Hallowe'en Trick or Treat Blog Hop

Happy Halloween!
It's time for Jo's of Serendipitous Stitching - Halloween Blog Hop! It's my first time to join the fun and this post is brought to you by the letter:

 

 That's a capital "I," as in "I" know it's blurry and "I" don't have much large alphabet stitches, "I" apologize.
Anyway, I've been wanting to join since last year but didn't have enough Halloween finishes then. Needless to say, I can't be satisfied with a spectatorial role anymore, haha. 
This is my latest finish (just last week!)

 

 Away We Ride

by Blackbird Designs

16ct. tea-dyed Aida

Shades of gray on the neverending border

Not spooky? This piece actually gave me a fright. More than the panic of trying to finish before the hop. Courtesy of my DH as usual... Proud as I am upon completing the task, I held it in front of him, "ta-da!" He looked at it and recited "Away we ride till it's dark as pitch, to find A home FOR the wicked witch." Aaahhh! Goodness, I thought my eyes would fall out. Since when have we decided to do social work for witches?

Here's another one made early this year:

 

 Pumpkin Hollow Farms

by Little House Needleworks

14ct. antique white Aida

And here was last year's: 

The Branch

(Come with me All Hallow's Night)

by Barbara Ana Designs

16ct. natural Aida

 There you have it, I'm a Halloween Hop virgin no more! So run along now, your next letter is from Leonore of Needle, Pen & Sword. Have fun!

Thanks for visiting!

Just the Sea Life

Hello friendly bloggers. 
Another weekly post, really wanted to stitch and post and read more but didn't have much spare time (and energy) after work, been busy lately, sigh:(
I'm only showing the Sea Life progress here. But don't be fooled, for I did a happy dance this week (despite aching legs and feet!), which you get to see next post (the finish, not the feet!) Oooh, I'm excited.
So here's Sea Life and all the blues in it:

 

 The blues provided a relaxing break from all the grays on my latest finish (hint, hint!). I'm spending time this weekend on the neglected WIP - Read Between the Lines, while digging some flosstube I've missed the past two weeks, I hope I can catch up with blog reading too (while stitching? haha). I have also tweaked my wishlist recently in time for holiday stashing. Looks like a Sampler year ahead...

Thanks for visiting. Happy Stitching!

Weekly post

Hello blog friends. It's been a week since I last posted.
Will try to keep up with the reading too. But there was definitely lots of stitching done.
Look who decided to pay me a visit at the stitching spot:

Santa's back!  You can see how long he's been off here. I put in the gray smoke and light green on his blanket first, then proceeded with the abominable snow - white! I'm using B5200 instead. I purposely made the picture dark so the white can be seen - it's on the houses, trees and the ground, still lots to go:

Prairie Schooler's Christmas Eve

Next up is Sea Life by Lanarte:

I got carried away with that lighthouse. Still saved white stitching for last. I finished the starfish and wait, I changed something on the bottom left:

The chart had 3 fishes in backstitch next to the lighthouse. It felt mediocre to me. So I found one in the book that met my impeccable taste, LOL.

Aside from stitching, I continued thinning more magazines. I'm feeling more guilty than ever for stashing and not stitching some wonderful designs inside. 

This one is calling out to me more than the others:

Here's the thing though, I'm not a coffee drinker. But I do sip tea once in a while. I'm also thinking of making one in blue. Aaah, plans... 

Ooh, I almost forgot, I've been stitching overtime on my Halloween WIP, I definitely see that flicker of light at the end of the tunnel, yes, just what's left of the border and the windows then it's another happy dance!

Thanks for visiting. Happy Stitching!

Sea Life

Hello blog friends. 
A rainy afternoon we had and now it's raining again, setting the mood for more stitching! Thanks so much for the kind comments on my latest finish (with my Christmas story too!)

I'm dedicating this weekend to Away We Ride, which you get to see on Halloween, hopefully that it gets done by then (such a tall order for a short stitcher). I can only tell you that I've moved on from the grays and browns for now. I'm doing Mulberry and next will be an orange hue, how exciting!

But during the work week I had two pieces on the table. My new start, which I'm rather enjoying than the second WIP. Here is the dark picture:

 

 Sea Life 

by Lanarte

16ct. White Aida

This is how it should look when done:

 Let me repeat that- "should look". Again, I'm planning to do some changes along the way. The booklet showcases more patterns, and there are some neat elements I really like to add on this one.
Here's the other WIP, Read Between the Lines:

 

 

 I know it looks boring, I felt bored stitching those lines too. But as much as possible, I'm trying to finish that stuff first:(
This is all for now. I hope you're all having a lovely stitchy weekend.
Thanks for visiting. Happy Stitching! 

A start and a finish

Hello friendly bloggers.
It's happy stitching progress and finish since I've last posted. I guess regular readers could guess what that finish is, so I'll reserve that to the end.
Here's the start I've been yapping about last week. I may have confused you, it's not another Christmas piece but was part of my haul last Christmas (yep, the presents for myself). I've added more blocks on it now, so it's no longer shy to pose for the camera (sorry it's not straight because it's on the bed):

 

 Read Between the Lines

Blue Ribbon Designs

16ct. Ivory Aida

And now for the main event,

Ta-da! 

 Prairie Stars

(all stitched together)

Prairie Schooler

14ct. White Aida

I wasn't quite happy with the Santa face backstitch, but what else can I do. I'm just glad all the blocks fit together though they are not all of same size. They are strategically placed for my story though, here goes (just follow each block):

The yuletide season is in full bloom (the flower), and Santa is ready with his presents for all the nice kids (but the sack looked more like a tiny Christmas tree). So when nighttime came (there's the moon, so it really is nighttime), he summoned his reindeer (who's just dancing in the snow) so they can start spreading Christmas Joy. Meanwhile, little kids have already hung their stockings (just two?), and when the last embers have died, Santa went down the chimney (again with his sack that looked like a tiny tree). This he did and finished all in one night while everyone was at the midnight mass. But lo and behold, when they arrived home, they found Santa left his boot too filled with more goodies (yep, that's a shoe right?).

And that, my friends, is why I'll never be a storybook writer, nor even a greeting card writer, haha. I'll stick with stitching.

Hey, there's more. I won't be posting any more progress on my Halloween piece. I hope I can complete that before Halloween so you'll see it on that day (pressure, pressure). So this blog will be boring if you'll only see one WIP, fear not, I have picked up another start! It's something nautical.

Thanks for visiting. Happy Stitching!

2 WIPs

Hello again stitching buddies.

"Prairie Stars" is back on the stitching table:

 

 I have stitched the blue on the Church block and currently doing Ecru. I had to buy an extra skein today. 

 I hope that this will be finished by next post...

 I also added more on Away We Ride, the brown on the house:

 

I have started the new pattern I told you about last time. I will be taking a photo of it once there's significant progress, right not it's just two blocks in. 

Here's more, I just dug up an old WIP (not really that old). What could it be? It's either lacking backstitch or light colored stitching (white!) When I looked at it, I thought, what was I thinking, it's almost a finish for me. So tune in next time.

Thanks for visiting. Happy Stitching.

Away We Ride

Hello blog friends.
Not much stitching since going back to work.
Just a little progress on Away We Ride, at least I already have A Witch (in words, haha).

 

  Not much progress, right? I have, however, chosen a new pattern to start. It's from the Christmas haul last year. I already have the fabric, a 16count Aida, and taken out the necessary floss, Iwill be doing the DMC conversion. I still need to put gridlines though. 
Thanks for visiting. Happy Stitching!

WIPs update

Hello sweet blog friends.
October already?!?.. and tomorrow I'm going back to work (sigh😔
I could have started a new piece after finishing "Record" but decided against it (frankly, I can't make up my mind what to pick🤔. The new Mirabilias are already out of the equation, I won't be able to concentrate on anything else if I start one of those. While weighing my options, I stitched on my two current WIPs:

 

 I wonder if I will be able to finish Away We Ride before Halloween... I love the pattern don't get me wrong, but the grays are weighing down on me that I keep going back to Prairie Stars' attractive colors...

 

 

Just some blues on the Church background and then it's all Ecru, then a little bit of backstitch. So it's going to be Ecru or Gray stitching from here on... or I'm choosing a new start pronto, haha, we'll see...

Thanks for visiting. Happy Stitching!