Cross stitchers seem to like to bling up everything. Jewelry for the floss ring, fancy needle minders, expensive project bags. I’m not saying I won’t ever do that but, for now, it seems a bit frivolous to me. I did buy a few needle minders, thinking I’d have a cute one on all my projects. I have not been impressed with them. First, they do a fair job of holding the needles but for something like a needle, I prefer something that holds them 100% of the time and these do not. Second, I don’t know if you can see it in this picture but the back is sparkly.
More than once, that sparkly thing has attracted Boots and I didn’t realize he was messing with it til he’d already pulled it off and I was so afraid he had swallowed it. Luckily, he never did but any time I let him come upstairs, I take this thing off and stick it in a drawer.
Third, and not the fault of the needle minder, but why did I choose a hamburger? I love hamburgers and every time I look at that thing, I want to go get a good hamburger somewhere!
I’ve been sticking needles in the arm of the chair and have poked my arm a dozen times a day and ended up with needles stuck in my sleeves.
I’m pretty sure I didn’t invent this idea but it did pop into my head without seeing it anywhere. There’s an entertainment center right next to my chair. There’s a door that closes to hide the entertainment equipment bags of cross stitching projects that are on the shelves.
I ordered these stick on magnetic strips from Amazon. There are 11 of them in the box (weird number, huh?). They’re 6″ long x 1″ wide according to the blurb on Amazon. I didn’t measure them. They are easy to cut with scissors.
I used a 3M Command hook and stuck it up on the inside of the entertainment center door.
After cutting one of the strips in half so I now have two 3″ x 1″ strips, I glued one strip to a piece of cardboard, punched a hole in the top of the cardboard so it would hang from the hook, and now I have a needle minder and a scissor holder that’s within each reach of my chair!
Not pretty. Not fancy but very useful and functional. I could easily cut the cardboard to be a nicer size (like perfectly square instead of wonky), cover it with pretty paper or just glue pretty paper to a piece of cut cardboard but . . this works for me, no one but me (and y’all) will ever see it and my arm won’t have needle holes, Boots won’t be swallowing a magnet and my carpet will not be full of needles falling from the other needle minder.
Ruth says
What a great solution for your needles! I’ve never used a needle minder. I thought the first requirement for such would be to HOLD the needle TIGHTLY!! I suggest that you give the hamburger needle minder away as soon as possible. Oh, and use a magnet on the arm of your chair and see if there are any more needles hiding there.
Carolyn says
Very clever!!!
Judy says
Please be very careful with threaded needles when Boots is around. Years ago my cat played with the thread and ended up swallowing the thread and the needle. It took surgery to remove them.
Judy Laquidara says
That’s why I came up with a different plan for keeping the needles secure. I can simply close that door when he’s running around. It stays closed when I’m not stitching anyway.
Jill M says
That is a great idea! I do have several pretty needle minders that hold the needles very well – enough to travel with them on the minders and not lose the needle in the bag. But I have a couple where the magnet is just not strong enough. On my very big projects, the needle minders are useful to help contain the threads that are parked so they stay out of my way. 🙂
Denise says
I’ve also discovered that all needle minders are not equal. The wooden ones I have do not have enough hold to them. I do love the ones made my Zappy Dots tho – super duper strong magnets. I have a table next to where I stitch with metal on it and I can put a Zappy Dot on the side of the table and it will hold my scissors in place. I definitely agree on the “bling” for the floss rings. I can buy a lot of floss or a pattern for the price of those little things so I definitely won’t be purchasing those for myself.
Judy Laquidara says
I don’t get it (all the bling) but a lot of people probably don’t “get” all that I do either. I’ll have to look for Zappy Dots. Thanks.
Kim Webb says
I only have two needle minders but they are both capable of holding my needles securely and also my scissors. The magnets on mine look much bigger than the one on the back of the hamburger one though. Nice idea to keep it both within easy reach of you and out of reach of Boots.
Judy Laquidara says
Since those were the first ones I ordered and since I didn’t really see the back, I had no idea. I wondered if larger magnets would make a difference so maybe I will try those when I see them. Thanks.
Susan Nixon says
That was a good idea! I just use pincushions for everything – lots and lots of pincushions in my house! No cats upstairs, though.
Rebecca says
It’s funny about the hamburger one. That’s the reason I won’t get food-scented candles–my appetite doesn’t need any help, thank you very much.
Judy Laquidara says
Thank you for reminding me of that. The last thing I need is a pumpkin pie scented candle because I could eat pumpkin pie all day every day. Now you have me wanting pumpkin pie and you never mentioned pumpkin pie specifically! 🙂