It's All About Cross Stitch! Yes it is!

Hello Everyone!!! 

Yes, I am absolutely still here! I have been posting, but haven't posted here on my actual blog. I have created and been posting on my own public Facebook page that I created! I think I have found a way to link the two together so that every time I post here on my actual blog, a link to the post will be posted on my Facebook blog page! And if you would like to visit my Facebook blog page, it can be found here ... It's All About Cross Stitch! So what do you think? ☺ 

I have been very busy. I have done some stitching, and then once the holidays were creeping up on me, I did a ton of baking and also painted some plaster ornaments. It was fun, but now the new year and back to getting my stitchy butt in gear! ☺ 

I had to put my WWS Peaceful Frog aside for now to work on a couple of model stitch pieces for Connie Gee Designs. She is a new designer and coming up with some great designs. I also created a couple of new cross stitch patterns myself! They are up and available for purchase in my Etsy shop! One is a simple piece that is called Thank You for Your Service. It is designed to be stitched and given to members of the United States military to thank them for their service to our country. Also, a portion of the proceeds with be donated to the Wounded Warrior Project!!! So please be sure to stop by my Etsy Shop by clicking HERE. I hope you like the designs that I have available. 

Back to the model stitch pieces. The first one was a Yin Yang Turtle. It's a simple design and came out pretty cute. The next one is called Quirky Quartet. It is a back stitching blackwork piece. It's about 1/3 of the way done. Back stitching sure does take longer than I thought it would! But I do think it's coming out very nice. Be sure to visit (and like) my Facebook page to see the pictures! ☺

I am going to be doing a weekly rotation again this year for my stitching projects. I have created an album on my Facebook page showing the projects that I have planned for this year's rotation. The first week of course was the Quirky Quartet model stitch piece. The next project is a special piece that will be a gift for my husband for our 10th wedding anniversary in March. I hope I am able to get that one stitched up quickly! ☺ I am really excited about this piece and I wish that I could share pictures, but since my blog is a public page and so it my Facebook blog page, I cannot show pictures until after he receives it. If you are on my friends list on Facebook however, I have an album with specific privacy settings set up for posting progress pictures! ☺ He can't see that album! Hehehe ☺

Well, I think that's everything! Please be sure to stop by my Facebook page to check out the pictures and like my page! ☺

Happy Stitching! 

Until Next Time,

♥ Margie ♥

A New Project!

Hello Friends!!! 

I am excited to be starting this new design by White Willow Stitching called Peaceful Frog. The image used for this design came from an online game called Glitch. This was a really fun and free game. My husband and I played and we made some great friends during the game. Sadly tho, there were so many players that they kept having to expand the servers, resulting in having to shut the game down as it got to be too costly. It was a sad moment for all of us that truly enjoyed the game. The game was shurt down a few years ago. So imagine my surprise when a few months ago, I see a post on the White Willow Stitching group on Facebook about this new "Peaceful Frog" design! In the game of Glitch, he was known as the Yoga Frog. Everyone loved the Yoga Frog. I had to share the link to this new pattern with the rest of my Glitch buddies. One of them asked me if they could design a pattern of her house from the game. So I talked to Jamie from WWS and we did some research. We discovered that every single image from the game, with the exception of the Glitch logo, are now open source images, which means they can, in fact, be made into cross stitch patterns to be sold! After letting my friend know, she was so excited that she bought me the pattern of the Yoga Frog (Peaceful Frog)! So of course, I had to make this my new project! 

So here is what my new project looks like! ☺

Namaste!

Until Next Time,

♥ Margie ♥

Update on Tribal Teapot

Hello Everyone! 

Yes, it has been a while since my last post. We have been busy with fair and end of the year school activities and some other family matters, I just kept forgetting to post some update pictures. I have a couple to show since the last one that I posted of the Tribal Teapot. 

I haven't gotten very far on this piece, partially due to the above mentioned reasons, but also bcuz the color of the fabric has made stitching this piece a little bit challenging. It's like a blueish gray color. So I have discovered that the best way to work on it is in actual daylight, as in sitting outside to stitch. And where I live, we have been getting triple digit temps, and in the 90s for the last couple of months, so there is no way I''m sitting outside to stitch until the Fall. So I am going to put this one on hold for a while until it cools off and I can sit outside comfortably again. 

That's all I have for now. Thanks for stopping by! 

Until Next Time,

♥ Margie ♥

Whoa! Where Has the Time Gone?!!!

Hello Friends & Fellow Crafters! 

What a busy year it has been so far! Here we are already one third of the way through the year and I haven't gotten much stitching done at all. I have been super busy with my Bottle Caps crafts. It has been so much fun! Have you visited my Crafting with Bottle Caps page on Facebook? I have been making bottle cap jewelry, needle minders and magnet sets! They have been SO much fun to make! I am just trying to make some extra money since I am unable to work due to needing to be home for my daughter who has autism and epilepsy. 

I need to get back on working on some stitching. I have to get my Tribal Teapot finished within a month. These next couple of days I am finishing framing up and preparing my three entries for the local county fair. Plus my daughter is entering three pieces of her artwork! I am entering Let's Be Wicked, Rules for Life and Goonies Never Say Die. I have to turn them in on Friday. Then the first day of the fair is next Thursday, April 16th and that's when we'll be able to find out how we did. We are so excited! Once we get them all ready for the fair, I will post pictures. 

Here is my Tribal Teapot so far ... 

I will be making some more progress on it and hopefully get it finished in time for Mother's Day! 

Until Next Time,

♥ Margie ♥

My Finishes for 2014

Hello again! 

This has been a good year. My family and I are thankful for the good things that have happened and for the bad things that did not. We look forward to another good year in 2015. 

I had a more productive year in my crafting in 2014. I have cross stitch finishes, and a ribbon for one. I have started a new crafting venture with bottle caps that is really fun. You can find Crafting with Bottle Caps on Facebook. 

Here are my 2014 Cross Stitch Finishes ...

White Willow Stitching's Tribal Penguin

Ursula Michael's Let's Be Wicked

Ursula Michael's Let's Hug Brother

Goonies Never Say Die (purchased on Etsy)

Kincavel Krosses' Rules for Life

These were not very large designs, but they were not small ones either. So I feel a sense of accomplishment to have finished them all in one year. I hope for more finishes in 2015. 

Also, I have made several bottle cap needle minders, magnets and necklaces! 

Until Next Time,

♥ Margie ♥

Weekly Rotation #8 ~ Red Rose 12/13-12-19

Hi there Everyone! 

With this past week's rotation, I was working on Red Rose by White Willow Stitching. The artwork is by my brother! With preparations for the holidays, there wasn't much time for stitching, but I did manage to get in a few stitches. 

With Christmas coming up next week, I will most likely have no time for stitching, as I need to make my daughter's & son's fleece tied blankets and pillows. My daughter's is Hello Kitty and my son's is Darth Vader. So there won't be a weekly rotation. 

I want to wish all of you who celebrate a very Merry Christmas!!! 

Until Next Time,

♥ Margie ♥

Weekly Rotation #7 ~ Queen Bee 12/06-12/12

Hello Everyone! 

Well, I got a bit more of the apple area on Queen Bee done this week. It was a bumpy week, so I kind of had a hard time finding the motivation. But I did make some progress and progress is progress, right?! 

So here we are on Queen Bee ...

Up next in the rotation is Red Rose by White Willow Stitching. The artist is my brother! He drew the rose without any color and WWS designed the cross stitch design in several different color roses. The one that I am working on is the Red Rose, but bcuz WWS was not able to get a good mock up picture of the design in red, I am stitching it up so that she will be able to use my stitched picture for the pattern cover. Here is what the rose design looks like in black. But just picture it in red! 

I am stitching the design on 14ct aida. It seems weird to be doing since lately, I have been doing most of my stitching on 18ct and also recently 25ct. But I know the end result will look great! I hope my brother likes it! 

Until Next Time,

♥ Margie ♥

Success at the County Fair!!!

Hello Everyone!!! 

I haven't made much progress on the Monopoly Game Board bcuz I keep struggling with a way to hold all of that fabric so that I can use my floor stand. I tried using a 9x24 split scroll frame, but that wasn't large enough for the fabric size. So my husband has an idea to make split scroll bars that are longer. My fabric size is 30x36, so I think I will need scroll bars that are 38 or 40 inches long. But my worry is that he won't be able to put the split in the dowels without breaking them. But we'll see. 

Anywho, SO! Remember my WWS Tribal Penguin? Well, I finished it, framed it up and it looked AWESOME!!! So then it was time to enter him into the county fair! And today, was the first day of the fair & I got to find out how I did! 

I GOT FIRST PLACE!!! 

I am so excited & happy with my penguin. And I have decided that I'm also going to be entering it into the state fair in October! 

Until Next Time,

♥ Margie ♥

First Finish of 2014!!!

Hello Friends!!! 

I am very happy to report my first finish of the year! See, it WILL be a year of finishes for me! 

Very early Wednesday morning, I finished the WWS Tribal Penguin! And I really think it came out great! All that I have left to do is iron and frame it, but first I must find the perfect frame. I think a white frame will make it really pop. It would be awesome if I could find a frame that looks like ice or ice cubes or something like that. But I haven't ever seen a frame like that, so I'm sure I will use a white frame. Then in April, I'll be entering my Penguin into the county fair! I'm super excited about it! 

Here is my finished Penguin! 

After a few hours of sleep, I started on a project that I have been wanting to do for a very long time and I decided that now is that time. I am stitching the Monopoly Game Board! I only worked on it this past Wednesday so far. So I haven't gotten very far yet. For the border of the game board, I decided to stitch it in DMC 550 purple to make it a little bit personalized, since purple is my favorite color. After I finish stitching the game board, I am going to build a table and put the stitched game board on top and then apply a thick poly coating on top so it will be my permanent Monopoly table. It's going to be awesome!

So here is what the Monopoly Game Board will look like ... 

And here is my start of my progress from this past Wednesday ... 

I am really excited about this project and can't wait to see it finished! 

That's all that I have for now. Happy Stitching and Crafting! 

Until Next Time,

♥ Margie ♥

It's a New Year & 2014 Will Be a Year of Finishes For Me!

Hi there Friends! 

Yes, I am still here. I have not done hardly any stitching since my last post, as my daughter started having seizures a lot. They now have her on 3 medications and we're hoping that will finally keep the seizures at bay. 

So as I said, it's a new year! And I want to get some finishes under my belt this year!!! I picked back up the WWS Tribal Penguin when I was finally able to go back to the local stitchalong this past Saturday. I didn't get a lot done, but I did have a good time. And I certainly needed that! I'm going to get that finished up and then I am going to stitch the Monopoly board that I have had for quite some time. Once I finish stitching it, we're going to build a table and put a thick poly coating over the top so it will be a permanent Monopoly table! I'm really excited about it & can't wait to see it all finished. 

So the fair will be here in just a few months. I need to get busy if I want to get my penguin and Monopoly table finished in time to enter them! The dates to turn in entries are April 11th-12th. I have never seen anyone enter a piece of furniture with cross stitch as a permanent part of it entered into the fair before. That could be a very good thing! 

I have some awesome news!!! I have opened up my very own Etsy shop! I am working on designing some cross stitch patterns. As of right now, I have one of my cross stitch patterns up for sale in my Etsy shop. There are more in the works and will be released soon! You can find my Etsy shop here ... 

4EverTreasrdKpsakes

It's a new day, it's a new year, and I'm feeling good!!! 

(yes, I know those aren't the exact lyrics, but they are MY lyrics!) 

Until Next Time,

♥ Margie ♥

A Quick Stitch Project

Hi Everyone! 

I have been stitching along the last few days. I worked on Rules for Life last Saturday at my local stitch along group. But being a new month, October, there is a new White Willow Stitching tribal pattern SAL to do. It's a smaller pattern, so I thought I'd work on that to take a little break after all of the frogging that I had to do. So the October pattern is the WWS Tribal Penguin. 

So here is what the pattern looks like ... 

I am stitching with just DMC 310 and White. The fabric that I chose is Picture This Plus Dwarf 28ct linen. The pictures don't do it justice, but it's like an icy blue color, which I thought was fitting for a penguin. 

Here is fabric & floss ready to go ... 

I started stitching the evening of October 6th. 

Here are a couple of progress pics after just a couple of days ... 

That is all that I have for now. Once I finish the WWS Tribal Penguin, then I'll be getting back to the Kincavel Krosses Rules for Life. 

Until Next Time,

♥ Margie ♥

Rules For Life Update ...

Hello Friends and Fellow Stitchers and Crafters! 

Here we are nearing the end of September already! Seems the closer we get to the end of the year, the faster it goes by. 

I still haven't started working on the WWS Tribal Cat as I just found the floss I'm going to use a couple of days ago. I'll be using ThreadworX Indian Tapestry. Once I get it stitched, I'm going to give it to one of my Mom's best friends that I've known since I was a little girl, who loves cats. I think she'll really like it. 

What I have been working on is Kincavel Krosses Rules for Life.  I've gotten the entire border stitched and have started on the words inside. The border, which is nearly 2000 by itself, was a little monotonous, but I'm glad to have the words started, which has made it fun again. Here is my progress of the border so far ... 

I also have an ATC that I stitched for one of the ATC swap groups that I am in on Facebook. But can't post that pic just yet as she is on my friends list on Facebook and might see this post. And I don't want to ruin the surprise. The theme we were stitching was Jobs and so we had to stitch something that represented the job that the person has. What I stitched was something that I designed myself. I'm really excited about it and so happy with how it came out. Can't wait till she receives it so that I can post a pic! 

Well that's all I have for now! Should be posting another update very soon! 

Happy Stitching and Crafting Everyone! 

Until Next Time,

♥ Margie ♥ 

August Stitching: A Finish, Progress, A Start, & Plans

Hello Stitching & Crafting Friends & Followers! 

So here we are, already 5 days into September! Only 111 days until Christmas, and I'm sure that will fly by! 

So I am very happy to show you the finished piece of Coffee Motto that I made for my Grama and her new husband. Here it is before and after matting & framing ... 

You'll remember on my last post how I mentioned about one of the groups I am in on Facebook doing a different White Willow Stitching tribal pattern SAL each month. Last month (August) was the Tribal Cauldron. Since I was using the size 5 cotton perle black floss and had never used it before, even tho I am stitching it on 28 ct evenweave, it is proving to be quite the challenge to stitch with. But I am getting thru it very slowly. This is the only progress I've made on it so far ... 

The pattern that we are doing for the September WWS Tribal SAL is the Tribal Cat. Originally I hadn't planned on stitching this one, but once it was added to the SAL list, I thought why not. I still haven't decided what fabric or floss to use for it, so I'll keep thinking about it. This is what the Tribal Cat looks like ... 

Towards the end of August, I decided to start working on the Kincavel Krosses Rules for Life. My dear friend that passed away, Momma Anna, I showed this pattern to her after I bought it. All the many years we've known each other, she had never asked me to stitch her anything specific before. But as soon as she saw and read the Rules for Life design, she said to me, "I really like this one. Please stitch this one for me." I had never gotten to get it stitched for her before she passed. This of course saddens me. So I am stitching it. And I am going to give it to Momma Anna's daughter after it's finished. I am stitching it on 14 ct light oatmeal aida and using ThreadworX 10342 Earth Stones floss. I think the fabric & floss combination is looking really really good. I'm still doing the border of the design so I don't want to post an update photo yet, but here is what the design looks like, as well as the floss & fabric together right before I started it ... 

Also during all of this, I am also trying to completely revamp and reorganize my entire craft room. That in itself is quite a job & quite time consuming. But it's going to be so worth it once I have it finished. 

Well that's all I have for this time. I should be posting some update photos soon! Thank you, as always, for reading and following my blog! 

Happy Stitching & Crafting to One & All!

Until Next Time,

♥ Margie ♥

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 ♥

Election Day 2012 & Getting Ready for UFO Wednesday Stitching

Hello My Friends, Stitchers, Crafters & Bloggers! 

I hope that this finds you all doing well and enjoying the day and season! So today is Election Day here in the United States. Have you all voted? My husband and I will be heading to the polls right after our son finishes his homework. I honestly feel, that when it comes to politics, it's up to us to choose the lesser of two evils and vote for that person. I just hope whoever ends up in office, we can all just hope that they bring back this great nation to where we're all more economically sound. Time will tell. 

Alright! Now on to a much more fun topic. STITCHING! So, as you know from my last post, and the new tab at the top of my blog, I am part of a Wednesday UFO group on Facebook. With last Wednesday being Halloween (I hope you all had a very fun Halloween!), and my husband working that night, I did not get any stitching done. I thought maybe I could have a makeup day in the days following Halloween, but that didn't happen either. I did get a couple of stitches in, but really only about 20 minutes worth. So tomorrow is a new Wednesday Stitching Day! I'm looking forward to it, as I would really like to make some good progress on Transformation by Tilton Crafts. She is such a beautiful piece and with only working on the bottom left corner page so far, it doesn't look like anything yet. I can't wait till I can really see the design come to life as I stitch her.

Oh and I am really happy to report that Tilton Crafts will be creating patterns of my brother's, Brandon Salamone, artwork!!! Shelley really loves his drawing called, Drop Dead Gorgeous. So I'll be writing him and asking him to draw up some pieces that go along with that theme. Also, don't forget, you can find patterns of some of his artwork on the White Willow Stitching website, as well. I don't know if Jamie from WWS is going to be creating any more patterns of my brother's artwork or not. But for now, there are some beautiful patterns available. And soon you'll be able to buy my brother's GORGEOUS artwork in pattern form on Tilton Crafts!!!

Well, my son is done with his homework, so we are off to the polls! 

Happy Stitching, Crafting & Blogging and don't forget to ... 

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

... 2010 ...

~ 2010 ~

Wow. So here we are just 13 short days until the new year. For me 2010 has been both eventful and uneventful. It has been eventful in that so much has been happening with family and with friends. And uneventful in that all the eventful parts have kept me from being productive in my stitching, my sewing, my painting, my scrapbooking, etc. My only finishes for 2010 were ATCs.

My year started with the saddest of occasions. One of my best lifelong friend's son had died in a motorcycle accident and I attended the funeral just a few days into 2010. He was a good kid and so young. He was one of her twins who are the oldest of her kids. I've known him since he was born. It was a very hard time. The accident took place on Xmas eve and he passed on December 28th of last year. It was a terrible tragedy. I think of him often and I keep them all in my heart especially this time of year.

This time of year always makes me sad. This was my dad's favorite time of year. We had family traditions. Dad & I always went shopping together just him & I for Mom. We loved going shopping for the tree and there was a tradition to that too. But my Dad passed away 12 1/2 yrs ago. I know that is a long time. But this is the time of year when I miss him most. Lots of holiday movies bring tears to my eyes. And it seems that each year it takes me longer to "get in the spirit". Here we are six days till Xmas and I just don't feel excited about it. I think it's a combination of a few things, but I know missing my Dad is part of it.

Something very exciting that has happened is that my brother, who is a very talented artist, has been contracted with White Willow Stitching!!! :~) I'm very excited & happy about that. I emailed Jaime and asked her if she was interested in having a new artist to design patterns of and she wasn't looking for any new ones at the time, but she agreed to look at his artwork. Once she saw it, she absolutely wanted to sign him to a contract. As of right now, there are six patterns so far. But she's working on several more. Take a look at the patterns of his artwork HERE. There is also a red rose pattern, however she needs a model stitched of it first for the picture before she can post it up for sale. So as soon as I found out that she didn't have anyone to stitch the model, I quickly volunteered! :~)

Ok, so 2011 ... my main crafting goal is to have more finishes than just ATCs (including one of two pieces to enter into the county & state fairs), to at least ten aprons and stockings made and posted up for sale, and to get two more sections of my daughter's afghan crocheted. I think that I set my goal list for 2010 way to high. I mean of course I didn't expect so much chaos to take place. But honestly , do we ever. This time I'm going to plan for chaos and maybe it WON'T happen lol.

Well since it's nearly 2am, I am going to take myself off to bed for now.

I hope you all have an absolutely wonderful holiday season and get everything you asked Santa for! And the very best wishes for an amazing 2011! :~)

Happy Stitching & Crafting!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

PS ~ I have a few more ATC pictures that I need to post so I'll get that up a little bit later on. :~)