Some Halloween Stitching & Some Scary Stuff on Slow Sunday Stitching...

So I finally got all my Halloween decor released from its plastic prison bin and scattered it across the living room... picked up a couple of new pieces this year from Target's Dollar Spot and Hobby Lobby... nothing pricey... a wooden Frankenstein...a sparkly witch's hat...a little tombstone...and an eyeless bat that I gave sight to with googly eyes... I'm such a good person...LOL

On the stitching front I have a bunch of things to show... I really did get into the seasonal stuff this year and have several brand new pieces for Halloween...

This is my display shelf ...lots of Halloween goodies...

Starting at the top is my Bent Creek Spooky Row...

 

When I got this back from the framer I felt there was too much background showing and I thought about taking it out of the frame... instead I just "priscillafied" it and that helped a lot... the neon green Rit dye is really neon-y... in real life it almost glows... in front I have a sparkly broom I picked up at Target's Dollar Spot  (it was $3)  and I stuck in some miniature witches legs I got at Michaels...and I've used several sparkly spiders...not fond of spiders unless they are covered in sparkly stuff...

Moving down  I have my Prairie Schooler Trick or Treat that I stitched last year...and on the shelf below that I have Trick or Treat from With Thy Needle and Thread...

I used a frame I picked up at Target... it consists of a canvas covered insert that can be popped in and out of the wooden frame... I painted the frame black... it is about 10 inches square and can be found in their crafts aisle for about $8... added a bow of wired ribbon and a sparkly spider...

On the third shelf I have Matilda Hornbuckle from Not Forgotten Farms...stitched on sight blinding 40 ct... not doing that again...

I changed out the ribbon bow and added a button but that's all the "priscillafying" I thought this piece needed...that frame does it all... I'd like to do another piece that is just "fall-ish" to go into this frame but it is going to have to be smaller  stitch count so I don't have to stitch on 40 count ... that tiny count was not fun.

Over on the little yellow cabinet I have 2 more new Halloween finishes, both Lizzie Kate designs..

I'm very happy with how the Lizzie Kate Halloween ABC's turned out...

Just perched that sparkly spider up top ... I think that painted linen is enough...

And this little piece was a freebie...

I picked that frame up from Hobby Lobby... loved that it was already distressed in just the right colors... you can find that chart by asking to join the Facebook group Pumpkin Seed Stitchers.  You can find this and other freebies in the Files section.

I still have 2 smalls I need to sew into little pillows...don't think I'm going to stitch anymore Halloween this season even though I have several other charts ready to go...Oh I forgot to mention that the day after my rant I got an email saying my charts were on their way... the package arrived on Thursday of that week... it was missing one of the two charts I had ordered...arghhh...it took another couple of days for the 2nd chart to finally get here... the whole transaction too over 4 weeks to complete and my credit card was charged within minutes of my placing the order... not doing business there again.

Along with all the cross stitch I've  put out decor from previous  years...  the centerpiece on my dining room table...

I found the little card that says "spooky" and the picture of Edgar Allan Poe  in a pack of scrapbooking ephemera... I think Tim Holtz's stuff...

And my Gourdy Guys wreath...

A couple needed to be reglued but they survived nicely in the giant plastic wreath box I picked up last year after Christmas at Joanns. 

Now for some scary stuff... do you know how many days there are till Christmas???? 71 days!!! and if one would like their Christmas stitching done by say December 1, a person would have a mere 46 days to complete the projects they've been thinking about since LAST CHRISTMAS!!!.... insert emoji of person running around with their hair on fire!  I have 3 significantly sized pieces  I'd like to do and a couple of smalls... probably not realistic to believe they all can be finished in time. I started one Lizzie Kate Christmas ABC back during StitchMaynia... I got one letter and one word completed... I started Silver Creek Samplings "My Christmas List" last week... it is 101 X 287... you can see it  here ... I LOVE this... I dyed some line for it... I stitched the first two lines... I don't like it on the color linen I dyed..not at all ...need to start over... dye some more linen  and go from there... and there is  Barbara Ana's Christmas Joy you can see it here...it  is kitted and ready to go.  Now I do have WTN&T's  In Santa Claus Land started... Santa is done...Rudolph is done... lots of snowbanks to complete...hope I don't go snowblind...

To add to my Christmas angst I've already watched a couple of YouTube videos of Christmas decor  shopping. Now Hobby Lobby has had their stuff out since June...Big Lots, Dollar Tree, Kohl', Home Depot and Lowe's also have stuff out... I ventured to Walmart today and they had some but not all their stuff out at the location I went to but the whole store was topsy-turvy as they are "updating" ... I saw a couple of cute items but could see from the empty hooks with printed plans taped to them that there is more to come. 

I need to slow down and enjoy the season at hand before I go racing headlong into Christmas... that's what I'm telling myself as I stitch snow... hang head in shame....

Now to my weekly rant on weather...you thought I forgot didn't you??? ha- ha...Well I've come to the conclusion that Mother Nature is not detail oriented .... last weekend it was hot and humid... I wished for a bit of cooler weather...this weekend she gave us cooler but it is rainy, gray and COLD not cool... my furnace kicked on this morning... what happened to those lovely sunny dry warm Fall days we were suppose to get??? The forecast for the week is more of what we have today... all I can say is it will be good weather to stay inside and stitch ...but somewhere I have to find the time to plant those hundred or more daffodil bulbs I bought... darn you Costco...those big bags with the great prices are irresistible...and several have jumped into my cart in the last month... and there is the garden clean-up that needs to be done too... I'll be waiting for better weather... lets hope it materializes.

And while I'm complaining about the weather I am glad that the car show afternoon last week was hot, that was better than if it had been this weekend.  Here's the banner that was made to remember my brother...

This was hanging where two of his former cars were parked... a Graham-Paige and Plymouth  Barracuda... both cars have been purchased by friends of his so we know they will be loved... they presented the "Funi Memorial Trophy " to a little Crosley car which you can see here... it is just the kind of car my brother would have loved.  My brother was called Funi by all his buddies ... it is pronounced foo-knee... a shortening of our Italian last name... the car show organizers were the sponsors of award and say it will be given out every year. My brother loved this particular car show and volunteered to help out every year...one of the things he  would do on his own  was to buy a gazillion doughnuts on the Sunday morning of the car show and drive around the fairgrounds giving out them out... a friend of his picked up the task and did it in my brother's memory this year.  I'm glad I could be there last week even in the 90 degree heat and I'll be there every year from here on... it was such a lovely tribute to my brother even though it made us miss him so much... there is a hole in my heart for him.

Ok-- onto the linky part... I'll be linking up with Kathy's Quilts today... busy week ahead... eye appointment at the crack of dawn for me ...ugh...younger son has therapy appointment... taking my older son and his wife to the airport late one evening... they're going to Iceland for a couple of days...got a great deal on airline tickets...and I said I'd feed their cats and be there to let the plumber in to fix the shower faucet while they are gone...so we'll see how much stitching or yard work I get accomplished.

happy stitching-
carol fun