Crafting Organization

Many moons ago, I once cross stitched. It was the perfect hobby for the fall & winter, when I typically become a "hunting widow". It also was a great craft to do late at night, to keep my hands busy & not in the cookie jar! He!

Almost everyone around me at the time, had the same obsession with cross stitching. I remember toting around my fabrics or sweat shirts to be worked on, a big bobbin box of floss & a cozy quilt to stay warm under. My spirl permed locks were piled high in a big 'ol scrunche atop my head, a baggy sweater on, leggings, big thick scrunched up socks & I was good to go. Me, circa 1992, he, he!! I loved me some big bows! Yowza, glad those hair days are done!

Not a difficult woman to please. The most difficult thing was when to call it quits for the night. "Just one more row, just this last spot..." I would tell myself. I spent many a late night wrestling my inner self to get the strength to just put the stitching down & go to bed already! I enjoyed those hours of stitching. Here's was one of my most time consuming projects. I made this sweatshirt for my Mom.

It's all counted cross stitch, all hand done by me. It took forever to finish, but my Mom loved this & wore it proudly. She showed, handled, groomed & bred Scottish Terriers. This was part of her self "therapy" during Parkinson's disease.

I still can't believc I did that. Guess I should've picked a more permanent media than clothing to do it on. After all, if I'd only known, I was never going to attempt that craziness again....I might have chose say, a wall hanging or something. Nutty girl!

Life happened & other priorities took front center. The hobby of crafting looked like it would have to be retired....possibly until my retirement!

Then along comes this new outlet of blogging & meeting so many cool crafting friends. I admired so many of the stitchery projects I'd see & think "how sweet". Well, then I tried my hand at it & let me tell you , a flood gate was opened! I'm really enjoying "stitchery"! It's quick, simple & not too expensive on the pocket book! Plus, you can make some snazzy looking home decor in a short matter of time!

After completing my 3rd stitchery, I've realized I need an organization system for this hobby. Otherwise, we all will soon be buried in sea of embroidery floss! This is what I use to do with all my floss "back in the day"...wind it onto these cardboard/plastic bobbin things & write the DMC # on the top of the bobbin. Then I'd stash all these bobbins of jumbled thread in my box of floss.... The true treasure was when a pattern called for a certain color #, then low & behold I already had it in my box of floss! Woo Hoo! Small thrill, but a little exciting in that I didn't have to go to the craft store!

I just found this wonderful system that DMC came up with called the "Stitch Bow". Who knows how long this little invention's been around, because I've been under a rock concerning these things! These are just fabulous!!! Instead of spending all kinds of time winding the floss onto bobbins, youn simply slide the floss onto these bow things. Unwrap the black paper on one end of the floss & slide it on the bottom, then unwrap the other black paper on the end of the floss & hook it onto the Bow top. The packaging portion of the floss that has the DMC # and bar code on, slides onto the side of the bow for easy labeling of the colors!! How cool is that? It's so simple & takes no time at all! I've also found that the floss doesn't get tangled nearly as bad as it use to on the bobbins! Yay!

DMC has several complimentary products to keep the floss bows in. I just purchased a few of these to start with.. Each insert will hold 15 skeins of floss. The inserts come 3 to a pack & I paid around $2.29. The inserts will then hook into a three ring binder system.

I love binders & find it's the best organization invention for my household. Seriously, I have all my coupons in a binder, all my recipes in a binder, all my cleaning product recipes & schedules in a binder, a camping binder, Family Fun binder, in the event of an emergency binder (crucial medical records, credit card #s, insurance card copies, passport info, etc...) I'm bound to the binder system. It keeps my clutter straight & visually ordered. I know, I have issues, totally OCD! He, he!

I'm so happy to discover this nifty little gem of a system. It inspires me to keep going with new projects. I can keep things tidy & tucked away with these. Which is wonderful, because my closets are spilling over with crafty attempts & products. Things that seemed like a good thing to start, that I gave up on "many moons ago". Hooray, stitchery is here to stay!!