I was so sure I had already done this post but can’t find it so . . if this is a repeat, just laugh and say “she’s getting old!” 🙂
A couple of weeks ago, I was watching Momma Loves You GB’s tutorial on making floss minders. Despite my best efforts to stay organized, I can’t tell you how many times I find a floss ring with all the floss and I don’t know if it goes with a project or if it’s something I’ve finished and the floss needs to be returned to the floss closet. I now have a bin sitting on a shelf and that’s where all the floss rings full of floss go if I don’t know which project they should be paired with.
As soon as I saw Momma Loves You GB’s video, I ordered all the supplies I needed to make floss minders.
There are jump rings in several sizes, cabochons, metal trays, Gorilla glue with a brush and squeezy scissors that are perfect for going around the glass cabochon. You can use motifs on fabric, cards, stickers, reduce the size of the chart and choose something off that . . so many ways to make these pretty but my main goal is to use something that helps me recognize which chart it goes with.
I ordered the same things Michelle showed in the video, plus I ordered different size cabochons and trays but they seem to be lost so I’ll get a refund for those today and order more.
It’s hard to see but I reduced the cover size and used the two birds at the lower right side.
For this one, I again reduced the cover and used the two bird heads and the heart.
As I said, I’m trying to use something that will make me remember which chart they go with if I find the floss separated from the chart. At least if I get out the Noble Birdseed Banquet project without floss, if I’m going through the lost floss basket and see the birds, that should jog my memory, even if I can’t remember what I used for the floss minder.
You might be thinking . . wouldn’t it be easier to just put the floss with the chart? The cross stitching project is in a frame so Oscar doesn’t really bother that, or, I should say . . so far he hasn’t. He is always watching for unattended floss. If I get up to go to the bathroom, or Vince calls me to come upstairs, or I go out with Rita – really anything . . if I go to the sewing room to look for another skein of floss, Oscar is going to grab the floss ring and start chewing on it so any time I get up, I take the floss with me. If I go to the bathroom, I may decide I need to take a load of laundry to the washer. If I go to the sewing room to get more floss, I may lay it all down anywhere in there and then get sidetracked and may not even work on that project again for weeks. There are so many ways to lose floss in this house! I really do try to put the floss in the project bag and zip it but I don’t always do that.
These little things are fun to make and they’re easy to bling up if you want to make them as gifts for your cross stitching friends.
Rosalie says
Judy, while this is a fine idea (though some work involved) wouldn’t it be easier to just write a little tag and then install a command hook on the wall near your chair or on the doorway out of the room to hang your floss when you get up to go somewhere?
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Too often I don’t go the easy route and I thought making the little minders was pretty and fun. We’re talking about 20 or more rings with often 20 or more skeins of floss on then in my “lost and found” bin. I’m sure many of those are rings of floss that need to be returned to the stash closet because the projects are finished but I don’t remember exactly what project they went with.
Liz says
.. I am using floss-a-way bags with rings to organize the floss. A copy of the floss chart with symbols and a reduced copy of the picture is also put in a floss bag. The floss in the section that I am working on is put on a ring with the floss chart/picture. So, if I misplace the floss ring, I can see which project it belongs to.
The colors that I am not working with are then grouped by section such as border and stored in the project bag. So, I am dealing with fewer bags to deal with at any point in time.
When I am finished with the project, I’ll organize the bags by color. I use Notes to list the projects that I am working on as well as the ones I have purchased. I’ve included a weblink to the project. On another worksheet, I am listing the floss description and project (location). Eventually, I get the collection of floss like Judy.
cindy says
are they reusable? when you have finished a project, can you take then apart and put another picture in? if not, seems like they would get expensive if you are going to make one to go with all of the charts you have/ are working on at one time.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
They really aren’t re-usable unless I put something more generic . . like a cardinal and then I can use it for several cardinal projects or a red house for projects that have a red house. The ones I’m using cost about 40 cents for the cabochon and the tray so they aren’t expensive to make.
Mary Sue Wiggins says
When projecta are finished you could turn the cabochons into necklaces or keychains, glue a rare earth magnet to the back and it’s a needle minder.
justquiltin says
Cute bling you are making! Mine are boring – just blank floss tag that I write the chart name, fabric I used on and attach to my floss ring. I did recently come across a mystery floss ring (from before I started tagging them) and had to go thru all the bags to see if it was for a WIP or if I had finished what it went with. And of course it was the last project bag I looked in that it went with but at least mystery solved.