Needlework System 4 Floor Stand

Well, this year Brian was a little un-inspired about what to get me for my birthday so he asked me. Originally my fist response was a serger. I'm not entirely sure which one though and recent events made me realize I hate sewing here (no room for it and the living room is super uncomfortable for it) so I'd rather wait till we got back to the states to deal with either an upgraded sewing machine or a serger.

So... what to get me, what to get me? I'm admittedly a somewhat hard person to shop for. Normally if I want something I just buy it. There's not a whole lot of stuff I can't afford right away or feel weird dropping so much on all at once. The Janet Arnold book 'Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'D' at $188 USED fits into that particular category. I've never paid more than $40 for a book that wasn't a textbook.

Anyway, I eventually decided on a cross-stitch floor frame. I already own the Sit N Stitch and while it's EXTREMELY well made in my opinion, it's just not conducive to my personal comfort when stitching. I'm very laid back and fold my feet up under me or lay in bed to stitch. The Sit N Stitch is for people that well... sit up... lol. Not really for loungers like me. I also discovered I'm not a huge huge fan of scroll frames either. But for those of you that actually sit up when you stitch and use scroll frames, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the Sit N Stitch. Like I said, well made, the wood is all sanded down and soft so it doesn't scratch you or snag floss and fabric. My only real complaint is that the pattern holder is pretty useless. It didn't really hold single or over-sized pattern sheets very well and only worked with a small paperback pattern book I had. I did think the small magnet to hold stray needles was a nice touch though.

So the quest was on to find a floor frame I liked since lap frames just don't seem to be for me. I wanted something stable and not likely to tip over, easy to adjust but would still hold its place once set in position, nothing that took up a huge amount of space or was easily folded up and put away, one that would work with my new love for Q-Snaps, and on and on and on. Like I said... "picky". ^_^

I came across this blog review on Needle'n Thread.com for the Needlework System 4 Floor Stand and was just amazed at the glowing review and close-up photos and video to back it up. It's seriously P-E-R-F-E-C-T for my needs! A little pricey but nothing we can't handle in the budget (especially for an auspicious occasion like a birthday ;) ). Thanks to a fabulous stitcher who answered my plea for help on figuring out where to buy one on the HAED forum, I found what appears to be a legit website/store willing to ship to me overseas. Brian allowed me to call Pocket Full of Stitches since I was so excited to order it. They were super friendly and helpful over the phone, even with my calling just before closing because of the weird time zone difference between Texas and Italy. They're currently out of stock but have ordered it for me and will ship it out ASAP once they have it.

I'm so giddy-happy to get it and love Brian to tears for allowing me to spend $350+ on what basically amount to a few metal bits welded together. Then again, he just spent $800+ on an SCA helm which is a few metal bits welded together too so maybe he knows how I feel. ^_^

I'll be sure to post more reviews and photos once I get it too.

Unikeep Binders

I finally received the unikeeps I ordered a few weeks ago. The company doesn't ship to APOs so I had to use the re-mailing service APOBox.com to receive my package and re-ship it USPS. Which, by the way, other than my natural chagrin at having to pay for shipping twice and the increasing USPS postal rates, was not a bad experience at all and I will probably use the company again versus bothering my grandparents with mailing stuff out to me.

Anywho... so far I'm loving these binders for storing my next cross-stitch project, Black Cat. In the first section I have my working chart in page protectors and enough room left to store my Q-Snap and fabric. I could also easily include a small bit of felt to store extra needles and there is still room left over for a small clover cutter or pair of embroidery scissors as well as a highlighter for marking the chart. Practically everything I need!


In the second section I have the DMC floss required for the piece in Stitchbows and their specially-made page protectors. Even with the "normal" 50+ colors for an HAED chart, 4 pages of stitchbows easily fits into the 1" unikeep still providing some room for the odd multiple skeins. I'm planning on storing smaller bits of "working" floss in labeled plastic baggies in this section as well.


Even with the binder closed I can easily see the colors through the frosted plastic to see which piece is which. The binder is really easy to snap open and closes securely with little coaxing on my part.




I can easily imagine the binders lined up neatly on a shelf or bookcase keeping my projects dust and cat-hair free until ready to be stitched. I love the plastic rings used to hold the paper (or in this case, page protectors). They seem durable, even for plastic, and because of the unique end that snaps together I don't forsee any spreading issues like I have with the traditional metal binder rings. Even the ones on my DMC Stitchbow Binders are having this issue. My only complaint so far is the lack of labeling or ability to label such as a plastic outer sleeve either on the cover or upright edge. Of course, being the crafty sort that I am, I already have imaginings in the work to decorate them somehow using plastic paints/markers but leaving room for removable sticker-labels from my Dymo Labelmaker.

All in all, I'm really pleased with my purchase and am excited to start organizing my cross-stitch rotation pieces into their own binders. I'll keep my "free" bedsheet cross-stitch bag (as mentioned in the last blog) around for travel though as it's definitely more compact than the binders for that purpose.

**Edited to Add**

Well, after using it for a few days I have found that my fabric when ON the Q-Snaps doesn't fit in there so well. I'm planning on using them still to hold the floss and the chart together, but currently using the scrapbooking organizer I mentioned earlier to hold the WIP. I also have ideas to sew together a "stitcher's pencil bag" with a space to stash highlighters or colored pencils to mark a chart, plus a piece of felt to hold needles and even perhaps a pocket for scissors. Stay Tuned.

Organization

Me, being me, I'm always trying to figure out new and unique ways of organizing my Hoard O' Crap (that name is trademarked btw) and currently my cross-stitch obsession has taken over my craft room... closely followed by the sewing junk. Hmm... appears to be a small pattern there. Ha! Get it? Pattern... that was SO unintentional by the way. Probably why it's not all THAT funny... but still, I have to laugh at my own jokes because I'm narcissistic like that.

ANYWHO....

I recently stumbled across this gem of an idea. We were about to go on vacation and I wanted to take my CDC with me to work on (no, I didn't even pick it up to get anything done) and was looking for something to keep everything organized in and keep the fabric clean. I came across a zippered bag a recent bedsheet purchase came in. I have no idea why I keep these things, it's not like the sheets would ever fit back into the bag... but anyways, I discovered it's the *perfect* size to fit my WIP.

It holds pretty much everything I need for the project at the moment. 8" Q-Snaps (oh my wonderful darlings... how did I ever stitch before ye?) with the fabric, pattern pages, scissors, highlighter for marking progress, Mag Eyes, extra needles (Piecemakers of course), and extra floss.

It worked great on the trip keeping everything organized in my carry-on and keeping the fabric clean. I'm still using it around the house and it's great! Even as much as I like it, I'm not sure how it would work with larger projects like an HAED. As a travel bag, it's great, but for keeping everything for a large project organized, I'm not sure how great it would be. I recently placed an order for some UniKeep Binders that I think will be fantastic. Several stitchers on the HAED message forums mentioned using them with the chart and WIP on one side and DMC Stitchbow pages on the other.

I also ordered a 6 Case Scrapbooking Cart that would hold the new UniKeeps as well as any "extra" stuff needed to complete the project (beads, extra floss, needles, fabric, etc) and keep everything organized next to the EVENTUAL chair/mini-sofa I will buy to sit and do my stitching on. In the meantime, it'll fit under my desk quite nicely. Plus, I think 6 WIPs is a nice number that I can handle. Up until this point I've been a OAAT stitcher but with the larger projects find myself getting "bored" or "frustrated" with them if I'm not working on something smaller or quicker or with a prettier section than background trees.

But yes, organization is the word of the day. Being as that I can only walk into my craft room about a foot and a half (far enough to get to the dryer -- don't ask me why I have a dryer in there... I don't know and I wish it were elsewhere) I figure it's time for me to purge and organize everything again.

Seeing as how cross-stitch is my current obsession (and yes, I am overusing the phrase because it's completely true dammit) I doubt that I will be throwing any of it out. I don't know when I will be able to get to this theoretical cleaning because it really is a HUGE mess and I will probably need several days to deal with it all. I'll be resigning from my job by the end of the month, so that'll definitely free up some time... in THEORY. My husband seems to think all the "free time" will mean I keep the house spotless 24/7. Little does he know that's hardly how I operate. Don't get me wrong, my apartment is far from a pig sty but I don't spend every waking moment sweeping the floors six times a day.

Moving on though, I'm looking forward to the organizing... I can be a bit weird like that. There's just something about walking into my craft room and seeing neatly organized and color-coded/coordinated containers, books, binders and boxes lined up on the shelves that does me in. Is there such thing as an organizational high? Hrmm... I'll have to ask Monica about that.