"...And Black Cats Are Seen."

Miaou!~

"When Witches Go Riding
And Black Cats Are Seen...
The Moon Laughs and Whispers,
'Tis Near Hallowe'en."

I started this little guy with plans to make a cute floss tag to match PS When Witches..., which I've prepared--I actually blocked out a perimeter grid on last night. I wanted to make a "small" after the rather large (to me) BtSS. I'm going to be starting at the bottom on When Witches because I don't have "enough" blackbird to stitch the whole thing (I need 2 skeins, though I'm gonna' buy 3 matching because running out on BtSS has made me suspicious.) I'm planning to use some Belle Soie Lasagne (Quite possibly the best Hallowe'en colour ever) to fill in the orange section with a satin stitch! :D The full version will use a cotton CC, (Colonial?) Copper.

Aaaand, here's a progress pic on BtSS:


I felt that I didn't get much progress on this one at all, though when I compared it to Monday's shots I surprised myself by how much it had come along. At this point, all that remains are details such as adding in the centers of the "stars" at the top, or finishing the border, or adding smyrna cross berries to the vine at the side. But...I've lost a good bit of mojo to work on this one. There are a few things that I could do without that GAST Parchment, but somehow that's the only part I WANT to do. I also want to re-design the date, but was leaving that 'till last...blah. I must do whatever I can to prevent this from winding up in UFO purgatory.

Now, you Observant Readers may have noticed that the Above Cat greeted you in French, and there is indeed a reason for it:


A Finish!

I'm an "Honorary" member of the French Hallowe'en SAL called "HalloSAL" The idea is to make an ornament each month and post your finish (A Hallowe'en version of the ever-popular Christmas SALs) to the forum. Well, I joined midway, and never got around to finishing much--this may even be the first finished finish. eep. Don't worry, next year's SAL is a Band Sampler designed by GenCat, the moderator. I'm planning to talk more about this when I show my floss toss for the Sampler (Which begins Nov. 1st), and I'll post relevant links to all this at that time, so don't worry if you are interested in knowing more. :)
This is Mill Hill's "Autumn Harvest V: Boo Birdhouse (MHAH28)" with...quite a few changes. I thought the jack-o'-lantern was marooned somewhere between illegible and hokey, and I still can't make a final decision about the bird--do you Readers think it'll make the left side too black-heavy with the "spider"?(<--a very generous description for that collection of black beads and No. 310.) Looking at the photo, I think that it's more clearly a spider than in person. As for the rest of the stuff in the photo, there's my orts jar; can you tell I'm a floss-waster? So, what should I do regarding the birdie? Tack him in, or squirrel him away for another project?


I'm off to finish (I wish; we've got a party tonight) that grinning cat tag...

Yours Cat-ishly,
Berit

(=^.~=)


Oh, P.S. I wanted to give a huge THANK YOU!! To everyone who so kindly commented on my last blog--you guys all totally made my week! I have been trying to reply personally to each comment to thank you and/or answer questions, and if I missed you please forgive me!! In my other blogs it was always common practice to reply in the comments section to any comments made on the post, but in the stitching blogosphere it seems to be more common to email directly, or reply via comment on the other person's current post or...Well, as you can see, I still can't really make heads or tails of it! Thanks for your patience with my slow, improperly placed, or even forgotten replies.
...

October Happy Dance

Hello, Everyone! It's beyond time for an update on what I've been up to in stitchy land! Here follows the floss toss (which I meant to post a while ago) for the piece I've been working on:



I just fell right in love with this piece after seeing it on Nicole's blog around Memorial Day, so off I went looking and looking for it on the 'net. Now, at this time I didn't know a BBD from a pair of BVDs, and so of course had No Idea that it was a Loose Feathers Design and also OOP. OOps! Well, in the end I was really blessed because kind Nicole agreed to lend it to me! So, it arrived mid-July, and then the battle to acquire fibers and fabric began. It was long and arduous battle with many setbacks--the less said the better! Note: This fabric is Silkweaver's Purely Primitive (28ct. Cashel), which is the same colour if not count as the one Nicole used.

And Now, progress as of this Morning:



I realized after taking this that the floss is entirely in the dark.
All I can say is...
a.) lol
b.) Good thing I uploaded that floss toss!
c.) Photograpy is not one of the visual arts in which I excel. :P



The Heron-Crane (can never remember which the leaflet identifies it as. Can you tell I'm a naturalist :P) I've really been hauling to get this thing done, but it totally doesn't show! I STILL do love this design, though I must say I'm itching to stitch for Hallowe'en, and will likely do so all of November!! As for this piece, I would love to finish it, though I am all but out of GAST Parchment (off-white), yet not halfway through the charted stitching of it. Gargh!!



And here, because my love is fickle and has many objects of devotion, is a closer shot of these darling scissors. To see them is to love them (IMO), and I finally got my paws on a pair thanks to intel from Staci's blog on ebay seller rosa0537 (I had no luck at all in wading through her 700+ items to get to these darlings until I searched the french "ciseaux"; "scissors" returned exactly zero results.) I want to post more in-depth about these beauties in future!

Also needing mention is the fatally charming floss tag lurking in the above shots, which was an exchange I received from dear Ann, which came along with some darling accessories and is therefore part of a Sewing Set. (I capitalize it so that you will know that its wonderfulness is such that it has attained Proper Noun status--lol!!) This is yet another item in need of its own blog entry!
...
Now, I'd like to make a brief "Seasonal Landscape" intermission.
I present to you a stunning photographic landscape the likes of which would compel even Ansel Adams to gnash his teeth in envy:


(Just look at the pretty crimson tree.) :)

And, here is "My Tree" which is a tree (in point of fact, this tree) as seen by me as I gaze upon it as I enter and exit my little apartment. It's rather concrete-y in the corridors of our place, but this little peek is my natural oasis:


My tree dressed in Autumn.

With such weather as this, is it any wonder that I am Expiring With Desire to stitch:



Now, this is another piece whose acquiring was fraught with frustration--and I still have yet to put needle to fabric. It's a conversion which is not mine (yet I don't care to identify the source now; I'll see about that if there is any interest) from DMC to cotton overdyeds (Mostly Crescent Colours, but one WDW thrown in for good measure.) I am actually Still WAITING for one of the fibers, the black calls for two skeins. Le Sigh. The fabric is 28ct Pilgrim Brown from R&R. A week or so after I saw this one all stitched up at the LNS (Oh, how Glorious it was--I even dreamed about it after leaving the shop!), Vonna decided to unleash her own version on the Unsuspecting Public! I was able to prevent my own Deaty by Envy only by admonishing myself repeatedly that I "really do like the conversion/fabby I'm waiting on better." I will however admit that I only now closed the browser tab containing the link you can see by clicking "her own version". :P

As a reward for enduring to the end:



Charty stash: PS "Autumn Leaves" and JCS Jan/Feb 2009 (Yes, it's the issue featuring "This is the Day", to which Edgar turned me on.)

To round things off (since I haven't a cat and so can't pleasurably pad out the post with charming pictures of him) here is a vintage card:



If I don't post before the day, Happy Hallowe'en to you and yours...

In Stitching,
Berit