October Stitch from Stash and Pie

 It's time for Pie!

This was Dark October and I worked on three Spooky projects, the primary one being my CCN Spooky Conversion of Main Street.

I started this in May 2020 with the conversion of the Bookshop into Grimoires.  Then stitched three buildings per year until this month when it was finally finished.

I tried to keep the shops related to the original shops and the colour schemes too.

The trees became autumnal trees

I love the carniverous plants adapted from a Stitchonomy design

What's your favourite shop?

The next project up was the final Scary Apothecary design from Hands on Designs - Spider Legs.  I used two different Jodyri Threads for the variegated grey and pink.

stitched on 28 count Radioactive linen from Chromatic Alchemy

nice bit of sparkly orange metallic in this one:

I also made a pie for my evening stitching:

To start with, I focused on my Halloween Sewing Basket which is now fully finished just in time for Halloween!

Then I decided to knock out the Just Nan Spooky Smalls I started during my Just Nan-athon.  There were three of them and I finished all three.

Batty Jack

Horrified!

Fraidy Frog

Finally, Stitch from Stash.

I intended to buy the fabric for the next four Zodiac Girls earlier in the year but Sparklies closed their order books for a couple of months to try catch up with stock.  As soon as Kate reopened I was straight in with my order and it arrived very swiftly too.

Here's the three Water signs on their respective fabrics thanks to The Design and Fabric Viewer.  I also bought Capricorn which will be on next year's "24 in '24"

October WIPocalypse Planning Process

             

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 "23 in '23" for this year.  This month I stitched on 6 of my WIPs.

7. Hands on Design Scary Apothecary

9. CCN Halloween Village Art Gallery

10. CCN Halloween Village Gazebo

13. Mani di Donna Halloween Stitching Basket

16. Just Nan Halloween Designs

Batty Jack and Horrified!

18. Circle Cross Blackwork Tarot

The full list can be seen here - WIPocalypse and "23 in '23"

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

October - How do you begin planning for the next year with your stitching?  Tell us your process.

I start my planning almost as soon as I start my stitching for the year!  I'd barely started 2023 when I was thinking about 2024 and how to work my "24 in '24".  As new designs are released I decide whether I want to fit them into this year or add them to the plan for the next year.

I'm also thinking long term now, I've been stitching for 30 years so there is going to be a limit to the amount I can stitch in the future compared to the past.  I have a lot of large designs and series I want to stitch and if I don't start now, then when?

So, next year's "24 in '24" is going to consist of 12 medium and 12 small designs.  One each per month chosen by my WIPGO board or by seasonal relevance (Just Nan-athon in May, Dark October).  Each piece should be able to be completed within a month and will clear a lot of designs I love which have been taking a back seat to my larger focus pieces/

Rachel and I have also been discussing the A-Z challenge since she did that in April!  I'm not about to swap daily projects for a month but I thought it would work well with IHSW.  So each month next year I will focus on projects starting with A and B in January, C and D for February and so on through the IHSW each month.  There will be two spare letters which gives me space if I can't shoehorn a project in one month!

Finally, it's the Halloween Trick or Treat Blog Hop tomorrow!  Please do hop around and leave comments for all the participants to encourage them to keep taking part in these events!

October Smalls

         

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Mary's Thread

Because I am focusing on my BAPs again, I won't have so many smalls this year but I do have a couple of series with small components so I will share them this month.

The first is the Blackwork Tarot by Circle Cross.  I have finished Virgo and Libra, and started Scorpio:

stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweavers

Scorpio

Having completed my Spooky Conversion of CCN's Main Street, I moved on to the final design in the Scary Apothecary series from Hands on Design.  This is Spider Legs:

stitched on 28 count Radioactive Linen from Chromatic Alchemy

In the evenings I started been stitching my Mani di Donna Halloween Sewing Basket which is now a finish.  Actually an FFO but I'll save that for later.  Then I moved on to some Just Nan smalls from my Just Nan-athon.

Stitched on 32 count grey linen

Just Nan - Batty Jack - finished

stitched on 28 count lilac linen

Just Nan - Horrified! - WIP

stitched on 32 count green linen

Finally, there will be a Halloween Trick or Treat Hop this year.  I have enough people signed up to take part so I will be emailing them all on Sunday with their Letter and further instructions.

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

May Stitch from Stash and Pie

 It's time for some end of the month Pie!

Continuing to hit my 14 days goal on Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow.  This month I only stitched on Block 1 which went from here:

to here:

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

I'll continue with Block 1 in June and then drop down to Block 5 underneath it which is another very full coverage block.  I can see this one taking at least 3 weeks.

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 - 14 days and counting

After my 14 days on Hawk Run Hollow I turned to a new start, the next Scary Apothecary from Hands On Design.  I stitched on Skeleton Polish until I finished it after 7 days.

stitched on 28 count Radioactive line from Chromatic Alchemy

Then to my long term BAP, my Chatelaine.  I love this design so much but it's pretty intense stitching.  I really have to read and reread the chart and instructions each time I pick it up.  Not helped because I have substituted some of the silks.  But I keep good notes, thankfully.

The time around I stitched a second guardsman:

 and the pretty rose border:

This is where I am now:

stitched on 32 count Belfast in Cotton Clouds by Crafty Kitten

It's on my WIPGO Board once more for this year so I might continue with those rose borders around the other three gardens and start the next row of border which is quite a simple one of cross stitch and eyelets.  Also complete the gold backstitch in all of the smaller gardens.

I haven't done an Evening Pie because it was all my Just Nan-athon.  A different Just Nan Small each evening.  Stitched on the anniversary of when each one was started.  Here's the complete range:

And best of all - I got a finish!  Day 29 was the Tiny Toile Heart and it really is tiny.  I stitched it over 1 on 32 count.  Here it is with my scissors for scale:

I just did a little red doodad or bead to fill the little gap and then FFO it somehow.

Finally, on to Stitch from Stash:

I have an eBay alert on for Just Nan charts and managed to hook a Class Project - Star of Light for just £6.99 which was a bargain.  Chart only but the prices are starting to rise.  It's not unusual to see them asking £10-15 for one of the samplers now.  The other chart was an Ornamental Treasure small that I didn't have.

Year in the Woods is the Carriage House Sampling series I signed up for the auto-ship from Sparklies.  Quite unusual for me but I liked the first two so thought I'd take a punt on the series.  Mr. Linky is so we can all continue to enjoy my Linky SALs each month, so that's a gift for you all!