When I first learned to make glass beads Heather Trimlett was one of my bead idols. Her beads are fun and just read as happy beads. Bright and colorful with stripes and dots and bumps and so cute. Fast forward about 18 years and I had the pleasure of hosting a class she taught at my store. To watch the master work. Still very inspiring and educational. This evening I found myself wandering through her Facebook page after seeing some great pictures she had posted and I came across something very interesting. It’s the 40 bead challenge. Go check it out at her site. Repetition is the best way to get good at what you do. In fact, one of my favorite things to tell a student that wants two beads that match…make 10, two if them will probably match. Keep making and you’ll get better. Let’s see what you can do. I think I’ll take the challenge too.
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How to Store Embroidery Needles
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]