and what was that you asked? well I have these containers and yes they are from the Container Store of where I do need to make a stop one of these days.

I have 2 filled and am working on a 3rd one. I reorganized the Kreinik a few weeks ago… well I sorta had no choice as somebody and we won’t mention any names now will we Sylvester? (ooh maybe that’s why he was hiding under the bed!) knocked a box over, so I really straightened them out and organized them the same way that you would find them in a shop.

I started with silver which is 001 and includes the silvers 001HL, 001V, 001L in all the sizes and so on. I continued with the gold which is 002 et al, 003 reds, 005 blacks…well I guess that you get the idea!

These boxes along with boxes of beads, Rainbow Gallery threads and all of my working threads live in a little closet that I assume is supposed to be my pantry. Well I don’t cook, so what would I need a pantry for? They are an easy reach when I am stitching away and I need to find a thread. Hopefully I don’t have to move a cat when I need to get up!

So you wonder where this story is going? well keep reading!

Remember my good intentions of stitching for myself an hour a day? well that has turned into an hour every week, maybe every 2 weeks if I am a good girl!

I know that many of you are anxiously awaiting the progress of Leigh’s Holly Hills Santa and trust me I feel the pressure, so I did work on this last weekend. I continued to stitch Santa’s coat in basketweave using 3 strands of Needlepoint Inc. Silk 501 in the Chinese Red Range. I think that if I had my choice to do it over I would have used 4 strands, but it’s not coming out! If you have a hard time finding that silk Splendor S911 is a great choice too.

Notice how when working basketweave and you need to start a new thread, that you don’t start or end your thread on a diagonal. Why is that? well it will create a ridge in your stitching. End that thread horizontally or vertically and keep on stitching.

okay the basketweave is done and I wanted to stitch the gold filagree in the coat with a Kreinik 002HL. I started with size 8 in French knots and that didn’t look good, so out it came. Tent stitch it was and that really wasn’t giving me good coverage, so I tried a cross stitch and quickly realized I didn’t like it… so out it came. I went to the Kreinik stash and pulled out a size 12 and stitched again and now I like the way it looks. I continued working on the filagree and stitched the burgandy swirls with Needlepoint Inc. Silk 505.

Next is to add the cross stitch to make it the dotted Swiss, using Rainbow Gallery Silk Lamé Braid SP53. Well do you see it? I don’t! I see a little glimmer, a little hint – but not strong enough so I want to try using Kreinik 003 Red in a size 4.

This is the dotted Swiss stitch which it looks like every other row you will cross the 4th stitch with another thread. Thanks to Bobbi who thought that the dotted stitch in the 2nd edition of Jo Christensen’s book was it…close but not quite. Well there’s no reason why you can’t use that!

Back to the Kreinik stash…okay if any of you counted how many spools stand up in 1 section of that box? between 18-20 depending on how many I cram into one and with 12 sections to a box..and I will let you do the math! Now that doesn’t count what lives with my current projects, Halloween Threads or my Christmas Threads. I am outta control!

So mathematically, the percentages of finding a Krienik 003 Red in size #4 should be easy. What do you think? NOT! I didn’t have a one, nor did I have a gold in the right color in size 4 either.

I will end this right here for now as I am headed out for some thread shopping! I will continue this over the next few days as I talk about all the threads and all the ideas that I have and I will just let you stitch away and tell me how it’s working out! As much as I want to stitch on this right now… I just can’t and enjoy it. I will give you the Burmilana colors, the face colors, the snow, the sky and everything. The only color I haven’t thought about is the holly leaves!

I gotta go! I’m late for a very important date! breakfast at The Cottage!

and for now…keep on stitching! Right Sylvester?