Saturday 8 March 2014

C is for Coven, Cauldron and Cats



C is for Coven from A Dark Alphabet designed by Julie and Becky's Note of Friendship blog.

A coven is a group of witches of any number from three to thirteen.  Once the coven grows larger than thirteen it will split into two smaller covens to keep the number manageable.  One of the most famous covens is the trio of witches that Macbeth encounters on the heath who give him the prophesies that ultimately lead to his downfall.

There is a lovely cross stitch on this blog I found called Ghostly Garden but as it is a personal blog I can't copy it!  Click on Coven to see it for yourself.

And what does a coven of witches need to cast their spell?  A cauldron, of course!  A cauldron is simply a cast iron pot found in many homes in the past, used for cooking or maybe boiling up herbs and potions.  Like the broom and the cat a cauldron could be used as "evidence" by the Witch Finders that an innocent old woman was in fact a Witch!

I found lots of lovely cauldron patterns online:

My Cauldron - Cross Stitch Pattern


And onto cats, our third C.  Black cats obviously as it is Hallowe'en!  In England black cats are seen as lucky animals as they are in Japan too.  However other areas are not so enlightened and view them as very bad luck.  To the extent that they are often left in cat shelters long after their multi-coloured friends have been adopted.  I have owned a black cat myself, named Spook who was very timid and shy.  We also adopted a stray for a while until she wandered away.  Here she is in a pot!


Many superstitious people believe that black cats can turn into other animals or even that the witch can take the place of her cat to spy on her neighbours.  Often, just owning a black cat would be grounds for accusing a woman of witchcraft.  So it is not surprising to find many designs featuring black cats (with or without accompanying witches!)
Jaunty Fox Fence Cat
Fence Cat by Jaunty Fox Designs

SpookyHalloween.jpg Puntini Spooky Hallowe'en
JBW Hallowe'en Cat from JCS Hallowe'en Special 2012

And another:

Tricky Treat Cats - Cross Stitch Pattern

So now it's over to you.  When you comment on this post please could you include a link to your favourite Black Cat cross stitch design so we can all find some inspiration for September when the theme is Black Cats.







6 comments:

SoCal Debbie said...

You could use the first picture as your March Hallowe'en ornament for witches, too! I love reading all the information you post with each letter!

Here are some free black cat designs that I have saved:
http://cathiescraftworks.blogspot.com/2013/09/scary-cat-towel-pattern.html

http://ilcassettodeibottoni.blogspot.de/2013/10/schema-free.html

http://www.cyberstitchers.com/free_patterns/search_retro

http://bdcouture.over-blog.com/article-grille-gratuite-du-vendredi-chat-poisson-poisson-chat-87421795.html

Lili said...

Your cat is so cute!!
Nice post!

I love this models, so my "Black cats links" are:

Trilogy: http://www.123stitch.com/item/Trilogy-Happy-Black-Cat-Day-wemb-Cross-Stitch-Pattern/13-2423

Stitcherhood: http://www.123stitch.com/item/Stitcherhood-Black-Cats-Cross-Stitch-Pattern/12-2383

Homespun Elegance: http://www.123stitch.com/item/Homespun-Elegance-Party-Cats-Cross-Stitch-Pattern/13-1600

Hope it helps you! :-)

Tiffany said...

Love the cross stitching and the cat in pot is so cute.

Stitching Noni said...

Gorgeous designs!
I must say I am very partial to black kitty cats!
One of my favourite black cats is the one designed by Silver
Silver Cute Dwarf Journel

Marcy said...

Black cats are my favorite. I had a wonderful black cat that I called Matthew. He was the best and I still miss him.

I don't have a link but my choice for our black cat ornie month is Yeow! from Prairie Schooler.


Unknown said...

So cute!