Better Late than Never . . . . A WINNER!

A big thank you to everyone who left such complimentary messages on my last post! ~ they all mean a great deal to me xxx

A very BIG apology for the delay in posting a winner of my 'Little Owl' kit but AOL very kindly decided to close our Intenet connection down on Monday without any reason or notification to us and after some very long and heated telephone conversations (steam literally coming out of DH's ears) and a 3-day duration of no internet we have now received an apology and normal service has been resumed so without any further ado . . . . .

Sixteen entries . . . . .

Tilly ~ please pick a winner . . . . .

Number 1 ~ Crystal ~ Midnight Stitcher

With no internet available on Monday my random generator AKA Tilly decided ticket number 1 was rather tasty so Twin II and I had fun and games trying to rescue the piece of paper before having to unfold the other 15 to see which one had nearly been eaten ~ success!

Crystal please let me know address info and I will get this in the mail to you as soon as I can.

Now, down to stitching.

  As I said in my last post, 4 spooky stitches have been waiting for completion and again with no internet

connection and time to spare I squeezed a fifth in!

First up is 'Fright Turn' by Lizzie*Kate from her Halloween Highway collection stitched on 28-ct Antique White evenweave fabric with my choice of Gentle Art threads.  The star is stitched in Madeira gold metallic thread and the pumpkin fabric was from my recent fabric stash addition with brown ric rac and bronze seed beads to finish:

Next is another Lizzie*Kate design ~ 'Hats Off To Halloween' which I stitched last month.

I stitched this on 28-ct Sand Minster linen again with my choice of Gentle Art threads and have used a spider fabric to finish as a pillow:

A small design next but really cute and love its smiley face!

This is 'Itty Bitty Pumpkin' by Twisted Threads which I stitched on 28-ct Natural Linen with the suggested DMC threads.  Sorry, but yet again I finished it as a small pillow with pumpkin coloured fabrics and a raffia decoration pinned at the bottom:

'Spooky Row' by Bent Creek was another piece stitched last month and due to its size I was a little unsure what to do as a finish so a wall hanging seemed to be the best idea and 'at long last' I hear you say it's something different from a pillow finish!

I found some nice black fabric with white spots which I used for both the back and front and added some tabs at the top for hanging but found it also looks good hanging from the mantlepiece over the fire with candles sitting on the tabs holding it in place.  I added some self-cover buttons to each corner with the orange fabric used in Itty Bitty Pumpkin and they match the stitched pumpkins in the design perfectly!

And finally (hope you're still there?) a small design using two patterns from cross stitch books ~ Boo and a Black Cat.  I coffee-stained some 28-ct white linen and stitched the design in just black DMC, frayed the edges, gave the kitty 2 silver seed beads for eyes, added 4 small purple buttons with matching ribbon at 2 corners and a loop to hang and finished ~ yep! you guessed! ~ as a pillow with the same fabric as Spooky Row above.

That's me done for Halloween!  I an now in knitting mode and have just started a chunky knit cushion cover which is done on 10mm needles so literally grows before your eyes.  Knitted cushion covers in natural colours are very much in fashion here at the moment but they can cost as much as £45 (ouch!) so with this pattern only needing 3 balls and costing only £12 this is a great saving but a great temptation for Tilly who's decided to move on from eating my Gentle Art threads and feels a balls of wool is much tastier!

Take care everyone, Happy Halloween to you all for the 31st and until next time:

HAPPY STITCHING

xxx

AUTUMNAL TRIO

After almost 4 weeks since my last post I'm finally back into full swing again and the troublesome tooth is behaving itself and the rotten cold long gone.

My stitching mojo has waivered a little recently and no large projects have seen light of day but a trio of Autumnal stitches, all quick and easy are now complete . . . .

The two owls, both the same, are the 'Little Owl' Blackwork design which I had in kit form.  I didn't fancy stitching them in the black thread provided or on the 14ct Aida so the top one is stitched in DMC chocolate brown on cream 28-ct linen and the bottom one in DMC autumn tones on natural 28-ct linen with wooden buttons for his eyes.

Both are pillow finishes with decorative braiding to match the thread/fabrics used.

This was my first attempt at blackwork stitching and I really enjoyed it which is why I stitched the same design twice, I'm tempted to stitch a third owl with White Whisper thread and give it a Snowy Owl effect, maybe save that idea for a Christmas finish!

If anyone fancies having a go at stitching this cute little owl then I have the unused kit to pass on, I always work from a photocopy (just in case of 'coffee' spillages ~ yep! it has happened!) so the kit is complete ~ just leave a comment on this post and I will draw a winner next Monday, 25th.

This little fellow is a Quaker Hedgehog freebie and I stitched him with Gentle Art Sampler 'Sable' on a piece of 14ct mottled AIDA fabric.  Again he is a pillow finish with a caramel wavy striped fabric which reminds me of woodgrain and has 4 little buttons to complete (pictures do enlarge if you click on them!)

Temperatures here in England now definitely tell us Autumn is here and I've finally given in and the central heating is on and doing its job!  The past few days have been lovely and bright and are perfect for stitching but the nights are really, really chilly and next weekend on Halloween night will see the clocks go back 1 hour and the evenings dark by 6pm.

Halloween already?  I have 4 completed stitches and none of them finished to hang up or display so guess that's my next job or they'll be sitting in 'that' draw until next year.

Thank you for stopping by, I'm well behind with reading your blogs but it's Half-Term next week so I hope to catch up with you all then.

HAPPY STITCHING . . . .

SYMPATHY PLEASE!

Firstly a huge thank you to everyone who wished me better after my raging tooth infection, unfortunately my tooth wasn't listening and I was back at the dentist on the following day and prescribed stronger antibiotics with root canal treatment booked in for that Wednesday. 

Still my tooth didn't listen and despite numerous injections to numb it still it raged on so I had antibiotics injected as a last resort (still with me or if you're anything like me out for the count when it comes to injections and needles) and thankfully this worked BUT made me throw up so back I went on Friday and another concoction prescribed and thankfully it has now settled and I have a week off before returning.

So instead yesterday I went down with a rotten cold and have now been up since 2am with a high temperature, continual runny nose and my usually very controlled asthma has made an unwelcome appearance too!!!

Yep, I'm feeling very sorry for myself (lots of aahhs please) and Tilly has missed her fun playtimes whilst I've moped around . . .

Tilly, we need something to cheer us up . . .

and Lesleyanne (Lesleyanne's Life of Stitches) did exactly that with a RAK delivered by the Postie on Tuesday morning

Lesleyanne had contacted me to say she had something in her stash which although she loved would probably never get round to stitching and it was screaming my name at her ~ Bunnies Galore by Brittercup Designs, it couldn't have been more perfect, I love it and it's taken position high up the 'to-do' pile once my Autumn and Halloween stitchies are complete ~ thank you so much Lesleyanne, bunnyhops and smiles all round xxx

Sleeping seems to be something I once did a long time ago and having such a painful mouth meant it even hurt to put my head on a pillow so I've burnt the midnight oil (and much beyond) on many nights recently stitching Spooky Row by Bent Creek . . .

It's over 2ft wide so not easy to photograph hence the extra 2 pics below :

I stitched this on 28count natural linen with DMC threads rather than GAST and have a few ideas what to do for a finish but will leave that for a later post.

I managed to have an afternoon out with DH on Monday, it was our 24th Wedding Anniversary but after feeling so low recently we are going to have belated celebrations at a later date when I will be able to have a glass or two and actually eat something so instead we went stash hunting and did really well :

Autumnal and Halloween fat quarters and ric a rac

Green felt for pumpkin making, a Halloween sign with paints (meant for kiddies but as I'm the biggest one of them in our family!) and some gingham ribbon

AND

3 cross stitch books, all in perfect condition and never used for the fantastic price of £1 (who could resist?)

The weather is horrible here today and noticeably much colder but the leaves are turning those gorgeous shades of Autumn and I now don't need an excuse to light the fire in the lounge at night!

I'm off to renew my Passport tomorrow and need a new photograph ~ I look like Rudolph with my sore red nose at the moment and the gang are all laughing at me ~ still I'll only have to live with it for another 10 years!!!

HAPPY STITCHING . . . 

'HAPPY DANCES' BUT WHO ATE THE SOOT ???

 This was such a fun, easy stitch and I can't believe how quickly I was able to celebrate with a spooky happy dance!  I love the black cat peering out with its green eyes and the pumpkin coloured hat is my favourite!

Lizzie*Kate - 'Hats Off To Halloween' stitched on 28ct Sand Minster Linen

 with my choice of Gentle Art Sampler Threads

I didn't have all the exact colours listed on the chart so used some similar and some of my own choice and not having enough 'Purple Iris' for the writing I chose 'Soot' instead, plenty of that one . . . . at least until I got to the 2 letter e's in the word 'Halloween' and this was all I had left . . . who's nibbled the Soot?

If I curl up in my wooden tunnel she probably won't notice me . . .

If I disguise myself with hay she may not notice . . . .

And I camouflage well with the kitchen floor so that's always a good option  . . .

but I was there stitching with Mum at the time and it did look tempting so I only ate one length of it, how was I to know?

Tilly, you pickle!  I just had enough to complete the lettering, if it had been 'celery' or 'spring grass' I could have understood!!!

So with my threads and fabric under threat now I need a new stitching pal and with huge thanks to Cath (The Stitchin' Chicken) that's what I now have . . . .

Cath was celebrating her blog birthday with a giveaway and this cute Stitch Pal was her prize.  I lost my best stitching pal a little while ago, my lovely Buttons, so whilst I get Teabag, sorry Tilly into shape (DS was telling a friend about her on the phone and he misheard him and thought we had called her Teabag!) this is my new partner.  Cath also sent me some crafting scissors, always a necessity to me and she had stitched this cute little bunny which has a pink fabric on the reverse with a bunny holding a big bunch of carrots!  It has a lovely pink ribbon attached and I shall use it to keep my cross stitch needle safe ~ I have hundred of needles but I always use the same one and if it goes missing or I drop it it's everyone on the hunt to find it!!!

Thank you so much Cath, this was the first giveaway I'd ever entered and I was so thrilled to win it.

Another quick and easy Happy Dance this week was Pine Mountain's 'Tie One On' Kit ~ October.

I can't find the pillow form to go with it anywhere here in England so I think I will have to make one of my own but I love the big black ribbons on the sides, they will look great when they're tied in bows ready for the witching season.

I haven't stitched since Thursday as I've been in complete agony with an abscess on my tooth.  After being up all of Wednesday night, my Dentist was really good and saw me the next day and prescribed antibiotics for 5 days . . . . it's the first time today, since then, that I actually feel more comfortable with it and back to myself, don't think I've every felt pain like it and not being able to eat or drink (what's the weekend without a glass or two of wine?) hasn't helped!  DH and the gang have said they will cook the dinner tonight so I can catch up on some sewing (aahhh, how sweet even if I probably won't be able to eat it!) 

HAPPY STITCHING . . .