Cheryl's May Spider

Jack-A-Rachnid by Deborah Dick

I have wanted to stitch this spider ever since I first laid eyes on him!  When I saw that the theme for May was spiders, I pulled out my old magazines to find the chart.  I finally found it in the Just Cross Stitch September/October 2013 issue (Volume 31 Issue 5).

Enjoy!

September and October Ornies....

Hi fellow Spooktacular Stitchers,

I actually have two Hallowe'en finishes for you today.  The first is my September "Ornie"  for "Words" and I use the term "ornie" carefully as it is probably too big to actually be an ornie but when I saw this design stitched on someone else's blog, I knew I just had to stitch it!

Moon and Cider Apple Cider

Needlework Press

28 ct overdyed fabric

Floss: as per designer

My October ornie for "Ghosts" is from this years JCS Hallowe'en Ornie Mag.  Again, when I saw this cute row of tipsy houses, I just knew that I had to stitch this one, too!

Bump in the Night

Tempting Tangles Designs

JCS Hallowe'en Ornie Mag 2015

28 ct overdyed blue fabric

Floss: I chose my own overdyed threads from my stash

I must admit that I am thrilled with both of these finished pieces - each have their own special brand of spookiness.

Now, Jo, I have a confession to make, despite having some lovely Hallowe'en pieces finished now, I have not decorated for Hallowe'en!   Aaagghh!

Why, you may ask?  Well, I have been super busy both at work and at home.  Work has been crazy busy with me having two prepare and present TWO full Business Cases for new projects in Eight weeks (you normally have about three months to prepare one!) and then my social life has been super busy because of my birthday this month - lots of fun outings and weeekends away and we are going away this coming (Hallowe'en) weekend, too - lovely!

So, there you have it, Jo, and everyone, my confession!  If I get a chance tonight I will try to pull out my Hallowe'en ornies and take a pic for you all.

Off to work now, 

love to you all, 

Kaye

Jo's November Ornament

I was just sitting down at the computer to look for a small ornie I could stitch in time for the end of the year when I remembered I hadn't shown my November stitch yet!

November's theme was Bugs, Insects or Spiders and I chose this amazing pumpkin spider from JCS Sept/Oct 2013.  The designer is Tempting Tangles.

He was stitched on a random piece of 32count linen from a Crafty Kitten grab bag.  The plan is to stretch him round a canvas and display him on an easel by next Hallowe'en.  I liked the ribbon they used on the model so I need to get some of that in the new year.

Speaking of the New Year, we will continue using this blog and I will just update the title of it to reflect the correct year.  So you don't need to do anything different, just keep posting!  Please could you label your posts as you do them with your name, the month and the designer's name too.

Themes for Next Year

Thank you so much for all your comments on the post about Plans for Next Year.  I am so pleased that so many of us want to continue and that we have some new members too,

We had two stitchers leave a comment saying they wanted to join but with no contact details.  So if Sylerkal and Judy are reading this, please contact me with an email address so I can send you an invitation.

We had some great suggestions for new themes for 2015 and it was quite hard to choose.  The favourites from this year are Witches, Owls, Black Cats, Pumpkins and Ghosts so they will all feature next year.  I have included two free months so you can stitch your choice even if it didn't make the list this year.

So here are the themes for 2015:

January - Witches

February - Skeletons

March - Owls

April - Tombstones

May - Pumpkins

June - Free Choice

July - Haunted Houses

August - Black Cats

September - Spooky Words

October - Ghosts

November - Creepy Trees

December - Free Choice

You can be imaginative with your choices, the theme doesn't have to be the main feature of the ornie as long as it is in there somewhere!

We also had a couple of requests to post any other Hallowe'en stitching we are working on.  I think that would be fine with everyone, especially if it is a larger piece you would like to share your progress photos with us.  You could also share photos of a piece you have stitched in the past which fits the monthly theme along with your current piece.

I know several of us belong to the Pumpkin Seed Stitchers group on Facebook which gives a free chart from a different designer each month.  It would be nice to see any of those designs you may have stitched too.

You can't have a post with a photo, so here is my progress picture of this month's theme.  This is Jack-A-Rachnid by Tempting Tangles from JCS Sep/Oct 2013:

I have completed all the black and now need to do the "colouring in".  This is stitched on a piece of random 32 count linen from a Crafty Kitten grab bag,