Cross My Heart :)

 By now I guess its safe to say that cross stitching has a special place in my heart. I pretty much stitch every day. It's not only that I enjoy cross stitching so much, but I love the way it looks when it's finished. I have quite a few framed pieces, some done by my mom (she's an amazing stitcher) and more recently, those that I have completed. With all this stitching there are a few items that I couldn't do without. At the top of that list is my StitchEZ frame! This frame holds the fabric tight and because I hold it in place under one leg, my hands are free and I don't get that nagging pain in the neck from holding a hoop frame. Also hoops stretch your fabric out. I also love that I can spin it to get to the backside of the fabric to make finishing my stitches neatly a lot easier. I also love the 

Floss Away bag system for storing and organizing my floss. There are no bobbins to wind. You just write the floss number on the zip lock bag, put the floss inside and attach it to the metal ring and you're set. I have 3 large rings divided numerically and when I'm working on a new project, I just pull the bags I need for that pattern and attach them to a smaller ring and I'm ready to go! Another tip I have learned by experience is to color copy whatever pattern I am working on. That way I can mark it up, wrinkle it, spill coffee on it (yes...I've done that) or whatever and then throw it away when I'm done with no guilt that I destroyed the original. I use a metal backboard with magnets to mark my place.

And last but definately not least is my fabulous OttLite! This lamp allows me to see true colors as if I were in bright sunlight. They come in so many different styles and they are amazing! There are so many times that you are working on a project and several colors look almost the same. But with the OttLite, you can truely see the difference. And with my 49 year old eyeballs I can use all the help I can get :)