Halloween, Birthday and Get Well cards

Time for an end of fall stitching summary.  I forget about this blog since I post my finishes on IG, but the Thanksgiving holiday gave me some time to think about it!

First up is  "Checkers the Pumpkin"  an old  Pam Kellogg freebie from Kreinik  that you can still get here.  I stitched it all in DMC, no beads, on 36 ct linen 2 over 2.  He's a jolly little guy and I don't know why it took so many years for me to get around to stitching him.

I love the new little bowl top designs by Heart in Hand.  This is "Hocus Pocus Halloween", used for a card, not a bowl, but it works well for this purpose.  I like the addition of funky stitckers to the funky pumpkin.  

Although I tend to shy away from heavy back-stitching, I coudn't resist this Durene Jones freebie, "Happy Harvest".   It's done on 32 ct Lugana.  I sent it out somewhat before Halloween since it's more a fall design than a Halloween one.

The design is on FB and I don't think you need to be a member to access this link:
Free Chart

Here's another pattern that's been on my to-do list for years and I think it's ideal for a birthday card.  It's by Veronique Enginger from "Mode d'Hier et D'aujourd'hui au Point de Croix"  and stitched on light blue 36 ct linen.  Of course I wrote "Happy Birthday and all that jazz" as the inside sentiment.   The recipient loved it as I suspected she would.  It's a very clever design, don't you think?

A friend of mine took a fall recently and it ended in a very bad broken wrist.  I had this design stitched up and waiting for the right time to use it.  It became a get well card in a wink. The pattern is from "Douce Méditerranée"  and is a freebie on the Art du Fil FB page.  You can get it here.

Manic Mushroom, Halloween and Birthday Card

So I was once again totally charmed by Fairy Wool in the Wood.  I'm so pleased that a newer, fun designer like Cassandra had some good exposure in the Oct, 2017 issue of JCS.  I almost immediately grabbed a needle when I saw  this "Manic Mushroom"  Halloween ornament design.  It's quirky like all of her designs.  I hope you can see the expression on the face of that large mushroom after he has discovered that he's destined for the dinner table.

This is stitched on 32 count linen over-two.  I finished it up as a pouch for a 6" embroidery hoop.  The backing fabric is the same as the bottom fabric.  It's lined as all mine are and has a snap closure in the inside center. Turned out pretty good for me.. less wonky than some.

Durene Jones shares a freebie on her FB page every Friday.   For some reason, this particular  one caught my eye, even though the heavily back-stitched designs that are so popular in the UK are not to my taste so much these days.  This is called "Pumpkin Boy", but I think of this as a female character.   When I wrote a message on the inside of the card, I referred to her as "Pumpkinette".   I think I liked the way those vines twisted around her arms giving some kind of feather boa effect.  I wasn't sure I loved her after the stitching was complete, but the card showed her off and it's in the mail.  This is stitched over-two on 28 count Summer Khaki Cashel linen... easy on the eyes!

I think THIS LINK will take you to Durene's photos, with this chart included, even though you may not be FB member, but I'm not sure.

I needed a birthday card for an early November birthday girl.  I send a stitched card to this person every year and it gets harder each time to think of something different to stitch.   This time I selected a snippet from the free design,  Snowflower Diaries Pumpkins for Cathey. 

I'm not usually a fan of yellow, but it worked out well for this card I think.  It's stitched over-2 on 32 count linen.  

Assorted Cards

And the cross-stitch card machine rolls on.  Quick stitching, quick finishing.  About all I can handle during this time.

First up is this thank you card using a  modification of Snowflower Diaries "You are so Loved".
Basically I just took a partial chunk of the design to fit in the card space.   Her designs always look better in the hand-dyed threads she chose, but DMC is so much more convenient that I rarely go in for hand-dyeds.

 

 

Next we have a fang-tastic vampire duo from the Etsy shop "Crafty Like A Fox".  Easy stitching with no back-stitch and limited color palette.  Perfect for the couple who will be receiving it.  It seems that a lot of Etsy sellers are adopting this kind of modern look to their designs.  They seem to have that millennial, minimalist vibe.

 

Unfortunately, only a few months after the death of one of my beloved mentors and former employers,  another friend/mentor/former employer passed away.  I used another "Dear Rine" motif for a condolence card.  I hope I don't have reason to make any more these anytime soon.

 

I totally forgot to anticipate a friend's upcoming birthday so I did some diving into completed but not 'finish-finished'  designs to see what I could cobble together at the last minute.  This little design from "Cat's Whiskers" by Janie Hubble  filled the bill.  So tiny that I added some fabric trim.  The birthday boy was very appreciative.

And finally one more Halloween card that expresses my current state of mind.  This is "Just Batty" by Lizzie Kate, another very quick stitch.  I used seed beads for the boot buttons.  Seemed more proportionate.  The pretty brown and orange side ribbon and the adorable felt pumpkin sticker were given to me by our dear stitcher friend Carol of Stitching Dreams fame.   They were party of package she sent me that included assorted card making supplies and a cute note pad with matching stitcky notes.  Stitching friends are the best!

Hocus Pocus and Surprise Gifts

Taking a break from over-one stitching, I worked up a little piece for a Halloween card on 28-ct Cornflower Blue Jobelan over 2.   This design is from an old Shepherd's Bush freebie that is no longer free.  If you buy the 'Scary Sunflower' button that is meant to go in the upper left corner, then you get the pattern too.  I thought this pink button I had saved from an old sweater worked pretty well as a flower instead.  Not as scary as some Halloween designs, but I'm hoping it might work some magic for a couple of friends that are in need of a little cheer right now.

I'm almost done with the October Joyful World piece, but I decided not to wait for the finish, and instead do this post so I could show the lovely gifts I got from my longtime blogging buddy, Lee.   Lee had a giveaway for her recent blogaversary.  I didn't win that, but she decided to reward me anyway for being a long time commenter.   What a treasure trove of goodies she sent!

Lee has been working on woodland animal fobs this year and she sent me the most adorable owl.  Her work is always just exquisite and this fob is hanging from a cabinet nob now.  I just love it.

Next we have this assortment of charms and findings to use as embellishments.  Can you see the cute mouse among all these toys?  I actually thought it was a pig at first, but my eyes aren't what the used to be.

Still more... a lovely little notebook with a beautifully stitched floral cover, a vintage cookbook with designer recipes and charts, plus an owl-themed card.   I feel completely spoiled.  Thanks again, Lee.!

Secret Lair and SAL update

My eyes are just getting tired.  I can't seem to stitch very long at one sitting before they rebel.  Doesn't help that I'm at a computer screen for work all day and I've been very busy lately.  But I finally have couple of things to show and you know how good you feel when you have a finish finish.

I figured I better get a leg up on Halloween since I'm stitching so slowly.  I picked this Bent Creek "Secret Lair" design because that mad scientist is just so adorable, and the atom sign on the wall was so clever.  Love his tennis shoes.  I simplified some parts and made some color changes, but it's reasonably true to the original.   The fabric was a clearance piece of 35 ct linen from 123 stitch.  I had wanted to try Dames of the Needle linen, and this sale was a good opportunity.  It's a little stiff, but not bad after you stitch with it a while.  It definitely grew on me.  And I love the color, including the color name, "Peep's Lost Sheep".  I wasn't in the mood for getting very fancy with card making so the design will have to speak for itself.

And once again I got in under the wire to finish the September installment of the Joyful World SAL just before October gets released.  This was not one of my favorites, but now that I look at those two funky owls, I like it more than I realized at first.  I kept counting wrong and was in no mood for frogging either so there are a number of, shall we say, "adjustments" to the design.   Just hoping my eyes hold on for the last three installments to this SAL.

Cards for Q4

Haven't felt like doing much stitching or crafting lately.  I guess it's just time for a break.  Or else it's because I have been watching "Weeds" on DVD and it's taking my full attention.  I did manage to finish a couple of cards.

I was browsing through the Aug, 2015,  JCS magazine and noticed a design I had skipped over completely on my first pass.  It was too Christmasy for the types of things I stitch.  But when I looked closer, I saw that I could extract part of the design and make a pretty cool card.  It's the center of the Quaker Medallion by Giulia Manfredini.  I think the linen is 32 count HDF Pecan Butter or Bunny Brown from back in the day.  I wasn't expecting the cut-out window to look so much like a "D".  I guess I need to find a Diane, Dina, Doris or Danielle to give it to since it's much too girly for a Dan, Dean, David, or Dick.

For those of you planning a Halloween getaway, I think there is still room left at "Witch Inn" by Homespun Elegance if you dare to spend the night.  This design has been patiently waiting to be stitched for a year.

Both pics seem kind of blurry.  Too much light? Not enough?  Shaky hands?  Whatever....

Halloween Mermaid plus Ghoulies & Ghosties

Seems weird to me to be stitching Halloween designs in July, but the stitcher wants what the stitcher wants.   I saw this cute witchy mermaid stitched up on the Midnight Stitching blog.  There was no reference to its origin and I thought the blog owner had designed it.  I wrote to her and she quickly returned my e-mail to let me know this is part of the "Stranded Jacks" patterns by Plum Street Samplers.  I love the titles on Plum Street designs.. so inventive.  I couldn't wait to stitch it up.  The top photo is oddly blurry.  I guess my hand was shaky.. witches can be quite scary, at times.

I went for a stand-up finish.  It's only 3" on a side when completed so I can stand her right by my computer and glance at her from time to time.   The fabric is 18 ct hand-dyed aida from my long ago acquired Enchanted Fabric stash.   I made a braid out of three of the colors in the design.  Braided just like a hair braid with 2 full 6-strands lengths of each color.  That's much easier for me than doing twisted cord.   I usually sew on trim, but this time I glued it.  The little green ribbon hides the spot where the cord ends come together.  I definitely need to find a better way to handle that part.

Next I stumbled upon Lizzie Kate's "Ghosties & Ghoulies"  design. So cute and I wish the photo did justice to the card finish.  Again, the fabric is 18 ct hand-dyed Aida in a nice brown color and the mat card stock is true black like the ribbon trim.  The outer card is a cream color.  I picked that ribbon up in a clearance basket at A.C. Moore the last time I was there.  I knew it would work for a Halloween card of some sort.  This is the first time I tried wrapping the ribbon around the mat so the raw edges are hidden.  It was a bit bulky, but this ribbon was kind of stiff, so maybe a regular ribbon would have worked better.  At any rate, I like the effect.  I added one teeny star sequin on the left. Somehow that spot looked bare.

And now I'll get on my broom and fly back to July.

Haunting Love

I recently joined the "Pumpkin Seed Stitchers" group on Facebook for those who like to stitch Halloween designs.  Teresa Smith of T. A. Smith's designs created a piece for the group called "Haunting Love".  The design is monochrome, but I decided to do it in color.  It's just the sweetest piece.  A little bird flew in and landed unexpectedly on the upper right branch, but otherwise this is stitched from Teresa's chart.  Don't you love the little ghosties and the tiny mouse couple?

It's done in DMC (310,4140, 4045, 3746,4124,451,3045,317, and 4000) on a piece of Miek's hand-dyed fabric.  Love those color variations.  4000 is one of the newest colors and it made a great tree trunk.  I finished it up as a pin keep this afternoon.

Couple of pieces of good news to report:
First, the lost LHN "Needles and Threads" square for WOCS finally arrived!  It took one month to get from DC to Florida.  Those squares usually take 3 days to make that trip.  I could have walked to Florida in that time I think.  Hope the square had a nice world tour.  I'm so glad it didn't get lost forever!

Second, my partner and I won our summer tote bag in Jazzercise by attending the required number of classes during the summer.  The promo below shows the bag.  Our instructor was nice enough to give us some extra time to get all of our classes in.  I always think I don't care about these promotions and it's not why I go to class, but these incentives don't hurt!

And my dentist has once again reminded me that the war zone I call my mouth needs its quarterly attention soon.  Andy Warhol may be most famous for Marilyn Monroe and Campbell's Soup, but these toothbrushes make for great pop art!

Pouch, Halloween and Bookmark

My long-time stitching buddy, Hetti, received the little gift I made her to celebrate some good news in her life.  Hetti is one of the first stitchers from whom I received an exchange piece back in 2006.  Check out her blog if you don't know it.  Hetti has free designs and tutorials for all kinds of cute little x-stitch things.  I made her a little scissors case from the Pennsylvania Blossom design by Beth Seal.  This is a freebie for the Prim Stitchers Society members on FB.  The case is lined with a snap closure on the inside top.  Hetti seems to use red, white and blue a lot in her stitching, so I thought the cute polka-dot scissors would be perfect for her.  The case is large enough to hold some extras, so I added a few skeins of HDF silk floss as well.

Amazingly, the case turns out to fit her cell phone perfectly and she is now using it for that purpose as you can see below.  If I had been trying for that, I would never have made a case that fit that well.

Hetti's sister, Miek, likes to dye fabric and threads.  Making the scissors case reminded me of the beautiful hand dyed fabrics I have in my stash that Miek sent me some time ago.  I decided to make a couple of Halloween cards from one of the pieces.  The first is a design from the The Flossbox.  Zombies like to trick or treat too you know!

The second is an old freebie,  "Des Fillles et Halloween", by Nathalie of Jardin Prive.  Originally the design was available on this site, www.desfillesetuneaiguille.com.
I don't think it is there now.  It makes me think of a stylish version of the Shakespeare Weird Sisters.  Love those cinched in waists on the two end ladies.

And, while I was playing with the fabric, I grabbed this beauty and stitched a bookmark for WOCS from a design in "Bookmarks Galore" from Leisure Arts.  It was tricky to find something that would work with all of those colors, but i think this blended in quite well.

Fall, Halloween, Winter

A few assorted finishes to show today.  I finished one more cell phone case for WOCS.  This is based on a digi-stamp, 'Happy Harvest' by Doodle Garden.  Tried a different way to do the closure just using a fabric loop.  I think I like it better than elastic actually.

While I was packing up my finishes to send to WOCS, I remembered a little tea wallet I knitted some time ago, so I sent that too.  Nobody needs a special pouch to hold their teabags, but the pattern was too cute to pass up.   The free pattern is right here.

 

Next I finished a classic Mary Garry Halloween design.  I think I'll send it to a friend who has a brand new grand-daughter.  First Halloween ornmanent!  I was trying to do a crocheted border in black, but my eyes said no way.  So I substituted star sequins with beads and a running stitch. This is on 36 count linen.

I needed (needed?) and extra Halloween card, so this little Prairie Schooler witch filled the bill for a quick stitch.  I had planned to get more elaborate in the finishing, but I always seem to run out of steam for that when it comes time to actually do it.

Inside, I have the cutest vintage printable.  You can download it here.

And cold weather holidays will be here before we know it.  So when I happened to stumble on this Shepherd's Bush Warm Heart little Miss Snowlady, I just had to stitch it in anticipation.  She's just perfect for a neutral holiday card.  Oddly, she's wearing the colors of the Washington football team.  I guess that influenced me to stitch her as well.  The photo got cropped on the right.  For once, I did manage to get the circle centered in real life.

 I think it might be time to do a little knitting.  I always get the urge around this time of year, but after I do a little bit of it, I get bored and quickly return to x-stitch.  We'll see what happens.

Charming Ghost and Summer Splendor

We have a tale of two seasons today.  Ever since Maja of Snowflower Diaries entered the blogging and designing world, I've been wanting to stitch this little haunted house cutie.  And now I also want to make everything into a pinkeep too since I had success with the last one.  As you can see, I'm into experimental mode with the top bow.  Couldn't get the colors to show up right with my camera of course.  The fabric is a 36 ct linen in Rue Green which a really light blue-green shade although it looks very blue here.  The last photo is probably the closest to the real color. The dark color floss is Sassy's Fabbys Witches Brew.  I had some in my stash and thought this was the perfect use for it.  I just love that dreamy little ghost, right down to the eyelashes.. teeny straight stitches.  And the dark stems and leaves just add to the eerie quality of the little piece.  I used Comic Book cardboard for the inside of this one.  Felt like Penny in the Big Bang Theory Comic Book store when I went to shop for this.  Or more like Penny's adopted grandmother, but whatever.  The board is a bit sturdier than the Brownie Mix cardboard, but both work equally well for this I think.

And now back to our current season.  I saw this LHN Summer Splendor design on so many blogs that I grew attached to it.  Stitched it up as a little wall-hanging or mat. The border is not as wonky as it appears in the photo.  I used DMC floss with just a few minor changes in the colors. I wanted a little more contrast in the greens, and I picked a gold that showed up a bit better.  This is on 28 count Summer Khaki linen over-two... easy on the old eyes.

Halloween card and Ladybug Square

Not a lot of crafty things happening lately.   But I did get the urge to try making a card with an irregular cut-out frame.  And I wanted to try making little free-hand silhouettes to embellish it. Real card-making aficionados would be using a fancy die cutting machine for the embellishments or at least a craft knife.  I used whatever scissors was lying around.  When you are playing like you are in grade school, you just go with what you have.   The design is from Prairie Schooler, the 'Boo' mini-card.  It was just small and cute.  Plus Halloween has so many interesting motifs to use.  I think it turned out pretty well and I'm sure I'll be using this technique again.  Hope it doesn't scare you!

I finally finished a square for a ladybug-themed quilt.  I stumbled on this design in a folder of designs from magazines that I had saved before disposing of the issues.  Frankly, I rarely go back and stitch them so I guess it's a hoarding instinct.  In this case, I finally found a use for this cutie pie.  The design is from Cross Stitch & Needlework, May/June 2000.  That's a long time ago!  So many people have stitched a ladybug square that Bonnie, the quilter for World of Charity Stitching, plans to make two quilts.. one a 'silly ladybug' quilt which this one is destined for and one a 'realistic/elegant ladybug' quilt.

Thought you might like to see where some of these squares I've been stitching ended up.   Bonnie makes a lot of the quilts and the following three are ones she made.  She comes up with really interesting designs and she's fast as lightning.  You wouldn't believe how many of these she turns out.

Here is the teacup quilt that includes the Vermillion Poppy teacup on the right that I stitched:

Here is the birdhouse quilt with my Expect a Miracle square at the top center:

And finally, the lighthouse quilt with the square I stitched in the center:

You can see more WOCS projects on their blog.