Stitching Toys

As you can tell from my previous posts, I really love patterns. In fact, I love browsing them, circling items in print catalogs, bookmarking webpages, planning which ones to buy and when, organizing them neatly in alphabetical order by the name of the designer in a hanging file bin, looking through them and thinking about which one I will do next, marking the nicest ones in my magazines with a post-it note, and so on.

But as any cross stitcher can tell you, that's only a small part of the fun. Building up a stash of patterns is human, but building up a stash of fabric, threads, and accessories is divine. I am not quite as enthusiastic about buying fabric as some, but I confess to occasionally buying a piece of linen with an unusual texture or color with no idea what might go on it. So far, I have only bought things that were on sale. *Pats self on back.* In the area of stitching accessories, however, I have no defense. I buy lots of things that I can't manage to justify to my husband or my mother (who is an avid cross stitcher but a discerning consumer).


My husband makes all the money at this point because I'm in school, so I usually clear my purchases with him first. He approved this Mary Engelbreit sewing basket. Probably because I've been drooling over it since Christmas.


Here are some of my favorite goodies. You're either wondering why anyone could need this many scissors or squinting to identify the different styles. Most of the scissors pictured are manufactured by Gingher. From the left: stork scissors with a "ruby" eye and a scissors fob by Lorri Birmingham, lion's tail scissors with a pink and black beaded chain, hardanger scissors with a blue chain, a cheap pair of fish scissors, and some pretty Gingher scissors with a pink floral pattern. Also in the picture in the back is Thread Heaven (a wax-like thread conditioner that makes your stitches lie flat, neat, and lustrous), a teapot shaped Mary Engelbreit pincushion, and a needleroll designed by Shepherd's Bush. In the front: a heart shaped needle threader by Clover, a counting pin with a golden bee bead, a square needle magnet, and a needle case from Elizabeth's Vintage Notions.



I was recently reminded on the RCTN group of this piece. It's by Indigo Rose, and it's called From Mother to Daughter. The multi-colored scrolling band that's sort of in the middle is made up entirely of queen stitches. My mother made this for me even though she doesn't usually do this sort of thing. At the bottom are her initials, and 2K stands for 2000. If it wasn't already behind glass, I would take better pictures of the details.