Getting Ready for the County Fair!

Happy St Patrick's Day to you all!!! Any special plans for anyone today? We won't be doing anything special, other than having our usual St Patrick's Day dinner of corned beef & cabbage. We look forward to it every year. Dinner is in the crock pot and will cook low and slow all day long! :~)

As for my stitching, I had to put Henry aside, at the orders of the person who will be getting that piece once he is finished, in order to work on my piece that I will be entering into our local Pima County Fair, called Elemental Cosmos. It's a piece that I had started a little bit on and put aside some time ago, but have always wanted to work on and finish. Now I have 23 days to get this piece completely finished and framed and turned in to be judged! Then in October, I will enter the piece into our state fair.

Here is what my piece will look like when it's finished, with the exception that I will be adding some iridescent clear and yellow beads where the "stars" are in the design.



Here is the little bit of progress that I had done before I started really working on it for the fair.



I got back to working on this piece last Friday night, and here is the progress that I made as of Monday afternoon.



I've done a bit more since this progress photo and will definitely have even more done over the course of the next few days. I have 23 days to get this piece completely finished, framed and then entered into the county fair on April 9th!!! I'm so excited!

I am stitching this piece on 28 count black evenweave, although in some areas it's more like linen than evenweave. And even though this fabric is one of the hardest to stitch on, I have to say that I am really having a lot of fun stitching this piece! I love all the bright colors and the way they POP! on the black fabric. Honestly, the progress photo doesn't do it justice.

With stitching on black fabric, lots of light is required. I have always wanted to get one of those OTT-Lite floor lamps, but they are so expensive, even when on sale, that I just couldn't afford it. But I was VERY happy to discover that Joann's now carries OTT-Lite light bulbs that will fit into any lamp now!!! So I bought an inexpensive floor lamp at Target that holds 5 light bulbs and you can move each one by bending the necks of each one, so that you can point the light where you want it to go. I bought two of the OTT-Lite light bulbs. In the floor lamp I put one of them and then I have this click on lamp that I put one in also. I put the other light bulb in my clip on lamp that I clip to my foot stool so that I have light behind my piece as I stitch on the dark fabric. Then in the remaining spots of the floor lamp I just put regular fluorescent light bulbs. It's great bcuz you can turn the floor lamp on with 2 lights, 3 lights or all 5 lights! It works perfectly for stitching! :~)

Well I'm off to get some more stitching done on my fair entry!

Happy Stitching Everyone!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

My First 2010 Finish!!!

Hello Stitching Friends!!!

So on my last post I told you about about the bead situation for the angel. And let me just say that I am SO happy that I drove the distance to the LNS and got the Mill Hill beads rather than just using the ones that I thought would be ok that I bought at Joanns. The ones I bought at Joanns would have been way too big and were also the wrong color gold. There is a really big difference between just seed beads and petite seed beads.

I am extremely happy to be finished with this angel, but more importantly to be finished with this RR all together. I know the other ladies in the RR will be so happy that their pieces are moving along and will soon be back in their possession. So just to recap ... my piece was the one that I stitched with my own design and said Kelli's Room on it. Once I get my piece back, I will be framing it and hanging it in my daughter's room. The next piece was the angel, however due to the issues that I had with this pattern, as well as some personal things going on, I received the next piece and still had the angel. So I stitched the next piece which was the EMS Geranium Fairy. I am really happy with how that piece turned out and I love the effects of the sparkly blending floss that I used on parts of it. The next piece was the trumpet playing frog. That one I think is pretty cute. And after looking back at the piece I think the whole set of designs look really cute together. And then it was back to the angel. And now she is FINISHED!!! (doin the happy dance!)

So without further a due (don't know if I have that spelled right for that phrase), HERE SHE IS!!!



The above is the picture that was taken using my scanner. Below is a picture I took with my camera in order to be able to show how she sparkles with all the metallic floss and the beads.



The colors just look better under the "natural light" lamp then they do from the scanner. But with the scanner you can see more detail. If you look closely at the white part of her dress, that is the Wisper floss by Rainbow Gallery. There are 2 different colors. Let me just tell you, that is some interesting floss to work with. It's easier to see the Wisper floss in the second photo.

So starting tomorrow (really today since it is now nearly 4am) I will get back to working on Henry. I am looking forward to doing that. This not sleeping at night thing is getting old real quick however. I have so much to do "today". We have a couple of different appointments we must go to that are almost back to back. So there will be no opportunity for a nap. Once we are home from the second appointment, I am sure I will just drop for at least a couple of hours. Thankfully my husband is off so he will be home to help with the kids while I crash for a lil bit lol.

I hope you all have a great Wednesday & I'm sure I'll be posting another update of Henry really soon! :~)

Happy Stitching!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Angel Almost Finished & Update on Henry

Hello Everyone!

So I wanted to post an update on where I am with this angel. I am not quite finished yet. I had some issues with the beads. I thought I had the Mill Hill beads for this design, but as it turns out, I didn't. So I went to Joanns only to find out that they no longer carry Mill HIll beads. Also checked at Michaels and they no longer carry them either. How disappointing! And since the local LNS that I have been using for a couple years now is no longer in business, the closest LNS for me to go to is about 30-35 miles away. By the time I ran a couple errands with my brother's girlfriend and went to the other 2 stores, both of the LNS's that are a distance away from where I live were closed. In fact, now that I think about it at least one of them isn't even open on Mondays. Anyways, so I bought some gold seed beads at Joanns. However, I really think the Mill Hill beads that the pattern calls for are actually petite seed beads. So I am going to try the ones that I bought. I'll attach a couple and see how they look and if they look alright, then I'll just continue on and by tomorrow afternoon, this RR will be in the mail and fully complete. If they don't, well then I will be driving across town to get the Mill Hill beads. And maybe with any stroke of luck I will still get it in the mail by tomorrow afternoon. Otherwise it will have to wait until Wednesday morning. I have finished all of the metallic stitches. And am about halfway through the Wisper floss stitches. That Wisper floss is certainly not easy to work with. And since I have never used it before, I'm not entirely sure that I'm doing it correctly. I hope the recipient likes it when she receives it. I don't want to post an updated picture of the angel until I have completely finished it. So that is why you won't see a new picture just yet. :~)

However, I would like to show you how far along I am on Henry. That way you'll know where I'm starting from after I've finished the angel. I really like this pattern. It's so fun and bright and cheerful! :~) All of the snow in the design I am going to add a sparkly blending filament to give some pretty sparkle to the design. And where the pattern calls for french knots, although I really don't mind french knots at all, I am instead going to add yellow & orange iridescent beads. I think that will look so pretty.

So here is my progress of Henry ...



This pattern is really fun to stitch. Once the angel is finished & in the mail, I will begin stitching the snow and of course Henry himself! There is quite a bit of backstitching on this piece, but with this fun design, I don't think it will take me too long to get him finished.

After I finish Henry and he is safely off in the mail to his recipient, then I have decided that I will work on my Elemental Cosmos WIP with the goal of having it finished in time to enter it into the Pima County Fair this year. :~) That piece is so pretty with all the bright and vibrant colors in it. And to further highlight those colors, I am stitching the piece on black evenweave. Not an easy task, but I'm sure I'll do ok. Entries don't have to be turned in to the fair until April 9th. So that gives me almost two months to complete it.

With my stitching bug back into overdrive, it'll be full speed ahead with lots of positive thoughts of some real stitching progress!!!

Happy Stitching to you all!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

YAY! Finally Some Progress on the Angel! :~)

Hello My Stitching Friends!!!

I am so excited! I am very happy to report that I have made some great progress on the angel RR piece! I have all of the cross stitching with regular floss completely finished. All I have left is the stitching with the metallic floss which is Rainbow Gallery's PB01 & PB02 Treasure Braid. And the stitching with the fuzzy floss which is Rainbow Gallery's W88 & W89 Wisper. Then I have a couple dozen Mill Hill 42011 beads that I need to add and a very small amount of backstitching around her face then she will be FINISHED!!! :~) I am so thrilled to finally be so close to getting this piece finished.

So here she is with all the new progress ...



This is the most excited I have felt about this piece since I started it. And now that I am so close to finishing this piece, I am very happy with how pretty the design actually is. :~) No more lagging on this piece. I am truly excited about it! I can see the finish line & I just want to put the petal to the metal and get this angel finished. :~)

Once the angel is finished, then it's on to the very last RR piece that I will ever work on. Remember Snowman and Robin ... aka Henry??? Yes that is the last RR piece. I had made some more progress on Henry since the last picture that I posted. Once I get ready to work on him again, then I will post a photo so you can see where I am. And of course updates along the way! :~)

So here's to us all, my dear stitching friends! May we each have a more productive stitching year than we did last year! :~)

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Happy 2010!!!

Happy 2010 to all of you!!! I hope you all have a very productive and successful and happy year!

So, very little stitching for me in the last quarter of 2009. But with the new year comes new stitching & sewing goals for me! I have a bunch of UFO's I would really like to get done in my stitching world, as well as some sewing ones and a crochet one. "Hello, my name is Margie, and I am a serial starter." I would like to concentrate more on finishing UFO's and maybe squeeze in a couple/few new SMALL projects.

Ok so here we go ...

2010 Stitching UFO Goal ~ I would like to finish at least four of my UFO's. I have many more than this, but since they are larger pieces (with the exception of the 2 RR pieces), I don't want to give myself an unreasonable goal. I'm not sure yet which UFO's I will work on other than the RR pieces, so below I've listed all of my UFO's.

2010 Sewing UFO Goal ~ I would like to finish all of my UFO's.

2010 Crocheting UFO Goal ~ I would like to finish my one and only crochet UFO. This project is a HUGE afghan that I started for my daughter a while ago, but I put it aside to work on stitching and sewing projects. I don't really crochet much at all (that's my mom's job lol). So once I finish this afghan, crocheting is done for me lol.


My Stitching UFO's
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1) HAED Pale Rose
2) HAED Wicca
3) America the Beautiful
4) Song in Your Heart
5) My Son's Trick or Treat Tote Bag
6) My Daughter's Trick or Treat Tote Bag
7) Elemental Cosmos
8) Elemental Masks
9) Sleepy Moon Birth Record
10) Angel RR Piece
11) Snowman & Robin RR Piece

My Sewing UFO's
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1) Placemat set for my Grama
2) Apron for my Daughter
3) Apron for my Son
4) Stocking for my Son
5) Stocking for my Husband
6) Stocking for my Sister
7) Train blanket for my Cousin
8) Pink Camo blanket for my Cousin
9) American Indian blanket for my Father in law

Now let's talk about new projects that I'd like to do this year ...

2010 New Project Stitching Goals ~ I have a cute little pattern of a holiday saguaro cactus that I would like to stitch a bunch of them so that I can make them into handmade holiday cards to mail out, so approximately 50 of them ~ I have a small back stitch only pattern that I would like to stitch for one of my uncles ~ I have a pattern called For My Husband that I would like to stitch "for my husband" :~) ~ for new projects I don't think I am going to put anymore on this list bcuz I really don't want to get myself in another serial starter year

2010 New Project Sewing Goals ~ now this is the list that could get very long lol ~ I have several apron and stocking fabric pieces already cut & ready to be sewn together that I would like to get done so that I can have a full inventory for our local Octoberfest as I'm hoping to have enough to set up a booth this year ~ i have an order for a UofA apron and queen size blanket ~ also I'd like to make ... a blanket for my husband, a blanket for my son, placemat set for my Nana, apron for my Nana ~ since the Octoberfest inventory needs to be such a large amount, this is all that I'll list for now here

So there are my craft goals for 2010 ... I am really hoping to be able to get them all accomplished! :~)

Again, I'd like to wish you all a very happy New Year!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

My Friend is Having a Contest/Giveaway!

Hello Friends and Fellow Crafty People!

I have a dear friend who makes some really cute fleece blankets. She is also a cross stitcher. She is having a contest/giveaway on her blog, Golden Angel Works! So please check out her blog and find out what it's all about! :~)

Hope you're all having a great day!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Still Alive & Kickin ...

Hello Everyone!

Just wanted to let you all know that I am still here ... alive & kickin! :) I haven't done much stitching since my last post ... maybe about an hours worth. So many things going on. My uncle passed away just a few days before Halloween. I wasn't able to travel in order to go to the services. That bothered me quite a bit. The only reason I wasn't able to go was bcuz my car still isn't working and if I would have gone, my husband would have needed my car in order to get the kids to and from our friend's house would have helped watch the kids while my husband was at work. My husband's car has a backseat but it's not attached and there are no seatbelts, so the kids can't ride in his car.

Anywho, so I have worked on the angel piece just a little bit. I got the grey done in the wings, but unfortunately that's about it. I think part of the problem lately is bcuz with my brother living with us, he puts tension in the air of our home and he freaks out if I'm just "sitting there". Even if I am actually doing something by means of needle & floss, he doesn't think that's "doing something". It makes me uncomfortable. I'm sure that is part of why my stitching bug has taken leave for the last few weeks. Has anyone else ever had a family member that makes you feel like that? I mean my brother is an artist and he has times when he just sits there and draws. But isn't that something productive just like my stitching is? Creative productivity, right?

My kids had a blast on Halloween. My 13 year old daughter dressed up as a pink & black gothic witch and my 3 year old son dressed up as a vampire. We were going to paint our son's face with vampire makeup and spray his hair with black hair spray. But by the time my husband got home from work that night, there were kids already starting to come to the door trick or treating and so our kids were totally ready to go when my husband walked thru the door at 6:30 lol. Our daughter however, we did manage to get the fake pink sparkly spiderweb lashes on and black lipstick. Her costume just wouldn't have been complete without it lol. Teenagers ... you know they have to have everything just right!

Here is a picture of the two of them after they were all done trick or treating ...



They had so much fun! Halloween is definitely one of our family's favorite celebrations.

So now it's time to start preparing for Christmas. SO SO SO much to get done. I have a cute little piece that I am going to stitch for my husband that says "My Hero". It's something I've always called him and when I saw the pattern I knew I had to make it. I have to make an apron for each of my kids. And a stocking for my son. My daughter already has one that I made for her a while ago with Christmas kitties. I also have an apron that I have to get finished by next Friday for someone that placed an order for one. That won't take much time tho. I also have to make a small hanging quilt for my grama that my mom was supposed to do but has never gotten around to it. She has so very much on her plate all the time, there was just no time for her to work on it. But before I can work on it, I am waiting for her to send me the pictures that are supposed to be part of the quilt. Pictures of all of my grama's grandkids and great-grandkids. We have this printable fabric for those. Then the center piece of the quilt is a piece that I designed and stitched with all of the grandkids & great-grandkids names & birth dates on it. I hope she likes it when it's finished! :)

So I'm sure some of you might be wondering what happened to the HAED Pale Rose SAL that I was doing. Well, the other person had decided that they wanted to wait until after the first of the year to work on it again, instead of the month on month off plan that we originally decided on. But then last night she decided that she just wasn't into the piece anymore and she isn't going to work on it anymore. So I will work on this piece again, probably after the first of the year, but it will be a solo job rather than the SAL. At this point, I'm thinking that RRs and SALs just don't work out very well for me, so I'm not even going to attempt to take part in any in the future. For the Pale Rose SAL, I had tried to convince my friend that we should do the QS version of the design as the SAL but she wanted to do the full sized version instead. Now she doesn't want to do it at all. But that's ok. I love working on it and am looking forward to getting back to it on my own after I get everything done needed for the holidays. I have been wanting to stitch a small design to put on holiday cards for this year, but I don't know that I will have time to do those. We shall see. It's not a very big design. It's just 34x32 stitches. But the thing is that I want to do at least 20 of them for at least friends and family. You know how some family members can be, if one gets it then they have to have it too lol. So that might be something that I work on after the new year, for next year. :) Again, we shall see.

Well I think I've rambled on for long enough. I hope you are all doing really great & aren't super overwhelmed with the holidays coming up!

Happy Stitching!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Frog RR Piece FINISHED!!!

Hello Everyone!

I'm so happy to have another piece finished!!!

Remember this lil guy???



Well he's all done! I finished him last night!

Here he is ...



He is part of a series called Frog Occasions. The other three designs in the RR piece are all from the same series. However, Herbert here is a lil different than the others. I asked my husband several times if he thought that Herbert went with the other three, and he said he does. I hadn't realized how many times I had asked that same question of my husband until last night. He told me, "you've asked me that same question several times, and several times I've told you, yes he goes with them great!" LOL!!!

Here is the finished RR piece that will soon be on its way back to its owner!



What do you think? Does he go well with the others? Or does he seem like the oddball frog? I really hope that this RR piece's owner likes it when she receives it.

My husband and I were talking last night about RR pieces and about the big space between all four designs. It just seems like a lot of empty space to leave blank. My husband's idea is to get or cut a mat so they can all be in the same frame but the mat has four holes for each design. Those of you that have been in RRs ... what do you do with your finished RR pieces when you receive them? Do you frame them as is? Do you add a mat? Do you add some extra stitching to the whole piece to fill in the empty spaces? I am very interested in hearing your feedback on this.

So on to the next and final piece of this RR. The (unfortunately dreaded) angel.

Remember her?



Well this is what she will look like all finished, with the exception the pattern calls for some fuzzy specialty floss in the white of her top and the outer edge of gold. This is someone else's finished piece that I found online in order to find a picture of what this piece should mostly look like when finished.

Here are my 2 progress pictures of her so far ...





It doesn't look like there is much left to do but at the same time there is still much to do. All four specialty flosses/threads still plus regular stitching and some bead work. As pretty as this piece is, for some reason, I don't know why, I just don't enjoy working on it. This is one piece I will be very happy to be finished with.

Wow! Such a long post today! I hope you all are enjoying my blog. I certainly enjoy all those that visit and read my blog. And especially enjoy the kind and friendly comments that some of you leave! :~) Thanks to all of you! :~)

I hope you all are doing well and Happy Stitching!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Wedding Piece FINISHED!!!

Hi Friends & Fellow Stitchers ~

YAY!!! I am finished with the wedding gift for my stepsister & her brand new husband!!! I was up until about 4am finishing it up ... and I am so excited about it that I have yet to fall asleep! I am going to be so wiped out today lol.

So I have taken a few photos of the piece. But I love how it came out & cannot wait to hear how my stepsister & her husband like it!

Here is a photo of it all finished ...



Then here is a close up photo of the piece all finished ...



On the names I used the medium colored pink floss (one strand) along with pastel rainbow sparkly blending filament. Here is a close up of the names ...



On the date, I used the medium blue colored floss along with the pastel rainbow sparkly blending filament for the numbers and then the medium pink & blending filament for stars separating the month, day & year. Here is a close up of the date ...



I don't know if I like the numbers that I used. I think the 7 & 9 look funny??? The letters for the names I LOVE!!! And I really like the layout for the names. What do you all think about it all?

I am very happy to have this piece finished. Now it's back to the frog and angel and then Henry. I also have another apron to make that was ordered. And after those things are all done, I have to get my butt busy with xmas gifts! An apron for my daughter, an apron & stocking for my son (my daughter already has a stocking that I made), a stocking for my husband and a stocking for my brother, some hand stitched cards, paint some plaster ornaments, put together beaded ornaments, and then maybe if I don't have other gifts/orders that I have to make & I possibly get all of that finished in time, maybe ... just maybe ... I'll have time to make my own stocking as well LOL!!!

I have a feeling of great accomplishment with this wedding piece being finished. Now on to more projects! :~) A crafters work is never EVER finished! LOL!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Wedding Piece Update ...

Hello Friends and Fellow Stitchers!

Well I am happy & excited to say that I have completely finished all of the cross stitches on this design! All that's left is the back stitching of the words & names & date and then the long stitches of the stars & hearts! I love how pretty the hearts are and I can't wait to get started on the rest! This piece really has been so much fun.

So here are the finished border & hearts ...



I think the hearts really POP, don't you?

I'm really looking forward to your feedback on this one as I want it to be just perfect for my stepsister & her soon to be (in a matter of hours) hubby!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Wedding Piece Update ...

Hello Stitching Friends!!!

I have another update! Together is moving right along! The blue heart is taking a little longer as I have to pay very close attention to the symbols as one of the blues is the ( symbol and another is the ) symbol and they are right next to each other so it's very easy to mix them up. But I'm done with both of those symbols now, so it's gotten easier. Just a couple more colors of the blue heart and then it's LOTS of back stitching to go and then Together will be all finished! :~) I know this won't be finished in time for the wedding, but I don't think my stepsister will mind at all. She is such a sweetheart and I know no matter when she gets it she will love it. I can't wait to hear how she likes it once she is does receive it & open it up.

So here is my most recent progress pic ...



I love how the hearts are coming together! I think they are so pretty.

Well back to stitching!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend & I'll post again really soon!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Wedding Piece Progress ...

Hi Everyone!

I had a couple things that kept me from stitching for a few days. So unless I finish this piece tonight and then mail it overnight shipping tomorrow, I won't get this in in the mail in time for my stepsister to receive for her wedding day on Saturday. Although I don't think it's going to matter too much if they receive it early next week. I think it will be a nice surprise no matter what even if it a few days late.

So here is my progress from a few days ago ...



Since taking this picture, I have actually made a lot more progress. The pink heart is completely finished and I have made some great progress on the blue heart. I will post another update later on tonight after I do some more stitching today. I just love stitching this piece. The colors are so pretty and I love the way the colors inside the hearts work together.

Thanks to everyone for all of your support while stitching this piece. I really appreciate it. And thank you to those that have left me comments! I just love getting comments. It helps encourage me so very much! :~)

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Wedding Piece Progress ...

Hi Friends and Fellow Stitchers!

I am making some progress on this wedding piece that I am working on. Although I haven't been able to stitch the past few days, this is where I stopped then. It is lots of fun to stitch! I am working on getting the pink heart done by tomorrow night. Once that is finished, I will post more progress. But here is where I am so far ...



So what do you think so far? It's really actually starting to look like something!!! :~) Only 9 days until the wedding day. But of course I have to have it in the mail a few days before that in order to get there in time for them to open it on their wedding day! YIKES!!! I had better get my butt busy! LOL!!!

I will post again soon! Hope you all are doing well and stitching like crazy!

Happy Stitching!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

A Little Bit More Progress on the Wedding Piece

Hi Everyone!!!

I have a lil bit more progress that I have made on the wedding piece for my stepsister & her soon to be hubby. The border is really simple & I'm just moving right along on it. It's been really fun to stitch so far. The wedding is on October 17th and since I won't be able to attend the wedding since it is in Texas, I want to have this done a week before so that there is plenty of time for mailing.

So here is my progress so far ...




It's not much so far, but the piece is only 120x120, so I shouldn't have any problems getting it done in time so long as nothing else gets in the way lol.

I'll post more real soon!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

A Little Bit of Progress ...

Hi Friends and Fellow Stitchers!

Boy oh boy, I can't tell you how good it feels to be stitching again! I am so happy to be able to have time to stitch! I have missed it so very much. I do have a little bit of progress to report so far on the piece for a wedding gift for my stepsister & her soon to be husband. It's not a lot of progress, but I am definitely feeling good about how much I've gotten done in the last day. And with an October 17th deadline ... well really more like October 13th, to give time for mailing ... I am also feeling really good about getting it done in time.

So here is my progress thus far ...




I started in the bottom left corner of the design and am working my way around the border. I just love the colors in this pattern. They are so pretty.

Well more to report real soon! :~)

Happy Stitching Ya'll!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥