Cross stitch...

My colorful Dahlia blanket continues to grow and one of these days (or weeks) I look forward to showing it in its finished state. Until then, even though it's growing, a picture of it today would look pretty much like a picture of it a couple of weeks ago, so I'll not bother with progress pictures.

Thinking a little crafting variety might be nice, I went through some embroidery supplies and cross stitch projects recently, and I decided it was time to put some effort into finishing a small stitch I began before moving in 2021 - honestly, I think I started this during the early covid days of 2020:

There is another (finished) companion stitch on the other half of this fabric, so I look forward to soon sewing them both into small pillows. 

While I had my flosses out, it occurred to me that some might be interested in how I store these threads.  My system is nothing novel, but I like it because it's easy to keep neat.

I like to wind DMC floss skeins that I'm using onto cardboard bobbins.  Once finished with a project, the bobbins go into a divided plastic storage box:

I have another (empty) box like this waiting in the wings.  By the looks of the picture above, it appears I'm soon going to need to employ it.

I file the colors by number so they are simple to find.  I know some stitchers don't like using bobbins like this because they create folds in the floss (especially floss wound closer to the bobbin), but I've never found that to be problematic. I find that the floss tends to straighten out while stitching, and it doesn't affect how the floss looks in a stitched project.  And being able to find any color I want at a glance makes this an ideal storage solution for me.

That said, until I actually begin to use a skein of floss, I store it with other unused skeins with their bands on them, in zip lock bags, like this:

Again, I store them according to their numbers.  The flosses stay neat in these bags, and the numbers are always visible.  I don't have to handle the floss until I locate the right color.  Then I just reach my fingers in and retrieve the single skein I need.  All the other skeins stay in place.

And these bags are stored in a small-ish plastic tote:

You can't see the hand-dyed flosses, but I have a few on rings underneath the bagged flosses in this same box.  It's more floss than I need to own, but keeping it all in this one tote makes it feel like a manageable and respectable amount.   

While I had everything out, I also decided to pull flosses for another project that I'll try to work on this winter:

I doubt I'll finish it in time to display it this December, but I'll enjoy stitching on it in the upcoming weeks.

The flosses above are hand-dyed yarns like I mentioned above.  I don't have a large collection of these embroidery flosses, but they are interesting for their subtle variegation.  And fun to use on hand-dyed cross stitching cloth.

And that is a glimpse into my embroidery storage and prep. Hopefully, something will show up finished here soon!