Halloween – Page 4 – Feather Stitching

Cross Stitch, Gifts TO BE FIXED, Halloween, Stash, Stitching Smalls, The Drawn Thread

Awesome squishy mail day!!

10 November, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

Today I braved the surface flash flooding and pelting rain of a late afternoon storm and cleared out the PO Box, and was thrilled to see a little card in the box – ‘cos that means there’s squishy mail waiting for me inside the building. Sure enough, I was absolutely THRILLED to open the parcel sent from Marnie, as it contained my prize winnings from her recent prize draw. Unfortunately the photos don’t do this little beauty justice – this little vampire stitching case is seriously awesome! The finishing is absolutely stunning, and there is even the most perfect little pincushion and scissor fob tassel inside! All I need to do now is decide on the perfect pair of scissors to live in this beauty permanently, and it’s going to be on display all year round … I mean, seriously, could you put this away until next Halloween? I definitely can’t! 😀

Not only did Marnie provide the stitching case itself, but she also added a little vampire Pez dispenser (so I am no longer a “Pez virgin”) – alas, the pieces inside the dispenser didn’t survive the drive home, which was a marathon due to the surface flooding, as I scoffed the lot during the drive! Also in the parcel was a few really cool Halloween freebies, that I can’t wait to stitch up. I’ll be cutting up fabrics for them this weekend, and adding them to my Halloween “to-do-pile” for the coming weeks. Thanks again Marnie for an AWESOME parcel of treats – I love, love, LOVE everything! 😀

The other mail was compliments of Ann in Scotland having a stash sale – I’m now the proud owner of 4 Drawn Thread charts (Toccata 1, 2, 3, and Chatelaine and Scissors Keeper), along with some of the threads needed (plus the chatelaine fabric). I’m looking forward to starting at least one of these soon, once I’ve procured the remaining threads. They look like they’ll be really fun stitching a motif or two each night/weekend 🙂

And on that note it’s time to switch off the “fun” side of the computer, and switch on to the “work mode” side … things are beyond hectic at work thanks to someone’s oversight in another department at the 11th hour, and having an unstable test system … I’m days behind in my own work, so I’ve brought it all home with me tonight to try and get at least 1-2 hours done at home. I just have to force myself to keep away from the fun stuff on here, which is really really hard … 😛

Cross Stitch, Gifts TO BE FIXED, Halloween, Heartstrings, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Wishlist, Works in Progress

Humble apologies

3 November, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

The humble apologies in the subject line is for Clare, who sent me an absolutely exceptional package in the mail an entire year ago, and it seems it was never acknowledged. I feel absolutely mortified about this, as I’m usually really good about sending an email of thanks and posting piccies immediately on the blog. I do remember around that time that we were having computer problems at home, and I’d been really sick, but somehow I’d managed to convince myself that I’d sent the email etc and all I had to do now was to sit back and look lovingly at my gifts for the next 12 months (the gorgeous little Loon sits pride of place in my bedroom so I can see it every day, and the exquisitely stitched and finished hedgehog ornie sits on top of my basket of smalls in the lounge). So my sincerest apologies again to Clare, and I can now share the wonderful goodies that she sent me.

Well, it appears Halloween has been and gone, and alas, even with good intentions of lots of Halloween stitching being done this year, my Halloween table display has been pitiful. Thrown together really quickly late on Saturday night, this is the sum total of my Halloween decorations this year. One whole pinkeep completed, and what is destined to become a flat-fold on display with just it’s laced section propped up {sigh} (the backing sections all have their spooky cobweb fabric coverings, I just didn’t get as far as gluing or stitching the various sections together!). Alas I’ve been too tired after work the last week and a half to do much of anything – much less stitching, and even less finishing. I think I need to take a week off work just to focus on some finishing!!

Do you see my little Halloween tree that is just all bare branches above? It lights up with teeny tiny dark purple twinkly lights, it’s really cute! Of course the plan was to have it covered with teeny tiny stitched ornies, but that also didn’t happen! But hey, there’s another 12 months before Halloween 2011 so I’ve got time to change all that 😛

Even though Halloween is now technically over, I still have the urge to stitch Halloween designs … I don’t have the urge to stitch much at all these days, so I figure I should just stitch what interests me. Of course, even when I haven’t been stitching, I have been tempted big-time with some new designs out this year, so I’ve been filling my wishlist even higher even though the needles haven’t been flying … here are the latest trifles that are taking my interest and causing a little bit of drool here and there (as you can see Halloween is definitely still high in my sights!) 😛

Blackberry Lane Designs – Rest Ye Pins-The Pinkeeper

Just Nan – Hagatha’s Purple Hat

Just Nan – Hagatha’s Orange Hat

Just Nan – Spooky Spirits of Tombstone Hill

Just Nan – Tricky Tweets

The Victoria Sampler – Bargello Biscornu

The Victoria Sampler – Winter Box Finishing

I have some more stash coming through the mail, thanks to Ann having a de-stash sale containing some to-die-for items, so I’ll be fondling some more stash soon (I know, as if I NEED any more stash!).

I was also exceptionally lucky enough to win Marnie’s prize draw for a little halloween coffin (Vampire stitching case), which should be arriving shortly. Even if I don’t manage to get any of my own stitching finished next year, this already shows that my Halloween display is already greatly improved with Marnie’s stitching and finishing, and I just adore it already without even receiving it! If you haven’t seen it yet, pop over here and check it out – while you’re there make sure you take the time to admire her wonderfully exquisite stumpwork blog header, it’s superb!

And on that note I’d better sign off and get my A into G to get ready for work, then tonight I need to force myself to watch a bit more of Girl With the Dragon Tattoo … loved the book, but I hate subtitled movies so it’s been a real drag for me focusing on it (in all honesty if I’d known it was subtitled I wouldn’t have bothered hiring it from Quickflix) – even though I don’t have any particularly big desire to stitch, the biggest drag with subtitled movies is that you can’t stitch to them!

Actually, I forgot, I do have one final thing to share … the sum total of my stitching endeavours for the last two weeks … I started stitching this only to find straightaway that yet again I’m missing two of the key threads (GAST Forest Glade and Kreinik #4 braid in 027) … pfffft 😦 Probably not helping my urge to stitch this week, as I had my heart set on finishing this one quickly … which obviously now isn’t actually going to happen – see ya stitching mojo, please come back soon!

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Halloween, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, The Trilogy

Final (?) Halloween finish

24 October, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

I really do think this will be the last Halloween stitching that will get completed, as I’d really like to finish up two of my previous stitched pieces into flat-folds in time for Halloween this year – I managed to cut up one set of matboards yesterday, but that’s as far as I got … this afternoon I’ll go ahead and glue the batting on and the backing fabrics, and with any luck by next weekend I’ll at least have one flat-fold finish-finished ready for display.

Rightio, on to my next finish – I started this when we were on holiday in Cairns last week, and put the final stitches into it on Friday night while Katie and I caught up on a couple of TV shows (the only thing that is missing is the little silver pumpkin charm, which I don’t have, and not sure I have anything suitable to sub for it just yet):

“Halloween Spots” by The Trilogy
stitched on 32ct Pipi hand-dyed Belfast linen by Countrystitch
with recommended WDW threads, except Mascara (subbed DMC 310)

Mum flew home on Friday afternoon, but before she left she managed to stitch the backing fabrics and ribbon hangers onto the 12 Days of Christmas ornaments for me, which means I just have to trim the seam allowances, turn inside-out and stuff with polyfil. Thanks for your help Mum, it’s really appreciated!

We also frantically got 3 lengths of cording completed for Mum to take home with her … which she unfortunately left sitting on the chair arm when she left, along with her DMC. A quick trip to the Post Office just before they closed saw them winging their way home again to Mum in the post 😉

We did manage to get one more length of white cord completed for my ornaments – which means I can now get at least one ornie finish-finished very quickly … but the only problem is that a new start is diverting my attention from my finishing duties … a Halloweeny stitch that I’m finding really really hard to resist – hence the reason for the title of this post! The tempting design is “The Bittersweet Season” by Heartstrings. I’m soooo tempted to start stitching this one, as I don’t think it’d take that long to stitch being only 2″ wide (although in saying that, it would probably take a full weekend at least as it’s 11″ tall … hmmm). But I really would like to get at least one flat-fold finished this week … oh decisions, decisions, LOL.

One thing I did manage to do yesterday was to mend my beautiful Greek mug. I bought this little treasure on a trip to Greece about 11 years ago – due to a mix-up at airport check-in after being rebooked from a cancelled flight (after 7 hours waiting) I was told I had to pack some of my hand luggage into my suitcase (then got told oops I’ve made a mistake, you’re fine, you can go through now but you’d better hurry the flight is boarding) – this poor thing had its handle smashed into 3 pieces during the flight (it had to be put into the suitcase). I never did get around to fixing it, and it’s been languishing in a box in the Mum and Dad’s garage ever since – I rescued it on my recent trip home, and glued the handle together again yesterday with superglue. Unfortunately I’ll never be comfortable using it as an actual mug with hot liquids, but it is now happily holding pens and scissors on my computer desk so I can sit and appreciate its beauty every day! 😀

The other thing I haven’t done over the last month is to complete the Photo Hunt posts, so I’ll rectify that shortly and do a mammoth catch-up with those soon!

In the meantime I have some TV viewing I need to catch up on, and a million other things I should be doing rather than sitting on the PC, so I’ll leave it at that for the time being …

Ooh, before I forget, I had a number of questions about the designer for the 12 Days of Christmas ornies that Mum stitched – I’ve updated the previous post with the details in case you’re interested. If there are any others that you want to know about, don’t hesitate to drop me a comment/email and I’ll give you the details.

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010, Halloween, Just Nan, Little House Needleworks, Lizzie Kate

More pumpkins … but no chatting time

19 October, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

Sorry for the drive-by post, but here are my latest pumpkin finishes for the Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010 while spending a week away from the computer away from home … I’ll update the blog more later when I have time to sit down properly, in the meantime here are the latest round of teeny finishes:

“Boo Squared” by Lizzie*Kate
stitched on 32ct Flax Belfast linen
with recommended Weeks Dye Works thread (except for Lucky,
which was substituted with recommended DMC)

“Jinx ~ Moon Riders” by Just Nan
stitched on 32ct Silver Birch hand-dyed Belfast linen by Countrystitch
with recommended DMC threads

“Jack ~ Moon Riders” by Just Nan
stitched on 32ct Silver Birch hand-dyed Belfast linen by Countrystitch
with recommended DMC threads

“Jasper ~ Moon Riders” by Just Nan
stitched on 32ct Silver Birch hand-dyed Belfast linen by Countrystitch
with recommended DMC threads

“Pumpkins” by Little House Needleworks
stitched on 32ct Merino hand-dyed Belfast linen by Countrystitch
with recommended Crescent Colours threads

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Freebies, Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010, Halloween, Lizzie Kate, Travel, Travel - New Zealand

Still in New Zealand

6 October, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

I wish I could say I was here doing lots of stitching, but I can’t truthfully tell you what I’ve been doing other than sitting in front of the gogglebox and computer and just letting the hours of the day disappear before my very eyes. I’ve got the car boot filled with boxes of junk to take to the Salvation Army over the next few days, and some not-so-junk to be picked over by family friends – then the leftovers will also get taken to the Salvo’s.

The only stitching I’ve managed has taken place over the last 24 hours or so, and are as follows:

“Chatrouille” freebie by Nathalie
(the freebie is still available here)
Stitched on 32ct Merino hand-dyed Belfast linen by Countrystitch
with DMC threads (except I messed up and used 310 instead of 3799
for the cat and lettering … oops)

“Welcome Baby” by Lizzie*Kate
Stitched on 28ct pink/white checked Graziano linen
with DMC threads
(have to say I MUCH prefer the boy’s version of this one!)
I still have to add the little rose button when I get home before framing

Here are a few piccies of Auckland from our first day of driving around after a visit to The Embroiderer … where we were VERY restrained and only bought two copies of this year’s JCS ornie magazine (Mum kindly treated me to my copy, as I’ve bought one for her the last few years). Rightio, here are some snippets from Auckland:

Auckland skyline from the harbour bridge (north side)

Kiwi (New Zealand) flag at Ponsonby

Art sculpture at a city park in Auckland – these ‘buried’ buildings have always intrigued me

Sidewalk mosaic with Polynesian style

Rangitoto Island – an Auckland icon that will always make me think of home

Auckland skyline from Doug Myer Robinson Park

And a couple of Kiwi foods that we don’t often see in Australia …
first Kumara (Kiwi sweet potato), and then Tamarillos (known as the Kiwi tree tomato)

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Freebies, Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010, Halloween, Waxing Moon Designs

One more wee pumpkin

28 September, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

Here’s another quickie that I’ve stitched over the last two nights, and which is now sitting in the finishing pile for when I come back from holidays:

“Boo Pumpkin” freebie by Waxing Moon Designs
stitched on 28ct Light Taupe Lugana
with recommended DMC & GAST threads
however, I used 2 strands of DMC for the stars instead of 1
to make them stand out more

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010, Halloween, Lizzie Kate, pinkeeps, Stitching Smalls

Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010

26 September, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

BeckySC has offered a challenge to post as many Pumpkin finishes as we can until 25 November as part of her Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010. While I may not be able to contribute too many by the cut-off date, I’ve already kitted up a dozen or so potential designs to take with me on holidays, so I should hopefully get at least another couple of small ones completed by then. And it’s a great motivation to get some Autumn and Halloween stitching done (Halloween stitching would seriously have to be my all-time favourite theme to stitch, if I had to choose one). I have loads and loads of designs that include pumpkins, so this is a really fun challenge to participate in 🙂

While I’m not stitching pumpkins yet, though, I did find a Halloween stitch from earlier in the year that contains a wee pumpkin, so I decided to sit and finish it into a pinkeep today so I add another “finish” into the challenge. Don’t you just love the “Boo!” ribbon? We found this at a local craft show last year 😀 Unfortunately, I only own one Halloween fabric which is really crappy, so I haven’t shared the backing fabric with you … I really, REALLY need to order some Halloween fabrics from the USA, so I can do some more finishing! Plus I really need to turn some pinheads lime green! 😉

And now it’s time to get back to catching up on TV viewing while I potter around and do housework … and start packing for my upcoming holiday 😀

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010, Halloween, Mirabilia

Happy dancing before bedtime

19 September, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

I was trying my hardest to get this piece finished on Saturday, but alas it is now 1.10am on Sunday morning and I’ve just put the final beads on, so I didn’t quite make it! But it doesn’t matter, ‘cos regardless I’m doing one HUGE happy dance for this one! 😀 I couldn’t wait until tomorrow for decent daylight to take a photo – it looks much better in real life 😀

“Halloween Fairy” by Nora Corbett
(from Cross-Stitch & Needlework magazine)
Stitched on 28ct hand-dyed Desert Sky linen by Silkweaver
with recommended DMC threads and Mill Hill beads

Finishes, Halloween, Just Nan, Works in Progress

Happy Dance

22 May, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

Yay, I finally have a happy dance with my finish of Just Nan’s Ghastly Ghostly Ghouls. It’s taken me a while to finish this one, but it was fun stitching – and I ADORE the little coffin charm that opens up to show a little skeleton inside … too COOL 😀

“Ghastly Ghostly Ghouls” by Just Nan
stitched on 28ct Cashel linen tea-dyed by myself
with DMC threads and Just Nan coffin embellishment

Seeing as we still had the double-banger finale of Dawson’s Creek to watch last night while I’d reached the happy dance part of my stitching, I ran into my room and grabbed a kitted up ornie that was within arm’s reach, so I made a small start into this one as well. This is being stitched on a hand-dyed sparkly Lugana I got in a grab-bag from somewhere (had to be either Silkweaver or Countrystitch). I may be anti-social in my bedroom today and catch up on a bit of ‘Anne TV’ (ie that Katie doesn’t watch), and get this one finished. Then I need to finish off my scissor pocket exchange ready for posting this week.

I need to remember to try and take some decent photos of Lizzie*Kate’s Boo Club this weekend so I can roll it away until I turn it into a quilted wallhanging. I don’t have any fabric that’s suitable (Halloween fabric over here is pretty impossible to find in good prints), so that might take a while. I may end up just giving in and using some complementary plain fabrics, but there’s no hurry for this one to be finished for a while yet.

The rest of the weekend will be spent taking Katie shopping to buy a TV and TiVo for her room, and just generally being lazy. Work is so exhausting during the week I almost need boring mindless weekends to keep my sanity in check!

Cricket Collection, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Halloween, Lizzie Kate

Halloween & Acorns

17 April, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

My Lumix came out of hiding late last night, so after charging the battery up during the day I can finally take some decent photos of my stitching again – of course I have to take my photos in the evening in crappy light so they’re not ‘quite’ as good as they could be, but still a helluva lot better than my scanner! In saying that, here are my latest two finishes, hot off the press:

“Hocus Pocus” by Lizzie*Kate
stitched on 32ct Parkland hand-dyed linen by Silkweaver
with DMC threads (except the pumpkin “O” and purple in WDW)

“Isn’t it the Truth?” freebie by The Cricket Collection
stitched on 32ct Flax Belfast linen
with DMC threads

Followed by another small WIP I started today – and as seems to be the ‘norm’ of late, I need to pick out the remaining threads from other kitted up projects before I can finish it … I’ll give the design details etc once it’s finished.

Alas today I missed a catch-up with my favourite Sydney girls, due to another commitment – I spent the morning at ‘our’ hairdressers (Katie now comes with me to my hairdressers and we have a full-on girlie session every 6 weeks now), where we both had haircuts and I had a manicure and pedicure (gotta love the bright vamp red nail polish I’m now sporting!), while Katie had a pedicure and facial – we followed that by a $10 lunch at the local pub where we sat outside with a beer and watched the world go by on a stunningly beautiful Autumn day … we finished that off by picking up a bottle of wine (for me – beer for Katie) and came home to watch the first episode of the new season’s Flash Forward while sampling our purchases. All-in-all a really really lovely way to start the weekend … now I’m about to sit in front of the gogglebox in my bedroom with some stitching (not sure what yet, but possibly another needleroll or scissor fob freebie), and watch the latest two episodes of ER (LOVE ER), Cold Case, The Mentalist and House … heaven 😀