November IHSW

We've just finished the penultimate International Hermit & Stitch Weekend of the year, the next one will be right before Christmas and I'll be working both days so I doubt much will get done then.

I was actually working this Saturday (Fantastic Beasts Crimes of Grindelwald launch) so only had Sunday for stitching.

I did do some framing and finished an old UFO too.  The two framed pieces are belated Hallowe'en designs.  The first one is Jardin Prive's Happy Hallowe'en Night finished in October.  I used a plain black frame from Wilkinsons:

The second framed piece is an older finish from 2016.  This is Hallowe'en Town by Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery.  It was a mystery release and I really like the first house but as the design grew I wasn't so keen on the rest of it.  So it rested for a little while and then I decided to stitch this piece and call it done.  This is why I don't do mystery SALs anymore.

The frame is actually plastic but has really nice detailing.  It came from QD (another bargain shop in the UK)

The old UFO is this Autumn Tree which was a freebie on one of the old Yahoo groups (who remembers them?).  I saw it on someone else's blog and loved the design.  I used DMC 51 to stitch all the speciality stitches.  It's a lovely mixture of yellow, orange and red.  The fabric is a plain pale green evenweave.  Prettier than the photo suggests!

I only had the beads and the french knots to do.  The original had an owl in the centre space but I decided to add a witchy touch and used a crow charm instead.

  I also added a pumpkin and a tombstone RIP.  Which is what this project can do now!

When I finished my framing session I got back to my current Focus on a Finish project.  Another one of my "18 in '18" started last July and only worked on once this year for the Longest Day SAL.  This is Joan Elliott's Reading Fairy from her 2013 Diary (now available as a chartpack called A Year of Magical Stitching).

stitched on 28 count Jazlyn in Aurora from Crafty Kitten

My evening project is Mrs Peggotty's Alice & the Flamingo.  Here is where she was last month:

Here is where I am now:

stitched over 1 on 25 count evenweave

I like these monthly updates on Alice, it makes it look like progress is taking place much faster than it seems as I stitch!

A few people have said that they don't do Facebook and asked if I could host a link-up for them, so here it is! Just add your name and the link to your actual IHSW post, not just your blog home page.

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The next IHSW will be 21st - 23rd December 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.

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Finally, it's time to sign up for the Advent Calendar  Blog Hop!  For this hop, each participant is allocated a day in December to make their post on.  They will show something they have stitched on a Christmas theme and answer the topic question I set.  I then copy their photo onto my blog post in the style of an Advent Calendar.

So if you'd like to join in, please leave a comment or send me an email.  Let me know if there is a date you would particularly like or one you'd like to avoid.  I will be in touch towards the end of the month!

Here is a link to last year's so you can see how it works:

2017-online-advent-calendar

October WIPocalypse Rotation or OAAT?

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.  For me, this will be my "18 in '18".  Many of them are part of SALs so I will be working on them each month.

This month I worked on 4 of my 18 projects:

Lavender & Lace Enchanted Alphabet.  I have finished all the letters now and am adding the embellishments from various other charts.  I started a wrought iron gate at the bottom of the piece.

stitched on 32 count Tiger Lily Murano by Sparklies

Just Nan Haunted Autumn Mouse in a House.  This was my 10-a-Day project (stitching the frames) and it came up several times in the Tiny Decisions app so I got plenty done this month.

stitched on 32 count Antique Ivory linen

Jardin Prive Happy Hallowe'en Night - a finish!  Happy Dance!

stitched on 32 count Cognac linen

Mrs Peggotty Alice & The Flamingo

stitched over 1 on 25 count blue evenweave

Measi always sets us a discussion topic:

October - Do you prefer to stitch on a rotation or one project at a time?

Well, that should be obvious to anyone who follows the blog!  Rotation all the way.  As follows:

Each day - Ten-a-Day project - currently Just Nan's Autumn House, soon to be Winter in the Square

Each day - Hetti's Temperature SAL (see below for latest photo)

Each day - Mrs Peggotty's Alice & the Flamingo - stitched while supervising the Small Boy in the bath

Each month - one part of a Hallowe'en project (Jardin Prive this year)

Each month - one part of a Christmas project (Just Nan's 12 Days of Christmas this year)

Then I choose a project from my "18 in '18" to focus on.  These are the 18 projects I chose at the beginning of the year to stitch and hopefully finish that year.  This month I stitched on four of them.  You can see the full list and progress here.

Temperatures up to 16th October, 2018

stitched over 1 on 22 count hardanger

Finally, the next post you will see here will be the annual Hallowe'en Trick or Treat Blog Hop.  Hope you all enjoy the spooky fun, visit some blogs and leave some encouraging comments!

Hermitting Starts Here!

It's the start of the October International Hermit & Stitch Weekend where we all try to get as much stitching time in as we possibly can.  Just like every other weekend of the year but this is Official!

I have no idea what I'll be stitching as I am using the Tiny Decisions app to choose my project each day.  But here's what it told me to do for the last few days:

Jardin Prive - Happy Hallowe'en Night

Day 14

JBW - Smiling Jack O' Lantern:

Day 17

Just Nan - Autumn Mouse House:

Day 11

Nora Corbett - Raven:

Days 8, 9, 10, 16 and 19

And a finish!  Plum Street Samplers - Brew Ha Ha:

Days 7, 12, 13, 15 and 18 

I stitched this over one on 32 count Platinum linen using some of the called for colours.  I changed the large coffee bean man into DMC 4130 and the coffee cups into the colours used for the leaves.  Because I stitched it over one, it meant I could stitch the border over two and just do a single X instead of 4 smaller xx.  It was charted to have the dark grey inbetween the orange in the border but I thought that would be too heavy and preferred it like this.

Depending on what comes up this weekend, we could see two more finishes!  Or a lot more purple on Raven.

I've also been busy with my rock painting, my second obsession.  This is not taking time away from my stitching but does take time from the computer.  So if I haven't visited your blog lately, I apologise; I was getting rocked!

Here's a batch I have done for a Harry Potter event at the shop where I work:

Just to prove that I am not the only artistic one working there, here are the wands my colleague made:

Look at them!!  Garden canes with hot glue and painted.  There's a YouTube tutorial apparently.  These are seriously incredible.  This is the disclaimer I added to our Facebook page:

"Please note - we are not responsible for the result of using the wands. Your own magical ability will determine whether it works or not. Please do not turn us into toads or complain if you are a Muggle and nothing happens!"

Don't want to get sued for defective wands.

Finally, it's nearly time for the spookiest Hop on the Blog - the annual Hallowe'en Trick or Treat Blog Hop.  For this one, you send me an email or leave a comment saying you would like to take part.  A few days before the end of October I will send you an email with a letter of the alphabet.  On the 31st you must make a blog post featuring something spooky you have stitched (or crafted) and your letter.

I will list all the participants on my blog and we all hop around collecting the letters to form the spooky phrase - report back to my blog and leave a comment to win a prize!

The People Chose Hallowe'en

Regular followers will be aware that for over 3 years now I have run a themed SAL on the first Saturday of each month.  First we spent 26 months doing The Alphabet Club and then 12 months of the Zodiac.  Now I have decided to listen to the People and post about your choice of theme.  In September I asked for suggestions on the blog and then made a poll in the IHSW Facebook Group from those suggestions.

The top three choices were:

Hallowe'en

Birthstones

Dragons

So I will do one for the next three months.  At the end of this post I will ask again for your suggestions and one of those will become the theme for January.  In November, we choose February's theme and so on.  I will post the results in my sidebar so you have plenty of time to decide what to show.

Hallowe'en

Obviously this post could be twenty pages long and I could still be typing but I will try to keep it to less than that!

Hallowe'en is one of my favourites themes to stitch.  I always have a spooky project (or three) in my WIPs and several more in my stash and on my wish list.

This is the first ever Hallowe'en projects I stitched:

stitched on 14 count aida

Back in 1996 I stitched this alphabet from a Better Homes and Gardens book.  It is now framed and lives in my son's room.

The witch motif seems to feature most often and here's a collage of my own Coven:

You might think of Hallowe'en as Dark stitching, I'm doing Dark October right now but it can be very bright and Orange:

The majority of my pieces are framed, like this sampler by Prairie Moon:

But I have also made cubes, boxes, 3D models and scrapbook pages:

You can see all my Hallowe'en Finishes on my Happy Dance Blog if you click on the Hallowe'en label at the side - Come Happy Dance With Me - Hallowe'en

I mentioned Dark October earlier; that is where I abandon my usual rotation and just stitch on spooky projects.  This year I am using the Tiny Decisions App to chose the daily project.  So far, Jardin Prive and Nora Corbett's Raven have come out twice and 2 other projects once each.  Here's what I've been stitching:

Days 1 and 4 - Jardin Prive Happy Hallowe'en Night

(I also stitched some bats at the other of the piece)

Days 2 and 6 - Nora Corbett Raven (on Nebula fabric)

Day 3 - Just Nan Autumn House (for a Mouse)

Day 5 - JBW Smiling Jack O' Lantern

It's been fun seeing what the wheel chooses for me each day.  I do hope to get a couple of finishes this month.

In future months I plan to go through my stash and show you the pieces I hope to stitch in the future but again, 20 pages of designs to share!  There are 15 Just Nan designs for a start, including 3 of her mice.  Apart from the mice, my top two choices of starts are The Hallowe'en Sampler by Cottage Garden Samplings:

acquired in August 2018

and the Trick or Treat Fairy by Nora Corbett

I have the magazine but you can download it direct from Herrschners now.

What's on my Wishlist?  Everything!  But this is my main objective:

Hallowe'en at Hawk Run Hollow by Carriage House Samplings.  I even have a piece of fabric for it but not the chart.  This will be a BAP to be started only after I finish my Discworld Mappe.

I've been following this Mystery SAL this month - Stitchonomy.  It's part of the Drawlloween project which is a drawing challenge.  I've been incorporating this challenge into my rock painting.  Here are the first six days:

If you want even more Hallowe'en goodness then do visit the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL Blog and view the list of Spooky Freebies there.

Now it's over to you!  All you have to do is make a post on the theme of Hallowe'en, mention The People's Choice SAL (you can copy the picture I used at the top of this post and in my side bar) and my blog.  Please link up using the URL of the actual blog post, not the home page of your blog.  I look forward to seeing what you all post.

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Finally, I need your suggestions for the next poll.  Any thing, no matter how obscure, weird or random will go into the poll.  Keep the theme suggestions to a single word or two - so you could have Dragons, or Cats, or Blue, or Spring, or Holidays, or Warmth etc.  Really anything which could be illustrated in cross stitch.

Looking forward to reading them all!

Why I Love Train Journeys

Hours of uninterrupted stitching!  We had two train journeys this week to nearby cities (Norwich and Cambridge) which combined to give me 6 hours of stitching time with. no. interrruptions.  This is the important part.  6 hours of stitching at home is probably about 3 hours if you remove all the requests for snacks and attention.

This is what I stitched:

Is there room on the broom for a cat like me?

The final word

The whole piece so far:

stitched on 32 count Cognac linen

September's goal was to complete the witch with Happy scheduled for October.  But now I think I will be able to get this completed before the end of October.

After that I completed 2 more of the Donna Kooler Tinies:

stitched on 22 count Hardanger

And at coffee morning on Friday I finished a Just Nan small - Happy Bluebird:

stitched on 32 count White evenweave

I just need to decide on a charm for the centre and then I can scrapbook it.

As well as stitching on the train we did some sightseeing and some shopping.  Here's a selection of photos from the two days out.

Norwich has the Hare Trail this year.  In previous years they have had elephants (2008), gorillas (2013),  dragons (2015)  and now hares.

Each one is sponsored by a local business and decorated by a local artist.  There are also smaller hares decorated by local schools.

At the end of the summer they are auctioned off for charity.  You can find more information here:

GoGo Hares 2018

Cambridge had fudge!  The Fudge Kitchen is a franchise business across the UK who like to give out free samples!

This is a book sculpture in the Cambridge Waterstones.  They also have a Book Igloo which is big enough to get into and hide away with a book.

This is a bizarre and very expensive clock!  Quite a nightmarish cricket-like insect moves the wheel round and the lights tell the time.  It's 5.15 pm here.

In Norfolk we found a Suffolk Rock!

Which we hid in Cambridgeshire:

I wonder where it will go next?  We hid it in a niche in a stone pillar at the top of a church tower reached by climbing 123 narrow spiral stairs.  Wonderful views of Cambridge from the top.  Once you got your breath back!

Finally, don't forget to visit all the Summer Postcard participants and leave a comment on THIS POST if you want to be included in the Five Peaks Blog Hop Challenge this year.