Some Frightful Stitching

Not really bad stitching but a finish for my Just Nan Hallowe'en design called Frightful.  Here it is unframed:

And here it is in the frame I chose to match the Primitive Needle By the Light of the Moon design I stitched last year:

The frame is just a cheap raw wood box frame 6inch square.  I colour in the wood using an ordinary black marker pen and voila, a perfect spooky frame for less than a fiver!  Because it's a box frame the glass doesn't squash the cute little ghostie charm either.

Stitched on 28count lilac Britney evenweave using the recommended DMC.  I used Sullivans black as I had a free sample.  I will not be using this thread again!  To get dense coverage I used three techniques for the black:

in the straight line borders I stitched using 2 strands then did one long straight stitch underneath the crosses,

for the motifs I used three strands,

for the spiders and the ghosts' faces I used smyrna crosses as charted.

The ghostie charm and the lovely variegated thread for the leviathon stitches were both included with the chart.  I think my favourite square is the top right with the stripy pumpkin and the bat.

I'm still stitching Hallowe'en right now as I have a giveaway prize to make and the Large Boy wants three more of the kitties to fill the frame I bought for them.  He's chosen witchie kittie, Franken-kittie and pumpkin kittie (for this year).  I'll stitch some more for next year!  I want the Bride of Frankenstein for me.

A mention for two blogs I'm involved with, the first is my own Happy Dance blog for my finished projects found here.  The second is the SAL Directory, this was set up by Blu and I help post new SALs on it.  We'd like more followers and more SALs.  They must be the part work type SALs that designers offer for free or a minimal charge rather than when a group of people say "Hey let's all stitch the same chart at the same time".

Here's the latest SAL I'm adding today, the wonderfully named Mabel Figworthy.  It's a hardanger SAL with a nominal fee of £3.00 so if you fancy something different why not sign up?  If you hear of any more SALs starting soon then please let me know and I'll add them to the blog.

Finally don't forget my 300 Followers Giveaway (yes, I'm giving away 300 followers LOL) and also my Advent Calendar Blog Hop sign up is open.  Drop me an email if you want to join in.

Post Hallowe'en Post

Did you all have a good Hallowe'en?  Lots of treats and not too many tricks?

I managed to make my little JBW cat into an ornie using some of the bat fabric Shebafudge sent me in her Giveaway.  (edit: the fabric actually came from Sarah Crafty Moo's giveaway - oops).  Here it is hanging from my Hallowe'en themed display:

That's a turtle at the bottom, he's not Hallowe'en, he just lives there in a random fashion.  He has magnetic feet and was a present from my sis to my son when she'd spent the Summer hatching turtles on a desert island.  It's a tough job but someone has to do it because the turtle-mummies are bad mummies and don't stick around to protect the babies from predators.

Here is the Large Boy's lunch on Hallowe'en:

The eyeballs are made of chocolate!

We watched The Nightmare Before Christmas and The Corpse Bride on DVD that day then went to the cinema to see the new Tim Burton film Frankenweenie the next day.  Three great movies although my colleagues did laugh at me when I said there was only one really scary bit where I had to hold the boy's hand, for my sake not his!!  The film is only a PG too.

I also made lots of progress on Frightful by Just Nan:

All that's left is three more ghosties in the middle, the border and the Leviathon stitches in the variegated thread provided.  Then the beads and a ghostie charm.

The Hallowe'en Blog Hop Mystery Phrase Competition is going well, lots of correct entries.  In fact 100% of the entries are correct!  Thank you to everyone who posted their picture in a timely fashion.  Apologies to those who found the link to Blue Star Stitcher wasn't working.  I changed it when the first person told me but Blogger wouldn't accept it and kept reverting to the email link!  In the end I had to delete the link and start again, Bah.

The competition is open until 00.01 hours 7th November GMT.

One nice side effect of the Blog Hop was the increase in followers for us all.  I have now topped the 300 mark and there will be a giveaway in due course.  I'm just sorting through the tut, unwanted stash, pile of goodies to see what to offer you.

I've been updating my Happy Dance blog, I now have all of 2012 and 2011 loaded and am working my way backwards through my photo albums.  I have at least 100 entries to load from 1993 to 2010 and that's just stuff I have pictures of!  It's really interesting to see the years of high output versa the low output years according to my personal life and/or state of mind!  One thing that hasn't changed much is my taste, I stitched designs back in the 1990s that I would still stitch now.  I've always leaned towards samplers and fantasy designs so I guess they are pretty timeless?

Question - has your stitching taste stayed the same over the years or how has it changed?

Finally, I know alot of my followers are fans of Downton Abbey and yes, that is how we all live in England, just like in the show, in houses just like their's.  So what do you think of this cute little mini-cushion from Sheena Rogers Designs?  A mere 6 inches square and perfect for stitching while you watch.

Click on the picture for details of how to purchase either the kit or the chart.

October WIPocalypse and early Theme-a-licious Looking Backward and Forward X

Here's the round-up for the progress since the last Full Moon.

Part 1 - My 12 in '12

12. Prairie Moon, Thine is the Trick and the Treat:

Great progress on this one.

I've reached the top right hand corner, there's a big old Jack O'Lantern next and I've nearly done two pages.  There are 6 pages in total.  I'm going to stitch until the 31st then put it into my New Year rotation.

Part 2 - Just Nan-a-thon

Yay, I stitched another Just Nan design at last.  This is my progress on Frightful:

I have a neat trick for the black coverage.  Stitch the lines of crosses as usual.  If you can see too much fabric between them then run a thread underneath the whole line just coming up at one end and going down at the other.  If you enlarge the photo you'll see the bottom left box is just crosses (and some half crosses I'm about to complete) and the top two boxes have the extra thread under the black crosses.  The bat and pumpkin details are stitched with three strands which I'll use for the rest of the motifs

Part 3 - Theme-a-licious

October is Obligation October.  I stitched a number of cards and two Round Robins for this theme.  You've seen them all before but here they are again:

Stephanie's Joan Elliott Round Robin

 Autumn for Cat's Seasons Round Robin

Chiara's Birthday card

Shirlee's Birthday card

Zombie Kitty 1 made into a card

Zombie Kitty 2 made into a card

November's Theme is Nail It November - What's lying around that's so close to being finished you can't stand it anymore? Get to it and finish it!

This is a not such a good one for me!  I'm not going to finish any of my four main WIPS as I have Round Robins which must take precedence over all other projects.  I also have my own project to start for the Large Mira RR starting in 2013.  I could always do some "finishing" finishing and sew up an ornie or two I suppose.  I could also "nail" my list for my "13 in '13".

Finally, the emails have been sent to the participants of the Hallowe'en Blog Hop, if you signed up and haven't got one then let me know.  Everyone else can enter the Mystery Phrase Competition starting the 31st October.  I'm putting a little prize together, it will feature a skein of Glow-in-the-Dark thread and other stuff!

      

Keeping the Postman Busy

That's what's been going on round here lately!  As well as RRs flying around and a lovely giveaway prize (which I haven't photographed yet) there were the Birthdays.

I stitched two cards for two lovely Birthday bloggers.  The first one went to Chiara the Grey Tail (actually the grey tail is her cat!) in Italy.  The card grew wings and flew there in only two days.

When Chiara saw my card for Kell, "We're not old, we're Retro" she laughed and commented that "my best friends says we won't get old, we'll get vintage.. ;)"  Strangely enough I'd been planning that as my next card so I offered to send it to Chiara for her birthday "providing it's not in the next ten days as it won't get there in time".  Turns out Chiara's birthday was actually twelve days later!!  But she didn't mind me being fashionably late.

I stitched this in my usual backstitch and felt pens technique.  But this time I did the backstitch, then the background colouring, then stitched the floral motifs in the letters.  It makes a nice 3D effect.  The lace ribbon is a sticker which came with a box intended for my Toddler Group craft table but I decided it was too nice delicate for 2 year olds and kept it!

The second card is the next one in the WOCS Flower of the Year series, October Marigold.  This went to the hilarious Shirlee the Easily Influenced Stitcher.  Shirlee is in my Top Two Funniest Bloggers list along with Stewie from the Spinster Stitcher.  I won't say who is Numero Uno as the other might be offended LOL.

I've nabbed Shirlee's photo because mine came out blurry (camera on the wrong setting?).

I made another new Hallowe'en start this week, Just Nan Frightful.

This is stitched on 28count lilac Britney evenweave using the recommended DMC except for the black.  I thought I'd try the Sullivans using 2 over 2.  It covers quite nicely in the border and didn't knot as much as using 1 over 1.  But when I stitched the bat motif it was no better than DMC for coverage so it'll be three strands for the motifs then.

I must share the new blog Faith Hope and Charity I found today while looking at another new blog (Hello Sewphie!).  This is not a pure stitching blog  but she does do craft, she also does sarcasm and satire on a grand scale!  Check out this linked post about Hallowe'en fancy dress then go to the Ebay tab.  I challenge you not to laugh out loud and fall off your chair!

Finally, the Hallowe'en Blog Hops sign up is closed, I'm emailing the participants next then you'll have to wait until the 31st to join in with the Mystery Phrase Blog Hop Hunt.