October WIPocalypse Nervous Over Materials?

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi's Musings

The focus of my WIPocalypse will be my "15 in '15"which are 15 charts I want to stitch in 2015 (following on from my "11 in '11", "12 in '12", "13 in '13" and "14 in '14" - imaginative, eh?)

Over the last month I have only stitched 1 of my 15 designs but I did finish it!  Same as last month.

That brings the total of finished WIPocalypse projects to 10 out of the 15.  Hopefully I can manage one more, the others are all pretty big so they will be carried over to next year.

And here is the finished project, stitching-finished anyway, not finish-finished!

Primitive Hare - Hallowe'en Cubes

stitched on 32 count Vintage Grain linen

The plan is to make them into cubes using either polystyrene cubes or maybe that flower arranging foam.  Whatever is cheaper!

I plan to stitch the Christmas Cubes for next year.  Maybe I could make double-faced cubes with Hallowe'en on one side and Christmas on the other?

Measi always gives us a topic to discuss:

October - Are there any fibers or materials used in stitching that you’re nervous to try?

I'm not really "nervous" of anything, there are some things I will avoid - French Knots with Kreinik.  Joan Elliott what are you thinking when you chart those?  But I will try most fibres and threads at least once.  As you know, I'm stitching Trixie the Hallowe'en Witch and substituting DMC for the charted Kreiniks (for cost reasons).  The black does not cover well so I've ordered the Kreinik and on recommendation of the lovely Alicia The Crafty Princess I have ordered the Rainbow Gallery Petite Treasure Braid too.  It's slightly more expensive than Kreinik but you get twice as much!  I shall keep you posted how it works.

I like adding beads and charms to my work as well as metallics.  I often substitute beads for the aforementioned French Knots too!

Fabric-wise I am an evenweave and linen fan.  Like most people I started off on aida as that was what was supplied with kits in the 1980s.  Since discovering evenweave my tastes have totally changed and I will always substitute an evenweave for aida.  I tend to use evenweave for pictorial pieces, particularly those with faces, and linen for samplers or more primitive pieces like the Hallowe'en Cubes. 

I suppose the thing which has made me most nervous in recent years isn't a fabric or thread, it's stitching for other stitchers.  I had often made things for non-stitchers and they loved them but the first time I had to stitch for someone who knew what they were looking at was very nerve-wracking.  Especially because it was a Round Robin (so several people were going to see it) and it was a Teresa Wenztler piece!  No added pressure there LOL.   Read more here  

Which brings me nicely onto my Mail Art which arrived safely in France.  I was partnered with Veronique who does beautiful stitching which only made me a little bit nervous!  I noticed from her blog that she had a link to The Primitive Hare so we had a mutal love of Isabella's designs.  I had already decided I wanted houses for my envelope and the theme "from my haunted house to your's"

I adapted the Hallowe'en Town design which featured in JCS magazine and is now available as a chart.  Here is the whole piece:

stitched on 32 count Cognac linen

Obviously to make an envelope you have to be mindful of which way up the various parts of the design have to be stitched!

This is the back (washed out colour).  I enlisted the help of Jocondine to make sure my French grammar was correct!

And this is the inside lining:

Here are the goodies I sent with the envelope, including a Just Nan chart and a hand-made card:

And here is the front of the envelope with the address obscured:

That wonderful stamp was in Cross Stitch Collection recently.  How serendipitous!

This was a great exchange organised by Mii.  I am wondering who got Veronique's envelope and I hope Mii does a round-up post so we can admire everyone's stitching.

Finally, I will be working on the Mystery Phrase for the Hallowe'en Trick or Treat Blog Hop and all the participants will receive an email over the next couple of days letting them know what their letter is for the hop in preparation for Saturday.  Woooohoooooooo!

Mystery Stitching

I've done quite a bit of stitching this week but I can't show the piece because it is for an exchange.  How frustrating!  Maybe just a little peek?

 or two?

I can reveal the design I was stitching on when I posted my TUSAL post.  Remember this was all you could see:

Here is the finished piece:

Roaming Reindeer by BRD

From JCS Christmas Special 2012

(Much better photo for showing the colour of the fabric.)

This is the second design I've stitched from this series of four by Blue Ribbon Designs.  I changed the fabric to a 32 count Twilight Blue linen and the white to B5200 because it really pops against the blue fabric.

Companion piece - Woodsy Winter from JCS Ornie Preview 2012

I love the bright red of the cardinals.  Before I discoved blogging I did not realise these birds were actually that bright in real life!  I thought it was a little artistic license on the designers' part.

Finally, Hallowe'en is fast approaching so it must be time to launch the Hallowe'en Trick or Treat Blog Hop.  Regular followers will know the format.  Leave a comment here saying you would like to take part in the hop as a Picture Poster.  When I have everyone signed up I will choose a Mystery Phrase and allocate each Picture Poster a letter of the alphabet.  On 31st October they must make a blog post showing their letter and a photo of something they have stitched on a Hallowe'en theme.  On my blog there will be a list of all the contributors so people can hop around and collect the letters to work out the Mystery Phrase.  You don't have to be a Picture Poster to collect the letters and join in with the competition but all Picture Posters do get an extra entry in the competition.

Here is last year's post if you want to see how it all works:

2014 Halloween-trick-or-treat-blog-hop