Finished & Current Projects ...

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!!!

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 ♥

Latest Project ...

Hello Everyone!

Hope this finds you all doing healthy, happy & smiling! With the holidays quickly approaching, I have had to put aside all of my cross stitching until after in order to complete projects that we will be giving as gifts to family & friends. I have several blankets that I am & will be making. Also my Mom's birthday is coming up. She has been asking for a couple of years for a handmade apron for when she's cooking & baking & such. So this year I decided to make not one but two for her! I've made one that is a festive Christmas theme. And the second one is going to be in her favorite color orange/peach for her to use on an everyday basis. I have finished the Christmas one, and posted pictures here for you all to see. The second apron I am still working on, and should be finished with either tonite or tomorrow. I will post pictures of the second one as soon as I finish it. It has been so much fun making the aprons. And I can't wait to hear how my Mom likes them. She lives in TX and I am in AZ, so as soon as they are finished I will mail them priority to her. I have already told her that once she receives the box in the mail, she is not allowed to open it until she has me on the phone so that I can hear her first impressions of them! I'm so excited!!! These are the first aprons that I have ever made, and I really feel the Christmas one turned out great! And the second one will be really nice also! Let me know what you think! :~)

Hope you are having an excellent Friday nite!

Happy Stitching/Sewing/Crafting!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥




Whole Front of Xmas Apron



Whole Back of Xmas Apron



Top Front of Xmas Apron



Top of Back of Xmas Apron



Close Up of Sewing on Top Front of Xmas Apron



Close Up of Sewing on Top Back of Xmas Apron



Picture Showing Front & Back of Xmas Apron

Got some GANGA XS Stash Deals Today!!!

I am sooooooooooo excited about the GANGA deals that I got today at Joann's! I had a 50% off coupon and knew exactly what I would use it for. I am planning on starting my very first HAED pattern after the first of the year and so I thought to myself I need to have a piece of aida large enough for the entire design and all the precut aida/evenweave is not big enough. So Joann's sells different counts of aida at $8.99/yd. So, I used my coupon & bought 5 yards of 18ct white aida and paid only $13.50!!! So it's 5 yards by 44 inches!!! I figure I will be able to use that to stitch 5 different HAED patterns with it!!! I also got DMC floss at 4 for $1! So I bought floss for a friend that lives in Canada bcuz she pays 50cents per skein where she lives. And I also bought the colors that I will need the most of for the HAED pattern that I will be starting after the first of the year. I am so excited about this! And for sewing purposes, I bought lots of needed flannel fabric at only $1.49/yard! GREAT DEALS!!!

The picture you see here is the HAED pattern that I will be starting very soon!!! :~D Looking forward to it very much. But I know that I am going to need lots of help in motiviation since it's such a very large pattern. It measures 500x635 stitches!

Twitter Anyone???

Hi Everyone! I hope you are all doing really great this weekend before Thanksgiving! I recently was introduced by my husband to this website called Twitter.com. This is a pretty cool site! It's been lots of fun! So if any of you do Twitter, I wanted to give you all my Twitter ID so we can add each other to our following list! My Twitter ID is AmythsytMoon.

See you on Twitter!!!

Forever Treasured Keepsakes!

Hello!!! :~) I thought I would go ahead & share some pictures of some of the other items that I make that I sell since I mentioned in my previous post about the blankets. I design & make holiday stockings, blankets, aprons, & placemat sets. The pictures here are some of the stockings that I have made. They are my own design. After someone tells me the theme of stocking that they want, then I get a picture in my head of what I see the finished stocking looks like & then I make it! I have so much fun with it!!!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy seeing the pictures!

Brightest Blessings,
♥ Margie ♥

New Round Robin Project ...

Hi Everyone!
I am in a 2nd round robin. And this time for my theme I have selected the EMS Stitch Devils!!! I am so excited about it! I chose the Stitch Devil with a bobbin & floss as the one that I will stitch. The other ladies in the round robin have chose Winter Wonderland, Birds in a scene, and Love Tatty Teddies. I have already picked the pieces that I will stitch for each of them. I'm not sure if they read my blog or not so I don't think I'll post them here until after the round robin is finished & everyone has received their finished pieces back. I will also post my finished piece when I receive it back at the end of the round robin. I do have a link to my blog posted on my facebook profile so, probably best not to post anything except for the piece I will stitch for myself until the end.

Also this weekend I have been working on sewing blankets that I will give as gifts for christmas. They are also blankets that I sell, but these are for family members. One is with trains. Another with pink camo. Another with Care Bears. Another with Marine Corps fabric. And one with wolves. They are a sort of patchwork quilt type of blankets. I make them in either all flannel pieces. Or with fleece & cotton fabric pieces. I know they're not cross stitch, but I will post pictures as I finish them for you all to see.

It's been a very busy weekend for me. I hope you all have had a great weekend!!!

Happy Stitching!!!
♥ Margie ♥

Chiloe is having a GIVEAWAY!!! :-)

I was just visiting Chiloe's Corner & she is having her first giveaway on her blog!!! It's really exciting bcuz the item she is giving away is a french cross stitch magazine! I have purchased cross stitch magazines from the United Kingdom before, but I have never seen one from France. So if you're interested in entering for this great prize, please check out Chiloe's Corner & the post about her GIVEAWAY HERE!!!

Have a great day & Happy Stitching Everyone!!!

I've Been TAGGED!!!

I've been tagged by Ashley and Dawn to share six random things about myself, according to the rules.

The rules are as follows:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know your entry is up.



Ok, so here are six random things about me ...

1 ~ I absolutely LOVE just about anything & everything PURPLE!!!
2 ~ I like to eat lots of foods that are banana flavored ... but I don't actually like to eat bananas.
3 ~ I like to collect mythical & fantasy things like faeries, dragons, unicorns, mermaids, etc
4 ~ I tell my husband that I'm "not a gamer" but I have a Nintendo DS with several games, and also many games on my computer, as well as a membership on RealArcade.com.
5 ~ In addition to cross stitching, I love to sew, paint plastercrafts, scrapbook & crochet.
6 ~ I'm a native Californian ocean lover who is now looking for that ocean front property in Arizona ... they said it was here somewhere!!!



I have tagged ...

Rachael
Sharon
Tammy
Dani
Anna
Chiloe

A Great Cross Stitch Site with FREE Patterns!!!

I just found this great site that has lots of FREE cross stitch patterns on it! They do ask that you register & you get 20 points for that. You can download the Patterns of the Day for free. From what I can tell you earn points for different things. And the patterns that are not patterns of the day cost 10 points each. Not bad for a cute pattern! :~) Definitely worth checking out!!!

Here is the link for the website ~

Cross Stitchers Club

Hope you enjoy the website!!!

Happy Stitching!

♥ Margie ♥

Darn Stitching Bug Has Evaded Me!!! BUT I WILL FIND IT!!!

Hello Everyone ~

Well I must say I wish I had more stitching news to report. Sadly, that darn stitching bug has evaded me ever since I finished the Faerie Mushroom House piece at the end of September. There has been a lot going on. My kids & I took a trip to Southern California. I went to my high school reunion, which was a lot of fun! Plus I just have been going thru a lot. However, I have been doing a little bit of shopping on the PatternsOnline.com website as well as on the Heaven and Earth Designs website, both of which are absolutely wonderful sites! I do highly recommend them both!!! And after doing some pattern shopping, I do feel the clouds beginning to lift and the stitching bug has started to come out of hiding. So tonite, after my husband leaves for work, and my kids go to bed, I am going to sit down & attempt to work on one of my WIPs. ***Fingers Crossed*** that the darn bug comes fully out of hiding once my fingers meet with needle & floss & aida/evenweave!!!

So I am very excited about the patterns that I have purchased. From Patterns Online, I purchased some holiday designs, which are very cute. And from Heaven and Earth Designs, I purchased Small Things in color and Small Things in black & white and also the Sol, Stella, & Luna Chart Pack, all of which are simply stunning. With the Small Things design, I like them both so much that I just couldn't decide which I liked better. So I decided that I would get them both. And since I already have some other black & white designs, I am going to dedicate a whole wall in my house just for those in black & white. So I'm curious, after looking at both of the versions of Small Things, which version do you like better? Color? Or black & white? Or are you like me & absolutely love them both?

Well, that's enough from me for now. Happy Stitching to everyone! I hope you are all having an excellent weekend. I'll report any progress that I make during tonite's stitching!

~ ♥ ~ Margie ~ ♥ ~

I Received the Kick A** Blogger Award!!!

How exciting! I have been out of town for a week and a half & I came back & found that I have been given the Kick A** Blogger Award by Dawn (GoldenAngelWorks)
Thank you so much Dawn!!! Dawn is an amazing person who has endured a lot over the past few months and is truly an inspiration herself!

The rules of this award are that I am to choose 5 other bloggers who I think "Kick A**"!!! This is very hard to choose only 5 because I think you all Kick A**. Here are my selections:

Cross Stitch Happy ~ Your blog is wonderful and you are so creative and talented with the patterns that you have designed! And your stitching is beautiful! You are an inspiration!

Dani (Navy Stitching) ~ I really enjoy reading your blog about your stitching updates as well as your life as a Naval officer. You definitely are to be commended for all that you do! Serving our country as well as all the stitching and exchanges that you do is amazing!

Gill (Cross Stitch Ramblings) ~ Your stitching is beautiful! With all of the pieces that you do and the sizes of each design, you truly inspire me to try to get more stitching done myself!

Shannon (Oodles of Stitches) ~ I love seeing your progress on the Angel of Cross Stitch! You are doing a beautiful job on it. Seeing your progress gets me excited about stitching this design myself!!! I'm very anxious to work on this design, even though I really do have to finish other WIPs first. Great blog and beautiful stitching!!!

Paula (A Celtic Stitcher) ~ Your stitching & knitting projects are absolutely stunning! I love reading your blog to keep up with everything!

Now, choose 5 bloggers that you feel are "Kick A** Bloggers". Let them know in by leaving them a comment post on their blog, via email, or twitter that they've received an award!!! Share the love and link back to both the person who awarded you and back to http://www.mammadawg.com/.
Hop on back to the Kick Ass Blogger Club HQ to sign Mr. Linky, then pass it on!!!
Don't forget to link up the person who nominated you for the Kick A** Blogger Club!!! :~)

Mushroom Faerie House Completed & Framed!

Well, finally here it is!!! :~) Mushroom Faerie House is completed, washed, ironed & framed! :~) The frame is a metal frame with the border of the frame in a dark brown metallic color. I took the glass out completely, and used the mounting foam so that it's raised a bit. I think it turned out really nice.

Tonite we went over to my FIL's house & gave him his birthday gift. He absolutely LOVES it!!! He has already found the exact spot where he is going to hang it also. Right where everyone will see it as they are going thru the entry way into the livingroom!!! :~) It's going to look perfect on his wall too bcuz his hallway & dining room walls are painted pretty much the exact same color as the mushroom top! It's really going to POP the colors of this piece. I was so happy that he likes it so much. And I'm sure he will enjoy it for many years to come. :~)

Mushroom Fairy House Progress ... COMPLETED!!!

Hello!!! Great news!!! I have finished the Mushroom Faerie House!!! I just have to finish ironing & framing it (which I'm doing now) and it is completely & totally finished!!! :~) But all of the stitching is finished. So here is a picture of the completed stitching & once I have it all framed & everything I will post a picture of that as well!!! :~)

Mushroom Fairy House Progress Day 7 ...

Well, I stitched & stitched yesterday as much as I could & was even late to the party ...

But alas, I didn't get the Mushroom Faerie House finished in time. I only have 2 shades of green to go & the wording. I thought for sure I'd have it done. But it just didn't happen. So now I am going to try to get it all finished today while my husband is at work, and then will meet my husband at his dad's house after he gets off work tonite. And if that doesn't happen today, then we'll do it tomorrow nite.

Anyways, here is the progress that I did make up until we left for the party.

Mushroom Fairy House Progress Day 6 ...

I am so happy with the progress I made on this yesterday! My father in law's birthday party is tomorrow @ 4pm & I'm finally feeling like I'll definitely have it finished in time!!! Just a little bit left to fill in on the stem of the mushroom, and the grass at the bottom & then the wording off to the side!!!

Mushroom Faerie House Progress Day 5 ...

Ok, so here we are with only 2 days to go. I'm doing pretty well with my stitching, but still have about half of the design to go. My husband & I are working together looking thru the alphabet pattern books that I have trying to find the best alphabet for "Shroom Sweet Shroom". I am thinking maybe a script alphabet of some sort. But of course it has to be one that has both upper & lower case.

Anyways, so 2 days to go & I'm about halfway finished. I'm so glad my husband is off work today so that I can probably get more stitching done!

Mushroom Faerie House Progress Day 4 ...

Well here I am 4 days into this project and 3 days left to go. I think I made some decent progress yesterday. It was a little chaotic at home however with my son running around like a crazy person & getting into trouble a couple of times. Today is going to be a more productive day, I am sure of it. I am so excited about this project!!! I can't wait to have it all finished. I do still have to design the wording, which will sit to the right of the Mushroom Faerie House and will say "Shroom Sweet Shroom". I just know my father in law is really going to love it!!! I mean I know it's nothing fancy like 2 of my brother in laws are going to give him. They both have money. But this gift that we are going to give him is from the heart and made with lots of love & TLC. Anyways, here is my progress for day 4!!! :~)

Mushroom Fairy House Progress Day 3 ...

Well here is my Day 3 progress ~ I wasn't able to do very much stitching yesterday & I am so frustrated with myself for it. I just HAVE to get this finished in time. And with my husband on graves this week, you'd think I'd have more time after the kids go to bed to do some stitching. But there's always so much else to do. Tonite I think I'm just going to sit myself down on the couch & stitch like a mad woman!!! But here is yesterday's progress! :~)

Mushroom Fairy House Progress Day 2 ...

Here is what I completed on day 2 of the 7 days. Just 5 more days to go!

I wasn't able to get very much stitching completed over the weekend. However, it's Monday & I'll be sure to get a lot more finished each day this week!

Mushroom Fairy House Progress Day 1 ...

Here is what I completed on day 1 of the 7 days. Just 6 more days to go!

FINALLY I Got My Stitching Bug Back!!!

Well, I haven't done hardly any stitching since I finished the piece for my Grama. It was as if I lost my stitching bug for a while. But I think I just had a lot going on in my mind. Plus I hadn't been sleeping well the past few months & I think the lack of sleep was finally catching up with me.

BUT NOW, although still feeling sleepy now & again, I seemed to have found my stitching bug again. My father in law's birthday party is one week from today ... 7 days away. And my husband & I have been trying to decide what to get for him. Then last nite it hit me! My husband's family has a sort of symbol that they all share, a mushroom. There is no specific reason. It's just something they decided. My father in law and all of his sons have a mushroom tattoo on their legs. And I too have a mushroom tattooed on my left ankle. Anywho, last nite it hit me for a great gift for my father in law. I have the cutest little mushroom house pattern!!! I thought I would stitch this for him & then add the family name on it or something. Then my husband came up with the idea of having it say "Shroom Sweet Shroom" to the right of the mushroom house. I thought that's a great idea. So now I have exactly 7 days (I know I've heard that in some movie) to start & finish this pattern, in order to present this gift to my father in law at his 60th birthday party next Saturday nite. Here is a picture of the pattern that I am doing, other than the wording. And each day I will post my progress as I stitch it up until next Saturday when I should have it completely finished & framed.

Finished & Framed!!!

I finally found the mat & frame that I wanted for this piece! So it's all finished & framed!!! I will be packing it up & mailing it to my Grama tomorrow! I can't wait to hear how she likes it!!! This was such a fun piece to stitch.

Why Do I Love Cross Stitching?

I love cross stitching for lots of different reasons. I love creating art with a needle & floss. It's so exciting to watch my art come alive right in front of my eyes as I stitch one X after another! I love the feeling I get when I finish a cross stitch piece and frame it to see a fully completed piece of artwork. I have very few pieces for myself, only 2 as a matter of fact. One is a little piece & it hangs on my desk. I just love it. The other, I have only due to extenuating circumstances & is a larger piece. And it is one of my favorite pieces that I have ever stitched. I love the excitement of getting new patterns! I find it very hard at times to refrain from starting these new patterns before finishing my WIP's that I have going at the time. Hence why sometimes I have so many WIP's at one time, currently there are 8, but only 6 are shown here on my blog right now. Another reason I love cross stitching, and one of my favorite reasons, is the happiness & excitement I feel when I give a gift that is made with much love & soul put into it, and the look on the person's face when they see it for the first time. It makes me feel so good when the people receiving my stitched works of art just love it! They are all personal & stitched just for them. Nothing is random. They are all selected based on a specific reason. My Mom loves to collect teapots & teacups. So I love to stitch patterns with those items on them for her. Also I stitch a lot of "mom" patterns for her. For my Grama, I stitched a pattern of an old hymn called "The Old Rugged Cross", bcuz it was her mom's favorite hymn & I knew that my Grama would love it. And of course, I always stitch "Grama" patterns for her, as some of you have seen my most recent Grama piece, Gramas Touch a Heart, in my recent blog entries. So they are always very special for a reason. Another one of my favorite reasons that I love cross stitching, is when I get to enter a finished piece into the county & state fairs. I have entered two of my pieces into the county fair & the same two pieces into the state fair. It was so exciting from the moment that I dropped my pieces off at the fairgrounds to be judged, until the first day of the fair being open when I can go & see how my pieces did. And really the excitement continues all thru out the fair until I get to pick up my pieces & the ribbons they have received. Yes, that's right ... I have won ribbons!!! Each of the two pieces won a ribbon at each fair!!! This event has such an amazing feeling of accomplishment. I would highly recommend anyone that does cross stitching to enter their works into their local fairs. It is such a great experience. The photos you see here are photos of the pieces that I entered into the fair with the ribbons they won.

The first piece is "64", which is a pattern that looks like a huge postcard and has some of the lyrics from the song "64" by the Beatles. I stitched this piece for my husband for Christmas one year. He loves the Beatles, and so I thought this was a great pattern to stitch for him. At the county fair this piece won a 3rd place ribbon. At the state fair, it won a 5th place ribbon. Both really good accomplishments.








The second piece is called "Ankh of Life". This piece I had originally stitched for someone else, but again, extenuating circumstances made it mine. This is one of my favorite pieces that I have ever stitched. At the county fair, this piece one a 1st place ribbon. And at the state fair, it won a 2nd place ribbon! Excellent accomplishments!!!

These two pieces are hung proudly in my home, with their ribbons on either side. Next time ... I am shooting for Best of Class & Best of Show!!! LOL!

So these are the reasons that I absolutely LOVE cross stitching. With nothing but positive, how can you go wrong?!