... 2010 ...

~ 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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

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!

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!

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

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!

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!

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! :~)

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

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!

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!

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!!!

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

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! :~)

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!!!

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 ♥