#toomanywips

Say it with me people! Too many WIPs! (But its not a bad thing) Say it loud and proud stitchers!!!!

When you come across a stitcher that says they are only working on two or three WIPs you know they are "hiding" something. There is NEVER just two or three. When you delve in there is always a confession "I am only working on two or three but I have 95 others in my sewing room". That's right, just let it all out. We are here with you. A virtual army of stitching support groups that want to have it all out in the open.

The consensus among all stitchers of all races and locations are the sheer quantity of our WIPs. And we love and deserve them all!

Of the 9 Facebook cross stitching groups, the countless stitching blogs, and the two online communities I follow daily, there is two fundamental themes:

1) Everyone has too much stash to stitch and the continue to covet/purchase more and they want to know its OK to keep on buying.... 

2) They need encouragement or support to help them finish the ones that are taking too long or we have grown tired of...

There is a Facebook Cross Stitch SAL group that does a before/after post over weekends to show progress, there are at least two blogs I follow with competitions and prizes to complete the most stitches on a project, or the most projects stitched in the last 30 days or just participate monthly. I have found that there are so many groups that are supporting each other it is so fantastic!

There are paper patterns, free web patterns, magazine patterns, books from the library patterns, ONS patterns, LNS patterns, and now patterns for your iPad or Kindle. If I have left any out, make a point to comment...

I think we are as stitchers, without trying, trending on #toomanywips.

For those of you who are Twitter followers, you can follow me at @stitchbyrachel. I think we should all put on our Facebook/Twitter accounts #toomanywips and see just how many people suffer from the same condition!

Happy Stitching!

Patterns I covet...

Today I am enchanted by this series of patterns from Ursula Michaels Designs. Here is the link:

http://www.crosstitch.com/ursulamichael/

These are the ones I would like to add to my stash at some point...but in different color combos

Prepping for another Stitchin' In weekend.

I have been joining facebook groups like mad, and spending more than my fair share of hours looking at other work. This week in particular, I have been broadening my Canadian work base. I have been checking out http://mysweetprairie.blogspot.ca/ and enjoying her thread paintings. 

There is a double barrel reason to stitch in this weekend:

1) June SAL on this facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/events/160873054094396/161495007365534/?notif_t=plan_mall_activity

2) International Hermit Stitch Weekend is this weekend (http://joysze.blogspot.ca/p/international-hermit-and-stitch-weekend.html) 

The three I am going to focus on are from my Turtle Trot Page: Paris Market, Flower Pot & Panda Pals. The most recent updated photos are on that page and I am hoping to show some decent progress. This weekend I will be partaking in a 2-2-2-2-2 weekend. Small 2 hour father's day celebration, 2 hours of roller (skating) derby training, 2 hours at my mother's, 2 hours of solitary cooking on Sunday night for my Ladies Dinner Club and parenting my almost 2 year old. Every other waking availability will be spent on stitching. I just will it to be. How else am I going to get some down time? By my calculations, I think I can get 4 hours on Friday, 4-6 on Saturday and another 4 hours on Sunday so I am EXCITED!!!

Working with my portfolio

I didn't realize that I hadn't put together my portfolio all in one place. I tried to link a slideshow to my blog, but I realized the best way to do this was to put together a Flickr page, and get that loaded up. I figured it all out, dug through the archives and found as much as I could put together in a few days onto a public photostream. 

Check out my slide show on the right side panel -->

In the interim, I thought I would show one of my finishes from Sept 2012...

This particular pattern was modified from the original design slightly.  I changed up the pattern in the long narrow tower to one of my more favored blackwork patterns instead of the one the pattern called for. It was sent abroad to one of my favorite Canadians and her lovely little girl.

Inspiration or Lack Thereof

While I am lacking inspiration, I like to peruse patterns and shop. Generally I buy a magazine or two, or do a bunch of blog reading, but I am feeling tired and I can't even bring myself to do my procrastinating activities!

Time to force myself to get upbeat! I am going to run on the spot. Do three push ups - as that's all I can do right now - and I am going to sing a bad 80s song at the top of my lungs. (Insert your favorite top 80s song here).

OK OK OK now that I have the blood flowing and the motivation, I am going to share some blogs that I have been checking out lately:

What Delilah Did... she has some beautiful monochromatic patterns
http://www.whatdelilahdid.typepad.com/


Mr X Stitch... so involved in the international fiber arts community its INSANE...http://www.mrxstitch.com/category/cross-stitch/


Feeling Stitchy...a whole pile of modern stitching bloggers http://www.feelingstitchy.com/2012/02/artist-love-bec-groves-interview.html


Floresita... cute stuff http://unafloresita.blogspot.ca/search/label/embroidery


Wee Little Stitches... I like their nerdy stuff http://weelittlestitchescrossstitch.blogspot.ca/2013/03/this-weeks-new-pattern-pixel-people.html


Well now that I am inspired, on to working on my custom Handkerchief of a Hydrangea... 

Stash Central! Organized for about $40: A tisket, a tasket, my blue and green basket!

Most of the stitching blogs I follow talk about WIPs, ORTs, UFOs, ONS, LNS, and oh what are the other ones? We need one for STASH CENTRAL! Or my stash spot or how do I organize my stash? 

In October last year I started organizing my stash. I had so much on the go, I couldn't keep track, and I wasn't inspired. The more complicated pieces were in broken up between patterns in Ziploc bags, folded fabric, hoops everywhere, the smaller pieces only had threads off bobbins, I just got carried away and always thought I would "remember" where this piece was for that project etc. I didn't stitch for months. I could put them in a bag, but the threads would fall to the bottom. I tried poly transparent zipper pouches but they were too small.Lately, because my daughter has been sick for a number of days, I have been picking up and putting down my stitching, and it works now! Everything else would be boxed in a closet so I could focus and not be distracted by other shiny things.

I needed a system that allows me to switch up between projects easily and quickly. Pick them up and pack them away when I am done. I need to know where the right tools are.

 I had a clear Rubbermaid storage bin shopping bags and spreadsheets, and everything in 4 places, knew what and where it all was, but  I was spending more time searching than stitching. 

I worked with my wonderful friend, a pro organizer, two weeks ago and I have it so streamlined I just had to share!!!!

Her advice was based on a 13-15 projects based model. I took a picture of what I was trying to do and she SOLVED THE PUZZLE!!!



For my tool kit, I have this dollar store container:

Easy count on a spool, fabric shears, embroidery snips, retractable highlighter, erasable ink (purple) pen, monogrammed needle magnet, tweezers, sharp needles, and magnetic magnifier. I put it empty on my shelf, and as I needed things, they remained in there. This is what is still in there after two weeks.

• For my Turtle Trot projects, I bought a 10 pack of clear plastic gusseted envelopes. For medium sized samplers or smaller projects these work unquestionably. Here is the link for those string tied project envelopes. Don't use the velcro closure ones, your floss snags on it and it ruins the finish.  (This size took into consideration minimal floss, 8"hoop or smaller, and no bigger than 11x17" fabric) AND THEY FIT YOUR FLOSS AWAY RINGS
• Where/how do we store the top loading envelopes? In magazine folders like these Ikea ones here.

But I don't have a big budget. The folders cost me $18 and so I started looking around the house to find something that would fit the folders instead of a magazine file. Something portable, flexible and fun. 


I found this basket!  A tisket, a tasket, my blue and green basket! If you want to be a copy cat you can find this exact basket here but I already had it in the house so that doesn't count toward my $40! I also covet this one to match.  It was holding all my notions and fabric and unused castoffs. Its sits next to my stitching chair and little hands won't get into it. This is the finished system.

Wait? The math doesn't add up, you have 13 projects to store for turtle Trot and 10 folders.... 

Here's the thing, for most of my WIPs, the top loading, clear string wrap envelope is practical. Most are 11x17" or less. Have 10 colors of floss or less, so for the majority of it it works. you can see in the photo there are a couple of projects still in Ziplocs here, they were migrated into a larger folder (not shown - green).

The remaining 3 projects have other criteria requiring larger ideas:

• One is 24x12" so it was too long and had to be rolled up (in the above blue folder)
• One was just slightly bigger than the transparent folder (in a matching green folder, not shown) 
• One is 33x28", has 90 colors of floss, and the pattern is 20 pages deep. (Just the floss wouldn't all fit in if you added up all the skeins)

I bought the two fun colored, top loading windowed string closure poly folders. This is the online link for the green/blue folders here, but they are available in store at Staples for about $8-9 each and come in fun colors. These folders have 5 removable pockets in them so if you want to segregate your pattern or floss, fabric you can. The downside to doing this for all the projects? They are much more expensive. It would have been $90 to do them all in the blue and green and I wouldn't be able to store all my Turtle Trot projects in one basket.  
My special organizer buddy went a bit over board and made me match the folders to my basket for unity... because we use things when we think they are pretty.

For the ultra big super duper project? My masterpiece? This is when I went into exception mode.  I was forced to use a scrap booking project box. It of course does not fit in the basket. This project I save for when everyone is out of the house or is asleep anyway. I have to put it on a frame or my wrist will just get exhausted. This project is not one I would do in the car travelling or in bed.   The fabric is just too big, the 90 colors of floss is in a large Ziploc Freezer bag within the box, and it only cost me $5 on sale at Michael's. I keep it near me on a shelf, so technically only 12 are in the basket.

Conclusion of My Hermit Weekend May 2013

I'm a bit late, getting this in on Tuesday. I have set out some goals for myself for this month's edition of the IHSW, first one was to get organized:

Before:

After:

As for the stitching, the second was to get the WOCS Brushstroke Butterfly done, and work on Turtle Trot Projects from the BAP Attack Blog, and get some Easy Count threaded on my pieces.

Before:

After: