Suzy's Stitches

Keeping Track of All the Floss

2009-09-07T10:23:00.000-07:00

I think we have all ascertained that I have a HUGE shopping addiction when it comes to cross stitch supplies. So it should be no surprise that I have EVERY SINGLE DMC floss in the regular colors. I haven't gone crazy with all of the Light Effects, Rayon and other fun niftiness out there...yet. Needless to say, I need to do a backward list of the colors I run out of. Boy, do I ever run out of colors!

Regardless of whether you are trying to organize what floss you do have or don't have, there are a couple of wonderful tools you can use to keep your colors and your sanity straight.

DMC has a chart that you can download and print that has the Light Effects, Satin Floss, and Variations. It's very nice and easy to print, fold and tuck away in your purse. There is nothing more exciting than being at a store and seeing the 5 for $1 sign down the needlwork aisle. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it!

I just found a very cool color chart in the September 2009 Cross Stitcher magazine and it's absolutely wonderful! One side is DMC and the other is Anchor colors. I only use DMC floss, but it is nice to have both, just in case.

Naturally, I cut that bad boy out of the magazine and then had it laminated. It is now very brightly adorning the closet door in my stitching haven with little green "x" on the colors that I need to pick up at the store. I used a dry erase marker so I can wipe the "x's" off when I buy them. Next, I transfer the numbers into the Notes section of my phone. This way I always have it with me.

I could just put them in my phone and not worry about the chart, but I am very visual and if I don't have the chart reminder on my wall I will completely forget about the numbers in my phone. This way I have all my bases covered!

How do you keep your floss organized?

My Pride and Joy

2009-09-06T16:22:00.000-07:00

These stitching scissors are my absolute pride and joy! My daughter, Jordyn, bought them for me about 12 years ago and I LOVE them. Not only are they stunningly beautiful, but they make such a nice crisp cut. Even after all of these years.

There was a brief moment where I thought they had been lost and I nearly "lost" it. I searched online to find another pair and couldn't for the life of me find anything that even resembled them. Thankfully, I had an epiphany and quickly knew which box to look in and there they were! Woo hoo!

I mean, I could go out and use a pair of plain Jane scissors, but why? When there are these pretty scissors out there. I am firm believer in having pretty things to use while I stitch! And having scissors that actually CUT! :)

The Little Things

2009-09-05T20:45:00.000-07:00

Several months ago, Tony took the kids to Creative Hands to make some ceramic goodies. Lo and behold, my man made me a treasure chest! Of course, if I am going to have my very own treasure chest, I should have some treasure in it, don't you agree?

So along with my ribbon addiction, I also have a brad addiction! Of course, you have no idea how much fun it was dumping all of those little containers into my treasure chest! It was LOADS!

At first, I thought it would drive me nuts having to search through all of the brads just to find a "green flower", but it has become great fun! One that even the kids have gotten into. Garrett asks if he can help by findind the "perfect treasure" for my completed cross stitch card and he always comes out with a winner!

Sometimes it's not necessarily about being organized as much as it is about having fun!

Playing with Ribbon

2009-09-04T20:23:00.000-07:00

I must confess I have an addiction. It's a terrible addiction that is costing me a bloody fortune. Ribbon. I have found that I LOVE ribbon. Little ribbon, big ribbon, sparkly ribbon, ribbon with polka dots, words and balloons. I love them all. Even when I try not to walk down the side of the store where the ribbon is stored, not just avoiding the actual aisle, but the entire SIDE of the store. If I even get a brief glimpse of ribbon I am done for!

It's quite a horrible addiction that I have going on here! Now that I have this massive stock pile of ribbon I needed to be able to display and easily get to it.

So I picked up a ton of candle votive holders for $.99 and a nifty stacking basket from Hobby Lobby and went to town! In the top basket are all of my "little" ribbons. I have them sectioned by color so I can see on top and on the side.

In the middle I picked up a bigger candle holder and placed a mirror underneath it. This way I can put the remnants of ribbon that I have in it and it l

ooks nifty!

The second rack is for the glass jars with flowers in them. Another confession: I have NO IDEA why I purchased them other than I thought they looked pretty. Ya, like I said, I have issues!

The third rack is home to the bigger ribbon. I absolutely love them. It's like a basket full of color and it definitely keeps me smiling!

Keeping Them Neat

2009-09-03T20:05:00.000-07:00

I hate to iron. As a matter of fact, I don't even know where I have my iron at! Which is horrible when it comes down to when I have to smooth out the creases from my hoops or Q-Snap! I had to resort to having my fiance sit on my last project to help get them out! (Ya, it was bad!)

That's when my mom recommended that I pick up a mini craft iron. Um, hello! I didn't even know those existed! It's so tiny and so darn cute! It is PERFECT for gently ironing out the creases and doesn't affect the special threads or the beads. It is wonderful!!!

I found it at Joann's and with the 50% coupon I had, it only cost me $5.00. Woo hoo! Talk about a cheap thrill.

Circle of Friends

2009-09-02T19:54:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love coming into my little stitching haven, listening to Josh Groban or Loreena McKennitt on my Zune, and just chilling out with my cross stitch. No worries, no little people, no one bothering me for a snack, just me and my needle. However, sometimes it's nice to sit with like-minded women and just enjoy being friends.

For the last couple of months, my mother, Laura and I have been meeting up every Monday night for our "Circle of Friends" night. We head on over to my mom's house, eat yummy little snackies, giggle and laugh to our little hearts content and sew....or knit! It is absolutely wonderful! My father hides himself away from all of the laughter and we get an hour and a half of fun and silliness.

My mother sits and knits dish cloths, I think she is up to number 9 now.

Laura is working on the Lady in the Mist by Mirabilia.

Recently, I have been sewing my little fingers off on my daughters invitations.

It's nice to have the company, to talk about little tips we come across to help us in our sewing endeavors, and to get away from the worries around us.

I must commend Laura on her ability to work on such a complicated piece with my mother and I yucking it up around her! There is no way I could do something like that during our Circle of Friends night! I would totally lose my place and swear up a blue streak! For me, the littler projects are so much easier to manage in between the stories and laughs.

I highly recommend finding some of crafty friends and see about putting together your own Circle of Friends night. You can also check out websites like www.MeetUp.com

There is no reason why you can't be surrounded by the two things you love in life!

Happy Stitching!

Jazzing Up Your Stitching

2009-09-01T19:45:00.002-07:00

Blending filament can be an absolute ball to play with! Just because a chart doesn't call for the use of blending filament doesn't mean you don't have to use it. For example, I recently did a card up for my dad with fish and the background had water and coral. I wanted to give it a bit of pizzazz so I used two strands of blending filament mixed in with the blue of the background water. Talk about a HUGE effect!

I could have just used one strand, but I thought the two strands would give it a lot more sparkle.

Currently, I am working on a card with a balloon and there are ribbons streaming from it. So I figured a simple little addition of blending filament is in order! Especially now that I have found the Accentuate blending filaments. It's easy to use and easy to thread. :)

I can't wait to add it to a slew of other projects!

Water.

Clouds.

Ribbons.

Stars.

Twinkle in an eye, perhaps!

Happy Stitching!

It's the Little Things

2009-08-25T08:49:00.000-07:00

About midsummer, the kids decided that they wanted to learn how to cross stitch. Needless to say, I was beyond ecstatic and went about showing my 15 and 11 year old the wonders of stitching. Much to my surprise, it was my 11-year old son that completely wowed me with his desire to learn and his lovely skill. Granted, he has been knitting for over a year now, so it really shouldn't have surprised me much, but it did.

His first project was a Good Luck Horseshoe and the second the snail. Although adorable, we had no clue as to what to do with the little goodies. Until Garrett had a brilliant idea of making his new teachers bookmarks. As you can see, a couple cute little projects turned into a wonderful and cheery gift. Good work, G-Man!

My Latest Projects

2009-08-23T20:53:00.001-07:00

To Accentuate or Not To Accentuate

2009-08-23T19:30:00.006-07:00

I have totally fallen in love with Accentuate metallic thread! I have been working on my daughters birthday invitations for the last month and the chart calls for Kreinik threads and let me tell you, I CRINGED at the thought. I love the way it looks on the fabric, but I absolute HATE to sew with it. It gets caught up, it curls unmercifully, and it's always tangling. Not to mention that back stitching with it has its own nightmare page.

So when I was in one of my "not so favorite" cross stitch shops in town, I was beyond tickled when Linda told me about the Accentuate thread I was quite curious as to how it would hold up. It's a lot thinner than the Kreinik so I was a bit skeptical. I am not sure if you can tell the visual difference in the pictures, but holy cow! It is a HUGE difference!

Not only was the size of the actual thread a noticeable difference, stitching with it was a pure DREAM! It slides into needle easily, it comes in and out of the fabric beautifully a

nd the effect is BREATH TAKING! I even went out and bought some of their blending filament and oh dear Lord, I want to use it on EVERYTHING!

I am not sure if you can see the difference between the two, but in the picture I used the Kreinik thread for the border and then the Accenuate. The "orangier" of the two is the Kreinik. Although I LOVE

the color of the Kreinik, it took me twice as long to stitch as with the Accentuate. Since I have 39 of the little suckers to stitch, I think I will go with the Accentuate and deal with slight difference in color!

The Not-So-Much-Fun Projects

2009-08-06T20:09:00.002-07:00

Have you ever had one of those projects that you look at it and think to yourself, "Oh, this looks so neat! I am going to stitch this sucker up"? Only to find out that 1) you hate the pattern 2) the colors are atrocious 3) you cut the fabric the wrong size...or the pattern recommended the wrong fabric size to fit in your hoop 4) it's taking you longer than expected primarily due to the fact the fabric is wonky!

As much as I would LOVE to trash the project, it's for a gift and my sweetie already picked out and I would hate to hurt his feelings by screaming, cutting the fabric into nine million pieces and burning it in the fire pit.

So my question is, what do YOU do with projects that you REALLY start to resent and loathe doing?

Happy Stitching!

Suzy

Having Fun With Cards

2009-08-02T14:52:00.009-07:00

I am having an absolute ball making cards! They are quick, easy and you get to buy nifty accessories to jazz it up!

These I did up for my girlfriend in South Africa who recently had twins. I had planned on making 10 of them for her to us

e as baby announcements, but the little darlings came early and it takes about two weeks to get there. Needless to say, Marcia only received 4. Or should be! I don't think they have arrived yet.

The balloon card was a blast to make! I had seen the pattern in Cross Stitch Card Shop, but I haven't been able to find a copy of the magazine here in the States so my dear friend, Elspeth in

England, scanned it for me and emailed it over! I was BEYOND ecstatic and I couldn't help but whip it up for an English friend of mine. =) It seems totally appropriate it, doesn't it?

This card has turned into my absolute FAVORITE! My

girlfriend's birthday is tomorrow and I am torn on whether or not I am going to give it to her. I just LOVE the way it turned out!

Besides, the colors look GREAT in my Stitching Haven. The best part of this design was the fabric. I found it at Hobby Lobby and it has this great swoop in it and it went perfectly with the swoops in the dress. All else fails, I suppose I could make myself another one. =)

Aside from everything else, I am definitely going back to Hobby Lobby and buying some more the swoopy fabric. It will make a great background for some of the my other projects as well!

Happy Stitching!

Suzy

My Little Craft Projects

2009-07-26T10:43:00.000-07:00

Holy cow! I am beyond insane!!! I figured I would spend some time this evening putting together my little project list of all of the things I would like to get done over the next several months and can I just say that I think I have a very skewed idea of reality! There is no way I can get all of these things done in the time frame I would like to do them! Egads!

Right now I working on two projects aka cloth I have a thread and needle attached to. :)

My daughters invitations for her 16th birthday party. I need to have 40 of the little suckers finished by September 1. Woo hoo! I have 4 completed. She is doing an Egyptian theme and this was as close as I could get.
A project just for me! I have been working on a little bit at a time and can you believe this is the ONLY project I have ever done for myself?! I don't have one single thing that is for little ol' me. Everything I have done has been for other people. Primarily my mom with the occasional odd ball card or Christmas ornament. So needless to say, I am quite excited about this one.

Of course, those two items are not the only things on my project list. I am dying to do up a biscornu for my mom for Christmas (if you are reading this madre, please forget!) I have never done one admittedly because I'm a tad intimidated, but I am quite excited about it. Not to mention the slew of Christmas cards and other gifts I have planned.

Now all I have to do is make my list of the things I want to make in order of priority, figure out who they are going to, what I am going to make, and then determine time to work on them! Maybe I will talk to good old Father Time and see if he can add a few more hours into my day and see how that works! (I don't think I will hold my breath!)

I suppose I should get back to my list making. I think next post I will talk about this wonderful new thread that makes an amazing alternative to using Kreinik threads. I am LOVING IT!!!

Happy Stitching!

Stitching Haven

2009-07-25T19:41:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my Stitching Haven! A girl can't pick up a wonderful hobby without having somewhere to keep all of her goodies, can she? :o) I love having a new hobby! Now when I sit in my comfy chair I have something pretty to look up to. It's beyond relaxing! I can listen to my Josh Groban, Rod Stewart or the Chill Out playlist on my Zune and stitch away!

No interruptions, no distractions...who am I really kidding? Now that I have a nifty new room to do all of my stuff in, the family has decided that they too would like to join me. Although, the great part is they are all joining me in learning HOW to cross stitch as well, including my fiance! How nifty is that?!

All the company aside, there are several important aspects of having your very own stitching haven.

A very comfy chair. There is nothing worse than sitting in a chair and your back starts hurting 15 minutes into your sewing.
Wonderful lighting. Quite frankly, my eyes can't see that 32 count linen as well as they used to.
A side table. Anything that can hold your floss, pin cushion and all of the other goodies you need to stitch with.
Mood music. I like relaxing music that can take me away to a far off land. :)
Glass of water. I don't really want to get up once I sit down. When I get on a roll I am staying put! Besides, if I am drinking something in a red or dark color I would hate to ruin my thread or fabric if I accidentally drip or use my tongue to wet the end of a particularly persnickety piece of thread.

Of course, when the weather is nice you definitely won't find me sitting inside. I love to drag all of my goodies out to the patio and enjoy the fresh air and the cool breeze!

Where is your stitching haven?

For the Love of Pete, or rather Cross Stitch

2009-07-24T15:51:00.002-07:00

My kids are always saying that I give a lot of love to this Pete guy and they are probably right. Whenever I get completely exasperated I do a nice little, "For the love of Pete!" tantrum and then quickly pull myself back together. Of course, when my 11 year old asked me WHO Pete was, I admit I was completely speechless. I have no clue who Pete is.

So what in the world does "Pete" have to do with Cross Stitch? A whole heck of a lot, actually. I realized after the "one millionth" time of talking about Pete that I really needed some good old fashion "me" time. I'm too lazy to go to the gym and I really am not into sweating, reading a great book is always fun, but I feel like I'm not accomplishing anything, and it also means I need to lock myself away from the family. Which is when I had my little ah ha moment! Cross Stitch!!!

It has always been my fall back plan since I first learned to stitch 20 years ago. I stitched my little fingers off when I had my daughter, I sewed like a mad woman when I was a stay at home mom, and then reality hit me smack dab in the face and I had to go and find a "job". Eck! Unfortunately, my passion of stitching was set by the wayside...for the last 9 years!

So when the kiddos were completely perplexed by this Pete guy, I figured now was as good as any to get out the old needle and thread and get to stitching!

Unfortunately, Mr. Reality had another dose of "smack Suzy in the face" when the ex-husband threw away ALL OF MY STUFF!!!!! (Rat bastard comes to mind, right about now.) So after a bout of frustrated and angry tears, threats of bodily harm, and wanting to strangle the imbecile; I pulled myself together and decided to go on a very nice shopping spree!

Which brings me to this blog! In my "previous life", I was in blog heaven with Let's Talk Organizing. I love to Blog! I love to Organize! I love to Stitch! It just makes sense to combine them all!

For here on out, this blog is going to be all about cross stitch, organizing the goodies, and having one hell of a time!

Happy Stitching!

Suzy