old hobbies, new obsessions

I’ve recently been tempted to re-discover the world of cross stitching after seeing all the wonderful projects floating out there in the bloggiverse/Instagram. Cross-stitching has come so far in design from the types of projects that I am used to seeing. It’s so modern and cute and fresh.

I’m going to lay the blame at Amanda of hey porkchop‘s feet. I was doing so well resisting the lure of starting something new until she and her business partner released their latest stitching design, Tea Time.

Within a day, pattern in hand, I had run to Michaels, stocked up on DMC threads, and leapt in. And boy did it feel good. In fact, I got a tiny bit obsessed. I could NOT put it down.

I’ve made a good bit of progress on the design and have loved every bitty stitch. There was just one problem with my set up. I was lugging a stack of papers, a pile of DMC thread, a thread card, scissors, and my stitching (not to mention the trail of thread ends) from the nursery to my bedside to the living room and back again. It was a bit cumbersome and the number of times I had to dive for it to save the little one from destroying my “stack” will not be mentioned.

So, I decided to design something that would hold it all together. I thought about designing a pouch but really didn’t like the idea of just throwing everything into the bottom and hoping it didn’t get tangled.

In the end, I chose not to look up any designs, but to make something that would be EXACTLY what I needed.

I wanted it to have two large zippered pockets, one for storing thread, and the other for the project. The whole unit would open like a book, with a clear vinyl pocket in the middle for storing the pattern, to keep it safe from spills and babies that like to tear and eat paper.  And of course there needed to be some little pockets on the inside for the other bits of paraphernalia.

There is a vinyl pocket for scissors, and a small needle storage spot. I also have a pocket for sliding my thread card into and, out of necessity, a small thread catcher. 

I can’t tell you how pleased I am with how it turned out. It’s been awesome. There are a few changes I will make when I make it again for my daughter, but overall, I just LOVE it.

The tiny swoon I made a few weeks back found the perfect home.

I also was able to include a couple other orphan blocks that were floating around. 

It’s wonderful having everything contained and ready for a few stolen stitchy moments.

Linking up for finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.