Late one night, you have settled into your Guild’s library, working on your stitching studies. You stretch and smile, happy with the work that you had managed to get done. Realizing how late it has gotten, you start to pack away your things to retire for the evening. ‘Hey,’ you hear someone call from across the library. You look over and find one of your fellow guild mates smiling at you. ‘Do you happen to have some 550?’ they ask, holding up an empty bobbin. ‘I just ran out and I’m just about done with this piece.’ ‘Of course,’ you say, always willing to help a friend. ‘I’ll be right back.’ With your things, you return to your room.
You set aside your things before starting through your stash to find the thread. You are surprised to find three bobbins full of 550. You wonder how you ended up with so many before shrugging it off and bringing the thread to your thankful Guild mate. A few days pass and you return to your stitching space with some beads that’ll add the most perfect finishing touch to the project you have been working on. You gather together your things to start beading...and find the exact same beads already in your collection. You sigh in frustration.
Setting aside your project, you start going through your stash. Two bobbins of 996 and two extra skeins. No bobbins for your 3847, but three skeins found tucked away. And how in the world did you end up with so much 606?? ‘I guess it’s really time to take inventory of everything,’ you say to yourself, then set to work.
Your Quest
This side quest is a little more work than usual. But you'll get through it! Most people don't like taking inventory. We understand.
But it DOES help avoid buying duplicates or extra fabric. It can also give you an idea of what projects you have in progress, what you have queued up to start next, and so forth.
Basically, just find some free time to inventory part of your stash.
You have plenty of options. Already have a thread inventory? Don't have time for that right now? Tackle one of the other stash sections!
Options:
- Go through and make a list of all the thread you have.
- Take photos and note colors/brand/sizes of all your fabric.
- Make a list of your WIPs/UFOs!
- Make a list of patterns you have purchased (or got for free) that you eventually want to stitch.(Maybe don’t look at your wishlist though, that’s a deep dark rabbit hole.)
- Inventory your bead collection.
- Whatever else you feel you need a list of.
Your inventory could take many forms:
- Use a google spreadsheet.
- Download an app like StashCache.
- Make a trello board.
- Use a website like Stitchingly.
- An actual, physical, notebook!
- Anything else, really. Share your organization ideas as well to help others decide!
Resources
Inventory Tracking: Cross Stitch Patterns, WIPs, and Materials - Blog by Sirithre outlining her Inventory recommendations, as well as links to other inventory resources she's found.
Turn In
All done? Reply here with a trello/spreadsheet link (or just a screenshot), a photo of your notebook, or however you tracked your inventory.
If you did this quest back in May 2020 on the discord feel free to re-submit what you did then and tell is how it held up, or inventory a different part of your stash, or both!
Reward Once you've turned in your project, please wait patiently. A council member will assign you the appropriate item soon. :)