Cindy's Stitching Korner

Can Not Show You Everything . . .

2012-01-26T03:16:00.000-06:00

I have a couple finishes but I can not show you them yet! Sorry! Actually they are new designs for Cindy Mae Designs and I will be releasing them in time for The Counted Wishes Festival coming up March 15-21st!

I can show you the first birthday card that I have stitched for the Facebook stitched birthday card and thread exchange that I am a part of.

I can also show you the item I stitched for Karen for the Lizzie Kate exchange. I was really on the ball getting this one done and in the mail because I knew that I had my new designs to focus on so I make sure they are all done in time for the festival.

I stole the pictures that both these ladies took because I was in such a rush to get them out that I did not take pics! So thank you ladies!

We had my husband at the doctor this week. It has been a long time since he has had a good full check up with blood work and all. His blood sugar has been acting up pretty bad so we knew it was time to get him in! We will go back in a few weeks to see how things with all the blood work are and go from there. Not having insurance makes it really hard to keep up like we should with his health and since he has high blood pressure and previous heart attack it is that much more important. But we have it worked out now so that we can start getting him the care he needs!!!

Here are a couple pics of my son at our Homeschool Co-Op making homemade noodles. He had a great time and done awesome too!

I will leave you with that for now. Hope you are all having a wonderful week full of many many blessings!!!

A Few Finishes!!

2012-01-16T17:24:00.001-06:00

Hello everyone, hope you are all doing just awesome and that so far 2012 is a great year! I am working on getting things together for the upcoming Spring 2012 Counted Wishes Festival! It will be held from March 15-21st! So don't miss out! There will be lots of great designers with some awesome new designs for you to drool over! LOL

I am currently working on stitching a birth sampler that I have designed for my daughters friend who is having a baby in a few weeks. I also finally got "Stealing Oats" by Brittercup designs. I have it all kitted up and ready to go but now with the upcoming festival, it may have to be put on a hole a bit longer.

I would like to encourage any of you who are Facebook people to join my page for Cindy Mae Designs and would also love to have you as a friend on my personal page as well!!!

Also, would like to invite you all to visit my husband's new site. He has started a paracord survival gear website and makes very good quality stuff, so go check out Piranha Paracord Gear!

So without further ado . . here is my finishes for the year thus far.

Lizzie Kate's Faith from the Faith Cheer Double Flip chart. I love this little designs!

Then these two cuties, I just love them both. They are "Cool Cats" and you can find them free right HERE!

Ok, think that is about it for this time around! Hope you all have a wonderful and Blessed week!!!!

2011 Almost Gone

2011-12-30T22:53:00.001-06:00

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!!!

2011-12-30T00:39:00.000-06:00

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

2011-12-21T04:06:00.000-06:00

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

2011-12-10T23:17:00.000-06:00

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

Gift's a Coming and a Going!

2011-12-10T21:10:00.000-06:00

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

2011-12-02T17:35:00.000-06:00

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!

2011-11-26T02:00:00.000-06:00

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

2011-11-05T21:34:00.001-05:00

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

2011-10-26T23:51:00.000-05:00

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!

2011-10-18T01:35:00.000-05:00

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!

2011-10-17T14:29:00.000-05:00

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

2011-10-15T19:34:00.000-05:00

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

2011-10-14T20:52:00.000-05:00

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?

2011-10-12T21:10:00.000-05:00

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!

2011-10-09T15:33:00.000-05:00

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!!!

2011-10-07T15:46:00.000-05:00

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!!!!

The Winner Is . . .

2011-10-06T01:15:00.001-05:00

I LOVE being able to offer this giveaway and one of my favorite things about it is the fact that I have found some new blogs to follow which means more stitching friends which means . . . Awesomeness!!! One can never have to many stitching friends!!!!

So without further ado . . . the winner of the giveaway is . . .

BETH from Beth's Blog!!!!!

Congrats Beth! Please send me your mailing address so I can get your package sent out to you!

You can send it to cindymaedesigns@gmail.com

Thank you to everyone who entered and spread the word around.

Giveaway Ending Tomorrow and New Finish

2011-10-04T19:22:00.000-05:00

If you have not already done so, make sure and check out the Give-a-Way post and sign up!! It will be closing tomorrow night and I will do the drawing Thursday morning and announcing the winner!!!! Also remember that you will get an extra entry for "Liking" Cindy Mae Designs Facebook page and for sharing it on your blog or facebook page!!!

I have done a new design but am not able to sale it yet as I want to get permission. For anyone who is a hunter or whose other half might hunt, you might really like this one. We are BIG fans of The Bone Collector show with Michael Waddell and my hubby asked if I could stitch his logo for him . . . so I did and we LOVE the way it turned out. I sent the team an email last week and going to see if I can get permission to sale the design for anyone who might be interested. For now I can share a pic of the finish with you though, so here it is!

For anyone in the market for some Linen Fabric, I have an ebay auction up you might be interested in. I don't do Ebay much but I need to buy myself some new fabric and so I am selling a large part of my Linen because I just don't stitch on it. I prefer Evenweave or Aida. This is a great lot of Linen so go check it out!

Well, that is about it for now!!! Hope you are all having a great and Blessed week!!!

2 New Releases

2011-09-25T21:47:00.000-05:00

Cindy Mae Designs has 2 new releases! Go see 'em Now!!!

Make sure and check out the post made before this one and check out the give-a-way!!!!

Give-a-Way Time and New Treasures

2011-09-25T21:41:00.000-05:00

It is that time! Time for a Give-a-way! I have up for grabs 14 random patterns and two pieces of stitching material! All you have to do to enter the give-a-way is leave a comment on THIS post. For an extra entry you can (but do not have to) "Like" Cindy Mae Designs on Facebook to stay up to date with all the news and goings on! To get another entry you can pass this along on your blog or website!! So that makes for a possible 3 entries!!!! Please make sure and leave a separate comment if you "Like" the Facebook page and then another for passing it along on your blog along with your blog address.

Here is a picture of all the goodies you could win:

I will do the drawing on the 5th so don't waste time and get those entries in now!

Now on to my new treasures. . . Looky what I found at a garage sale!

The stitching on these is beautiful! My hubby noticed them and told me to look. I said, "Are those stitched!!??" He said yes and I looked at him and said, "I will put the books back, I gotta have 'em!" He just smiled at me with approval!

Now I just have to find room for them on my walls somewhere!

Ok, that is all for this time around . . . leave your comment for your chance to win the give-a-way!!!!

Needle on Fire

2011-09-24T00:27:00.000-05:00

Yep, compared to how much stitching I have done in the past year and the past month, I would have to say that my needle is on FIRE! So glad that my elbow and hands have not been hurting me because I have really enjoyed stitching every single day . . . we all know That a Day Without Stitching is a Wasted Day!!!!

I have been stitching things that I just really want to stitch for no reason at all and I am loving it!!! I have been stitching things for a reason but have been really been loving those too!!

I do have my sample of the new design complete but have had an issue with the pattern so I am in the process of getting that one fixed up and then will be releasing it for sale on Cindy Mae Designs. My dear friend Lisa, gave me some amazing ideas for names for that pattern. I am having a hard time deciding between a couple of them but one of them will be the name that I select for it.

I know that I mentioned a giveaway a while back and have not mentioned it again BUT it is coming up really soon. Probably within the next few day! So be on a look out for that!

I have finally created a Facebook page for Cindy Mae Designs and you can VISIT HERE to "Like" it and get updates through facebook about blog posts, new and upcoming patterns, freebies, giveaways and more!!

Ok . . . so now on to stitching pics! Yah!!! I have 2 new finishes, besides the new design. First is "Little Pumpkin in the Patch" by Heart and Hand. I needed to do something with a Fall theme and I really enjoyed stitching it!

Then this great little design by By The Bay of Needleart called "Bay View Estate". I simply love this design and really enjoyed stitching it.

I have not decided how I am going to finish either of them off but seriously I am just enjoying stitching and doing finishing work on them is just not a top priority right now.

Well that is all I have for now so I will stop rambling. Make sure and check back in a day or two for that upcoming give a way!!!! Hope you all have the most awesome weekend!!

What a Busy Week!

2011-09-10T22:11:00.000-05:00

I am trying to make up for lost time I guess! lol I have another finish and more progress on my design. This week has been a bit busy. Still trying to learn to shuffle my job and schooling and then of course the rest of life! I love my job and thank God for it. I can work my hours anytime between midnight to midnight each day so that makes for a wonderful flexible schedule.

Oh and I have been asked to apply for a higher position with in the company. If I get the position it will mean a promotion, more hours and a raise! Of course that does mean more responsibility as well and that is just fine with me. Please pray with me that it is God's will and that I get this position. It would really be a blessing to my family and would help us get out of this house and town which is something that we really want and need to do!!!

Ok, so without further ado . . .here is my updates for stitching. I finished up this Britty Kitty, "Basking in the Sun". I actually had this one started but only about a 1/4 of the way. I love Brittercup designs. They are so cute. They have 2 horse designs that I really want to get one day.

I have one more section done on my design that still has no name! Started on the last section of it this evening. I am pleased with the way it is looking. I have made a couple changes to it since I started stitching it. Anyone have any ideas for a name for this one????

Well that will do it for this time around! Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!!!

A Finish and Some Progress!

2011-09-05T18:45:00.000-05:00

Hello all! I hope for all my American friends you are having a great Labor Day and for everyone else, I hope you are having a great day as well!!!

It is strange but now that I am working and the homeschool year has began, I am really busy BUT I am finding more time to stitch!!! I am not griping at all!!!!! I finished my little horse that I was stitching on. I figured out when I was working on the last leg that I stitched that I has mis-counted. Since this was just a freebie and I was stitching it for fun, I said forget the frogs cuz I am not messing with them! LOL So I just went on a made a couple little changes. I also changed the color of the basket for the apples. I am pleased with the result and here it is:

I have also gotten another section finished on my pattern that I am stitching the sample of. I am enjoying stitching it as it is nice and easy and fun. Here is the update of what is is looking like:

We have had some cooler temps the last couple days and I am thanking God for it. We have had more days of 3 digit temps this year than ever before. The last couple days has been in the high 80's and it is fantastical!! Now if we could just get some rain maybe we won't run out of water in this dried up West Texas area!!!

Cindymaedesigns.com was down for about a month but she is back up and running for those who wanted to know!!!

Gotta go for now, hope everyone has a wonderful and Blessed week!!!!!

Always a Little Time to Stitch!

2011-08-29T22:52:00.001-05:00

I have not fallen off the face of the earth! LOL The last month has been crazy. I can stitch again health wise, just don't have much time to do it. The last month has been focused on planning our homeschool and starting a new job that God has so graciously blessed me with. Things are starting to calm down a bit though, thankfully!!

I have done a little bit of stitching this past month but not alot. Here are some update pics.

This is a little freebie that I have been wanting to do for a long time and finally decided to go for it. If you look for free patterns, I am sure you have seen this one. It will be a little horse with an apple in his mouth and a basket of apples on the ground. HERE is the pattern.

This is a one part of a new design that I am stitching up. I am gonna let ya'll "watch" me stitch the sample of this one.

For my stitching friends that I don't have on facebook, over to the right is my button . . . if you want to add me that would be awesome!!

Well it is about beddy by time for me. Hope you all have a fantastic week and hopefully I will have an update much sooner this next time!!

A Finish and WIP's

2011-07-13T20:19:00.000-05:00

I have a finish!!! I finished stitching the small piece for my great nephew for a pillow. Here it is:

Before I stopped stitching when I started having the issues with my hands and elbow, I was working on a couple different projects. So I have pulled them out and added them to my stitching bag so I can start working on them. I never know when I will be able to have much time to stitch so instead of trying to work out a rotation for my WIP's, I am just gonna stitch on whichever one I am in the mood to stitch on and see how that goes.

So . . . anyway, here is my current WIP's. The first one is a Britty Kitty, Basking in the Sun and the other one the Names of God cross stitch pattern that is one of my patterns. (sorry for all the wrinkles).

I am still in the process of going through my patterns and things getting a give-a-way ready . . . .so stay tuned for that! Until next time . . .

Been Stitching and It Feels Great!

2011-07-10T14:24:00.000-05:00

I have been stitching quite a bit the last couple days . . a lot more than I have done at once in the past year or more! It has been wonderful. I have had NO pain in my elbow or hands and I am so pleased about it! I just pray it continues!

So, I am stitching this to make a pillow for my great nephew, Jayden. I am close to finished stitching but not sure when I will get to finish it into a pillow.

My big baby, Romo thinks, he needed to sneak into the pic too! lol

Oh and I am going through some of my patterns and will be having a give-a-way soon, so keep and eye out for that.

until next time . . .

Stitching Again Soon!

2011-07-07T02:13:00.000-05:00

It has been a very long time and I hope that all of my blogging stitching friends have not forgotten about me!

I went through a period of having serious pain in my hands which kept me from stitching and then about the time they started to improve, I started having problems with my elbow!!

So far this year I have stitched 2 Christmas ornies for a "Stitch it and Pass it on" exchange and that took me months to stitch! lol I am so looking forward to stitching again as I have missed it so much.

I look forward to "catching up" with you all!!!

3 New Patterns!

2010-05-13T09:48:00.003-05:00

Just wanted to pop in and let you know that I have just released 3 new patterns!! Stop by and check them out. Also, if you tried to purchase a pattern from me in the last several weeks and were not able to, the problems are fixed and you should be able to do so now!!!

www.cindymaedesigns.com

Finishes and Pictures to Prove it!!!

2010-05-04T19:37:00.009-05:00

Sorry it has been so long since I have been on here to make a personal, non-business related post. BUT, guess what . . . I have pictures to share of some finishes from the last few weeks. I finally finished "This too, Shall pass". The piece of material that I used was a bit short on one side to put the tall flowers on each side, so I changed up the border a bit and left the tall flowers out. I think it turned out cute, what do you think?
I had been wanting to stitch up this gorgeous little Biscornu since I seen it but just never done it. So, I finally stitched it up and finished it into a scissor fob and I love it!!
I found this great big bright flower button and decided to use it on the back to give it some more character.
I stitched this one up . . . well just because I like it. Not sure what I will do with it, but it was a fun little stitch.
This is another Biscoru that I stitched and finished. I am still trying to figure out my preferred way to attached the cording and this was not it! LOL
The 28th of April was my baby girls birthday. She is now 15 years old and I just can not believe it. She is such a beautiful young lady and since homsechooling she is really coming out of her shell and it is just simply fantastic! I am so proud of her and who she is! I love you Candice Mae and thank God you are my daughter!
Well that is about it for now. Not much else been going on, well at least not that you all want to hear about! LOL Hope you all have a wonderful week full of many many blessings!!!

2010-04-26T22:31:00.001-05:00

Hello everyone, just wanted to let you know that there are 2 new releases at my shop!

Stop by and check them out! For all you Quaker fans, you will like this update!!!

New Poll

2010-04-24T13:26:00.001-05:00

Please take just a moment to answer the question in the poll over to the right!

Thanks a ton!!!!

Guess What . . .

2010-04-23T00:18:00.004-05:00

For today only, April 23, 2010 you can buy 1 pattern and get 1 pattern free at Cindy Mae Designs!!! So stop by and take a look!!! Why the 23rd only? Well . . . because it is my birthday and I thought that offering a sale would be a great way to celebrate with all of you!!!

Hope you have a wonderful and Blessed day!!!

My How They Grow...

2010-04-16T23:27:00.006-05:00

My baby boy is now a whopping 8 years old!!! They passed the law last year about the booster seat for kids under and certain height or 8 years old. So, he was so excited not to have to use that booster seat today and then when he got in the car and buckled up for his ride to school, he complained that the seat felt weird! LOL
Here is a great pick of my toothless wonder!!! 1 of those teeth has come in a little since this picture was taken!I wanted to let you all know that I have a new freebie offered at Cindy Mae Designs. If you usually stitch up a little something for that special teacher near the end of school, this one is perfect for you!!! Don't forget Mother's Day coming up. I offer a Mother's Day Sampler for mom, second(step)-mom, and mother-in-law.

Also you gotta make sure and stop by Vicky's blog and check out her Birthday Giveaway!!! She will be turning the big 40 and is having a wonderful giveaway to celebrate!

I stitched up and finished a Biscornu this past week, well actually 2 but not happy with one of them. I will try and post pics tomorrow of them both. Hope you have a wonderful and Blessed weekend!

Guess What . . . I've Been Stitching!

2010-04-09T16:01:00.005-05:00

Hello all my wonderful stitching friends in blog land! I hope that you are all doing well.

Guess what . . . I actually have a stitching update photo! I have stitched more in the last few days than I have in a couple months! I have found some relief for my hands that seems to be working really well. I started using the Wal-Mart brand of Arthritis Pain Medicine and it seems to work great. Either that or they have just gotten better all the sudden! Either way . . . I am not complaining at all! LOL So anyway, here is an progress photo of my current project. Sorry that these pics don't get any bigger but the pic is taken with my camera phone!Almost a year ago I started the ATC Birthday Exchange Group. The group has come upon the last birthday of the group which happens to be me! My birthday is not until the 23rd but I have already received my first ATC. Dawn sent me this Gorgeous ATC and she used one of my freebie designs for it! I love it and will treasure it! Thank you Dawn!
Well that is about it for now! Hopefully things will start becoming "Normal" (at least for me) and I will start having more time for blogging and visiting you all because I miss you all so much! I hope you all have a wonderful and Blessed weekend!

Rain Drops Keep Falling on my Head . .

2010-03-26T19:42:00.006-05:00

You know, when it rains it pours! It seems like it is just one thing after another lately! This past week we have been working on replacing our sewer line. We had a HUGE sewer problem and it was not pretty site at all! My 2 nephews, sister-in-law, husband and myself got it done though. My nephews were just awesome and both are such hard workers! Still have some dirt to fill in, but at least it is all working again.

I have only put in about 20 stitches in the past 2 weeks! It is really sad!!!! I hope to start having more time to stitch . . . starting NOW would be great! I am also really missing blogging and reading blogs on a regular basis. I feel like I am so our of touch with you all! I miss you!

Anyway, I will stop whining now! LOL

Hey, have you heard about Earth Hour? " • Earth Hour is World Wildlife Fund's global initiative where individuals, schools, organizations, businesses and governments turn off their lights for one hour to cast a vote in favor of action on climate change. By voting with their light switches, Earth Hour participants send a powerful, visual message demanding action on climate change. It is the largest climate event in history. In 2009, more than 4,000 cities in 87 countries went dark. Here in the United States, and estimated 80 million Americans participated, along with 318 cities and 8 US states."
CLICK HERE to join in and take part in this awesome event to help out planet!

Also, I invite you to take a look at the top right of this page and click on the "Fresh Air Fund" button. This is a great program for inner city kids and chance for them to get away and experience another lifestyle. Check it out!

Well that is about it for this time around! Have a wonderful and Blessed Weekend!!!

New Web Site

2010-03-22T20:57:00.001-05:00

Cindy Mae Designs now has a new and improved web site along with two new releases! Stop by and check it out!!!

Checking In!

2010-02-27T21:38:00.004-06:00

Hello all my dear stitching friends. I hope that you have had a wonderful and Blessed week and weekend!

This week was a bit of a tuffy around here. My great uncle passed away Wednesday morning and we had his funeral on Friday. He lived a long and wonderful life. He was 96 years old and one of the most sweetest and God fearing men I have ever known. The service was very nice and I enjoyed seeing some family that I don't normally see. It is sad that it has to be something like a death in the family that brings us together but that is just the way it is sometimes. Anyway, I know that Uncle Cecil is in a much better place now with no pain and he is with his wonderful wife now.

On a happier note, I have done a bit of stitching the past couple weeks and even though it is not a lot of progress, I will show an update pic anyway.I have not done any stitching on my Christmas Designs SAL though. I have made a couple decisions about my stitching this past week. Except for the ATC Birthday Exchange, I will not be participating in any exchanges for a while. I will also not be participating in any SAL's either. Since I don't have a lot of time to stitch and many times my hands are just hurting to badly when I do have time, I can not allow myself to have any deadlines right now. I do not want to commit to something that I can not stick to! ATC's are so small and simple and fun, they will not be a problem.

Speaking of the ATC birthday exchange group . . . it is sign up time for the next year's round. We will begin in May 2010 and run through April 2011. All that you are required to send to each person is an ATC that they must receive in time for their birthday. You can visit the group blog for more info! There is a post to leave a comment on if you would like to join the group for this next year and anyone is welcome to participate!!

Let's see . . . . . what else . . ? Oh ya, that is right! Tomorrow is the last day of the special at Cindy Mae Designs. Make sure and take advantage of this special offer before time is up. If you spend at least $10.00 in purchases of either patterns and/or cording, you will be entered in a drawing to win a $20 gift card to 123stitch.com! So make sure and make that purchase in time to be entered in the drawing.

Well, I do believe that is all I have at this moment. I will stop rambling your ears off! LOL Thank you all so much who leave comments every time I post, I truly appreciate it. I appreciate all of you who just stop by for a visit without comments as well. Thank you!

More Snow in Texas!!

2010-02-23T23:03:00.006-06:00

Yep, we had more snow here in West Texas. We actually got more this time around than the rest of the times. We were actually able to go out and have several snow ball fights, make snow angels and build a snow man and there is still snow on the ground! John was out of school due to the weather and we decided that as long as John is still in public school, Candice will follow that schedule including bad weather days. So they were both excited to have no school today. I must admit, Dad and I were excited to have them home today. We all love the snow so much! Anyway, here is a couple pics of our snow art from today! LOL
I want to say thank you to those who left comments on my last post and wished me well on my hands. You mean so much to me and your comments are true blessings in my life! I will be going to the doctor soon and will keep you all up to date about it. I have several theories running around in my head after doing research and we will see what the doc has to say about it all!

I received my LK exchange package from Jan today! She stitched up and finished this lovely Christmas Pinkeep and I just love it! I can not wait to put it on display at Christmas time. Thank you Jan!As for me and my stitching, I have not gotten hardly any done this past weeks time, so there is nothing to really share there. I am hoping that I will have more time to stitch this week and my hands will allow me to stitch during that time! LOL So, I guess that is about all for this time around! Hope that you all have a wonderful hump day and rest of your week!

New Releases (Patterns and Cording)

2010-02-17T17:07:00.002-06:00

Check out my shop to see my new releases for February! I have released 4 new patterns as well as 4 new blended cording colors!! Stop by and check them out.

Included in the patterns is the Easter Quaker Ornament Set and a Mother's Day Sampler.

Picture Heavy Post

2010-02-14T22:35:00.009-06:00

I hope that you had a wonderful Valentine's Day that was full of romance and relaxation!!

I know, I know . . . I have not updated in what seems like forever nor have I stayed caught up leaving comments on your blogs as I said I would. I try to stop by and visit quickly when you update your blog but just don't always have the time to leave those comments. I know it sucks; as I love getting comments and I have seen my own drop down lately. I start to think that no one wants to visit me anymore but then I think about how it is with me and I just have to realize that we all have life other than our blogs! LOL

Homeschooling my daughter is going great but it takes time and planning and then of course doing the work. I am LOVING it though and she says that she is as well. I feel more connected to my daughter than I have in a very long time. I love being more involved with her life. Education is a HUGE deal in our lives and being such a huge part of that huge part of her life is absolutely wonderful! Did that make sense? We are already looking at home school for my son next year!

I have seen women who blog about their home schooling in the past and seen them talk about always searching online for more info and things like that. I always thought to myself . . . "well what else is there to look at once you have a curriculum". Well, I have already figured that one out. I am totally addicted to shopping online and trying to find new FREE things to use for my daughter and for my son next year. As well as things to add to my daughter's education now. There are SO MANY resources out there to explore. YES, I will admit that is part of the reason that I don't have as much time to blog. LOL

Ok, so now on to stitching news! I actually have some! First of all there will be several new releases coming to Cindy Mae Designs this next week! There will be at least 3 new designs as well as 4 new Handmade Blended Cording colors!!!!! So be on the look out for that! If you want a notice in your email box within just a few minutes after they are released, visit my shop and sign up for the newsletter!!

I found out that Jan received her Lizzie Kate Exchange from me. I used one of LK's newer freebie releases and stitched up 'Whatever' and made it into a pillow. I received a great surprise from my dear friend, Lisa. She sent one of the model pieces she stitched to me and added in a great Valentine Surprise. The pics shows part of what she sent. The little box had candy in it but that did not make it to the picture appointment for some reason! I love it all, Lisa! Thank you!
I have been getting a little stitching done myself. My hands hurt me so much lately that I don't get a lot of stitching done. But I will be going to the doc for that sometime soon and hopefully get some relief! Anyway. The first pic is "This Too Shall Pass" by Count Your Blessings. I am stitching this one just because I really want to! I have not stitched anything just because I darn well wanted to in so long and I am really enjoying it. The second pic is of my Christmas Designs Stitch Along (which I am doing an ornie a month) for January. Yes, you read that right . . . I said January. LOL Since I did not get that one don, I will stitch two this month.
Let see, what else! Oh, I do have a couple pics to share of a few of our Zoo members! I am not even going to list our animals as it is getting to the point of being embarrassing! LOL Between dogs, cats, hamster's and birds . . . we do have quite the zoo! Anyway, here are a few of them!

Ratty Cat
Belle
One of our newest members of the family, Skittles. (Chinese Dwarf Hamster)I will stop all this rambling on now! Hope you are have a wonderful and Blessed week!!!

Finally, Pic's of Stitching!

2010-02-02T01:13:00.008-06:00

I want to thank you all so much for your kind words and words of encouragement about the decision to home school our daughter. Let me tell you, the first week went awesome! We learned a few things and have made a few changes, but it is going well! My daughter has had a great attitude improvement as the stress of everything has been put to rest and she has not been sick!!! So, so far, I am thinking even more so than before that this is absolutely the right choice for our family.

Now I want to truly apologize to you all about my blogging habits here lately!! I am not going to lie, I have not even had a chance to drop by and visit you all, let alone leave any comments. But I have just cleared my list and hope that I am able to stay caught up, at least mostly!! LOL Hopefully, I will be able "get caught" with you all through your next several post!

I received a great package in the mail today from Ellen for the Valentine Holiday Exchange. I just simply love the Biscornu that she stitched. It is simply gorgeous and she does just wonderful work. She included some awesome extra's as well. Thank you so much Ellen, I love it all!!

I heard from Becky K that she received my Holiday Exchange package today! This what I sent her. By the way, Becky, I am using your pic because it looks better than mine! LOL

I would also love to invite you to visit my husband's new blog. He just got a new camera and he just LOVES it and has started a photo blog. You can GO HERE to visit him. There is only a couple pics at this time, but he will be adding more all the time!!

Well better go for now. I promise I will do my best to do better with my blogging and visiting you all!! You all rock and mean so much to me!

Lots to talk about!

2010-01-22T22:19:00.006-06:00

Things have been really busy lately in my life. On the stitching front, I have been getting a bit done. Almost have all my deadlines met! I have been designing quite a lot too. As a matter of fact, my model stitcher's are stitching them faster than I can design. I am NOT griping though!! I am also working toward releasing several new colors of Blended Cording within the next couple weeks.

Guess what else. I am going to be published this year 2 times in The Cross Stitcher. I am so excited about it. As it stands now, I will be in the August and October issues.

We have also made the BIG decision to start homeschooling my daughter. She is in 9th grade and has been wanting this for a couple years. We have finally decided to make this decision due to her health and stress levels. School is so stressful due to all those darn tests that they make the kids absolutely goes insane over. It seems that all the school system is worried about is their scores on the state tests and not about the quality of over all education. The pure pressure is horrible as well. Every week there is a new girl showing up pregnant at school and there is so much drama. Candice has always been an excellent student but her grades have suffered way to much to keep her in those circumstances and let her future suffer. I have joined the local home school group and they are amazing!!! This group is going to be such a huge support system for us. Now that I have talked to other parents who home school and have gotten a curriculum together, I think this is going to be an awesome experience for us all!

I have such great kids. My son is a bit crazy at time though! It is a wonderful thing when your kids let you know that you are doing a good job. My daughter is always telling us that we are the best parents ever and we are "cool". She says that most of her friends wish their parents were like us. And a couple have actually asked if they could live with us and they are serious!! LOL She always tells us that she knows she can talk to us about anything and most of her friends can not do that with their parents and feel comfortable doing so. And NO we are not the type of parent who tries to be "best friends" with our kids. Our kids know that we are the parent and that is that. But we are close family and it is a wonderful thing!

There is a Christian song out that talks about there not being any such thing as perfect people or a perfect life. My son (7 years old) always says "YES there is, because I have the perfect life!"

Now, to me . . . both kids are saying that even though we struggle financially and have a hard time making ends meet at times, our kids know without a doubt we love them and respect them and will ALWAYS take care of them no matter what!!! They understand that material things are not what it is all about, LOVE is what makes our family work and work so well. We don't get hung up on what other people think about us. The only one we have to please is GOD and that is what we strive to do better each and every day!

Well, I think that is enough rambling for today. Sorry I don't have any stitching pics, but I will soon, once people start receive their packages from me. Thank you all so much on your comments on my new releases. I hope those who have purchased them enjoy stitching them as much as I enjoyed designing them!!

Sweet Treats and Faith Fish

2010-01-20T00:04:00.004-06:00

I have just released TWO more patterns. The first is a set of Faith Fish and the second is Sweet Treats! Click HERE to see the purchase page ( you will have to scroll down a bit)!!!

Valentine Quaker Ornament are HERE!!!

2010-01-15T20:49:00.002-06:00

April has had a bit of stress the last couple days trying her hardest to get these sweet things finished up and photoed for me! She done an amazing job on it all!!!

The Valentine Quaker Ornament Set is here!!!! CLICK HERE for the purchase page!!!!

Catching Up!

2010-01-08T19:00:00.004-06:00

I am really sorry that I have not blogged much lately, including commenting. I have been a bit busy. Some of my creative juices have been flowing a little and I have been working on a couple designs. I have also taken the Stitching Bloggers Yahoo group back. I started this group a couple years ago and at that time was not able to keep up with it. I passed it on to Sharon and now she has decided that she was ready for a break and asked if I would like to take it back. We are up to 123 members and it would be great for even more stitching bloggers come to join our little family. So, drop by if you fit this group and join us!!!!

Aside from that I have not been feeling very well lately. I have been having this nagging nauseous feeling that just don't go away. If I wait to long to eat it happens, if I eat it happens . . . so I am darned if I do and darned it I don't!!! Think I might go get checked out if it don't clear up soon. I have been taking some antibiotics and they are almost gone so I guess it is time. I really thought it was just a UTI, but now am wondering. These antibiotics usually knock a UTI out pretty quick for me. Anyway, enough of that stuff!!!!

I have a new freebie on my freebie blog. Remember the bell that I designed and stitch for my moms birthday card, well I decided to share it with you all!!!

I have not stitched much but I do have a finish for this year and a new start! They are small ones that are for gifts for the winners of my giveaways so I can not share any pics yet!

I have decided to extend the sale going on at my shop. I think that I will go ahead and let this sale run through January. Remember, if you purchase $10.00 or more you receive a free Grab Bag. Check the site for more info!

Also just to give all my blog readers and customer's a heads up, the Valentine Quaker Ornament set will be released by the 15th of this month!!!!!! April has been a busy bee trying to get them all finished up for the big release. Let me tell you, the ones she has finished so far are absolutely perfect. I love the way they have turned out!!! I hope that you do as well!!!

Well that is really about it this time around. I do want to show you a pic of our Ratty Cat. He is stalking my daughters birds!! LOL I told my husband that it looks like he is cleaning up getting ready for a meal!!! LOL

Have a wonderful and Blessed weekend!!!!

Welcome 2010!!

2010-01-02T00:44:00.003-06:00

Ok, it was really strange typing that number in for the title!! LOL I do hope that you have all had a wonderful new year and that it has also been a very safe one!!!

Thank you to everyone who has left comments on my recent ornie finishes. I appreciate it so very much. I love those comments. Who don't??? Thank you to all those who visit and don't leave comments to!!!!

I received my final ornament from exchanges on Christmas Eve and forgot to post it with my last post. So, here it is.Penny Stitched this cutie for me. Look, it is just too cute. Thank you so much Penny, I will treasure it always!!

I also want to let you all know about a New Year Sale that I am having.Through January 10th, if you purchase at least $10.00 worth of Cross Stitch Patterns and/or Handmade Blended Cording you will receive a FREE grab bag!! Each grab bag includes 5 yards of Handmade Blended Cording (1 yard each of colors made exclusive for Grab Bags) and 3 pieces that are perfect for hangers on ornaments and such.

I would love for you to check it out!! Well, it is very late and I must get to bed before I fall over. LOL I hope that you all have a wonderful and great and awesome and spectacular weekend!!!!

Happy Stitching,
Cindy Mae

And The Winners Are . . . . . .

2009-12-26T16:07:00.005-06:00

Hello everyone! I hope that you had a wonderful and very Blessed Christmas. Ours was wonderful. We had a quite Christmas this year. Not a lot of running and going and that was really nice. We have sweets running over though. I did not do a BIG meal for Christmas but I made deserts like I was cooking for 100 people!! LOL That is ok, it will get eaten in this house!!

Looky looky what I got for Christmas!!!! I know, I know, I am always complaining about never getting snow here in West Texas and of course never having a white Christmas, but guess what we woke up to on Christmas Eve!!SNOW!!! It was amazing. By that afternoon it was melting a bit and by Christmas Day there was only small shaded places left snow covered, but I will count that as a White Christmas for sure!!! So this was a fantastic present that I received this year!

I finished one more ornie on the 22nd and gave to my mom as part of her Christmas. It is the Brittercup Designs out of the JCS ornie edition this year. I took off the words and added my own touch though.AND now for what you have all been waiting to hear . . . .The Winners of my giveaways!!! I done these drawing the old fashioned way, by just drawing names out of a hat (a bucket was actually used for this drawing!). I did not think to get pics until it was way to late though and for that I do apologize.

The first giveaway goes straight to JULIE!!!!! Congrats Julie, I will email you soon!!!

The second giveaway which was the religious themes items goes to SUE!!!!! Congrats to you too Sue!!! I will email you shortly as well.

Now Ladies, both of these prizes included something stitched and finished by me. So, it may take me a week or two to get these mailed out!

Well that it about it for me this time around. I hope that you all have a nice and relaxing weekend filled with stitching!

Pics to Share!

2009-12-20T02:00:00.010-06:00

I have been really bad lately with my commenting and responding to comments. I want to thank everyone who visits my blog! I want to thank each of you for all the comments that you leave and the visits that you make. It means so very much to me!

I am so excited about Christmas being just next week! I just love this time of year and of course most of you know that Christmas is my favorite Holiday!!!! It does not matter how tight money is or whether there will be many gifts under the tree. Christmas is the best. We try to always make sure that our kids know and understand the True meaning of Christmas. My mom is the type that feels the more gifts the better but I try to really stress to my kids that the gifts are not what is important.

I pray that each and every one of you have a wonderful Christmas full of lots of love and Blessings!!!

Now on to pics!! I received a wonderful surprise in the mail from Beth. She made me this gorgeous Christmas card and sent the cutest ATC along with it. This was such a nice surprise, I just love them both Beth, thank you!!

I got word from Penny that she received my ornament. This was for the "Ties That Bind X- Stitch Exchange" We knew our partners in this exchange so I was able to stitch up something that I felt Penny would really like. She said she liked Lizzie Kate, Snowmen, Cardinals and a few other things. As soon as I read that, I knew that this was the right ornie to stitch for her. Speaking of Penny, please keep her neighbors in your prayers. Their house was destroyed in a fire not long ago and they have lost everything. Thankfully, they have a great neighbor who has been doing her best to help as much as possible.

I have actually gotten some stitching AND finishing done this week!! YA!! I have finished the gift that I have been working on for one of my friends and her family. Can not show it yet though. I also finished stitching and making my mother - in - laws birthday card but can not show it either as her birthday is tomorrow and she does read my blog.

I also met my first months goal in the Christmas Designs SAL. I have stitched this wonderful little freebie from HERE . I just LOVE this design. Now, I did mess up a bit though. I started in the wrong place of the fabric and did not have enough room for the snow flake on the nose, but it still looks cute! The was my second piece to finish in this way. I am pretty pleased with the result.

Remember this one that my son picked for me to stitch, well I finally got the finishing done. This was the first one I finished in this was. I still need some improvement on my finishing skills but they are getting better.

Well that is about it for this time around. I do want to remind you of the giveaway that I am having. I will pick winners on Christmas Day! I have added a couple things to each giveaway as well! So stop by and sign up!!!!

I hope that you all have a wonderful week while preparing for Christmas. If I do not have a chance to post before then, I wish you and your families the most wonderful Christmas ever!!!

New Goodies

2009-12-13T17:22:00.004-06:00

I have added three more colors of Handmade Blended Cording to my Shop as well as a great Grab Bag!

Finally my turn for a giveaway!!

2009-12-10T23:52:00.004-06:00

I have received so many wonderful blessing from giveaways that I have won that it is now my turn to host a giveaway!! I am have 2 separate giveaways.

Giveaway 1 will include all the items in the pic below plus a special something stitched and finished by me. There is no theme to this giveaway just random charts and kits from my stash that I know I will never stitch or have duplicate copies too.Giveaway 2 is a Christian/Religious themed giveaway. It will include the items from the pic below plus something special stitched and finished by me.To enter these giveaway's you MUST COMMENT ON THIS POST ONLY. Please leave a comment letting me know which giveaway you want to go for (YES - you can enter both of them) and your email address!!! IF you would like a second entry you can post about this on your blog and leave me another comment letting me know and your name will be put into the pot again!!! I will draw a winner on Christmas Day!!!

Lots to Share!

2009-12-08T22:30:00.013-06:00

I hope you are all having a wonderful week full of many blessings!! I am having a good week but had an Excellent and Awesome mail week last week!!!

First of all, you can click here and see the giveaway that I won from Becky! Becky has had many giveaways lately and I was the lucky winner of one of them. It was a HUGE one! That is why I am using her pics, LOL) That is also the reason that I have not entered a bunch of your giveaways lately. I have entered a few but not many. I feel that I have already been so blessed from the ones that I have received lately that it was time to give others the chance to have a little better chance. Anyway, I received it this week and it was like Christmas for sure!! Becky, thank you so very much for your friendship and your generosity!!! You are amazing!!!

I also received this gorgeous ornie from a Christmas Ornament Exchange at Stitcher's Showcase. I just love it!!I also recieved the finished piece of the Quaker Sampler that I released a few weeks ago. It is Beautiful!!!!! Mylene done such wonderful and gorgeous work on this piece. I can not wait to frame it and hang it on my wall. Mylene graciously sent this piece to me to keep after stitching and said she would stitch for herself again.

I also won a wonderful giveaway from Valarie. Even though this one has nothing to do with stitching, I just LOVE it!! I hoped to win this one so bad! Thanks so much Valarie!!! I love it and will treasure it!!
SEE! I told you it was a wonderful mail week! On the stitching front, there is not much to share! What little time I have had to stitch has been spent on stitching a Christmas gift for a friend and since that friend reads my blog, I can not show you a pic of it! I am going to start on the stitching for my MIL birthday card this week but won't be able to show it until after the 20th. Hopefully I will have time for some other stitching between now and then though!

Many people have been posting photos of some of their favorite onries from their trees, so I thought that I would join in. I don't have hardly any stitched ornies but do have a few. Hopefully with that Christmas Designs SAL, I will have many more next year! Anyway, so lets get started.I purchased these first two many years ago. Can you figure out what is is made of? Yep, it is an upside down light bulb! Really cool idea and I just love these two. Anyway, they were purchased the first year that my husband, daughter and I were together for Christmas. Of course, our son was not though of at that time. The Rudolph is my daughter, Candice's and the Grinch is my husbands and mine. As you can see, they are a bit worn.
This was the Christmas ornament that my daughter made in Kindergarten and I guess that I was the last year that they made ornament in school around here because I don't have any others from her or any from my son! SAD!! My mom has all the ones that I made in grade school!!
This is actually not one of my favorites but I it was the first cross stitch ornament that I made. I always complain about not having finishing skills, but when I look at this one I realize that they have improved over the years! LOL I still like this one though, even though it was not the best finishing job in the world!

I hope that you all have a wonderful rest of your week. I will be trying to get caught up (again) on my blog reading in the next day or two! You guys are so awesome and I am so blessed to know each and every single one of you!!! Thank you for your friendship!

Christmas Designs SAL

2009-12-02T09:25:00.005-06:00

I have joined the new Christmas Design SAL that Yoyo has started. This SAL is get us to stitching that special something for ourselves for Christmas. Well I am going to be a bit different than most people. Most are choosing 1 design to stitch through out this next year. Not me, gotta throw it all off! LOL Anyway, for my part in this awesome SAL, I am going to stitch a Christmas Tree ornament a month for my own tree!! I know that it sounds like this one is for the entire family but it is for ME and not them! LOL I would like for my tree to only have handmade ornies on it and I have added a few this year and will still receive a couple from exchanges but its not enough to fill the tree so this way I know that I will have at least 12 more to add next year!!

The first one that I will stitch for this month is this cute Reindeer that you can find HERE as a freebie!!

Wow, how it flies!!

2009-11-29T12:12:00.005-06:00

Time that is!! I just can not believe how fast time is flying by! Some of my family got together Wednesday night with my grandmother to have a Thanksgiving dinner. I was talking to my aunt about her granddaughter (my second cousin) and she was talking about how much she has grown. I said, "well I just seen her at Christmas". Then is occurred to me "Holy smoley, that was almost a year ago!!!!!" Even though we were sitting there eating our Thanksgiving Meal, it just hit me how fast time goes when I said that!

I do so hope that you all had a wonderful and very Blessed Thanksgiving!!

I am soooo excited that it is Christmas time though! I could seriously decorate the day after Halloween but DH says that is too soon. I love this time of year, I love the reason we celebrate Christmas! We put up our tree last night. I realized just how few stitched ornies that I have for our Christmas tree and it made me sad. I gotta work on that this next year for sure!

Anyway, the last week and a half have been really hard on me as I have not had internet on my own computer!!! It has been driving me nuts. I don't like to spend a lot of time on the computer in our bedroom as it makes me feel disconnected from everyone. So, I have been having to use my daughters adapter every once in a while to check in and get a little done. I can use her lap top from school some but since it is the schools property, I don't really like to do that. So it has made me feel very disconnected from you all!! I have really missed ya'll!

I have been doing a little stitching though. My son picked one of my Lizzie Kate patterns for me to stitch for an ornament for our tree. Since it is a bit hard to say no to that sweet cotton top freckled boy, I stitched it right up! Even though he is only 7, he really appreciates and loves my stitching. Lisa sent me some of the cutest little charms when she sent the Christmas Quaker Ornies to me and I used one of them on here. I still have to finish it into a ornie but here is the finished stitched.
My moms birthday was Tuesday and I made her a birthday card but forgot to take pics of it as a whole card. I do however have a pic of the stitched piece. Since I just used double sided tape and could take the piece off, I asked my mom if she would like for me to finish into an ornie for her. So here it is not finished yet.If you have not checked out my Handmade Blended Cording, make sure and do that now. Don't forget that my Thanksgiving sale ends tomorrow on all my patterns if you buy 2 you get the third one free!!

Hope you all have a wonderful and Blessed week and hopefully I will have my own internet the first part of the week and can get back to my blogging and keeping up with all my dear friends!!

Take a Look!

2009-11-21T20:39:00.003-06:00

Cindy Mae Designs now offers Handmade Blended Cording!!! I have it all up and going now and am excited to see what you all think about it!! I even got the shopping cart issues that I have been experiencing for weeks fixed with the patterns!!! So my shopping cart works and I have a new addition to my shop! Of course, I have spent all day working on it all and so I have not been able to catch up with blogs or stitch for that matter but maybe tomorrow! We will see!!!!

Don't forget, the sale this month; buy 2 patterns and get the 3rd free. See my shop for more info.

Anyway, stop by and take a look and let me know what you think!!!

Big News and More!!

2009-11-21T01:42:00.003-06:00

I would like to thank you all so very much for your recent comments! Those about the Christmas Quaker Ornaments as well as the comments on my finish for the Stitch it and Pass it on exchange. Your visits and comments mean so very much to me!! I have made so many wonderful friends through my blogging and stitching!!

I did not get much response to the Stitching Accessories Exchange so we are going to put that one on hold a while and try it again next year sometime.

I have to send a HUGE thank you to Mylene. Remember the quaker sampler that I had done a pre-release on because I totally messed up the model stitching on it!!! Well, it is now officially released because Mylene offered to stitch it for the model!! She rocks! It turned out beautiful. I just love the way it looks all stitched up. She does gorgeous work as well!! So, without further ado . . . Here is Quaker Sampler (officially released)!!If you would like to purchase this design you can visit my shop!!!

Now, you wanna know what the big news is . . . Well, Cindy Mae Designs is expanding! Cindy Mae Designs is soon to be more than just cross stitch patterns. I am working on getting it all together now and hope to have everything finished up in the next day or two. I am going to start selling specialty blended cording. This is cording that I create. Berry Bliss, Pumpkin Spice and Raspberry Cream are a few of the colors that will be offered. I will only be starting with about 5 or 6 colors to see how it goes. So, keep on the lookout!

Well gotta get to bed for the night. We have a weekend without the kids as they are spending the first part of their Thanksgiving break with my dad and second mom! So I should have plenty of time to get caught up on blog reading, get some stitching done and get my expansion on Cindy Mae Designs going!!

Hope that you all have a wonderful and Blessed weekend!!!!

Christmas Quaker Ornaments are HERE!

2009-11-16T19:20:00.003-06:00

The Christmas Quaker Ornaments are now for sale!!! CLICK HERE to purchase them. Don't forget that this month there is a buy 2 patterns and get the 3rd free!!! Great time to take advantage of it!!

Would you be interested?

2009-11-15T22:15:00.005-06:00

I was thinking today that I am going to spend some time making my self a few things for my stitching. I love stitching accessories but don't have hardly any. I would love to have a big collection of fobs, cushion, and all kinds of stuff. Then that got me to thinking and I had a bright idea and would like to know if there is an interest in it before I pursue it!

I was thinking of starting a "Stitching Accessories Exchange". It would be an exchange where you stitch and finish a stitching accessory such as a scissor fob, pin cushion, scissor case, ect. It would also be a NO EXTRAS exchange. It is just to hard for some to send extra's. I am thinking of starting the first round on Jan 1st and the mail date being March 1st.

Maybe it would inspire some of us (especially me) to try making something that we don't normally make!

So, let me know what you think and if you are interested. If I have enough people interested in doing this, I will create a blog for it and get the sign ups going soon!

Saturday Ramblings!!

2009-11-14T10:17:00.008-06:00

Happy Saturday all!! Thank you to everyone who understands about my HUGE booboo! LOL

Guess what, Lisa has completed the Christmas Quaker Ornies!!!! Yep, that is right, they are completed and now I am waiting to receive them, take a pic and put them up for sale. I have considered putting up the pics that she sent and allowing people to pre-order them but not sure if anyone would really be interested in doing that. So I am thinking about it.

I have already created some Valentines Quaker Ornies too! April is stitching and finishing them for me. Her and several other people from 123 stitch has offered to do some model stitching for me. So I figure that between Lisa, April and the others I should not have a problem releasing a couple new designs a month, if not more!!

Anyway, Hazel received my package with her "Stitch it and pass it on" exchange. She seems to be very pleased with it and I am so glad. I stressed over the finishing of it the entire time I was stitching it! But I must say that I am pleased with how it turned out and the fabric that I came across for it (out of my moms goodies) looks great with it! You can check her blog to see the back of it and get a good look at the material if you want.I received my win from Shel this week too! I am using the pic off her blog because I just could not get a good pic for some reason! Anyway, there are some great charts here! Thanks Shel for this great package of charts!!!I guess that is about it for this time around! So I hope that you all have a wonderful and Blessed weekend!!!

I made a BIG BooBoo!

2009-11-12T22:09:00.003-06:00

Yes, I did it! I made a HUGE BooBoo last night! I was about 450 posts behind on my blog reading and i was going along trying to get caught up and guess what happened. I hit a button wrong or something on my google reader , still have NO idea how it happened but I ended up deleting my New Updates!!! EEEEeeeeeeekkkkkk!!! I almost cried . . . I hate not keeping up with all of you. So many of you have become such wonderful and dear friends to me. I look forward to your updates and I am just not sure how the heck I am going to figure out who posted what without going through every single blog. If you keep up with more than almost 300 blogs, you know that is not easy!

So, that being said . . . I AM TRULY SORRY if I have not come by your blog in a while and if I just totally miss some of your posts!!

Hope everyone is ready for thier weekend!! We don't have anything special going on around here so I am hoping to have lots of stithing time!! I have not had much lately!

OH and thank you to everyone about your compliments on my scissor fob!!

Teasers and My First Fob!!

2009-11-11T00:13:00.005-06:00

Hello my stitching friends!!! I do hope that this week has been going well for you all!! So far so good here! So who all visited the NeedleShow? I had a "booth" and it went pretty well. But I had a wonderful time looking through all of those other "booths". I went through a couple times drooling over several items!!

Christmas Quaker Ornament Set should be up for sale very soon!!!! Lisa is in the process of getting them finished up now! The set will include 5 Christmas Quaker Ornaments. So, just to give you a tease. Here is a tiny peak at 2 of them!!
Speaking of Lisa. I was a bit upset with myself last week because I had a surprise birthday package for her but did not get it mailed in time for her to get it for her birthday. I had it ready for about a week and still sent it late. BUT she did get it and said she loved it. I sent her several patterns, which you can see on her blog. I also stitched her a Biscornu Scissor Fob. This was my very first Scissor Fob! I know, can you believe that!!! I have just recently gotten into wanting a collection of scissor and fobs for them all! I only have three pair of scissors and one is so dull that I don't use them and one of those is surgical scissors . . . Hey, they are sharp and cheap and I can buy them here! LOL Anyway, back to the Scissor Fob, here is a pic!I actually went back after this picture and put some cording on for the hanger part but forgot to take another pic! You can see it on Lisa's blog though!! I was over all happy with the final product!

I am a bit behind on my blog reading . . . I am so sorry!!! I will try and caught up soon though! My daughter and I have had to share the internet though. Remember our new puppy, Noah. Well like all puppies do, he likes to chew! Yep, you guessed it . . . he chewed right through the either net cable to my computer!! My daughter has a USB network card on her computer so when she is not on the computer (basically when she is at school or asleep) I take it and run with it! LOL

Well, I feel like I am forgetting something . . . . but I have no idea what! So, I will close for now!

Have a wonderful and Blessed rest of your week!!

Lizzie Kate Exchange Arrived - Love it!!

2009-11-09T23:56:00.006-06:00

I received my Lizzie Kate exchange from Lilang! I just simply adore it!! I have never seen a piece finished like this! LOOK!Yes, it is a tissue holder and it is gorgeous! It will be very useful in my purse as well. Anyway here are a couple others views of it!

Thank you so much Lilang!! I truly love it and will treasure you!!

The Front
The Back

Door Prize Winners!!

2009-11-09T01:31:00.003-06:00

I held two Door Prizes at the needleshow. I had one for visitor's which the winner will receive a pattern of choice from my web site. Then a door prize for anyone who made a purchase the chance to win another pattern from my web site as well as a few surprises as well!

So the winners are:

Visitor Door Prize Winner: Debi C. from Alabama

Purchaser Door Prize Winner: Deborah M. from Massachusetts

Congrats to both of you!! I have sent you an email and look forward to hearing back from you both!!!

I want to thank everyone who stopped by my Booth and left comments as I received some really awesome comments and compliments that were very encouraging to me!! Also thank you to all who too the time to enter for the door prize drawing and of course those who made a purchase!! You all ROCK!!!!

Last Day!!

2009-11-08T13:50:00.001-06:00

I just wanted to remind everyone about the needle show! Today is it . . . the last day of the needle show. It will end tonight at Midnight. So, if you have not stopped by and checked it out, you should!

You can also go directly to my link to see my "booth"!!

Stop by and sign up for the Door Prize! I will draw a winner tomorrow!!

Hope you are all having a wonderful and Blessed weekend!!!

A Finish to Share!

2009-11-05T16:56:00.004-06:00

First of all, don't forget to visit the online needle show!! It is now open and will be until Midnight Sunday night (EST).

I have finished an ornament in a new way. Well ok, new for me but not to most of you!! LOL I have finally made a padded ornament. This ornament if for my great-nephew, the one that I watch during the week, Adam. Anyway, I am not thrilled with the way it came out, but I will learn it. I did not use enough backing and do wish it was more padded. I also cut the back piece a bit to big. Other than that, I am happy with it.Well, that is about all for now!! Yep, thats right . . . I don't have a lot of ramblings at this time!! Unusual, I know! LOL

Happy Birthday to . . . . . . .

2009-11-03T16:03:00.003-06:00

Please make sure and stop by and tell my dear friend Lisa a BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Lisa is such an amazing friend to me. Ever since I asked her if she would model stitch a piece for me, she has been by my side and helps me with my designing in so many ways. She has became a very dear and special friend to me in a very short time, and I am thankful for that!

Happy Birthday Lisa, I pray that you have a wonderful and Blessed birthday with many many more to come!!!

Oh and today is also her dads birthday . . . So a HUGE HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Lisa's dad!!!!

Thanksgiving Sale

2009-11-01T18:17:00.002-06:00

Just wanted to let you all know that I am having a Thanksgiving Sale!! For the month of November, you can buy 2 patterns and get the 3rd for FREE!!! We all love something free, right?
Just visit my Shop for a few more details!!! I DO want to let you all know, that I will be releasing a new pattern in a couple weeks and it involves Christmas and Quaker and Ornaments! LOL So, if you would like to wait until then to take advantage of this sale you can!!!

Treat or Treat . . . Smell My Feet . . .

2009-10-31T02:26:00.009-05:00

Give me something good to eat! If you don't, I don't care. I'll pull down your underwear! LOL LOL LOL Does anyone else remember this one!! It has been stuck in my head all day!!!

Just wanted to pop in and tell you all Happy Halloween!!! I hope that you all have an awesome Halloween and stay safe. I will leave you with pics of our pumpkin carvings!! This first one is the line up is the lot of them in a row!!This one is daughter, Candice's! This is the first year that she actaully wanted to do the carving herself and I think she done pretty good!!
This one is the one that hubby, Jim and son, John done together.
And this is my sad excuse of a carved pumpkin! LOL At least you can kind of tell what it says! the CK is totally messed up in the word Trick and then the EA is messed up in Treat! Oh well...it was still fun!!

Wow, Another Post!!!!!

2009-10-28T01:22:00.006-05:00

I know that I am actually posting twice in just a day or two so whats wrong with me! LOL Nothing actually, just got some stuff to share!!

First of all, you gotta check out the The Needle Show that is coming up November 5th through the 8th. I will actually have a booth at this one!! Not sure if it is going to be as popular as the online show that just ended a week or two ago, but hey it is worth a try, right? There are a lot of vendors already signed up, so hopefully it will go over big!!

I wanted to share the instructions for making my own cording. I had a lot of people ask about it, so I thought that I would pass it on. You can go over to Tales of a Shooting Star and get the instructions that I used to learn. Now I am not good at following instructions especially when they don't have pics! LOL But these instructions are really easy to follow!!! I do not use any gadget or anything to make the cording but I do use a pair of scissors as a weight though.

Lilang let me know that she received my Lizzie Kate exchange. I stitched a two sided Christmas ornament for her. She says she loves it and that make me so happy!! I only wish I would have known how to make my own cording when I stitched this for her. Oh well! Anyway, so here are the pics . . . yep actually have pics of stitching this time!!!! LOL
I also wanted to let people know, that the "Welcome to our Zoo" pattern that I got so many comments on in my post before last is up for sale on my store page! It is part of the Paw Prints Collection that I put up for sale about a month ago!!!!

What is it with people??????

2009-10-26T20:20:00.004-05:00

It is just here in this area or are people getting more grumpy all the time. I hate it when people act all upset and don't smile and just act plain rude! It seems like almost everywhere I go anymore, the people are just rude!! They don't even try and smile and be kind. They just do what they have to do to get by and act like you are in their way and I am not just talking about people like cashiers and thing but even other shoppers or customers are that way. Everyone always seems to just not care about anything or anyone around them. Are they that un happy??? If so, I feel for them!!! No matter what is going on in my life, I always try and smile and be kind wherever I am at. I have always been the type that when I am out, I try and make others smile. Even that is getting hard!!

Ok, enough ranting for now!! LOL, sorry bout that!! Just had to get that off my chest!

I have finished a couple ornies for exchanges this week. I have also finished my "Four Friends" piece. Not only finished stitching it, but also finished finishing it too!! I am pleased and hope that Hazel is too! I will get everything that needs mailing out on Thursday. I have one more ornie that I am finishing up and then an ATC to stitch as well.

I would like to join a monthly ornament exchange. Does anyone know of one that will start in January? I am completely hooked on ornies right now! I love 'em! If you do, please let me know so that I can join.

I finally learned how to make my own cording as well and have been practicing with finishing with it. I am thrilled. Without any kind of craft shop near me, cording is one of those things I struggle with. I like it to match and now that I can make my own out of some of the floss that I use, I am good to go!!!

What a Week!!!

2009-10-22T18:59:00.004-05:00

Well this week has been . . . well Challenging!!! It is ending well though. I have not stitched since late Monday night, I have not been on the computer since early Tuesday, I have not watched TV since early Tuesday, I have not done lots of things since early Tuesday. Why you ask! Well, I am not going to get into a sappy story or anything like that but we did not have electricity. It was back on today at about 5:00 pm! Thankfully my daddy came to his 33 year old daughter and families rescue!! SAD, I know!!!

I could have stitched some but the wind was horrible out side and of course I just did not have good lighting inside, so stitching was out of the question!! The bad thing about being away from the computer for a couple days is that when I logged on today I found that there was over 400 blog posts to read!!!! Of course I was already a couple days behind before all this happened! LOL So, please do not be upset if you do not have comments from me on your recent posts!!!!

I did get one good thing accomplished though . . . we found a new home for all 7 puppies!!! That is just fantastic!! I was getting so sick of cleaning up tiny piles of doggy poop from every single corner (and in between) of this house!!! LOL I feel that they all got really good homes and will be very happy though and that makes us all happy!!!

Now, you are all going to think we are crazy but we do have a new member of the family. Yes, The ZOO pattern was created with my own family in mind!!!! LOL LOL LOL!! His name is Noah and he is 11 weeks old. He is a Border Collie / Heeler mix and is adorable!!! You might be wondering why we would get a different puppy when we had 7 to choose from. Well, Romo (our Chocolate Lab) needed a play mate. One that would be a large dog like him. Ever since we lost our dog Duke several months ago, he has been terribly lonely!! The puppies that our Belle had will not be very big dogs at all and so we have been looking for one that would fit well with Romo and Noah is what we found!! So here he is.So, now it is time to get off this computer for a while and let my fingers do some stitching!!! I am having severe with drawls from my stitching but I was having worse with drawls from all of you, my dear stitching blogging friends!!

I will be by all your blogs soon to get caught up, just remember that you might not get comments from me while I get caught up though!!!

Beautiful Saturday!

2009-10-17T13:25:00.003-05:00

Happy Saturday to all my wonderful stitching friends! I hope that you are having a wonderful and blessed weekend!!! The weather here in West Texas is absolutely perfect today. It is nice and cool out with a slight breeze and the sun is shining. This is a great thing as I don't get to brag about our weather very often!! LOL

I have put up a new Christmas cross stitch freebie on my freebie blog. Hope that you all like it!

I have been working on "Four Friends" mostly this week. I have made some great progress on it and just love this pattern. It is really a fun stitch and of course when there is a story behind it, it is even better in my opinion. Of course, I can not show a pic of it though as it is for a exchange. I also stitched and finished a little something else this week but can not show that either as it is a gift for a friend. So sorry there are no pics this post.

Have you heard of the Freecylce organization. I am sure that most of you have. Well that is also something that has been keeping me busy this week. There was not a local group for my hometown and so I requested several weeks ago for a group to be set up for me to take care of. So it finally got approved and is all set up now. Now, I just have to figure out how to get the word out and get members and get them active! LOL They have some great flyers that I am going to post around town as a start. I know that this could and hopefully will turn into a big group and will take some time to keep going, but that is ok. I think that Freecylce is a great thing and I believe in what they stand for!

In other news, I guess it was my daughter's turn to be sick this week. She has been ill most of the week. She had the vomiting thing going on for a couple days but it has ended with just a horrible sore throat. Finally got her into the doc yesterday and got her started on some medicine, so hopefully she will be filling all better by Monday! Her and I was suppose to be going on a school trip this weekend but we had to cancel!

Well that is about it for this time around! Thank you all for your continued wonderful comments on my blog and for visiting me! You all ROCK!!!!

Pre-release Release of Quaker Sampler

2009-10-10T12:36:00.000-05:00

Ok, I have decided that I am going to re-do and start over on the Quaker Sampler. So, since that is going to put of releasing it I have decided to pre-release it! LOL I know that don't even make since but I am releasing it without the stitched model so I am calling it a pre-release! You can buy this pattern in PDF format now for only $4.00!!! I am in all day today and if you order today it will be in your email box with in an hour or two or so, probably sooner!!
Quaker Sampler

Size: 157 W x 128 H

PDF Format only $4.00
Product # CMD-13

What do you think?

2009-10-09T22:48:00.007-05:00

First things first . . . I want to take a minute to thank each and everyone of you who visit my blog. I really appreciate those who always take the time to visit me and especially leave comments. Those comments are just wonderful to receive. It is like receiving a gift from a friend every time I get a comment!! I love it. I also love to see the number of followers growing. Not sure about you, but knowing that someone wants to visit my blog every time that I update makes me feel really good even those who don't leave comments!!! So anyway, thanks to everyone who reads this and reads my blog on a regular basis, you mean a lot to me!!

I got a great piece of mail this week. I received a package from Lisa, my model stitcher but most of all my very dear friend, but had no idea what it was. I was not expecting any model stitched pieces from her or anything and just could not figure out what it was. So, of course with anticipation I tore the package open like a little kid opening a surprise present. The excitedness that I felt was well deserved. She sent my the Christmas ornament issue of JCS!!! I do not subscribe due to financial reasons and have no where near me to purchase it. I have been drooling over everyones posts about receiving theirs though! Next year I hope to have one of my designs in that issue but just did not get anything done in time for this year to even try for it. Anyway, Lisa . . . You rock and I thank you so much for your friendship and all you do for me and of course my magazine!!!

In other stitchy news I have a progress pic to show. I usually do not show progress pics of my designs but I am this one. I love the colors but since I photoed it, I am not sure if it is going to take a good photo when finished for selling it. Don't really want to start over though, so I would like to know what you think. Do you think the colors are ok? Do you think that once it is finished it will look ok photographed? It will be framed once it is finished and I take a photo of it. I need some opinions here, so please let me know what you think. PLEASE be honest!!!I would like to invite you to join a new group!!! Deborah has created a group just for PIF's! You can go HERE to check it out and see if you would like to join! I think that it will be a lot of fun and of course it is always nice to send and receive gifts!!!

Oh and in sad news, the House Gecko that was found last week is no longer with us. I am not sure what happened but we don't think that he was very healthy to begin with. At least we did not have much time to get attached to him though! There were a couple people who mentioned my design "Welcome to our Zoo" being perfect for our home . . . Well why do you think I created it!?? LOL After Lisa stitched that set, she sent them to me and believe me, that one was the first of them to get hung on the wall!!

Well that is it for now and I am sure that was enough. So, if you are still reading this I hope that you have a wonderful and Blessed weekend!!!

I will leave you with a photo of 3 of our fur babies napping on the bed!!! They are so cute!!

Animals, Stitching and a Giveaway!!!

2009-10-02T12:23:00.007-05:00

Just when you think things are getting to be NORMAL and you are getting into a routine, something has to get in the way. My son spent 3 days at home this week running fever. We were not even sure why he had a fever but he is all better now and was able to go back to school yesterday. I hate it when my kids are sick! My daughter went to the local fair last night and ended up riding to many rides and lost her pizza. LOL She was really embarrassed but I think by this morning she was over it! At least until she gets to school and her friends start telling everyone what happened! We will have a good time teasing her for the next couple days though!

I have started stitching the "Four Friends" but of course can not show you that since it is for a gift. I still have not decided how I am going to finish it though. I did get my Lizzie Kate exchange in the mail the other day. It has a ways to go but hopefully I will be able to post pics of it soon.

In other stitchy news I have created my first Quaker Sampler. I love it and hope that you all do too. I am going to start stitching it this evening. I have created "Stitchy Gifts - Series 2" and have one of them finished but have decided that I am going to wait a while to stitch more of them because I am really excited about the quaker design. It was going to be Christmasy but then I decided that I just wanted it to be an everyday sampler. I am going to try and wait to show it to you all though. I may give a sneak peek of my stitching progress next week though, we will see. I know there are a lot of quaker fans out there and the more that I get into the quaker style, the more I understand the addiction to it!! Anyway, I hope to have it finished and released by the end of this month!

A while back Sandy sent me some Linen's and I just love them all but have not had a chance to stitch on them and try them out. So, I am stitching the "Four Friends" on 32 count linen and now I also understand why everyone just loves linen. At first I started using 2 strands of floss though and it just looked like crap but then I went to 1 strand and I am just loving the way it is looking.

We have a new member of the family. Yep, another one! LOL My MIL come and got my husband and I this morning and told us there was something in her room she wanted us to see. So, we go in there and on the side of her bed is a little lizard. I picked it up and we immediately found something to put it in. We at least wanted to keep it and show the kids when they got home from school. Well after googling a bit, we figured out that he is a House Gecko and so we have decided that we will try to keep him and give him a good home. My husband has wanted a lizard type pet, even though he wants one of those big ones that you can walk on a leash, he will have to settle with this little dude!! He is really cool! Here is a pic of him.I also finally have pics of all the puppies and kittens to share. It amazes me how much alike all 5 kittens look!
Oh, before I forget . . . there is a great giveaway going on over at Dip Diddly Designs. Nicole will be having a weekly giveaway for the month of October, so make sure and stop by and check it out!!!

For The Pet Lovers!

2009-09-26T15:32:00.007-05:00

Look at these . . . a New Release and Lisa done such an awesome job stitching and finishing these for me! I love the way they turned out! May I introduce the "Paw Prints Collection". Animal and Pet Lovers will love these cute little designs. They are all easy to stitch and look great. This set is available for sale right here or of course on at my Shop! You can purchase them to be emailed in PDF format or printed and mailed!

Paw Prints Collection

Sizes:
Prints in the Heart: 69 W x 92 H
Wipe Your Paws: 69 W x 68 H
Paw Prints Welcome: 122W x 54 H

Models stitched on 32 ct Linen by Lisa Durst

PDF Format $4.00
Printed and Mailed $7.00
Product #: CMD-12

WOW, I love it!

2009-09-23T10:10:00.004-05:00

I received a wonderful package in the mail yesterday from Tracy. I joined the Stitch it and Pass it on group and am just thrilled with what I received. There were only 4 of us who joined so it was agreed that "Four Friends" by Brightneedle would be the perfect design for us to stitch. There is also a great story behind the pattern that makes it even better!

"Anna, Snowy, Bitsy and Emma lived in a little New England town in the mid-1800s. All four stayed friends throughout their lives, sharing their joys and sorrows as well as any good recipe (called "receipt" back then) that came along. Each one of them loved to bake, so one day a week, for over 50 years, they gathered together and did a week's worth of baking for all four families. Sharing the work made this necessary household chore more enjoyable for them all. During their time together they talked and laughed, and sometimes cried. We designed Four Friends Sampler in tribute to girlfriends everywhere."
This picture does not do it justice though, it is even better in person!!!

So now I get to stitch this wonderful design and pass it on to Hazel and then she will pass it on to Elisa! I just hope that my finishing of it comes just a bit close to adding up to Tracy's finishing!!

TUSAL and Lots of Pics to Share

2009-09-18T14:10:00.013-05:00

This week has just been one of those weeks. Both of my kids missed two days of school due to being sick. They are back up and going now though. Since I am taking care of my great nephew now, it has made things seem even more crazy. Even though it has only been about 7 years, I forgot what work a little one is! With both of my kids home sick and a six month old hanging around . . . I am tired! LOL

I got permission to post some pics of Adam (my great nephew) on my blog, so here he is. He has stolen my heart! He is a really good baby and has such a cute smile.I have not had much stitching time at all this past week!! Since I don't have any stitching photos I will post some other photos. I don't share a lot about my family on here but I do SO LOVE to hear about everyone else's family. I love to hear about and see pics of all my stitching friends and their families and feel like I get to know them better, so I have decided that I am going to start sharing more with you. So, here is a couple pics of my kiddos! Now my daughter Candice don't like her picture taken much, at least not by me! LOL so, in this first pic, you can see she is getting a little frustrated with me trying to get a good pic! LOL Too funny! Caught her in a good laugh here!
My son John playing in the dirt!
and climbing trees, he loved to climb trees!!!
Another thing that had me a bit worried this past week is Romo (our Chocolate lab). One morning we woke to him looking like this: Now Romo does not normaly look like this, of course. He normally looks like this:We still have no idea what happened. At first we thought maybe a snake bite, but there is no signs of a bite of any kind. So we gave him Benadryl several times and it started going down. He is almost normal now. We still are not sure what happened to him, but just very happy he is doing well now!

Remeber several months ago my kitty Jazzy had 2 kittens and we kept them because we could not find them a new home and we just grew too attached to them. So we have Jazzy, Ratty, and Twister. Well before she was even done breast feeding them she went into heat and guess what. We have 5 more kittens living under our bed now as of the night before last! Grrrr!!! Thankfully, I think that I have already found them all five homes, finger's crossed!!! And remember Belle, our little dog . . . yep you guessed it . . . before we could afford to get her fixed she went off and got knocked up again. On 9/11 she delivered 7 puppies which are living in my sons closet! They are normally easy to find new homes for though, so hopefully they will all be gone with a day or two of being weened just as the kittens. I will try and post pics of them all this following week.

Oh my goodness, I almost forgot . . . it is TUSAL update time!! My vase that I was using got broke by Ratty! So, I found something else to put my strings in!Well that is about it for this time around. I am working on getting my blog roll list up to date! It is way out of date, so if you are not listed there . . . hopefully by the end of this week you will be!!! Hope everyone has a wonderful and Blessed weekend!!

New Freebies and Exclusive Pattern Offer!

2009-09-13T23:22:00.007-05:00

Well there has not been a lot of stitching going on this week but I have been doing some designing. I have started baby sitting my little great nephew lately and since I am not used to having a little one around anymore, he has been keeping me a bit busy! LOL, I will get use to it though.

I have decided to let go of my hosting plan for my web site and started using Blogger so that I can have free hosting. Money is just a bit to tight for me to keep that up. And hey, what is better than free!! So since I am using blogger now, you can sign up to be a follower on my web site now and get updated the minute I release a new pattern! Which is pretty cool, right? I would still suggest signing up for the newsletter though because I can keep you updated on other happenings and sales that will be coming up and things like that. So, you can sign up to be a follower and sign up for the newsletter at CindyMaeDesigns.com now!!

I have added TWO new freebies to my freebie blog! Go on over and download them now! This is them:
I have designed a new exclusive pattern that I want to offer each and everyone of my readers for free!!! Yep, that is right . . . FREE and it will only be available to you and never be offered for sale. There is a bit of a catch though! Yah, I know a catch . . . that sucks! LOL The catch is easy though, it really is! All I am asking you to do is to help me advertise a bit and get my designs out there more. So, if you will make a post on your blog or web page with a link to cindymaedesigns.com and then add a permanent button to your sidebar this exclusive pattern is all yours!!! Just drop me an email after you have added the button and made the post and I will email the pattern to you in PDF format! That is all you have to do. This is just a picture from the design program that I use and is not the best pic in the world but trust me, it is a really cute design and I think that it will be a fun one to stitch!

Here is the button to use on your side bar and link to cindymaedesigns.com Make sure and email me at cindymaedesigns@gmail.com after you have made your post and added the button so that I can email your pattern to you!!!

Well, I guess that is about it for this time around. Of course I am still working on getting caught up on reading all of your blogs . . . so don't give up on me, I will be around soon! You all mean so much to me and your friendships are just priceless! Thank you for everything!

Time Just Goes to Fast!!!

2009-09-09T15:10:00.004-05:00

Hello all! This past week has just been so busy and when I think back I can not even remember half of the business! Does that happen to anyone else? I sit here and I think about certain days and know why they were busy and other days just leave me wondering where the time went! LOL

I received some awesome mail! I won the giveaway that Lori held a few weeks back and WOW oh WOW did she send some great stuff!!! What an awesome package!!! There were a ton of great charts and some needles too! This pick does not show it all, I mean it is all there but you can not tell because it is buried! LOL Lori, thank you for such a fantastic prize package!!! I was so surprised and happy at how well the Quaker Halloween Ornaments went! Thanks to all of you who purchased them and I hope that you truly enjoy stitching them. I would love to see some pics of your finishes!! Since those did go over so well . . . I am now working on some Quaker Christmas Ornaments! I hope to release these in the next month or so. I hope that everyone likes them just as much as the Halloween ones!

One of the things that kept me busy this past week was my hubby. We had his birthday and a doctors appointment all in one day. The doctors appt went fantastic. He was given a clean bill of health and told that he is now free to do what he wants to do! GREAT news and a wonderful birthday present for him!!! We had a wonderful dinner that night to celebrate his birthday and clean bill of health! About the only stitching that I can show you is the card that I made him. I have been working on some model stitching of upcoming designs and my Lizzie Kate exchange piece so I can not show either of those yet. So, here is his card:Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers for my husband! You have all been so awesome through all of this and I thank God for each and every single one of you!!! If I have not been by your place in the last week or so, don't worry, I am making my rounds and trying to get caught up!!!

Hope you are all having a wonderful week!

Halloween Quaker Ornies and Shooting Stars!

2009-09-01T17:13:00.005-05:00

I heard from Ranae that she received her package in the mail today. You know, the package that I owed her from way back in May!!! LOL Well, I finally got it in the mail to her and she received it today. She said that she loved it all and I am so very happy that she does!!! I forgot to take a photo of the entire package so when she posts it on her blog I will borrow her photo, if that is ok with her! Anyway, part of what she won was for me to design a pattern for her. I ended up designing Halloween Quaker Ornaments and I absolutely loved them. So, I decided to offer them for sale but did not want to that until she received her goodies! So, now I am releasing those along with the Shooting Star set that I have designed as well.

You can always go to my site to purchase these patterns. I also have the buttons available in this post so that you can purchase them from this post as well in PDF instant download format!!!

So, without further ado here are my September Releases:
Halloween Quaker Ornament's
Sizes:
Bat: 75 W x 36 H
Witches Hat: 63 W x 46 H
Pumpkin: 50 W x 47 H
Purchase now for instant PDF download for $4.00

Wish Upon a Shooting Star
The Sampler Size: 76 W x 95 H
Stitched Area Size:
14 Ct Aida/28 Ct Evenweave: 5 3/8 x 6 3/4
16 ct Aida/32 Ct Evenweave: 4 3/4 x 6
This set includes 3 patterns for each one pictured here!
The verse reads:"My wish upon this shooting star is that your heart be happy"
Purchase now for instant PDF download for $4.00

Well that is about it for me today! Hope everyone has a Blessed week!!!!

I am so in Love!!!

2009-08-21T10:08:00.012-05:00

First of all I have to explain the title of this post! It is true, I am in love and not with just my husband! I am also totally in love with evenweaves!! I have been forcing myself to stitch more on the evenweaves lately and just love them!!! The 28 count linen is great too. Not really comfortable with the higher count in the linen yet though. I don't have a lot of evenweave and lines though so I am still having to use some 18 count Aida for now. I still like the easiness to cutting and fraying the edges of the Aida so it is perfect for cards, ATC's and anything that I want frayed but even then it is getting so that it don't "feel" right to stitch on! LOL So, this means that when I ever have a chance to get out of town and actually have money to spend, I gotta start watching for those sales on evenweave!

I have gotten some stitching done lately even with all the hospital and medical stuff going on with hubby. Most of it has been model stitching though. I do have a teaser pic though.There will be three patterns in this set. I am not sure of a title yet, but it will probably be called the Shooting Star Collection or Wish upon a Shooting Star. And it may end up being something totally different by the time I make up my mind. LOL One of the patterns included is a sampler. This set will be released in September!

The others that I have been working on is for Ranae for winning the drawing that I held way back in May or June. I feel horrible that it has taken me so long to get this prize to her. She won a pattern that I designed for her. I actually ended up liking this so much that the set will be released for sale next month and the pattern will state that it was inspired by Ranae. She will receive the pattern in print as well as stitched and finished by me with who knows what else! Anyway, Ranae, if you are reading this, I am so sorry that it is taking so long!! I promise that I am almost done and will get this in the mail to you soon!!!!

I have also made some progress on this months freebie from The Holy Needle.It is TUSAL update time! It does not look like a lot from last time but that is because I had to squash it down some! LOLI have to tell Donna that I am really sorry that I have not gotten my ornaments in the mail for Stitching for a Cure! I did find the ornament that I had started on the perforated paper though. So I am going to finish it up so that I can mail both at one time. Now I have to say that I was not happy with the way that I finished the first one up. I thought it look really bad. So, after my mom gave me my sewing machine, I decided to change it up a bit and I am happier with it now!
I want to mention a couple of awesome giveaways! There is a great giveaway over at Vonna's!!! She is holding a drawing to win a couple items that she has stitched and finished. They are wonderful and even though I don't want anymore competition at winning them because I would love to have them, I thought that I better pass it on anyway! LOL!!! There is also a awesome giveaway going on over at The Daily Me. Now this is another fantastic giveaway with a ton of great stitching goodies up for grabs!!! Check them out!

Now, I will leave you with a couple photos of our fur babies! Romo has such a huge smile on his face. I think he has really gotten to were he likes his picture taken! LOLRemember the kittens that my baby Jazmyn had a while back. I tried for weeks to find them a new home and it was impossible. I tried everything, including going and sitting with them in front of Wal-Mart. Nothing worked so we decided that they were just destine to be our cats. So, this is Twister and Ratatouille (Ratty). Twister is the black and white one and he is really laid back and calm. Ratty on the other hand is a mess! He LOVES food and loves to eat, thus his name! LOL We love that movie!Sorry for such a long post! Once again, thank you all so much for the wonderful comments and the support for my husband. It truly means a lot to me. You are all such wonderful friends, true blessings from God!!!

It Was Worse Than We Expected!!

2009-08-19T22:22:00.004-05:00

Well, we are home from the hospital and my husband is doing great, except for being absolutely give out! As the title says, it was worse than we expected though, but they were able to fix him up with stents. He ended up having to have 3 stents put in, making him have a total of 4 now. (only 31 years old) We were expecting one . . . maybe two but not 3! The right coronary artery was 100% clogged and 1 stent took care of that one! There was absolutely nothing going through there at all! I wish I had a scanner, I would show you all the pictures that the doc gave us of before and after, it is amazing! Anyway, then the left coronary artery was clogged in two different places. The top was 70% clogged and the bottom part was 50% clogged and that required 2 stents. The stent that he received in 2005 when he had the heart attack was placed in the circumflex artery and it was working great. That was the only artery getting a good blood flow through it, which as you can tell from the pic below is a very small artery compared to the rest and gets its flow from the top part of the left coronary artery!! So we are very blessed that we were able to find this all out and get it taken care of! I got this image from the Texas Heart Institute. So, even though it was worse than we expected, he is all fixed up now and his heart is in great shape. There is a little damage to the bottom of his heart from the heart attack and a bit on the top from this blockage but that can be improved over time!! We are so thankful that we were able to get all this done and that the hospital and doctor are working with us on the financial end!! They have been amazing as far as that goes. The nurses were all amazing and wonderful as well!

I just can not put into words how thankful I am that we got this done and was able to prevent another heart attack!!! If he would of had another heart attack, the doc said that IF he would have lived through it, we would have been looking at open heart surgery instead of stent placement.

So anyway, I just want to thank you all so very much for your kind words, your encouragement and most of all your thoughts and prayers!!

I am over 350 blog post behind according to Google Reader . . . EEEEEeeeeek!! So, please do not have your feelings hurt if once again you do not have comments from me for the last weeks updates on your blog!!! I will get around to getting caught up on reading all of your blogs but the commenting may not!!

Again, thank you all for being so wonderful!!!

Tuesday is the BIG Day!!!

2009-08-16T19:12:00.006-05:00

Hello all my dear stitching friends!!! I figured that I better get off my booty and give you guys an update on things!!!

The doctor appointment went great for my hubby Friday. We where hoping that this doctor would have a "Lets get this taken care of now" attitude instead of the "Lets do a ton of expensive test and then end up doing a heart cath anyway" attitude. Guess what, he had the lets get it done attitude and we go in on Tuesday morning for the Heat Cath. If there are any problems they will hopefully be able to get them fixed while they are in there looking around unless of course it requires more than stints or something! Back in 2005 when DH had the heart attack the artery causing the attack was 100% clogged but there was another that was 80% clogged that the doctor did not fix!!????!!!???!! This is one reason we do not go to that doctor anymore. So we are praying that stints will be all that is required! Thank you all so much for your prayers and thoughts and I ask that you continue to do pray for us!!!

On the stitching front . . . I have decided that I need to stitch something for pure pleasure for just a bit. Something that is for DH and I, instead of a model of one of my designs, so I have picked a new design and got it all kitted up last night and started stitching it. I should be able to have stitched in several days time. It is the new freebie from The Holy Needle. Given everything that we are going through, this verse/saying is just perfect and something that we must remember!!!!!
Here is a progress pic. Sorry it is not very good. My daughter has her camera with her and she is away staying with my dad and his wife. So, I had to use my phone!I have made some updates to my web site! I have improved it greatly due to Sandra from Joyful Expressions. She has been doing this for a while and has given me some great suggestions to improve me web site. She is the reason that I decided to offer PDF's of my designs. These are now available for Instant download!!! Yep, as soon as you make your payment, you will receive access to the PDF file!!!! I have also included the stitched area size on each description. Another great suggestion that she had for me is to include Anchor thread colors on my patterns. So, I am in the process of doing that!!!! I think Sandra so much for all the help she is offering me.

I also want to thank Lisa! Lisa has been so wonderful to me. She is willing to stitch just about anything for me and has offered a lot of great suggestions for me to build up my customer's. She is such a dear and special friend as well. If you do not visit her blog, you gotta! She does such beautiful stitching and she has an awesome family!!!

I would also like to invite my Christian stitching friends to join a great yahoo group! All the ladies that I have gotten to know from this group are just awesome! Anna, the leader, is really working hard to build up the activity in the group and the members. So hop over there and check it out!!

Click to join christiancross_stitch

Well I guess that is about it for now! I will update after Tuesday to let you know how things go with my husband procedure!!! Thank you all for the wonderful friendships and the thoughts and prayers! You are all so wonderful!!!

Hubby, LK, Giveaway and more!

2009-08-09T10:53:00.007-05:00

Again, I want to thank each and everyone of you for your prayers and support for my husband and our situation. We have found a doctor that is willing to work with us on the money side of things and pray that he will be able to do some tests and give us some answers. We go see this doctor on Friday. It is a bit of a drive for us but it will be worth it. The sad thing is that I am broke and there are lots of hobby shops where we will be! LOL Oh, well . . . maybe next time!

Kathy received my Lizzie Kate exchange package and she loved it and that makes me incredibly happy! I stole the pic from her blog because it is soooo much better than my pic of it! LOL Anyway, I stitched the Live, Laugh, Love pattern of LK's which Kathy says is one of her favorites! I finished it into a pillow.I also have to share my other blog with you all. I feel that there are some of you who would like this blog and some who will not, and that is ok. Inspiration Korner is a blog that I have had for many years. I stopped posting on it the first of the year but I am being moved to start posting to this blog again. So, feel free to stop by and visit!

You gotta check out the awesome giveaway at Lori's!!! She has got a great lot goodies up for grabs, you don't want to miss it!!!

I have been doing some stitching but no pics of that at this time. I am working on one of my designs and have stitched a couple ATC's. Hopefully, I will remember pics before I send them out this time!

Well, that is all for this time around. Hope you are all having a great week!

Finally . . . NEW Release's!

2009-08-07T19:48:00.005-05:00

I have finally just put up new patterns for sale on my website!! Click here to visit now! Lisa done such a gorgeous job stitching both of these pieces for me!!

Update and a HUGE Thank you!

2009-08-06T17:32:00.002-05:00

Thank you all so very much for all the prayers, thoughts and support!!! My husband and I both truly appreciate them all!!!

After spending several nights in the hospital and a couple at my moms house, we are now home. The hospital did not approve the angiogram so we were not able to have that done. We were told that at this point the only way to have something like that done is if he does in fact have another heart attack and it is done in an emergency case. So, at this time we are trying to find a way to have him treated with out insurance without having another life threatening heart attack first!

I got a great package in the mail today from my model stitcher Lisa and it is fantastic!!! She has stitched up one of my designs and made it into a pillow and I just love the way it turned out. She also included a DMC color chart for me as I did not have one! What a doll she is!!!!

I was hoping to be releasing 3 new designs this month, but it will only be two and it will be the two that Lisa has stitched for me. I was near done with the set that I am stitching but ran out of one of the colors and have not had a chance to order that color! So, that one will come next month!! Anyway, I hope to release my new ones in the next day or two!!!

I have over 300 post to catch up on according to Google reader, so if I miss several days worth of comments, it is cause I am trying to catch up and may not have much time for commenting but please know that I am reading and loving it all! I so enjoy reading each of your blogs and hearing about your families and seeing your stitching and crafting!

Well gotta go for now, once again, thank you all so very much for all your wonderful comments, prayers and thoughts!!! You are all truly special and dear to me!!!

Happy Stitching,
Cindy Mae

Need Thoughts and Prayers!

2009-08-02T12:31:00.001-05:00

Just stopping in really fast to ask you all to keep my husband in your thoughts and prayers. In 2005 at the age of 28 he had a massive heart attack. Since then he has had his ups and downs. Yesterday his blood pressure was very high and he started having severe chest pains. He is in the hospital now and they are looking at trying to do an Angeogram (sp??) tomorrow ( Monday) morning. We are praying that they do this so that we know where his health stands and what our next steps are. We have no insurance at all, and that poses a big problem in getting things done. So please keep us in your prayers and pray for the docs to make the right decisions!

Thank you all!!!

Sewing, exchanges and more!

2009-07-26T13:42:00.010-05:00

Hello all my dear friends! I hope that this post finds you all well and hope you have all enjoyed your weekend!

I got a great surprise this last week. I do not have a sewing machine and have wanted one for a long time for some finishing my stitching! There is a little crafting sewing machine at Wal-Mart that I have had my eye on for some time but just have not been able to afford because $39.00 is a lot of money to me and my family right now. Well, my mom showed up at my house this last week and had bought it for me. I was so excited! So that evening I had a great time sewing and practicing my sewing skills, which need A LOT of practice but at least now I can!

So the first thing that I done was finished up a couple of my patterns that I have for sale. The "Stitchy Gift Series". I framed one and finished the other two into little cushions. I think they are much more appealing now! I wish that my camera was much better, but at least I have one that gets the job done! What do you think? Of course, I have to remind you all that if you would like to purchase this set of designs, you can visit my shop to do so!
I also received my Lizzie Kate exchange from Susan! It is beautiful! I love it so much and she done gorgeous work on it! She stitched one of the patterns that I had on my wish list too, which was a great surprise!!! Thank you so much Susan! I will treasure it forever!!I have my LK piece completed and will be putting it in the mail tomorrow and I hope that recipient loves it!! I thought about going ahead and showing a pic of it as the person who will received it don't know who is sending hers, but I think that I will wait until after she receives it.

My dad finally sent a pic of the card that I made him. This is not the best pic in the world, but you can tell what it is anyway!
I will have at least two more patterns for sale at the beginning of next month. I am hoping that there will actually be 3 released but I know for sure 2. Of course I will post on here about it, but you can also make sure and sign up for the newsletter on my website so you will know exactly when they are posted!

Lisa has been great about helping me with my model stitching and she is such an awesome stitcher. Here is a sneak peak of one of the designs that will be released next month that Lisa stitched.I am actually looking for one or two more people that might be willing to help me out with some model stitching. I just do not have a lot of time to stitch and have a lot of ideas for designs. The payment for stitching for me would be keeping the pattern for your own personal stash or passing it on as well as keeping the stitched piece or passing it on. It will be up to the stitcher as to what they stitch because I do not want anyone to stitch something they don't like! That takes the fun out of it! So if you are interested, drop me an email at info@cindymaedesigns.com.

Well, I guess that is about it for this time around! Hope you all have a wonderful and Blessed week!!!!

Happy Stitching,
Cindy Mae

Was Starting to get sad!!!

2009-07-19T17:48:00.002-05:00

I was starting to get a little sad. I knew that people where coming to my blog and I was getting visitors but no one was leaving comments! I love the comments that you all leave!!! They keep me going, they give me encouragement and I just love them and look forward to them every time I make a new post. Then I got an email and someone said they had tried to leave a comment and could not. Well it took me a little bit but it finally clicked in my little noggin that my comments where not working! LOL Anyway, I hope that it is fixed now!

Great Mail, Awards, Stitching news and more!

2009-07-17T15:45:00.018-05:00

I have been blown away the last couple weeks as I have received a couple awards. One of them comes from Wendy and is the "One Lovely Blog Award". Since I have already received this and passed it on once, I will not do that again. I also received the Kreative blogger award again from Meari! The sad thing is that she passed this on to me back in June and I forgot to post about. I added her name to the award on my side bar, but just forgot to post! So thank you so much Wendy and Meari!!!

I have also received a couple other awards. I received This sweet friendship award from Janet C. Thank you Janet for considering me for this award! I am flattered!!!I am suppose to pass this on to 8 of my friends and I have made so very many but since it is only suppose to be 8, here they are:

Ok, I tried to pass this on to just 8 people, but I have to be honest. I had a list done and posted and then thought of a couple other people, so I went back and was looking over my list and thought of even more people. SO, here is the deal . . . If you read my blog and I read yours, you are a friend and I give this award to you! If you have stumbled upon this post by me leaving you a comment and directing you here, this award is for you!

I also received this great award from Nur Azimah. She does beautiful stitching and has the cutest little boy. If you have not stopped by her blog, please do. She is learning English more and more and getting better at communicating all the time. She always tries to use her best English when posting!!Here are the rules of the above award:

1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.
2) Pass the award to other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

I have really had a hard time deciding who to pass this award on to. There are so many of you out there that give me inspiration in many ways. Since this is for newly discovered blogs, that made it a bit easier because many of you, I have been following since I started this blog and before. So, this award is passed on to:

Edgar: I started following Edgar in the last couple months and he just does such gorgeous work! He is so talented!!
Janet C.: I just really met Janet when she signed up for the ATC birthday exchange and she is just such a sweety and I love that she is open about her beliefs!!
DaisyGirl: Not sure when I started following DaisyGirl but I know it has not been long. She is another who is open about her beliefs and does great stitching!

Now there are others that I have recently started following but not for very long.

It is almost time for the TUSAL update. Since I know that I will probably not post until have the new moon, I will go ahead and post a pic of my update now. I don't figure that it matters that much as I have not posted an update on the TUSAL for a couple months!

I finally finished my first ornie for the Stitching for a Cure tree! I actually almost had a second one done, I was doing it on perforated paper and was almost complete but I think that a dog might have eaten it! LOL I can not find it anywhere! I have looked all over the place too! Have no idea where it went. So, I am gonna get this one off in the mail tomorrow and try and get another one done on time! Now keep in mind that I have almost NO finishing skills at all! So this ornie is as about as good as it gets!! LOL

Now for the wonderful mail that I received! I got a fantastic package from Barbara! This was from a surprise giveaway that she done a while back. She actually chose several winners and then surprised us with whatever she felt like! Well let me tell you, she surprised me greatly! I love everything!!!! Just look at what I got!!! Thank you so very much Barbara! The nose in the pic is of our Chocolate Lab, Romo (yes we are Cowboy fans) He tries to get right up at the camera when I have it out! He is such a ham!

I did get my dads birthday card done and mailed to him, but just like the three ATC's I sent off in the last week or so . . . I forgot to get a pic. I asked him to snap a pic and send it when he has time. So maybe next update! Lisa is now helping me by doing some of my model stitching! She does such gorgeous work too! She just finished the first one for me and it turned out marvelous! I love it!!!! I have decided that I will release at least one new design a month!! Instead of doing a big release a couple times a year, I think that at least one a month will be great! With Lisa and I both stitching, I might even be able to make sure there is two a month, but I do not want to commit to that yet! LOL

Well if you are still here now that I am done rambling, I do thank you! Until my next update, happy stitching!!!!

Cindy Mae
www.cindymaedesigns.com

Fly By Post!!

2009-07-12T10:46:00.002-05:00

I would like to mention a couple great giveaways going on right now. Over at Violarium blog you can enter to win an awesome book "Cross Stitch Letters Bible"! It looks fantastic!!

Also, you can head on over to Micki's blog to find another great giveaway!! This is an awesome Irish themed giveaway that you don't want to miss out on!!!

Now I have to share about a new blog. If you, your husband or kids like to play Runescape please send them over to my husbands new blog!!! This is a Runescape blog and it has and will have a ton more great info on it!!!!

Well, thats it for this fly by post! Hope you are having a great rest of your weekend!!

Happy Stitching,
Cindy Mae

Don't forget to stop by my store and sign up for the newsletter and feel free to shop a bit while you are there! LOL

No Title Post! LOL

2009-07-10T10:42:00.004-05:00

Sometimes, I hate trying to title my post!!!!!!

Ok . . . First I have to mention an Awesome giveaway! Go on over to Patti's and check it out!!! It sounds like we sure do not want miss a chance at this one!!!

I noticed the other day that I have not done a TUSAL update pic in forever!!! I have missed the last two update times. So, I am really going to try and remember to get that posted on time this month!!!

No stitchy pics right now! Everything that I have been working on is for exchanges so I can not show them yet. I did get a birthday card made and in the mail for my dad but it would be my luck that if I showed you the pic, he would pop by here for one of his random visits! LOL So that has to wait as well. I have made and sent off several ATC's lately and guess what . . . I forgot to take pics of all of them!!!!! I know, that is terrible. Maybe I can borrow a pic or two from the receivers to post here though!!

I want to thank those of you who have helped me out by mentioning my site on your blogs! I really appreciate it! I just have to remember that it takes time to get my name and designs out there. We all have different taste in what we like to stitch and I just have to reach those with a taste for my designs! LOL I do think that my "Stitchy Gifts Series" is going to go over well. I have gotten a good response to it so far, at least for just starting out!!

I do want to mention that I do now have a place to sign up for a newsletter on my web site. This is a double opt in newsletter . . . which means that not only do you sign up for it on my web site but to complete the sign up, you have to confirm your subscription from an email that you will receive. There are several people pending and that is probably because they did not realize they have to confirm through the email to complete it.

Anyway, I do hope that next update there will be some stitchy pics to show you!!! I am starting to miss working on West Winds so maybe I will get some stitching done on that one!! I have a couple new designs in the works as well. I have got to get my ornie for the stitching for a cure tree done and sent out like, NOW!! I know I still have time, but it has been weighing on my mind! So I have to get that finished in the next day or two! So, ya, I should have some stitchy pics next time around!

Also want to let all my stitching blogging friends know that you can probably plan on a visit a week from me! I use to be able to stay caught up because I had time daily when I was working to read blogs but now that I am not working, I have less time on the computer!!!! Between a hubby and two children that all love the computer, that leaves me kind of out. LOL I have such a hard time keeping up with my blogging friends! But I will be there soon if I have not already been there! LOL When I logged on this am, there are almost 300 post I need to catch up on! EEEeeeeeeek!!!! And even though it is hard to stay caught up on my blog reading I sooo love visiting each of your blogs and seeing your work and learning about you and your family! I just simply love it!!!

Ok, well I have blabbed enough for now! Thank you all for visiting! I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed weekend!!!

Happy Stitching,
Cindy Mae

Happy 4th of July and an Award!

2009-07-04T20:40:00.015-05:00

Happy 4th of July!!!!! I hope that everyone who is celebrating this holiday has a wonderful and safe day!!!! I gotta show off something that Bonnie done!! She has stitched one of my 4th of July freebies and finished it into a pin keep and has been sweet enough to allow me the use of the photos!! I gotta tell you Bonnie . . . I LOVE IT!!! Since I have been busy stitching my model designs that are for sale now, I have not had a chance to stitch any of my freebie designs so this is the first time that I have seen this one stitched and it turned out just how I imagined it would! She done a fantastic job on the finishing and it looks great, don't ya think?
I have been busy trying to catch up with my blog reading and commenting as well as some stitching for some exchanges. I have also started a birthday card for my dad but can not show you that here because it would be my luck that he would pop by my blog to see what I have been up to and see it. So pics of my stitching will have to wait!

We had our Firework show last night at the local park. We did not go to all the festivities as it was just to darn hot!!! But we went and parked and watched the show from a top a hill. It was great! The symphony and everything that goes on airs on a local radio station so we were able to hear it all. I took several pics with my cell phone, but they did not turn out to well. But I will show you a couple anyway because you are all the reason that I took them anyway!

I have been awarded a wonderful award from Kate! She is so sweet and I appreciate that she thought of me for it!! Thank you Kate!!!
Now I have to pass this on to 7 people. Passing these awards on is really hard for me but I also know how hard it is to accept an award when it has not been given directly to you. So . . . I will try and select only 7 out of the over 200 blogs I keep up with!! LOL This is hard . . .

Karen
Angela P.
Cindy F.
Lisa
Ranae
Lori
Maureen

Oh ya, I almost forget to tell you that I added a newsletter sign on at my store! So make sure and sign up so that you will get newsletters about my upcoming designs and things!!!

Ok, I think that is about it for now! So until next time . . .

Happy Stitching my dear friends,
Cindy Mae

Thank You!!!!

2009-07-02T13:22:00.004-05:00

I want to thank everyone for the good luck wishes for my new store. It has been open and I am so excited about this new venture in my life so if you have not already, make sure and check it out!!!!. Now I have a some exchange stitching that I gotta get caught up on before getting into my next set of designs.

I hope that I have not drove you all to crazy with all the posting on here about my shop!!!! I sent emails to everyone in my contacts list yesterday and there were some emails that I never even knew that I had there! LOL!!!

I also want to thank those of you who have or are planning to help me spread the word about my new shop! I really really really appreciate it.

Ok, gotta go visit some blogs and then get to stitching!!

Happy Stitching,
Cindy Mae

Almost Time!!!!!

2009-06-29T20:40:00.005-05:00

Hey everyone! Once again sorry that I am so behind on all my blog reading BUT I do have a good excuse!!! I have been working on getting my shop all set up for selling my designs! My friend Dottie has really gotten her stitch on in the last couple days and is getting her stitching finished and I have gotten all of mine done.

If you would like to help me out it would be great it you would help spread the word!!! You have no idea how appreciative I would be if you posted on your blog about the opening of my store and suggested people visit my store at cindymaedesigns.com

Anyway, after the grand opening I should have a bit more time and be able to get caught up on my blog reading and commenting. I miss visiting you all and leaving comments. It is sad but the real reason that I don't have that much time to visit blogs is because I am not working anymore. Sounds a little backwards huh? LOL The office that I worked in was very slow though and I had a lot of time to visit and comment on your blogs. Since I am not working I have to share computer time with the family and since hubby and daughter are both computer junkies . . . I don't have much time! LOL

Anyway, I will stop rambling for now!

Hope you all have a wonderful week! Happy Stitching,
Cindy Mae

Lots of Pics - Finally!!

2009-06-25T19:02:00.010-05:00

I finally have some pics to share so that you can get a glimpse of what I have been stitching on. All of my stitching lately has been model stitching for my designs. Here is a sneak peak of several of them that I have finished. This first one is called Spooky Nights
This one will be one of the three patterns that will be in my first series which I still have not decided on a name for. The name of it is Friendship Tree.
This is a bit from one that is called Alphabet Tree!
And then this is one is Called Bless All Whom Enter.
I have a couple of exchange items that I need to get busy on but at this time I am working really hard on getting all my designs stitched up so that I can open shop soon.

I am praying that it will help our family out at least a little bit. As of last week, I am out of work. I am the main bread winner in our home as my husband has so many health issues. So this is going to hurt us a bit, but we know that God is in control and that we will be ok, one way or another.

I have added a widget to my side by or some of the E-How articles my husband has written, so please feel free to check them out!!!

The kittens are now about 8 weeks old. I can not find them a good home and that makes me really sad. We just do not need any more animals, we have plenty already, more than enough! LOL These little babies have stolen my heart though. Especially the little gray one. He loves to cuddle and loves to play. The both love to play. Anyway, the first one is a pic of the gray one napping in the recliner with out little dog Belle. Belle was very nervious at first and then she finally relaxed and zonkered out!
Here is the little gray one taking a nap on the sheets from the bed before they went into the washer.
And his brother enjoying a nap on the bed after the sheets are in the washer!
Well I hope that everyone has a wonderful and Blessed weekend!!

Happy Stitching,
Cindy Mae

The Winner Is . . .

2009-06-24T00:40:00.003-05:00

I had my husband draw a winner for this giveaway. All those who posted a blog entry mentioning my giveaway was entered a second time. I tried to take pics of my husband doing the drawing but no batteries! Grrrr. So, I decided to go ahead and post the winner even though I don't have a pic to show the drawing in action! LOL

So the winner of my giveaway is RANAE!!!! Congrats Ranae! If you could please drop me an email with your snail mail addy, that would be great!

Now part of the prize is for me to design a pattern that Ranae will like. She mentioned quaker halloween, and I have never done quaker designs but I might have to see what I can come up with!

Cross Stitch Designing is moving right along!

2009-06-19T01:33:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone! After my son and my mother in law ( I am her main care taker) being sick as well as a few other things this past week, I feel so out of touch!!! I am still working on getting caught up on my blog reading and I am making a dent in it but then all start updating and the dent has been repaired! LOL, just kidding I love all the updates! The more you update, the more I feel I get to know you all! I just love blogging!

So anyway, I have been stitching like crazy on my models for my upcoming release on my designs! I was going to start with 5 but have bumped it up to 7 to open my online shop. I have 3 models complete and a friend of mine, Dottie is helping me out and has 2 complete. With the my first designs there will be a Series introduced. This series will be things to stitch for gifts and exchanges and things like that. I am still thinking of a good name for the series. Each series will have 3 or 4 designs. Any idea on a name for the series? I had thought about "Gifties, Series ?" but not sure how that sounds! Many will be happy to hear that there will also be two Halloween designs among other things!

I have been trying to figure out if I have a particular style or certain things that I like to create, but I don't think that I really do. Not sure if that is a bad thing or not. I mean my designs are all simple and easy stitch, so I guess that counts. LOL

Ok, I am chattery and guess I better stop but before I do, DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE GIVEAWAY!!! I am going to do the drawing on the 23rd! So make sure and sign up if you have not already done so! Also make sure and mention it on your blog for a second entry. Many of you have got that second entry already but feel free to continue to spread the word! The more entries the better!!!

If you are still with me after all that rambling, I thank you very much! Hope you have a great weekend!!

Happy Stitching,
Cindy Mae