Glow-in-the-dark cross-stitch initials!

Have you had the pleasure of stitching with DMC's Light Effects Glow-in-the-Dark embroidery floss yet? I absolutely love this stuff and I have been incorporating it into my recent projects whenever I can. 

I shot the photo above with a super-long exposure after placing the floss under a light for a couple of minutes. Isn't it wild? But it's a simple white in normal light:

I think it was the Creatures of Light special exhibit that recently closed at the American Museum of Natural History that sparked my interest in things that glow. 

This fascinating show explored bioluminesence, the phenomena in which living things such as fireflies actually generate their own light.

We paid a visit to this exhibit in the fall with our dear friends G and J, so when I started thinking about making a little holiday gift for them, I decided to create something that might evoke the glowy magic of the Creatures of Light show.

With a graphic designer for a husband, it's no surprise that I went with something typographic, and cross-stitched their initials:

And here they are in their full bioluminescence:

I'm happy to report that this special embroidery floss is actually a true pleasure to stitch with. Unlike most of its sibling flosses in the sparkly category, which cause howls of frustration in embroiderers across the land as they knot and tangle at will, this stuff just glides through as you stitch.

But it can be hard to find! I went to several local craft shops and was surprised that nobody carried it. I finally hooked myself up at the Thread and Links Etsy shop, which carries a range of lovely needlework supplies. Treat yourself to a skein or two; I'd love to see what you stitch with it!

Floss porn

Last weekend when we stopped by Steven's parents' place, in addition to giving me some fabulous embroidery scissors, Lisa hooked me up with a whole bunch of pretty embroidery floss, too. Here's the lot of it:

There's a lot of wool floss there, which I'm excited about because I have never stitched with wool floss before. I'm really loving this group of green cotton skeins, too:

I can't wait to figure what to make with all of these!

Floss run

I was able to make a quick run for embroidery supplies over the long weekend. I tried out a new craft store -- which shall remain nameless, because I thought it was rubbish and I don't want to be nasty, or you know, get sued -- and I picked up a few floss colors that I needed to replenish:

I really enjoyed experimenting with some twisty floss at the embroidery class I took on Saturday, so I grabbed some bold red and a rich dark brown to play with:

I'm really psyched to try out my new disappearing ink pen.

I can sketch an embroidery design on fabric and it will either disappear all on its own in 48-72 hours (if I use the purple ink), or I can erase it with water (the blue ink). You didn't think I'd just start doing willy-nilly free-hand stitching without some kind of safety net, did you?

A bit of a floss fanatic

We moved last year, and after thirteen years of kicking around in teensy Manhattan apartments, it's pretty marvelous to finally have enough room for all our stuff. For so long, I only hauled my craft projects out at the holidays because I couldn't stand to have them strewn about my living space the rest of the time.

The only craft supplies that I've always managed to keep in really good order are my cross-stitch floss caddies. I've got two of them. One is pretty full:

And the other one is still growing, with some metallic threads and buttons thrown in for special projects:

I've got them organized according to their DMC floss numbers, so it's super-easy to figure out which colors I have on hand and which ones I need to pick up when I start a new project. And since I'm doing my own designs these days, I can easily browse my stash when I'm brainstorming to see what will work for what I have in mind. Whenever I buy a new color, I wind it on a bobbin and add it to the caddy where it belongs.

That reminds me... I'm in the market for a rich dark brown floss... any suggestions?