Lavender & Lace Enchanted Alphabet Spooky Conversion

I promised to dedicate an entire post to this design once we got into the New Year, so here it is!

The chart is called Enchanted Alphabet designed by Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum under the Lavender & Lace label in 1991.  Here is the original cover photo:

I have always liked the alphabet but was not keen on The World's Frilliest Child and her Bunny on a Leash.  Then one day, I hit on the idea of a Spooky Conversion!  I had a large piece of orange hand-dyed fabric from Sparklies which was wide enough if I removed the child and moved the letters closer together.  I decided on a simple conversion of:

every colour = 310

I started the project in July 2016 as part of a SAL to stitch one letter of an alphabet each month.  I kept up with the schedule and completed Z in August 2018.  And that's when the fun started!

Since then I have been adding little motifs from other charts to add to the spookiness.  Here are some close-ups.

The pumpkins, ghosts and cats are all Just Nan designs from her various Hallowe'en charts.

The raven is from a sampler featured in Cross Stitcher magazine.  

To make it fit, I stitched it over one.

The owl is from the same sampler in Cross Stitcher magazine

The white dove from the original design was stitched in black and grey.

The gate is from the Hallowe'en Night design by Jardin Prive I stitched in 2018

I added a little over one owl on top of one of the gateposts

The moon was a photo of the actual moon which I ran through Pic2Pat.

The bats on the left come from a freebie design

and the one on the right comes from the Cross Stitcher Sampler.

The little frogs are Just Nan too.

This is the cover of the Cross Stitcher magazine issue 349 with the sampler by Maria Diaz on the front cover:

And now - the whole piece!

stitched on 32 count Murano in Tigerlily by Sparklies

I'm really looking forward to getting this one framed ready for Hallowe'en this year.  It measures 20 inches wide by 8 inches tall so it's unlikely I'll be able to get an off-the-shelf frame.

Jo's June Stitching - Creepy Trees

I've been stitching away on my chosen project for this year but forgetting to post.  So here's a resume of the last three months:

April - Spiders

May - nothing Green so I stitched the rest of the word Hallowe'en

June - Creepy Trees

The whole piece so far:

stitched on 32 count Cognac linen

I already stitched the pumpkins for last year so I'm going to work on the graveyard and the other creepy tree for July ready for the Haunted House in August.

Jo's March Stitching - Black Cats

I love black cats, they are my favourite of all cats and luckily my Happy Hallowe'en Night by Jardin Prive has two of them.

Here is the first one:

stitched on 32 count Cognac linen

The other cat is flying high on a broomstick so will be added later with the witch.

Here is the full piece so far:

Next month is Spiders and there is a very small one just above the cat's head.  Then I'll stitch some more of the lettering.

Jo's January Stitching - Winged Creatures

Here we are for the first post of the New Year and I'm hoping to use one of my larger pieces each month.  It will be a little bit trickier this year as I haven't planned the themes around any of my stitching!

January is Winged Creatures - Owls, Bats, Crows, Ravens etc.

There are two tiny bats on Jardin Prive's Happy Hallowe'en Night:

Here is the whole piece so far:

There were also bats on my Dracula Book Cover by Dam Good Crafts:

Here is the whole piece so far:

Next month is Candy Canes and Food so I am not sure where I will go for that.  We shall see!

Jo's October Finish - Pumpkins

I have chosen a number of different spooky designs to stitch for Dark October this month, several have pumpkins so watch out for more posts from me!

But the first one is Jardin Prive's Happy Hallowe'en Night which features a trio of spooky pumpkin faces:

Stitched on 32 count Cognac Linen which is one of my favourite orange fabrics, there is just a hint of brown tones rather than bright orange.   Good job I bought a large piece to cut down as I have used it a lot!

Here is the full size of the fabric:

I'm also taking sign-ups for the annual Hallowe'en Trick or Treat Blog Hop.  Each participant will be given a letter of the alphabet which they display on their blog on 31st October.  I will list all the participants on my blog and we hop around collecting all the letters to make a mystery phrase.  One lucky person wins a prize!   Provide your own candy and treats LOL  

If you would like to be a participant, just leave a comment here or on my blog.

Jo's September Finish - Spooky Words

Scary and Spooky words!

And the whole piece, finished in plenty of time for Hallowe'en!

The design is Hallowe'en Happiness by Sandra Cozzolino for Imaginating.

The fabric is a 32 count Lime Green Murano

I used the recommended DMC.

Jo's August Finish - Creepy Trees

I've now completed the main letters on both Happy Hallowe'en by Imaginating and Witches by Oberlin Samplers in readiness for Spooky Words in September!

Here are my Creepy Trees which form the H of Hallowe'en:

And here is the whole piece:

There weren't any trees on Witches but I wanted to get it ready for next month:

Jo's July Finish - Ghosts

Working backward through the word Halloween I have now reached A with a sweet little ghostie:

And here's the whole piece so far:

Jo's June Finish - Anything Green

Since my fabric is green, both my designs could count for that alone!

But I made sure I did some green stitching too.

Here is a green lizard and some green froggies on  Happy Hallowe'en by Imaginating:

Ribbit!

I also added the word "Happy" along the top:

On Witches by Oberlin Samplers I stitched an olive green letter with some green leaves and pumpkin stalks/vines:

And here is the full Itches designs!  Need that first W very soon.

Jo's May Finish - Black Cats

I've been working on two different Hallowe'en designs this year.  The first is Happy Hallowe'en by Imaginating.

We have a sweet little black cat peering out from behind the N

Here is the whole piece so far:

The cat didn't take long so I started on the HAPPY letters

My second piece is Witches by Oberlin Samplers.  There is a cat on this one, but not a black cat!

I realised that DMC 3345 is the exact same colour as the fabric which is proving so hard to photograph.  So here is a picture with a skein on 3345 laid on it.  Get your skein and you'll know what colour the fabric really is!

Jo's April Finish - Winged Creatures

As we progress through the year, I have been moving to the end of the word Hallowe'en and have now reached the N for this month's theme of Winged Creatures:

Here's the whole piece so far:

stitched on 32 count Lime Green Murano

Unlike Kaye, I am saving my cat for next month!

Jo's March Finish - Spiders & Cobwebs

I've added another two letters to Happy Hallowe'en this month - the double EE complete with spiders and their webs:

Here is the whole piece so far:

stitched on 32 count Lime Green Murano

I also added another witch to my companion piece called Witches by Oberlin Samplers.  I should have done her last month but it was a short month!

stitched on 32 count Lime Green Murano

Jo's February Finish - Witches

I am continuing with Happy Hallowe'en by Imaginating and have added a rather tipsy witch!  Is it just me or does she look a little three sheets to the wind?

I still can't get an accurate photo of the fabric, it's a 32 count Lime Green Murano not khaki or dull green.

I made one unintentional change, there are two shades of purple in the W and I swapped them over.  I had nearly finished stitching the letter when I realised my error.  But it looks fine and no-one except us will ever know!

Also, why is there a tortoise on the end of the W?  How spooky are tortoise?  Not very.  Maybe she uses him in a sloth spell?

Jo's January Finish(es) - The Moon

Hello 2017 and my first Spooky Stitching of the year!

This year I have once again chosen a larger pattern which I will stitch one element each month to fit in with the themes.  The design is by Imaginating and is called Happy Hallowe'en.  You can Google it or wait and see!

I have chosen a 32 count Murano in Lime Green which is incredibly difficult to photograph accurately.  This is the best match I could get:

And here is the finished moon:

I also continued with the Oberlin Witches piece I started last month because that has a moon too.  Here it is now:

It's stitched on the same fabric as the first design.  I will try scanning it next month to see if that works.