A Little Bit More Progress on the Wedding Piece

Hi Everyone!!!

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

So here is my progress so far ...




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

I'll post more real soon!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

A Little Bit of Progress ...

Hi Friends and Fellow Stitchers!

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

So here is my progress thus far ...




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

Well more to report real soon! :~)

Happy Stitching Ya'll!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Yes I'm Still Alive & Around!

Hello Friends and Fellow Stitchers!

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

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

So here is what he looks like ...




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

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

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



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

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

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

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

Happy Stitching Everyone!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

First Progress on HAED Pale Rose!

Hello Everyone!!!

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

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



And here is my August progress ...



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

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

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

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

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

FINISHED!!!

Hi there Friends and Fellow Stitchers!!!

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

So here she is!







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

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

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

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

A Small Update on the Faerie ...

Hello Everyone ~

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

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

So here she is ...




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

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

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

No Stitching was done last night ...

Hello Everyone ~

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





Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Almost Finished!

Hi Stitching Friends!

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

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

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




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

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

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Another EMS Geranium Faerie Update ...

Hi Everybody!!!

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

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




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

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

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

EMS Geranium Faerie Update ...

Hello Friends!

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




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

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

I'll have another update really soon!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Round Robin #1 Piece ...

Hi Everyone!

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

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




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

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




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

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

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Starting an HAED SAL on August 1st!

Hello Fellow Stitching Friends!!!

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

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




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

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





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

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

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

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

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

Happy Stitching!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Thought I'd Post a Pic ...

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




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

Again Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

I am sad & upset ...

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

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

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Still Stitching Henry ...

Hello Friends and Fellow Stitchers!

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

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

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

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

Have a great night Everyone and Happy Stitching!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥