February - Candy corn - AnneS

Here goes my choice for February's theme of Candy corn.  Spooky Time freebie by Lizzie*Kate.  I'm terrified of spiders, so stitching that charm on wasn't much fun ... I have a feeling that'll be giving me nightmares in the future when it's on display ;)

Winged creatures - AnneS

I'm playing catch-up after completing a large project with a tight deadline.  Here's my choice for January ... Eeek from the Bump in the Night chart by The Prairie Schooler.

All caught up! Jul/Aug for Anne S

Wow, I really got 'in the zone' this weekend with my stitching - I think I even surprised myself yesterday!!  Here are my choices for July and August.

July - Ghosts

"Happy Halloween" by Simple Stitches (freebie)
Stitched on 32ct summer khaki (or dirty?) Belfast linen
with my own choice of DMC threads (similar to the charted GAST)

August - Creepy Trees

I once again went back to Prairie Schooler's When Witches Go Riding to stitch the main tree - this is where I can see the colours are very different between the witch and the tree, so I guess I'll have to re-stitch the witch etc before I'm 100% happy with it.

May/June catch-up for Anne S

I've been pretty useless keeping up with my SALs again this year - gee, what a surprise!  Eventually, though, I do put needle to fabric and do a bit catch-up session.  That's what I've been doing this weekend, starting to catch up on our Hallowe'en SAL.

May - Black Cats

For the black cats theme, I continued working on Prairie Schooler's 'When Witches Go Riding'. Unfortunately I'm chewing through the Crescent Colours Blackbird thread way more quickly than expected, and I only have one skein left, which isn't enough to do all the dark areas ... so I opted to use DMC 3371 instead for the top banner and the borders. Also unfortunately, the colour is very different to the Blackbird thread, which leaves me in a quandary ... whether I should unpick all the other three elements I've stitched and re-do them all again in DMC 3371.  If I do end up doing that, it'll be at the end of the year, I think. You can't even tell that the dark thread is an overdyed thread, so in hindsight I should have just used 3371 in the first place ... but that's the thing with hindsight, it only seems a good idea after you've already put the effort in! ;)

June - Anything Green

Oh my goodness, it took me a very long time to decide on what to stitch for this theme. As it turns out I'd made my decision, but when I was in my stitching room I spied a totally different design, and ended up stitching that one instead.  This was my chosen project, and I have to say I really love it! The colours are a lot deeper/brighter in real life, though.

"Jack o' Juggle Spell" by Cathy Dean for The Victoria Sampler
Stitched on 32ct summer khaki (or dirty, I can't remember) Belfast linen
Stitched with recommended threads, with the exception of replacing Kreinik #4 braid 010HL with 011HL. I also subbed the black beads with ones I had in my stash, and added two extra legs on the dangling spider.

Next up is July, and another theme with lots of project choices, but I'm opting for a very quick stitch option to help me catch-up. With any luck it won't be long before that one is sitting in the finishing pile, as I fully intend to start stitching that one tonight :)  Then I'll be all caught up, and it'll be back to When Witches Go Riding for August's theme of 'Creepy Trees'.

Spiders and cobwebs - Anne S

After having an extra long weekend I managed to catch up on my Hallowe'en Ornie SAL by completing the missing March design.  I ended up stitching a smaller ornament instead of starting a larger project, which was my initial plan.  Anyway, here's my final choice - a freebie design by Jacquie Morris.

"Owl" freebie by Jacquie Morris (design still available on her website)
Stitched on 32ct Frosted Pumpkin Belfast linen by Silkweaver (the real colour is more red/orange than the photo shows)
Stitched entirely with DMC 310

I'm useless again!!

Every year I sign up for this SAL, and every year I get sidetracked with other projects and crazy working hours at the start of the year, and I start months late.  Well, this year is no exception!

My choice this year is to once again work on larger pieces where possible, instead of individual ornaments.  So far my focus piece for most of the year will be Prairie Schooler's "When Witches Go Riding" sampler.

So far I've managed to include 3 of the first 4 months as follows (I decided to grid the fabric as I'll be jumping around a lot throughout the year):

• January - The Moon
• February - Witches
• April - Winged Creatures

I still have March to catch up on yet - I can't decide whether to start a second larger design, or whether to do an individual ornament. I have both designs already picked out, I just need to pull my finger out and make a decision!

January - Anne S

Oops, just realised I hadn't posted my finish as yet for January.  I was actually a day or two late in stitching it, mainly because I just couldn't decide what to stitch, there were too many designs to choose from!  I ended up with this wee freebie by The Prairie Schooler.

This year it was my hope to work on two or three larger designs throughout the year - but in hindsight that's probably a bit ambitious. I'll decide how I go throughout the year, but I'll be adding to at least one of the following larger designs at some point in the year. Considering I had intended to do both moons in the Just Nan (Witchy Way) and Prairie Schooler (When Witches Go Riding) ones in January, I'm not off to a great start on that score!!! Oh well, I may do a catch-up soon - I'll kit them all up this weekend in readiness so I can pick them up on a whim ;)

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.

May - Anne S

A quick one today to catch up on May's theme of pumpkins ...

"Eek" freebie by Lizzie*Kate

Stitched on 32ct Thunderstorm Belfast linen

with recommended GAST threads

August & September - Anne S

I've been in a stitching wasteland since April so I have a lot of catching up to do - the Hallowe'en SAL is helping to get me back into stitching again. My choices for the two months have been as follows:

For September:

"Eek Boo Hiss" by Lizzie*Kate (the Boo part)

Stitched on 32ct Thunderstorm Belfast linen

with a mix of GAST, DMC and Carrie's Creations threads

For August:

"Boo To You" by The Prairie Schooler

Stitched on 30ct Guacemole Weeks Dye Works linen

with recommended DMC threads 

April - Tombstones

This is my choice for April's theme of "tombstones".  I didn't have the recommended fabric or threads, so I substituted everything.  I think it turned out OK :)

"Not Forgotted" by Plum Street Samplers - stitched on a pale grey 36ct hand-dyed linen, with a mix of Belle Soie, Caron Collection Waterlilies and Silk 'n' Colors silk threads.

February and March ornies

Oh dear, I haven't done well at all so far keeping up with the SAL, thanks to some crazy working hours and no stitching mojo.  The last couple of weeks, though, I was determined to get some stitching under my belt, and what perfect way to get back into it than catching up on my Halloween SAL stitching.  I decided to work from a chart from The Prairie Schooler and stitched up the Skeleton and Owl from that pattern ... I think I could stitch from that chart all year long and fill in all the themes, I just love it! :)

I'm struggling to find some fabric for my choice of design for April, but I'd better hurry up and find something soon, or I'll be doing April and May again next month!!

January 2015 ~ Anne S

Thanks so much for letting me join the group Jo, I look forward to posting spooky updates this year! :)  Even though I don't actually celebrate Halloween as such, Halloween is one of my favourite stitching themes!  Here is my January finish for the theme of Witches.

"Halloween Ornament #5" by The Floss Box

stitched on 32ct Thunderstorm Belfast linen

with recommended DMC threads
Stitched by Anne S ~ Feather Stitching blog