Earlier this summer, I wanted to shape up the situation on Joyful World. The extra fabric was driving me nuts and I was nervous about how it could get damaged or stained just all hanging out. And also as I re-position the project, I don’t want the q snap to press on the stitches. So. I finally cut some fleece to protect the stitching and…made myself a grime guard for this q snap!

First of all, by adding the fleece, I can now keep my project super tight in the q snap. Yay! This is a big improvement! Also, my stitches are not getting as squashed and the edges of the snaps are not threatening to poke holes in the linen.

Next, making the grime guard was so simple and took so little time I don’t know WHY I didn’t do it before, and you can be sure I will soon make covers for all my projects until I have one for each that I keep in the snaps for a while. I used the directions here at Cross Stitch Forum. These are very good directions with nice pictures. I had no trouble at all figuring it out. And, it only took me about 1/2 an hour! I am totally delighted with the product for the amount of time and effort involved.

For my next one I do plan to make a few adjustments. I think I’ll add 2 inches, not 1, to the circumference on the frame because it seems either my measuring or sewing is off, or I have too much material to stuff in there-basically I’d like the guard to be a little less tight. Likewise, I will make sure the width of the fabric is at least 6 inches, maybe even a bit more, 6 1/2. I don’t mind having a smaller window but I DO want all my extra linen to get tucked up in the guard.

My next improvement will be making some project envelopes but that will have to wait until I have a much bigger block of time!

PS: I decided to do August after all. That will give me the most flexibility in choosing subsequent months when I get behind again! I’m all ready to go!