October is National Craft-Making Month!

It's been a really sucky week. But I did something crafty every day, even if I didn't create.


Day 26

I worked some more on moving stuff around and putting things away.

Day 27

I worked some more at getting things reorganized and put away, and I even took a picture!

Where I started on Monday:


Where I ended on Tuesday:



I also did some latch hooking (first pic is what I had done previously)



Day 28

I tackled the first batch of jewelry supplies! This is my last online order, so it's been sitting in that box for MONTHS. (Last summer, I put a moratorium on bringing in any more crafting supplies (with an exception or two) until I could find all the things I already had.) I got about half the box put away into storage boxes.



I also had a stitch-in, where I got only a little bit of cross stitching on my SaL done, because there was a guest speaker, and she had pretty things to show!




Day 29

I finished getting all the beads from the box I started on 10/28 put away into storage boxes!



And then, I got all the storage boxes put away onto the shelves!



Day 30

Day 30 was a day of prodding kids a lot and just feeling entirely unmotivated. Things got a better once we got around to pumpkin carving, so after dinner, I settled in with TrollHunters and my latch hook. Unfortunately, after I had put in about another half-dozen columns, I discovered that I had put in the wrong color of pink, so I spent more than 30 minutes frogging. Frogging latch hook is a lot more difficult than frogging cross stitch!

Day 23

I started to weed out and rearrange items on the *other* set of shelves (maybe a picture when I'm all the way done, as it doesn't look all that different from the before picture).

Day 24

I made a Cowboy Cake for the Birthday Girls' Zoom birthday party. And we were a good chunk of the way through that when I realised that I forgot to take a picture.

Day 25

I made my Mom a pair of Halloween earrings. And forgot to take a picture before I put them into the envelope.


At least, I got some decent sleep last night, so I might remember pictures today!

Yesterday ended with my office being a mess. so, today was more sorting. I went through my charts/pattern/instructions, decided on categories, and sorted them into an accordion file that was not being used well for, well, filing. I found a bunch of trim and got it all put into zip bags. I did the same with some polymer clay and accessories (though I think I will probably eventually store them in DMC boxes).

It eventually got too hot in the office (we had a heat advisory today) so I took a long break. But, before dinner, I sorted out all the modern DMC floss that was at the bottom of the yarn box, recorded it in the spreadsheet, and put it away!



I still have the stuff in the bag to go through; it's a mix of pearl cotton and tapestry yarn and what is probably old-enough-to-be-considered-antique DMC floss. I've done a little research, and the really old thread might not be worth stitching with.

After all that, I repaired the second kid headset.

My kids were extraordinarily on their school game today ( I tried a different approach today, and it seemed to work), and that meant I had time and energy to work on some more organizing.

Here's where I started today:



I got more embroidery stuff sorted --hoops,frames, kits, charts,and WIPs-- and put away.



I was hoping that the DMC boxes would be big enough to put all my plastic canvas sheets in, but the drawers are about 3/8" short. I will have to find another solution for those. I found some more floss: loose strands got wound on bobbins and put in the kid box, and the floss that I knew was DMC got entered into the spreadsheet and put away into the floss boxes. and unfortunately, there's a bunch of odd an ends of various things that need to go somewhere, but I'm not sure where yet, which means that they are all over my floor and desk. I've already identified a number of things that will be going out of my house (and maybe some of the O&E will join them).

Where I stopped:



Also, the DMC boxes I filled yesterday and today got put up on top of the shelves. (Yay, tall people!)

I had my weekly stitching zoom today, and I actually worked on my SaL cross stitch.

Wow, time flies!

Day 8

I cleared out a small box from the office. The contents were from the kid bag that hasn't been used since the kids have been home from school, and I have no idea why that stuff was in my office. All the stuff got put away!

In the afternoon I took a little time away from home (and also on Wed) to take some nature photos, BY MYSELF. I'll link when I have them up. It was really nice to get out alone outside that wasn't a trip to the grocery store.

Day 9

I actually worked on the cross stitch WIP mystery stitch-a-long that was supposed to be done last year.



Day 10

I worked some more on the above-mentioned WIP. First I discovered that I had just too many loose threads on the back that needed to be clipped, because they kept catching on my working thread. So, I clipped 'em!



And then, worked some more catch-free stitches!



Day 11

My kids have been using headphones where I've recovered the speakers with heavy fleece because the foam had disintegrated, but they still found the headphones too hard. Today, I took the covers apart on one to add some foam (a reuse from a package I received recently). The kid pronounced it cushy, so I did the other side. Sometime later this week, I need to add foam to the pair the other kid is using.



Also, I made some vegan and gluten-free Peanut Butter Banana Blondies. I had some bananas the HAD to be used, but not enough eggs, and I was tired of the same old banana bread. This turned out different than I expected, but it was good (though the kids say that it's not their favorite, and it's not as good as my banana bread).

I finished bobbining THE MESS and bobbinated the proto-bracelets as well.



I also made a berry cobbler for a birthday in our household.

That whole how to inventory Anchor and J&P Coats embroidery floss made such an impression on my subconscious that it worked on that problem all night, and by the time I woke up, it had made the executive decision that, because I will likely never buy or use either brand of floss on purpose, I shouldn't spend hours trying to determine old or modern or color name and just throw them into the kid box and be done. So, when I woke up, I did just that! :)

Later in the afternoon, I inventoried my Kreinik Metallics and put them in a drawer. Then, I came to THE MESS. I must have bought THE MESS at a garage sale; it's a lot of different colors of floss mixed together, along with some unfinished friendship bracelets. I pulled it all apart mostly intact, and got about half the thread bobbined up while watching TV.





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I guess that's the story of my posting all over...

Day 1:

As I stated in my intro post, much of NaCraMaMo for me will be organizing (or reorganizing?) my craft storage/storage room/office. I started this heraculean tasks couple of weeks ago, because I literally couldn't get into my office without tripping over something, and I've discovered that I can get more done if I start my day sitting in my office chair instead of my recliner. I rough- sorted everything into boxes, which moved out into the foyer and living room. I decided to start with my embroidery threads: getting them out of their bobbin boxes and plastic bags and baskets, inventorying everything into a spreadsheet (because I AM able to do that with the thread, and I'm tired of buying more of the same stuff because I don't know what I have; should I tell you how many skeins of 930 that I have? :), and then putting everything away into the DMC floss boxes I acquired more than a year ago. As of yesterday, I was almost done with the inventorying, with the exception of the random bits of J&P Coats and Anchor threads, some linen thread, and the tin of the new DMC Etoile thread that I got for my birthday a few days ago.

So for my task yesterday, I got through the linen thread, and then the Etoile thread, and got them tucked away in the drawers of the DMC floss boxes. Inventorying the Etoile floss was harder that it should hae been, because, of courst, my inventory sheet lists the thread in number order, but the floss in the tin was in color families order.

Etoile thread in their tin; photo does not do it justice...



Thread put away in the drawer; I'd even left room for it, knowing that I'd get it "someday."



I then proceeded to fall down a rabbit hole with regards to charts for J&P Coats and Anchor floss colors, and old vs. new, and finally called it for dinner.

And then, during a zoom chat, I sorted a couple more hundred perler beads from a jar of 20000 (I've been working on that all summer).