Cross-Stitch

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Get Your Floss Organized

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I’m mostly a knitter, but I know that a consistent resolution that a lot of crafters have each year is to get their supplies more organized. And when it comes to cross stitch, usually the thing that needs the most help when it comes to organization is floss.

So I hit the web looking for advice on how to store and organize floss for cross stitching and came up with these great ideas. I hope they inspire you to get your stash squared away this year!

Wild Olive has a super-cute idea for storing floss on craft sticks.

&Stitches shared a clever idea using clothespins and wire from Marie Tretiakova.

Make your own paper bobbins out of paperboard and scrapbook paper with this tutorial from Thistle and Leaves. Or make little cat thread holders, like these from Little White Whale. And try this clever hack for winding floss onto spindles using a power drill (!) from Little Lovelies.

Or put the floss in little bags in a little box, as shown on CraftyStylish.

Maybe try a sorter from the hardware store, from this roundup (which includes lots of other great stuff for storing crafty supplies) from All People Quilt.

Do you have tips for organizing floss? I’d love to hear them!

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Fancy Pumpkin Cross Stitch Patterns

If you’re ready to move beyond basic, solid orange pumpkins, check out these pumpkin cross stitch patterns that are just a little bit fancier with some kind of pattern on the pumpkin. 

Keep it simple and rustic with this plaid pumpkin form Cross Stitch with Art. You can make the plaid whatever colors you want to match your decor, or keep with the Halloween color palette. It uses three colors and comes out to about 6 inches/15.24 cm square when you stitch it on 14 count fabric. 

Mamaida Pattern has this cute pumpkin with a vine in the negative space. Since that portion isn’t actually stitched (though you could make it green if you like) that makes this pattern pretty easy. It uses just two colors and measures 108 by 110 stitches. That’s about 7.7 by 7.9 inches or 19.6 by 20 cm on 14 count fabric. 

Speaking of negative space, this design by Tinsel Cross Stitch blows out the pumpkin a bit so the ridges are negative space and the colors here too have kind of a vineing effect. This design is 98 by 113 stitches and uses three colors. It measures 7 by a little more than 8 inches, or 17.78 by 20.5 cm on 14 count fabric.

Get even more detailed with the carving effect on this pumpkin cross stitch pattern from Anemone Patterns. This one is 85 by 83 stitches, which comes out to 6.1 by 5.9 inches (15.4 by 15.1 cm).

In a similar vein but a different color, there’s this pretty green pumpkin from Crystal Feather Crafts. Of course you could make it any color you like, but I always like to remind people that even in nature not all pumpkins are orange. This design measures 101 by 93 stitches, which is 7.2 by 6.6 inches/18.3 by 16.9 cm. 

And speaking of color, if you want to stitch a pumpkin with boho vibes, this one from Stitch Craft Creatives is probably the one for you. At 200 stitches square, it comes out to 14.4 inches or 36.3 cm square on 14 count fabric. It uses 14 colors for a very vibrant pumpkin!