A Hallowe'en Finish

Happy Halloween!





Prairie Schooler Bk. 174 "Cats, Bats, & Witches" (Selected Elements)
Fabric: 32 ct. Ivory linen by Wichelt (Walnut-ink stained by me after stitching)
Fibers: DMC as charted excepting bright orange silk overdye.





Falling Cat yowls, "Happy Yowl-o-We'eeeeen!"

A Merrie Hallowe'en~

It's Snowing!

These were taken about an hour ago, when it had just stared coming down.





Beginning to accrue on the roof after only 5-10 minutes!




I had Marc rush out to get these pics so that you can see our autumn color on the trees through the snow. Insane! It is still falling thick and fast an hour later. It is pretty warm, however, and I hope it melts off fast w/o stripping the trees. We are still at only 40-60% "gone" for our yearly turn-and-fall leaf show, and I don't want to endure extra weeks of barren trees this autumn! :(

I may update later with pics of the snow-blanketed landscape if there is interest.

A wonderful package arrived--a generous loan from Myra of an OOP PS that I really wanted to make an ornament (Or two!) from. She included a pretty scallop-edged fashion plate card AND best of all a fox-themed fabric bookmark which she made herself! She said it was just a little experiment, I say, "WoW!"



A (clearer) view of the other side. Myra said that she printed this design onto special fabric and then made up the bkmark!





Stacy Nash began selling walnut ink crystals, so I decided to take advantage because I have been wanting some for such a long time! Of course, I also had to get the sweetheart tree roll. something in this calls to me, though I don't know I will be making it into a roll!




This is part of the Primitive Betty's pillow I have been working on; I love the whole design, but it was working up too big on that 28 count Antique Tan! So, I grabbed an element from here and there, and added a little pumpkin! It was fun doing the ink dye, I went dark on it because it is a a Halloween piece, and small enough to not be a big risk if I botched it. I also tried dyeing some of the trim I received last time (It is pretty blue for this piece), but I think it still needs another round! :)






To keep us (me) warm in our travels, here is a pic of the tea I had at Macaron Café this week while in the city waiting for my medicine to be prepared. I was amazed when a $3 to-stay order of tea (Wedding Impérial by Mariage Frères) yielded a 2.5-3 cup cast iron pot's serving!

If it looks small, blame the barge of a cup the gave me to consume it from! Now, I really want a cast iron pot. (I want THIS cast iron pot.) lol. MF is my favorite tea house HANDS DOWN. This blend, however, is not. It is okay, but their standard French Breakfast Tea fills my desire for this type of taste better.

They were out of their divine Cassis Macarons, but I was able to make do with a Rose and Litchee. :) After the Niçoise salad I ate, it actually didn't matter (Shocking, I know!)

Well, I am off; Marc has planned a surprise for me this afternoon (Before you get jealous, let me tell you this is a First--and apology-related--but I am still so excited!) Wish me luck!

With Spooky, Snowy Wishes to you,
Berit

Yesterday's Three Finishes

How did I manage this? It is almost cheating, but technically true...




Day 11
fr. Prairie Schooler Bk. 127 "Santa's 12 Days of Christmas 9-12"
Fabric: 36 or 40 ct. Days Gone By
Fibers: Recommended DMC


Shown with Scissors for scale, here is M.F.H. Santa in all his gear on the field. The fox seems to be popping up; "You called?" or maybe "You Mad, Bro?" I did change the white to B5200 to make it show up better on the linen. I DID rip and replace the the red after reflecting on Vonna's advice particularly. It seems that life's trick is knowing what "moving on" in life means in each situation. I will say that I thought the previous red was prettier on the linen; too bad I don't know what color number it really was.





I am beyond thrilled by this Autumnal Hunt themed Ornament. But...I couldn't figure out what the fox was doing. Their paws are actually white, so I though he was pointing. Is he telling the chasers to run the opposite direction from what the Huntsman is calling? That's awfully goofy for PS. After comparing the cover image, the graph, and mulling it over, suddenly I knew! That appendage is his brush! Oh.

I like the idea of fox hunting, though I only know reports of it as given by Rita Mae Brown. She portrays it as a noble game which the fox naturally always wins, as he is so sly. Recognized American clubs never kill the fox.




fr. Prairie Schooler Bk. 159 "Fall Fields"
Fabric: 28 ct. Wichelt Antique Tan (?)
Fibers: Recommended DMC


Have you seen this before from me? Well, I added in the ring around his eye, finally, so that now he doesn't look like some sort of soul-less carcass! :)




A Visit
fr. Prairie Schooler Bk. 48 "A Christmas Visit"
Fabric: 28 ct. Wichelt Antique Tan (?)
Fibers: Recommended DMC


Though I am quite vocally sour about The disease of Early Christmas brought on by our American Marketing Machine, this one had me singing Jolly Old St. Nicholas all week. Though I only know the first two sections, I somehow love this old song; perhaps one of the reasons is because aforementioned Machine hasn't worn it out for me. I can't recall the last time I heard this one; can you?

The colors seem quite different from the model picture, particularly the chimney/window. This publication is from 1994 (eep) and I think perhaps the dye lots are that different now. I decided to just go as charted, however, because I fell in love with the version seen on Mary Katherine's blog. If possible, I'd like to find some green gingham ribbon just like this to finish this piece! :D





This roof-haunting santa wound up with a bit of a smirk. :]



I started this goody from Primitive Betty on big, big 28 count wichelt...and I don't like how huge it is. But...It looks so good in the picture that it makes me want to finish it rather than moving on as I had planned. Hurmn. I think this will be a good candidate for the walnut crystals I have on order from Stacy Nash. :) Maybe I will stick with the plan to make it a smaller pin pillow...but will I re-stitch the whole design after that? This calls for over-two stitching on 35 count, which I find tortuous! Even some tight 32 counts I hate to stitch over two. What do you think about the 35 or 36 count 2/2 practice?

Speaking of my love for this pic, I almost love photos of stitching more than the real piece. (Does anyone else concur?)
Here are some Stitchy Still-Lifes; I just love this stuff when I see it in blogland!



Three Culprits





I love the floss toss for Santa's Days! Why is only poor languishing JB in focus? I found the fill text I want to use for her, now I need to decide what image editing software I want to use for charting now that I have moved to my new computer. Any suggestions. I had macstitch and it was an abomination.

~*~

Previously, I wrote that I was struggling to "Get My Autumn On", but I have been making strides:





Do you remember "My Tree"? It is one of the first in the neighborhood to turn its leaves and loose them, so I was happy to catch this photo recently.




I made Oxtail Stew twice last week! Chef John is my modern american cooking source. I made this with a friend using his pressure cooker (50 min meat and etc., + 5 for the veg), and subbed thyme for the rosemary. We made it again adding Guinness and some mustard powder, and while both were good I would prefer Chef John's italian style with a pint for drinking!

Oh, also! I did not add any potatoes but instead did roast veg (cauliflower, carrots, brussels sprouts, fingerling potatoes) in the oven and served it in the same bowl. This is an amazingly delicious, incredibly healthy collagen-rich (woo-hoo; youthful skin!) way to eat red meat. A small amount of meat is incredibly satisfying. I really want a pressure cooker now!





I love presents; especially giving and wrapping them! So, here is Edgar's Birthday Card.



And some of the two spliced together with a few already-wrapped packages in the background!



...

Thanks everyone, for your visits and comments! I am behind on reading last week's, so please excuse me while I catch up.

Yours,
Berit