Quoth the Raven

 

First finish of spooky season! This is Nevermore Raven by Quaternion Creations from the 2024 Just Cross Stitch Halloween Special Issue (also available in the designer's Etsy shop). I chose a darker fabric than the model because I wanted that beautiful moon to really show up well. I also added a little spark of color to the leaf.

Fabric: 28 ct. Storm, Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie

Moon: GAST Ohio Sky

Raven/Nevermore: GAST Onyx

Branches: GAST Wood Trail

Leaf: CC Colonial Copper

Happy Summerween!

 

If you are a fellow Summer Sufferer and spend June, July, and August longing for all things cool and crisp and autumnal, this design is for you! This is Jack-o-Melon by The Stitch Crypt (Etsy), stitched with the recommended DMC on lime green Lugana. Such a cheerful, unique little design. It's very summery, but with a spooky twist!

Speaking of summer, I'll be glad to write this one off. We were both sick (he in June, I in July), which is extremely unusual. We both get sick maybe once every four years or so, and even then it's never at the same time. I hadn't been sick since December of 2019, so I was overdue. Anyway, that messed up some summer plans we had, and also threw me behind with stitching and finishing projects, and that's most annoying! Last week I spent about five hours doing project prep for a bunch of stuff I want to stitch, so now I can just pick up a new project as soon as I finish one and keep going. I am in desperate need of a finishing marathon. Maybe Labor Day weekend? We'll see.

Meanwhile, sneak peek of an almost-finish! 

Happy Stitching!

A Spooky Halloween Door

 

A Halloween finish, fully finished, in time for Halloween! Can we believe it? No, no we cannot! When I picked up the Just Cross Stitch Halloween issue this year, this spooky little door was the first design that caught my eye. I found several more, and for the first time in years, I bought the issue. I didn't know if I would have time to stitch any Halloween, let alone do any finishing, but I managed it and I'm so happy with how it turned out!

As usual, I made a few small changes you can see below. I left off the spiders and the stoop, and changed the house number to 1931, the year the original Dracula movie was released. I stitched mine with the recommended DMC on 32 count Confederate Grey linen.

I've had this little thing in my finishing stash for a few years. I got it at Michael's, with no specific project in mind; just thought it might come in handy some day.

I gathered up some more supplies for my Halloween door from a couple of Etsy shops (links at the end of this post) and got a stick from my yard.

Look at this adorable wee kitten!

Finally, I took a hacksaw to this dollhouse window (from Hobby Lobby a few years ago, tucked away in my finishing stash) and made a fanlight, painted it black and backed it with yellow fabric.

And there we have it! A spooky Halloween door guarded by a sleepy little black kitten. 

Hope y'all have a happy and safe Halloween! (I may have overdone it on the candy, but in my defense, we didn't get to celebrate last year.)

Supplies:

Kitten

Oak leaf garland, pumpkins, door mat

Halloween Fever & Faking Fall & Werewolves

I'm back! Thank you so much for all the well wishes for my back injury. I'm pretty much all recovered and doing normal things, just being a little more careful as I can still feel that little twinge, especially when moving in certain ways. It's been over seven years since my last back injury, so I guess I was overdue.

A while back, the gal working the Chick-fil-A drive through and I were commiserating about missing fall (she's from Maryland) and I showed her the fall wreath I had just bought. She said, "We gotta fake it til we make it!" Yep. I put up my new wreath, and it looks pretty, but man... I am missing real fall. I've also been bitten by the Halloween bug. I'm not quite finished with Christmas Open House stitching, but I made the mistake (mistake?) of browsing Halloween designs on Etsy and ran across a couple of really cute ones I had to have. Those, together with the JCS Halloween issue I bought for the first time in years, have really got me having a fit to stitch Halloween. Can't right now, so the next best thing was to drag out most of my Halloween stitches and decorate! 

Y'all. Halloween has barfed on my shelves.

Grab your hot apple cider or your pumpkin spice whatever and snuggle in, cuz we got Halloween!

If you see something you'd like to know more about, click on the Halloween label at the end of this post, or in the right sidebar under "Labels". You may have to scroll a bit, but all of this stuff is there (some of the older freebies and designs may no longer be available). The instructions for the homemade display stands are in this post. 

So, I'm stitching Christmas, thinking about Halloween, and faking fall. And taking care of the werewolves...

...who are now pushing 13 pounds.

What?

Yeah, I have no idea how we adopted two teeny tiny, super fragile, underweight babies and ended up with two girls built like bobcats, but here we are. They're not fat, either; they're just... big. 

That's the long overdue update from my house. Hope you're all well, and enjoying fall, and stitching away on whatever makes you happy. Fingers crossed I can get my Christmas stitching done and squeeze in some Halloween (because I clearly don't have enough)! Wish me luck!

Happy Stitching!

Happy Halloween!

 

Still busy in the sewing room! Here are a few more finishes. I just finished stitching these lovely cat's eyes, available here. Stitched on 28 ct. black even weave.

This is Happy Halloween by Silver Creek Samplers, mounted on a wooden plaque from Michael's and embellished with a bit of a branch from our yard and some wooden leaves. My notes on stitching this are in this post.

And here is a wee fox ghostie! Isn't he cute? From this Etsy shop and stitched on 28 ct. PTP Dawn.

From my previous post, more pics of these finishes, just because I think they're pretty.

Happy Halloween, Happy Stitching... and On To Christmas!

Fall Finishing & Framing (& Enabling)

I have been playing in my sewing room! Prepare to be enabled!

Squirrel freebie from The Blue Flower

Fancy Pumpkins is available here. (NOTE: I purchased mine from Etsy but the shop owner has since moved her business to her own website. I have not purchased from this website. ALSO: My changes to this design are in this post.)

Halloween Kitties, from an Etsy shop that is unfortunately no longer available. Stitched on PTP Dawn.

Fall Mandala available in this Etsy shop as a set of four seasons.

Spooky Village pulled from Halloween Quaker by Lila's Studio, stitched on 32 ct. PTP Murky.

Back to the sewing room! My finishing & framing sprees are few and far between and I have to make the most of them before life intervenes and I have to go do more "important" things, like... everything. Play whenever you can, y'all!

Happy Stitching!