Slow Sunday Stitching with Flosstube overtones...

Hello everyone... hope your summer is progressing nicely. We actually had a string of days with lower humidity where I could open the windows... it was lovely. The temperatures went back up but it isn't as bad as before...or I'm getting use to it...I keep reminding myself that at least I'm not in Modesto, CA... lived there for 3 years back in the late 80s... there were 2 seasons...hot and hotter than Hell... the day we moved it it was 106...the day we moved out it was 110...and my memory is that it didn't get much cooler any time in between...ok that is a bit of an exaggeration...we did have a "winter" there one year. Temperatures got down below freezing for a couple of days and in the neighborhood I lived in there were no basements. The water pipes were PVC and the came out of the ground under the tiny crawl space beneath the house... along with everyone's sprinkler systems these pipes froze and burst. There wasn't a piece of PVC pipe to be had anywhere in the city for a week. Luckily we protected our pipes... a light bulb under a cardboard box over the juncture to the house and we the only ones on our street with running water for days....and how in the heck did I get to this story??? Oh well ...lets talk about stitching...okay??

I have gotten several projects stitched...and several are the result of projects I saw on Flosstube... I enjoy watching and somehow I think I've seen everything stitchy that is out there and then BOOM!!!..there is a chart I've never seen before and I MUST have it... this is one of them...

All Hallow's Eve by Lizzie Kate... I came across this one as a result of watching the Flosstube videos of Pam & Stephanie from Just Keep Stitchin....which lead me to the Facebook group of Pumpkin Seed Stitchers...lov'e the little mouse  at the bottom left...used Weeks Onyx and a piece of 32 ct. linen  I had painted and smushed and over dyed... I think the purple spots look like bruises...LOL..I think I'll finish this as a little pillow with either rickrack or pompom around the edges.

And one thing lead to another...(doesn't it always???) and I found another little freebie on The Silver Needle's Free Charts page... Spooky Time by Lizzie Kate...

The chart called for little stacked button to make the eyes but I have these googly eyes in my craft stash and I think they will be perfect. I have an idea to finish this as a little candy corn shaped pillow...got the idea from my friend, Heidi... should be cute to tuck into my Halloween displays.

I was able to finish all the stitching on my Autumn Welcome by The Drawn Thread...

this piece is so PRETTY!!! if I say so myself...and I do!! Here are some close-ups...

Not as many decorative stitches in this one ...which is fine... just some satin stitch acorns and half Rhodes mounds on the basket.  I already ordered the Halloween version of the Welcome and the Winter version too. I will finish this one like I did Summer...simple fabric mat and then mounted on a piece of wood.  Details: 32 ct linen... Rit Teal dye smushed in a mason jar...my own floss conversion from the silks...Gentle Arts and Weeks.


And somewhere on the internet or Flosstube or Instagram or Pinterest I saw this Bent Creek chart...Spooky Row...

And I had to have it ... my version...just started this one on Friday... stitches up quickly as I've spent a lot of time watching Flosstube...which is only going to lead me to something else, isn't it???

a close up ...

I painted this 32 ct linen with Rit Neon Green and Lemon Yellow. I had smushed dyed another piece and it was very deep dark olive green... cool looking but not  working for all the dark stitching on this chart... I'll use it for something else... I've also come to the conclusion that as much as I want to use ALL the colors of dyes that I have, I really should limit it in most cases. I forget that while the piece of linen looks great I will be stitching over it and a busy background is not usually a good idea for cross stitch. Live and learn and then overdye your mistakes...that's my new dyeing motto!!! LOL

So while I'm working on this piece Flosstube has lead me to snag these 2 projects I'm adding to my list...

I know this is a blurry pic but it is the best one I can find on the web... this is from Not Forgotten Farms and appeared in the 2013 Halloween issue of Just Cross Stitch magazine. Pam & Stephanie made me aware of this issue and I tracked it down as a digital download on Annie's Craft Store which you can see here.  This is a great deal... I paid $8 and was able to immediately access and print off this chart. There are several cute cute cute pieces in this issues so it was a bargain.

And then I saw this piece  by Heart in Hand...Halloween Parade...on Flosstube...do we see a pattern here? I should stop watching shouldn't I? Ain't gonna happen...LOL

I've tracked it down to both Stoney Creek and Everything Crossstitch...  now Everything Crossstitch has the chart but not the button pack...Stoney Creek has both...Everything Crossstitch is just up the road from me and I like to support local shops and I'm not sure if I'll stitch this as one piece or as individual motifs...if I do them individually I don't need the button pack...decisions, decisions...

So I'm full blown Halloween at the moment. I am looking forward to Fall ...but then I always do...it is my FAVORITE time of the year. Can't wait to get out all my Fall decor ...but first I need to get through August. My goal today is to put away the patriotic stuff and put out a bit of late summer...I'll reuse a lot of what I had out before but plan to add some sunflowers and chickens. I wish I had stitched more of the ladies I talked about in January (which is when I should be stitching summer stuff...sheesh)... next year I want an August display of ladies and chickens...some more Pineberry Lane pieces and that new Hen Peck one by Plum Street Samplers which you can see here.  And for more eye candy check out the new pieces from Brenda Gervais at With Thy Needle and Thread right here.  I order this last night...

Is this not ADORABLE????  Not sure how I'll finish it but I had to have it...

Soooooo.... now that I've dumped all these pics and links on you I shall mosey over to Kathy's Quilts to link up today... I want you to know that the Dude has been very diligent in his inspector mode... and I've passed all my tests...

hope you have a great week... I'm going to try to post tomorrow too... I worked a bit on the quilt I promised my son...not my choice of fabrics but I'm liking the pattern and he's happy so that's the important thing.

happy stitching-
carol fun