My Poor Neglected Blog

Hello Dear Friends! 

Oh my goodness, I feel terrible for not having updated my blog in so long! I have done some stitching, but not a lot. This has been a really rough year. Just a few weeks ago, we had another family loss. A very dear family friend, who my husband & I considered to be another mom to us and another grandma to our kids. Just like my father-in-law, it was completely sudden and unexpected. I am deeply saddened and have been an emotional wreck. I wanted to share a photo I have of both of them. 

So as for my stitching, recently my Grama, who is 80 (well 81 as of a few days ago) recently got married again! So I decided to stitch something for the two of them. I thought a traditional wedding piece was not fitting for a "later in life" marriage such as theirs. So instead I found a cute pattern that was designed by a friend on Facebook. I posted that I was going to stitch it and how I was going to add my Grama's and her new husband's names on the coffee cups, and the designer loved the idea and said she would make a few changes to the original for me. She added hearts and put their names on the cups and it looks perfect! I am stitching it on 14ct fiddlers light aida. So that is one of the pieces that I'm stitching at the moment. 

Here is design ... 

And here are my progress pics so far ... 

Also, I am in a Stitchalong (SAL) where each month we are all stitching a different White Willow Stitching Tribal pattern over the next year. This month's pattern is the Tribal Cauldron. I have only stitched a little bit so far as I'm really trying to get my Grama's gift finished first. I am stitching it on 28ct opalescent white evenweave. For the cauldron, I'm using a black cotton pearl to create the texture of a cast iron cauldron. I have never used cotton pearl floss before. So it's definitely been interesting to stitch with. For the potion bubbles, I am using Canon Waterlilies 153 Distant Hills, which is a 12 ply hand dyed silk. The Distant Hills color is a green/purple variegated floss, which I think will look perfect! 

Here is a picture of what the Tribal Cauldron design looks like. 

On the Cauldron, I don't really have enough progress completed in order to post a photo yet. But I will soon.

For the project for the Sandy Hook Elementary quilts, after designing all of the patterns, I stitched the one for the school, and then others stitched the individual patterns. The finished squares that I have seen pictures of, have turned out beautiful.

Here is a photo of the square that I designed and stitched for the school quilt ...



Well that is where I'm at for now. I'll be posting more again really soon!

Happy Stitching & Crafting Everyone!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

It's Been a Rough Few Months ...

Hello to all of my friends, family, blog followers & fellow crafters. 

It has been a rough few months. First as you may have read on my previous post from back at the end of January, one of our furbabies, Kira passed away. We all still miss her very much. A couple of weeks after she passed away, I got a tattoo of her pawprint. I thought I'd share with you all. 

Not long after that, my 16 yr old daughter, who is autistic, had a huge seizure. She had never had a seizure before and it scared the crap out of me!!! Once the seizure had subsided, she fell asleep right away. We called 911 and the ambulance came. They ran tests, including a CT scan and the only thing they found was that she was really anemic. Since then there have been appointments at her regular doctor, the neurologist, the hospital, etc. So far they haven't found anything as to why she had a seizure. The neurologist did say that kids with autism have a 30% chance of having seizures and they'll either have them when they are young and their bodies are growing or they'll have them when they are teenagers and their hormones are going crazy. She also said that they could just have the one isolated incident, or could have them until they stop growing or the hormones balance out. So not much for answers really so far. They did do an EEG which said that there is a chance that my daughter could have more seizures, but they now want to do an MRI to see if they can determine more. So now we're just waiting for my daughter's insurance to preauthorize the MRI. 

Shortly after the incident with my daughter, my father in law passed away suddenly. He was a wonderful man and so kind to everyone who crossed his path. Everyone that knew him loved him. He always had a smile on his face, a hug to give and a joke to tell. He had 5 sons, all of whom were his favorite. He called me "mija" from the first time I met him and welcomed me into the family with open arms. One time, he thanked me for making his son so happy. He was my dad just as much as he was my husband's. My first dad passed away when I was 15 yrs old. My second dad passed away just 13 days before my daughter's first birthday. And now my 3rd dad passed away just 4 days before my son's seventh birthday. Yes, it has been a very rough few months. There certainly have been more downs than ups for us so far this year. And since things happen in threes, I'm hoping we have reached our three and it's nothing but good happenings the rest of the year. 

One good that has happened this year, my daughter received a letter for being on the principal's honor roll at school! My mom and grama bought her the letterman jacket & she now has a beautiful letterman jacket with her honors letter on it. She also lettered in varsity golf and should be receiving her letter for that soon so that it can be added to her jacket. We are all so very proud of her. 

So with all that has been going on I have gotten very little stitching done these past few months. But when I have stitched, it has been the square for the Shady Hook Elementary quilt. I still have a lot of squares that I need to complete for the families quilts. Here is where I am at the moment for the S.H.E. square ... 

So now that things seem to be calming down for the moment, I am going to be busy stitching to get these squares done. Once they are done, I can get back to my WIPs & UFOs. 

Until Next Time,

♥ Margie ♥

Progress on Sandy Hook Elementary School Square and Some Very Sad News

Hello Friends and Fellow Stitchers, Crafters and Bloggers! 

I hope this finds you all doing great and having an awesome weekend. This week for my family and I, has been a difficult one. On Tuesday, one of our furbabies, Kira, passed away. She was 12 years old, and a huge part of our family. We are all very upset. The hardest part was telling the kids after they got home from school. My son immediately got very upset. My daughter, who is autistic, took a little while to process what we had told them, and then was very very upset. They both drew pictures of and for Kira. Our other furbabie, Jack, who is only 2 yrs old, has although still energetic, has been sad too. He misses his friend. RIP dear Kira.

I have decided that I would like to stitch one of the pictures that we have of Kira. Here is an image capture of what I have come up with so far ... 

This is with the pattern being 250w X 340h, 90 colors, and stitched on 18ct aida. Please tell me what you all think. I know it's not the best of quality like some of the amazing cross stitch pattern designers. But it's what I came up with from using the PC Stitch software that I have and importing the photo. I just miss her so much and want to create some beautiful that our family will always have.

Even after creating the pattern of Kira, I have plenty of time to make any changes that may need to be done, because before I even start it, I need to first finish the squares for the Sandy Hook Elementary project and a couple of other small projects for family members.

Here is my updated progress photo of the Sandy Hook Elementary square ...



I think it is coming along nicely. I know there is A LOT of backstitching with the names, and even with all of that, I don't mind backstitching at all. I know a lot of people don't like backstitching. But I really don't mind it in the least. I just wish it would go a little faster lol.

That is all that I have for now.

Happy Stitching, Crafting and Blogging to One and All.

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Sandy Hook Elementary School Quilt Square Progress

Hi there Friends, Fellow Stitchers, Crafters & Bloggers ~ 

So I did manage to squeeze in some stitching today. I made a little bit of progress on the Sandy Hook Elementary square for the school quilt. It is not much, but definitely a start. 

And here is the progress that I have made for my Wednesday stitching ... 

I think it is looking pretty good so far. Please let me know what you think. 

That is all I have for now. 

Until Next Time,

♥ Margie ♥

Wednesday Stitching

Hello Everyone! 

Well it is UFO Wednesday and although I haven't stitched on a Wednesday for a while due to the holidays, I AM STITCHING NOW! As you have read from the previous post, I have put all other projects on hold while I stitch squares for the Sandy Hook Elementary Special Project. I am starting with the square for the school quilt. Also, remember that you can see my UFO Wednesday posts on the tab at the top of my blog.

Here is what the pattern looks like that I put together ... 

I know this is a short post, but it is already afternoon, and I want to get to stitching! Thank you for stopping by & reading my blog!

Happy Stitching, Blogging, and Crafting to One and All!

Until Next Time,

♥ Margie ♥

A Very Special Project

Hello Friends, Stitchers & Bloggers ~ 

I know it has been a while since I have posted. With getting ready for the holidays and then the holidays, I didn't get much time for stitching. Then on December 14th, a terrible, terrible tragedy happened. I'm sure all of you know about it. In the small town of Newtown, CT, a man went into Sandy Hook Elementary School and took the lives of twenty kids in two first grade classrooms, as well as women who worked at the school. Then, when he heard the sirens of police and emergency response teams, he took his own life. This was after he had killed his own mother in their home. One of the little girls in one of the classrooms, survived, because she laid on the ground pretending to be dead. Then afterwards, she ran to her parents and said "I'm ok, but all of my friends are dead." This is a devastating tragedy. As a mom of two kids, one in first grade, I cannot even begin to imagine what the families of these beautiful kids and women are going through. And it is my hope that I never have to. I, like many others, wanted to do something for the families and the school. Some fellow stitchers on Facebook came up with the idea of stitching squares that would be made into quilts. I signed up. There will be a quilt for each of the families, one for the little girl who survived, one for the school, and there will also be one that will be given to the brother of the man that caused this terrible tragedy, bcuz he also lost his mom. There will also be squares that will be made into pillows for the brothers and sisters of the kids, and other squares that will be made into something for the first responders and also the janitor of the school. I signed up to stitch squares for each of the family quilts, a square for the little girl's quilt, and for the school quilt. For the little girl that survived, I selected a pattern by Vee and Co Cross Stitch Designs, who gave her patterns out for free for this very special project. The pattern is snowman in a snowglobe that is holding a heart that says "You Melt My Heart". For the squares for the families, I wanted to do something more personal. So I put together patterns that have each person's name, birth flower and birthdate. And for the square for the school, I put together a pattern that has a heart bouquet in the middle, I made all but one of the hearts green and white, which are the school colors. There are hearts in each corner that are green and white. It says "Forever in Our Hearts" and has the names of all the kids and women that were lost in this tragedy. I just finished the patterns a few days ago and have started to stitch them. 

I wanted to share with you all what the patterns look like. And I will also post pictures of the finished squares as I get them done. I do hope that everyone affected by this tragedy does like what we are making. 

Here are what the patterns looks like ...

So this is what I will be working on over the next few months. I know that I have other projects that I need to work on and get finished, but I feel that this is more important.

If you would like to see the other squares that my fellow stitchers are working on for this very special project, you can find the Facebook group here.

I want to thank you all for reading my blog and supporting me and my art craft all of these years.

Happy Stitching, Crafting & Blogging.

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥