Halloween Trick or Treat Blog Hop 2021

Hello, hello! It's that spooky time of year again to spell out a fun phrase from our frightful host, Jo! Head over to her blog to start at the beginning. 

Your creepy letter is:

Or:

In case that's not clear, it's "I" :)

And for my Halloween stitching, I have another finish!!

Spooky Halloween by Lakeside Needlecraft and Durene Jones (2017 SAL)

stitched 2 over 2 and 1 over 2 on 28ct Icarus by Chromatic Alchemy

with DMC 310, Kreinik GITD threads and Jodyri Purple Planets

So happy to get this one finished! It's a big finish and I'm so happy to finally get this SAL complete. 

For your next letter, please follow along to the next blog, Count It All Joy!

Happy Stitching and Happy Halloween!

Stay safe,

Tiffstitch

Fully Finished Gallery - October (wait, what?)

That's right, I've actually managed to fully finish something this year! It's a small ornament, but some people are convinced size doesn't matter, so here it is in all its glory!

Noel by Kincavel Krosses

stitched 1 over 1 on 18ct scrap aida (Chromatic Alchemy Cirrus maybe?)

with stash threads

I backed it with red felt and a simple ribbon with a little triangle stitch to hold it in place on top. It's a different finish for me since I haven't attempted a shaped one like this before. Definitely more to it than a simple square/rectangle shape, but I'm fairly happy with it. 

I can't remember if I had described my plan on here, but I adjusted my hours so I work Tuesday through Saturday. That means I have Mondays sort of to myself after DD goes to school. Which means I actually have time to do things I'd like to get done, like fully finishing stitched pieces. My drawer of finishes is pretty full, so having some time to myself to work on them is kind of amazing. 

Of course a lot of Mondays have been full of running around, but at least I managed one finish so far. I hope you've all been staying well!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

Witch's Gate Update

Thank you for all your lovely comments! I always appreciate them. I am so happy to be done In The Gloaming, it was a very enjoyable stitch despite the initial frogging to get the colours just right. I love the finish and will be looking for a frame soon. 

When we last saw Witch's Gate, it was not very far along:

and will eventually look like this:

The chart is separated into 4 pages and I thought I might try and finish one full page, but I ended up skipping around a little instead. I didn't have a designated stitch count on this one. Instead, I realized I had just a few thread lengths of the C3799 left in Etoile for the gate, so I could finish up the skein and call that a good place to stop. That meant I worked across the top all the way to the other side of the gate, and a little bit into page 4 on the bottom right. This is where it is now:

Witch's Gate by Whispered by the Wind

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Mirage by PTP

with DMC 167, 738, 3823 and 3866 as changes to the original colours

I'm happy with this progress so far. The bats in the gate will be normal 3799, like the gargoyles. The gate gets the extra pizzazz though. I think the amount of stitching definitely makes a page, so we could call this at least 1/4 complete. I doubt it will come out again this month or the rest of the year though. 

Next up I'm hoping for another finish with this 2017 SAL by Lakeside Needlecraft, designed by Durene Jones:

If you note the date on top, I think if I finish it this year I won't have to frog the skull I've already stitched in. Here's where it looks now:

Spooky Halloween by Lakeside Needlecraft and Durene Jones

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Icarus by Chromatic Alchemy

with DMC 310, Purple Planets by Jodyri and various GITD Kreinik

The far right is the end of the piece and the missing area above is all part 6. I had finished part 5 the last time this one came out and worked some of the border. Now it's just part 6 and the rest of the border to finish the black. It's mostly filling in after that, and part 1 and 2 might have been completed already, so a finish definitely looks possible. 

I hope you've all been staying well and enjoying your stitching.

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

And it's Done!

 Yay! I'm so happy to report I managed a finish on In the Gloaming! Despite the trials and tribulations with getting the colour scheme correct to begin with, see here, I've been happy with how this has turned out so far and I'm very excited about the finish. I loved Rachel's idea of etoile for the gate, and it looks amazing. Without further ado:

In the Gloaming by Whispered by the Wind

stitched 2 over 1 on 28ct Mirage by PTP

with DMC 167, 738, 3823 and 3866 as changes to the original colours

I definitely feel like this needs to be a framed finish, and I don't think the dimensions are the same as Witch's Gate, so it will likely have to framed on its own. Likely in black to make it more dramatic I think. If you have any suggestions, please let me know! 

Such a relief to have this one finished. I've added so many WIPs this year that I'm glad to have this medium to large sized one completed. I need to catch up on everyone's blogging again and hope you've all been doing well with your stitching too. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

Dark October Plans

Hello again! Although we're well into October, I'm going to let you in on what my plans are/were for the month. I plan to do a Dark October and work on Halloween or black stitching as much as possible. My first priority is to finish In the Gloaming! Here's where it was when we last saw it:

And I'd like to try and progress on Witch's Gate:

There's so much left here that I don't think a finish is possible, but I'd like to get maybe at least one page out of 4 completed. 

And I'd really love to finish this one!

This is the Happy Halloween SAL by Durene Jones that was put out by Lakeside Needlecraft way back in 2017! I would like to finish it this October so I can have it off by WIP and SAL list. 

The other project I'll try and sneak in is the new Witchy Stitcher Cryptid SAL. Have you all seen this one? Lots of black, so it fits for that part as well, but the theme is a bit spooky too. So far the cryptids are all North American, and there's some hope that the Loch Ness Monster will be one of the creatures. If so, I might have to call it Champ after our local lake monster. Supposedly Champ was seen by Jacques Cartier when he first explored the area, so he is technically older than Nessie. :) 

I hope you have all been having a good month!

Tiffstitch

September Round-Up (Yes, a little bit late!)

Hello, hello! I'm a little late, as usual, getting up the end of the month round-up. Finally I seem to have time today, on Canadian Thanksgiving.

To recap the start of September, I was finishing off the dragons that Rachel and I started for the Paralympics Stitching Challenge. I think we'll try and pick those up again for the Winter 2022 Paralympics and see if we can get them finished. 

I was debating on what to do for the rest of the month and ended up starting something new for my birthday, which is this Anne Stokes beauty charted by Paine Free Creations

And I kept with it until I finished an entire page:

Trick or Treat by Anne Stokes charted by Paine Free Creations

stitched on 25ct easy count 2 over 1 tent stitch with charted threads

I was debating about what to do next and thought I'd pull out a smallish WIP I'd started earlier this year to finish. I started this one on May 24 for Stitch Maynia:

and managed to finish it:

Spring Snapperland by Bent Creek

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct evenweave scrap

with random stash threads

I hope to finish this up into a little ornament for my parents to sort of represent their granddaughter. 

After having a page finish on full coverage and a small WIP finish, I thought I'd try attempting another page finish on a different full coverage project. I pulled out Motherhood by Selena Fenech, even though the page was nowhere near to completion. 

I didn't have time to finish the page before the end of September, but I did progress well:

Motherhood by Selena Fenech charted by HAED

stitched 1 over 1 full cross on 28ct Unicorn Farts by Chromatic Alchemy

with charted DMC

I'm really looking forward to seeing how this will turn out on this fabric. Thank goodness for Pattern Keeper to get these projects moving along. 

I finished off September here and will be planning a Dark October, so will post about that soon!

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch