window CK, movie night and Disney: Let`s Celebrate!

Remember when last Autumn I said I was super busy working on a big batch of cross stitch projects? I`ve been itching to see them in print ever since, and yesterday postie delivered my copy of the book at long last, so I thought I`d share some (= looooaaaads) of pics of this special edition of Hachette Partworks` Disney Cross Stitch, titled Let`s Celebrate! 😊

But first, before I get too engrossed in attaching photos (lol, and before the next issue of WOXS is out), here`s the free gift from issue 318 of The World of Cross Stitching, designed by Fiona Baker:

Also out this week, in issue 19 of XStitch Magazine, entitled Yay!, is this cool movie-themed design by Sweet Annet:

So, as mentioned earlier, here is my copy of the Let`s Celebrate! special edition that arrived yesterday:

It is jam-packed with fab Disney designs to celebrate every occasion from birthdays to the arrival of a new baby to having someone as a friend. I stitched 24 of the 57 designs, some of which have been turned into cards, others into banners, cushions, or pictures framed in hoops, and some were sewn onto a bag or straight onto a Rico hand towel, like this first pic. I`ll add a few photos of the finishes from the book at the end, after the long, loooong list of my own pics. Hope you like them, thanks for visiting and happy stitching! 😊  

organised threads and Jungle Book

First post in ages where I can just blather to my heart`s content - no rush, no deadlines: I`m on a mini break, woot woot! 😁

To put my joy in context: Monday was the first proper day off I`ve had in over 2 months. I`ve been working flat out on a Disney Special, the first batch of which arrived on 26 Aug, with another load in Sept and more in Oct, plus I had other commissions coming in in the meantime so, long story short, I completed 33 projects between the end of Aug and 15 Nov. Some of them were card sized, some quite large, and I can`t wait to show you the lot once they`re published! 😊

Since I`ve been stitching 8-10 hours a day most days (tbh even I don`t know how I don`t have carpal tunnel syndrome yet), you can probably imagine how much I enjoy doing non-sewing stuff for the now... until the next commission comes in, that is. 😉 I`d imagine by the end of this week, I`ll be thoroughly lost without my stitching, so I might even bring out one of my WIPs... although the only problem with that is that it`s hard to get into the mood when you don`t know how much time you have to work on it before you have to put it away again. Still, I`m making the most of my time off by getting organised with my threads - this has been long overdue as the shallower drawers of my original (white) tower were getting to the stage where they were hard to open as bags of threads got caught at the back. So I got another (black) tower with deeper drawers, for my most numerous `hundreds` (I store my threads by DMC numbers, each hundred having their own drawer - or drawers, if they won`t all fit in just one).

I`m not particularly pernickety (at least I don`t think so - the subtle messiness of our house attests to that 🤣), but I find well-organised threads not only pleasing but also practical and very important when I need to stitch fast - hence this little introduction to my thread storage system. 😊

So as I said, I keep my threads in wee ziplock bags: I find these the handiest solution, not only because I think bobbinating is a waste of time I`d much rather spend stitching, but also because I can put any leftover threads in the bags too (and I keep even 5cm pieces that might do for 1 or 2 sts that I spot after I thought I`d done all of that colour). These bags are 9x12 cm, can hold up to 20-25 skeins, and also serve as impromptu pin cushions - at first, I wasn`t going to pierce them but then it turned out it even helps squeezing out the air of them so they take up less space in the drawer. #winwin

I admit, the thread situation has been getting a bit out of control lately: when I juggle several projects at once, some of which use the same colour(s), and when I`m pressed for time, I just chuck everything back in the drawer... and then some bags get stuck at the back the next time I try to open it, and why is it always the very last bag you come across that you need?? 🤷‍♀️ So, lesson learnt - they`re all organised numerically, in ascending order. 🤩

The hundreds I have not so many of, e.g. the 500s and 600s (pic above), I left in the shallower drawers, but the big ones - like the 700s, 900s or 3800s - I further organised into groups of 10. I bought new zippy bags that have a hole on the top, and I also ordered some colourful binder rings so I can use them more or less like a Rolodex. 🤣

So now all my threads are neatly organised, I should be able to just quickly pick out the colours I need when the next project arrives. Until then though, here`s the most recent one published in issue 64 of the Disney Cross Stitch Magazine - I loved working on this fabulous jungle themed leafy aida and the Jungle Book characters are always such fun to stitch - hope you like them and thanks for visiting my wee corner of organised thread heaven, happy stitching! 😊