Surprise Gift FINALLY Delivered!

Hello Stitchers, Bloggers & Crafters!

I am very happy to report that I was finally able to hand deliver the football helmets birth announcement piece to my friends! I was getting worried at first bcuz the frame that I had thought would be perfect was WAY to big. So it was a mad dash off to store after store to find the perfect frame and at long last, hiding in a corner, I found it! I was so relieved. Then it was home to get the piece framed and wrapped and then off to the baby's first birthday party! 

Here is how it turned out ... 

Here are my friends and Baby Audrey! 

And they loved it ... even with the Chicago Bears 'C' on it (lol).

I am both happy and relieved that they liked it so much. I wanted to create for them something very unique and special that they could always treasure. They are awesome people & I love them!

Well, that's all I have this time!

Happy Stitching, Blogging & Crafting!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

News, Updates & Progress

Hi there fellow Stitchers, Crafters & Bloggers! 

I hope you are all doing well today. I have been doing fairly well. I've been trying to find a part time job while the kids are in school. So far no luck. With my daughter having autism, I have to be home when she gets home. She is 16 now and it's not like she can go to after school care. So I can only be available for work while the kids are actually in school, unless my husband is off work, then I can work anytime on those days. I have applied at Michaels, Joanns, a few local stores. Nothing yet. There is a Hobby Lobby going to open up it's first location here where I live, but not until approximately the end of October. Another option, if they don't mind my schedule restrictions, is a seasonal store called Spirit Halloween. That one of course, if they hired me, would only be until maybe a few days after Halloween, of course. And it definitely would be a lot of work. It's so frustrating. I don't need much. Just 20-25 hrs a week would be great. It would be so helpful to our household income. That alone would cover enough bills to give us a little bit of breathing room. I have been given the suggestion of working at the schools so that I'm working only school time hours. And that is a great idea. But the school where my son goes, isn't hiring and there are all kinds of budget cuts in the school district that my daughter's school is a part of. Anyway, enough of that. 

As for stitching, I have taken part in a monthly coaster exchange, which I think will be fun. I have one finished and ready for the mail that will go out tomorrow. Found the pattern for the next one. And also I'm doing an ATC exchange. I have missed doing those so I thought I'd get back into it. Currently stitching up a cute pattern for that. It has a large number of french knots, which normally wouldn't bother me at all, except with this pattern, they are right in the middle of the square rather than the corners of the square. So it makes it a bit tedious. Stitching on 18ct with a 24 needle, makes it a lil bit hard to get the needle up thru the middle of the square and then back down thru it. Once it's finished, I'm sure it will look great tho. I don't want to post any pics of any of this as of yet bcuz anytime I post an entry to my blog, it posts an entry on Facebook, and they are on my friends list. So once they receive their goodies, I will post pictures. 

I haven't really had time to work on Hope lately. Once I get the ATC and coaster finished and mailed, then I'll work on it. I'm still working on adding all the grid lines with the fishing line. I really hope it helps make the stitching go at least a bit faster. 

On a side, and rather sad, note, today an amazing man and actor passed away today. Michael Clarke Duncan died at the very young age of 54. Two months ago, he suffered a massive heart attack and was in the hospital bcuz of it. It was said in an online article, that his fiance, Omarosa, left his hospital room for just a minute, and when she returned, he had passed away. So sad. Mr. Duncan was most known for his role as John Coffey in The Green Mile. He also had roles in Armageddon as Bear, Planet of the Apes as Attar, The Kingpin in Daredevil, Balthazar in The Scorpion King, as well as many other roles and voice roles for movies and video games. He grew up in Chicago's south side and resisted drugs and alcohol by constantly applying himself in his school work. He truly was a good man and will be missed by many. Whenever I watch The Green Mile, I always cry at the end. Now that sadness takes on a whole new meaning. My condolences go out to his family, friends and loved ones. RIP Michael. 

 

Well, time to get the kids ready for bed and then in bed and then get their lunches made for school tomorrow and get some laundry done. So that's all for this time! 

Happy Stitching, Crafting and Blogging Everyone! 

Until Next Time,

♥ Margie ♥

PS ~ I ALMOST FORGOT!!! My friends that I designed & stitched the Football Helmets Birth Announcement piece for are going to be in town this weekend for the baby's FIRST BIRTHDAY!!! As soon as they told me this a few months ago, I decided to wait until they are here to give it to them so that I can see them faces in person when they open it. I'M SO EXCITED!!! I'll post pics of them opening it and with it after Saturday!!! :)

A Finish & One Stitching Goal DONE!

Hi Friends and Blog Followers!!! 

YAY!!! I have my first stitching finish of the year! It only took me half of the year to finally get it finished lol. 

But here it is ... my very unique Football Helmets Birth Announcement for my very dear friends! :) I am so excited about this piece and cannot wait to hear how my friends like it. I'm going to include a note attached to the wrapping paper that they have to call me before they open it so that I can hear their reaction. Or they can use a webcam or a video chat app on their phones lol.

I still have to wash, iron & frame it. I have a really pretty white frame that I think it going to look really nice with this piece. Once I have it washed, ironed & framed, I will post another photo. So what do you think? :) 

Now I can get busy with HAED's Hold on to Hope. I started it this past Saturday afternoon while we were at a party for my son's baseball team. But I was only able to really get in a few stitches. 

Well, that's all I have for now! 

Until Next Time,

♥ Margie ♥

Another Update on My Football Helmets Piece!

Hi there Everyone!!!

I just wanted to post a quick update on the Football Helmets Birth Announcement piece. I have finished all of the back stitching on the Packers helmet! All that's left is the rest of the names and the baby's info!!! I am so excited to be so close to finishing this piece! My goal is to finish all of the stitching before I go to bed tonight, which may be very late tonight. But I really want to get this piece finally finished. 

So I have an update close up photo of the Packers helmet with all of the back stitching done. And here it is ... 

It's a little bit hard to see all of the back stitching in the darker areas of the helmet mask, but if you look closely, you can see it pretty well, I think. Once I got this part finished, my adrenaline really started pumping as the excitement of being so close to finishing took over! And now I'm nearly done! I'll post another photo as soon as I'm finished and before I go to bed! :) 


See you all in a few hours!


Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Football Helmets Birth Announement Update

Hi there Friends and Blog Followers! :) 

Wow it's been a while since I've posted and I have even passed my 4 yr Blogoversary, I believe, since my last post. It's so hard to believe that I've been blogging for that long. But I have certainly loved every minute of it! :) I look forward to many more years to come! :) Thank you to everyone who follows and comments on my blog. I really appreciate each and every one of you! :)

So, I have been working on my very special football helmets birth announcement piece for my friends. It's looking great. I realized last night that I hadn't posted any update pics here on my blog and was upset with myself for not doing so. But I did take photos. So here I am today, posting pics! :)

So without further a due, here they are! 

And there they are! So what do you think? I have finished with all of the X stitches and am now working on what's left of the back stitching. As of this post, I am nearly finished with the back stitching on the helmet on the left and then will just have all of the baby's info in the middle and the daddy's name under the helmet on the left. I am so happy with how this is turning out. I am just so upset with myself for allowing my stitching bug to hide away from me, causing me to take so long to get this piece finished. I can't wait to hear how my friends like this piece. I just hope that the daddy doesn't get upset about me adding the 'C' at the bottom. :) I don't think that he will, but there is always that chance, I guess. 

Once this piece is finished, then I will be jumping into the Heaven and Earth Designs piece called Hold on to Hope, which I showed a photo of in my last post. My friend that I'll be SAL with on that piece is making a lot of progress on it. But I am glad that she's not a super sonic speedy stitcher lol. :) 

Well, that's all I have for now. 

Happy Stitching!!!

Until Next Time,

♥ Margie ♥

Another Finish & a Couple of Updates!

Hello Friends and Fellow Stitchers and Crafters! 

It's been a while since I've posted and I realized I forgot to post a photo of my second finish of 2012! I crocheted a scarf for my son and have put it away for the holidays. :) I think it turned out pretty good. I think he's really going to like it ... well at least I hope he will. 

Here is a photo of it ... 

So what do you think? I hope this photo posts correctly. I used PhotoBucket and used their program to adjust the size of the photo. But they changed they way their website is set up and I kept getting an error message. And even though the site showed the additional copy of the photo, saved to the new size, I'm not so sure it actually did save to the new size. 

Anyway, so I did attempt to get Elemental Cosmos finished in time to enter into the county fair for this year, but with all of the kids activities both in and outside of school, and the time it takes to stitch on black evenweave (SO NOT easy), I was not able to finish it in time. So I put it back on the back burner, temporarily, while I work on the birth announcement piece that I designed for one of my best friends and her husband. I was making some good progress on it, and then I discovered a mistake. That mistake caused me to have to take out a bunch of stitches. I am just about finished re-stitching all that I had to take out, without the mistake of course. 

Here is where I'm at with that piece at the moment ... 

It's coming along and I hope to be finished before the end of the week. Again, I'm not sure if the size of this photo will show up correctly. I hope it does. :) 

As I said, I also worked on Elemental Cosmos a little bit. So I thought I would post a photo of my progress on that as well ... 

It's coming along slowly. You can see where the stars are that I added the beads. Do you think it looks alright? As for the size on this photo, I started playing around with sizing photos on PhotoShop and then uploading them to PhotoBucket and maybe this will help. 

Well that is all I have for now. Looking forward to hearing your feedback. 

Happy Stitching & Crafting!!! :) 

Until Next Time,

♥ Margie ♥

PS ~ I messed with the photos a little bit on PhotoShop and then on here and I think I got the photos looking just right now! :) 

Mi Vida Loca ...

Hello Everyone!

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

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

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

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

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

Until Next Time,

♥ Margie ♥

Getting a Little Further Along ...

Hi there friends, family & stitching peeps ~ 

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

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

Take a L@@K ... 

 

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

Happy Stitching! 

Until Next Time,

♥ Margie ♥

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

Hello Family, Friends and Stitching Buddies! :~) 

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

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

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

Take a L@@K ... 
 

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


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


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

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Wow! It's already August!!!

Hello Family, Friends and Stitching Buddies! 

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

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

 

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


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

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


Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Progress is Being Made :-)

Hello Family, Friends & Stitching Buddies! 

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Stitching! 

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

My Pattern Creation!

Hi there Stitchy Friends! 

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

 

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

That's all for now! Happy Stitching Everyone!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥