Hallowe'en Trick or Treat Blog Hop 2017

Welcome to the spooky hallowe’en mystery phrase blog hop!

All you need to do is visit each of the following blogs in order, jot down the letter displayed with their Hallowe'en stitched picture then return here and leave a comment telling me the Mystery Phrase.

It'd be nice if you left a comment on their blog too, especially if it's new to you.

I have "moderate comments before publishing" enabled so no-one can copy anyone else!

So without further ado,

start the blog hop – enter if you dare…

Jeremiah's Mom
Books, Crafts and Other Procrastinations
Needle, Pen and Sword
The Crafty Princess
My Bored Nerdy Self
Cross Stitch Empire
Wicked Stitcher
Alychmyst's Study
Today I Found
Jocondine
This and That
A Patchwork of Crafts
Casas e Bordados
Reading and Stitching
Dragon Stitches and Stuff by Astrid
Ishkabibble
Le Coeur Celtique
Fireflies and Cats in the Garden
Tiffstitches a Blog

Here's a collage of my spooky finishes and WIPs since last Hallowe'en:

There will be three prizes this year, three gently used charts.  

First chart is Hallowe'en Happiness by Sandra Cozzolino for Imaginating.  That's the design right at the top of this blog post.

Second chart is Cast Your Spell by Stacy Hash.  That's the design in the top left corner of the collage.

Third chart is Spooky Night by Shepherd's Bush.  That's the design in the top right corner of the collage.

When you leave your comment telling me what the mystery phrase is, please include which chart you would like to try win.

People who posted a picture will get one entry for that and another chance for their guess too.

I'd like the charts to go to people who love the designs and will stitch them, so if none are to your taste, that's fine, just play for fun but don't mention a chart.  Who knows, I might send you something else instead!

Don't forget, some of us are on different time zones so if you visit a blog and can't find a letter or picture yet, pop back later in the day.  

The competition is open for one week closing 00.01 hours 7th November GMT.

happy hunting!

        

all from Hyraea

October WIPocalypse Stitching Beginnings

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi's Musings
Also linking up with 17 in '17

Each month we have to share the projects we want to complete before the End Of The World.  I have chosen my "17 in '17" which are the 17 projects I want to focus on this year.  You can see the full list on this page here.

This month I have worked on 3 of my 17, the numbers are getting low as I have finished quite a few now!

The three were 12 Days of Christmas, The Enchanted Alphabet and the Dracula book cover.

I finished the October block for 12 Days of Christmas by Joan Elliott and a very exciting landmark too - I completed the border!

My spooky conversion of Lavender & Lace's Enchanted Alphabet is a piece I work on the 26th of every month.  This month was Q:

stitched on 32 count Tigerlily Murano by Sparklies

The third project is a new start as part of Dark October; Dracula Book Cover by Dam Good Crafts:

stitched on 32 count Amortentia by Chromatic Alchemy

Measi always sets us a discussion topic:

October - How did you begin stitching?

I threaded the needle, picked up the fabric and off I went!

Like many people I stitched a little mat on Binca when I was 7 years old.  It lived on top of the televison in the days when you could put things on top of televisions as they were not the depth of a piece of paper!

The next time was following a visit to a new friend who was stitching a Country Companions cute animals piece.  I liked the look of the craft but not the subject matter!  I visited the haberdashery department of John Lewis and purchased two mini samplers kits by Anchor.  I am not sure which one I stitched first so here they both are:

stitched on 14 count aida with Anchor threads

You can see they were dated as 1993 which I am really pleased about because I know exactly how long I have been stitching!

If you dance over to my Happy Dance blog you will see the next project I completed was on black aida:

stitched on 14 count aida

Followed by this gorgeous dragon with gold metallic thread:

stitched on 14 count aida.

The next year I moved on to Teresa Wenztler designs.  In 1995 I started on linen.  Unfortunately I don't have a photo of my first linen project but here is the second one:

It's got beads too

This is the first design I made for myself using graph paper and pencil to chart it.  I still chart this way, nice and simple.

Finally, the lovely CJ is having a giveaway on her blog for a gorgeous Blue Ribbon Design chart she has just completed.  I've passed on the giveaway but asked if I could share with you all - please pop over and say Hi from me!

Tea and Stitches Giveaway

October Smalls SAL

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Stitching Lotus

This year I will be showing my Hallowe'en and Christmas SAL partworks and any other Smalls I may stitch.

First of all, here is the Christmas block from 12 Days of Christmas by Joan Elliott. A merry Lord a Leaping:

I started a new SAL - the Zodiac Club with Libra by Donna Kooler:

Dark October was all about the smalls, from Just Nan's Autumn Mouse:

In a Haunted House:

To JBW's Smiling Jack-O-Lanterns:

Stacy Nash's Cast Your Spell:

The latest start is Shepherd's Bush Spooky Night:

(Colour changes galore!)

Finally, I have decided upon the phrase for the Hallowe'en Blog Hop and will be emailing participants over the weekend so they can prepare to post on Tuesday 31st.

As I write this letter,

ten disgusting old men are prancing about all over what used to be the garden - before the geese and the swans and the cows got at it; and several of them, I notice, are taking inexcusable liberties with the milkmaids.  Meanwhile the neighbours are trying to have us evicted.
I shall never speak to you again.
Emily

12 Days of Christmas (Correspondence) - John Julius Norwich

Oh dear, poor Emily.  Although Joan Elliott's Lord-a-Leaping is rather joyeous and full of life he has enough decorum to keep to his own block and not bother the milkmaid above him.  He's clearly practising for the day Ribbon Gymnastics is a gender-neutral sport in the Olympics:

He has a few spaces for beads to be added.  So, sorry to Kerry, I have nothing for Theme-tas-Stitch Opulent October!

Here is where the piece was last month:

And here we are now:

All that red in the Piper was stitched on the 11th and 12th Days of Christmas earlier this year so I have a nice headstart on that block.

 Those of you that have been blogging for a while now may recognise that little fellow as Hermie, the mascot for International Hermit & Stitch Weekend hosted by Joysze of Random Ramblings.  Joysze has not blogged for a while although some people have continued to hermit and stitch alone.

Well, she has resurfaced and has been persuaded to revitalise IHSW on Facebook.  If you'd like to join us, then just click on Hermie and it will take you to the group.

So what did I stitch for IHSW (or Numb-bum weekend as it is also known!)?  The next project in my Dark October stitching - Nora Corbett's Bewitching Pixie Raven:

I used every setting on my camera trying to get a decent picture of the fabric and that one above is perfect - taken with the iPad!  Here's a camera photo so you can see the stitching better:

stitched on 32 count Belfast in Nebula by Crafty Kitten

Finally, there's still time to sign up for the Spookiest Hop on the Block - the Trick or Treat Hallowe'en Blog Hop.  All you have to do is leave a comment or send me an email.  I will send you a letter of the alphabet which you show on your blog on 31st October along with some spooky stitching.  We all hop around collecting the letters which will spell out a spooky word.

Dark October TUSAL

It's TUSAL time, the Totally Useless SAL where we all show our ORTS and link-up on Daffycat's blog.

Here is my ORTs jar with my current project:

This is Dracula from Dam Good Crafts, stitched on an awesome piece of 32 count Amortentia by Chromatic Alchemy

I've completed my four days on that one (didn't get much done on days 2 and 3 because of work) and tomorrow I start one I am really excited about!  I deliberately saved this one for a four day stretch over the weekend and two non-working days so I can maximise the time spent on her.

This is Nora Corbett's Raven from the Bewitching Pixie series, to be stitched on a piece of 32 count Nebula Belfast from Crafty Kitten.

I've continued with the carpet square from Just Nan's Haunted Autumn Mouse in a House as my 30-a-day project:

Day 19

Finally, it's time to sign up for the Spookiest Hop on the Block - the Trick or Treat Hallowe'en Blog Hop.  All you have to do is leave a comment or send me an email.  I will send you a letter of the alphabet which you show on your blog on 31st October along with some spooky stitching.  We all hop around collecting the letters which will spell out a spooky phrase.

Gifted Gorgeousness October Link-Up Post

Welcome to the October link-up for Gifted Gorgeousness. The linky will stay open until the end of the month so you have plenty of time to link up and join in.

Dark October has really seen the gifted gorgeous projects come out into the dark!

Haunted Autumn Mouse in a House by Just Nan was a Birthday gift this year:

Smiling Jack-O-Lanterns by JBW was a gift from Julie:

stitched on 32 count Platinum Belfast (also a gift)

Then I started and finished Cast Your Spell by Stacy Nash which was a gift from Heather:

stitched over 1 on 32 count Platinum Belfast

I changed the colours on this one, partially because I misread the chart and assumed 310 would be a black solid symbol and not a white triangle.  I also changed the border to satin stitch because it's so much quicker over 1 than tiny xxxx.  I also changed the orangebrown to a reddish brown.  I like it, I think it looks darker and more spooky.  Not sure how I will finish-finish but it will probably be scrapbooked.  It would make a nice notebook cover.

As I finished this early in the afternoon I made an early start on the next project - Dracula by Dam Good Crafts (no longer available):

stitched on 32 count Amortentia by Chromatic Alchemy

That gorgeous fabric was a gift from Tiffany, it is darker in real life and will look amazing with the black stitching.  I stitched this while watching The Wall this afternoon.  I've got four days of stitching still to come on this one, which is good as it is part of my 17 in '17.

Prior to October I stitched on Dragon of the Winter Moon by Dragon Dreams which was a gift from Riona:

Memories by Just Nan was a gift from Vickie:

I've also made lots of progress on 12 Days of Christmas by Joan Elliott which was a gift from my MIL:

So now I hand over to you. This is where you link up your post for this month. Please use your name or your blog name in the field and NOT the words "October Update" so I can easily see who has linked up this month. And link to the actual post, not just your blog. It is easier if you copy and paste the link, rather than typing freehand.

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Finally, it's time to sign up for the Spookiest Hop on the Block - the Trick or Treat Hallowe'en Blog Hop.  All you have to do is leave a comment or send me an email.  I will send you a letter of the alphabet which you show on your blog on 31st October along with some spooky stitching.  We all hop around collecting the letters which will spell out a spooky word or phrase (depending on how many people sign up).

Dark October Update

As you know I've chosen a number of spooky projects to stitch for Dark October this month.  I started with the People's Choice of Just Nan's Haunted Autumn Mouse in a House and posted about it here.

I have continued to stitch 30-a-day on the carpet for the house and here's where we are today:

By the time I started Mouse House, Jardin Prive's Happy Hallowe'en Night had actually overtaken it in votes so that was an obvious second start.  I set a goal of completing the three pumpkins and stitched for three days to achieve that goal:

stitched on 32 count Cognac linen

The whole piece:

After 3 days on that one, I moved on to JBW's Smiling Jack-O-Lanterns.  I stitched all the border while watching Total Recall on Sunday afternoon:

stitched on 32count Platinum linen

There's not much to do on that one; lots of flowers in the border, her hair, the words around the inside of the border and a few finishing touches and it will be done.

The next project up has only had one day so far.  This is Cast Your Spell by Stacy Nash.  I have a question, there are only three colours.  A dull brown, an orange brown and black.  Looking at this portion of the chart, which colour would you stitch the border in?

Black?  The symbol for black is always the darkest symbol, right?  No, the symbol for black on this chart is the white triangle.

Never mind, my border is black.

stitched over 1 on 32 count Platinum linen

I am stitching the border in satin stitch rather than cross stitch because I like a zigzag satin stitch.  I also substituted the orange-brown for a more red-brown.  I will probably do the vase in 3799 to contrast with the black border.  Three more days might see me knock out a finish on this.  Especially as we have the weekend coming up and no work shifts.

Finally, it's time to sign up for the Spookiest Hop on the Block - the Trick or Treat Hallowe'en Blog Hop.  All you have to do is leave a comment or send me an email.  I will send you a letter of the alphabet which you show on your blog on 31st October along with some spooky stitching.  We all hop around collecting the letters which will spell out a spooky word or phrase (depending on how many people sign up).