NEW: Among the Gum Trees

gum Nine Australian needlework designers have banded together to form Gum Tree Designers. Their new joint blog promises a free Christmas design each Monday in October and November; a free design each month; and lots of news about pattern launches, giveaways and freebies, and the doings of the designers. Who are these designers?

Cheryl Goss of Willowberry Designs
Dawn Hay of Dawn Hay Designs
Fiona Ransley of Mother’s Cupboard
Joy Coey of JoyPatch
Vikki Stewart of Sew Useful Designs
Judith Tetley of Creative Studio
Vicki Tucek of Tozz’s Corner
Paula Storm of Sew Little Fabric
Jennifer Reynolds of ELEFANTZ

You know these names, so you know you’re going to love this new venture. To top off the launch celebration, each of the nine gummers is having a giveaway! Be sure to check Among the Gum Trees blog tomorrow for the details.

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I have a complicated relationship with my embroidery needles. Which is a fancy way of saying I don’t really take care of my needles at all. Even though I know I have embroidery needles to use for cross stitch and sewing, needles that are certainly still in their packages, I can rarely find them when I need them.

So when I saw this post from Crewel Ghoul about how to store your embroidery needles, it hit close to home for me.

It doesn’t really say anything I didn’t already know, but it is good advice that might also serve as a reminder for you to take better care of your needles when you cross stitch or do other hand-sewing projects so that you’ll be able to find your needles again when you need them.

It would help me a lot if I had a dedicated place to keep needles I’m not using, including the needles that are still in their packages from when I bought them. You’d think I would keep them with my embroidery floss but apparently you would be mistaken about that.

Another good idea for me is to have a place to put needles I’ve been using when I am done with them. Because goodness knows I’m not going to put them back in the package. (Which may actually be a good thing because then I know which one I’ve been using and which ones are fresh. Not that I replace my needles regularly, but still.) I own pincushions but I don’t really use them for anything, which is silly.

Check out the post at Crewel Ghoul to see all the options available for storing your embroidery needles properly. I’d love to hear what you do, especially if you have a better system than I do (which, honestly, would be any system at all).

[Photo: Crewel Ghoul]

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