came up this morning and then it just seemed to be too late for the drive. Hopefully tomorrow I can get there. Even though I really do not need to add any more yarn to my stash. I did find out that there will be a booth carrying not only yarn, but cross stitch products too. Oh yeah, gotta go 😉

So as my title indicates, I have been juggling 4 projects lately. I have juggled 2 in the past, but not 4 that I can remember. Usually I knit in the morning and cross stitch at night. But I am all over the place with 4 projects. So, first up is the Liva Cardigan.

Liva Cardigan

Yep, this one is still on my needles. This is a pattern in one of the Berroco books and can be found on Ravelry. I am using the called for yarn, Topaz by Berroco. I have picked up stitches along the left and right front and for the collar. I have to knit 6″ on about 300 stitches. I think I have 4 1/2″ stitches in right now. So, it is going slow, but I am getting there. Once that is finished all I will have to do is to sew on pockets (of course pockets) and weave in ends. It has been a few days since I put any stitches in. The Fairy Correspondence Shawl is the reason why.

Section 2

This is section 2 and my least favorite of this one. The bobble row took me over 3 hours to get across :O Wow! They are not perfect either, but they are staying as is. There is a little v at the top of them that I don’t think is supposed to be there, but I’m ok with it. The Weeds and Thickets section before and after the bobbles were not fun either. None of these sections were hard, just very time consuming. I love the look of the Weeds and Thickets, but I am really hoping that there are no more of these or bobbles in this shawl. I am loving my color choices. That pop of pink is perfect with the purples. Purple yarns are Jilly & Kiddles Tour de France and Bonjour and the pink is Ishtar from AJHC Wools. Yesterday I finished section 3 and love it!

Section 3

This section was called Conifers and it was so rhythmic and relaxing to knit. I was even able to watch tv while knitting this lace pattern. Though I guess I did get a little too into the “Bridgerton’s” as I forgot a yarn over a couple of times and had to unknit several rows. But I didn’t mind as this pattern was wonderful to knit. Section 4 doesn’t come out for a few days, so hopefully I can get the Liva cardigan finished.

The other 2 projects that have captured my attention are cross stitch. You know I can’t not have a cross stitch project going on in my life 😉 So now I have 2 going, LOL First up is Blossom by Mirabilia.

Blossom

This one is a joy to stitch. The colors are so vivid. There are more than a few stitches in each color, so it isn’t like confetti stitching. I am stitching her on 16ct Busy Izzy from Fabrics by Stephanie. It is such a pretty fabric and I am loving watching Blossom come alive on it.

A special piece of fabric finally arrived for a project that I have been wanting to stitch since February. It is not the normal Aida that the dyer usually dyes so I wasn’t sure it was going to work. It is a rather flimsy Aida and the sizing looked to be off. One of the reasons that I use Aida is that I am a tight stitcher and having a flimsy fabric like Lugana or linen does not work for me. This Aida feels like a Lugana, so I am trying to be conscience of my stitches not being too tight.

Fox & Rabbit MSAL

Yes! I finally started the Fox and Rabbit 2022 Mystery SAL. The fabric is Winter Wishes by Fabrics by Stephanie. Like I said, this Aida is different and the Winter Wishes is a bit lighter than normal. But it is working. The floss I chose is DMC 115. I went with a color way out of my color comfort zone and I feel like I made the right choice. The way the colors change in this floss is awesome! I really like the continuous stitching with one floss. This is where I left this piece last night.

Fox & Rabbit 2022 MSAL

This project is quite large, using a 29″ x 29″ piece of fabric. I am not sure when I will be caught up with this one. The section that is stitched above is the February section. So I have all of the borders of the January section, the March and the April sections to do. I think after this section that I am stitching on now is finished, I will stitch the April section and hopefully have some time to do some catching up before the next section comes out May 1. This pattern is the 2022 Mystery Sampler and is a free design from Fox and Rabbit.

So that is what I have been up to. Juggling these 4 projects has been fun. I am enjoying each of them when I work on them. How many projects have you juggled all at once? I’d love to know.

And now I leave you with a most glorious sunset that I just saw out of my craft room window ❤

Ginny

New Floss Organization
Floss · organization

New Floss Organization

My Time Stitching13 Comments

I know, I know. I just reorganized my floss a couple of months ago. Well, I went a step further. Remember I re wound all of my floss from cardboard bobbins to acrylic bobbins?

Acrylic Bobbins

Well, I kept seeing posts on Facebook about a cute little cabinet that people were putting their bobbins into. For some reason I thought the cabinet was something that was available in the UK. So I decided to google the Bisley Cabinet. And wow! It is available at the Container Store! A place I LOVE to shop at but had not been in a long while. So, last week hubby and I jumped in the car and drove the 30 minutes to the nearest Container Store. And this is what I picked up.

Pink Bisley Cabinet

Of course it had to be pink. But it does come in several other colors. I had also seen that GWStitchinDepot makes acrylic dividers for the Bisley drawers. Well, I just knew this was better than the boxes that I had them in and so I ordered them. They arrived yesterday.

Acrylic Dividers

The acrylic dividers came in long and short strips with grooves cut into them and were super easy to put together.

Each drawer now has 30 sections where I can add my acrylic bobbins. This system can be used for anything, though.

Acrylic Bobbins added to the divided sections

I put 5 bobbins in each section, even though a lot of my bobbins are empty due to so much floss being in projects that are already in progress. While the drawers look so awesome with all the beautiful bobbins, I can’t wait until all bobbins are filled.

I just love my new system. If you are interested in any of the acrylic bobbins or dividers or other acrylic options, they are available from GWStitchinDepot on Etsy. She does a fantastic job and they are well made. If you have questions, you can message her through Etsy and she is quick to respond and super sweet.

Now another reason to continue to work on getting those WIP’s finished; getting all of my acrylic bobbins filled and into their new home in the Bisley.

Acrylic Bobbins
Floss · Storage

Acrylic Bobbins

My Time Stitching4 Comments

A couple of months ago I saw a post in a Facebook group about Acrylic Bobbins. Wow! I loved how sleek and smooth they looked. Someone was making them and selling them on Etsy. This same seller was selling a complete set of vinyl labels with all the DMC #’s. I am a sucker for reorganizing and storage. So I had to go check it out. After chatting with the Seller, I had to order! I couldn’t wait for them to arrive. And when they did, I went right to work. I added the labels to the new acrylic bobbins and spent 2 days unwinding my flosses from the paper and cardboard bobbins and winding them onto the new bobbins.

New Acrylic Bobbins

Just at look at how awesome those bobbins are looking! It was so fun and relaxing winding a skein of each of the colors that are not being used and putting them in the perfect box. When I received my set of bobbins, they arrived in this case:

Full set of Acrylic Bobbins

I was able to find more of these boxes at a local Menards store. I believe that they are available on Amazon. But isn’t everything? LOL. I think that my entire set will fill 3 of these boxes. I tried to leave adequate room for the empty bobbins, but I could end up using a 4th box.

My New Bobbin Storage

I love how these bobbins look in their boxes and they will look even better some day when I can get the empty bobbins filled. I have 11 or 12 projects in the works with floss in each of them that will eventually make their way onto the empty bobbins. I went back and forth trying to decide if I wanted to wind new flosses onto the empty bobbins, or try to use the 150 floss that are already in projects. I decided to eventually move the existing flosses over to the new bobbins. That means I have to get working on those WIP’s and get them done! Here is my small box of flosses I used for Mermaid Perfume.

Perfect Bobbins

I love that the numbers on the bobbins are at top of the bobbin rather than on the side as they were on my paper bobbins. The bobbins on the right have Caron Waterlilies on them. I even tried making my own labels with my brother printer. They will work for now, but the ink is not as crisp as with my purchased labels. If you are interested in these bobbins, the seller is GWStitchinDepot on Etsy. These bobbins are well made and look awesome! She has different quantities available and you can get the bobbins with the hole in the top or without. She also has the labels. If you purchase the labels, I do recommend the dental tool she sells for picking the labels off of the label sheet. I am so happy to know that I won’t need to purchase paper bobbins ever again.

How do you store your threads?

Floss · Storage

My Floss Storage

My Time Stitching42 Comments

I was pulling threads for my next project and realized that I never shared where I store my skeins of floss.  DMC cabinet

I think that Hubby ordered this for me back in 1998.  It is a limited edition DMC floss cabinet.  I have number 1386 of 2000 made in 1999.  I remember it took a long time to get as they were ordered in advance and made after ordering.  It’s in my living room, so it is a little scratched up from 2 boys and their toys over the years.  But I love it!  I have patterns to stitch panels for the doors that will have my initials on them.  I just haven’t gotten to yet.  I’ve liked the wood doors for years, and only this last year dug out the patterns to do in the near future.  Here is what it looks like when I open the doors:

dmc cabinet open

It has 13 drawers and the first 12 drawers are numbered with dmc floss numbers. The drawers have sections in the front and back for the floss.

close of dmc cabinet drawers

dmc drawer

Whenever I need floss for a project, I usually check my boxes of bobbins first and then pull the threads that I need from here.  I make a list of what is empty and the next time I go to Joannes or Michaels I pick up the colors and replace them.  I have noticed that some of my floss skeins are really old and a slightly different color than a newer skein.  I hope I pay attention to this when I want to use those colors on a project and make sure that I don’t use them together.  I love my floss cabinet.  It’s so fun to open a drawer and see all the beautiful colors.  The bottom drawer is my “junk drawer” of the cabinet.  It’s full of black and white floss and duplicate skeins.  I also store all of my needles, small scissors and some varigated floss in there.  Where do you store you embroidery floss?

DMC logo plate