Happy Halloween!

Halloween greetings to all my fellow bloggers! I love Halloween and all the frightful fun it entails. However this year I will miss seeing all those little goblins at my door. Thursday night is choir practice and it has not been cancelled on account of Halloween. I have the director (my DH) to thank for that! We are busy preparing music for Advent and Christmas and really cannot afford to skip a practice at this time. Truth be told, even if I stayed home by myself I would not be able to open my door unless I sat in the entry for the evening. Going up and down the stairs each time the Trick or Treaters arrive would wreck havoc on my hip. I'm just a little worn out this month and don't have the energy for it. 

My stitching also took a backseat this month and resulting in a bit of a slump. When I finally had time to stitch, I just didn't feel like it. Things started to pick up again yesterday as I finished not one but two Halloween ornies. Both are Prairie Schooler designs. I featured one on my previous post and now here's the other.... PS RIP ornament from Book 180, All Hallow's Eve.

I love stitching PS ornaments. They stitch up so quickly and they're always so much fun!

I've also managed to keep up with the Mary's Sampler SAL currently being offered by Paulette of Plum Street Samplers. I'm stitching version II of the sampler. This week saw the addition of the multitude of the heavenly host praising God.....more angels and lots of stars. This is week 5 of the SAL and there are just 4 more weeks to go before the sampler is complete.

Plum Street Samplers Ghoul Tidings saw very few stitches added this month. However my witch is slowing taking shape....very slowly, lol!

Obviously, the latter won't be done in time for this Halloween but I'm looking forward to having it completed way in advance of next year's celebrations.

I feel like my slump is behind me now and I'm getting the urge to choose some Christmas ornies to stitch in the upcoming month. Time for some stash diving!

I hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween. In celebration of the eve of haunting, I'll leave you with a pic of one of my grandchildren all decked out for fun. Or is it fright?

October's ornament

Wow, the end of the month already! October has been such a busy month for us..... a wedding, our Thanksgiving, visits to and from family and friends. I have barely touched a needle all month! I was sure I wouldn't make the deadline for this month's ornament but it stitched up a lot quicker than I expected.

 Being October, it had to be a Halloween ornament, right? Here is Prairie Schooler's Boo Mini-card.

Prairie Schooler Boo Mini-card
stitched on 28 ct white Lugana
using DMC floss

This little fella and his trusty pumpkin will be finished into a felt ornament for hanging on a doorknob. I liked him so much that I decided to start another PS ornament, RIP. With any luck I'll have this one finished by tomorrow.

October WIPocalypse

Due to our fabulous fall weather there hasn't been too much going on in the way of stitching during the past two weeks. We've been out and about enjoying the season. However I have had some fairly recent finishes. For those of you who follow my blog regularly you've probably seen these already so you may want to skip this post. 

Blackbird Designs Song of Spring

Blackbird Designs Pumpkin Blossom Sewing Box

The Torah Stitch by Stitch which was assigned to me is now complete save for the border. I have finally decided how I want to stitch this but put it on the back burner until next month so I could work on other projects.

Torah Stitch by Stitch
Genesis12: 6-9

My new starts have included Plum Street Samplers Mary's Sampler II, Plum Street Samplers Ghoul Tidings and Hands To Work This is the Day. All three are progressing slowly but surely.

Mary's Sampler II

 The darker sheep in the middle is actually the called for floss. I wasn't sure I liked the colour so I stitched the others lighter. I still don't know whether to leave the one darker little fella or swap him out too.

Ghoul Tidings

This is the Day

As far as commitments go I still have to stitch my ornament for the month. I have until the 30th though so I should be good for it.
That about covers it ....... a little more than I thought actually. It always surprises me when I see all the stitching laid out together!

Pumpkin Inferno

Warning: Picture intensive!

This past weekend was Thanksgiving for Canadians and I was so blessed to have my son and his family join us for the holiday. This was the first time that I've ever spent Thanksgiving with my grandchildren so it was doubly special. I don't usually see the kids over Halloween either so I took the opportunity to surprise them with a very special Halloween treat. This is the second year that Pumpkin Inferno has made an appearance at Upper Canada Village in Morrisburg, Ontario. This is the same village that decorates with thousands of lights come Christmas for Alight At Night. Follow the link above to see details of Pumpkin Inferno. However I will tell you that each one of these scenes is created entirely from carved pumpkins. Pumpkin Inferno has become a huge hit and was voted as the best new attraction in Ontario last year. I'll let all the pictures speak for themselves!

  
We start our journey with the grim reaper welcoming us!

A visit under the sea..... Check out the octopus!

With any underwater excursion there is always the chance we'll see a mermaid.

Across the creek we spot a Chinese dragon. I

love how the reflection played out on the water!

This happy group of Jack-O-Lanterns was actually a chorus that extinguished and lit up to the tune of Danse Macabre. My son got video of this but I didn't get a chance to upload it before he left.

Right about this time one of the kids mentioned needing a bathroom. There it was..... the sign carved out of pumpkins of course!

Next, on to a Native Village, complete with teepee and totem pole.

A frightening Canadian Mountie oversees the crowds, while a rather large ghoul points us in the right direction.

The waiter at the local inn proudly displays some items on the menu.

From here we travelled through a garden full of dragonflies, bees, ants and scorpions. The skies above were full of Chinese lanterns.

Next we attended the Zombie Wedding complete with the honeymoon vehicle inscribed Just Buried and license plate Again.

From here we hit the latest addition to the attraction, The House of Horoscopes.

I couldn't resist snapping a pic of my zodiac sign. It's the one on the right. Are you able to make it out? Yup, I'm stubborn!

On to the saloon for a drink. With any luck we'll see a cowboy!

Any cowboy needs his trusty horse!

After a spectacular evening it was time to head home. Even the mouse agrees!

 Believe it or not, this is only a portion of the attraction! There are headless horsemen, an Egyptian Pharoh complete with a wall of hieroglyphics, an island volcano complete with cannibals, a humungous word search puzzle, battling knights, forest creatures and more.
Poor Loik was worn out by night's end!

Grandmaman Lynn was pretty tuckered out too. I was glad to return to the comfort of home and my dear, sweet Clarisse who was patiently waiting for us. Then again, even she looked a little strange!

Back from the Framers

Thursday afternoon I dropped by my framer to pick up my latest needlework projects which I'd dropped off. Once more I was thrilled with the results.

Plum Street Samplers Ghoul

A closeup of the frame

Plum Street Samplers Viktor & Irina

I love them both but Ghoul just blew me away! The framer is also pleased with all of the pieces I've brought in over the past couple of years and asked if they could share pics on their Facebook page. I gave them my okay to go ahead.

I'll be back later with some pics of Pumpkin Inferno, a fairly new attraction to our area where I took my grandchildren during our Thanksgiving weekend visit. No stitching took place this weekend. They took precedence!

Thanksgiving Wishes

A very blessed and Happy Thanksgiving to all my family, friends and Canadian stitching bloggers. I hope that your day is a very special one indeed! I am very blessed that my son, his girlfriend and  my grandchildren were able to join us this year. I think it's the first year that the children spend their Thanksgiving with us. How wonderful is that! 
I'll be back in a few days time with some stitching progress for you.

A Pumpkin for Cathey

Words cannot express the pain the stitching blog community is feeling this morning. We have lost a very courageous friend. My sincere condolences to her family and friends. She will be dearly missed.

A Halloween Start

I couldn't resist the pull any longer. Halloween stitches have been calling to me and I finally broke down and started one more piece. I'm sure you've all seen it and I just couldn't resist any longer. Which one is it? Two hints - it's in this year's JCS Halloween special edition and it's by one of my favourite designers. Give up? It's Plum Street Samplers Ghoul Tidings.

Not much to it yet but it's coming. I'm waiting for some of the floss to arrive which I was missing and in the meantime I'm just sort of stitching around the areas where I'm missing floss.  I chose a piece of Picture This Plus Legacy linen as the fabric.

Last night I complete Part 2 of PSS Mary's Sampler II.

As I said, Plum Street Sampler is really a favourite of mine! Each part is quite manageable. I've completed both parts in just an hour or so each. So if you've thought that you just don't have the time, think again. This is a fun stitch and you have a week to complete each part before the next is released.

This past Saturday I hosted a SAL at my home. I was joined by 7 other stitching friends and we had a most delightful afternoon. The weather was really pleasant and we all managed to fit into the gazebo (Clarisse included!) where we stitched away the afternoon. Then we all retired into the house for a potluck supper and a bit more stitching afterwards. I'm afraid I was lazy and didn't take any pictures but I can show you what I accomplished in the way of stitching.

I prefer working on something that doesn't require too much counting when I get together with the group, usually because I spend too much time talking, lol! Filling in the house on This Is The Day was a good choice. I'm not moving as quickly on this due to the 36 ct and the fact that I find I stitch more slowly when I'm using just one strand of floss. It seems to slip through the needle on me a lot even though I'm using a size 28 needle for this piece. 

I'll be back to stitching on the Torah piece this week now that I've chosen a border. It'll feel weird stitching on the 14 ct aida again after working on that 36 ct linen!

My son and his family will be joining us this weekend for our Canadian Thanksgiving. In anticipation of their arrival, I've started to bring out some of my Halloween decor for the kids to enjoy.
Okay, so I enjoy it too!!

I have to be careful with this last one since Clarisse seems to have taken a fancy to it. She likes to chew on the raffia around the neck.
I'll have more pics on later posts. I should also have 3 of my pieces back from the framer this week, including PSS Ghoul. I can hardly wait!

First TUSAL of Fall and another giveaway

Fall is just flying by and so did my TUSAL. I didn't realize until this morning that the day for my post had passed me by. So albeit a little late, here is my first fall post of my orts.

My little owl friend is standing by to show them off.

Lots of black from my Torah stitch and rust, green and melon shades from my Pumpkin Blossom stitches and Song of Spring. It was a pretty fruitful month as far as stitching goes. 

While I have your attention, I've also discovered a second giveaway over at Victorian Motto. This time Nancy is giving away a lovely Sewing Necessaire Present! This would make an awesome gift for a stitching buddy so drop on by her blog and see the lovely gift she is offering.
I'll be back later today or tomorrow with an updated post of my stitching for you. Until then, keep those stitches coming!