My new blog

WOW! I have a blog. Talk about moving into the 21st century. Kicking and screaming all the way. :-)

So who am I? My name is Margie and I live in Gurnee, Illinois with the two loves of my life, Molly Malone and Clancy O'Shay. That's Clancy on the left and Molly on the right. Clancy is almost a year old (born on the Fourth of July) and Molly will be three on September 11th (I never forget either of their birthdays).

Most of my hobbies involve crafting of some sort. Right now my passion is cross stitch. I can't seem to get enough these days. And I also quilt a lot. Over the past couple of years, I have finished a ton of quilts of all sizes.

My latest finishes include two scissor fobs. I just love these little things. So quick and you end up with something useful. Although I have learned that I want a longer cord to attach the scissors with - next time for sure.

From Shepherd's Bush:

And a freebe from The Drawn Thread:

I need to practice taking photos of my finished pieces. This one is a little blurry. And you will notice that there is no photo of the back which is my initials and date. Well I messed the placement of my initials twice and got feed up and finished it anyway. I wanted to move on to my next project. Bad girl!

I'm currently working on from The Drawn Thread: Sunflower Bellpull. I love how it is turning out. Here is what it will look like completed:

I also just purchased all the supplies for a new Blackbird Designs: Quaker Garden - they should be here next week and I joined a SAL! My first. It's going to start on July 3rd. Perfect timing since I just purchased all the supplies for the newest Blackbird Designs: Secret Garden and I should be able to complete at least the box top before that date. Of course that assumes that finish Sunflower Bellpull and don't pick something else up. Oh, I forgot, I just received my first order from Hand-Dyed Silks from Vicki Clayton. I was going to start the Blackbird Design: Vintage Bloom! I probably should do this project first so I can see if I like working with silk thread and the VC silks in particular.

Yikes! I'll go shopping tonight to see if I can find the recommended boxes at Hobby Lobby. I just purchased today the linen, 30 ct. R&R Reproductions French Vanilla and thread, Weeks Dye Works, Turkish Red but now that I've made the purchase I wish I would have bought a dark blue/black combo. Of course I could always buy the blue and hang onto the red....

Really I was just a bad girl all around. I also pre-ordered The Village of Hawk Run Hollow and the fabric. Well I had to order the fabric. There is a SAL starting on July 15th on the Legacy board and I've heard there is some problems with backorders at Lakeside Linens. So now I need to decide if I want to stitch it with the affordable DMC floss or the very un-affordable (for me anyway) silks. And I need to decide which piece to start on first.... Because I also purchased the Houses of Hawk Run Hollow! And the fabric.... Really bad girl. I'll see when I get the charts in the mail next week. And maybe I'll give the Vicki Clayton silks a try. They are much more affordable and I've heard really nice things about them.

Tomorrow I'll blog about some of my past finishes. I took a ton of photos a couple of weeks ago. Most are needlepoint and quilting. And of course more photos of Molly and Clancy. And my garden....