I have an update ... and a sad loss to report ...

Hello Everyone!

How are you all doing? Really well I hope. As for me, well I was doing really well. Until Thursday morning when I got a phone call. In Michigan, I have an aunt & uncle & 2 cousins. The cousins are both married. My cousin, Maria is 33 and my cousin, Dominic just turned 36 on March 28th. Well the phone call that I received was from my cousin Maria. I answered the phone very happy to receive her call & excited to talk to her. And then I heard tone in her voice. She was very upset and it was clear that she was crying. My first thoughts were that something had happened to my uncle as he has had heart issues in the past & surgeries for it. I asked her what was wrong & what happened. I never expected what she was about to say. My cousin Dominic had passed away very early Wednesday morning. I was shocked & stunned. And it took a few minutes for it to sink in. I tried to keep my cool while I listened to Maria explain everything, fighting back the hysterics, with tears still managing to escape my eyes and stream down my face. My husband sitting on the couch watching my face and listening very closely to what I was saying. Dominic went out with friends Tuesday nite and after a while he told his friends that he wasn't feeling well and asked for them to take him home. His friends could tell he wasn't feeling well. He was sweating very badly and just didn't look good. They wanted to take him to the hospital. But he told them that he just wanted to go home. So they followed his wishes. They helped him in the house & into his chair and covered him up with his blanket. And they left. The next morning, his wife (no one can stand this woman) discovered him face down on the floor and he has passed away. His blanket was soaking wet from all the sweating. But no one knows what happened. No one knows what he died from. Dominic & Maria are my favorite cousins and I am deeply saddened by this. I am going to miss him so much. He was way too young. We are all waiting for the autopsy results. But the services are Sunday and Monday. And unfortunately we do not have the funds for me to fly back to Michigan for the services. After I got off the phone with Maria, my husband immediately came over to me & wrapped his arms around me. And that is when I lost it. I was so glad that he was off work that day. So in the last 3 days I haven't slept very well. And I just don't have the energy to do anything. I haven't done any stitching or much of anything else. I miss my cousin. I keep thinking of times past. Of how much fun we had as kids and teens. Of the visit we had last summer. He was such a great guy. My uncle is taking this so very very hard. I worry about him too. Yesterday afternoon, an idea came into my head. I have a nice picture of my cousin that was taken last summer when we were there. So I decided that I would make a few copies of the picture, and design and stitch a memorial plaque. I will give one to my aunt and uncle and also one to my cousin Maria. And one for my brother and of course one to keep for us. I may not have the amitbion or energy to stitch right now, but my crazy creative brain just doesn't shut off. Not even in times like these. Is that nuts?!

Prior to this news, I had been working hard on the snowman pattern that I showed you all in my previous post. So I wanted to share with you all my updated progress. So here is my progress so far ...




I think it is coming along nicely. The pattern is 90x90 and I would have thought I would be able to get it finished a lot faster. But it seems to be a lot more stitching than I had anticipated. But then again, I did have to take out 2/3 of the orange & yellow stripes since I thought the snowman sat on top of them & not IN them. Then I messed up a bit on one of the snowman's black mittens & had to take out & fix that. I am hoping it doesn't take too much longer to get this stitched. I don't like to hold up the show on the RR's. After I get all of the stitching part done then there is all of the backstitching to be done. It's easy backstitching, but just A LOT of it. LOL. I can't wait to see it all finished. And then to get it into the mail. I am going to try to work on it a little bit tonite. Hopefully I will be able to. So what do you think so far?

I will post another update as soon as I can! I also have to stitch a couple of football helmets for a couple of my very best friends. She is a Cowboys fan and he is a Packers fan. I have some cute patterns of the helmets for those teams. They look to be pretty quick stitches, but we'll see. They are 60x76. I will post the pictures for those when I am able to get them stitched.

Happy Stitching Everyone!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

A Finish & WIP RR Piece

Hi Fellow Stitchers & Friends!!!

Well it has been a long time since I've posted anything. Part of the reason for that is stuff that I mentioned in my previous post, lack of sleep. I was having so many sleep issues that I just didn't have the energy when I was awake to do much of anything. Also I was discouraged bcuz of the SAL that I was/am doing with the HAED pattern. I have not worked on that since I posted my last progress update. I will get back to it. However right now it is much more important that I finish my RR pieces. I am involved in 2 different RR's. And I have to get them finished. I am feeling very terrible for holding up the process. But I am working hard & I know I will get everything caught up. I am so upset with myself, but I know I will get there. And I am thankful that in the one RR, the other ladies are so patient & understanding.

Anyway, let me show you the photos that I have for a piece that I have finished and also another that I am working on.

One lady selected the heart themed Tatty Teddies as her theme. And she is going to give the finished piece to her husband for their anniversary. It is so cute! And such a great idea. I'm sure her husband will love it. I do have to say that this is the first Tatty Teddy that I have ever stitched. And I had no idea how much backstitching was involved in it until I came to that point in the pattern. Normally backstitching doesn't bother me in the least. However the backstitching for Tatty Teddies is WOW! Such a pain in the backside! I love the finished piece, but I have to say that I don't think that I will be doing another one anytime soon unless I stitch it on evenweave over two threads. The piece that I did was Tatty Teddy Little Hearts. And to add an extra special touch, I did the backstitching of the hearts in red metallic floss. I think it looks pretty good! Here is the photo of it ...



It's a little hard in the photo to see the red metallic floss around the hearts, However I think it turned our really well.

The next piece in this same RR, is a pattern series called Snowmen for All Seasons. Since fall/autumn is my favorite season, that is the piece I selected. The entire pattern series is absolutely adorable & I am looking forward to stitching the entire series for my home also.

Here is a photo of the entire pattern series ...



The photo itself is not the best, but I hope you can see it well enough to know what it looks like. The finished RR piece will not be all straight in a row like this. The first two will be on the top & the third & fourth will be on the bottom when all of the pieces have been all stitched. Isn't this just TOO CUTE!!!

So as I said I am going to do the fall/autumn piece. I just love it! Here is a photo of that part of the pattern series ...



This is so cute! And the nose on each snowman is a cute tiny little carrot button. Here is a photo of what I have done so far ...



Now I was moving right along on this. However, if you look closely at what the finished pattern will look like, you will see that where the orange & yellow stripes are, they are not even all the way across. The snowman sits IN those stripes not on top of them. And when I first looked at the pattern I thought that the snowman sat on top of them. So it was not until after I scanned & uploaded the photos that I realized that I had screwed up on the stitching. So since scanning this photo yesterday, I have since had to take out most of the orange & yellow stripes & fix my mistakes. It is frustrating, however, I am of course upset with myself for not looking at both pages of the pattern before I stitched this section. I was trying to do the pattern in a hurry bcuz I want to get it finished & off in the mail to the next person. And now I am taking longer bcuz of it. Oh well, these things happen & such is life in the world of cross stitch! LOL.

So that is what & how I am doing at this time. I am looking forward to posting more updates!!!

Happy Stitching Everyone!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Lack of Sleep is Causing My Stitching to Suffer ...

So I haven't done any stitching in just over a week ~ it's been very frustrating. I have wanted to stitch, however I am having some issues with sleeping & so therefore when I am awake I feel to mentally & physically drained to concentrate on any stitching. Believe me it's not the lack of wanting to stitch. I just haven't had the energy. And of course since my stitching is suffering, so is the laundry & housework. So I will have to concentrate on that first before I allow myself to work on stitching. I will probably try to pick up my needle on occasion when taking a break from doing some cleaning and between loads of laundry. And once I get caught up on that I am full speed ahead with a needle & floss for sure!!! And it's funny, well not really haha funny, but still funny none the less, that my friend that I have been SALing with on HAED Wicca is also stitching a little slower the past week or so. Which would have been a great time for me to make some progress to try to catch up with her if I had the energy LOL. Oh well so is life. :~)

As it is now reached the midnite witching hour, I find myself still awake but starting to feel the sandman so this is a good thing. At least it's not 5am like it has been most nites over the last almost week & a half.

And with that I wish you all a fond g'nite & will post again very soon!

Until Next Time,
Margie

A Sweet Award from a Wonderful Friend!

Tonite while working on a new post on my blog, I received a message from a great friend telling me that she has given me an award! I am so honored to receive this award! Thank you very much, Dawn!!!

I have never really thought of myself as a Spreader of Love. I am often very critical of myself and told by friends & family (and even former supervisors that I worked for!) that I am my own worst enemy. Even former supervisors, when I worked for them, would say that I criticize myself even more than they do! I like very much to do anything in my power to help people to be happy. I try my best to cheer them up if they are down, motivate if they are struggling, and support them in any endeavor they attempt. To me, this is just me doing what I do. And for someone as wonderful as Dawn to present me with this award is so special & amazing to me.

The rules of the award are to select 5 people that I think deserve this award. Let me just start by saying I think there are so many people that I believe are deserving of this award. So many fellow bloggers have been so kind to me since I started my blog. It is definitely going to be very tough to narrow it down to a mere five. If I could present the award back to Dawn, I would absolutely do so. She is so supportive & such a kind person. She is always one of the very first to comment on every single post that I make. I always look forward to & appreciate her comments.

Here are the 5 amazing people that I have chosen for this award ...

Ashley bcuz you are so much fun & your comments always make me smile!

Romantic Fool bcuz your words of encouragement always keep me going.

Meari bcuz your comments are kind & supportive & really help me to keep it real.

Terry bcuz you are not only supportive in stitching but you are also a fellow Autism supporter with a child on the Autism spectrum and that is so important to me. I too have a child on the Autism spectrum. Your blogs are awesome & love how you promote Autism Awareness.

Lana (A Joyful Stitcher) bcuz your comments always cheer me up & make me feel better if I am discouraged about my stitching.

I was not able to link to Lana's blog, so if anyone is able to please contact her & let her know I would really really appreciate it. And I thank you in advance for your help! :~)

Ladies, it is now up to you to select 5 other deserving people of this wonderful award! And again, I offer my thanks to Dawn for honoring me with this award! :~)

♥ Margie ♥

HAED Wicca Progress 3 ...

Hello Again My Friends!!!

Well I haven't gotten very much done on this pattern. But I haven't been able to stitch the past couple of days due to other things going on. We've had lots of errands to run, etc. But I do plan on stitching a bit tonite & then more tomorrow for sure. Anyway, as I've told you I am stitching this pattern along with a friend online. She is such an amazing stitcher that is lightening fast. I am really enjoying stitching along with her. But when she posts updates I get a little bit discouraged since I am not able to keep up in the least. I mean I am still working on my first page & she has already completed 4 pages! So I am going to post a picture of my progress so far, which doesn't look like anything yet, and then I'll post a couple of updates that my friend has posted, all in a matter of days of each other. It is truly amazing at how much stitching she is able to complete in such a short amount of time.

Here is my progress so far ...



So here it is so far. No longer looks like I'm stitching a cow, but it's obvious that you can't tell what it is to become yet. But I'll get there ... one stitch at a time. I am really enjoying stitching this pattern. Oh! Also I ordered some "stitchers tools" which should be arriving tomorrow that will help me along the way. One tool is a floss organizer so that I can cut several strands of floss ahead of time. The other is a needle organizer so that I can pre-thread all the colors of floss for this pattern & won't have to worry about re-threading for each color. Can't wait to get those! :~D

Ok, so now here are my friend's latest updates.



2 pages completed by my friend.



4 pages completed.

We started this pattern together on January 19th. On January 22, my friend had her first page finished. Then her second page was finished on January 24th. As of yesterday, January 27, she had completed both her third and fourth pages. And I am still working on the popcorn/confetti stitching of my first page. But I'll get there. I had one friend that compared me to a turtle & my SAL friend to a cheetah. But not in a bad way. She also said it's like taking a road trip. My kind of stitching is like being on a road trip & seeing all the sights along the way & truly enjoying the trip. My SAL friend's kind of stitching is like being on a road trip & only stopping for gas along the way. I am absolutely sure that my friend that is also stitching Wicca is also really enjoying stitching the piece, so I am not so sure that this is quite the right metaphor. I think that she just is so excited about the pieces that she stitches that she is able to really stitch fast! I'm like a Volkswagon Bug and she's a Ferrari! LOL!!!

So there is our progress so far! I will post more soon!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

HAED Wicca Progress 2 ...

Hello My Fellow Stitchers!!!

Well here I am 3 days into this pattern and I am really loving it!!! I know this is going to take me a long time to get this piece finished. But it doesn't matter. It's so fun & exciting so far. As I said before, one of my online stitching friends & I are stitching this one together, so to speak. We both started on Monday. Now, technically it is Friday (after 2 in the morning however) so we're 4 days into it. But today doesn't really count so far. And my friend stitches soooooooooooooo fast!!! I was intimidated & nervous about stitching along with her bcuz of how fast she stitches, however I am beginning to think that her lightening fast needle is motivating me a little more. Hopefully other areas of my life won't suffer bcuz of it tho. LOL. As you can see it is after 2am in the morning and I am still awake. And don't have plans on going to bed anytime soon bcuz I just want to stitch & stitch & STITCH!!! I am loving stitching this pattern. Anyway, so my friend started stitching this piece in the top center of the pattern & I started on the bottom center of the pattern. So our pieces will each look different as we progress. I have finished all the black on the page that I am working on. And so I thought I would post an update!!! And I also wanted to show you just how fast my friend stitches & post a picture of her progress so far. She has already finished a full page and is working fast on the next page.

So here is my progress so far ...




This is a close up of my progress so far on the page I am working on which is the middle page of the bottom of the pattern. I have finished all of the black on this page.



This is my progress so far from further back. I thought it would be good to show both views.



This is my friend's progress so far. This is the middle page of the top of the pattern. She has completely finished this page, which obviously has more stitches in it than the page I am working on. This lady has 4 kids, three of which are in school. And the fourth is a 2 year old who is home with her all day. I also have a 2 year old home with me all day. However, she did say that her 2 year old likes to play by herself all day while her siblings are at school. So my friend apparently gets a lot of quiet time to stitch for hours where as I don't have that luxury with my 2 year old. So I'm guessing that is how she is able to get so much stitching done each day. I am just in awe at how quickly she is able to stitch!

So I will post both of our progress as we stitch this piece!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

HAED Wicca Progress 1 ...

Hi Again!

Well as planned, my friend & I started stitching Heaven and Earth Designs Wicca today (technically yesterday since it's now 2:20am on the 20th). I didn't get as much as I wanted to get done for the first day. I got a late start (my kids actually let me sleep in YAY!), and then there other things that I had to take care of. I also took time to go to Kinkos to get enlarged copies of the pattern. I started stitching it from the regular sized printout and I decided it would just be easier to enlarge the pattern. So I started stitching the design in the bottom center of the pattern. And here is my progress so far!



There is a lot of black in this pattern. And I was very surprised to see how many colors are in this pattern. It's funny though, there are 2 colors that have only 1 stitch in the entire pattern. And a few other colors that have 12 or less stitches in the entire pattern. I am so excited to have started this piece. And I can't wait to watch it come alive as I stitch it. Of course my progress so far doesn't look like anything yet. But eventually it will. I have no idea how long it will take me to stitch this piece as I've never stitched a pattern of this size before. And I am sure I will have days when I'm not able to stitch anything on it at all and others where I make a lot of progress. My family & I are going on vacation in mid March, and I already know I won't be taking it with me. I will take small patterns to work on while I am on that trip.

So that's it for now, my 1st days progress on HAED Wicca!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Round Robin #1 Progress ...

Hi Everyone!

As promised, here is a picture of my progress so far on the angel for the first round robin. As I said before, this person picked angels as their theme. The stitching area allowance for this piece is 70x70. I chose to stitch the 1999 Lavender & Lace Christmas Angel. I think she is a very pretty design. And I love the use of specialty floss. I haven't done any of the stitching of the specialty floss as of yet. I like to save that for last.

So here she is so far!



I think she is coming along nicely.

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

My First 2009 Finish!!!

Hello Everyone!!!

Lil Stitch Devil is COMPLETE!!! I will be ironing & packaging him up to be sent to my friend in Canada so she can stitch the next section! Each person will stitch a different Lil Stitch Devil, although I won't know which one they are stitching until the piece comes back to me all finished with a total of 4 Lil Stitch Devils on it. There are a total of 8 Lil Stitch Devils designed by EMS. So there's no telling which ones they have planned. I am very excited about it & can't wait till my piece finds its way back to me in a few months.

Well without further delay, here is my finished Lil Stitch Devil with Bobbin!!!



At first I was going to do my signature in one of the darker reds. But I thought that with the location on the piece that I was going to stitch my signature, that it would look better to have one of the darker grays.

So now my Lil Stitch Devil is finished. Next I will be working on finishing the rest of the L&L 1999 Free Christmas Angel piece for the other Round Robin (aka Fat Bird) that I am in. Also on Monday I get to start my 1st HAED pattern!!! And of course I will continue to stitch my section of the Round Robins pieces that I get. Round Robin #1, Once the RR's are completely finished, I will work on stitching some holiday cards that I will be sending out in December to family & friends. It is such a cute pattern of a Sahuaro cactus with a Santa hat on top & xmas lights on it. Since we are in Arizona, I thought this would be really cute for holiday cards. It's a small & quick pattern, so it shouldn't take very long at all to stitch each one up.

Well that's about all for now! I'll post a progress picture of the Angel RR piece a little bit later on!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Another Color of BackStitching Completed!

Hola Mi Amigos!!!

Well I had a dinner break then worked on the black backstitching. And I am happy to post another update with all of the black backstitching finished! And to my surprise while I was doing the black backstitching on the wings, I discovered a stitch where I had missed stitching the top half of that stitch! That is all fixed now! And here is my Lil Devil, nearing completion!





Just one last color of backstitching (garnet) and then I will add my RR signature & I am finished!!! BTW, garnet just happens to be my birthstone color! :~)

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

More BackStitching Completed ...

Well as promised, I am posting after the next color of backstitching. I have finished backstitching the hands of the Lil Devil. And here he is!



Just two more colors of backstitching left ... black and garnet. I will do the black next & post when I am finished!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Another Lil Devil Update ...

Hello Again!!!

I thought I would post some updates as I add the different colors of backstitching to this design. Since there was only a little bit of gray to backstitch, with this update, it shows all of the gray & blue backstitching. Then I'll show an update after the next color of backstitching & so on. This will just show how backstitching can drastically change the appearance of a pattern.

So here is the most recent update. Blue and gray backstitching are completed.



I can't get over the difference on the bobbin after the backstitching. I think it looks really good. The floss as well. Next I will do the backstitching around the hands. It's funny, there is no backstitching between the face & the hood of the devil costume. So 3 colors of backstitch to go and my cute Lil Devil is complete!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

RR Piece Update

Hi Everyone!!!

I would like to apologize for my absence this past week & a half. I have had some internet issues & was just able to get back online today.

I have gotten some stitching done & am just about finished with my Lil Devil!!! Only some more backstitching left to do! And here he is!!!



Since I scanned this picture in I have finished the backstitching on the bobbin & also the skein of floss. I will post another update very soon!!! :~D

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

One of My RR Pieces

Hello Everyone!

So I will be starting the HAED Wicca pattern on January 19th. In the meantime, I am working on two different Round Robin projects. I am getting nearly done on one of them and wanted to post a picture to show my progress so far. It's my EMS Lil Stitch Devil with Bobbin piece. My son is so cute. He was a Lil Devil for Halloween, so when he looks at the pattern, he asks me "Is that me, Momma?" I think it's so funny that at 2 years old he is making those kinds of associations. Anyway, with this RR, there are 4 of us. Each person selected a theme. We stitch a pattern for that theme on one section of the fabric and then mail it to the next person. And then when we get the new fabric in the mail, we stitch a pattern for that person's theme on a section and so on. I don't know if this is normally how the round robins go with the whole theme thing or not, but this is how we decided to do it. I just love it bcuz by the time this RR is finished, I will have a finished piece arrive in the mail that has 4 Lil Stitch Devils that have been stitched by 3 of my friends and I, two of which are in Canada and one in Florida and me in AZ. On the other RR, when my piece gets back to me all finished, I will have a piece that has been stitched by 4 different people in 4 different countries, me being the only one in the US. I just think that is so cool!

Anyway, without further delay, here is my progress on my Lil Devil!



Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

My Mom LOVES Her Aprons!!!

Hi Everyone!!! Between Christmas and New Year's, my husband and the kids and I went to TX to visit my Mom and my Grama. I gave my Mom her aprons. She absolutely LOVES them!!! And she was so surprised! She said she knew I was making something for her but she had no idea that it would be aprons. She has been wanting aprons for a long time. And she was thrilled! She is so funny. She said she is going to take them to work when she goes back on Monday to show everyone. Maybe I'll get some orders! That would be so great! Anyways, here are some pictures of my Mom with her new aprons. Shhhhh ... don't tell her I posted these ... she would probably freak out and say they are terrible pictures of her.





I think she looks great! :~)

Hope ya'll are having a really great 2009 so far! Thank you all so much for your support!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥