Thursday, January 17, 2008

A-Ha!

Once upon a time - January 4 - I had a birthday! My darling DH came home from work bearing the most wonderful gift...this Petite Cropper Tote he got from Michaels while these babies were half price. His intention was for me to fill it with my scrapbook/card making supplies. Well I got to looking at it and this is what I came up with...
This is the small front pocket opens completely flat, revealing a mesh expandable pouch (I have my needles in there) along with 2 flat pockets for slimmer profiled items. You'll notice a small office binder clip...I use these all the time - to hold a magazine page open or to hold a scrap of coloured paper on my chart so I know where I left off. I'll sometimes make a mark with todays date and a small arrow to the next planned stitch. It's cheap and it works for me!
There's enough room in this pocket form my stitching glass, gloves for when my carpal tunnel is especially bad and the box I use to hold those little bits of floss. I keep those until my project is complete...you never know when you'll see 1 stitch not done!
This is looking directly into the main space...it's just the right size for 6 DMC floss boxes! A-HA! I just need to label them on the end so I know what I'm looking at. I have 5 filled with floss and the other can be my next WIP! The blue things are a hoop I sometimes use, although I prefer to work in hand on the small stuff and on a scroll frame for the larger ones. There is also a document holder, so when I work at a table, it holds my chart.
Behind the small pouch is this hugs drop down area. It'll hold my charts nice and flat as well as my Moonlit Cabin (blocked and ready for a frame in a 'special to me pillowcase' staying nice and clean). There's room I could put more but...why? I can only work so fast!
This is that pocket half zipped up.
Here you can see that there is plenty of room on top of the floss boxes the store a rolled up project - keep the wrinkles out for nicer stitching!
It just gets better...this has a telescoping handle for easy moving...2 back wheels
and side fabric handles for lifting as well as a slim pouch on each side for those last minute things you forgot to tuck inside! If you look closely, you'll see my faithful companion, Cody a 16 yr old English Springer spaniel. Arthritis is setting in so we have a comfy bed on each level of the house and she moves as I move, she is my protector, best furry friend and watchdog.

I especially like this tote because I stitch around the best light...sometimes in the front room by the window, on the deck in the summer, downstairs in the computer room if I'm supervising a grandchild on the computer...I do have my table daylight lamp there, so it's still a good spot to stitch. I think I would even have room in the camper for this baby!

I may empty it out sometime and try it with my stamping supplies and paper...or I may just get another one! I hope this gives you some ideas to think outside the 'tote'! Thanks Joe for being my enabler!

6 comments:

Sue said...

Nice birthday gifties. Happy Belated Birthday ;)

Pumpkin said...

I've been eyeing those! LOL! That is one awesome organizer and you did such a great job fitting everything in :o) I think one would be great to take to retreat with me. You have me sold!

Felicity said...

Amen to Joe! LOL

Jennifer said...

That is an AWESOME idea - so super handy to have your stuff safely stashed in one place, and on wheels too!!

And a happy birthday to you, belated though it may be.

Mia said...

Ohhhhhhh I like that Berta. What a great tote. I have seen them (or something similar) in our AC Moore and my first thoughts are always cross stitch. It really holds lots of stuff in there. Enjoy using it.

Wendy said...

Great pictures ~ you sound thrilled with your new bag. And how great that you can cart it about from place to place as you stitch and have everything you need. Although I have to admit that sometimes looking for different things may be the only exercise I get!