It's All About Cross Stitch

It's 2012! Time for My 2012 Crafty Goals!!!

2012-01-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

Happy 2012 Everybody!!!

It's a new year, so it's time for 2012 Stitching/Sewing/Crocheting GOALS!!!

Let's start with the shortest list to the longest ...

2012 Crocheting Goals

1 ~ Finish crocheting my daughter's afghan
2 ~ Finish the scarf that I started for my daughter
3 ~ Make a scarf for my son (if he wants one)

2012 Sewing Goals

1 ~ Finish blanket for my father in law
2 ~ Make apron for father in law
3 ~ Finish aprons for stitching friend's kids
4 ~ Make stockings for sister & niece
5 ~ Finish blankets for two cousins
6 ~ Work on inventory of aprons and stockings

And now for the LONG list ...

2012 Stitching Goals

1 ~ Finish Henry for stitching friend
2 ~ Finish birth announcement piece
3 ~ Get back to & finish Red Rose that is artwork by my brother
4 ~ Finish Elemental Cosmos
5 ~ Stitch 3 versions of "Rules for Life" pattern
6 ~ Make some good progress on HAED Wicca
7 ~ Make some good progress on HAED Pale Rose
8 ~ Make some good progress on America the Beautiful
9 ~ Make some good progress on Elemental Masks (& maybe finish?)
10 ~ Finish the kids trick or treat bags

So there are my Crafty Goals for 2012. I would like to get at least one or two pieces stitched in time for the county fair in April, so we shall see! :)

Happy New Year!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2011-12-31T19:22:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year to All of My Stitching Friends and Blog Followers!!!

Well, 2012 is just a few hours away. I hope you all have a very fun happy and healthy and safe New Year!!! And that 2012 brings you nothing but the very best of everything!!!

Any special plans tonight? None for me. My husband has been in the hospital since Monday night and they haven't said when they'll discharge him yet. My sister is working (she has to close) which sux, and brother in law has to work very early in the morning so he'll be going to bed soon. So the kids and I will just be hanging out at home, maybe do a few sparklers or something. And my son has to go to school on Monday, so I'm trying to get him back into going to bed at his normal time. My daughter doesn't go back to school until Tuesday and she always goes to bed early anyway.

Again, I wish you all a very Happy 2012!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

2011-12-04T04:50:00.001-07:00

Hello to all of my friends and stitching buddies!!!

Here we are nearing the end of yet another year! It's so hard to believe that there are only 27 days left of 2011. How has your year been going? I am still in that unproductive slump that I have been in for pretty much most of the year. No stitching or sewing going on. It's actually making me rather sad. It's not because I don't want to stitch or sew or do anything crafty and creative. I really do. But I just can't being myself to do it. There are just so many other things that are needing to be done first and are more important, I suppose. I honestly think that since I moved to Arizona in 1999, this has been the least productive year that I've had. And it is SOOOOOO time to change that! :)

So I wanted to let you know that yes, I am still here and will be posting more. In fact, before the end of 2011, I am going to post a "Creative Goals for 2012" post where I'll include goals for my cross stitching, my sewing, plus my other crafting and creative things that I would like to work on and make progress, and hopefully finish, in the coming year.

If I don't get back on here before Xmas, I want to wish you all a very Happy Holidays! I hope your every wish comes true!!! :)

Until Next Time,

♥ Margie ♥

Mi Vida Loca ...

2011-09-18T11:45:00.000-07:00

How does time always seem to go by faster and faster and before we know it days turn into weeks and we've barely blinked an eye?! Growing up we wish for time to go faster so that a weekend will come faster, or a holiday, or special occasion, or something to that extent. And in so wishing so, we set our lives on fast forward and once that begins it never goes back, it only goes faster. It would be nice that my kids didn't grow up too fast. I treasure every single day with them bcuz I know that before I know it they will be grown.

Anywho, so it seems I haven't posted to my blog since August 10th. I have stitched a little bit, but not really, in my opinion, enough to post about. I have, however, updated the pattern for the birth announcement since my friends have had their baby girl on September 8th!!! :~) She is SO adorable!!! I will show you the updated pattern. Within the next couple days I am going to post a picture of one little tiny piece that I stitched for them of two pink little footprints. I just have to iron, trim & put it together into the little white oval frame and I plan on adding some pink ribbon in a bow.

So for now, all I have to show you is the updated pattern. I think now it looks more balanced. Also remember, that the baby's name and the names of the parents will be backstitched with two strands of floss and the rest of the backstitching is using one strand.

So what do you think? I wish there was a way to show the difference of how the names will look with the different backstitching. But with the last progress update photo in the previous post, you should be able to see how that looks.

Well that's all for now. Happy Stitching everyone!

Until Next Time,

♥ Margie ♥

Getting a Little Further Along ...

2011-08-10T14:03:00.001-07:00

Hi there friends, family & stitching peeps ~

So I think I have finally gotten all of the school supplies needed for the kids. We ended up having to order the folders from Amazon that my son needs. They will be here Friday, but at least he has the one in the mean time. I took my son to Payless to get his shoes. I swear he's pickier than a teenager! But we did manage to agree on a couple pairs of shoes. Today we're just hanging out at home. After such a busy couple of weeks getting things ready and going here and there for all the different supplies, I thought it would be best to have a relaxing day at home before my son starts school tomorrow and my daughter starts on Monday. My son has been getting things together for his lunch and such already. It's way too cute. He is really excited about school and I'm very happy about that.

Ok, so I made a little bit of progress on the surprise gift last night after the kids went to bed. I think it's looking pretty good!!! :~D

Take a L@@K ...

So what do you think? How does the backstitching between the name and the Born in look? The name stands out a little more doesn't it? Next I'll either stitch the baby's name, since that's the only baby info I can really add at this point. Or I'll start on the Packers helmet on the left side of the pattern. Haven't decided which yet. So I'll post another update really soon! :~)

Happy Stitching!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Slow Down Time ... Is there an app for that?!

2011-08-09T10:54:00.000-07:00

Hello Family, Friends and Stitching Buddies! :~)

I need an app to slow down time. Anyone know where I can find that? Haven't been able to locate it on the iTunes app store yet. And boy oh boy, I can really use that one ... like right now!

Here it is August 9th already. In just two days, my son (my baby boy) is starting kindergarten. I'm excited for him, but he's my baby!!! These last four years of being a stay at home mom have been awesome. And I have loved being home with the kids. I just never expected those years to go by so quickly. My beautiful teenage daughter is starting 10th grade this year. She is very excited now that it's getting closer. I sometimes wonder if time seems to go by as fast for my kids as it does for me.

So with all the preparations for the kids starting school, I haven't gotten in much stitching time. But I have made some progress on the surprise gift piece that I've been working on. All of the backstitching on the Cowboys helmet is finished. :~)

Take a L@@K ...

With the backstitching, I stitched the name with 2 strands and the backstitching in the helmet with 1 strand. I don't know if they look any different here in the photo. I was hoping that by using 2 strands for the names, that it would make them stand out a bit. What do you think? Can you tell the difference in the number of strands in the helmet backstitching versus the name?

Well, more errands to run and school supplies and clothes to buy. Ugh, I think next to Xmas and birthday months, back to school shopping costs next to a fortune! My son has to wear uniform type clothes and no open toe shoes. So his boy sandals, or chanklas as we call them, are out. So that means a couple of new pairs of shoes for him. Thank goodness for Payless BOGO! My daughter gets to wear pretty much what she wants to school, within our rules of dress code of course lol. And let me just say, the cost of backpacks alone are a small fortune at $20 each! And the supplies list for kindergarten is HUGE! And who would have thought it would be so hard to find Mead Trapper Keeper portfolios. I have been to 4 different stores in town looking for these folders. And the stores that did carry them only had one in stock. And of course I need to buy two.

Anywho, that's enough rambling for this post. I'm off to (hopefully) finish getting what's needed for school!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Wow! It's already August!!!

2011-08-05T14:47:00.001-07:00

Hello Family, Friends and Stitching Buddies!

August is upon us already! So you know what that means ... 4 months until Xmas!!! Holiday gifts that we'll be making should be being started soon. Well unless you're like some of my stitching friends that stitch faster than lightening lol. As for me, well of course I have things I'd like to get made to give as gifts for the holidays. But before I can get started on those, I have a couple of pieces that I MUST get finished before or by the end of the month, the surprise gift that you've been seeing me working on and Henry. After those then I'll figure out what gifts I can work on.

As for the surprise gift, it's coming along great I think. I have made some good progress on it and finished all the cross stitching on the Cowboys helmet and now working on the backstitching. Here are a few update photos ...

As I said, I'm working on the backstitching of this helmet now, although I haven't been able to work on it in a couple of days. I really love stitching this piece. I'm super excited about it. I hope my friends that I'm stitching it for like it. Obviously they won't even see it until after the baby is born since I can't add the actual birth-date and weight and length until after she is born. I've been teasing and torturing my friend about her surprise gift lol. It's making her crazy but excited too lol. I haven't told her anything about it, not even that I'm stitching the gift. Although I'm sure she knows that part. I told her I'm making it, so that could mean I'm either stitching or sewing it. But really sewing doesn't take near as long to do in most cases.

So what do you think of the piece so far? The reason for the color differences in the photos is bcuz the middle one I used the scanner to take the picture, and the other two I used my cell phone camera. Maybe next time I'll use my regular camera and see how it comes out.

Well that's all for now! Happy Stitching Everyone!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

A Great Place for Bloggers Everywhere!!!

2011-07-26T18:48:00.000-07:00

Hello Family, Friends, Stitching Buddies and Fellow Bloggers!

Have any of you ever heard of The Blog Guidebook? I'm sure there are some of you that have. Whether you are new to blogging or have been blogging for a while, you may have questions of need help with your blog, and The Blog Guidebook is where you can find it! Another really great thing about it is this is a site where you can find blogs to read about just about anything. There are listings to search for blogs of topics that you are interested in ... model planes/cars, cooking, being a mom, being a dad, etc. Whatever people blog about! :~) Lindsay and Sarah have created a wonderful resource for bloggers everywhere and of every topic! I, myself, and really looking forward to being a part of it! :~) So, whether you blog, or just like to read blogs, you will definitely want to check out The Blog Guidebook!!!

Until Next Time,

♥ Margie ♥

Progress is Being Made :-)

2011-07-25T11:42:00.000-07:00

Hello Family, Friends & Stitching Buddies!

I hope you are all doing well. We are doing great. Although summer is it still at it's height of temperatures and now humidity due to the monsoon season, summer vacation is nearing the end for my kids. My daughter will be starting 10th grade in just 3 weeks and turning 15 in just over a month. My son will be starting kindergarten in 2 1/2 weeks. They are both very excited to be going to school. I am looking forward to having some time for myself and hopefully getting more accomplished, both around the house and with stitching and sewing. But one thing for sure is that it's definitely going to be weird at first when both my kids are in school.

So on to my stitching progress so far on the birth announcement for my friends that are having a baby girl. The due date is actually August 30th. I've been working on the piece as often as I can and loving every second of it. Last night the only reason I even put it down was bcuz one strand of the two strands of my floss broke and after being up for around 22 hrs, I just decided it was better to go to bed and then fix it today. Had that not happened I'm sure I would have stayed up for at least another couple hours. I was in super stitching mode and my bug was on fire! Looking forward to that same bug showing it's face again today. :~)

So here are a couple of progress update photos. The second one is where I was before I started stitching last night. I'll get another photo posted later. I thought with all the pink that I would get tired of stitching the same color for so long, but I'm still very excited and enthusiastic about this piece and the whole design of it. And of course I especially can't wait to hear how my friends like it since I won't be there when they get to see it. I'll be mailing it to them along with lots of other baby goodies. :~)

I have just a little while before I have to go and run a few errands and will be away from home for a few hours. Of course I'll take my stitching just in case I'm able to get a few stitches in here and there. But other than that I'll be stitching like crazy after I get home. So what do you all think? It's starting to to take shape, right? Can you see the start of the Dallas Cowboys helmet? The difference in the colors of each picture is the first one I used my scanner and the second picture I used my cell phone camera to take the picture. Surprisingly, my cell phone camera took a much truer color photo than my scanner did. The scanner is a new scanner that we just recently got bcuz our other was was so old (11 yrs old) and it would only work on my husband's windows XP netbook and not on any of the other computers in the house that all have Windows 7. It's still a great scanner and works great. Just not with my laptop lol.

Well, I'm off for now. Going to get that snafu out so that I can get back to stitching like a mad woman lol.

Happy Stitching!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

My Pattern Creation!

2011-07-11T12:01:00.000-07:00

Hi there Stitchy Friends!

So one of my best friends and her husband are having a baby girl. She is due early September and we are all very excited. They have been trying to get pregnant for a long time. And I knew from the time she told me she was pregnant that she would be having a baby girl. So I had been looking at birth announcements on all kinds of sites, and looking thru my pattern books, etc. And of course there were lots of really cute ones. But none of them seemed to fit just right. My friends and I are huge football fans. We always anxiously await the football season all spring and summer long. We also are all fans of different teams, which always makes it interesting. So, Sara is a Dallas Cowboys fan. Spencer is a Green Bay Packers fan. And me, well I am a die hard tried & true Chicago Bears fan! The funny thing is that my friends live in one of the suburb towns of Chicago. And if any of you know football at all, you know the HUGE rivalry between the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers. So originally, I was going to buy the baby a Chicago Bears onesie or something. But then Sara said Spencer would only send it back to me, which was a very good point. It would be too easy for him to return to sender. So that idea was out. Well, I have these patterns of helmets for most of the football teams. And I had planned on stitching a Dallas Cowboys one for Sara and then the Green Bay Packers one for Spencer. And I was still trying to decide on just the right birth announcement for the baby. Then one afternoon the perfect idea hit me. I decided to take both helmet patterns, make them different shades of pink and arrange them facing each other and in the middle put all of the baby's birth info! AND as an extra touch, since the baby will be born in the suburbs of Chicago, I'd add the Bears 'C' and put "Born in"! As soon as this idea came to me, I got super excited about it. It's a secret from them, obviously. And honestly, I think they are going to love it, even with the 'C' on it. So it took some time and work, but here is the pattern that I created! Keep in mind, that the details of the birth of course are not accurate bcuz Baby Audrey hasn't been born yet, but I had to put something in order to get the spacing right.

Now, I know this is kind of small to see, but if you're on my friends list on Facebook, you can see it larger here. For the backstitching, I will use 2 strands of floss for all the names and then 1 strand for everything else in order to make the names pop a lil bit. So what do you think of it? I welcome all feedback and look forward to hearing any suggestions or ideas you have. I had so much fun putting this pattern together and can't wait to stitch it and then of course send it to my friends and hear how they like it. :~)

That's all for now! Happy Stitching Everyone!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Has It Been Another Year Already?!

2011-05-17T19:31:00.000-07:00

Hi there Friends, Stitching Buddies & Blogging Followers!!!

WOW! I can't believe it's been another year already since I first began my stitching blog! I hadn't even realized that today was my blogoversary until one of you had sent me blogoversary wishes! Thank you for that! :~)

So It's All About Cross Stitch has been around now for three years. I really love my blog and being able to share my stitching with all of you. I love the support I get and encouragement to keep going on the pieces I'm working on. The feedback you give me on finished or pieces I need help on is the best! :~) I don't know what I'd do without you! I do know that I wish I had more posts than I do, however maybe between now and next year's blogoversary I'll have more posts more often. :~) I do think the longer I have my blog the more posts I seem to be making. I have seen that some blog authors have giveaways now and then. Hopefully, I'll get to where I'm doing that as well lol. I had thought about doing that this year for my blogoversary but as I said the date snuck up on me. So I'm marking it in my calendar and setting up a reminder so that I can definitely set up a giveaway in time for next year's blogoversary. :~)

So I thank you all for helping make my blog what it is today. And here's to it only getting better!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

An Update on Henry

2011-05-14T20:01:00.001-07:00

Hi there Stitching Friends!

So I've been working on & off on Henry and I have an update to post. I have been having fun with it! I'm really looking forward to getting this piece finished. The backstitching, when I get it finished is really going to make the piece pop I think. Plus when I add the beads to the center of the flowers and the eyes of the bird and Henry.

So here he is so far ...

So what do you think? The blue half stitches are supposed to be going the opposite direction. But I didn't realize that until after I had already started stitching them. I had gotten about half of them done on the right side and then I looked at what the finished pattern is supposed to look like in the picture and that's when I saw it. I asked the opinion of several of my stitching friends on Facebook what they thought I should do, and based on that I left the stitches and just kept going, rather than take them out and start the half stitches over.

So that's where I'm at!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Time to Get Back to Henry!

2011-05-04T23:28:00.000-07:00

Hi there Friends!

Yes, believe it or not, this is my third post TODAY! I am so happy to report that my stitching bug is BACK and in full force!!! So now that my bug has come out of hiding and back with a vengeance, I have a plan to get some things done that should have been done long ago.

First and foremost, ya'll remember Henry, right? If you don't remember Henry the Snowman, well here is a picture of what he will look like all finished ...

Poor Henry has been in the works for way too long (about a year and a half) and it's way past time to get him finished. So I am taking full advantage of how strong my stitching bug is right now to get this piece finally finished and back to it's owner. I know she will be so happy to finally get it back and see it. :~) She is an amazing person and friend and has been so patient during everything that has kept me from finishing Henry up until now. I just hope she loves it.

So the last updated picture that I posted of Henry was this one ...

There is a bit more that has been done since this photo. But I want to get a lil bit more done before I post a new update photo.

So this will be the last post for today and I'll post again really soon with a new and updated photo of Henry the Snowman!!! :~)

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

First Non-ATC Finish of 2011

2011-05-04T04:53:00.000-07:00

Hi there Friends!!!

Well, as you can see, stitching beat out sleeping lol!!! I just couldn't resist finishing this cute lil frog piece when I was so close to getting it all done. :~) So now all I have left is washing & ironing the piece, then put it back inside the hoop and trim off the excess aida and he's COMPLETELY FINISHED! :~)

I can't wait to get this sent off to my niece and hear if she likes it. So here he is ...

It was kind of weird stitching the 2011. I have been trying to come up with some cute way to do my signature on my finished pieces, but so far haven't found the right way to do it that I really like.

Well, that's all for now bcuz now I really am off to get some sleep lol! Thank you so much for following!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Update on First One to Smile

2011-05-04T02:51:00.000-07:00

Hi Stitching Friends!

How are you all doing? I am doing pretty well! :~) I got a little bit of stitching in on Thursday and Friday nights after running around getting everything together for my son's birthday party. I stitched the rest of the X's on the frog. Then Saturday was the party and by the time we got home, I was WIPED OUT! So Sunday and Monday I didn't get any stitching done, but tonight I sat down and did all the backstitching on the frog. Now all I have left is the lettering and he'll be all done! :~) I think he's turning out really cute and I just hope my niece likes it and it makes her smile every time she looks at it. :~)

So here is what he looked like before I did any backstitching ...

And here is what he looks like right now, with all the backstitching done on the frog.

When I look at this frog, he looks to me like he's being mischievous or up to something and it makes me laugh. :~)

So what do you think so far? It's nearly 3am and even though I really think I should be heading off to bed, I also want so much to get this lil guy finished. So I'm torn between my comfy bed and catching some good Zzzzz's and getting some good stitching and quiet time in. Do any of you ever have that problem?

Well, I'm off to decide ... stitching or sleep ...

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

A New Quick to Stitch Project for My Niece ...

2011-04-27T08:54:00.000-07:00

Hi there Stitching Friends!

I hope you are all doing great! I seem to have found my bug again, forced that little bugger out of hiding I did! LOL! I found the cutest little frog pattern that I'm stitching for my niece. Her favorite color is green and she likes frogs and with all that she has been thru I am really hoping that this helps to bring a smile to her face every time she looks at it. It's so cute! It's called "First One to Smile".

Here is what it will look like all finished ...

And this is where I am at so far on it ...

I just started the piece a couple of days ago, and I think I should have it finished by the weekend! :~) I really hope my niece likes it.

Well back to stitching! Happy Stitching Everyone!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Just a Little Finish ...

2011-04-18T13:43:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends ~

I forgot to post this before but wanted to share with you my first finish of the year. It's just a small ATC, but at least it's something. I think it turned out pretty cute and I hope the recipient likes it. The theme was Irish for March.

So what do you think? Think she'll like it? The backstitching of the letters is in DMC Light Effects to give it a little bit of flair.

So that's it for now.

Happy Stitching, my friends!

Until Next Time,

♥ Margie ♥

All Mistake Stitches Removed ...

2011-04-05T02:57:00.001-07:00

Hi again ...

Ok, it took two hours, but I removed all the mistake stitches on my piece for the fair. My goal for Monday was to finish all of the cross stitches of the outer boxes, but with the mistakes issue, that's definitely put me behind. I should be sleeping right now but I only have 3-4 days to get this piece completely finished and ready to drop off at the fairgrounds.

So here is where I am now as I'm about to re-stitch a bunch ...

Obviously, you can still see where the stitches were, but soon that will be all different. Hopefully by morning (it's 2:45am here) I'll be back where I was before I had to take all those stitches out lol.

So here we go!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

An Update on Today is Not Your Day ...

2011-04-04T23:08:00.000-07:00

Hello Again Everyone ~

I wanted to post a picture of the progress that I made so far since last night. I actually made some great progress I think with nearly all of the actual cross stitching done. But then I noticed something ... I noticed the mistake that I made and how now I have to take out nearly all of the stitches in the bottom left corner. I'm so frustrated about it, but have to push forward if I want to get this done in time to enter into the fair.

So here's where I'm at ...

If you look closely, you can see where along the frame around the words along the bottom, it's not going to line up like it's supposed to. It took a little while to figure out where the mistake was that I made. In fact, my husband helped me look at it to figure it out. And the red box on the left side just above the blue box, I stitched one square too low. I left one extra space between the red and pink boxes.

So I'm off to take out some stitches and will post another update picture tomorrow night.

Happy Stitching!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Change in Plans ...

2011-04-03T23:59:00.000-07:00

Hello Stitching Friends ~

So the plan for finishing Elemental Cosmos in time to enter it into the county fair didn't work out. When I posted last time on March 21st, I was very optimistic and excited about working on that piece in time for the fair. About a day or two after that post, I asked my husband what he thought and if he thought I could get it done in time. He said he didn't think it could be done. And in his defense, as disappointed as I was with what he said, he wasn't trying to deflate my enthusiasm, but was being realistic about the time frame left until it had to be turned in. I did work on the piece for a couple of days, and friends, I'm here to tell you that stitching white on white is hard enough, but stitching black on black evenweave is INTENSE!!! However, I have to admit it does look really good. After a couple of days I began to lost my enthusiasm and kept thinking about what my husband said. So back to the back burner Elemental Cosmos has gone. And then a few days ago, I remembered a piece that I had started for my mom. I keep this piece in a ziploc back in my purse so that I always have something to stitch for like at the doctor's office or any place where I have to sit & wait. The piece is probably about halfway finished and it's only a 7"x5" piece. It's a simple design and on 14ct white aida, so I think to myself "I can do this!" It's not a big or fancy piece by any means. But at least it's something. And since the piece is for my mom, I know she will be happy with no matter how it does at the fair. Sometimes simple is best right?

So here is what the piece will look like when it's finished ...

And here is where I'm at with the piece right now ...

The reason that I've already stitched the backstitching in the middle is bcuz that was the easiest way for me to find the center of the design on the fabric. So just a few more two-toned "squares" and then back stitching and I'm done! I am giving this to my mom to hang in her office at work. I think it's so perfect for her office and I know she'll get such a kick out of it. :~)

So it's Sunday night ... entries must be turned in either Friday between 3-8pm or Saturday between 10am-3pm. Of course the ideal goal would be to have it finished and turned in on Friday. So ... 5 or 6 days ... do ya'll think I can do it? Please send support! I can definitely use it.

Happy Stitching, my friends! I'm off to stitch my tush off lol!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Countdown to the County Fair!

2011-03-21T15:50:00.000-07:00

Hello my fellow stitchers & friends!

So yes the county fair is coming to town! And it's just around the corner (yikes)! Time goes by too fast and here it is now just 18 days until entries must be turned in (gulp). I don't know if I'll get anything done in time, but I've decided to give it a shot. Along with entering something into the fair, I can also purchase 2 tickets that will give me free parking and entry all 11 days into the fair for only $20! That's a great deal.

So, what piece am I going to scramble to get finished in time? Well, I decided working on one of my WIP/UFO's would be best. Do you remember Elemental Cosmos? Here is a picture of what it will (mostly) look like finished as well as where I was when I picked it back up again just a couple days ago ...

So what's left is filling in all the sections within the star and circle. Where the stars are I'm planning on adding some iridescent beads to give that little something extra. The challenge with this piece is stitching on the black evenweave fabric. And in some places it's black floss ... so stitching black on black is a HUGE challenge. But I have to admit I really like how it looks. :~) So I'm starting with the bottom section and will work my way around. Do you all think I can get it finished in time? I sure hope I can. Just 18 days (maybe 19) to get it completely finished, washed, ironed and framed. The entire design is 135 stitches wide by 146 stitches high. That doesn't sounds like a whole lot, but it's solid stitches. And like I said the black evenweave is a challenge.

So that's the agenda for the moment. If you see me on Facebook, please send me a shoutout to get back to stitching so I keep on track lol. I can use all the support & encouragement & motiviation that I can get to get this finished in time lol.

Thank you my friends!!!

Happy Stitching!

Until Next Time,

♥ Margie ♥

A Great Surprise in the Mail for ME!

2011-03-14T19:16:00.000-07:00

Hello My Friends!

I hope you are all doing well and that the year so far has been very productive and fun for you. I myself haven't done any stitching since my last post. My bug has just disappeared completely. Well that's not completely true. I did do an ATC a couple nights ago. I can't believe it but it only took me 2 nights to do it. And it was a blackwork/backstitch design. It was a lot of fun. I used a variegated red.

Here is how it turned out ...

I put it on a foil/metallic card stock which I think really helped bring out all shades of red in the ATC. So what do you think?

So ... my great surprise that came in the mail for me today! :~) You might remember a while back when I posted about my missing RR piece of the cute lil stitch devils. Well one of my online stitching friends that was part of that RR, who was also very upset that mine never made it back to me, she got three other ladies to help her out and together they stitched a new lil stitch devils RR piece for me! It made me feel so special and good inside. What a wonderful surprise and totally made my year. :~)

Here's what they made for me ...

How cute is this?!!! And you can't really see bcuz for some reason my scanner doesn't pick up on it, but the three other than the one with the basket all have sparkly floss in part of them. The blue floss has sparkles, the scissors have sparkles and the sewing machine too. And on the one with the sewing basket has 3D floss in the basket and real buttons just below it. Didn't they do an awesome job?!!! :~D I'm so excited about it and can't wait to get it framed and hung up. I have to measure it, but if it fits in a 12"x12" frame, there is a red metallic frame that I think it will look perfect in. :~)

I am so thankful and lucky to have such wonderful stitchy friends like them. Thank you to Peggy, Cei, Carol and Kitty!!!

Until Next Time,

♥ Margie ♥

And So We Begin 2011 ,..

2011-01-16T23:59:00.001-07:00

Hello Friends ~

Here we are nearly three weeks into the new year. How are things going with your crafting goals for 2011 so far? As for me, while my kids and I were visiting family for Xmas, I started working on the red rose pattern that is my brother's artwork and the pattern created and colored by White Willow Stitching. Since visiting family always seems to be a busy venture, I wasn't able to get a whole lot of stitching done on it while I was there. But I did at least get it started. I don't have a picture of what it will look like when it's finished to show you. You see, when the pattern was designed with the red colors, the picture would come out blurry. So the designer needs a finished model in order to create the cover page picture and also the picture for the WWS website. However, if you'd like to get an idea of what it will look like just click HERE, and you will see the roses that have been released so far. Just picture one of the same roses that you see there but in red. And that is what I'm working on. As much as I would like to have this piece finished and sent to WWS so that she can post the pattern for sale for her February 1st release, I think it will be more along the lines of her March 1st release instead. She has some other patterns that she is working on from my brother's artwork, as well as a few more rose colors, for a total of nine, that she can post in the meantime. Jamie has some amazing patterns on her site and the prices are excellent!

It seems to me that just when I think I have gotten past all the gift giving type holidays then another one is right around the corner. And then I have something else that must get made. Or life gets chaotic or my stitching/creative bug runs and hides. These times always seem to get to me. And then I tend to get even more discouraged. So what to do to avoid those feelings?

I have some WIPs that I'll post some pictures of sometime soon, as well as some must do pieces that I'll need to get started. I'd like to get at least one, maybe two, pieces finished in time for the county fair, which starts in just 87 short days. It sounds like a lot, but if you or your life is anything like mine, it will fly by in a flash.

So here's to a most successful and productive year for all of us!

Happy Stitching & Crafting!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

... 2010 ...

2010-12-19T20:41:00.005-07:00

~ 2010 ~

Wow. So here we are just 13 short days until the new year. For me 2010 has been both eventful and uneventful. It has been eventful in that so much has been happening with family and with friends. And uneventful in that all the eventful parts have kept me from being productive in my stitching, my sewing, my painting, my scrapbooking, etc. My only finishes for 2010 were ATCs.

My year started with the saddest of occasions. One of my best lifelong friend's son had died in a motorcycle accident and I attended the funeral just a few days into 2010. He was a good kid and so young. He was one of her twins who are the oldest of her kids. I've known him since he was born. It was a very hard time. The accident took place on Xmas eve and he passed on December 28th of last year. It was a terrible tragedy. I think of him often and I keep them all in my heart especially this time of year.

This time of year always makes me sad. This was my dad's favorite time of year. We had family traditions. Dad & I always went shopping together just him & I for Mom. We loved going shopping for the tree and there was a tradition to that too. But my Dad passed away 12 1/2 yrs ago. I know that is a long time. But this is the time of year when I miss him most. Lots of holiday movies bring tears to my eyes. And it seems that each year it takes me longer to "get in the spirit". Here we are six days till Xmas and I just don't feel excited about it. I think it's a combination of a few things, but I know missing my Dad is part of it.

Something very exciting that has happened is that my brother, who is a very talented artist, has been contracted with White Willow Stitching!!! :~) I'm very excited & happy about that. I emailed Jaime and asked her if she was interested in having a new artist to design patterns of and she wasn't looking for any new ones at the time, but she agreed to look at his artwork. Once she saw it, she absolutely wanted to sign him to a contract. As of right now, there are six patterns so far. But she's working on several more. Take a look at the patterns of his artwork HERE. There is also a red rose pattern, however she needs a model stitched of it first for the picture before she can post it up for sale. So as soon as I found out that she didn't have anyone to stitch the model, I quickly volunteered! :~)

Ok, so 2011 ... my main crafting goal is to have more finishes than just ATCs (including one of two pieces to enter into the county & state fairs), to at least ten aprons and stockings made and posted up for sale, and to get two more sections of my daughter's afghan crocheted. I think that I set my goal list for 2010 way to high. I mean of course I didn't expect so much chaos to take place. But honestly , do we ever. This time I'm going to plan for chaos and maybe it WON'T happen lol.

Well since it's nearly 2am, I am going to take myself off to bed for now.

I hope you all have an absolutely wonderful holiday season and get everything you asked Santa for! And the very best wishes for an amazing 2011! :~)

Happy Stitching & Crafting!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

PS ~ I have a few more ATC pictures that I need to post so I'll get that up a little bit later on. :~)

September ATC Finishes & One Received ...

2010-09-25T18:44:00.003-07:00

Hi Stitching Friends!

Yes it's me again, coming to you with my September ATC finishes and also a picture of the one that I have received so far.

So the themes for September were ...
Cross Stitch ATC's ~ Letter 'B' and Flower Power
Addicted to Cross Stitch ATC's ~ Pigs

For the Letter 'B' one, I wanted to do something different than just a pretty girly typical letter B. So I have this book with kids theme alphabets. And there is this one alphabet they call "Creepy Crawly". I saw that and thought to myself, "oh yeah this is the one".

So here is how it turned out ...

It was my husband's idea to add the "splat" stickers LOL. The lady that received it thought it was great and said that her son REALLY loved it! LOL!

Then for the next theme, Flower Power, I knew the second I read that theme exactly what I was going to do for it. The only problem was I knew the pattern was larger than normal. But it was such a perfect pattern that I HAD to make it work.

And here it is!

In order to make this design fit on the 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inch card stock, I had to stitch this piece on 22 count aida. The smallest I have ever stitched on before was 18 count, so this was definitely different. I used only 1 strand of floss for each X. And the main green color called for 2 different colors of floss combined. So what I had to do for that was I did the first half of the X in one color and the other half of the X in the other color. The second color was a DMC Light Effect light green color. The silver on the piece was also a DMC Light Effects floss. I hadn't used that before, but believe me, my Thread Heaven came in very handy. So what do you think of it? I had to admit, I wanted to keep this one for myself LOL! A lot of the ones that I have been seeing others post are just of flowers, which are all very beautiful. But to me, "Flower Power" is best represented by stuff from the 60's. :~)

The other theme, Pigs, seemed simple enough. But when going through my leaflets and books, I was surprised to see that I had hardly any pigs patterns. But I went online and found a pig that I thought was both cute and different.

And here she is! ...

I think she turned out pretty cute, don't you? After stitching with 1 strand of floss on 22 count aida, switching back to 14 count aida with 2 strands was really weird lol! I wasn't sure at all how to embellish this one, so I just added the pink rhinestones. My husband said I should have mounted the piece on some "mud brown" cardstock, but I didn't have any, so this was the next best thing I think. What do you think?

So those were all the ones that I have done for September. My favorite out of all three is definitely the Flower Power one. But I did have fun stitching all of them.

So far, I have received the Flower Power one for the month of September. It is absolutely beautiful!

The lady that sent this one to me crocheted the flower in the top right corner herself! Isn't it cute?! I couldn't do that in a million years lol!

So I have still to receive the Letter B and Pig for September. And then the Pay It Forward exchange once it gets around to me. And then sadly, I have still yet to receive an Oriental theme ATC from back in May. Apparently there was some sort of a mix up when the emails were sent out and one lady received two Oriental theme ATC's and I received none. :~/ But it's ok. I really do love all the ones that I have received! :~)

So now I am all done with ATC's until Octobers themes come out. I am REALLY looking forward to those! :~) October is my favorite month of the year and Autumn is my favorite season!!! Should be lots of fun! :~) With this ATC break, I'm going to get busy on finishing Henry since I've had to put him off for so long with my MIA glasses issue and such. I can't wait to get him back home to his owner.

And with that I'm off to do some stitching!

Happy Stitching Everyone!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

August ATC Finishes & Ones Received ...

2010-09-24T18:12:00.000-07:00

Hi there Stitching Friends!

Yes, I am still here, alive & kicking. I have been stitching away on the cute lil ATC's. And sadly, been neglecting my poor blog. But no more! I have A LOT to post for you! :~) First in this post I will add my August ATC pieces that I did and also the ones that I received. Then I'll add another post for September. Sound good? Well here we go then!

So August's theme was Mother's Day and Father's Day for the Facebook Cross Stitch ATC's group. And for the new ATC group on Facebook, Addicted to Cross Stitch ATC's (yes I definitely fit right into that group!), the theme was Birds of a Feather.

Ok, so for the Mother's Day and Father's Day themes, it could be anything that you would basically stitch for your own Mom and Dad, because not all the women or the one guy in the group are moms or a dad. So I found a couple of cute patterns and started stitching!

Here is what I stitched for the Mother's Day and Father's Day themes ...

After I had finished and mailed the Father's Day one off, it wasn't until after the person received it and I had the pic posted up on Facebook, that I realized ... uh duh, football season is not in June! Ok, so I had a blonde moment lol. The ladies that received both these pieces really liked them. Out of the two, the I ♥ Mom one was my favorite. I think I might have to stitch another one to send to my Mom next year for Mother's Day! :~)

For the Birds of a Feather theme, they said it could be any kind of bird, real or imaginary or cartoon. So, being the Looney Tunes type of girl that I am, the first thought in my head was, you guessed it, TWEETY BIRD!!! :~D I really had fun with this one and I just LOVE LOVE LOVE how it turned out. As of today, the recipient still hasn't posted if they've received it, so I really hope this one isn't lost in the mail. It was going all the way to Australia, and I'm not sure how long first class mail takes to get there from here in the states.

Anyway, here's Tweety!

Isn't he just way too cute?! All the ones that I've seen people posting, all of them are real birds. I was surprised that I didn't see more people that did Tweety or any other cartoon birds for their ATC.

So those are the ATC's that I stitched for the month of August. And now I'll show you the ones that I received for all three themes ...

They're all very cute and I just love the way each person chose to embellish them! :~)

Oh and in case, any of you are wondering, the Pay It Forward ATC exchange is still going. Although no one seems to be admitting who has it at the moment. I haven't received any messages yet asking if I'm participating in it or not. But when I do, mine is all ready to be mailed out! :~)

So that's it for August ATC's! Thanks so much for reading my blog!

Happy Stitching!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Another ATC Finish & ATC Received ...

2010-08-14T00:28:00.002-07:00

Hello Stitching Friends!

So happy to report that I finally got my new glasses last week & they are great! It's so nice having my eyes back. And I just love the purple frames!

Anywho, so last week I finished an ATC for a Pay It Forward theme the group is doing. This one won't be mailed out for a bit yet, as I have to wait until someone else sends me one. The group moderator put together a list of all of the people that have participated in the ATC exchange previously and picked one pattern. Then she selected someone to start this exchange off. She gave her the list of people and posted the link to the pattern. Then the person stitched and mailed off the PIF ATC to someone on the list. Then that person does the same, until everyone on the list (that wants to participate in this exchange) receives one of these PIF ATCs. No one has picked my name off the list yet, but I have my ATC all finished & ready to go. And here it is ...

What do you think? Again, everyone will stitch the same pattern, and then the only differences will be the cardstock it is mounted on and how it is embellished. It's a cute and simple pattern. I hope the person that receives mine likes it. :~)

Also, I wanted to share with you all the ATC that I received from the person that I did the private ATC swap with. It is just beautiful!!!

I just love the cardstock that she used to mount the pattern on. It fits the theme perfectly, I think. Don't you?

So for August, the group themes are Mother's Day or Father's Day. But then after a couple of people posted how they are not parents, the moderator posted that it could be something you would give to a woman and something you would give to a man. Lots of choices with those themes. It took me a couple days to decide on patterns. But I think I came up with a couple of good ones. Also, one of the members of this group started another ATC group so those of us that are really hooked on these ATCs can stitch and receive even more of them. To start off there is only one theme, and for August the theme is "Birds of a Feather", which basically is any bird ... real, cartoon or imaginary. :~) Should be fun. Still have to find which pattern to use for that one. But I have a couple in mind already. :~) Once I get them finished, I'll post pics! :~)

Hope ya'll are having a wonderful day & getting lots of stitching done!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Another ATC Finish

2010-07-25T23:08:00.004-07:00

Hi there friends & fellow stitchers!

I haven't been doing a lot of stitching as you know from my previous post due to my MIA glasses. However, the ATCs are easy enough to at least do some stitching. And I am very happy to report that I have had my eye exam and will be ordering my new glasses on Thursday!!! And the best part ... I still have single vision! YAY! You know I really think that stitching helps strengthen the eye muscles rather than making them weaker. My eye doctor was actually very impressed at how healthy my eyes are and that I am no where close to needing bifocals. :~)

Anyway, I finished another ATC! There were no themes for the ATC group on Facebook this month, so I did a private exchange with one of the other ladies in the group. Each of us didn't receive one of our ATCs back in May. It's so disappointing when you take part in something and then someone else doesn't hold up their end. So I never received my oriental theme ATC and the other lady never received her letter C. So she is stitching an oriental themed ATC for me and I stitched a Letter C for her. :~) I really hope she likes it. The alphabet that I chose to stitch from is really pretty and very girly lol.

So here it is ...

I wasn't sure if the stickers go well with it or not. What do ya'll think?

Well time to finish up another ATC. The leaders of the ATC group decided since we weren't doing a theme for July that we would do a "Pay it Forward" thing where one person will get a list of all of the people that have participated in an ATC exchange in the past. She will stitch an ATC and then send it to one person on the list, as well as sending her the list. Then the next person will do the same. And this will continue until everyone on the list has received an ATC. Everyone will stitch the same pattern for the ATC. I have most of that finished. Just have to do the backstitching and then mount it on card stock and add any embellishments that I'm going to use. Then once I get the list, all I'll have to do is mail it off to someone on the list. :~)

Well that's all for now.

Happy Stitching Everyone!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Two More ATC Finishes!

2010-07-06T14:50:00.002-07:00

Hiya Stitching Friends!

I have finished 2 more ATC's! I'm really excited about them and love how they turned out. Can't wait to hear how the recipients like them. I'm putting them in the mail today and then they will make their way across the country and ocean over to the UK. I really hope they like them.

The first one is the theme Letter N. I wanted to pick a letter N that was sort of different and something fun. Here is what I came up with ...

Isn't it cute?! I think it falls in both the different and fun categories don't you? I love the bright colors.

The next theme was FIFA. This was a bit harder to find a pattern for. Although I wanted something more than just a soccer ball, it was what I ended up doing. But I still like how it turned out.

What do you think? I think the black cardstock background makes the rest of it really pop.

Here are the Letter N and FIFA ATC's that I received ...

Aren't they cute? I just love the Piglet Letter N! And the bear playing soccer is adorable!

Our ATC group on Facebook is not doing an exchange for July. But I'm really looking forward to August! I still haven't received my oriental theme ATC from May. Apparently there was a mix-up and it was unknowingly sent to the wrong person. Hopefully it will find it's way home to me soon. :~)

Now to get some work done on some of my WIPs! So much to stitch and so little time ...

Happy Stitching!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Another Finish!

2010-06-19T21:07:00.002-07:00

Hello Fellow Stitchers and Friends!!! :~)

I have finished the Letter C ATC and I think it turned out really cute! :~) I hope the recipient loves it as much as I do. I have to admit though, that this pattern was not as easy as it looks. The Xs were fine but the backstitching on the pattern was very hard to read in a lot of spots, so I hope I didn't miss any.

Well here it is!

I love Eeyore so I knew that is the one I wanted to do for this theme. Although I must admit that Tigger is my favorite from the Winnie the Pooh & Friends bunch. :~)

My next two ATC themes are the letter N and FIFA either soccer or tennis. I have chosen soccer. And the letter N that I chose and have already started I think is a unique N and really cute. :~) I want to get these both done as quickly as I can bcuz I will be going out of town on Tuesday afternoon to Texas to visit family. And I know that most of the time that we will be there, there won't be much time for stitching.

That's all for now. Looking forward to posting more ATC's really soon!

Happy Stitching Everyone!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

ATC Theme Letter C Received

2010-06-17T00:17:00.002-07:00

Hello Stitching Friends ~

I just wanted to share with you the ATC that I have received so far. It's the one for the theme the letter C.

I think it's pretty. I'm looking forward to receiving the oriental theme ATC. Can't wait to see what the other person came up with for a pattern for that.

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

A New Finish!

2010-06-16T23:55:00.000-07:00

Hiya Friends!

Hope you are all doing really well. I am doing pretty good. Both stitching and sewing have been very slow in happening, as my glasses have disappeared and have yet to reappear for about a month now. It's very frustrating. Without my glasses, my options are my prescription sunglasses, and of course even with my stitching light, stitching with sunglasses is not easy. The other option is my old pair of contacts. And although they are better for seeing than my sunglasses, there's a reason why I choose to no longer wear them. My eyes tend to dry out really bad with them, especially now with our ceiling fan going 24/7 bcuz of the heat. But I was able to get this piece finished, an ATC, a little bit at a time. And I am really happy with out it turned out!

The theme for this one was oriental. I had the hardest time finding a pattern for this theme. And after going through several of my stitching pattern books, I finally came across this one. And I loved it from the moment I saw it! I hope the recipient loves it just as much!

Here it is ...

The Kanji symbol means beauty. And I just love the kimono.

The next theme I'm working on is the letter C. It's nearly finished. Just have a bit more backstitching to do. Then I'll start on the next 2 themes, which are the letter N and FIFA, either soccer or tennis. The FIFA one, I'm not sure if I'm going to go with soccer or tennis. I found a cute tennis pattern. And the only one I've really found for soccer is just a plain old soccer ball. And I'm not sure I want to do just a plain old soccer ball. But we shall see.

Hope you all are having a wonderful week!

Happy Stitching!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Cross Stitch ATCs!

2010-05-18T00:47:00.003-07:00

Hello Stitching Friends!

Have any of you ever heard of Cross Stitch ATCs? If you have, have you ever participated in an ATC exchange? If you haven't heard of them, well let me explain! :~) I'm sure you have all have seen and maybe even collected sports or some other sort of trading cards right? Well, ATCs are Artist Trading Cards! How cool is that?!!! I had never heard of ATCs before until a few months ago on Facebook I was invited to join a stitching group called Cross Stitch ATCs. I checked out the group and it looked fun and very interesting. I didn't actually join in on any of the exchanges until this month however due to other projects that I needed to get done. But this month, I jumped in with both feet and am doing both themes as well as the birthday ones. So here's how it works. Each month two themes are selected by the group moderator. This month the themes are the letter C and Oriental. So each person that is signed up for the exchange will stitch small patterns that match the themes. They need to be mounted on 2.5" x 3.5" pieces of cardstock so that they will fit easily into trading card pages. Some people just stitch a design, however some embellish the piece with stickers or whatnot. They really are very cute. Then at the end of the month, each person mails off their stitched and mounted ATC to the person they are assigned to.

So I just wanted to share with all of you my new discovery & projects! :~) I don't think any of the people in the exchange or group read my blog. So once I've finished my pieces, I'll post pictures of them here on my blog. I can't post them on Facebook until after each person receives their piece so as not to ruin the surprise. I'm really glad that I decided to participate in the exchange this month as my stitching bug was somewhere here in my house, I could hear it, but I'll be darned if I could find it! And I think these cute little pieces were exactly what I needed to get that bug to come out of hiding! :~)

Happy Stitching!

Until Next Time
♥ Margie ♥

PS ~ One last thing, I don't know if any of you have noticed or not, but on the right side of my blog, I have posted a link to my new crafts business Facebook page! My business is Forever Treasured Keepsakes. It's still pretty new, so I'm working on getting it off the ground. But if you have a moment, please check it out & let me know what you think. And if you have a Facebook profile, be sure to "like" my page. Thank you! Have a great Tuesday!

It's My 2 Year Blogoversary! :~)

2010-05-18T00:26:00.003-07:00

Hello Everyone!!!

So yesterday I was going about normal everyday stuff, and when I checked my email I found a comment on one of my blog posts. I always get excited over comments that I receive. Anywho, when I opened and read the comment, I received a pleasant surprise with a "Happy Blogoversay" comment from Teena! I didn't even realize that my 2nd blogoversary had already arrived. Thank you so much Teena for noticing & leaving me the comment! It really made my afternoon!

I can't believe it's been two years already since I started my blog. I really do enjoy posting to my blog and sharing with all of you my stitching stories, progress updates and of course my finishes! And through out it all, I have loved more than anything all of your kind and supportive and motivational comments that you've sent me! Thank you all very much for that! You have no idea how much I really appreciate it. I know I don't have a lot of people that read my blog. I mean it's certainly no "Julie & Julia" type blog lol. But I love it & and I love sharing it. Maybe someday I'll get a few more people reading huh? :~)

Happy Stitching to all of you!

And Happy 2nd Blogoversary to me! Here's to many many more!
Cheers!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Updates on Henry and Elemental Cosmos

2010-04-19T04:04:00.003-07:00

Hi there Stitching Friends ~

As promised, I have some update photos of the RR piece, Henry, and also my WIP, Elemental Cosmos. I will be once again putting Elemental Cosmos aside, very temporarily, so that I can get Henry finished. I have all the white in the body of Henry finished, and am getting ready to do the blues that give him depth. After finishing the cross stitches, I'll do the stitches that will have beads and then it's on to all of the back stitching that is on the pattern, which is a lot! That will finish Henry off and he will then be in the mail back to his owner! :~)

I am also going to be taking part in an ATC (Artist Trading Card) Exchange with people from a group that I am in on Facebook. We stitch designs that are the size of a trading card. I think this is a very cool idea. There is a theme for each month and how fun it will be to see all the different ones that we get. I've seen pictures of some of the cards that others have received and they are very cute. :~) I'm looking forward to this. And right now I have some time to do some small projects, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

After the ATC Exchange, then I will get back to stitching Elemental Cosmos. I'll have all summer and September to get it finished in time for the state fair.

Here is where I am on Henry ...

And here is where I am on Elemental Cosmos ...

With Elemental Cosmos, I just have to fill it in. Where the stars are, I'm going to use clear and yellow iridescent beads. I think that will make the whole design really POP even more. Or at least I hope it does. As you've probably seen from other pieces that I've done, I really like to add something extra to give it my own special touch. I just hope the judges like it as much as I do ... lol.

Well that's all for now. When I get more done on Henry, I'll post my progress. :~) I am babysitting this week, so I don't know how much stitching time I'll get in, but will hopefully have something to post next weekend.

Have a great day/night! And as always ... Happy Stitching!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

County Fair Entry and Ribbon!

2010-04-16T12:14:00.003-07:00

Hi Stitching Friends!

Well, the piece I had been showing you progress on did not get finished in time for the county fair. I was sick for 2 weeks and then babysat for a week and so 3 weeks took a big chunk out of my stitching time. The state fair is in October, so I will be working on that piece for then.

So remember the wedding piece that I made for my sister and brother in law called Together? Well my mom convinced me to enter that piece.

Here is a picture of it all framed when I submitted it to the fair to be judged.

Then last night was opening night of the fair and I went to check on my piece and see what the judges thought of it! So here's a picture of what I found!!!

It's kind of hard to see that ribbon hanging down below my piece, so here's a close-up!

I was so happy to discover that I had received a 2nd place ribbon! I didn't expect to do that well. Although I think I do stitch pretty well. For whatever reason, the judges are always pretty hard on some pieces. I know there were no mistakes in my stitching. But it is a pretty simple pattern, and even though I added the lettering and blending filament, to the judges the degree of difficulty was not that hard. I stitched the piece on 28count evenweave. And I suppose they feel that is not a difficult fabric to stitch on either. Those are some of the criteria that they judge each piece on. The piece that won best of class, from what I could tell, was on 14 or 18 count aida and was the pattern of the three labradors ... one black, one golden and one chocolate. I've seen that pattern all over the place. In fact, I think I might even have that pattern. So I'm sure some of you reading my blog know exactly which pattern I'm talking about.

But anyway, I am very happy with my 2nd place ribbon and I am sure that my sister and brother in law will be really happy knowing that their gift is an award winning one. :~)

So I'm still working on my 2010 stitching goals, and part of those goals is to finish the RR pieces, one of which being Henry and then finish I believe one or two of my WIPs. The other RR pieces are completely finished, just have Henry to finish. I am about halfway finished with the cross stitches and then there is a BUNCH of back stitching to do with Henry. So I'll go back to Henry and then finish Elemental Cosmos in time for the state fair. I will be posting updated photos of each within the next day or two so you can see where I'm at on each.

Thank you all for reading my blog. I know I don't have a lot of readers, so I am thankful for those that I do have. Hopefully over time I will get some more readers though! :~)

Thanks again and Happy Stitching!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Getting Ready for the County Fair!

2010-03-17T08:25:00.004-07:00

Happy St Patrick's Day to you all!!! Any special plans for anyone today? We won't be doing anything special, other than having our usual St Patrick's Day dinner of corned beef & cabbage. We look forward to it every year. Dinner is in the crock pot and will cook low and slow all day long! :~)

As for my stitching, I had to put Henry aside, at the orders of the person who will be getting that piece once he is finished, in order to work on my piece that I will be entering into our local Pima County Fair, called Elemental Cosmos. It's a piece that I had started a little bit on and put aside some time ago, but have always wanted to work on and finish. Now I have 23 days to get this piece completely finished and framed and turned in to be judged! Then in October, I will enter the piece into our state fair.

Here is what my piece will look like when it's finished, with the exception that I will be adding some iridescent clear and yellow beads where the "stars" are in the design.

Here is the little bit of progress that I had done before I started really working on it for the fair.

I got back to working on this piece last Friday night, and here is the progress that I made as of Monday afternoon.

I've done a bit more since this progress photo and will definitely have even more done over the course of the next few days. I have 23 days to get this piece completely finished, framed and then entered into the county fair on April 9th!!! I'm so excited!

I am stitching this piece on 28 count black evenweave, although in some areas it's more like linen than evenweave. And even though this fabric is one of the hardest to stitch on, I have to say that I am really having a lot of fun stitching this piece! I love all the bright colors and the way they POP! on the black fabric. Honestly, the progress photo doesn't do it justice.

With stitching on black fabric, lots of light is required. I have always wanted to get one of those OTT-Lite floor lamps, but they are so expensive, even when on sale, that I just couldn't afford it. But I was VERY happy to discover that Joann's now carries OTT-Lite light bulbs that will fit into any lamp now!!! So I bought an inexpensive floor lamp at Target that holds 5 light bulbs and you can move each one by bending the necks of each one, so that you can point the light where you want it to go. I bought two of the OTT-Lite light bulbs. In the floor lamp I put one of them and then I have this click on lamp that I put one in also. I put the other light bulb in my clip on lamp that I clip to my foot stool so that I have light behind my piece as I stitch on the dark fabric. Then in the remaining spots of the floor lamp I just put regular fluorescent light bulbs. It's great bcuz you can turn the floor lamp on with 2 lights, 3 lights or all 5 lights! It works perfectly for stitching! :~)

Well I'm off to get some more stitching done on my fair entry!

Happy Stitching Everyone!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

My First 2010 Finish!!!

2010-02-10T03:55:00.000-07:00

Hello Stitching Friends!!!

So on my last post I told you about about the bead situation for the angel. And let me just say that I am SO happy that I drove the distance to the LNS and got the Mill Hill beads rather than just using the ones that I thought would be ok that I bought at Joanns. The ones I bought at Joanns would have been way too big and were also the wrong color gold. There is a really big difference between just seed beads and petite seed beads.

I am extremely happy to be finished with this angel, but more importantly to be finished with this RR all together. I know the other ladies in the RR will be so happy that their pieces are moving along and will soon be back in their possession. So just to recap ... my piece was the one that I stitched with my own design and said Kelli's Room on it. Once I get my piece back, I will be framing it and hanging it in my daughter's room. The next piece was the angel, however due to the issues that I had with this pattern, as well as some personal things going on, I received the next piece and still had the angel. So I stitched the next piece which was the EMS Geranium Fairy. I am really happy with how that piece turned out and I love the effects of the sparkly blending floss that I used on parts of it. The next piece was the trumpet playing frog. That one I think is pretty cute. And after looking back at the piece I think the whole set of designs look really cute together. And then it was back to the angel. And now she is FINISHED!!! (doin the happy dance!)

So without further a due (don't know if I have that spelled right for that phrase), HERE SHE IS!!!

The above is the picture that was taken using my scanner. Below is a picture I took with my camera in order to be able to show how she sparkles with all the metallic floss and the beads.

The colors just look better under the "natural light" lamp then they do from the scanner. But with the scanner you can see more detail. If you look closely at the white part of her dress, that is the Wisper floss by Rainbow Gallery. There are 2 different colors. Let me just tell you, that is some interesting floss to work with. It's easier to see the Wisper floss in the second photo.

So starting tomorrow (really today since it is now nearly 4am) I will get back to working on Henry. I am looking forward to doing that. This not sleeping at night thing is getting old real quick however. I have so much to do "today". We have a couple of different appointments we must go to that are almost back to back. So there will be no opportunity for a nap. Once we are home from the second appointment, I am sure I will just drop for at least a couple of hours. Thankfully my husband is off so he will be home to help with the kids while I crash for a lil bit lol.

I hope you all have a great Wednesday & I'm sure I'll be posting another update of Henry really soon! :~)

Happy Stitching!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Angel Almost Finished & Update on Henry

2010-02-09T02:15:00.002-07:00

Hello Everyone!

So I wanted to post an update on where I am with this angel. I am not quite finished yet. I had some issues with the beads. I thought I had the Mill Hill beads for this design, but as it turns out, I didn't. So I went to Joanns only to find out that they no longer carry Mill HIll beads. Also checked at Michaels and they no longer carry them either. How disappointing! And since the local LNS that I have been using for a couple years now is no longer in business, the closest LNS for me to go to is about 30-35 miles away. By the time I ran a couple errands with my brother's girlfriend and went to the other 2 stores, both of the LNS's that are a distance away from where I live were closed. In fact, now that I think about it at least one of them isn't even open on Mondays. Anyways, so I bought some gold seed beads at Joanns. However, I really think the Mill Hill beads that the pattern calls for are actually petite seed beads. So I am going to try the ones that I bought. I'll attach a couple and see how they look and if they look alright, then I'll just continue on and by tomorrow afternoon, this RR will be in the mail and fully complete. If they don't, well then I will be driving across town to get the Mill Hill beads. And maybe with any stroke of luck I will still get it in the mail by tomorrow afternoon. Otherwise it will have to wait until Wednesday morning. I have finished all of the metallic stitches. And am about halfway through the Wisper floss stitches. That Wisper floss is certainly not easy to work with. And since I have never used it before, I'm not entirely sure that I'm doing it correctly. I hope the recipient likes it when she receives it. I don't want to post an updated picture of the angel until I have completely finished it. So that is why you won't see a new picture just yet. :~)

However, I would like to show you how far along I am on Henry. That way you'll know where I'm starting from after I've finished the angel. I really like this pattern. It's so fun and bright and cheerful! :~) All of the snow in the design I am going to add a sparkly blending filament to give some pretty sparkle to the design. And where the pattern calls for french knots, although I really don't mind french knots at all, I am instead going to add yellow & orange iridescent beads. I think that will look so pretty.

So here is my progress of Henry ...

This pattern is really fun to stitch. Once the angel is finished & in the mail, I will begin stitching the snow and of course Henry himself! There is quite a bit of backstitching on this piece, but with this fun design, I don't think it will take me too long to get him finished.

After I finish Henry and he is safely off in the mail to his recipient, then I have decided that I will work on my Elemental Cosmos WIP with the goal of having it finished in time to enter it into the Pima County Fair this year. :~) That piece is so pretty with all the bright and vibrant colors in it. And to further highlight those colors, I am stitching the piece on black evenweave. Not an easy task, but I'm sure I'll do ok. Entries don't have to be turned in to the fair until April 9th. So that gives me almost two months to complete it.

With my stitching bug back into overdrive, it'll be full speed ahead with lots of positive thoughts of some real stitching progress!!!

Happy Stitching to you all!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

YAY! Finally Some Progress on the Angel! :~)

2010-02-07T02:50:00.003-07:00

Hello My Stitching Friends!!!

I am so excited! I am very happy to report that I have made some great progress on the angel RR piece! I have all of the cross stitching with regular floss completely finished. All I have left is the stitching with the metallic floss which is Rainbow Gallery's PB01 & PB02 Treasure Braid. And the stitching with the fuzzy floss which is Rainbow Gallery's W88 & W89 Wisper. Then I have a couple dozen Mill Hill 42011 beads that I need to add and a very small amount of backstitching around her face then she will be FINISHED!!! :~) I am so thrilled to finally be so close to getting this piece finished.

So here she is with all the new progress ...

This is the most excited I have felt about this piece since I started it. And now that I am so close to finishing this piece, I am very happy with how pretty the design actually is. :~) No more lagging on this piece. I am truly excited about it! I can see the finish line & I just want to put the petal to the metal and get this angel finished. :~)

Once the angel is finished, then it's on to the very last RR piece that I will ever work on. Remember Snowman and Robin ... aka Henry??? Yes that is the last RR piece. I had made some more progress on Henry since the last picture that I posted. Once I get ready to work on him again, then I will post a photo so you can see where I am. And of course updates along the way! :~)

So here's to us all, my dear stitching friends! May we each have a more productive stitching year than we did last year! :~)

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Happy 2010!!!

2010-01-02T16:00:00.007-07:00

Happy 2010 to all of you!!! I hope you all have a very productive and successful and happy year!

So, very little stitching for me in the last quarter of 2009. But with the new year comes new stitching & sewing goals for me! I have a bunch of UFO's I would really like to get done in my stitching world, as well as some sewing ones and a crochet one. "Hello, my name is Margie, and I am a serial starter." I would like to concentrate more on finishing UFO's and maybe squeeze in a couple/few new SMALL projects.

Ok so here we go ...

2010 Stitching UFO Goal ~ I would like to finish at least four of my UFO's. I have many more than this, but since they are larger pieces (with the exception of the 2 RR pieces), I don't want to give myself an unreasonable goal. I'm not sure yet which UFO's I will work on other than the RR pieces, so below I've listed all of my UFO's.

2010 Sewing UFO Goal ~ I would like to finish all of my UFO's.

2010 Crocheting UFO Goal ~ I would like to finish my one and only crochet UFO. This project is a HUGE afghan that I started for my daughter a while ago, but I put it aside to work on stitching and sewing projects. I don't really crochet much at all (that's my mom's job lol). So once I finish this afghan, crocheting is done for me lol.

My Stitching UFO's
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1) HAED Pale Rose
2) HAED Wicca
3) America the Beautiful
4) Song in Your Heart
5) My Son's Trick or Treat Tote Bag
6) My Daughter's Trick or Treat Tote Bag
7) Elemental Cosmos
8) Elemental Masks
9) Sleepy Moon Birth Record
10) Angel RR Piece
11) Snowman & Robin RR Piece

My Sewing UFO's
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1) Placemat set for my Grama
2) Apron for my Daughter
3) Apron for my Son
4) Stocking for my Son
5) Stocking for my Husband
6) Stocking for my Sister
7) Train blanket for my Cousin
8) Pink Camo blanket for my Cousin
9) American Indian blanket for my Father in law

Now let's talk about new projects that I'd like to do this year ...

2010 New Project Stitching Goals ~ I have a cute little pattern of a holiday saguaro cactus that I would like to stitch a bunch of them so that I can make them into handmade holiday cards to mail out, so approximately 50 of them ~ I have a small back stitch only pattern that I would like to stitch for one of my uncles ~ I have a pattern called For My Husband that I would like to stitch "for my husband" :~) ~ for new projects I don't think I am going to put anymore on this list bcuz I really don't want to get myself in another serial starter year

2010 New Project Sewing Goals ~ now this is the list that could get very long lol ~ I have several apron and stocking fabric pieces already cut & ready to be sewn together that I would like to get done so that I can have a full inventory for our local Octoberfest as I'm hoping to have enough to set up a booth this year ~ i have an order for a UofA apron and queen size blanket ~ also I'd like to make ... a blanket for my husband, a blanket for my son, placemat set for my Nana, apron for my Nana ~ since the Octoberfest inventory needs to be such a large amount, this is all that I'll list for now here

So there are my craft goals for 2010 ... I am really hoping to be able to get them all accomplished! :~)

Again, I'd like to wish you all a very happy New Year!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

My Friend is Having a Contest/Giveaway!

2009-11-23T12:27:00.003-07:00

Hello Friends and Fellow Crafty People!

I have a dear friend who makes some really cute fleece blankets. She is also a cross stitcher. She is having a contest/giveaway on her blog, Golden Angel Works! So please check out her blog and find out what it's all about! :~)

Hope you're all having a great day!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Still Alive & Kickin ...

2009-11-14T12:07:00.002-07:00

Hello Everyone!

Just wanted to let you all know that I am still here ... alive & kickin! :) I haven't done much stitching since my last post ... maybe about an hours worth. So many things going on. My uncle passed away just a few days before Halloween. I wasn't able to travel in order to go to the services. That bothered me quite a bit. The only reason I wasn't able to go was bcuz my car still isn't working and if I would have gone, my husband would have needed my car in order to get the kids to and from our friend's house would have helped watch the kids while my husband was at work. My husband's car has a backseat but it's not attached and there are no seatbelts, so the kids can't ride in his car.

Anywho, so I have worked on the angel piece just a little bit. I got the grey done in the wings, but unfortunately that's about it. I think part of the problem lately is bcuz with my brother living with us, he puts tension in the air of our home and he freaks out if I'm just "sitting there". Even if I am actually doing something by means of needle & floss, he doesn't think that's "doing something". It makes me uncomfortable. I'm sure that is part of why my stitching bug has taken leave for the last few weeks. Has anyone else ever had a family member that makes you feel like that? I mean my brother is an artist and he has times when he just sits there and draws. But isn't that something productive just like my stitching is? Creative productivity, right?

My kids had a blast on Halloween. My 13 year old daughter dressed up as a pink & black gothic witch and my 3 year old son dressed up as a vampire. We were going to paint our son's face with vampire makeup and spray his hair with black hair spray. But by the time my husband got home from work that night, there were kids already starting to come to the door trick or treating and so our kids were totally ready to go when my husband walked thru the door at 6:30 lol. Our daughter however, we did manage to get the fake pink sparkly spiderweb lashes on and black lipstick. Her costume just wouldn't have been complete without it lol. Teenagers ... you know they have to have everything just right!

Here is a picture of the two of them after they were all done trick or treating ...

They had so much fun! Halloween is definitely one of our family's favorite celebrations.

So now it's time to start preparing for Christmas. SO SO SO much to get done. I have a cute little piece that I am going to stitch for my husband that says "My Hero". It's something I've always called him and when I saw the pattern I knew I had to make it. I have to make an apron for each of my kids. And a stocking for my son. My daughter already has one that I made for her a while ago with Christmas kitties. I also have an apron that I have to get finished by next Friday for someone that placed an order for one. That won't take much time tho. I also have to make a small hanging quilt for my grama that my mom was supposed to do but has never gotten around to it. She has so very much on her plate all the time, there was just no time for her to work on it. But before I can work on it, I am waiting for her to send me the pictures that are supposed to be part of the quilt. Pictures of all of my grama's grandkids and great-grandkids. We have this printable fabric for those. Then the center piece of the quilt is a piece that I designed and stitched with all of the grandkids & great-grandkids names & birth dates on it. I hope she likes it when it's finished! :)

So I'm sure some of you might be wondering what happened to the HAED Pale Rose SAL that I was doing. Well, the other person had decided that they wanted to wait until after the first of the year to work on it again, instead of the month on month off plan that we originally decided on. But then last night she decided that she just wasn't into the piece anymore and she isn't going to work on it anymore. So I will work on this piece again, probably after the first of the year, but it will be a solo job rather than the SAL. At this point, I'm thinking that RRs and SALs just don't work out very well for me, so I'm not even going to attempt to take part in any in the future. For the Pale Rose SAL, I had tried to convince my friend that we should do the QS version of the design as the SAL but she wanted to do the full sized version instead. Now she doesn't want to do it at all. But that's ok. I love working on it and am looking forward to getting back to it on my own after I get everything done needed for the holidays. I have been wanting to stitch a small design to put on holiday cards for this year, but I don't know that I will have time to do those. We shall see. It's not a very big design. It's just 34x32 stitches. But the thing is that I want to do at least 20 of them for at least friends and family. You know how some family members can be, if one gets it then they have to have it too lol. So that might be something that I work on after the new year, for next year. :) Again, we shall see.

Well I think I've rambled on for long enough. I hope you are all doing really great & aren't super overwhelmed with the holidays coming up!

Happy Stitching!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Frog RR Piece FINISHED!!!

2009-10-21T13:43:00.003-07:00

Hello Everyone!

I'm so happy to have another piece finished!!!

Remember this lil guy???

Well he's all done! I finished him last night!

Here he is ...

He is part of a series called Frog Occasions. The other three designs in the RR piece are all from the same series. However, Herbert here is a lil different than the others. I asked my husband several times if he thought that Herbert went with the other three, and he said he does. I hadn't realized how many times I had asked that same question of my husband until last night. He told me, "you've asked me that same question several times, and several times I've told you, yes he goes with them great!" LOL!!!

Here is the finished RR piece that will soon be on its way back to its owner!

What do you think? Does he go well with the others? Or does he seem like the oddball frog? I really hope that this RR piece's owner likes it when she receives it.

My husband and I were talking last night about RR pieces and about the big space between all four designs. It just seems like a lot of empty space to leave blank. My husband's idea is to get or cut a mat so they can all be in the same frame but the mat has four holes for each design. Those of you that have been in RRs ... what do you do with your finished RR pieces when you receive them? Do you frame them as is? Do you add a mat? Do you add some extra stitching to the whole piece to fill in the empty spaces? I am very interested in hearing your feedback on this.

So on to the next and final piece of this RR. The (unfortunately dreaded) angel.

Remember her?

Well this is what she will look like all finished, with the exception the pattern calls for some fuzzy specialty floss in the white of her top and the outer edge of gold. This is someone else's finished piece that I found online in order to find a picture of what this piece should mostly look like when finished.

Here are my 2 progress pictures of her so far ...

It doesn't look like there is much left to do but at the same time there is still much to do. All four specialty flosses/threads still plus regular stitching and some bead work. As pretty as this piece is, for some reason, I don't know why, I just don't enjoy working on it. This is one piece I will be very happy to be finished with.

Wow! Such a long post today! I hope you all are enjoying my blog. I certainly enjoy all those that visit and read my blog. And especially enjoy the kind and friendly comments that some of you leave! :~) Thanks to all of you! :~)

I hope you all are doing well and Happy Stitching!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Wedding Piece FINISHED!!!

2009-10-18T06:50:00.004-07:00

Hi Friends & Fellow Stitchers ~

YAY!!! I am finished with the wedding gift for my stepsister & her brand new husband!!! I was up until about 4am finishing it up ... and I am so excited about it that I have yet to fall asleep! I am going to be so wiped out today lol.

So I have taken a few photos of the piece. But I love how it came out & cannot wait to hear how my stepsister & her husband like it!

Here is a photo of it all finished ...

Then here is a close up photo of the piece all finished ...

On the names I used the medium colored pink floss (one strand) along with pastel rainbow sparkly blending filament. Here is a close up of the names ...

On the date, I used the medium blue colored floss along with the pastel rainbow sparkly blending filament for the numbers and then the medium pink & blending filament for stars separating the month, day & year. Here is a close up of the date ...

I don't know if I like the numbers that I used. I think the 7 & 9 look funny??? The letters for the names I LOVE!!! And I really like the layout for the names. What do you all think about it all?

I am very happy to have this piece finished. Now it's back to the frog and angel and then Henry. I also have another apron to make that was ordered. And after those things are all done, I have to get my butt busy with xmas gifts! An apron for my daughter, an apron & stocking for my son (my daughter already has a stocking that I made), a stocking for my husband and a stocking for my brother, some hand stitched cards, paint some plaster ornaments, put together beaded ornaments, and then maybe if I don't have other gifts/orders that I have to make & I possibly get all of that finished in time, maybe ... just maybe ... I'll have time to make my own stocking as well LOL!!!

I have a feeling of great accomplishment with this wedding piece being finished. Now on to more projects! :~) A crafters work is never EVER finished! LOL!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Wedding Piece Update ...

2009-10-17T03:20:00.002-07:00

Hello Friends and Fellow Stitchers!

Well I am happy & excited to say that I have completely finished all of the cross stitches on this design! All that's left is the back stitching of the words & names & date and then the long stitches of the stars & hearts! I love how pretty the hearts are and I can't wait to get started on the rest! This piece really has been so much fun.

So here are the finished border & hearts ...

I think the hearts really POP, don't you?

I'm really looking forward to your feedback on this one as I want it to be just perfect for my stepsister & her soon to be (in a matter of hours) hubby!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Wedding Piece Update ...

2009-10-16T15:10:00.002-07:00

Hello Stitching Friends!!!

I have another update! Together is moving right along! The blue heart is taking a little longer as I have to pay very close attention to the symbols as one of the blues is the ( symbol and another is the ) symbol and they are right next to each other so it's very easy to mix them up. But I'm done with both of those symbols now, so it's gotten easier. Just a couple more colors of the blue heart and then it's LOTS of back stitching to go and then Together will be all finished! :~) I know this won't be finished in time for the wedding, but I don't think my stepsister will mind at all. She is such a sweetheart and I know no matter when she gets it she will love it. I can't wait to hear how she likes it once she is does receive it & open it up.

So here is my most recent progress pic ...

I love how the hearts are coming together! I think they are so pretty.

Well back to stitching!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend & I'll post again really soon!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Wedding Piece Progress ...

2009-10-15T13:49:00.002-07:00

Hi Everyone!

I had a couple things that kept me from stitching for a few days. So unless I finish this piece tonight and then mail it overnight shipping tomorrow, I won't get this in in the mail in time for my stepsister to receive for her wedding day on Saturday. Although I don't think it's going to matter too much if they receive it early next week. I think it will be a nice surprise no matter what even if it a few days late.

So here is my progress from a few days ago ...

Since taking this picture, I have actually made a lot more progress. The pink heart is completely finished and I have made some great progress on the blue heart. I will post another update later on tonight after I do some more stitching today. I just love stitching this piece. The colors are so pretty and I love the way the colors inside the hearts work together.

Thanks to everyone for all of your support while stitching this piece. I really appreciate it. And thank you to those that have left me comments! I just love getting comments. It helps encourage me so very much! :~)

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Wedding Piece Progress ...

2009-10-08T21:00:00.002-07:00

Hi Friends and Fellow Stitchers!

I am making some progress on this wedding piece that I am working on. Although I haven't been able to stitch the past few days, this is where I stopped then. It is lots of fun to stitch! I am working on getting the pink heart done by tomorrow night. Once that is finished, I will post more progress. But here is where I am so far ...

So what do you think so far? It's really actually starting to look like something!!! :~) Only 9 days until the wedding day. But of course I have to have it in the mail a few days before that in order to get there in time for them to open it on their wedding day! YIKES!!! I had better get my butt busy! LOL!!!

I will post again soon! Hope you all are doing well and stitching like crazy!

Happy Stitching!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

A Little Bit More Progress on the Wedding Piece

2009-09-30T11:14:00.002-07:00

Hi Everyone!!!

I have a lil bit more progress that I have made on the wedding piece for my stepsister & her soon to be hubby. The border is really simple & I'm just moving right along on it. It's been really fun to stitch so far. The wedding is on October 17th and since I won't be able to attend the wedding since it is in Texas, I want to have this done a week before so that there is plenty of time for mailing.

So here is my progress so far ...

It's not much so far, but the piece is only 120x120, so I shouldn't have any problems getting it done in time so long as nothing else gets in the way lol.

I'll post more real soon!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

A Little Bit of Progress ...

2009-09-27T23:48:00.002-07:00

Hi Friends and Fellow Stitchers!

Boy oh boy, I can't tell you how good it feels to be stitching again! I am so happy to be able to have time to stitch! I have missed it so very much. I do have a little bit of progress to report so far on the piece for a wedding gift for my stepsister & her soon to be husband. It's not a lot of progress, but I am definitely feeling good about how much I've gotten done in the last day. And with an October 17th deadline ... well really more like October 13th, to give time for mailing ... I am also feeling really good about getting it done in time.

So here is my progress thus far ...

I started in the bottom left corner of the design and am working my way around the border. I just love the colors in this pattern. They are so pretty.

Well more to report real soon! :~)

Happy Stitching Ya'll!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Yes I'm Still Alive & Around!

2009-09-26T21:55:00.003-07:00

Hello Friends and Fellow Stitchers!

Yes, it is I, Margie! I am still around and still alive & kicking! I can't believe it has been so long since I have posted anything here on my blog! YIKES! But alas, September has certainly been a CRAZY & CHAOTIC month! On the 2nd, my mom arrived from Texas and then on the 3rd, my mom, my kids & I left for a long road trip to Northern Cali, to pick up my brother. We ended up having to stay a couple extra days than anticipated, but everything worked out and my brother is now living here with my family & I. I have been driving him around everything so he can look for a job. Plus he also does tattoos, so I have been driving him here & there to do those as well. It's been fun and I love that he is here. But I am also looking forward to things winding down and getting back to normal.

I have not gotten much chance to do a lot of stitching. But I have done a little. I have one project that is just a small piece for an RR of a frog playing a horn. It's very cute. I don't have a color picture of what it's supposed to look like so I'm posting a pic of what the pattern looks like so you can get an idea of it. There is no color key involved, so I'm not attempting to publicly post the pattern. The pattern shows happy birthday to be backstitched into it, but I am not doing that part of it. Just the frog and music notes that go with him.

So here is what he looks like ...

Isn't he cute?! All of the pieces in this RR piece are of frogs in this same series. I think it is coming out really adorable. I am stitching the last section in the piece and then it will be mailed back to its owner in New Zealand! I just know she is going to be so thrilled with it!!!

Another piece that I am starting tonight, is for my stepsister and her soon to be new husband. She announced her wedding date just a couple of weeks ago, and with everything going on, I just now found the pattern that I would like to stitch for them. I was actually kind of hoping to find one of those Dimensions Daydreams kits to do, which are very small and quick and easy to do. But no such luck. However, the piece I chose is not very big and I should be able to get it done in time to be mailed and received by their wedding day ... which is October 17th ... RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!!! The piece isn't actually a wedding piece, as there isn't any indication about adding names or a date on it. However, I thought if I remove some of the stars in the design, then I can stitch their names & the date and it will look really nice! And I just love the phrases in the design!!!

Here is what the it will look like ... of course the names & date will be added as well.

Isn't it beautiful?!!! It's hard to read what it says on it with this small picture. So rather than trying to squint to read it, let me just add it here ...

Together we'll walk the trail of life,
Together we'll love, laugh and cry,
Together we'll embrace the Universe,
And together, in dreams, we'll fly!

Isn't that pretty? I think it is. And I just love the hearts in this design! So, like I said I'll be starting this piece tonight. I'm going to be stitching it on white 28 count evenweave over 2 threads. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

Well, I'm off to do some stitching before my quiet time ends. My husband is at work. My kids are in bed asleep. And my brother is out with friends. YAY!

Happy Stitching Everyone!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

First Progress on HAED Pale Rose!

2009-09-01T16:21:00.002-07:00

Hello Everyone!!!

I am so excited to be working on HAED's Pale Rose! August was quite busy, so I didn't get as much stitching time in as I would have liked to. I started Pale Rose on August 10th and worked on it off and on through out the month until last night. I probably was able to stitch about 12 or so days out of the 21. So it's not much progress, but I think it's still turning out good. I started the pattern on page 31, which is the bottom left corner. I have only been stitching one color so far which is DMC 3770. Most of this page is that color. So out of the 16 10x10 squares that I worked on, I have done nearly 1600 stitches of DMC 3770. Obviously it doesn't look like anything at all yet, and will be quite some time before it does start to look like anything. Since my friend and I decided to stitch our SAL one month on and one month off, I won't be posting any September progress on this design. The next post with this design will be October progress.

Here is what Pale Rose will look like when she is all finished ...

And here is my August progress ...

I am going to finish all of the 3770 stitches on this page and then I will go thru and do the rest of the colors on the page, then I will work my way thru the pages to the right until I reach the edge of of the pattern. After that I will move to the next row of pages and so on until it's all done.

So during September, I have a lot going on, but plan on finishing a couple of small pieces and then some more on Henry. Also I have some aprons that I have to make for orders that were placed.

Tomorrow my mom is flying in from Texas. I'm so excited!!! Then on Thursday, my mom and the kids and I are driving to Sacramento to pick up my brother, as he is moving in with my husband and the kids and I! I am really excited about it!!! My husband and son haven't met my brother yet, and my daughter hasn't seen him since she was 5. So we're all REALLY looking forward to him being here. We have to clean out and organize our garage bcuz we are going to build a couple walls in there so create his own bedroom. Then the other half of the garage is going to be my craft & business area. It's going to be so great. And we are going to be really busy LOL.

Well I'm off to run a couple errands and then do a little more around the house to get ready for my Mom to be here!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

FINISHED!!!

2009-08-10T02:55:00.003-07:00

Hi there Friends and Fellow Stitchers!!!

Well tonight I have finished the EMS Geranium Faerie! I am very happy with how she came out and I am loving the sparkle! I have 3 photos to show you ... one is of the faerie taken on the scanner so you can see her close up, one is taken with my camera so that you can see the sparkle in the pink areas & in her wings, and one of the whole piece that shows all of the faeries together, minus the last section that the last person will stitch.

So here she is!

I am very happy to have this faerie finished. And I'm pretty pleased with how she turned out. I was worried that she wouldn't fit in with the other faeires on the piece. But I think she looks pretty good.

I have a little frog to do and finish up the angel that I have started and then this round robin is completely done! :~)

Tomorrow (actually today after looking at the time), I will be starting my SAL with HAED Pale Rose. We will be stitching one month on & one month off. We had planned to start on August 1st, however, after my mother in law passed away, we postponed the start date to August 10th. So we'll stitch the rest of August and then off in September, etc. I'm excited to start it, but I think it will be a slow start.

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

A Small Update on the Faerie ...

2009-08-05T04:20:00.003-07:00

Hello Everyone ~

It has been a hard few days, but at the same time, it has been a good few days, as weird as that sounds. We have been spending so much more time with my husband's family and it has been really great. The brothers are acting like brothers again. Our kids have been playing with their cousins and having so much fun together. I can't recall a time in the past where we have all hung out together so much and felt a true sense of family. The sad part is that it took a death in the family for this to happen. I just hope it doesn't change back to the way it was.

On a brighter note, I finally was able to bring myself to do a little bit of stitching tonite. Yes, I know it is almost 4:30 in the morning. Neither my husband or I have been asleep yet. But I finished the eyes and wings on the faerie, so I thought I would post an update and then try to get at least a little bit of sleep. I think this faerie is turning out really cute. Again, it's not very easy to see the sparkle from the blending filament in the pink areas and now also in the wings. Once I am completely finished I will post a picture both from the scanner and also with my camera so you will hopefully be able to see the sparkle that I've added to it.

So here she is ...

I don't know if I will be able to do anymore stitching on her within the next day or so, but I will try. If not, then I will work on her more in a couple days and hopefully get all the back stitching finished & she will be done!

Thank you all so very much for your kind comments and condolences. We really appreciate them from the bottom of our hearts.

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

No Stitching was done last night ...

2009-07-31T08:12:00.003-07:00

Hello Everyone ~

I should be posting an update on my progress on the EMS Geranium Faerie piece, but I was not able to stitch last night. At 8pm last night, my mother in law passed away. She had been having pain for many years due to a stroke, but there seemed to many more good days recently. We never expected this to happen. She was laying in her recliner, just watching tv, and then she just stopped breathing and was gone. We are going over to their house later on this morning. My youngest brother in law, who is in the Navy, is flying in this morning. My husband is being very strong. His eyes got watery but he never let the tears fall. I know he wants to be strong for the kids and I and the rest of his family. I just hope that he isn't holding anything in. I'm sure he will let it out when he is ready. But right now, he feels the need to be strong. That is his coping mechanism.

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Almost Finished!

2009-07-30T07:08:00.003-07:00

Hi Stitching Friends!

Well, I pulled another all niter, this time however, I only stitched for about half of that time. During my stitching time, I was able to get all of the green areas finished. All I have left is the eyes, wings and back stitching!!! YAY! I will be so glad to get this piece finished and move on the the next one. I am having fun watching this piece come to life!

I used the iridescent blending filament on all the pink areas, and have decided to use the silver blending filament when I do the wings. I think that will look pretty.

So here is what my cute lil faerie looks like now ...

How does she look so far? I am really liking how she is turning out.

Well, I'm off to get a few hours sleep. Later on this afternoon, my husband wants to go to Buffalo Wild Wings, as it is 10 cent boneless wings Thursday. But I expect to have another update by this time tomorrow at the very latest with the eyes and wings done. I will post an update after that and before I start the back stitching.

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Another EMS Geranium Faerie Update ...

2009-07-29T05:00:00.002-07:00

Hi Everybody!!!

Well, I have made my first attempt at using blending filament on all of the pink sections of this piece. It's hard to see the sparkle in it with this picture, but in person it looks really pretty. When I finish the whole piece I will take a picture with just my camera instead of using the scanner and hopefully you'll be able to see the sparkle in it. I think this faerie is turning out pretty cute! I am really excited to be nearly done with the X's. Just the green sections and the wings and then back stitching left!

So here is the EMS Geranium Faerie so far ...

I think I am going to use the silver blending filament for the wings just so it's different then the pink areas.

So that is enough stitching for now. After I get a few hours of sleep, then I will get right back to it! Another update will be coming soon!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

EMS Geranium Faerie Update ...

2009-07-28T00:07:00.003-07:00

Hello Friends!

Well it's been a couple days, and I had some trying times while stitching the body of this cute little faerie, but at last here is an update!

Isn't she cute?! After I had gotten about halfway through stitching the body, I realized a mistake and had to take out almost all of what I had stitched for the body. But now her body is all stitched and it's on to the next section!!!

I am having so much fun stitching this piece. She is such a cute little faerie. I have decided also to add some sparkly Kreinik blending filament when I stitch the wings and the flower in her hair to give it an extra special touch. I think it will look really cute.

I'll have another update really soon!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Round Robin #1 Piece ...

2009-07-24T03:44:00.002-07:00

Hi Everyone!

I am finally making progress on the first round robin that I became involved in. I am sad to say that I have been lagging for way too long on this round robin. The ladies in the group have been so wonderful and patient. And I am determined to get their pieces finished. I wanted to post what I've completed tonite. The theme on this piece is faeries. She chose the stitching area to only be 50x50 stitches and I found it very hard to find a piece that would work out. And finally the piece I chose I had to cut down quite a bit, but I think it will look alright. She is the EMS Fantasy Babies Geranium Faerie.

So here is a picture of what the entire pattern looks like.

Isn't she adorable?!!! Well in order to make her fit into the 50x50 requirement, I have had to cut off most of everything around the faerie, so that there is barely any flower in the top left corner and only a little bit of leaf in the bottom right. In fact, in order to not cut out any of the faerie, I am actually stitching 54x56. So I am hoping the lady whose piece this is doesn't mind that it's a tiny bit larger than what she asked.

I completed the hair tonite. And here is a picture of it.

You can see where the hair is just slightly above the marks. Again, I am hoping she won't mind.

I'll be posting another update again very soon, as I want to get this piece as well as the other 2 finished by the end of the month ... 8 days and counting! Wish me luck!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Starting an HAED SAL on August 1st!

2009-07-24T00:44:00.003-07:00

Hello Fellow Stitching Friends!!!

I will be starting an SAL on August 1st with one of my best friends. We are both going to stitch the same pattern, and both of us are stitching this piece for our daughters bcuz the design fits them so well. It is from Heaven and Earth Designs (HAED). The pattern is called Pale Rose. The pattern is 400x530 stitches. Although all HAED patterns call for 25 count fabric stitched over one, I am going to be stitching on 18 count white aida. This will make the final piece 22 inches wide by 29 7/16 inches tall. There are 90 colors, as is pretty standard for most of their large designs. I have everything ready to go, except for one thing. I have decided to try gridding the aida this time. I have seen a few other people do it, and I think it will make it so much easier for keeping track of where I am on the piece when i stop & start, etc. Have any of you gridded your fabric before stitching a piece? Have you found it helpful?

Here is a picture of what the piece will look like all finished.

Isn't it beautiful?!!! I just love it! My daughter LOVES the color pink as much as I love the color purple. And her favorite flowers are pink roses. So this couldn't be more perfect for her.

This is a picture of my printed out pattern, as well as the entire pattern all enlarged for a working copy, and also all of the floss that I will need to complete this piece.

It's kind of hard to see the colors of the floss just right as I took the picture on my dining room table. I will take a better one with them sitting on top of the fabric and you will be able to see them better. The funny thing is that you would think there would be LOTS of different shades of pinks for this pattern. But really there are more orange/peach/coral type colors than there are pinks. Since I will be using 18 count instead of 25 count, the floss usage will be more than what the floss usage list says. So what I did was, if the list said I would need 4 skeins of a color, then I bought 6 skeins. If it said I would need 8 skeins, then I bought 12, and so on.

So what my friend and I decided to do, bcuz we both know we'll want a break from it once in a while and we will want to work on other things bcuz the holidays will be coming up, etc, we are going to do a one month on and one month off SAL. So we'll start in August, then we'll take September off, then we'll work on it in October and take November off, etc. And we'll keep doing that until we finish the piece! :~) What I thought I would do is at the end of each SAL stitching month, I will post my month long progress here on my blog so you can all see how I'm doing on it.

I am very excited to work on this. My daughter doesn't even know I'm going to stitch this for her. During the first couple of weeks of August it will be harder to hide it from her as she will still be home on summer vacation and I will probably only work on it after she goes to bed. But once she starts school, then I'll be able to work on it while she's at school too. I am going to be starting in the bottom left corner of the pattern. And my friend will be starting at the top left corner.

Yes, I know it will be yet another WIP, but since we are going to be doing the one month on & one month off, that will give me time to work on my other WIPs as well as make the items people order from my business. Plus my friend that I will be stitching with is not an extremely fast stitcher like the last lady I was doing an SAL with. That lady, btw, completed her entire piece a couple months ago. It took her 4 months to stitch the entire piece. Anyway, this is going to be great! :~)

Well, I'm off to finish up some small projects that I want to get done before the end of the month!

Happy Stitching!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Thought I'd Post a Pic ...

2009-07-22T21:16:00.002-07:00

I thought I would post a pic of what my RR piece looked like before it was mailed off to the last person. My friend (Henry's owner) sent me this picture so that I would at least know what it looked like. It might be hard to see, but some sparkly blending filament was added to each section (even mine) after it left me in order to give it a little something special.

Aren't they some adorable Lil Devils?!!! My piece was the one in the bottom left corner. My friend stitched the one with the scissors and also came up with the idea of adding the sparklies to it. And the Tatty Teddy lady stitched the one with the thimble. Now, I ask you, how can someone put so much effort into a piece just to convince another to throw it away? Shameful, isn't it?

Again Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

I am sad & upset ...

2009-07-22T19:23:00.002-07:00

Yep that describes it. Sad and upset. I know some of you have seen my posts of the Round Robin pieces that I have stitched ... The Tatty Teddy with Hearts and the Autumn Snowman and also Henry the snowman. Well I am taking my time with Henry, bcuz the person who's piece that is completely ok with that while I get some other things done. HOWEVER, the other two ladies in the round robin, have both received their pieces back COMPLETED, but have apparently decided to not send me mine back. It is absolutely absurd! My friend who is getting Henry, had a falling out with the lady who had the Tatty Teddy theme. And the lady who got the Autumn Snowman has sided with Tatty Teddy lady and was supposed to send me my piece back, finished or not, but it has been almost 2 months and I have not only received my piece back, but both of them have removed me from their friends list on facebook and blocked me and will not respond to my emails when I ask about where my piece is. I have done absolutely NOTHING wrong to either of these ladies. Since all of this has happened I have found out that every round robin that Tatty Teddy lady has been in, she has made sure one person does not get their piece back. I wish I had known that before I agreed to join a round robin with her. It's just so upsetting to know that they can be so cruel and keep something from someone for absolutely no reason other than to be just plain mean. How does someone do that to another person?!!! Everyday when I check the mail, I still have hopes that I will open up my mailbox and my piece will be there. But the more time that goes by, the more those hopes fade. I hadn't done a round robin in several years bcuz the first time I was in one, I never received my piece back. There was one lady who kept everyone's pieces. But then I had become friends with these ladies on facebook, and they talked about a round robin and I thought sure why not. I never in a million years thought this would happen. But this one person had to ruin it all for everyone. First she decided to kick out one of the original four and replace her with Autumn Snowman lady. And from what I heard she also was wanting to kick me out too. My friend (Henry's owner) told me I should just back out. I said no I am going to stick to my commitment. I should have listened. But I also know everything happens for a reason and there was a reason that I needed to stay in the round robin. And I know now that the reason was so that my friend would get her piece back. Bcuz I'm sure that if I hadn't stayed in the RR, then she would have been the one to not get her piece back. At this point, although I would really like to get my piece back, I just want to know what has happened to it. There is another friend that still talks to Tatty Teddy lady, and she has tried to ask her if she knows anything about it. But she lies and says that I should contact the last lady who had it. Which is absolutely ridiculous bcuz we all know she knows exactly what happened to it.

Anyways, as you can see I chose not to name any names. I don't want the drama. I just needed to vent about this whole thing. I don't think it's right. And I am sad that I will never see my Lil Stitch Devils in person again.

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Still Stitching Henry ...

2009-06-03T18:51:00.003-07:00

Hello Friends and Fellow Stitchers!

I haven't posted any updates on Henry lately bcuz I'm trying to get the whole section of leaves and flowers finished on the bottom first, with the exception of the back stitching and beads. I'll be saving all of the back Stitching and beads until I've finished all of the X's first. I am getting close to finished with that area of the pattern so there will be a photo update real soon. I just wanted to keep you all posted on what's going on with this piece.

Things have been a little crazy lately. I've been having issues with sleeping the past couple of weeks. My nights have become days and days have become nights. I'm sure that it has a lot to do with the fact that I have had SO much on my mind lately. And no matter how hard I try to clear my mind when I go to bed, it just wants to go a million miles a minute and not quiet down so that I can sleep. I mean sheesh, shut up already! LOL. Also my husband is on graveyard shifts right now, and I always tend to stay up late when he's working all night. Thankfully tonite is the last night and then he is off work until Sunday. And then he will be on days. I'm really hoping that I will be able to get my sleep patterns back in check during that time. I feel really tired right now. I'm sure that if I went to bed right now that I would be able to sleep for hours. However, even if I could go to bed right now, that just wouldn't work bcuz then I would be up in the middle of the night and wide awake. Besides, I can't do that anyway. My kids won't be in bed for another hour or two. I am hoping by the time they go to bed that I will still be feeling as tired as I do right now so that I can go to bed then and fall right to sleep.

Last night while awake, I started organizing all of the many patterns that I have. I printed out the directories from my computer to list all of them. And so now I am writing out a master list. Afterwards, I plan on typing them up in a word doc. It's going to make it so much easier to have this master list.

Well that is all that I have right now. I am going to work some more on my pattern organization and then maybe get a little bit of stitching done before I get the kids ready for bed and then hopefully myself.

Have a great night Everyone and Happy Stitching!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

First Update on Henry ...

2009-05-17T23:56:00.003-07:00

Hi Everyone!!!

Well it has been a busy weekend. I wish I could say that I spent the weekend stitching and relaxing. But alas, no such luck LOL. I spent the weekend mostly helping my kids clean their rooms completely clean and rearranging their rooms. It's amazing how just moving the furniture around can change the whole look of the room. So tonight after putting the kids to bed, I was finally able to sit and do some stitching. I couldn't believe it was after 10pm before my daughter finally went to bed. And my son, it was after 11pm. He is such a night owl!

So I worked on Henry tonight. And he is coming along nicely. It is such a cute pattern. And I can't wait to see how he looks all finished. If you remember the picture that I posted of what he will look like all done a few days ago, I have decided to add a few things in order to make this piece extra special. I am the last person to stitch on this piece. So once I'm finished, I will mail it back to the owner of the piece. She is a wonderful friend and has been going through quite a lot lately. And I just want to show her how special she is and how much she means to me as my friend. Now, the pattern calls for french knots for the eye of the robin, the centers of all of the little red flowers, and a cluster in the center of the large white flowers. So what I thought I would do is rather than doing french knots, I am going to use beads. A black bead for the robin's eye, clear irridescent beads for the centers of the little red flowers (I will use white floss to attach them), and for the cluster in the middle of the large white flowers, I thought I would use some orange irridescent beads, since the color of floss for the french knots is DMC 947 which is a bright orange. What do you think of this idea? I was also thinking of adding a little bit of sparkle to the design by adding some sparkly blending filament to either the white of the snowman, or the blue background around the snowman. I am not sure which one would look better. Any suggestions would be really appreciated, if you have any. And I thank you in advance!

Oh ... well I guess I had better show you what I've done so far, huh? Got all wrapped up in telling you my ideas and almost forgot to post the picture! Boy it has been a long weekend! LOL!

So not very much so far, but at least you can see a picture already taking shape! I can't wait to finish this and send it off to the recipient! All of the other designs on this piece are so beautiful. I just hope my section does it justice.

Well again, please let me know what you think of my ideas for adding that little something extra, and which area you think I should add the sparkle to. Thank you again very much for your input! And especially thank you for reading my blog and all of your comments!

Have a wonderful day and Happy Stitching!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Wow! One Year Blogoversary Already!

2009-05-17T21:18:00.002-07:00

Hi Fellow Stitching Friends!!!

Wow! I can't believe it has been one year today since I started my blog! When I first started my blog, I had no idea that I would make so many friends and have so many people that would be reading my blog. And I definitely had no idea I would be receiving awards on my blog! I have been having so much fun blogging. I didn't think I would be so into blogging. I mean I had tried Live Journal for a while. But I just never really got too into it. And then I came across Blogger. I thought "why not"! And I am so glad that I did! I have "met" so many wonderful people. You all make blogging worth absolutely worth while! I always look forward to reading all of your sweet & kind comments. They never fail to bring a smile to my face. I always look forward to each and every comment! Thank you all so very much for all of your encouragement and support on my blog!!!

So here's to many more blogoversaries in the future!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

PS ~ I will be posting an update on "Henry" very soon!!!

I Received A Blog Award!

2009-05-14T11:39:00.004-07:00

Hi there my friends and fellow stitchers!

I awoke today to a wonderful surprise! Dawn awarded me & my blog and AWARD!!! That was so very sweet of you, Dawn! Thank you very much! First, I think that Carolyn was absolutely right in awarding you this award. You are such a sweet and wonderful and supportive person. I thank you for everything you have done for me.

Here is the meaning of the award ...

"This blog invests and believes in the PROXIMITY-nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. "

The rules state that I am to pass this on to 8 other bloggers. Here are the bloggers I have chosen ...

1 ~ Mel
2 ~ CindyMae
3 ~ Mary L
4 ~ Chiloe
5 ~ Tammy
6 ~ Carla (CC)
7 ~ Shelleen
8 ~ Terry

All of you ladies are great and wonderful people. You support your fellow stitchers and also spread you love and kindness to several others in the world. You stand up for and support for causes that you believe in and are not afraid to do so. You are amazing ladies! Kudos to you all and thank you for all that you do!

I would like to thank all of those that leave comments on my blog. For the condolences left when my cousin passed, for the compliments on my stitching, for the well wishes, for the encouragement when my stitching bug evades me, for everything! I know that I have not personally responded to every comment, and for that I apologize. All of the comments are very appreciated and make my day and touch my heart. I always look forward to checking my blog for comments especially when I am having an off day or am not feeling in the best of spirits, and the comments you all leave, always brighten my day. And I thank you from the bottom of my heart for that.

Thank you again, Dawn, for awarding me with this special award. It means so very much.

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Snowmen for All Seasons Autumn is FINISHED!!!

2009-05-13T11:48:00.002-07:00

Hi Friends and Fellow Stitchers!!!

WOOHOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This one is finished!!! Ok, so remember I had mentioned that I couldn't get the Stoney Creek carrot buttons that the pattern called for? Well so I bought ones that in my opinion would work nicely. HOWEVER! After I purchased 4 of these small carrot buttons, which I thought were the perfect size, I then decided to look at each of the patterns just to make sure that I had enough buttons. Well to my surprise, on the Winter piece, there are not only more than one snowman, but there are 3 smaller snowmen on the pattern. Which means I had to get 4 carrot buttons that were the next size up for the snowman that I just finished, as well as the other larger snowmen on the other patterns. So I did that this morning, got the larger carrots, and have now attached one to my snowman. I am not sure if it looks alright or not. To me it kind of looks like a Jimmy Durante nose if Jimmy Durante were a snowman LOL! But please let me know what you think. Maybe I'm just overly critical of my piece.

So here it is! All FINISHED!

So whatcha think? I really did enjoy stitching this piece. I just absolutely love it ... well except for the nose lol.

So on to my next and final piece in this round robin! It's another SNOWMAN! This one is called Snowman & Robin. However, the snowman has since been fondly named ... Henry.

So here is what Henry will look like when he's all finished!

So I have already started right in the middle of the pattern, working on Henry's scarf right now! I'll post a picture soon!

I want to thank all of you my wonderful friends and fellow stitchers for stopping by my blog and leaving your sweet comments! I just love reading all the comments that everyone posts on my blog. It always gives me the warm fuzzies and makes me feel so good and happy! Thank you again very much for your kind words!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

All That's Left is the Carrot Nose Button!

2009-05-13T08:01:00.002-07:00

Hello Fellow Stitchers & Friends!!!

I am so happy to report that other than attaching the carrot nose button on this cute lil guy, I am finished with the Snowmen for All Seasons Autumn!!!

As soon as the stitching store opens I will be going to purchase the larger sized carrot buttons. And then I will come home and attach one to my piece and off in the mail he goes! YAY!!!

Here is what he looks like all finished without his nose ...

Not too bad, huh? Boy I'll tell you, I will be so glad when this round robin is finished. Which is right around the corner. I have one more piece to stitch and then it's done!

I'll scan and post another picture after I attach the carrot nose!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

So Excited! So Close to Being Finished!!!

2009-05-12T00:14:00.002-07:00

Hi Everyone!!!

I am so excited! I am getting so very close to getting this piece finished! I have another update to show you of my progress. And after I uploaded this picture to my facebook album, I realized that I missed stitching the stem of the weather vain on the top of the barn! LOL! So I will have to go back & do that. But that's ok. Stuff happens. I was trying to hurry along and just missed it all together.

So here is my updated progress!

It's really starting to come alive and take shape! I will go tomorrow and get those other carrot buttons and then I'll attach one to my piece. And get that all mailed off! I hope the person that will receive this likes this pattern series. I just love it and can't wait to stitch the entire series for myself!

Happy Stitching Everyone!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Some of the Back Stitching is Finished ...

2009-05-11T12:05:00.003-07:00

Hi Fellow Stitchers & Friends!!!

This update is actually from a couple of days ago. I am just now getting a chance to add it to my blog. I have more finished on the back stitching since this photo, but I haven't scanned that yet. I am so excited that I am getting so close to finishing this piece. It will be good to have it finished and get it in the mail to the next person. I wasn't able to do any stitching yesterday. Today, I plan on doing some stitching this afternoon. Tomorrow I have to go to the stitching store and pick up a different carrot button for the nose of this snowman. I bought buttons for all of the snowmen in the pattern series so that the other ladies don't have to worry about trying to find them. They are in Canada and it's harder for them to find items like that. Plus I thought it would be better if all of the carrot noses on the snowmen match. Anyway, I didn't realize until after I had purchased the buttons that the Winter pattern doesn't just have one big snowman. It actually has 2 big snowmen and 3 little ones. So I have to go back to the stitching store and get 5 slightly larger carrot buttons. I had planned on having everything done except for the carrot button being attached and then going to the stitching store today. But it is closed on Mondays. So I have to wait until tomorrow. They are not the carrot buttons that the pattern calls for however. This store only carries a few of the Stoney Creek buttons. And the stand up carrot ones are not included. So they would have to order them. So I'll use what they do have. I think they will still look really good.

Anyway, here is an update of my Autumn Snowman!

So there it is so far! The back stitching is going pretty quickly as it is simple and not anything like the Tatty Teddy back stitching. I am nearly done with the back stitching on the left side of the snowman right now, working on the barn. Then it will be the snowman back stitching and then the little bit for the heart on the letter O in LOVE and then my signature and it's FINISHED!!! So I'll post another update really soon!

Hugs to you all for all of your comments and support. I really appreciate every single one!!!

Happy Stitching!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Nothing But Back Stitching Left!!!

2009-05-07T18:20:00.004-07:00

Hi Everybody!

Yes, the plan was to be done with this piece by now. But after my last update post, my stitching bug just went right away. I tried to stitch a couple times, but just didn't have it in me. So I did no stitching until a couple days ago. But in that couple days, I finished all of the X stitches on the pattern and now have nothing left but all of the back stitching!!! There is A LOT of back stitching, but it's all easy back stitching. Nothing like the Tatty Teddy back stitching at all LOL. I am really happy to have my stitching bug back. I really have missed it since I like this piece so much. It's really coming together and is looking SO CUTE! I can't wait to finish the RR, so that I can stitch all of the patterns in this series for our home!

And with that here is my update of the Snowmen for All Seasons Autumn!

Now the person that will receive this RR doesn't know what they are. She joined the RR later than the rest of us, and so when she mailed her fabric out it was blank except for the 4 areas marked off. She told the rest of us that she wasn't picking a theme, but that we could pick anything. She also told one of the girls that she didn't want anything that was "cutesy" looking. That friend said she is worried that this pattern series is too cutesy. I think the patterns are very cute. So does that mean these actually ARE cutesy? Do you all think this pattern series is "cutesy"? Let me know what you think on this please.

Well, I'm off to work on back stitching!

Happy Stitching to you all!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

A New Interesting Online Game ...

2009-04-23T23:45:00.004-07:00

A friend of mine told me about this online game and so I decided to check it out! It's called Dragon's Cave. The purpose is to adopt a Dragon Egg and raise it until it hatches and then raise the Dragon! Sounds pretty interesting. So I have adopted my first egg! Please click on my Dragon Egg to check it out!

Just a cute Lil Dragon Egg that will one day be a big beautiful dragon! So we'll see how things go!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

UPDATE ~~~ Yeah so this wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be LOL.

Another Update on the Snowman!

2009-04-22T08:42:00.004-07:00

Hi Friends and Fellow Stitchers!

I finally picked up my stitching again the other nite thanks to some support and encouragement from Dawn. She IMd me and we had a really nice conversation. She helped make me feel better. And reminded me how therapeutic working on my cross stitching would be. And she was absolutely right! Thank you so much, Dawn, for being such a great friend!

So since then, I have been stitching a bit and I have an update on the cute autumn snowman! I have been having so much fun stitching this piece and watching it come together. So here is the progress so far ...

I think it's looking pretty cute. Of course even once I finish all of the cross stitching, there is LOTS of backstitching to do. But that will really bring it together. It's kind of hard to see on this picture, but the eyes of the snowman are 2 beads. And I had such a hard time finding a needle that I had that was skinny enough for the beads. I had to borrow a needle from one of the Mill Hill kits that I have. I had a bunch of needles before which included beading needles, but after moving a couple of times, they have disappeared. Oh well, I found a needle & got it done. I hope to get the rest of the cross stitching done within the next couple of days & then get the backstitching started by the weekend at the very latest, but hopefully by Friday. And of course I will post another update after I finish all of the X's! :)

Happy Stitching All!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Just Wanted to Let Ya'll Know ...

2009-04-19T10:01:00.002-07:00

Hi Everyone!

I just thought I would let you know in case you were wondering, the HAED design Wicca that I started I am still planning on working on it ASAP. Right now however, I really do have to get these RR's finished that I am in. I don't want to hold up the show so to speak. I am really looking forward to getting back to Wicca though. And I can't wait until it is finished. I am hoping that once I am able to get back to it that I will be able to get it finished by the end of the year. But if that doesn't happen, my goal is to at least have it finished by the beginning of March, 2010. We have our county fair in April each year and I would really like to be able to enter it into next year's fair. My friend that is also working on Wicca is making AMAZING progress on it! She is almost nearly finished! And it looks absolutely beautiful!!! It is exactly 3 months since the day we started on it and I must show you her progress so far.

Isn't it beautiful!!! This is the latest update I have seen. She may even be farther than this. I just think she is doing such an awesome job on it.

So anyways, again just to let you know, I WILL be getting back to this very soon!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

I have an update ... and a sad loss to report ...

2009-04-18T18:40:00.006-07:00

Hello Everyone!

How are you all doing? Really well I hope. As for me, well I was doing really well. Until Thursday morning when I got a phone call. In Michigan, I have an aunt & uncle & 2 cousins. The cousins are both married. My cousin, Maria is 33 and my cousin, Dominic just turned 36 on March 28th. Well the phone call that I received was from my cousin Maria. I answered the phone very happy to receive her call & excited to talk to her. And then I heard tone in her voice. She was very upset and it was clear that she was crying. My first thoughts were that something had happened to my uncle as he has had heart issues in the past & surgeries for it. I asked her what was wrong & what happened. I never expected what she was about to say. My cousin Dominic had passed away very early Wednesday morning. I was shocked & stunned. And it took a few minutes for it to sink in. I tried to keep my cool while I listened to Maria explain everything, fighting back the hysterics, with tears still managing to escape my eyes and stream down my face. My husband sitting on the couch watching my face and listening very closely to what I was saying. Dominic went out with friends Tuesday nite and after a while he told his friends that he wasn't feeling well and asked for them to take him home. His friends could tell he wasn't feeling well. He was sweating very badly and just didn't look good. They wanted to take him to the hospital. But he told them that he just wanted to go home. So they followed his wishes. They helped him in the house & into his chair and covered him up with his blanket. And they left. The next morning, his wife (no one can stand this woman) discovered him face down on the floor and he has passed away. His blanket was soaking wet from all the sweating. But no one knows what happened. No one knows what he died from. Dominic & Maria are my favorite cousins and I am deeply saddened by this. I am going to miss him so much. He was way too young. We are all waiting for the autopsy results. But the services are Sunday and Monday. And unfortunately we do not have the funds for me to fly back to Michigan for the services. After I got off the phone with Maria, my husband immediately came over to me & wrapped his arms around me. And that is when I lost it. I was so glad that he was off work that day. So in the last 3 days I haven't slept very well. And I just don't have the energy to do anything. I haven't done any stitching or much of anything else. I miss my cousin. I keep thinking of times past. Of how much fun we had as kids and teens. Of the visit we had last summer. He was such a great guy. My uncle is taking this so very very hard. I worry about him too. Yesterday afternoon, an idea came into my head. I have a nice picture of my cousin that was taken last summer when we were there. So I decided that I would make a few copies of the picture, and design and stitch a memorial plaque. I will give one to my aunt and uncle and also one to my cousin Maria. And one for my brother and of course one to keep for us. I may not have the amitbion or energy to stitch right now, but my crazy creative brain just doesn't shut off. Not even in times like these. Is that nuts?!

Prior to this news, I had been working hard on the snowman pattern that I showed you all in my previous post. So I wanted to share with you all my updated progress. So here is my progress so far ...

I think it is coming along nicely. The pattern is 90x90 and I would have thought I would be able to get it finished a lot faster. But it seems to be a lot more stitching than I had anticipated. But then again, I did have to take out 2/3 of the orange & yellow stripes since I thought the snowman sat on top of them & not IN them. Then I messed up a bit on one of the snowman's black mittens & had to take out & fix that. I am hoping it doesn't take too much longer to get this stitched. I don't like to hold up the show on the RR's. After I get all of the stitching part done then there is all of the backstitching to be done. It's easy backstitching, but just A LOT of it. LOL. I can't wait to see it all finished. And then to get it into the mail. I am going to try to work on it a little bit tonite. Hopefully I will be able to. So what do you think so far?

I will post another update as soon as I can! I also have to stitch a couple of football helmets for a couple of my very best friends. She is a Cowboys fan and he is a Packers fan. I have some cute patterns of the helmets for those teams. They look to be pretty quick stitches, but we'll see. They are 60x76. I will post the pictures for those when I am able to get them stitched.

Happy Stitching Everyone!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

A Finish & WIP RR Piece

2009-04-05T22:22:00.007-07:00

Hi Fellow Stitchers & Friends!!!

Well it has been a long time since I've posted anything. Part of the reason for that is stuff that I mentioned in my previous post, lack of sleep. I was having so many sleep issues that I just didn't have the energy when I was awake to do much of anything. Also I was discouraged bcuz of the SAL that I was/am doing with the HAED pattern. I have not worked on that since I posted my last progress update. I will get back to it. However right now it is much more important that I finish my RR pieces. I am involved in 2 different RR's. And I have to get them finished. I am feeling very terrible for holding up the process. But I am working hard & I know I will get everything caught up. I am so upset with myself, but I know I will get there. And I am thankful that in the one RR, the other ladies are so patient & understanding.

Anyway, let me show you the photos that I have for a piece that I have finished and also another that I am working on.

One lady selected the heart themed Tatty Teddies as her theme. And she is going to give the finished piece to her husband for their anniversary. It is so cute! And such a great idea. I'm sure her husband will love it. I do have to say that this is the first Tatty Teddy that I have ever stitched. And I had no idea how much backstitching was involved in it until I came to that point in the pattern. Normally backstitching doesn't bother me in the least. However the backstitching for Tatty Teddies is WOW! Such a pain in the backside! I love the finished piece, but I have to say that I don't think that I will be doing another one anytime soon unless I stitch it on evenweave over two threads. The piece that I did was Tatty Teddy Little Hearts. And to add an extra special touch, I did the backstitching of the hearts in red metallic floss. I think it looks pretty good! Here is the photo of it ...

It's a little hard in the photo to see the red metallic floss around the hearts, However I think it turned our really well.

The next piece in this same RR, is a pattern series called Snowmen for All Seasons. Since fall/autumn is my favorite season, that is the piece I selected. The entire pattern series is absolutely adorable & I am looking forward to stitching the entire series for my home also.

Here is a photo of the entire pattern series ...

The photo itself is not the best, but I hope you can see it well enough to know what it looks like. The finished RR piece will not be all straight in a row like this. The first two will be on the top & the third & fourth will be on the bottom when all of the pieces have been all stitched. Isn't this just TOO CUTE!!!

So as I said I am going to do the fall/autumn piece. I just love it! Here is a photo of that part of the pattern series ...

This is so cute! And the nose on each snowman is a cute tiny little carrot button. Here is a photo of what I have done so far ...

Now I was moving right along on this. However, if you look closely at what the finished pattern will look like, you will see that where the orange & yellow stripes are, they are not even all the way across. The snowman sits IN those stripes not on top of them. And when I first looked at the pattern I thought that the snowman sat on top of them. So it was not until after I scanned & uploaded the photos that I realized that I had screwed up on the stitching. So since scanning this photo yesterday, I have since had to take out most of the orange & yellow stripes & fix my mistakes. It is frustrating, however, I am of course upset with myself for not looking at both pages of the pattern before I stitched this section. I was trying to do the pattern in a hurry bcuz I want to get it finished & off in the mail to the next person. And now I am taking longer bcuz of it. Oh well, these things happen & such is life in the world of cross stitch! LOL.

So that is what & how I am doing at this time. I am looking forward to posting more updates!!!

Happy Stitching Everyone!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Lack of Sleep is Causing My Stitching to Suffer ...

2009-02-04T23:53:00.002-07:00

So I haven't done any stitching in just over a week ~ it's been very frustrating. I have wanted to stitch, however I am having some issues with sleeping & so therefore when I am awake I feel to mentally & physically drained to concentrate on any stitching. Believe me it's not the lack of wanting to stitch. I just haven't had the energy. And of course since my stitching is suffering, so is the laundry & housework. So I will have to concentrate on that first before I allow myself to work on stitching. I will probably try to pick up my needle on occasion when taking a break from doing some cleaning and between loads of laundry. And once I get caught up on that I am full speed ahead with a needle & floss for sure!!! And it's funny, well not really haha funny, but still funny none the less, that my friend that I have been SALing with on HAED Wicca is also stitching a little slower the past week or so. Which would have been a great time for me to make some progress to try to catch up with her if I had the energy LOL. Oh well so is life. :~)

As it is now reached the midnite witching hour, I find myself still awake but starting to feel the sandman so this is a good thing. At least it's not 5am like it has been most nites over the last almost week & a half.

And with that I wish you all a fond g'nite & will post again very soon!

Until Next Time,
Margie

A Sweet Award from a Wonderful Friend!

2009-01-28T21:26:00.002-07:00

Tonite while working on a new post on my blog, I received a message from a great friend telling me that she has given me an award! I am so honored to receive this award! Thank you very much, Dawn!!!

I have never really thought of myself as a Spreader of Love. I am often very critical of myself and told by friends & family (and even former supervisors that I worked for!) that I am my own worst enemy. Even former supervisors, when I worked for them, would say that I criticize myself even more than they do! I like very much to do anything in my power to help people to be happy. I try my best to cheer them up if they are down, motivate if they are struggling, and support them in any endeavor they attempt. To me, this is just me doing what I do. And for someone as wonderful as Dawn to present me with this award is so special & amazing to me.

The rules of the award are to select 5 people that I think deserve this award. Let me just start by saying I think there are so many people that I believe are deserving of this award. So many fellow bloggers have been so kind to me since I started my blog. It is definitely going to be very tough to narrow it down to a mere five. If I could present the award back to Dawn, I would absolutely do so. She is so supportive & such a kind person. She is always one of the very first to comment on every single post that I make. I always look forward to & appreciate her comments.

Here are the 5 amazing people that I have chosen for this award ...

Ashley bcuz you are so much fun & your comments always make me smile!

Romantic Fool bcuz your words of encouragement always keep me going.

Meari bcuz your comments are kind & supportive & really help me to keep it real.

Terry bcuz you are not only supportive in stitching but you are also a fellow Autism supporter with a child on the Autism spectrum and that is so important to me. I too have a child on the Autism spectrum. Your blogs are awesome & love how you promote Autism Awareness.

Lana (A Joyful Stitcher) bcuz your comments always cheer me up & make me feel better if I am discouraged about my stitching.

I was not able to link to Lana's blog, so if anyone is able to please contact her & let her know I would really really appreciate it. And I thank you in advance for your help! :~)

Ladies, it is now up to you to select 5 other deserving people of this wonderful award! And again, I offer my thanks to Dawn for honoring me with this award! :~)

♥ Margie ♥

HAED Wicca Progress 3 ...

2009-01-28T20:45:00.003-07:00

Hello Again My Friends!!!

Well I haven't gotten very much done on this pattern. But I haven't been able to stitch the past couple of days due to other things going on. We've had lots of errands to run, etc. But I do plan on stitching a bit tonite & then more tomorrow for sure. Anyway, as I've told you I am stitching this pattern along with a friend online. She is such an amazing stitcher that is lightening fast. I am really enjoying stitching along with her. But when she posts updates I get a little bit discouraged since I am not able to keep up in the least. I mean I am still working on my first page & she has already completed 4 pages! So I am going to post a picture of my progress so far, which doesn't look like anything yet, and then I'll post a couple of updates that my friend has posted, all in a matter of days of each other. It is truly amazing at how much stitching she is able to complete in such a short amount of time.

Here is my progress so far ...

So here it is so far. No longer looks like I'm stitching a cow, but it's obvious that you can't tell what it is to become yet. But I'll get there ... one stitch at a time. I am really enjoying stitching this pattern. Oh! Also I ordered some "stitchers tools" which should be arriving tomorrow that will help me along the way. One tool is a floss organizer so that I can cut several strands of floss ahead of time. The other is a needle organizer so that I can pre-thread all the colors of floss for this pattern & won't have to worry about re-threading for each color. Can't wait to get those! :~D

Ok, so now here are my friend's latest updates.

2 pages completed by my friend.

4 pages completed.

We started this pattern together on January 19th. On January 22, my friend had her first page finished. Then her second page was finished on January 24th. As of yesterday, January 27, she had completed both her third and fourth pages. And I am still working on the popcorn/confetti stitching of my first page. But I'll get there. I had one friend that compared me to a turtle & my SAL friend to a cheetah. But not in a bad way. She also said it's like taking a road trip. My kind of stitching is like being on a road trip & seeing all the sights along the way & truly enjoying the trip. My SAL friend's kind of stitching is like being on a road trip & only stopping for gas along the way. I am absolutely sure that my friend that is also stitching Wicca is also really enjoying stitching the piece, so I am not so sure that this is quite the right metaphor. I think that she just is so excited about the pieces that she stitches that she is able to really stitch fast! I'm like a Volkswagon Bug and she's a Ferrari! LOL!!!

So there is our progress so far! I will post more soon!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

HAED Wicca Progress 2 ...

2009-01-23T02:09:00.005-07:00

Hello My Fellow Stitchers!!!

Well here I am 3 days into this pattern and I am really loving it!!! I know this is going to take me a long time to get this piece finished. But it doesn't matter. It's so fun & exciting so far. As I said before, one of my online stitching friends & I are stitching this one together, so to speak. We both started on Monday. Now, technically it is Friday (after 2 in the morning however) so we're 4 days into it. But today doesn't really count so far. And my friend stitches soooooooooooooo fast!!! I was intimidated & nervous about stitching along with her bcuz of how fast she stitches, however I am beginning to think that her lightening fast needle is motivating me a little more. Hopefully other areas of my life won't suffer bcuz of it tho. LOL. As you can see it is after 2am in the morning and I am still awake. And don't have plans on going to bed anytime soon bcuz I just want to stitch & stitch & STITCH!!! I am loving stitching this pattern. Anyway, so my friend started stitching this piece in the top center of the pattern & I started on the bottom center of the pattern. So our pieces will each look different as we progress. I have finished all the black on the page that I am working on. And so I thought I would post an update!!! And I also wanted to show you just how fast my friend stitches & post a picture of her progress so far. She has already finished a full page and is working fast on the next page.

So here is my progress so far ...

This is a close up of my progress so far on the page I am working on which is the middle page of the bottom of the pattern. I have finished all of the black on this page.

This is my progress so far from further back. I thought it would be good to show both views.

This is my friend's progress so far. This is the middle page of the top of the pattern. She has completely finished this page, which obviously has more stitches in it than the page I am working on. This lady has 4 kids, three of which are in school. And the fourth is a 2 year old who is home with her all day. I also have a 2 year old home with me all day. However, she did say that her 2 year old likes to play by herself all day while her siblings are at school. So my friend apparently gets a lot of quiet time to stitch for hours where as I don't have that luxury with my 2 year old. So I'm guessing that is how she is able to get so much stitching done each day. I am just in awe at how quickly she is able to stitch!

So I will post both of our progress as we stitch this piece!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

HAED Wicca Progress 1 ...

2009-01-20T02:18:00.004-07:00

Hi Again!

Well as planned, my friend & I started stitching Heaven and Earth Designs Wicca today (technically yesterday since it's now 2:20am on the 20th). I didn't get as much as I wanted to get done for the first day. I got a late start (my kids actually let me sleep in YAY!), and then there other things that I had to take care of. I also took time to go to Kinkos to get enlarged copies of the pattern. I started stitching it from the regular sized printout and I decided it would just be easier to enlarge the pattern. So I started stitching the design in the bottom center of the pattern. And here is my progress so far!

There is a lot of black in this pattern. And I was very surprised to see how many colors are in this pattern. It's funny though, there are 2 colors that have only 1 stitch in the entire pattern. And a few other colors that have 12 or less stitches in the entire pattern. I am so excited to have started this piece. And I can't wait to watch it come alive as I stitch it. Of course my progress so far doesn't look like anything yet. But eventually it will. I have no idea how long it will take me to stitch this piece as I've never stitched a pattern of this size before. And I am sure I will have days when I'm not able to stitch anything on it at all and others where I make a lot of progress. My family & I are going on vacation in mid March, and I already know I won't be taking it with me. I will take small patterns to work on while I am on that trip.

So that's it for now, my 1st days progress on HAED Wicca!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Round Robin #1 Progress ...

2009-01-20T01:16:00.003-07:00

Hi Everyone!

As promised, here is a picture of my progress so far on the angel for the first round robin. As I said before, this person picked angels as their theme. The stitching area allowance for this piece is 70x70. I chose to stitch the 1999 Lavender & Lace Christmas Angel. I think she is a very pretty design. And I love the use of specialty floss. I haven't done any of the stitching of the specialty floss as of yet. I like to save that for last.

So here she is so far!

I think she is coming along nicely.

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

My First 2009 Finish!!!

2009-01-18T01:56:00.003-07:00

Hello Everyone!!!

Lil Stitch Devil is COMPLETE!!! I will be ironing & packaging him up to be sent to my friend in Canada so she can stitch the next section! Each person will stitch a different Lil Stitch Devil, although I won't know which one they are stitching until the piece comes back to me all finished with a total of 4 Lil Stitch Devils on it. There are a total of 8 Lil Stitch Devils designed by EMS. So there's no telling which ones they have planned. I am very excited about it & can't wait till my piece finds its way back to me in a few months.

Well without further delay, here is my finished Lil Stitch Devil with Bobbin!!!

At first I was going to do my signature in one of the darker reds. But I thought that with the location on the piece that I was going to stitch my signature, that it would look better to have one of the darker grays.

So now my Lil Stitch Devil is finished. Next I will be working on finishing the rest of the L&L 1999 Free Christmas Angel piece for the other Round Robin (aka Fat Bird) that I am in. Also on Monday I get to start my 1st HAED pattern!!! And of course I will continue to stitch my section of the Round Robins pieces that I get. Round Robin #1, Once the RR's are completely finished, I will work on stitching some holiday cards that I will be sending out in December to family & friends. It is such a cute pattern of a Sahuaro cactus with a Santa hat on top & xmas lights on it. Since we are in Arizona, I thought this would be really cute for holiday cards. It's a small & quick pattern, so it shouldn't take very long at all to stitch each one up.

Well that's about all for now! I'll post a progress picture of the Angel RR piece a little bit later on!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Another Color of BackStitching Completed!

2009-01-17T20:24:00.002-07:00

Hola Mi Amigos!!!

Well I had a dinner break then worked on the black backstitching. And I am happy to post another update with all of the black backstitching finished! And to my surprise while I was doing the black backstitching on the wings, I discovered a stitch where I had missed stitching the top half of that stitch! That is all fixed now! And here is my Lil Devil, nearing completion!

Just one last color of backstitching (garnet) and then I will add my RR signature & I am finished!!! BTW, garnet just happens to be my birthstone color! :~)

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

More BackStitching Completed ...

2009-01-17T17:35:00.002-07:00

Well as promised, I am posting after the next color of backstitching. I have finished backstitching the hands of the Lil Devil. And here he is!

Just two more colors of backstitching left ... black and garnet. I will do the black next & post when I am finished!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Another Lil Devil Update ...

2009-01-17T16:49:00.002-07:00

Hello Again!!!

I thought I would post some updates as I add the different colors of backstitching to this design. Since there was only a little bit of gray to backstitch, with this update, it shows all of the gray & blue backstitching. Then I'll show an update after the next color of backstitching & so on. This will just show how backstitching can drastically change the appearance of a pattern.

So here is the most recent update. Blue and gray backstitching are completed.

I can't get over the difference on the bobbin after the backstitching. I think it looks really good. The floss as well. Next I will do the backstitching around the hands. It's funny, there is no backstitching between the face & the hood of the devil costume. So 3 colors of backstitch to go and my cute Lil Devil is complete!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

RR Piece Update

2009-01-16T14:54:00.002-07:00

Hi Everyone!!!

I would like to apologize for my absence this past week & a half. I have had some internet issues & was just able to get back online today.

I have gotten some stitching done & am just about finished with my Lil Devil!!! Only some more backstitching left to do! And here he is!!!

Since I scanned this picture in I have finished the backstitching on the bobbin & also the skein of floss. I will post another update very soon!!! :~D

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

One of My RR Pieces

2009-01-06T02:33:00.002-07:00

Hello Everyone!

So I will be starting the HAED Wicca pattern on January 19th. In the meantime, I am working on two different Round Robin projects. I am getting nearly done on one of them and wanted to post a picture to show my progress so far. It's my EMS Lil Stitch Devil with Bobbin piece. My son is so cute. He was a Lil Devil for Halloween, so when he looks at the pattern, he asks me "Is that me, Momma?" I think it's so funny that at 2 years old he is making those kinds of associations. Anyway, with this RR, there are 4 of us. Each person selected a theme. We stitch a pattern for that theme on one section of the fabric and then mail it to the next person. And then when we get the new fabric in the mail, we stitch a pattern for that person's theme on a section and so on. I don't know if this is normally how the round robins go with the whole theme thing or not, but this is how we decided to do it. I just love it bcuz by the time this RR is finished, I will have a finished piece arrive in the mail that has 4 Lil Stitch Devils that have been stitched by 3 of my friends and I, two of which are in Canada and one in Florida and me in AZ. On the other RR, when my piece gets back to me all finished, I will have a piece that has been stitched by 4 different people in 4 different countries, me being the only one in the US. I just think that is so cool!

Anyway, without further delay, here is my progress on my Lil Devil!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

My Mom LOVES Her Aprons!!!

2009-01-04T10:20:00.002-07:00

Hi Everyone!!! Between Christmas and New Year's, my husband and the kids and I went to TX to visit my Mom and my Grama. I gave my Mom her aprons. She absolutely LOVES them!!! And she was so surprised! She said she knew I was making something for her but she had no idea that it would be aprons. She has been wanting aprons for a long time. And she was thrilled! She is so funny. She said she is going to take them to work when she goes back on Monday to show everyone. Maybe I'll get some orders! That would be so great! Anyways, here are some pictures of my Mom with her new aprons. Shhhhh ... don't tell her I posted these ... she would probably freak out and say they are terrible pictures of her.

I think she looks great! :~)

Hope ya'll are having a really great 2009 so far! Thank you all so much for your support!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

New Project That I Will Start 01/19!

2009-01-03T23:00:00.002-07:00

Yes that's right! I am going to be starting a new project on January 19th! Well around that date. I am going to be SAL with one of my online stitching friends. We are both going to stitch the same pattern & keep each other motivated and everything. This will be my first HAED pattern that I will be stitching. I am so excited! I have my Q-Snap floor frame all ready with the 18 count aida on it already. I bought all the floss & have it ready to go. Pattern is printed. YAY! Just have to wait for my friend to get her supplies. She lives in Canada the closest Michaels is kind of far from her home. So she will be going there the weekend of the 17th & she will be home by the 19th & that is when we'll start!!! Here are some pictures of the pattern that we will be doing, the stack of papers which is the printed pattern, me with my floor frame & the aida on it, and all 90 colors of floss for the pattern!

Heaven and Earth Designs Wicca

Here is the pattern all printed out ... all 30 pages of it!

Here I am with my Q-Snap floor frame which also has the tilt kit.

And here are all 90 colors of floss, including the Kreinik #4 braid floss. There are 2 colors that only have 1 single stitch in the entire pattern. And a few others that have 12 stitches or less in the entire pattern. Crazy! LOL.

I am really looking forward to stitching this. I would love to start now, since the friend that I will be SAL with stitches SOOOOOOOO fast!!! But I promised her that I would wait for her to get her supplies before I start. I will be sure to post my progress once we start working on it!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Happy 2009!!!

2009-01-01T01:19:00.002-07:00

Hello Everyone!!!

I just want to wish you all a very Happy New Year! I hope all of your New year's wishes come true!!! I can't believe 2008 is already over. Seems like we just celebrated a new year not too long ago.

So what plans do you have for yourself in 2009? As for me, well my goals are as follows ...

1 ~ build up an inventory for my business so that I can sell items on either Etsy or Artfire.
2 ~ Get lots more stitching & sewing projects both started & finished, both for others as well as some for myself
3 ~ create my "shop" on Etsy or Artfire & begin selling
4 ~ shed a few pounds & get more active
5 ~ as always to be the best wife & Mom that I can be

Plans for next year include a trip to visit my Nana in Oregon whom my daughter & I haven't seen since 2003 and my husband & son have never met. Also my Mom & I are going to Northern California to pick up my baby brother & he will be moving in with my husband & my kids & I in September.

Again, I hope that all of you have an excellent 2009!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Finished & Current Projects ...

2008-12-23T09:57:00.002-07:00

Well after lots of frustration with the second apron, I am very happy to report that I have completely fixed and finished the apron! And it turned out really good, if I do say so myself! I can't wait to see my Mom's face when she opens her gift. We are leaving christmas morning after the kids open all their gifts. I have been working on a blanket for one of my cousins and I started a set of placemats for my Grama. The placemats I should have finished later on today. The first one turned out great, well except for the size. It's smaller than I wanted it to be. But I'm ok with that & I know my Grama won't mind at all. I just know that when I make the next set of placemats they will be larger with another row & column of squares. Included with the set of placemats is a centerpiece placemat that actually IS a bit larger. I'll post more pictures of the entire placemat set once they are all finished. But in the meantime, here are some pictures of the finished peach apron, the blanket that I have been working on, and the one placemat that is finished!

This is the top front of the apron. I thought it would look cute to add a little lace to it. My Mom's favorite color is orange/peach.

This is the top back of the apron. I love having these cute little tags to add to all the items that I sew! :~)

This is the entire front of the apron.

This is a close up of the pockets on the front of the apron, which also have the lace.

This is a close up of the front and back together.

This is the entire back of the apron.

This is the blanket that I am working on for my cousin. He is only 5 years old and absolutely LOVES trains. It is not a christmas gift, so there's no rush with getting it finished. I am also going to make another blanket just like it for my son who also LOVES trains. The stacks of squares on the top of the picture are sewn together in rows which will be added to the two rows that are already sewn together on the bottom half of the picture.

This is the first of the placemats that made for my Grama. Her favorite color is green, and the little pictures on the blue squares are bumble bees which have some green in them. So I think that the green squares & the yellow squares make a great contrast.

So there we are! Things are really coming along nicely!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

SOOOOOOOO Frustrated!!!

2008-12-12T12:40:00.002-07:00

OMG! Have you ever had a project that you've been working hard on, you're so excited about working on it, and you're so close to getting it completely and totally finished, only to discover that you screwed up and have to take it apart in order to make an attempt to fix it??? Well, that is EXACTLY what has happened to me with the second apron I am making for my Mom. You see when I make the aprons, I put batting in them in order to give them a little bit of padding. And with this apron, when I layered the front panel, back panel & batting together so that I could sew them all together, I put the batting in the wrong place. So when I went to turn the apron right side out to do the finishing stitching, that's when I saw it. The batting would be on the OUTSIDE!!! So now I have to rip all the stitching out around the entire apron, and piece it back together & sew it again. Only the overall size of the apron will be a tad smaller since I had already trimmed all the excess fabric after sewing all the way around it. I am hoping it all comes together and doesn't look too bad after all of this. But since I have now made this mistake, I know that I won't ever do it again. Every time I piece together an apron now, I will be sure to pay closer attention to the order I place the panels. Guess that's what I get for trying to rush to get a project finished.

Anyways, I thank you all for "listening to" my venting and rambling. I feel better now. LOL.

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥