Friday 29 July 2016

July Ornament

My July Ornament is a witch's cauldron. 


The Cauldron
Embellishing Bits

My winged creature (Jan's theme) is a bat. 
                                             
Creepy Crawly
Scissor Keep Front
Blue Ribbon Designs

Monday 18 July 2016

Lili's July ornament


Hi!!
My little ornie for this month!

Design: Barbara Ana Designs - Halloween, The Moon Laughs (small part of the design)
Fabric / Threads: 36 count Flax Linen / DMC

Thanks for looking!
Happy Summer!
Lili

(my Blog: Stitching Basket)

Saturday 16 July 2016

Stitching Witch - July 2016

Witches' Accessories.... what a great theme idea! So many designs to choose from - hats, broomsticks, cauldrons to say the least!  I did however spot a design that I just had to stitch the instance I saw it in the Just Cross Stitch magazine!


The design is called "Stitching Witch" and is designed by Maria Warmke from The Stitcherhood.  How perfect is this design... hat, cauldron - tick... and then needle and scissors!!  It was published in the October 2014 issue of the Just Cross Stitch magazine.

I stitched this on a piece of fabric from Colour Cascades Fabric - no name as it was in a cardmakers pack - just love the colours!  The thread I used was "Nevermore" from Jodyri Designs.  The design called for all black thread but I decided to try something different for a change!!

Hope you like it as much as I do!  See you next month!
Hugs xx

Friday 15 July 2016

Rita's Update

Sorry I've been awol for a while.  I've had a great time traveling a lot more than I've ever done starting in March when our first grandchild was born.  I've gone to visit her in CA twice already, Ohio to visit my parents with my son who was visiting from Denmark, to San Diego with DH while he was there for a conference, and I just returned from almost 3 weeks in HI visiting my sister, brother, and their families and helping my sister with some summer day care for her 7 and 11 year olds.  I've got another trip coming up soon (helping DD with day care when she goes back to work before her day care slot opens up) and maybe another with DH before my wings will be clipped for a while.

Needless to say, my stitching time has been much diminished (although I did teach my niece how to stitch) and I'm very behind on my ornament stitching.  I came home to a new model to stitch but hope to get back to ornament stitching as soon as I finish that and stay home long enough.

I've enjoyed seeing everyone's ornaments here.


Sunday 10 July 2016

Jo's July Finish - Witches' Accessories

This year I have been stitching a band a month on a Just Nan design called Counting Bats.  July's theme is Witches' Accessories so my band features something every good witch should have in her cottage - a bubbling cauldron:


You can also see a Dancing Skeleton charm.  The original kit would have come with the charm but as mine was a gift from someone who'd already stitched it she'd used the charm.  This silver one is something I had in my stash.  I'll attach him at the very end of the stitching.

Here is the whole piece so far, getting quite long now!

stitched on 32 count lilac linen

Thursday 7 July 2016

May and July Ornaments

I am afraid I am a bit behind on my ornament SALs, but I finally have a few finishes to share...
(The patterns for both ornaments were designed by Durene Jones for The World of Cross Stitching magazine.)

May's Ornament...
(theme spiders/bugs)
 A tiny, purple spider!

July's Ornament...
(theme witches' accessories)
A cute and colorful witches' hat!

Now, to figure out what to do for my "free choice" from June...
Hope everyone has a week full of stitching!
Carrie

My late June Ornie.....

Well, I have to say, getting my ornie stitched for June this time around proved a little problematic, to say the least.

For some unknown reason, my planned stitching project, another band of 'Counting Bats' by Just Nan (our dear Jo kindly let me piggyback on her stitching idea) somehow disappeared into the black hole that is my Girl's Nest! I searched high and low for days and days but to no avail, although, Jo, you will be happy to know that I finally found it late last night.  Phew!

So,  change of plans and here we finally have my June ornament!


"Crow on a Pumpkin"
Samplers Not Forgotten
JCS Halloween 2015 magazine
Using a mixture of my own choice of GAST, CC and WDW floss

I love the fact that the pumpkin is not orange!  And I am thrilled with my use of CC Queen Bee for the border on the right instead of GAST Gold Leaf - it looks quite unusual.

Happy, Happy Happy!

Off on a little holiday to the back of beyond in Queensland next Saturday, so getting all my stitching planned as there is going to be a lot of downtime on flights and long car trips.  

I have two little pieces I want to stitch for this month's themes of Witches' Accessories, both should not take too long, so hopefully, when I get back I will have my July update ready to show you.

hugs, Kaye

Monday 4 July 2016

Loretta's June Ornie

Here is what I chose for June:

Witchy Owl by Breanne Jackson from the 2014 JCS Halloween Issue

I think he is so cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for looking!!!

Loretta

Saturday 2 July 2016

L is for Lightning Bird, Lantern and Leaves - 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.



L is for Lightning Bird from A Dark Alphabet designed by Julie and Becky's Note of Friendship blog.

A mythological creature in South Africa the Lightning Bird is the size of a human, black and white in colouring and it summons thunder and lightning with its wings and talons.  It is associated with witchcraft and has quite an appetite for blood.  Sometimes it takes on the image of a young man to seduce women. 

Another name for this bird is the hamerkop.  This bird is known to decorate its nest with anything from handkerchiefs to bicycle tires!  In the Zulu culture someone who spends much time in front of a mirror is called thekwane, their name for the hamerkop, because they are like the bird that is found to spend hours beside the water's edge looking at their reflection. 

I couldn't find any other cross stitch designs of a lightning bird but I did find these sweet little buttons which are available in a book:


L is also for Lantern which we make from pumpkins on Hallowe'en.  We had some of these designs for J for Jack O'Lantern and here are some more!


(laughing being another L word)

I've been using one particular sampler to help me find the words for this alphabet, the Lizzie*Kate Hallowe'en ABC


And now I have another one!


I'm taking the final L for Lizzie*Kate's ABC which gives us Leaf.  Of course leaves are more of an Autumn thing than specific to Hallowe'en but they do make lovely cross stitches.


(one of a series of four)