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?

Funk and Weber - Let There be Night Collection

Hinzeit - Dark-Shadows

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:

Nimue - Mic and Mac

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:

The Sweetheart Tree - Irish Blessing

Moira Blackburn - Irish Blessing Sampler

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

Homespun Sampler - An Irish Prayer

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

Lena Lawson - Fiddler