Saturday 30 April 2016

By the skin of my teeth... ...

... I have finished my April Hallowe'en Ornament...

I really struggled to find a design which called to me for the April theme of ghosts but then I was rescued by the mailman, who brought me my order of some Just Nan patterns, including the wonderful Counting Bats.  The gorgeous Jo is stitching this for the SAL and so I am going to jump on her bandwagon and start with the ghost band and move around from there.  Thanks, dear Jo, for the inspiration.

So, at 11.09 pm on Saturday, 30th I finished my first band - Band 3.



32ct Evening Sky Belfast Linen
Mixture of called-for DMC threads and over-dyed floss from my stash
(it is actually a bit more lilac than this picture shows and the reason the top border is incomplete is that it is really part of Band 2 - which I will go back and stitch when I get the chance).

hugs, Kaye




Friday 29 April 2016

Lili's April Ornament


Hello everyone!!
My April ornie!!

Design by Teresa Murgida (Primitive Acorns) - Spells
(JCS2015 - Halloween Collection Book 2015)

Fabric: 40 count Sand Linen
Threads: DMC

Hugs,
Lili

Tuesday 26 April 2016

Cheryl's April Ghost Ornament

Little Boo by Carolyn Manning
This month I chose to stitch "Little Boo" by Carolyn Manning.  This chart is featured in the October 2015 issue of Just Cross Stitch magazine.

Boo!

Wednesday 13 April 2016

Noni's Blue Ribbon Ghost!

At the risk of sounding boring... I continued on with my Blue Ribbon Designs stitching and stitched another small (insert quick) design from the Halloween Portraits" by Blue Ribbon Designs.  This one took me the better part of Tuesday afternoon/evening last week when I was at home feeling sick and miserable!


He is a funny looking ghost... but a ghost he is!  The bottom on the ghost is confusing me as he looks like he has way too many feet... or is that supposed to be a flowing ghostly robe??

The "Halloween Portraits" designs were published in the Just Cross Stitch Halloween 2015 magazine.

See you next month when spiders will be visiting..... 

Sunday 3 April 2016

Jo's April Finish - Ghosts

I am continuing with my progress on Counting Bats by Just Nan this month.  This little ghost is scaring the froggie with a spider on the end of his hand.  Because ghosts aren't scary enough on their own?


Here is the whole piece so far:


Saturday 2 April 2016

March: Pumpkin

My March Pumpkin design is by JBW. It's one of 12 designs from the leaflets Halloween Ornaments I-III. I've stated the finishing, I just need to add a hanger.

Squirrel & Pumpkin
Halloween Ornaments II
JBW Designs 

I is for Inky Darkness, Imps and Ireland - Revisited

When we first started this blog I made a series of posts beginning with each letter of the alphabet starting with A.  Unfortunately, they ground to a halt after L.  So in honour of The Alphabet Club hosted by Chiara I have decided to resurrect the original posts and link up each month with the rest of the Alphabet Club posters.  To learn more about this SAL follow the Alphabet Club link to Chiara's blog.


I is for Inky Darkness from A Dark Alphabet designed by Julie and Becky's Note of Friendship blog.

Inky darkness, because everything is scarier in the dark; if we can't see then our other senses take over, every sound is amplified, every creak, every echo sounds suspicious, every shadow hides - who know what?  We hide under our blankets and wait for the safety of dawn.  Shadows may be scary but they do make great silhouettes perfect for stitching, either black on white fabric or how about black on the new glow-in-the dark fabric from Sewitall?



But, without the dark we would not be able to appreciate the light:

Finished Piece from Quirkorium

What is an imp?  A small demon who is more mischievious than harmful.  Perfect for some trick or treating on Hallowe'en.   I found it rather difficult to find cross stitched imps but Nimue does have Mic and Mac who are rather sweet:


Back in this post about the Origins of Hallowe'en I talked about the Celtic countries where Samhain was celebrated; Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.  The Irish emigrating to America in the 18th Century would certainly have taken their traditions and superstitions with them.  Once again, it was tricky to find Irish Hallowe'en designs, there are any number of St. Patrick's Day themed charts to choose from!  So I thought I'd share some Irish Blessings instead to preserve us from the Inky Darkness and Mischievious Imps:




I saw this one on Evalina's blog, pop over for a better look at the words and the design:




And just because I liked him, and he is a kind of Imp, there is this Leprechaun Fiddler:


  




Lili's March Ornament


Hello!
My March ornament.

Design by DixieSamplar - Alice Young 1647
(Free design on Pumpkin Seed Stitchers facebook group)
Fabric: 32 count Belfast Linen vintage Khaki
Floss: DMC
See you next month!
Happy Stitching,
Lili