Wow! One Year Blogoversary Already!

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!

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!!!

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!

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!!!

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 ...

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!!!

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 ...

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!

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 ...

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 ...

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

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 ...

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!

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 ...

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 ♥