Lili's May Ornament

Hi!!
My monster ornament!

Model from Praire Moon - Trick or Treat (part of the model).

Stitched on Permin Linen, 40 count Sandstone.
With DMC floss.

(my blog here)

Thanks for the sweets comments on my April ornament!
 

Happy stitching,

Lili

Debbie's May ornament finish!

For my May monster, I stitched Frank-N-Stein by Raise the Roof Designs.  The kit came with the linen, WDW floss, and JABC button!

"Frank-N-Stein"
Raise the Roof Designs
32 ct tan linen
Started 5/27/2014, Finished 5/28/2014

May Monster

Skating on thin ice again. So glad this blog and you, fellow stitchers, are here to push me to get these stitched. Here is my May Monster. Frankie another Behind the Gate motif.

In Stitches,

A ghost....

 I have finished "Haunted House" as my May piece.

I just squeezed it in under the "Monsters" theme as it has a ghost in it.

It is another freebie from Maja of The Snowflower Diaries.

I am rather please with her.

hugs, Kaye

Monsters.

free Ravelry download

★ ★

Monster Mash

I had a lot of fun stitching Monster Blue for this month.  He's from the 2012 JCS Halloween issue.  Found the perfect buttons to round out the monster ball!

Marcy's May Monster

I finished my monster yesterday.  It's Wicked Night from The Primitive Hare.  He's a bit big for a small but when I was looking for a monster pattern and came across this one, I was hooked.  I started him right away to be sure to get him finished in time.  He's stitched on 22 ct ivory hardanger with dmc 3371 and will be stained with coffee/tea to get that aged look before 'ornamentification'. 

Jo's May Ornament

I am proud to present:

Frankenstein's Kitty!!

stitched on 32 count lavender evenweave using recommended DMC.

Frankenstein's Kitty is one of a series of spooky kitties designed by Carand88 based on the microkitties animations designed by Hyraea

   

I've stitched quite a few of these now, here's a collage!!

Gypsy's May Monster

For May's Monster I found this adorable pattern from Needle Noodles. It took around 3 days to complete due to other family obligations. 

Here's some history about Cthulu for everyone! 

Cthulhu is an elder god discovered by H. P. Lovecraft, who makes his first appearance in the 1928 research article "The Call of Cthulhu". It is one of the central Great Old Ones of the Cthulhu Mythos, and is often cited for the extreme descriptions given of its hideous appearance, its gargantuan size, and the abject terror that it evokes. After its first appearance in "The Call of Cthulhu", Cthulhu makes a few minor appearances in other of Lovecraft's works.^[1] August Derleth, a correspondent of Lovecraft's, later used the creature's name to identify the system of lore employed by Lovecraft and his literary successors, the Cthulhu Mythos. Cthulhu is often referred to in science fiction and fantasy circles as a tongue-in-cheek shorthand for extreme horror or evil. - H.P. Lovecraft Wiki

When the creature finally appears, the story says that the "thing cannot be described," but it is called "the green, sticky spawn of the stars", with "flabby claws" and an "awful squid-head with writhing feelers." 

Happy Stitching Everyone! 

Final Post

I have enjoyed being part of this Sal and you are all a bunch of wonderful ladies and beautiful stitchers but because of health reasons and some other personal issues I am withdrawing from finishing out this yearly sal.

Thank you for letting me take part in this. I wish you all the very best in the coming months.

Tiffany

G is for Gargoyles, Ghosts and Gravestones

G is for Gargoyle from A Dark Alphabet designed by Julie and Becky's Note of Friendship blog.

Gargoyles are essentially stone drainpipes designed to take the water fromthe roofs of medieval buildings away from the walls.  The name comes from the old French word "gargouille" meaning throat or gullet.  The stone masons liked to make their work as fanciful as possible and enjoyed carving the most grotesque gargoyles they possibly could.  Some were even made in the image of their bosses or disliked members of the clergy!!

They were also believed to keep evil spirits away from the churches and cathedrals by frightening them away.

Some of the most famous gargoyles are found on the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, and here are some I met when I was there:

Iconic photo!

In the centre of the photo you can see the little park where we had our lunch after climbing up Notre-Dame.

This fellow would make a good door guard!

Gargoyle by Bennie Harman - Crosstitch.com

Our next G - Ghosts need no introduction!  Ghosts are one of the most popular cross stitch motifs for Hallowe'en.  Usually the cute and friendly variety like our own Mr Boo

Boo - Val's Stuff JCS 2012 Hallowe'en Ornie Special

Goblins-Ghosts-and-Ghoulies- Glendon Place

(two more Gs there!)

There are even Glow-in-the Dark Ghosties (another G!)

Stitched with Glow-in-the-Dark Kreinik

Ghostie Kitty - Carand88

And the final G is for Gravestones.  I must confess, this is one symbol I am not so sure about stitching!  I don't know why.  I don't mind within a larger Haunted House picture but as a standalone stitch I am not interested.  Superstitious me.

Gravestones themselves started out as a mere pile of stones to protect the body from wild animals digging it up and to prevent the body from rising again!  They gradually evolved to become carved with the deceased's name and dates added then into the memorial stones we recognise today.  The Victorians were the masters of gravestone carving and their's were ornate and highly decorated with long verses dedicated to the person below.  Nowadays stones are not so much carved as etched with a laser.  The designs are often modern pictures with no religious significance, usually something connected with a sport or hobby.

Susanna Goose - Kathy Barrick

Tombstone Monkeys - Ink Circles

I love Tracy's designs and the blurb on this one intrigues me - You've seen the three monkeys in the classic "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" pose. These tombstone angels make the same gestures, with the epitaphs letting us know the tomb's occupant made a fatal mistake. If you're familiar with your patron saints, you might notice the gentle folks' names were not randomly selected.

I must go Google those names now!!

Jo's April Ornament

Another late finish, mostly because I stitched it in the DMC conversion then didn't like the purple they used for the alphabet.  So I put it aside to make the substitution decision.

Thanks to a fellow blogger I went with 930 Dark Blue.

This is The Little Owl Sampler by Knotted Tree Needleart from the Just Cross Stitch Hallowe'en Ornie Special 2012.

I used the recommended DMC conversion, subbed 930 for 327 and used a blend of 930 and 931 for the border.  The fabric is 32 count Twilight Blue Linen.

I'm going to scrapbook this one.

Our Snowflower Diaries Witches Coven

Here's a lovely collage of our Snowflower Diaries Witches, 

put together using my new toy, the Pixlr Collage Maker

Debbie's witch has joined the coven!

I stitched this adorable Winter Witch by Maja of The Snowflower Diaries so she can join the coven, too!  I think I'll stitch Spring Witch on the same bright green hand-dyed fabric next!

Winter Witch

"Winter Witch"
Designed by Maja Matyas Szilagyi
The Snowflower Diaries
18 ct green hand-dyed Aida
Started 4/30/2014, Finished 5/1/2014

Debbie's April ornament finish!

On the last day of the month, I just finished my Owl!  This is "O" is for Owl, a freebie from Rainbow Gallery.  The body of the owl is done with the oblong rice stitch. I used variegated DMC 111 for the letters.

"O" is for Owl
Designed by Erica Michaels
Rainbow Gallery
14 ct Fiddlers Lite Aida
Started 4/27/2014, Finished 4/30/2014

Now I have 6 hours left in the day (Pacific Time) to finish my Snowflower Diaries witch and join the coven!

April Owl

I barely managed to get my tiny owl done on time this month. Nothing like waiting till the last minute. This is not the best picture. Though it doesn't look like it, this owl is one of the motifs from Behind the Gate and is stitched on the same orange fabric as before.

Behind the Gate

Blue Ribbon Designs

In Stitches,

Lili's April Ornament

My April ornament!

Model from the JCS Halloween Collection 2011.

The Prairie Schooler: Night Owl.

Stitched on 40 count Light Mocha Linen.

With DMC floss.

(my blog here.)

Thanks for the nice comments on my last ornament!

Happy stitching,

Lili

I am now a coven member, too...

Hi everyone,

Well, I think that this may be my first Halloween Ornie Sal finish for the year!  Oh no!  I feel so bad but taking a month off to travel through South-east Asia and Italy sort of mucks up your daily routine! lol!

Anyway, I heard a little rumour that instead of stitching an owl design this month we had special dispensation from Jo to stitch Spring Wittch, a freebie by Maja from The Snowflower Diaries as she has kindly offered to design us a special witch if we do - so here is my cute as a button Spring Witch.

... and you will be please to know that I have started my May piece already - it is Maja's Haunted House which has a ghost in it - so I think that counts as a monster.

Here is what it will look when finished:

Now, I am off to check what everyone else has stitched.

hugs, 

F is for Furies, Fairies and Frankenstein

F is for Furies from A Dark Alphabet designed by Julie and Becky's Note of Friendship blog.

In classical mythology the Furies were avenging deities, fearful goddesses from Tartarus who avenged wrong and punished crime. Usually the furies refer to three sisters, Alecto, Tisiphone, and Magaera, children of Gaia and Uranus.  They were placed in the Underworld by Virgil and it is there that they reside, tormenting evildoers and sinners. However, Greek poets saw them as pursuing sinners on Earth. The Furies are cruel, but are also renowned for being very fair.

You might have been surprised by the next F - Fairies, not really very spooky or Hallowe'eny you might think.  Sorry, Tink, this blog is not for you!!

This is the sort of Fairy you want at Hallowe'en:

Mystic Stitch - Bad Faerie 

After all, traditionally fairies were not the saccharine twinkle toed good guys, they were something to be feared, they would steal your babies and leave a changeling in its place.  Of course, they are dangerous to adults too - if you stumble across a fairy ring in the woods, don't step inside.  Some stories say you will die at a young age, others say you will be spend the night only to return to find a hundred years have passed.  Still more stories say you will dance until you drop dead of exhaustion.

And here's one from my own stash - Nora Corbett's Trick or Treat Fairy.  She was orginally in Cross Stitch and Needlework magazine in September 2008.  I believe you can get hold of a copy by contacting them direct.

Our third F is for Frankenstein.  I looked everywhere for a cross stitch of Frankenstein but couldn't find one anywhere.  This is the closest I could get:

Nerdy Cross Stitch - Scientist Pig

Because the name Frankenstein belongs to the creator of the monster, Dr Victor Frankenstein.  In the book by Mary Shelley, the creature is simply called Monster.  And there are hundreds of great cross stitch designs for Monster!!

I love this one, based on Boris Karloff in The Bride of Frankestein:

Danielle Sayer Etsy Shop

If you prefer cute, you might like this one:

I am not a Doll Etsy Shop

Or the Happy Couple for a quirky Wedding Sampler?

Lady Beta Etsy Shop

It's been a bit of an Etsy-fest this post.  The smaller crafters seem to be best for the more quirky designs.  Of course there are plenty of Frankenstein's Monster charts in the JCS Hallowe'en specials so maybe you will choose one of them for your May subject? 

Ciao everybody!

ciao everybody!

I'm happy to join the Coven with my recent finish, the Spring/Easter Witch!

I decided to dress the sweet lass with Easter colours; soft yellows, lilac and pink - all Nina's Threads on 40ct. "Cloudy Sky" linen. sorry the linen photographed so badly, it's been raining all weekend so I rarely had good daylight exposure.
I'll post about her in my blog with a detailed list of what I used, and a better snap, hopefully tomorrow.
thank you, Maja, for the adorable chart - I really enjoyed sitching my very first Snowflower Diaries! ❤ :)
chiara