Challenged

This is what happens when someone challenges me. I joined in the fun on the Great Pumpkin Challenge on Becky's blog .
This way definitely a motivator for me since I seemed to have lost my stitching mojo and just didn't feel like stitching a thing. Stitch pumpkins you say? Well I do love fall and anything to do with it. Throw in the opportunity to win a prize package and voila! My pin pillow Peekin' Tom by Homespun Elegance. This pattern was charted for stitching on 10ct fabric which would have made a lovely large pillow but I decided to give it a try on 28ct. I used some Antique Ivory linen I found in my stash and since I didn't have the required Weeks floss, I substituted with some GAST from my stash. The little lace trim I found at the dollar store. I'm really pleased with the results especially since I don't consider myself much of a sewer. The pillow could possibly have used a little more polyfill but I'm learning as I go along. I also need some practice on my whip stitching.

Now I'm off to search for my next pumpkin stitch. This is fun!

Stitching continues on my Halloween Cove although I haven't much more progress to show at this point. As you can see, I got a little sidetracked. I did manage to complete my LHN Red House In Winter ornament, finally. I thought I'd never get that one done. I can't figure what took me so long either. In any case finished it is. I had to change the floss colour for the snow since it didn't show up at all on the fabric I was using. The white doesn't exactly stand out either but it is a heck of a lot better than what it looked like before. I find that it stands out much better IRL than in the picture I took.

Yesterday was a day off for me and it was a gorgeous day! Since my DH was also off we decided to go on a little jaunt to Ogdensburg, NY where we would make a pit stop at JoAnn's Fabrics for supplies. Gotta tell you, there's not a heck of a lot to see in Ogdensburg but the fall foliage alone made it worth our while. We found a small local cafe specializing in homemade sandwiches and soups where we stopped for lunch. It was a really cosy little spot and after filling our bellies with some awesome food we continued on our tour. The architecture in some of the older homes near the river was spectacular. I wish I'd had my camera with me. After driving through most of the town and checking it out, we headed over to JoAnn's where I purchased fabric, quilt batting and polyfill. Can you tell I'm going to give this finishing business more of a workout in the near future? Once I've retired from work in the spring I intend to slowly try to empty that drawer of unfinished stitches. Wish me luck!

I ran into a dear friend this week who used to teach me decorative painting many years ago. She's now teaching quilting and asked if I wanted to join in. Can I really afford another outlet for stash? I think not. I'd be broke if I was involved in both crafts, lol! In any case she did mention a quilt SAL which takes place every Wednesday evening at her home and has encouraged me to bring along my cross stitch and join them. Since it's practically just around the corner I just might do that. I'm having to step back from many of my extracurricular activites right now due to work commitments. I find I'm just too tired when I return home to head off into Ottawa which is where much of this takes place. I've already done one commute to work. So until I retire I've bowed out of the church choir and I more than likely will not be joining in on my Tuesday night stitching group as often as I have in the past. A walk around the corner is much less tiring. Living out in the country does have its disadvantages in this respect.

Speaking of our Tuesday night group, we have had to change location for our get togethers. In the past our dear stitching friend Sally had opened the doors of her bookstore to us after hours so that we could meet. However this past week her store has announced its closing. The bigger stores like Chapters and sites such as Amazon have made it too difficult to compete as a privately owned store. I shall miss their store very much. It was one place I always paid a visit to when in Ottawa long before I even knew Sally.

So instead, one of the members of the group has found that St. Michael's and All Angels Anglican Church is welcoming us to their church where we can have the use of the church hall on Tuesday evenings. It also opens the door to new members for us. Recently we had to discontinue allowing

new members because we'd run out of room at the store. Now we'll have a larger space which will accomodate more people. I'm looking forward to meeting new stitchers!

Okay so I've taken a lunch break during this post and during that time I've come up with a new project. Grateful Hearts is designed by Cecilia Turner of Heart in Hand Needleart. It's from the December 1999 issue of Just Crosstitch. It's already kitted up and ready to go. I may have accumulated a lot of stash but I really love it when I can just pick out exactly what I'm looking for and have the fabric and floss on hand to boot. I'm excited to get started on this one so I'll leave you now and hope that your able to cross an x or two this week!