Throwback Tuesday: Embroidery Threads

Presencia Finca Perle Cotton no.8 made in Spain

Cosmo no.25 Embroidery Thread made in Japan

DMC no.25 Embroidery Thread made in France

Sulky Petites no.12 made in Italy

I was finally able to pick up my needle and add very few stitches to my Garden Sampler, but since the progress was not very noticeable will wait to post about it. 

So left you with a throwback of some pictures of bright cheery embroidery eye candy ;-) , until next time! Be well!

PS: Any hand embroidery threads made in the USA?

Organization: Useful Bags

For awhile now I've been keeping some of my most needed hand embroidery / cross stitch tools, supplies, materials, and patterns easily accessible by putting them in these see through purse organizers. At this point in my life, see thru crafts bags are very helpful. I really like how these are made, and the various pockets. The middle pocket do not have a zipper which works perfect for me.

Started with the smallest one, but then decided that I needed to have the hand embroidery items separate from my cross stitch items. Most of my current work-in-progress projects are hand embroidery projects, so I thought a slightly larger bag will be very handy to accommodate the necessary things for the ongoing embroidery projects. Glad to have found the same color in a larger size -although the red colored one was calling my name... which I still may get ;-) for taking with me inside purse when traveling. They sit at plain sight on my needlework chair which is in the master bedroom, so I wanted them to blend in a bit. 

Found them on Amazon, if you search for 'clear purse handbag tote organizer' you should be able to find a few,  but only some offer 2 sizes: medium (about 11"L x 6" H by 3" W) and 

large (about 13"L x 7.9" H x 5.5" W). As mentioned at the beginning, the largest middle compartment which is the main compartment on both bag sizes do not have zipper. Neither does the outer pockets. The only two pockets with zippers are the long pockets sandwiched in between the smaller outer pockets and the largest middle compartment. On the first picture you can see better the structure of both. I'm sure if you have basic sewing knowledge you could easily make them. For my personal situation it was just easier, cost effective, and more convenient to buy them already made.

How do you like to keep craft items that you need to have handy?

Would you mind sharing?

Thanks in advance! 

Until next time!

Needlework Corner

Awhile back I mentioned that my crafty area set up in the basement wasn't quite done. Thankfully in our master bedroom we have a very large armoire that was only half full with bed linens. Re-arranged the linens closet, moved some of the bedsheets and blankets in the armoire to the linens closet, only leaving a few that couldn't fit. 
I was able to fit some of my projects and stash (e.g. supplies, materials, books, notions) in the armoire, mainly of hand embroidery, english paper piecing, and cross stitch. 
There is still room in the armoire for more crafty stuff if the need be ;-).
As you can see, when sitting, my needlework Daylight lamp is on my right side, on my left side I have a sewing machine portable caddy filled with some of my current hand embroidery work-in-progress projects, and extra skeins of embroidery thread. 
I'm pretty happy with this makeshift set up, it is working great! Plus  my knees thank me for not having to be up and down the basement's stairs every time I may need something.
Have a great weekend! Until next time! 

Setting Up a Crafting Space

Since we moved, I haven't been able or motivated to set up my new craft space. I've been missing my old space and how enjoyable the natural sunlight of that room used to be.

I'm adding a few pictures of my old craft space here. We had a very large home, beautiful custom home.... but it was challenging for me to keep up with (even with the help of my husband)... living with chronic illnesses makes things a bit challenging. We refocus and decided to downsize a bit.

 My new craft space will be craft room/guest room, so I'm lost as to how I'm going to set it up. The old one used to be in the kids playroom. So I had it set up to simply look like a craft space.

 New projects, books, work in progress projects, supplies, etc., used to sleep right on top of my desk. Waiting for me whenever I had free time to keep working on them, without having to dig them out.... or even worst, being forgotten. (By the way, I'm having to use see thru project bags lately to help me remember what things are in progress or new starts.) 

 Sometimes it was tidy just like the picture below, but that wasn't the norm. Every little crafty mess, was a happy mess ;-).

 Do you have to share your crafting space? If so, how do you make it work? I'm hoping to start setting up that craft/guest room this winter, if not sooner. Perhaps a sofa bed? Make it look like a lounging space? Really don't know.

We even thought of getting a bit of help from an interior designer, just to point us in the right direction and help us make the room multifunctional for a craft/guest room that looks put together and harmonizes with the rest of the house. If it can't be done in a satisfactory way, I may have to arrange a corner of the master bedroom for my hand embroidery, EPP, and cross stitch. In a way I'm already doing that, but may have to set it up in a more aesthetically functional way. 
Anyhow, today was a bit cloudy so didn't take pictures of some finished embroideries I wanted to blog about. Hopefully tomorrow we have some nice sunlight to take a few shots and post them here soon! Be well! Until next time!

Organization

Ta da!!! Here are, practically, all my embroidery work in progress projects, ready for me to continue working on them!

Ikea utility carts have been around for quite awhile now. I've always wanted one, but not in the pretty aqua/blue most crafters have. Not because I don't like aqua, I actually love aqua... however it doesn't match with my needlework desk (yes, I'm the matchy matchy type of girl).

However, these carts went on sale recently... and I thought, well perhaps I could get the girls one each in order to keep certain things tidy and easy to move around, so went to the Ikea website and to my delight there were available in beige and gray as well... hooray! Ended up getting 4... LOL. One in grey for my husband's office, and 3 in beige for the girls and I. They were pretty easy to put together, did the four of them myself!

Now I have all my WIP's on one place, easy for me to see and noticed what needs to be completed. Plus can be rolled away out of sight, for when my schedule becomes too tight to have stitchy distractions. A good feeling of accomplishment to have organized all these in this handy cart. Perhaps now, finally, I'll be able to finish most of what I start! How are you keeping motivated to finish your WIP's? Do you need to keep them in sight, or do you work on them methodically?
Until next time!

Creative Space (Part 2) ;-)

Time for the 2nd part of my creative space!

(Part 1 here, Needlework Station.)

It is inside a walking closet! 

This picture above gives you an overall idea of the 2nd part of my creative space,

the space where I do the sewing and 90% of the "shopping" for 

things I need since it's where I keep my stash of

fabric, materials, supplies, books, etc. Love shopping in here! ;-)

Here is a closer view of most of the top section.

And here a closer look at the bottom section.

This is the view of the sewing area when seated.

Before moving the sewing space to this area dd would

wake up easily at night (my sewing machine is not noisy but

not completely a quiet one). She could hear me using it but after moving it here that was no longer a problem, since I could comfortably close the closet door while I sew.

I will like to have a dedicated room for a creative studio but

that will not be happening anytime soon, however,

I'm quite happy and comfortable with my space!

What space do you use as your creative space?

If you happen to have pictures of it in your blog/etc.

feel free to leave a link to it!

Creative Space ;-) (Part 1)

These days have been so cold/cloudy/rainy around here.

I already stitched my 3 blocks for this month (yes!!!)

I won't take pictures until the sun comes out.

So here I am blogging about my Needlework Station area

(previously blogged about it on my "old" blog).

Picture above is how it looks now, which I'm pleased with.

Below was how it looked when I first set it up, which still 

I think it was nice... however....

when I started to acquire more things then it looked

like the picture below... overcrowded/messy indeed!

I still think I can do something better with the see-thru 

plastic drawers... any ideas?

I think the see-thru drawers take away from 

the tidiness of the desk area... what do you think?

Could I dressed them up some kind of way?

I don't want to have to replace them but just up-cycle them

or something like that.

I'm willing to consider any ideas ;-)!

Well, any ideas that don't involved moving them

to a different place because I don't have any 

other place for them.

Please do share!