DMC Floss Increase

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My sales rep warned me that this would happen. On January 1, 2015 the suggested retail price of DMC embroidery floss went from 74 cents to 77 cents (US dollars). This means that most stores will raise their prices in the near future. Because I knew of the price increase beforehand, I ordered a lot of floss at the end of the year to get the old pricing. So I will not be raising the price in our store until we need to make another large order. So if you need floss, you should buy it soon, regardless of where you shop.

XXX
Carrie


Stash

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Here are some pictures of my stash of kits. I don’t plan on doing all of these in 2015, but I would like to do a bunch of them. The first photo shows the kits I have received from World of Cross Stitching magazine. These will be my top priority because they are small and contain good materials.

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The next photo shows my stash of larger kits. I would especially like to stitch the DMC African scene and the three sets of Nativity figures.

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And finally, my stash of miscellaneous kits. These will probably not get attempted in 2015. These came from clearance sales, garage sales, etc and have been in my stash forever. The materials in the tiny kits especially are not very good, so I may not even hang onto these.

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Next up: photos of my threads stash!

XXX
Carrie


A New Product to Try

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easycountI am excited about a new product that I will be trying with my large Summer Ball project. It is called Easy-Count Guideline and it is manufactured by R&S Designs Inc. This is a product I will also be offering in my store. It is a red nylon thread that you use to weave a grid into your cross stitch fabric. The grid helps you stitch faster and without mistakes because you are able to follow the chart more easily. Most charts already have thicker grid lines every 10 stitches, and this method allows you to stitch each 10×10 grid at a time. When you are done stitching, the red line gets pulled out. There are other methods of gridding fabric, but this product is supposed to be superior. You do not have to worry about invisible ink all of a sudden showing up again, and using regular sewing thread to grid can cause problems when the needle pierces the thread, making it difficult to remove. The nylon thread cannot be pierced, so it cannot be sewn through. This makes it easier to remove in the end. I am excited to try this product in my next large project!

XXX
Carrie


Floss Winding Time

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flosspileThe other day I was going through my stash of DMC floss and made note of which colors I was missing (or running very low on). I was shocked at how my full set of floss had dwindled down a lot. Some of the colors I do have, but they are pulled out for various projects. I decided not to worry about those, and just get a full bobbin-wound set again. This is what the “before” photo looks like. It will take serveral evenings of sitting in front of the TV to get these all wound. But I love looking at a full set of floss when it is sorted by numerical value and organized in plastic cases. I’ll post another photo when my bobbin winding is finished.

XXX
Carrie


It’s like Christmas Morning!

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Today I stumbled upon a bag full of goodies that were packed away. I had forgotten all about these! So it was like Christmas morning going through everything. Most of these items came from shop buy-outs when stores are going out of business. I have purchased the inventory of 3 shops so far – one in NY, one in FL, and one in MI. Some of the items that the shop owners sold me were just not fit for resale. There were spools of Kreinik with the sticker missing that says what color number it is, other Kreinik spools that are obviously half used up (probably from shop classes), and spools that may be unused but are completely coming undone. That’s okay, they will make a great addition to my stash!

Some of the items included are a ton of the same color of Caron Watercolour’s Burnt Toast (with photocopied labels, for some reason);  Kreinik spools in every color and size; overdyed floss from JAR Designs, Weeks Dye Works, Crescent Colours, and more; and a bunch of skeins of different types of The Thread Gatherer.

Here are some pictures for you to “ooh” and “aah” over! Click on the small images to view them full size.

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XXX
Carrie


Recycling

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While doing some early spring cleaning, I found an empty vinyl zippered bag that I had purchased just after Christmas. It originally held makeup (you know how they roll out all those gift sets in November, and then sell them half price on Dec 26). Well, I had purchased this for the makeup inside, but couldn’t bear to just throw the bag out, even though I had no use for it at the time. When I rediscovered it, inspiration hit. Normally when I am working on a project I keep my threads, needles, and scissors in a ziplock baggie on the end table in our living room, next to the couch where I do all of my stitching. It’s not that I don’t have several of those nice plastic organizers that are made just for cross stitch, and hold a bunch of floss bobbins and accessories. Because I do. It’s just that they are all full. I pull out the skeins I need for a project, and label the container so I know what it is for. After you have used up a dozen of those containers, however, you find yourself running to the kitchen drawer to find something – anything – to put your stash in for your current project. I actually don’t have a dozen projects going at one time, it’s just that I tend to be lazy and not put anything away when I am finished with it. So I have several of those cute plastic organizers full of carded floss, that I don’t need any more because the project is done. Instead of taking them out and finding the time to put them back into my main stash (in DMC numerical order) I end up throwing the whole thing into an even larger tote. So when it comes time to pull threads for a new project, I usually can only find half of the colors I need (even though I know I have at least one of every DMC shade).

So for my next project, I am going to try something new. While ziplock baggies do work, they aren’t ideal for storing cross stitch notions. I think this makeup bag will do just the trick. It is large enough to hold my fabric, hoop, floss, needles, scissors, chart, and a colored pencil so I can mark off my stitches as I go along. It has a handle, so it will be easy to take anywhere, and it is see-through, so I know just what project is inside. And best of all, it was free (sort of). This newest project is only one color, so I don’t have to worry about putting floss away when I am done. The bag will then be ready for my next project. As for this project, that is going to be a surprise. I will reveal it here as it comes along.

XXX
Carrie


Digging through the stash

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Tonight I needed a break from stitching and decided to go through my stash of threads. Oh, what fun! I have picked up silks, cottons, and overdyes from various sources, but mostly shop closings. The rainbow of colors is simply breathtaking! And I love the feel of these different types of fibers. Hopefully these photos will inspire you to go through your own stash and find some things you can use to create your next masterpiece. Here is the first tote of goodies.

Inside, I found Weeks Dye Works Pearl Cotton:

Northern Lights silks:

Kreinik Silk Mori:

and huge hanks of Gloriana silks:

I also found a stash of what appears to be one skein each of the entire line of overdyed floss by JAR Designs in Florida. I don’t know anything about this company, and an internet search didn’t provide much information. It looks like they are out of business or just don’t have a website any more. The skeins are small, but I am sure I will find something to use them on!

By far, my favorite from this stash is the lot of twisted skeins of Silk N Threads from The Thread Gatherer. They are sooooo gorgeous! I can’t wait to find a project to utilize some of these. If I can bear to cut into them, that is! They are so pretty the way they are.

XXX
Carrie


Too many projects

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In the last few days, numerous cross stitch magazines have come into my mailbox. The World of Cross Stitching is a wonderful British publication. It always has at least one free gift (usually a kit) and sometimes a free chart too. Just Cross Stitch is my favorite American magazine. I also subscribe to Cross Stitch & Needlework and Sampler & Antique Needlework. All of these came in the mail within a few days of each other, and I also received notice that the latest issue of Cross Stitch Crazy (which I subscribe to as an iPad edition) was ready to download. I LOVE my stitching magazines. I also receive hard copies of Cross Stitch Gold (British) and the  iPad edition of Cross Stitch Collection (also British). Then there are the hundreds of magazines I have picked up at garage sales, thrift stores, or eBay. And then of course, there are the leaflets and books… If I live to be 1,000 I will never be able to complete all of the projects that I have. But yet I can’t seem to part with any of them. You never know when you might need something! In this latest issue of Just Cross Stitch there is a gorgeous Christmas pattern that features three ornaments stitched in jewel tones, complete with metallic threads. They are shown hanging from an elegant black wrought iron hanger. This design immediately caught my attention, and I wanted to stitch it. But in the end I decided that my stash is taking over, and something has to be done. I am not going to get rid of any of my precious magazines or charts, but something has to be done about the projects I have started and not completed. My daughter is 3 and still doesn’t have her Christmas stocking done. I started a pretty picture of hummingbirds and flowers while on vacation a year and a half ago and it has sat in a drawer since I returned. Theresa Wentlzer’s Peacock Tapestry is so huge that it will probably never get finished. The woodland deer pattern was only started a few months ago, but I tired of all the drab colors and needed a break from it. And the backstitched vareigated heart was a magazine project that I started while on vacation this past summer. The chart ended up being too hard to follow, so I decided to photocopy it when I got home, so that I could mark it up as I went along and not ruin my magazine. But that never happened. I am going to take stock of all of my UFOs and as soon as Autumn Leaves is finished, start one one of them. My goal is to not start ANY new projects until they are all done (with the exception of the Peacock Tapestry, which could take years).  My goal is probably unrealistic, but we’ll see how it goes! At any rate, going through my stash to see what I have should be fun.

XXX
Carrie