Halloween Cards and Stocking Ornament

It's been a sad week here in the neighborhood.  The McDonald's closed!  That was our only remaining fast food burger place in the commercial district near my home.  I never went there a lot, but it sure was my security blanket.  A bathroom when my toilet wasn't working, a place to get coffee when my coffee maker failed, dinner during the derecho, excellent $1.00 plastic ice cream.  In the worst blizzard, I knew I could manage to at least crawl those two blocks. Some of those employees had worked there for years, and I sure hope they've found employment elsewhere. The lot is going to be redeveloped with new office space, and supposedly the McDonald's will return on the ground floor at the completion of the project in 2014.   I think I'll survive, but there will be an adjustment period. 

Three quick finishes to show on the stitching front.  Every time I see something adorable on a blog or Pinterest, I have to drop everything and stitch it up directly.  Especially since I can do a lot of the little ones right from the Nook without printing.

The first is a fabulous design by Erynne who has re-entered the blogging world as 'Stitcheree'.  She has generously shared some of her great designs with us.  This one is called Creepy Hollow and just begged to be stitched for a Halloween card.  I love that crazy moon and the little skulls on the house.  I re-worked it a little bit to replace the tombstone with a cauldron and I added a crow to balance out that side of the piece.  I had those eyelets for some time and the crop-a-dile turned them into quick embellishments.

 

 

I had printed out this little design by Maria del Valle at Alarttexx some time ago.   It was perfect for a circular cut-out to frame on a card.  A little bit of ribbon and a couple of stars was all I needed to touch it up.

 
This little quaker stocking design is from Zinaida at Hearty Craft.  I had it saved for a long time, but it just recently popped up on Pinterest and grabbed my attention.  This is  stitched on 35 count linen, a fairly loosely woven type so it was easy to sew up those curves and manipulate the fabric. I just used a little interfacing for stabilizer, but no added batting.  I sewed on a row of red beads along the top that don't show up all that well in the photo.  Super-quick finish and flat enough to mail in a regular envelope!