Know Thyself is DONE! Fall musings and thoughts.

 Another finish on the books, finally! I powered through and completed this little Blackwood and Briar pattern, Know Thyself, in just a couple days this week. I'm very happy with it.

As I stitched this, I not only thought about whether or not I know myself, but also, if anyone really knows me? I think this is a universal question. Not that I have any deep dark secrets, but who really knows all your aspects? This will hang in my bedroom on my witchy wall, to remind me about taking my own inventory and coming to terms with all aspects of myself. 

I may start this Pineberry Lane pattern next. We'll see. I dyed the fabric last night and got it all ironed and serged up. I need my husband to help me put the Q-snaps together. I have a big basket with all the stuff in it, and I get overwhelmed trying to figure out the pieces for a project, lol. 

Now, I know the fabric might look similar to the first one I listed, but I assure you, it IS different! This one is a brown/marshmallow-y looking fabric. I didn't want anything too crazy, but something a bit more fun than just plain old brown linen. I'm hooked on dyeing fabric. This is a Zweigart 32 count linen that originally comes in white.

Oh Autumn. How I love thee.

Maybe we'll hit up our local pumpkin patch next week and see what's going on out there. These are the times that I miss having a little one around. We had so much fun taking our son to the pumpkin patch!

Just a few stash items since last time. I have sold a ton of stuff too, in one of my stash unload groups on facebook, but I always seem to find something to replace it with, lol.

I got that Cricket pattern simply for the little elf in the upper right hand corner. I mean, c'mon!

I have to stitch this little guy. Is he surprised? Is he not supposed to be playing with that toy? I mean, what is the story here??!! He or she just makes me smile. 

I hope you all are having a lovely Autumn so far. Our weather has just been fantastic. A day or two of rain every now and then, but my gosh, Fall in VA has been awesome. BUT, I keep getting reminded of October memories on facebook and all the Fridays we spent at King's Dominion Halloween Haunt, and it just kills me. I miss it so much. I miss all the fun things we did not get to do this year. Vacations, birthday parties, summer get-togethers, King's Dominion, etc. And we made the awful choice not to have our relatives over for Thanksgiving or Christmas this year. Heartbreaking. BUT, I want them all around next year, you know?

Time to sign off and go figure out what to do for dinner! Have a wonderful weekend, and get lots of stitching in! Until next time,

Happy October & Shepherd's Bush Little Witch!

Oh man. I'm so excited it's almost Halloween! This is my absolute favorite time of the year. I love Summer too, but Fall is just where it's at for me. I always have big plans to clean out things and scrub up the house and Fall is a time of introspection for me.

My mom and I recently had some needlework framed. She framed La D Da's Rain Rain, which I made for her quite some time ago. And I framed my Shepherd's Bush Little Witch. I was a bad witchy and never finished the bottom row of pumpkin blossoms. It looked too fussy for my patience level at the time and I somehow don't miss it. It looks great when I see it finished on someone else's--I was simply too lazy to do it for myself. And I forgot to sign the sweet little thing too! Dangit! I'm so happy with it. It just came out gorgeous. The man who framed it actually picked out the mat and the frame. Very intuitive.  I'm sorry for the bad pics, but it's impossible to photograph a framed piece with glass!

We've also decorated for Halloween. I just love pulling all my stuff out and putting it where it was last year. Hey, when it works, it works, right? One of the most fun things that my husband and I do is to go out to breakfast and spend the better part of the morning hunting for a few new things to add to our collection. Every year I say "We don't have any more room!", and every year, we pick up a few more pieces. Ha.  But we made these beauties by hand!  They are each about 9 feet tall.

And he's a staple every year in our upstairs bedroom window.

Has anyone else suffered the loss of a local bookstore? Border's closed and I went on a major book shopping spree this summer. You'd have thought it was the last time I'd ever see a book. But a new Books A Million opened up, so I'm good. It's really a beautiful store, as it took over another book store that closed. They've really done a great job and it's not warehouse-y at all. I just love it. I also bought a simple Nook E-Reader. I love that thing. It will never replace books for me, but it's just another way to enjoy reading.

I hope everyone enjoys the upcoming holiday!  I know we will--we always do!
 

Mucho Halloween-O !

I am heading to Lancaster, PA this week for the Cross Stitch Show and I am so looking forward to some relaxing, no working, and spending some nice time with my mom and sis. So I don't really have anything new to show right now, but wanted to share some other stuff you might enjoy seeing.

Can't remember if I've ever shown my little Halloween quilt here, but here goes, in all it's humble little gory, er, glory. I made it a couple years ago:


I also wanted to show off my wall words that I got from Michael's. I love these things-they're peel and stick!

No, I don't care what the neighbors think.


The time I have for leisure web surfing and fun is WAY less now than it was a couple months ago, lol. Somehow, work just makes fun go POOF, doesn't it? Well, I will update after I get back from the show and hopefully I'll have some fun stash to show. I'm on the hunt for a lime green piece of linen for a Fanci-That! pattern......till next time,

Spooky Hollow and Etsy

I put a few charts up in my new Etsy Shop for those that may want them. Thank you for the kind words and encouragements. I appreciate it more than you know! Hopefully I'll be having another design out in a few weeks time.

Meanwhile, I have made a tiny bit of progress on my Spooky Hollow piece. This is so fun and don't you love that little pumpkin?


We've started (LATE!) our Halloween decorating. Some new lights that the dear hubby just had to have:

Work has been keeping me SO darn busy. But I can't complain. I was very lucky to be awarded my contract again and that will keep me until at least March. Then summer time is free until I start up again in the fall. Life is pretty OK sometimes. Until next time,

'Ween Stitching and Bathroom!

As a few people have noted, yes, my favorite holiday ever is Halloween. It always has been, ever since I was a child. I have the most awesome little Halloween scrapbook album for my son. It's just 6x6, but each year is a picture of him in his costume and a little blurb of memories about the holiday. I am doing one for my sister's two boys as well. I'd give anything to have a pic of me in a Halloween costume, but I guess we just didn't take too many pictures during Halloween when I was a little girl.

Here are a couple older designs I have done. Man, I love my Halloween stitching. I really need to do a few more of the newer designs (don't remind me about my Halloween Fairy!) before next year. I so love seeing what everyone is stitching.

Hmmm, looks like I have yet another recently purchased Halloween design or two! I scored When Witches Go Riding, and a little tiny Trail Creek Farm Design. I picked up a LHN that was in the clearance bin. The floss is the red that is used in the Witches design.

Here's a couple more of my Meadowbrooke Gourds.

Here's my new bathroom. Before, it was all pink and floral and "cottage-y". I loved it, but it was hart to accessorize and frankly, these new colors go great with the rest of my house and I can easily change the theme with towels and art, etc. I just printed some stuff off the internet onto photo paper and framed it, lol. My husband painted, put a new floor down and freshened everything up. Ignore the deodorant, OK?

So that's it for now. Don't be surprised if I post LOTS more Halloween pics. We're having a get together tomorrow. It's supposed to rain and I'm really upset about that! I have a wonderful back deck and yard and that's where we usually congregate and have fun. The house is little and no room! ARGH! Wish me luck! Happy stitching!

Li'l Witch and a Li'l Eye Candy

Here is some more progress on my Shepherd's Bush Little Witch! I'm really pleased with her. I'm doing another rose at the top of the stem like someone else I had seen, because I don't like that pumpkin button they provided. I have a Halloween Bird design that calls for it, so I'll save it for that. :)

I've included a bit of interior Halloween eye candy. I decorate everywhere, and I'll post pics of my bathroom (yes, I had my husband repaint specifically for Halloween, lol) and the top of my kitchen cabinets sometime soon. For now, I just took some shots of some of my favorite things to look at.

The box that the skulls are sitting on is like a Halloween version of the one used at Christmas time where you take a decoration out every day up until Halloween. It came with a black tree and handmade decorations. I'll show you that soon too!

I love this little guy. He's so heavy and his little arms and legs just flop there. He's got the coolest face I've ever seen on a skull.

I collect Meadowbrook Gourds and have several more, but here's one. He has a green light in him. These things are great.

This is just a cheapo plug in, but he's very effective at night and is a great mood-setter! Uh, Halloween mood that is.

Thank you everyone for all the great comments on my last post! Glad you enjoyed peeking at the yard goodies. I have a costume to start sewing and will be super busy this week with prep and planning and pulling together everything. Enjoy your week and I'll check out everyone's blog tonight or tomorrow! Happy Stitching!!!!