September Stitch from Stash and Pie

 It's time for some Pie!  This is a special French pie which arrived for my Birthday along with a personalised napkin:

You can see I cleared my plate!  I don't think it's dishwasher proof though.

As I "ate" each piece of pie, there was a lovely message underneath:

Where did this lovely pie come from?  The answer is in the Gifted Gorgeousness post.

And now for some stitching pie:

I decided to just do a few days on Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow this month as I had two other projects to work on thanks to WIPGO.  I continued with Block 8 which went from here:

to a finish here:

then on to Block 9:

stitched over one on 25 count Cassia Rose evenweave from Chromatic Alchemy

I won't do many days in October as I have so many other projects I want to stitch for Dark October!

So far the number of days is:

Block 7 - 13 days

Block 6 - 16 days

Block 2 - 19 days

Block 3 - 20 days

Block 4 - 15 days

Block 1 - 19 days

Block 5 - 25 days

Block 8 - 15 days

Block 9 - 2 days and counting

The WIPGO Board called for a Hands on Design's Scary Apothecary project so I chose Snail Slime which was a finish in just 6 days:

stitched on 28 count Radioactive Linen from Chromatic Alchemy

The main change I made was to stitch the potions in DMC Satin rather than cotton and metallics.  There's a nice sheen to these parts that you can't really see in the photos.

I only have one of these left now which will go on the list for next year.

The next WIPGO project was Bothy Threads 12 Days of Christmas.  I'm up to Day 4 which was slow-going unfortunately.  A combination of short stitching days and the blue background being very fiddly, having to count gaps for the leaves and the metallic number.  And the very floppy linen.

The Colly Birds were fun though and much quicker!  One more to go.  This project still has one more square on my board so I'll be able to finish this block by the end of the year.  It's a long term project...

stitched on 32 count grey-blue linen

I've kept my usual bath-time stitching pie as well.  

The Cabinet of Curiosities has dominated.  You can see photos of both these projects in my Smalls post from earlier today.

Finally, Stitch from Stash:

I started with my usual Shannon Christine 12 Days charts and finished with my Cross Stitcher magazine subscription but the rest is Birthday Spending.  I got a Sparklies voucher so I treated myself to 3 charts from the Bewitching Pixies and the fabric for the next Zodiac Girl.  I decided on Taurus.  They haven't arrived yet but will be here as soon as the fabric is ready.

The Halloween Advent Calendar was an impulse buy, another Ukrainian designer so a good cause and a gorgeous design:

Art Inspirate on Etsy

September Smalls

        

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Mary's Thread

This year my Smalls are supposed to be the Jardin Prive 12 Days of Christmas which I started on Boxing Day 2021 for the 12 Days of Stitchmas.  But I got into the Spooky Stitching instead!  First the 3D Haunted Mansion and then the Stitchonomy Cabinet of Curiosities.

The Haunted Mansion needs a roof

Scream House needs putting together:

My Just Nan Mermaid Heart was a finish: 

stitched on 32 count grey-green linen

Finally, the newest free SAL from Stitchonomy.  The Cabinet of Curiosities is a series of small motifs, we are currently on Day 14 which I will stitch tonight, here are the latest motifs:

stitched on 28 count tan evenweave

I've made a few adjustments - beads in some blocks, inverted the bats and stitched the skeleton hand over one.

WIPGO and Dark October Plans

WIPGO is Bingo for our WIPs.  At the start of the year, we create a Board with 25 goals we want to achieve that year.  Each month 2 numbers are called out and we work on those projects.  The centre square can be a "free" square or you can add a goal there.  I use it for my Longest Day Marathon.

This is my Board at the moment, the numbers for October have just been called:

Which means I can start planning my Dark October!  I was hoping for two spooky projects to be called but have decided that I will include the CCN Halloween Village instead of the Joan Elliott project.  Then work on Joan in November or December.

So what else have I got planned?  October starts on a weekend so I have this lovely little Just Nan Stitchy Witchy Mouse:

 Once she is completed I will turn to my CCN Village which currently looks like this:

The next shop will be next to the Grimoires, so wait and see what it will be selling.

I also have some FFO'ing to do.  I've made a start on Scream House and have sewed the base and three roof pieces together so far:

Outside

and

Inside

The ribbons are to tie the whole thing together at the top and the trailing cotton is to attach each piece to the relevant roof piece in due course.

The second building which needs FFO'ing is my 3D Haunted Mansion which currently looks like this:

Plus I have the roof pieces to actually stitch!

I need to put a few days into Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow since it's been called but not too many this month. 

I want to make time for this project, the Mani di Donna Halloween Basket I bought in 2020

 Finally, my continuing progress on Stitchonomy's Cabinet of Curiosities:

I am enjoying this so much.  It's my bath-time stitch which as regular followers will know - this means while my son is in the bath not me!  Even I don't stitch actually in the bath.  Not even with colour-fast threads!

So, those are the plans.  Stay tuned to see how many come to fruition and how many fall by the wayside.

September WIPocalypse Seasonal Stitching

       

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi's Musings

Each month we have to share the projects we want to complete before the End Of The World.  Since 2011 I have chosen a number of projects to focus on that year, starting with my "11 in '11" and increasing to "22 in '22" for this year.  Since my last post I have stitched on 5 of them and have 2 finishes.

4. Bothy Threads 12 Days of Christmas

stitched on 32 count grey-blue linen

5. Carriage House Samplings Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow

stitched over 1 on 25 count Cassia Rose evenweave from Chromatic Alchemy

9. Just Nan Mermaid Heart

stitched on 32 count grey-green Linen

10. Stitchonomy Cabinet of Curiosities

stitched on 28 count tan evenweave

12. Hands on Design Scary Apothecary Snail Slime

stitched on 28 count Radioactive linen from Chromatic Alchemy

The full list can be seen here - WIPocalypse and 22 in 22

Finally, Measi always gives us a topic to discuss too.

September - Are you a seasonal stitcher? If so, which seasons do you find yourself more productive or less productive?

Any season is stitching season!  This year I had a little more stitching time in the summer holiday as it was really too hot to go out much.  The depths of winter are good too for the same reason.  Now everything has reopened after two years of lockdowns I do seem to have more to do outside the house but I can usually manage to stitch between 3pm and 5pm most days.  Unless I'm working.  Then there's always bath-time stitching which is when I'm working on my Cabinet of Curiosities from Stitchonomy.

September TUSAL and Stitching Library

     

It's TUSAL time!  

Here is my TUSAL jar with my current projects:

To the left is my Bothy Threads 12 Days of Christmas project, stitching away on Day 4.

stitched on 32 count grey-blue linen

The other project is Stitchonomy's Cabinet of Curiosities.  We now have 8 motifs.  I am mostly stitching as charted with a few tweaks.  There will be a spider charm in the top right (I rotated the web 180 degrees too).  The Eye of Newt and the Magic Mushrooms have beads and the Apothecary Scales have gold metallic:

stitched on 28 count tan evenweave

I used gold metallic to make a chain-stitched chain for the scales:

What's on my Shelf?

This is a feature I'm going to include on my TUSAL post until I run out of books! I started a Page on my Happy Dance blog for my Stitching Library and realised what a huge task it was so decided to break it down to one book per month. For the next four years...

Title: The Ultimate Cross Stitch Alphabet Book

Author: Kooler Design Studio

Publisher: American School of Needlework
ISBN: 0881954772 (published in 1992 so no 13 digit ISBN!)

This is a great "Does what it says on the tin" book

quite simply, over 100 different alphabets!

from decorative fonts, to quirky lettering

Some large, some small, upper and lower case letters

The final page is rather useful too.  For each colour group there is a suggested list of Anchor, Coats and DMC colours from very light to very dark.  This is obviously useful for designing samplers but also very helpful for making conversions which I do quite often. 

Here is the selection of greens:

Finally, I'll be back later today for a WIPocalypse update.  Let's see how much I can get done on my Bothy Threads this afternoon.

September IHSW

 

IHSW or International Hermit and Stitch Weekend always starts on the third Friday of the month.  It's a chance to lock yourself away and focus on your stitching for the weekend.  You can take part on your blog or via the Facebook page - IHSW on Facebook.

It's been a good weekend for stitching!  I was supposed to be going out for lunch on Friday but my son's school phoned to say he wasn't well and I had to go and fetch him.  My lovely friend still went to the cafe and brought me two large slices of cake back! 

So instead of cake and chat, I did stitching.  The WIPGO Board came up with Bothy Threads 12 Days of Christmas.  This is the first time I've picked it up all year and at the start of the weekend I had stitched a little of the blue background.

Here's where I am now:

stitched on 32 count grey-blue linen

The other project I have been working on is the Stitchonomy Cabinet of Curiosities.  The frame came out on the 10th September and the first motif on the 17th.  What a nice Birthday present!

I managed to stitch all the blocks and I'm working on the border as I complete each motif.  So far we have a Jar of Eye of Newt (Eyes of Newts?) and a Crystal Ball.

stitched on 28 count tan evenweave

The Facebook group is so much fun at the moment, everyone is posting their progress and their adaptations.  I added beads to my newts' eyes.

My evening project has been the 3D Haunted Mansion from Fiona Baker.  I've finished all four walls and might actually stitch them together rather than work on the roof pieces which are not very exciting!  That will leave evenings free for the Cabinet of Curiosities and give me half a chance to keep up!

I've flipped the photo so you can see both sides the right way up!

stitched on 28 count purple linen

Finally, the next IHSW will be 21st - 23rd October so make sure you note the date in your diary or come and join us in the Facebook Group - IHSW on Facebook. If you don't do Facebook then you can check in here by leaving a comment on my post.