Jo's December Finish - Free Choice

Here's the piece I stitched for our Free Choice month:

stitched on 32 count lime green murano

This is part of a larger design by The Oberlin Sampler Company called Witches.  I will be stitching more of it as it fits into our themes next year alongside my focus piece for this blog which you'll see in January!

I like this witch stirring her cauldron, there's a clever use of blended threads using grey and yellow for the highlights down her back and also grey and red down the front of her dress.  Love the flash of pink in her underskirt too.  She also has some French Knot warts on her face!

OOOOPS!

Just realised that I never posted my October finish for the Black Cat theme - silly, silly me!

Here goes, another PS design, of course (because it was stitched whilst travelling).

Black Cat from PS Book #140 Pumpkin Patch

28 ct Orange Lugana

Floss: DMC 3371 and 720 plus WDW Fiesta for the moon

So, yes, NOW I am DONE for the year, Bring on 2017!

hugs, Kaye

That's me done for the year ....

Yay!  I have finished the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL for 2016 early!

I present to you..... 

'Trick or Treat What's to Eat?' from Prairie Schooler Book #188 Trick or Treat.

This was an absolute dream to stitch, I started it on Friday and finished it just before midnight on Saturday night.  So, a very quick stitch for me.

I am so looking forward to next year's themes, I can't wait to get started!

hugs, Kaye

Themes for 2017

Thank you to everyone who responded to the email asking for suggestions for next year's themes.

A particular Thank You to Jacquie who would like Pumpkins every month.  So if you want, you can add a pumpkin to any of the themes shown below!

2017 Themes

January - The Moon

February - Witches

March - Spiders and Cobwebs

April - Winged Creatures

May - Black Cats

June - Anything Green

July -  Ghosts

August - Creepy Trees

September - Spooky Words

October - Pumpkins

November - Candy Corns and other Foods

December - Free Choice

I hope you like these themes, there are some old favourites and a couple of new ones too.  I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what everyone stitches up for us next year.

Here is my Ghastly, Ghostly Ghouls all framed up:

There are at least 9 themes covered in that design!

And here are the trio of frames for November:

A dislocated shoulder.....

Dont' worry, not mine but my poor Prairie Schooler Skeleton!

See his right shoulder (on the left)?  Well, it should be sitting at the same level as the other shoulder but I didn't notice the discrepancy until after I had stitched all of his arm and the two keys.  At first I thought to myself, 'oh no! All that frogging!' But then the more I looked at it, the more I quite liked my unintentional change to the design and I have decided that the poor skeleton has a dislocated shoulder - poor lamb!

Skeleton from 

"Boo Moon"
Prairie Schooler Book #189

Fabric: Mystery orange (yes, it is actually orange, much brighter than the pic shows) lugana 

Floss: DMC 3371 and 720

.... and now for a very belated Hallowe'en Ornie Finish....

I present to you Witchy Remedy by Silver Creek Samplers from JCS Halloween Ornie Mag 2011.

This was my piece for the April 2013 theme on the earlier incarnation of this Hallowe'en Ornie SAL blog - finally finished!  Only Three and a half years late! lol!

Look carefully, at the last pic, can you see the mistake I made, again?  Another one that I intend to keep, as it sort of fits in with the theme of the piece.

Witchy Remedy

Silver Creek Samplers

JCS Halloween Ornie Mag 2011

Fabric: Unknown

Floss: Suggested DMC

So, that is all for me for now, 

hugs, Kaye

Jo's November Finish - Skeletons

Continuing with October's design for Black Cats I have a finish for this month's Skeleton theme:

And here is the whole thing:

stitched on 28 count lilac linen

The design is Ghastly, Ghostly Ghouls by Just Nan, just one of my large collection of Spooky JN designs.  It will fit perfectly into a 6x6 box frame.

Those three little frogs along the top definitely brought their friends!  I frogged and stitched that top border three times and the two gourds at the bottom, trying to get the right dark orange.

Jo's October Finish - Black Cats

Better late than never!  I started this design at the very beginning of October because it had two black cats in it.  Unfortunately it took a little longer to stitch than I thought!

Here's the portion with the black cats:

stitched on 28 count lilac linen.

The cats are stitched over one.

If you want to see the rest of the design and find out what it is called, you'll have to look at my November post!

Yearly catch-up -AnneS

Well I had such great intentions at the start of the year, until I started a HAED challenge and got addicted and that's all I wanted to stitch for a while ... then work was mental busy and I was barely stitching at all. Anyway it was always my intention to work a bigger piece this year instead of doing all ornaments and a few weeks ago I decided 'what the heck' I still want to do it. So here is my year to date, primarily working on Halloween Markings by Heart in Hand.  I stitched everything in order of the monthly SAL themes :)

January - Winged creatures

February - Mummies and monsters

March - Pumpkins

April - Ghosts - it't teeny, tiny, and hiding behind a tree, but there is a ghost in there ;)

May - Spiders - a freebie by Lizzie*Kate (then I realised after I'd stitched it that I'd stitched the exact same design last year - doh!!)

June - Free choice (the geometric border)

July - Witches' accessories

August - Spooky words - unfortunately I can't find the photo I took with the words completed, but without the black cat block stitched :(

September - Bad fairies - no idea what to stitch for this one, so it was a bit of a fail ...

October - Black cats - and this saw the end of Halloween Markings, with all the blocks and border completed, just in time for Halloween itself

November - Skeletons and Skulls - Halloween Ornament 4 by The Floss Box (the skulls are hiding at the bottom), I just love their Halloween designs, they use lovely and bright colours (and great to see DMC as the threads of choice instead of overdyeds, as much as I love the look of overdyeds)

So, just December left to go now - hopefully next year I'll be able to keep up and keep on track ... although if I can I'm going to continue doing a larger project with multiple elements present, it's great to see some of the bigger projects get stitched up gradually bit by bit.

O is for Occult, Ouija and Owls

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 continue the 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.

O is for Occult from A Dark Alphabet designed by Julie and Becky's Note of Friendship blog.  Those are Octagon stitches there.

The word "occult" comes from the Latin occultus meaning hidden or secret.  It generally refers to anything mythical, supernatural, magical or having those powers.  Most of the designs chosen for this blog could come under the heading "occult".  I thought I'd look at some occult symbols for this post.

Baphomet is a goat-headed idol used to denote evil in many sources from the Knights Templar to modern Death Metal.

Baphomet by Apocalypse Girl

The all-seeing eye and hand is often used as a symbol of an omniscient presence watching over us.  But is it good or evil?  There is a lot of information online about the Illuminati and their use of the symbol.

All Seeing Eye Hand by Cardinal and Fitz

Here's a fun one of a witch using her crystal ball:

Witch's Prediction by Janet Morningstar

The ouija board is supposed to be used to communicate with those who have passed over.  It's a staple ingredient for teenage parties where someone always makes the glass move to scare everyone else!

Primitive Ouija Board by Clouds Factory

Ouija Board by Gecko Rouge

Our final O is a very popular topic here on the Hallowe'en Ornament Blog.  Here are a few of mine:

Left - Cross Stitcher magazine, Blackberry Lane, Jacquie,

Centre - June Rose

Right - Knotted Tree NeedleArt, Blue Ribbon Designs, Blackbird Designs

And a bonus choice - O is for Orange, a great colour for a fabric, especially for Hallowe'en designs:

Cheryl's November Skulls

I stitched up these cute sugar skulls from a free pattern found here:
http://commonthread.us/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Octubre-Halloween-Chart.pdf
The pattern includes several different skulls from which to choose. 

I stitched the skulls on 14 count white plastic canvas, backed the ornaments with black felt and added a black satin ribbon loop for hanging.

PS. Blogged here:
http://chaosatlanta.blogspot.com/2016/11/sugar-skulls-and-uneven-evenweave.html
Happy Stitching!

Gwen: Potent Potions

Happy Halloween!!

Witch's Pantry

JC Stitch Halloween 2012

My Black Cat ornament for October. 

Lili's October Ornament: Black Cats

Hello!

My ornament for this month!

Designer: Primitive Acorns - It's Midnight

(Just Cross Stitch Halloween Collection Book 2016)

Fabric/Threads: 35 count flax linen, hand dyed by me / DMC

(My blog: Stitching Basket)

Happy Halloween!

Lili

Rita's Nov. 2016 Skeletons/Skulls theme

Next month will be pretty busy (in addition to Thanksgiving, I'll be traveling again) so I thought I'd try to get a bit ahead.

I've been seeing a lot of sugar skulls in the cross stitch world lately and thought I should get into the act.  It works out perfectly for November's theme.

This is in the 2015 JCS Halloween special issue.  It stitched up pretty quickly and was fun to stitch.

While I'm thinking of Halloween, I'd like to tell you a little story.  My sister was born when I was 16.  I can remember my mom sewing her pumpkin suit.  It was so cute, she hung onto it.  Fast forward to when my kids were of trick or treating age.  All 4 of them wore it when it fit them for Halloween.  Later, my bil took the individual pictures and merged them into one and made a shirt for me.  Here's the picture:

My mom didn't have any idea that pumpkin suit would get that much "mileage".  Fast forward to present time...my daughter who just gave us our first grandchild this year wants us to find the costume for her daughter to wear when she's a little older.

Noni's Black Cat

It's almost Halloween.... another year has rolled on by - is it just me or do the years seem to be going even more quickly than ever before??

Anyway... I am just in time for my October offering / posting....

The cute/scary black cat is part of the Halloween Portraits from Blue Ribbon Designs.  This series was published in the Just Cross Stitch Halloween 2015 issue.  I have now stitched 3 of them and plan to do a couple more at some point.  Still undecided what I will do with them... but I think they will make cute little pin cushions :o)

Hope everyone has a great Halloween!

Til next time, keep on spooky stitching!
Hugs xx

Cheryl's October Black Cat

I found this sweet kitty cat out in the pumpkin patch talking to his little crow friend.

This pattern is a freebie by DMC : you can find it here!

Black Cats Oct. 2016 Rita's

I had trouble finding something to stitch for Sept. but this month's theme was easier to choose a design...except for there being so many from which to choose.  This is a PS design:

Back on Track?

After failing to produce neither a July nor August Hallowe'en Ornie, I am back on track with my September ornie - my version of Bad Fairies.

Sorry, I am not at home at the moment so I cannot remember the name of the French book which I used as the basis of the design, but I will update this post when I am back home.

I found this theme to be a stretch but I must admit I am really thrilled with how well this turned out.  So, in the end I relished the challenge, thanks Jo.

hugs, Kaye

P.S. I am such a doofus, I was sure that I had posted this already but when I checked - no go! 

Off Theme

I didn't find a bad fairy to stitch this month. My Halloween ornament is a needlepoint candy corn. My candy corn is  stitched on 18ct canvas, using perle cotton, floss, Krenik cord and some beads.

Noni's September Finish

Hi there!  Here I am back with my September finish just in time....

I couldn't find a wicked fairy to stitch this month so I extended the theme out to wicked witches and/or queens and came up with a Black Hearted Queen!

I found this design by doing an internet search which landed me on the Sub Rosa blog.  She has a number of great freebies on her blog - link to the blog is here

The fabric is from Stitches and Spice and is called Lime Ghost Gum.  Unfortunately I struggled to get a true colour of the fabric when taking a photo but believe me it is a stunning colour and looks great with the black thread.

So that's it for me... up to date again!

Til next time... happy Halloween stitching!
Hugs xx

Lili's September Ornament

Hello!
This is my stitching piece for this month.
I know that don't fit well on the month theme, but I made a mistake on my notes for this month.

Designer: Nikyscreations – Witch Needlebook (JCS Halloween Collection Book 2015)
Fabric/Threads: 35 count flax linen / DMC

Thanks for visiting!
Happy stitching,
Lili

Noni's Spooky Words...

I'm late... but I did manage last night to put the final stitch in my spooky words piece for August

Double Double - Lizzie*Kate
Just Cross Stitch Halloween 2013

Now it's time to find a bad fairy.... looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up for Sept's theme!  So far I haven't managed to find anything that fits the brief but I will keep looking.

Til next time, happy spooky stitchings
Hugs xx

Jo's September Finish - Bad Fairies

This year I have been stitching a Just Nan band sampler called Counting Bats for our blog.   I have reached the final band which features some wings.  They may be bat wings, they may be spooky fairy wings but I doubt it!

stitched on 32 count lilac linen

And here is the finished piece:

It's very hard to get a good photo of it because it's so long and thin!  But you've seen all the individual bands throughout the year, so look back for close-ups.

Just in case the jury decide those aren't bad fairy wings, I thought I ought to have a back-up plan.  I looked everywhere for Bad Fairies and mostly found full-coverage pieces or Nora Corbett's Trick or Treat Fairy (which I have in my stash).  I wanted something little.  I found some nice Maleficent designs in that pixel style but I'm not really a Disney person.

So I decided to adapt an existing fairy by Lucie Heaton and make her Bad!

That's actually the same fabric as Counting Bats is stitched on but it looks more blue here.

Here's the original design so you can see the changes:

I used the silks from Counting Bats for her dress, tights, shoes, hair and hat.  DMC for her bat wings and Kreinik for her wand.  I sketched her on graph paper to get the wings right.

N is for Necromancy, Night and Newts

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 continue the 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.

N is for Necromancy from A Dark Alphabet designed by Julie and Becky's Note of Friendship blog.  Necromancy is the art of communicating with the dead via magic, either summoning their spirit or raising them bodily.  The hope would be that they could predict the future, reveal secrets of hidden knowledge or just be used as an undead soldier!

Here's a fun stitch from Son of a Cross Stitch on Etsy:

N is for Night, the time when the witches and ghosts come out.  

Happy Hallowe'en Night by Jardin Prive

Out to ride without your head:

Wicked Night by Primitive Hare

Or out with your pals:

Fright Night Friends - Stoney Creek

And here come the Girls:

Another Girls' Night Out - Just Nan

The "girls" have their frogs' toes in their little cauldrons so all they need now is some eye of Newt

Witches Brew - Pine Mountain Designs

Got Newt? - Bent Creek

Or maybe you could just stitch with a newt?

Newt green silk by Thread Gatherers