Finished!

It's only taken me six months, but I finally have everything as organized as it will ever be. All of my stash is in a closet, a bench, and a vertical cabinet. I just finished up this morning.

First, the closet. I now have all my threads and larger WIPs in there, along with assorted bags to hold or carry around assorted projects. There's even enough space for me to keep my laundry basket in there! Woo-hoo!

 

I also have room for my bag o' ribbons from Woodlawn's Needlework Exhibition and other shows. See how nicely I take care of them. Hahahahhahaha. This side space is sort of a catch-all for needlework and other sundry items I want to get out of the way.

Next up, the bench. When my father bought the house I grew up in (a few months before I was born), this antique bench came with it. We always referred to it as the "hall seat," so named because it was a bench in the front center hallway. Through the years it's held a lot of things in its rather commodious storage space beneath the seat. When we were all taking dance classes (three girls, youngest and eldest five years apart), the bench was the repository for our dance paraphernalia: tap shoes, ballet slippers, toe shoes, batons, leotards, tights, random costumes, whatever. When we grew out of that era, my mother took charge of it. I don't remember what was in it after that. Fast forward to the adult me, married and a mother: I inherited the bench when my parents downsized from a three-floor Victorian farmhouse-style home to a one-level rambler. For most of its life with me, it's held Jane's artwork. When I moved this last time, I put all her art in a box to make it easier to move. (The thing is heavy!) I finally decided the best use would be to house what wouldn't fit into the closet.

 

I have a basket of "current" WIPs on the left and my Scott Church Creative "Bunny Mummy" on the right, which I hope to start sometime in the next year. I just finally figured out how I want to stitch it and pulled threads. The pillow on the right is mola embroidery from Panama. The other three are pillows I made (two of the same cross-stitch design I and a friend created, one stitched over two threads and the other over one). It'll be a pain to move everything, but if I want blank canvas or some of the other WIPs that didn't fit anywhere else, I'll just have to deal with it.

The other vertical cabinet? I believe I've posted a photo of it before, but here it is again. I did add a few more projects, but it basically looks the same as in this earlier photo.

Some of the shelves now hold a few more project bags with WIPs. Note the baton sticking out of the urn. The last remnant of my dancing classes.

And that's that!

Kthxbai.