2011 Almost Gone

Can not believe this year is going to be over in just a little more than 24 hours!  It has gone by so quickly.  I always heard the older you get the faster time goes and each year it proves to be more true.  I am one of those people who is not ashamed to share my age but the other day I got to thinking about how old I am and thought wow, I am gonna be 35 in 2012 . . . then I got to thinking and had to count it up and figured out that I will actually be 36!  LOL  Now, that is sad!

Well I have 2 more finishes for this year and don't anticipate another one this year so thought I would share and make my last post of this year!  So here they are.  They are both freebies and I just love them both.  

"He is Risen" can be found HERE all the way at the bottom of the page!  I have been working on this one for a while and decided the other day that I had to finish it before I would allow my self to start another one . . .so since I was itching to start a new one, I got it done!  LOL

Now this next one I just found the other day and feel in love with it.  Not only do I love lighthouses, I also love patterns that include Bible verses so I had to stitch it up.  Yo can find the pattern for it HERE just scroll down a bit!  I just love the way it came out and can not wait to finish it but just not sure how I am going to finish it yet.

So, here is my Stitching / Faith Wall at the end of 2011.  Of course I have other cross stitch things displayed all over the place but very happy with the way my wall is filling in!

Well I guess that is about it for this time!  I hope that each and every one of you have a wonderful New Year and if you are going to be out and about celebrating . . . STAY SAFE!!!

Check out this Giveaway!!!

Ok, you have to go over to Reading and Stitching and check out the amazing giveaway that she is offering. Vickie has been doing some major cleaning in her craft room and she is going to give some great stuff away to some lucky people . . . hope I am one of them and you might be too!!!!

Merry Christmas and Some Pics

I want to wish all of you, my wonderful stitching blogging friends and wonderful and blessed Christmas that is full of many many blessings!!!  I pray that all of you traveling have safe travels.  

For some reason I could not get very clear pics of my Christmas trees and decor but I will share what I do have.

Here is our family tree:

Stockings:

Some Other Christmas Decor:

Here is my newest addition to our Christmas decorations that I am very proud of and working on filling it up.  I have a smaller tree that is just for my stitching and I just love it!!!  Except the angel was trying to fall off when I was taking photos!  

I have to redecorate every day or so because my bad cats try climbing the trees!!!!!

This week we have been blessed by a surprise visit from my niece and great nephew.  They moved at the first part of last year and we have missed them so very much and it was just wonderful to see them and spend some time with them.  I got lots of slobbery wonderful kisses from my great nephew who will be a year old on the 23rd!  Here is Jayden Trey!!!!!

Lastly, this is what has kept me very busy this last week.  I noticed a woman, on our local Facebook trading post, that was asking for ornaments that were dated with the year 2008 in remembrance of her granddaughter that had passed away at only 4 months old.  I left a comment and told her that I cross stitched and I am sure that we could come up with something that she would like.  She sent me a message and told me that her name was Katy and that her nickname was Ladybug . . . so this is what I come up with and she loved it and I ended up stitching and making 3 ornaments for her and family.  I pray that her family is Blessed by these ornaments!

Well, that is all for now.  I am sure that I will not post again until after Christmas sometime, so again, I wish you all a wonderful and Blessed Christmas!!!!!  Remember the reason for the season!!!

New Freebies

I have posted a couple new freebies on my website! Go and check them out!

Gift's a Coming and a Going!

I received my Lizzie Kate Christmas exchange package today from Lei and just simply love it!  She stitch and finished an adorable pillow for me and sent along a gorgeous little picture frame Christmas ornament as well.  I just have to figure out what pic to put in it and then hand it on the tree!  Look, see what I got:

She also received the exchange that I sent her this last week as well and this is what I sent her.

I also sent out an unexpected surprise gift to my dear friend Lisa this last week.  I know many of you have seen it already but I gotta share it on my own blog too!

Now  if you know Lisa, you know that the design I picked and stitched for the pillow is perfect for her and her family.  Both her boys play hockey and their lives pretty much revolve around hockey!  When I seen that design I knew that I had to stitch it for her and her family.  The other design is perfect for her and me.  Lisa and I have never met in person but we have become such wonderful long distance friends through the blogging and stitching world.  We first met when I was looking for someone to stitch up models of my designs and she offered to help. She helped me a lot when I was first starting my stitching business.  My life has been blessed very much by having Lisa in my life!

Also, I have stitched a thank you card for my sister in law.  While they were here for Thanksgiving I hinted (very loudly) that I would love for her to crochet a set of finger-less gloves for me to wear while I stitch and work because my hands get so very cold and hurt  because of it.  Soooo, she took the hint and made me some!  I forgot to take a pic of them to post today but will add a pic of them in my next post but I did  take a pic of the thank you card I made her.

Well, I guess this is about all the update I have for now.  I will post another one in a couple days with some of my current stitching updates!

Christmas Stitching

Well  I got the only two stitching packages that I will be sending out this year put in the mail yesterday.  One is for the Lizze Kate Exchange and I really hope my partner likes it and the other is for a stitching friend but she don't know it is coming so I can not say anything!  Hopefully I will be able to show them both off the early part of this next week!

I was planning to have some Christmas ornies released on Cindy Mae Designs this week but the person who is stitching the models for me has been having some issues and was unable to finish them.  A little disappointed  that I am not able to release anything for this Christmas but understand her circumstances.  I will be posting the "All Things Possible" design on my web site soon as a freebie, so keep a watch out for that!

Here are a few Christmas ornies that I have stitched and finished lately that I have not showed off yet.

Well that is about it for this time around!  Hope you are all have a wonderful and Blessed weekend!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving that was full of many many blessings!  As for me . . .we had a wonderful day and it was indeed full of many many blessings.  My mom fixed an enormous meal with all the wonderful goodies.  My oldest brother and his wife and son were in from Austin.  Since they will not be able to be here for Christmas we went ahead and had Christmas with them as well which just added to the fun!  My dad and my second mom came over and joined us for the wonderful meal and we just all enjoyed our time together.  

It was also my moms birthday and so we had homemade German Chocolate cake for the birthday cake that was just superliscous!!   A couple weeks ago, my son asked me to design and stitch something with the part of the Bible verse that reads "With God anything is possible" and so I did and got his all stitched up.  Forgot to get a pic, but will post it next time.  I ended up stitching it several times though and gave one to my mom, one to my brother and SIL and then one to my nephew.  I done my moms in purple and here it is:  

Below is the others.   My  nephews is the one stitched in green and my brother and SIL is the one is red: (my finishing was not near as good on them because I did not leave enough fabric to work with though)

I also stitched my SIL this little Britty Kitty from the JCS ornie issue from a couple years ago:

In other stitching news I have also finished a gift for a dear stitching friend but can not show it off yet as well as got the finishing done on the piece for the Lizzie Kate Exchange.  I have had so much going on that this was the only exchange I joined this year.  Sure am gonna miss getting several wonderful stitching exchange packages in the mail this year!  That's ok, next year it will be on!!!!  LOL

Welp, that is about it for this time around.  Also want to let you all know that I have been visiting your blogs, just have not been having enough time to leave comments on all of them.  I know how much I love getting comments and hate when I can not leave them but since I am following over 200 blogs now, it get a bit hard at times!

Hope you all have a great weekend!!

Thank You and Christmas Stitching

First thing that I have to say is thank you so much to all of you for your out poring of love and support in the death of my brother.  I still have a hard time realizing that he is gone but I know that we will meet again one day! Your condolences, support, prayers and thoughts have been so much appreciated and special to me.  You just really have no idea how much it means to me!

So now on to stitching!  I have gotten some stitching done in the last couple weeks.  I have one finish of a Lizzie Kate piece but it is for an exchange so I can not show it off yet.  Here is my current WIP which is out of last years JCS Christmas Ornament issue.   I just love them Brittercup designs!!

I just finished this one that is also out of last years JCS Ornament Issue tonight.  Love this design and if you know it then you know it has a border BUT if you know me, you know that I hate stitching borders . . . so it is finished ... at least for me!  LOL

Then this one I actually finished right before my brother got sick but just have not had time or felt like posting it.  This is a freebie from The Sampler Girl and I just LOVE this cute little design.  

Now the one on the left was actually my second attempt at stitching it.  The one on the right was my first. . . ya . . .I kind of screwed up on my counting and the little blue birdie looks like it has landed in the tree.  So, I decided that I would stitch it again, the correct way and then make it into a scissor fob with a front and back.  One side it will look like the little birdie is flying to the tree and the back it will look like he has landed . . . I guess!  LOL  Either way its an adorable freebie that The Sampler Girl offers and I just love it!

Well that is about it for this time around.  Hope you all are having an amazing weekend and have a wonderful Blessed week!!!!

Hard Week

I am sorry that I have not been around the past weeks time.  It has been a hard week for sure.  It all started last Wednesday morning when we received a call that my brother had been taken by ambulance to the ER.  He had went unconscious and we did not know if her was alive or dead and 6 hours away.  My mother and I waited by the phone to trying to prepare for horrible news.  

The news was not horrible but was defiantly not good either.  Mom prepared to make a trip to Austin to be by his side.  The rest of the week and through the weekend was touch and go.  We would hear good news and then they would come back and give us bad news.  Long story short, my dear brother Bruce, at the age of 47, passed away Sunday morning.  He had a massive stroke and also suffered brain damage when he lost consciousness and was without oxygen until the ambulance got there.  

I will miss him greatly.  He was a Harley man through and through and drove 18 wheeler's for most of his life for a living.  He was 13 years older than me and as a child we were not very close because of that but as adults we were very close and I loved him so very much.  

This has been an extremely hard loss for my mom, 2 other brothers and I.  My dad is not his biological dad but had raised him from the time he was 5 years old for 17 years of marriage to my mom, so he was his "dad" and this has been very hard on him as well.  

I will miss him and have a hard time realizing that I will never hear his voice again or braid his hair or hug him.  BUT he did have health issues before this and suffered from a few other problems as well.  I know that God is holding him in His arms now and that he will never feel pain, sadness or anything like that again.  For that, I am so thankful.

This is me and my three brothers several years ago.  From left to right:  Me, Roger, Bruce and Bill.

Thank you for listening.  I have fell very behind on my blog reading and have decided that instead of wearing my self out trying to catch up to just clear my google reader and go on.  I hope I have not missed out on to much! Hopefully I will have a stitchy update next time!  Have a blessed week!

Back Up and Running!

Cindy Mae Designs is back up and running. Thank you for your patience and I am so sorry for any inconvenience this might have caused anyone!!!

My First IHSW Went Great!

I actually got a lot of stitching done this weekend for the International Hermit and Stitchers Weekend!  I am pretty happy with the amount of progress I made on both pieces.  I honestly could have done a little more but my arm was killing me by Sunday evening.  We done some major trash hauling Saturday morning and my arm was already sore from throwing trash out of the back of the pickup and stitching was just adding to it!  LOL  That is ok, so on to my progress pics!

I also finished stitching the little ornament last week and forgot to share a pic of it on Friday.  I did not stitch the words, since I am not French or the border on it simply because it is going to be an ornament for the Christmas Tree and that would have made it too large for what I am wanting.

I LOVE the way it turned out, this is such a pretty piece.  The church is my favorite part of it!  Once I actually get it finished into an ornie, I will share again!

Also, I am up to over 170 followers and that is just awesome!!!!!!  I am so excited about that!  Even though I just had a giveaway not long ago, I decided that once I hit 200 followers I am going to do another giveaway.  I have a lot of charts and some other goodies that I really need to go through and I can not think of anything better to do with them than offer them in a giveaway!!!!  

Ok, that is it for this time around.  Hope everyone has a wonderful and Blessed week!!

Cindy Mae Designs is Down

I am so sorry for the inconvenience but Cindy Mae Designs is down at the moment.  Hopefully it will be up and going within a couple days!  Thanks for your patience!

1st Pre-IHSW Post

I am super excited to be a part of the International Hermit and Stitching Weekend this weekend!!!  I have decided to focus on 2 of my WIP's and only those.  Nothing new!!!  I am going to be working on my Words of God pattern and this is what it looks like right now:

My other focus is going to be "He Is Risen" which is a free design that you can find at the bottom of this page right here!  This is another one of those freebies that I have wanted to stitch for a long time and finally started on it a couple weeks ago but then got caught up in other stuff and it got pushed to the side.  I figured the IHSW would be a great time to focus on it as well!  This is where I stand on this one right now:

I was asked about the freebie Christmas ornie that I am currently working on from my last post by a couple people.  You can find that freebie right here and I am stitching it with DMC 115!

Also Cindy Mae Designs is down right now but will hopefully be back up and going within a day or two!

Well that is about it for this time around, I will be back Monday with an update from my weekend stitching!!! Hope you all have wonderful and Blessed weekends!!

IHSW, Some Progress and HELP?

Hello everyone, hope you are having an amazing week so far!  It is hump day, so its half over.  We got the task accomplished of pulling carpet from our bedroom this weekend and thank God that is over!!!!!  Now this next weekend we have to barrow my moms truck and make several trips to the dump . . .no fun!!!!  

I am hoping to be able to be a part of the IHSW (International Hermit and Stitch Weekend) though and get a bunch of stitching done, or at least more than this last weekend which was NONE!!! 

 I have started stitching on a small Christmas freebie this week though and here is where I am on it this far:

I am going to finish this into an ornie for the Christmas tree!  

Now on the HELP part.  After pulling carpet this weekend I done a lot of sorting through stuff and found a WIP that has been forgotten about.  I know this was a freebie design and I think it was from the Holy Needle but I am not entirely sure about that.  The bad thing about it is that I can not find the pattern to it anywhere!!!!!  I would love to finish this piece now that I have found it.  Does anyone recognize it?  If so, do you know where I can get the pattern to it?  Does anyone have a copy of it that I could barrow?  Here is where I stand on the progress of it: 

Oh and one more thing . . . especially for all you quilters out there or those of you who are like me and enjoy adoring other people's work and hobbies.  Stop by and check out Janyie, the Texas Quilt Lady's blog!  She does amazing quilting work.  She is so talented and I am sure that many of you talented quilters would love to visit her blog.  

Happy Thanksgiving to My Canadian Friends & Another Giveaway!

Just wanted to wish all my wonderful Canadian friends a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!  I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend and Day and stay safe.  Eat lots and be Blessed!!!!

Also, my friend Lisa is having a giveaway on her blog.  Make sure and stop by and follow her and leave a comment to enter the giveaway!!!!!

My First Wall Hanger Thingy Finished!!!

So I am not very good at sewing but worse than that is the fact that my little sewing machine is on its last leg and just don't do a good job.  I was so excited when I thought of and then found that stuff you use for fixing hems that uses the iron instead of sewing.  It is not that expensive and it works!!  But I did not use it to fix a hem or anything like that, instead I used it to finish my latest finished stitching piece.  I have never done a wall hanger type finish and have wanted to for a while but due to my sewing machine not working very well I had not done it.  

BUT I really wanted to finish my last piece that way so I started thinking that I was just going to hand sew it and then the light went off and I thought about the iron on stuff . . . found it  . . . . tried it . . . and this is the result.

My finishing skills still need some work but I am pretty happy with how this turned out!  The design is from the August 1996 issue of The Cross Stitcher and was created by Ursula Michael.  I love this little design and thought is was so cute when I seen it.  

If anyone knows this design you will probably notice that I did make some changes to it and the reason for that is because I messed up on measuring my material!  LOL  So the "Who's got my" part was made much smaller and that in turn required a few more changes to make it all fit and allow me to finish the way I wanted to!  Overall, I am still happy with the way it turned out!

Well I am ready for the weekend, I think.  Hubby and I are going to be pulling carpet out of our bedroom which I do not mind so much, its the moving of the furniture that I am not looking forward to!  We have to get it done though.  The allergies are just too bad to keep it in.  We pulled the carpet out of the kids bedrooms and living room a long time ago.  The kids rooms had tile underneath so that worked out well and we have just had concrete floors in the living room and hall way since then.  Since then I have gotten to the point where I hate carpet.  It is soooo hard to keep clean, especially with animals!!!!  Concrete don't look that pretty but its much easier to keep clean and sure is easier on the allergies.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend full of tons of blessings and stitching!!!!