Happy New Year!!!

Hello and a Very Happy New Year to You All!!! 

It is that time a year again, the New Year is just hours away (in my time zone), time to make those crafting goals! What will we get finished? What will we start? What do we want to make good progress on? For me, I have several. 

CROSS STITCH GOALS

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1. Finish Queen Bee

2. Finish Red Rose

3. Finish Elemental Cosmos

4. Start and finish Tribal Teapot

5. Start and finish Save the Stitches

6. Make some good progress on Queen of Hearts

7. Make some good progress on Transformation

8. Make some good progress on Wicca

9. Make any progress on America the Beautiful

10. Make any progress on Dark Force

11. Make any progress on Monopoly Game Board

CROCHET GOALS

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1. Make some good progress on my son's afghan

2. Make some good progress on my daughter's afghan

SEWING GOALS

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1. Make the Save the Stitches cross stitch piece into a table cloth

2. Start getting some aprons and stockings ready to be sewn and get some made

3. Create patterns for additional projects I'd like to start making

MOST IMPORTANT GOAL

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1. Finish getting my craft room completely and totally organized so that I can get back to sewing! 

That's quite the list for now. I will continue with my weekly rotations. Although with the new year starting on Thursday, I will be changing the rotations from Saturday thru Friday to Thursday thru Wednesday. Looking forward to a productive 2015!!! I wish you all the very best in the upcoming year!!! Happy New Year, One and All!!! 

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! :) 

It's 2012! Time for My 2012 Crafty Goals!!!

Happy 2012 Everybody!!!

It's a new year, so it's time for 2012 Stitching/Sewing/Crocheting GOALS!!!

 Let's start with the shortest list to the longest ... 

2012 Crocheting Goals

1 ~ Finish crocheting my daughter's afghan

2 ~ Finish the scarf that I started for my daughter

3 ~ Make a scarf for my son (if he wants one)

2012 Sewing Goals 

1 ~ Finish blanket for my father in law

2 ~ Make apron for father in law

3 ~ Finish aprons for stitching friend's kids

4 ~ Make stockings for sister & niece

5 ~ Finish blankets for two cousins

6 ~ Work on inventory of aprons and stockings

And now for the LONG list ... 

2012 Stitching Goals 

1 ~ Finish Henry for stitching friend

2 ~ Finish birth announcement piece

3 ~ Get back to & finish Red Rose that is artwork by my brother

4 ~ Finish Elemental Cosmos

5 ~ Stitch 3 versions of "Rules for Life" pattern

6 ~ Make some good progress on HAED Wicca

7 ~ Make some good progress on HAED Pale Rose

8 ~ Make some good progress on America the Beautiful

9 ~ Make some good progress on Elemental Masks (& maybe finish?)

10 ~ Finish the kids trick or treat bags

So there are my Crafty Goals for 2012. I would like to get at least one or two pieces stitched in time for the county fair in April, so we shall see! :) 

Happy New Year!!!

Until Next Time,

♥ Margie ♥

Countdown to the County Fair!

Hello my fellow stitchers & friends! 

So yes the county fair is coming to town! And it's just around the corner (yikes)! Time goes by too fast and here it is now just 18 days until entries must be turned in (gulp). I don't know if I'll get anything done in time, but I've decided to give it a shot. Along with entering something into the fair, I can also purchase 2 tickets that will give me free parking and entry all 11 days into the fair for only $20! That's a great deal. 

So, what piece am I going to scramble to get finished in time? Well, I decided working on one of my WIP/UFO's would be best. Do you remember Elemental Cosmos? Here is a picture of what it will (mostly) look like finished as well as where I was when I picked it back up again just a couple days ago ... 

So what's left is filling in all the sections within the star and circle. Where the stars are I'm planning on adding some iridescent beads to give that little something extra. The challenge with this piece is stitching on the black evenweave fabric. And in some places it's black floss ... so stitching black on black is a HUGE challenge. But I have to admit I really like how it looks. :~) So I'm starting with the bottom section and will work my way around. Do you all think I can get it finished in time? I sure hope I can. Just 18 days (maybe 19) to get it completely finished, washed, ironed and framed. The entire design is 135 stitches wide by 146 stitches high. That doesn't sounds like a whole lot, but it's solid stitches. And like I said the black evenweave is a challenge. 

So that's the agenda for the moment. If you see me on Facebook, please send me a shoutout to get back to stitching so I keep on track lol. I can use all the support & encouragement & motiviation that I can get to get this finished in time lol. 

Thank you my friends!!! 

Happy Stitching!

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 ♥

Current Stitching Projects

Currently I have 5 projects that I am working on. Of course, I do still have some unfinished projects that I'm not working on at the moment. But 5 that I am actually working on. One is a little piece that is a beaded christmas pin by Mill Hill called Wintertime Snowlady. Lots of beadwork, which is fun. Then I have a baby announcement piece that will fit in a 5x7 frame once it's finished. I also have a piece that is called Song in Your Heart that I am making for my best friend. Then three pieces that I am making for myself, but also that I plan on entering into the state and county fairs, called Elemental Cosmos and Elemental Masks and America the Beautiful. Here are pictures of Song in Your Heart, Elemental Cosmos, Elemental Masks, and America the Beautiful that I am working on. I will post some pictures of my progress later on.

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥