The Remains of a Cross-stitch Project

Happy dance! That's what we stitchers usually say when we've completed a project. It could mean anything from "Thank God this BAP (big-ass project) for my (insert relative or friend's name here) is finally done!" to "Yippee, It's done. Doesn't it look beautiful. I really enjoyed working on this one" to everything in between.

But once the celebrating is done and fellow stitchers or family members have ohhed and ahhed over your work, what happens to the leftover skeins of partially used floss and any beads or embellishments that were required?

I finished six cross-stitch projects in 2008. The most recent one was the May Santa from The Artists Collection Heartstrings Kringle Kalendar. This piece has some of my favorite elements -- Santa, bees/beehive and a checked border. I added the bees, which gives the piece a bit more whimsy.



Now for the leftovers from these projects. For the most part, they're still in the corresponding project bag, which is usually a plastic shopping or Ziploc bag. These bags sit with WIPs and UFOs either in the space between my sofa and bookcase or in a project basket in the living room. Recently, I tried to consolidate the unused skeins of DMC in one bag. (I was looking for DMC 3774 for May Santa.) Any leftover Weeks or Sampler Threads stayed in their bags. Clearly, some organization is needed. It's something I always plan to get around to, but new projects beckon and I'd rather be stitching..

Tell me what you do with the remains of your projects.