Pedants Unite!

Riding the high from finishing Iris I dug out something I thought wouldn't take too long to finish:
If you're wondering if you've seen that before, the answer is no. I started this in August of last year because I wanted something for Halloween. That was in the middle of my slump so it didn't really go anywhere. It's Prairie Schooler's Sweeping Cobwebs.
Now let's take a moment to be horrified at the appalling (I say appalling!) language error in that chart. "when witches can be seen.. with her" Yes, it's the famous subject-pronoun disagreement. I'm especially sensitive to this because I spend a great deal of Grade 9 being berated by my English teacher for my constant failure to keep this straight. I also had the most horrifying run-on sentences which I'm sure didn't help with keeping everything straight (something I haven't quite gotten over!). But even as I feel in love with the chart I knew that I would never forgive myself if I stitched it as is. And of course, Ms. Robins would never forgive me. That's not very pedantic, you say? There's also only two dots in the ellipsis, which properly has three dots. I fixed that too.

I dutifully recharted it and went on stitching. I was about to start stitching "witch" when I realized I'd added in an extra "e" because apparently my de-pluralization skills are sub-par as well. Thank goodness I caught it before it got too far.
This was a pretty relaxing piece. Four colours, light coloured fabric, large count, lots of individual elements, a very simple border. Big enough for my Q-snap. It stitched up very fast.
I really like these cats. I thought I would like the moon the best since I love PS' laughing crescent moonmen but something about the cats just stole my heart.

And finally both my Prairie Schooler Halloween pieces:

Title	Sweeping Cobwebds
Designer	The Prairie Schooler
Start date	August 23, 2012
Finish date	July 30, 2013
Total time	26.25 hours
Fabric	32 ct Peach Whisper

Blowing my own trumpet, patting my own back

and other acts of egoism.

I had quite a few people ask me why Christmas Angel was going into storage (because I lack the funds to get her framed right now), and I decided to take the opportunity to show off some of my stuff.

Warning: Lots of bragging and photos to follow!

First the explanation: I love stitching large pieces, which means that I have to get them framed, because honestly, how else can you do justice to some of them?

As of right now these are in my "To Frame" pile. I frame stuff about twice a year, usually when my framer has a special going on. The way I work it out is that I have two massive expenses but I only have to feel horrified by the expense twice a year. (It works and I'm not messing with it.)

Christmas Angel	Holly	When Witches Go Riding
Trick or Treat	Poppy	Winter Queen

Hmmm. I didn't realize that I had so many finished Nora Corbetts/Mirabilias.

Not pictured are pieces destined for non-framing, like Think on These Things (bellpull), Out for Coffee (cushion), Scheherazade (table topper) and assorted undecideds.

Now for the ones around the house:

Mermaids of the Deep Blue	In Harmony	Part of Fantasy Sampler
Buddah and Bonsai	Four Animals Silhouette	Dragon Ride
Butterflies Among Bamboo	Tiger

Stretch, Coffee Chocolate & Men, Coffin Buzz, Book of Ink Circles, Garden Friend aren't shown, because I haven't gotten around to taking semi-decent pictures of them framed.

And no pictures of my smalls/other finishes. Well, no pictures on this post. Everything has pictures in various photogenic degrees in my sidebar.

A late Halloween HD

Last week I whined about there being too much brown ground and how I didn't want to stitch it. Wah wah wah.
So Zeb and Deb (hey, they rhyme!) suggested that I just leave out the ground.
"Of course!" says I. Planning to also leave out the orange around the cats and the black frame.
Fast forward a few days and I realize that without the ground the base of the house looks odd. So I decide to stitch a bit of brown. It didn't look enough, so I added a bit more...
The end result was that I filled in all the brown.
This made it look bottom heavy. So I filled in the orange.
And since it didn't seem like that much more work, I added the frame.

Hands up anyone surprised by my ability to make a decision and then fail to stitch to it.

I see no hands.


When Witches Go Riding
Started on October 24
Finished November 6
Total time to stitch 40.5 hours
Fabric is 32 count Peach Whisper




Fabric hasn't been ironed, hence the wrinkles.It was pretty fun to stitch and I stitched on it exclusively. That laughing moon makes me smile. And I love that lone sad pumpkin. Actually, I just realized that I haven't done the backstitch on the cats and the pumpkin at the top. Grrrr. Just imagine whiskers on the cats and a grill/braces on the pumpkin.

I've been trying to find a Christmas design but so far haven't fallen in love with anything. Anyone want to bet that I'll find it a week before Christmas, stitch madly, whine about it around January and finish in February, just in time to repeat everything for the Valentine stitch?

A red house and a few pumpkins

is all I got done. I've been stitching with two threads and I have to admit that the coverage isn't too good for the witch or the house...



I think I'm going to finish all the pumpkins and their stems and then put this away for a bit. It'll be that vast amount of brown ground, the two cats at the top and their orange background and that frame. I'm loosing my gungho-ness for this piece so I need to move on before I start to hate it.

Halloween has always been a bit odd for me. I came to Canada too old to go trick or treating, none of my little cousins go trick or treating and I've always lived in apartments or condos, so no door-to-door treaters.
I think I'll spend tomorrow celebrating the true spirit of Halloween: by eating CANDY!

(Actually what is the true spirit of Halloween?)

Anyway, Happy Halloween, Happy Samhain or Happy All Hallow's Eve, if you celebrate any of them, and if not celebrate the candy!

More Witchy Goodness

Ok, so I haven't reached the witch yet. But I picked op the missing floss, finished off the moon (which I love, it's so awesome!), and am almost done the tree.
I never actually noticed that there were two crows in the tree! That was a pleasant surprise. (Yes, I've only actually stitched one crow, or maybe it's a raven?)



I think I'm going to seriously push to finish this by Saturday. Of course it won't be framed for ages, but it'll be done by Halloween!

I've been on a slightly insane rampage of reading and following new-to-me blogs. In the nature of things, this means I have about a dozen new patterns I MUST stitch. Topping the list for next Halloween (yes Mum, I can plan long-term!) are "Something Wicked" by La-D-Da and "Sleepy Hollow" by Glendon Place.
Actually I haven't seen a finish of Sleepy Hollow yet, but it looks so cool. Now I feel like reading "Legend of Sleepy Hollow"...

I'm off to Fabricland tomorrow to see if I can find some decent handles for my patchwork bag (Michaels has nothing) and then I shall share my magnificent marvel. I hope.

A Question:
I picked up a couple of those DMC floss rings because they were dirt cheap. And I want to make a few floss tags. The internet is filled with awesome tutorials, so I'm set for the "How-to" bit.
BUT, none of them tell me what size the eyelet should be. I was overwhelmed by choice: 1/8", 3/16", 1/4" etc. What size is big enough that the ring slides easily, but not so big that it...well, looks too big?

Witches, and cats, and pumpkins

Oh my!

This month I've been suffering from chronic startitis and a lack of desire to finish anything. I finished my "Halloween" piece for this year, Trick or Treat, ages ago, and wasn't planning on another till next year. Best laid plans of ...etc.

I dug up Prairie Schooler's When Witches Go Riding. It has only 7 colours! Only 7. I'm a bit used to ones with a ridiculous number of colours. And it so happened that I had a piece of Peach Whisper (the fabric I did ToT on) in the right size. AND I had 5 of the flosses. It was meant to be.

My needle was on fire and I started it today and got 7.5 hours in.



I'm missing the red and orange, which is why certain words are missing. I'll probably pick them up on Monday.