Another EMS Geranium Faerie Update ...

Hi Everybody!!!

Well, I have made my first attempt at using blending filament on all of the pink sections of this piece. It's hard to see the sparkle in it with this picture, but in person it looks really pretty. When I finish the whole piece I will take a picture with just my camera instead of using the scanner and hopefully you'll be able to see the sparkle in it. I think this faerie is turning out pretty cute! I am really excited to be nearly done with the X's. Just the green sections and the wings and then back stitching left!

So here is the EMS Geranium Faerie so far ...




I think I am going to use the silver blending filament for the wings just so it's different then the pink areas.

So that is enough stitching for now. After I get a few hours of sleep, then I will get right back to it! Another update will be coming soon!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

EMS Geranium Faerie Update ...

Hello Friends!

Well it's been a couple days, and I had some trying times while stitching the body of this cute little faerie, but at last here is an update!




Isn't she cute?! After I had gotten about halfway through stitching the body, I realized a mistake and had to take out almost all of what I had stitched for the body. But now her body is all stitched and it's on to the next section!!!

I am having so much fun stitching this piece. She is such a cute little faerie. I have decided also to add some sparkly Kreinik blending filament when I stitch the wings and the flower in her hair to give it an extra special touch. I think it will look really cute.

I'll have another update really soon!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Round Robin #1 Piece ...

Hi Everyone!

I am finally making progress on the first round robin that I became involved in. I am sad to say that I have been lagging for way too long on this round robin. The ladies in the group have been so wonderful and patient. And I am determined to get their pieces finished. I wanted to post what I've completed tonite. The theme on this piece is faeries. She chose the stitching area to only be 50x50 stitches and I found it very hard to find a piece that would work out. And finally the piece I chose I had to cut down quite a bit, but I think it will look alright. She is the EMS Fantasy Babies Geranium Faerie.

So here is a picture of what the entire pattern looks like.




Isn't she adorable?!!! Well in order to make her fit into the 50x50 requirement, I have had to cut off most of everything around the faerie, so that there is barely any flower in the top left corner and only a little bit of leaf in the bottom right. In fact, in order to not cut out any of the faerie, I am actually stitching 54x56. So I am hoping the lady whose piece this is doesn't mind that it's a tiny bit larger than what she asked.

I completed the hair tonite. And here is a picture of it.




You can see where the hair is just slightly above the marks. Again, I am hoping she won't mind.

I'll be posting another update again very soon, as I want to get this piece as well as the other 2 finished by the end of the month ... 8 days and counting! Wish me luck!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Starting an HAED SAL on August 1st!

Hello Fellow Stitching Friends!!!

I will be starting an SAL on August 1st with one of my best friends. We are both going to stitch the same pattern, and both of us are stitching this piece for our daughters bcuz the design fits them so well. It is from Heaven and Earth Designs (HAED). The pattern is called Pale Rose. The pattern is 400x530 stitches. Although all HAED patterns call for 25 count fabric stitched over one, I am going to be stitching on 18 count white aida. This will make the final piece 22 inches wide by 29 7/16 inches tall. There are 90 colors, as is pretty standard for most of their large designs. I have everything ready to go, except for one thing. I have decided to try gridding the aida this time. I have seen a few other people do it, and I think it will make it so much easier for keeping track of where I am on the piece when i stop & start, etc. Have any of you gridded your fabric before stitching a piece? Have you found it helpful?

Here is a picture of what the piece will look like all finished.




Isn't it beautiful?!!! I just love it! My daughter LOVES the color pink as much as I love the color purple. And her favorite flowers are pink roses. So this couldn't be more perfect for her.

This is a picture of my printed out pattern, as well as the entire pattern all enlarged for a working copy, and also all of the floss that I will need to complete this piece.





It's kind of hard to see the colors of the floss just right as I took the picture on my dining room table. I will take a better one with them sitting on top of the fabric and you will be able to see them better. The funny thing is that you would think there would be LOTS of different shades of pinks for this pattern. But really there are more orange/peach/coral type colors than there are pinks. Since I will be using 18 count instead of 25 count, the floss usage will be more than what the floss usage list says. So what I did was, if the list said I would need 4 skeins of a color, then I bought 6 skeins. If it said I would need 8 skeins, then I bought 12, and so on.

So what my friend and I decided to do, bcuz we both know we'll want a break from it once in a while and we will want to work on other things bcuz the holidays will be coming up, etc, we are going to do a one month on and one month off SAL. So we'll start in August, then we'll take September off, then we'll work on it in October and take November off, etc. And we'll keep doing that until we finish the piece! :~) What I thought I would do is at the end of each SAL stitching month, I will post my month long progress here on my blog so you can all see how I'm doing on it.

I am very excited to work on this. My daughter doesn't even know I'm going to stitch this for her. During the first couple of weeks of August it will be harder to hide it from her as she will still be home on summer vacation and I will probably only work on it after she goes to bed. But once she starts school, then I'll be able to work on it while she's at school too. I am going to be starting in the bottom left corner of the pattern. And my friend will be starting at the top left corner.

Yes, I know it will be yet another WIP, but since we are going to be doing the one month on & one month off, that will give me time to work on my other WIPs as well as make the items people order from my business. Plus my friend that I will be stitching with is not an extremely fast stitcher like the last lady I was doing an SAL with. That lady, btw, completed her entire piece a couple months ago. It took her 4 months to stitch the entire piece. Anyway, this is going to be great! :~)

Well, I'm off to finish up some small projects that I want to get done before the end of the month!

Happy Stitching!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Thought I'd Post a Pic ...

I thought I would post a pic of what my RR piece looked like before it was mailed off to the last person. My friend (Henry's owner) sent me this picture so that I would at least know what it looked like. It might be hard to see, but some sparkly blending filament was added to each section (even mine) after it left me in order to give it a little something special.




Aren't they some adorable Lil Devils?!!! My piece was the one in the bottom left corner. My friend stitched the one with the scissors and also came up with the idea of adding the sparklies to it. And the Tatty Teddy lady stitched the one with the thimble. Now, I ask you, how can someone put so much effort into a piece just to convince another to throw it away? Shameful, isn't it?

Again Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

I am sad & upset ...

Yep that describes it. Sad and upset. I know some of you have seen my posts of the Round Robin pieces that I have stitched ... The Tatty Teddy with Hearts and the Autumn Snowman and also Henry the snowman. Well I am taking my time with Henry, bcuz the person who's piece that is completely ok with that while I get some other things done. HOWEVER, the other two ladies in the round robin, have both received their pieces back COMPLETED, but have apparently decided to not send me mine back. It is absolutely absurd! My friend who is getting Henry, had a falling out with the lady who had the Tatty Teddy theme. And the lady who got the Autumn Snowman has sided with Tatty Teddy lady and was supposed to send me my piece back, finished or not, but it has been almost 2 months and I have not only received my piece back, but both of them have removed me from their friends list on facebook and blocked me and will not respond to my emails when I ask about where my piece is. I have done absolutely NOTHING wrong to either of these ladies. Since all of this has happened I have found out that every round robin that Tatty Teddy lady has been in, she has made sure one person does not get their piece back. I wish I had known that before I agreed to join a round robin with her. It's just so upsetting to know that they can be so cruel and keep something from someone for absolutely no reason other than to be just plain mean. How does someone do that to another person?!!! Everyday when I check the mail, I still have hopes that I will open up my mailbox and my piece will be there. But the more time that goes by, the more those hopes fade. I hadn't done a round robin in several years bcuz the first time I was in one, I never received my piece back. There was one lady who kept everyone's pieces. But then I had become friends with these ladies on facebook, and they talked about a round robin and I thought sure why not. I never in a million years thought this would happen. But this one person had to ruin it all for everyone. First she decided to kick out one of the original four and replace her with Autumn Snowman lady. And from what I heard she also was wanting to kick me out too. My friend (Henry's owner) told me I should just back out. I said no I am going to stick to my commitment. I should have listened. But I also know everything happens for a reason and there was a reason that I needed to stay in the round robin. And I know now that the reason was so that my friend would get her piece back. Bcuz I'm sure that if I hadn't stayed in the RR, then she would have been the one to not get her piece back. At this point, although I would really like to get my piece back, I just want to know what has happened to it. There is another friend that still talks to Tatty Teddy lady, and she has tried to ask her if she knows anything about it. But she lies and says that I should contact the last lady who had it. Which is absolutely ridiculous bcuz we all know she knows exactly what happened to it.

Anyways, as you can see I chose not to name any names. I don't want the drama. I just needed to vent about this whole thing. I don't think it's right. And I am sad that I will never see my Lil Stitch Devils in person again.

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Still Stitching Henry ...

Hello Friends and Fellow Stitchers!

I haven't posted any updates on Henry lately bcuz I'm trying to get the whole section of leaves and flowers finished on the bottom first, with the exception of the back stitching and beads. I'll be saving all of the back Stitching and beads until I've finished all of the X's first. I am getting close to finished with that area of the pattern so there will be a photo update real soon. I just wanted to keep you all posted on what's going on with this piece.

Things have been a little crazy lately. I've been having issues with sleeping the past couple of weeks. My nights have become days and days have become nights. I'm sure that it has a lot to do with the fact that I have had SO much on my mind lately. And no matter how hard I try to clear my mind when I go to bed, it just wants to go a million miles a minute and not quiet down so that I can sleep. I mean sheesh, shut up already! LOL. Also my husband is on graveyard shifts right now, and I always tend to stay up late when he's working all night. Thankfully tonite is the last night and then he is off work until Sunday. And then he will be on days. I'm really hoping that I will be able to get my sleep patterns back in check during that time. I feel really tired right now. I'm sure that if I went to bed right now that I would be able to sleep for hours. However, even if I could go to bed right now, that just wouldn't work bcuz then I would be up in the middle of the night and wide awake. Besides, I can't do that anyway. My kids won't be in bed for another hour or two. I am hoping by the time they go to bed that I will still be feeling as tired as I do right now so that I can go to bed then and fall right to sleep.

Last night while awake, I started organizing all of the many patterns that I have. I printed out the directories from my computer to list all of them. And so now I am writing out a master list. Afterwards, I plan on typing them up in a word doc. It's going to make it so much easier to have this master list.

Well that is all that I have right now. I am going to work some more on my pattern organization and then maybe get a little bit of stitching done before I get the kids ready for bed and then hopefully myself.

Have a great night Everyone and Happy Stitching!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

First Update on Henry ...

Hi Everyone!!!

Well it has been a busy weekend. I wish I could say that I spent the weekend stitching and relaxing. But alas, no such luck LOL. I spent the weekend mostly helping my kids clean their rooms completely clean and rearranging their rooms. It's amazing how just moving the furniture around can change the whole look of the room. So tonight after putting the kids to bed, I was finally able to sit and do some stitching. I couldn't believe it was after 10pm before my daughter finally went to bed. And my son, it was after 11pm. He is such a night owl!

So I worked on Henry tonight. And he is coming along nicely. It is such a cute pattern. And I can't wait to see how he looks all finished. If you remember the picture that I posted of what he will look like all done a few days ago, I have decided to add a few things in order to make this piece extra special. I am the last person to stitch on this piece. So once I'm finished, I will mail it back to the owner of the piece. She is a wonderful friend and has been going through quite a lot lately. And I just want to show her how special she is and how much she means to me as my friend. Now, the pattern calls for french knots for the eye of the robin, the centers of all of the little red flowers, and a cluster in the center of the large white flowers. So what I thought I would do is rather than doing french knots, I am going to use beads. A black bead for the robin's eye, clear irridescent beads for the centers of the little red flowers (I will use white floss to attach them), and for the cluster in the middle of the large white flowers, I thought I would use some orange irridescent beads, since the color of floss for the french knots is DMC 947 which is a bright orange. What do you think of this idea? I was also thinking of adding a little bit of sparkle to the design by adding some sparkly blending filament to either the white of the snowman, or the blue background around the snowman. I am not sure which one would look better. Any suggestions would be really appreciated, if you have any. And I thank you in advance!

Oh ... well I guess I had better show you what I've done so far, huh? Got all wrapped up in telling you my ideas and almost forgot to post the picture! Boy it has been a long weekend! LOL!




So not very much so far, but at least you can see a picture already taking shape! I can't wait to finish this and send it off to the recipient! All of the other designs on this piece are so beautiful. I just hope my section does it justice.

Well again, please let me know what you think of my ideas for adding that little something extra, and which area you think I should add the sparkle to. Thank you again very much for your input! And especially thank you for reading my blog and all of your comments!

Have a wonderful day and Happy Stitching!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Wow! One Year Blogoversary Already!

Hi Fellow Stitching Friends!!!

Wow! I can't believe it has been one year today since I started my blog! When I first started my blog, I had no idea that I would make so many friends and have so many people that would be reading my blog. And I definitely had no idea I would be receiving awards on my blog! I have been having so much fun blogging. I didn't think I would be so into blogging. I mean I had tried Live Journal for a while. But I just never really got too into it. And then I came across Blogger. I thought "why not"! And I am so glad that I did! I have "met" so many wonderful people. You all make blogging worth absolutely worth while! I always look forward to reading all of your sweet & kind comments. They never fail to bring a smile to my face. I always look forward to each and every comment! Thank you all so very much for all of your encouragement and support on my blog!!!




So here's to many more blogoversaries in the future!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

PS ~ I will be posting an update on "Henry" very soon!!!

I Received A Blog Award!

Hi there my friends and fellow stitchers!

I awoke today to a wonderful surprise! Dawn awarded me & my blog and AWARD!!! That was so very sweet of you, Dawn! Thank you very much! First, I think that Carolyn was absolutely right in awarding you this award. You are such a sweet and wonderful and supportive person. I thank you for everything you have done for me.




Here is the meaning of the award ...

"This blog invests and believes in the PROXIMITY-nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. "

The rules state that I am to pass this on to 8 other bloggers. Here are the bloggers I have chosen ...

1 ~ Mel
2 ~ CindyMae
3 ~ Mary L
4 ~ Chiloe
5 ~ Tammy
6 ~ Carla (CC)
7 ~ Shelleen
8 ~ Terry


All of you ladies are great and wonderful people. You support your fellow stitchers and also spread you love and kindness to several others in the world. You stand up for and support for causes that you believe in and are not afraid to do so. You are amazing ladies! Kudos to you all and thank you for all that you do!

I would like to thank all of those that leave comments on my blog. For the condolences left when my cousin passed, for the compliments on my stitching, for the well wishes, for the encouragement when my stitching bug evades me, for everything! I know that I have not personally responded to every comment, and for that I apologize. All of the comments are very appreciated and make my day and touch my heart. I always look forward to checking my blog for comments especially when I am having an off day or am not feeling in the best of spirits, and the comments you all leave, always brighten my day. And I thank you from the bottom of my heart for that.

Thank you again, Dawn, for awarding me with this special award. It means so very much.

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Snowmen for All Seasons Autumn is FINISHED!!!

Hi Friends and Fellow Stitchers!!!

WOOHOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This one is finished!!! Ok, so remember I had mentioned that I couldn't get the Stoney Creek carrot buttons that the pattern called for? Well so I bought ones that in my opinion would work nicely. HOWEVER! After I purchased 4 of these small carrot buttons, which I thought were the perfect size, I then decided to look at each of the patterns just to make sure that I had enough buttons. Well to my surprise, on the Winter piece, there are not only more than one snowman, but there are 3 smaller snowmen on the pattern. Which means I had to get 4 carrot buttons that were the next size up for the snowman that I just finished, as well as the other larger snowmen on the other patterns. So I did that this morning, got the larger carrots, and have now attached one to my snowman. I am not sure if it looks alright or not. To me it kind of looks like a Jimmy Durante nose if Jimmy Durante were a snowman LOL! But please let me know what you think. Maybe I'm just overly critical of my piece.

So here it is! All FINISHED!




So whatcha think? I really did enjoy stitching this piece. I just absolutely love it ... well except for the nose lol.

So on to my next and final piece in this round robin! It's another SNOWMAN! This one is called Snowman & Robin. However, the snowman has since been fondly named ... Henry.

So here is what Henry will look like when he's all finished!



So I have already started right in the middle of the pattern, working on Henry's scarf right now! I'll post a picture soon!

I want to thank all of you my wonderful friends and fellow stitchers for stopping by my blog and leaving your sweet comments! I just love reading all the comments that everyone posts on my blog. It always gives me the warm fuzzies and makes me feel so good and happy! Thank you again very much for your kind words!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

All That's Left is the Carrot Nose Button!

Hello Fellow Stitchers & Friends!!!

I am so happy to report that other than attaching the carrot nose button on this cute lil guy, I am finished with the Snowmen for All Seasons Autumn!!!

As soon as the stitching store opens I will be going to purchase the larger sized carrot buttons. And then I will come home and attach one to my piece and off in the mail he goes! YAY!!!

Here is what he looks like all finished without his nose ...




Not too bad, huh? Boy I'll tell you, I will be so glad when this round robin is finished. Which is right around the corner. I have one more piece to stitch and then it's done!

I'll scan and post another picture after I attach the carrot nose!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

So Excited! So Close to Being Finished!!!

Hi Everyone!!!

I am so excited! I am getting so very close to getting this piece finished! I have another update to show you of my progress. And after I uploaded this picture to my facebook album, I realized that I missed stitching the stem of the weather vain on the top of the barn! LOL! So I will have to go back & do that. But that's ok. Stuff happens. I was trying to hurry along and just missed it all together.

So here is my updated progress!




It's really starting to come alive and take shape! I will go tomorrow and get those other carrot buttons and then I'll attach one to my piece. And get that all mailed off! I hope the person that will receive this likes this pattern series. I just love it and can't wait to stitch the entire series for myself!

Happy Stitching Everyone!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Some of the Back Stitching is Finished ...

Hi Fellow Stitchers & Friends!!!

This update is actually from a couple of days ago. I am just now getting a chance to add it to my blog. I have more finished on the back stitching since this photo, but I haven't scanned that yet. I am so excited that I am getting so close to finishing this piece. It will be good to have it finished and get it in the mail to the next person. I wasn't able to do any stitching yesterday. Today, I plan on doing some stitching this afternoon. Tomorrow I have to go to the stitching store and pick up a different carrot button for the nose of this snowman. I bought buttons for all of the snowmen in the pattern series so that the other ladies don't have to worry about trying to find them. They are in Canada and it's harder for them to find items like that. Plus I thought it would be better if all of the carrot noses on the snowmen match. Anyway, I didn't realize until after I had purchased the buttons that the Winter pattern doesn't just have one big snowman. It actually has 2 big snowmen and 3 little ones. So I have to go back to the stitching store and get 5 slightly larger carrot buttons. I had planned on having everything done except for the carrot button being attached and then going to the stitching store today. But it is closed on Mondays. So I have to wait until tomorrow. They are not the carrot buttons that the pattern calls for however. This store only carries a few of the Stoney Creek buttons. And the stand up carrot ones are not included. So they would have to order them. So I'll use what they do have. I think they will still look really good.

Anyway, here is an update of my Autumn Snowman!




So there it is so far! The back stitching is going pretty quickly as it is simple and not anything like the Tatty Teddy back stitching. I am nearly done with the back stitching on the left side of the snowman right now, working on the barn. Then it will be the snowman back stitching and then the little bit for the heart on the letter O in LOVE and then my signature and it's FINISHED!!! So I'll post another update really soon!

Hugs to you all for all of your comments and support. I really appreciate every single one!!!

Happy Stitching!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Nothing But Back Stitching Left!!!

Hi Everybody!

Yes, the plan was to be done with this piece by now. But after my last update post, my stitching bug just went right away. I tried to stitch a couple times, but just didn't have it in me. So I did no stitching until a couple days ago. But in that couple days, I finished all of the X stitches on the pattern and now have nothing left but all of the back stitching!!! There is A LOT of back stitching, but it's all easy back stitching. Nothing like the Tatty Teddy back stitching at all LOL. I am really happy to have my stitching bug back. I really have missed it since I like this piece so much. It's really coming together and is looking SO CUTE! I can't wait to finish the RR, so that I can stitch all of the patterns in this series for our home!

And with that here is my update of the Snowmen for All Seasons Autumn!




Now the person that will receive this RR doesn't know what they are. She joined the RR later than the rest of us, and so when she mailed her fabric out it was blank except for the 4 areas marked off. She told the rest of us that she wasn't picking a theme, but that we could pick anything. She also told one of the girls that she didn't want anything that was "cutesy" looking. That friend said she is worried that this pattern series is too cutesy. I think the patterns are very cute. So does that mean these actually ARE cutesy? Do you all think this pattern series is "cutesy"? Let me know what you think on this please.

Well, I'm off to work on back stitching!

Happy Stitching to you all!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥