organization

This is most definitely one of those “Do as I say, not as I do” posts (Mom said there would be days like this).

Kreinik spools can be a real bear to keep organized. Recently on Facebook, Elaine Withrow Stevens had a picture of the compartment box she uses to store her Kreinik spools. She lets us know where she got them and the picture shows how well they store the spools, either flat or upright.

I had forgotten about this method of storage. That’s dumb because at least two stores I know of store them this way. As a customer it irritates me because I can’t see the threads easily. It was especially bad at the place where the boxes weren’t clear AND she kept them behind her desk out of sight and out of reach (that shop is no longer open).

But it’s fantastic for storage if you have space.

I keep mine, sorted by size in some of my card catalog drawers (not good for knowing how much I have of something.

See the original post here:
Storage Tips for Kreinik Spools

Make your Own Sew-in Labels

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2008-09-06 06:16:50. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Awhile ago, I posted about a company which will print custom labels for you. But if you’re handy and either finish your own needlepoint or have a finisher who will do this for you, you can make your own labels, using this fantastic on-line tutorial.

These labels use colorfast fabric made to run through your printer and whatever you design.
I know from experience (I spilled a glass of water on some print-outs yesterday afternoon, that Epsom printers using Epsom cartridges really are colorfast (they were soaked and didn’t run a bit).

I also keep thinking about what a nice bit of advertising this would be for finishers, I’ve never gotten a piece back which had a label on it, but most of the pillows I buy have little labels like these sewn into back seam. What a nice way to remind the recipient or to let your customer know where to have more items finished.

Since one of my goals next year is to finish lots of stitched stuff from my stash, I think I’m going to try this myself.

Read this article:
Make your Own Sew-in Labels

Clay Beads – Color Schemes

in Craft Shopping

One of the important pieces of information to know and understand when you first begin working with clay beads is understanding the many color schemes that they come in. While these are two numerous to cover here, or even count for that matter, there are some basic categories we can categorize these color schemes into. This organization will help you both as you build your personal inventory and as you plan your various arts and crafts projects.

See the original post here:
Clay Beads – Color Schemes

Make a Bargello Notebook

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2009-04-25 06:45:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

My friend Althea who runs the wonderful Bargello needlepoint blog had a great post earlier this week about keeping a Bargello Notebook.

Not only does it have a free template for your notebook, but it has some great ideas for using it.

I’m so impressed with folks like Althea and Cindy(read about her method of organization here) who can manage to keep track of all this stuff.

I have also written a post about keeping records, but I don’t follow what I say in any organized fashion.

I try but I’m not particularly good at it. I have magazine pages everywhere which should get put into idea notebooks, but don’t. Then I have notebooks of free patterns I’ve collected for years (mainly Rainbow Gallery and pages from needlework magazines). I have little grid notebooks with stitch ideas, drawing paper notebooks with sketches and ideas for projects.

And that’s just what it outside the computer. On it there are files of clip art — more ideas — and a file called “needlepoint ideas.” I seem only to throw out projects which were finished, not ones which were abandoned.

I take heart in all the wonderful and inspiring notebooks from authors and artists and hope mine come just a tiny bit close to that.

It’s hard to find things, but the hunt and the surprise is part of the fun.

But, if there is one piece of advice I’d like to impart it’s “create a record as you finish stuff.”

Memory is faulty, ideas are fleeting, get them down so you can use them when you need them.

Looking for a Way to Keep Track of your Stash?

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Sample Detail Screen from The Stash Can

I used to keep track of my stash with Organized Expressions, but since it went away I haven’t had a good way to do this. But, happily enough, there is a brand new program out, The Stash Can, designed to help you do this.

It works in Windows XP and 7 (so it’s no help to me as a Mac person) and comes pre-loaded with over 6,000 items. These include threads, buttons, beads, fabrics, charts, and kits. Although more oriented in what’s pre-loaded to cross stitchers, each item has a type category, so it would be really easy to add needlepoint categories such as kits, counted canvas, painted canvas, or blank canvas.

The screen for each item has lots of useful stuff including places for notes. This feature looks really great and very useful. One of the things I didn’t like about Organized Expressions was the way notes were hard to add.

There are also great search functions, allowing you to sort by most of the major categories. There is also an innovative “stash” area where you can not only indicate what you have but make entries for what you need and then print out a shopping list (along with many other kinds of reports). There are also options for importing and exporting information, so you can even download the shopping list, for example, to your phone.

Now comes the really great part. You can download the program for a 7-day free trial through The Stash Can’s site. If you like it, the cost to buy is $14.95 for the download or $19.95 for a CD.

I’m figuring out how to run Windows on my Mac as you read this.

The Night Before – Great Piece in Progress

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2008-11-07 15:59:24. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Pierrette posted earlier this week with a picture of her progress on ABS Designs The Night Before.

I am fascinated by how she has changed it and it is absolutely charming. She has lightened Mrs. Santa’s dress, made the apron fancy and changed the shoes from fuzzy slippers to metallic shoes.

Great stuff!

Follow this link:
The Night Before – Great Piece in Progress

Organizing Odds & Ends of Thread

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2008-07-29 07:52:33. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

If you’re like many of us, you have lots of bits of thread.

And if you have long runs of thread, you think about how to keep them neat but still useful.

You might use bags or stitch bows, but those cost money. You might reuse empty thread cards or spools, but where do you put information.

You might use thread drops, but they don’t work well unless your thread is cut.

But Craft Chi has come up with free thread cards, which are lovely, can print on your printer, and have space for identifying the thread. There are two styles available, elegant & whimsical, and instructions of how to use the template to make cards as nice as any you would buy.

Read the original here:
Organizing Odds & Ends of Thread

Cut Rate Crafts — Web Site Review

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

A new web site, Cut Rate Crafts, has discounted supplies for needlework and other crafts. Their home page promises discounts of 15-30% on their products. They also have free shipping on orders over $100.

While it’s not fantastic for needlepoint, it does have some good products. Their best selection is in stretcher bars where they have both mini and regular bars in sizes from 5 to 18 inches. I can’t tell the brand from the picture, but at least some of them are from brands I’ve seen in shops. Another great resource is the many types of scroll frames and scroll bars available. It can be hard to find these parts in shops, so this is a great resource. They also have a small but nice selection of lap frames.

There selection of organizing products is also good, with the biggest assortment of floss away bags I’ve ever seen. They also have small unmarked zipper bags in three sizes at fantastic prices (about half what I last paid in a craft store) and other organizing supplies.

As far as other supplies and materials for needlepoint go, the selection really falls away. They have a few colors of Kreinik Tapestry Braid (more of #8 and blending filament), floss mostly on cones, perle cotton and DMC wool as well as some threads assortments from Prism (find it in craft stores) and Valdani. There are no needles between ones for large mesh plastic canvas and #24 tapestry needles and their selection of canvas is either Interlock or waste canvas.

In addition they have a small, but nice selection of scissors and a far wider range of popularly-priced kits than you’ll find in any shop.

Their interface could use some work, most of the images on the upper level pages are missing and the initial Needle Arts screen is too long to be easy to use (they should add some anchor text to minimize scrolling). They could make their navigation easier to use.

I liked that they should the retail price along with their discounted price, so that comparison shopping is easy. But I didn’t like that manufacturers information was not available for many products. for “brand names” like Kreinik, DMC, or Charles Craft the name is either in the category or in the item description, but I am unsure who makes many of the sizes of stretcher bars. On the item pages there is a tab for an overview so this information could easily be added. For items in other areas, they seemed to use a generic company “elevator speech” for the overview. Perhaps as they grow, they will provide more helpful and item-specific information.

I haven’t bought anything there yet, so I can’t speak for their service, but it looks like a good resource.

Don’t expect to find things here you might not find in a chain craft store, but for convenience and price, they are a great resource.

Here is the original post:
Cut Rate Crafts — Web Site Review

The Simple Joys of Organizing your Stash

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2008-12-01 09:47:13. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

I’m a happier camper than usual these days and I can actually find my thread and it’s all because the stash which isn’t packed away is now all on one floor and mostly in one room. This is thanks to my DH deciding to work at home four days a week instead of only two. That meant he needs an office and the only choice was my eldest’s, now empty, room. But it had my thread stash in it.

So the day we moved his stuff upstairs and cleared off his desk here, we moved my stuff downstairs. Now, in the den, we have my desk, computer, and printer. Along with, on his desk and shelves, most of my thread. The books that aren’t packed away are on the shelves. The rest of the thread, my stretcher bars, and my canvases are in my bedroom and closet, right next door.

I thought I was organized, more or less, but I hadn’t counted on the efficiency of having everything neat and close by. My threads are organized by thread type, most in card catalog drawers, some in other drawers and the rest in cigar tins and basket. It’s all neat without threads hanging out everywhere.

When I want to do a project I can get out the stretcher bars, a project bag (both in the closet) and then sit with everything in arm’s reach and pull out the threads. Next to my sewing chair, in the table drawer, I keep scissors, needles, thread drops, magnets, and other tools. I can pull them, put the canvas on using the neatly boxed tacks, and I’m ready to go.

I’m now a convert to this and I’m wondering if it will survive the move and the return of the rest of the stash. I hope so; this has made such a difference.

So how do you do it for yourself?

Give yourself enough time. If you can take a few hours at a crack. If you can’t, do it in 10 minute steps.
Buy some bins for sorting – four is ideal – keep, toss, give away, in the process of sorting
Place some of your stuff into a bin and sort it into the three piles.
Once the in process bin is empty, fill it again. Once a post-sort bin is full, deal with it. Throw out the toss bin, package the give away bin, and turn the keep bin into a new “in process” bin.
You know this is stuff you want to keep, so now sort it into piles of similar stuff. Canvases would be in one pile, threads in another, books in a third.
Determine where the books and canvases will go. Put them there.
The threads need to be sorted again. Decide where you will be putting them. If the containers are small, bring them to you. Then sort the threads by type or by color (whichever works for you) and put them into your containers. Labeling them is also a wonderful idea.
Put everything where you can find it and get to it easily.
Add a container for thread to be put away and empty it regularly putting away the threads.

See how much better you feel?

See more here:
The Simple Joys of Organizing your Stash

Studio Inspiration

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2009-03-11 06:13:40. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Trying to figure out how to combine the practical (finding space for all the stuff) with the beautiful is always a hard problem. It’s way too easy to create messes, especially when your craft has lots of stuff involved (did I hear you say orts?). But taking time to have colors you love of the wall, lovely and inspiring things to look is important too, almost as important as having a practical space.

One of my favorites blogs, Modish, has had a running feature showing off great spaces where people make things (I want to go live here). The picture at the start of the article is on of my favorites from this series. She also has a Flickr pool showing off more great spaces. Many of these spaces are not neat or organized but look like the everyday places where people create. I just love looking at them.

Another great blog, Whip Up, also has posts about studios, although they are not organized into a particular category.

Your stitching space should reflect you and should be a source of inspiration as well as a functional space. A recent post in the series on Handmade Spaces showed the wonderful collections of people who made things. I’m so delighted by these collections and the way people show them off.

I’ve put some of my boxes of thread on the hutch over my desk, but I have also included there a glass jar with a big cork top which has some wonderful rayon thread, Ooska, which is no longer made and my button jar. Also on my desk I have Kaleidoscope (pictured above) a wildly colored patchwork Beanie Baby, just because his brightness makes me smile.

Would you like to see your stitching space featured here? Throughout March in honor of National Craft Month, I’ll be featuring stitching spaces and studios. If you’d like to be featured, email me at napaneedlepoint [at] gmail [dot] com. Remember, your pictures don’t need to be fancy, we can all be inspired by each other’s spaces.

Read more from the original source:
Studio Inspiration

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