Usually at this time of the year I join in the Trick or Treat Blog hop hosted by Jo over at https://serendipitousstitching.blogspot.com/ but organising the hop is a lot of work for Jo and this year life is busy so instead of the hop it is a link up.
I like to try and do something new for the hop each year and happily had something finished ready so it can be added for the link up.
It is a modification of a design in issue 350 of The World of Cross Stitching. One of four designs by Fiona Baker, intended to be a coloured cross stitch with a blackwork frame.
For speed I decided to just do an outline of the central image and added a little bit of gold blending filament I have a little bit of that to use up
after the picture there would normally be the letter for the hop and a link to the next blog. If you did not come here from Jo's blog then use the link at the top and see what other themed stitches are about.
If you are still craving more Halloween themed stuff you can link to previous years hops click on the Halloween label link at the bottom of the page.
Oh and I have shared this particular Forestella song before but as a ghost story it fits
it has been a few weeks without Sunday Stitchings due to a cold that settled in that I did not want to spread and then a migraine.
Its nice to be back at Church.
Added some light grey this week
not easy to see on this picture, but it is there on the ears and just a few stitches in the middle.
There was a bit of crafting in Primary as well, we were learning about letting our light shine and being like Jesus. So we made candles from sticky backed foam.
The children were tasked with pitting their finished candle somewhere they could see it to remind them to each day try and be a light to their friends and family by doing good things.
I got to make one for myself (in between being in charge of the scissors and cutting the pieces as instructed by the children who are mostly still too young for very sharp scissors) and of course I have the same task as the children.
I just happen to have a wall sconce so out came the wax candle that was in it and in went the foam one. Oh and the back of the card has a holographic surface you can see reflected in the mirrored section of the wall sconce.
I quite like the fake candle in place of a real one, although perhaps not quite the colour scheme I might have chosen, this was based mostly on the bits left after cutting pieces for the children.
Perhaps at some point I will make a fake candle more reflective of the sconce and the other items displayed on the same wall.
But for the moment it is certainly going to catch my eye and act as the intended reminder.
I finished that last little bit of sky off camera. Not that it looks like much difference from the last update but here it is ready for the backstitch.
I was quite looking forward to the backstitch and getting this into the frame I had measured my section to fit.
The best laid plans...
Issue one my BFF had other life things occur and let me know she would not be ready to backstitch in time.
That was fine, change of plan, I would work on the frame and sort out the mount.
Of mice and crafters...
The frame was a charity shop purchase and had been waiting in the loft for its opportunity. It had a print in it, "so many sales so little time" so taking that out to make way for a cross stitch was an improvement, well it might have been.
But it had been finished very securely on the back. Under the masking tape it was proper framer staple fastened. I have worked with such before successfully but this was not budging and I got the feeling if I persisted all I would end up with was a broken glass.
oft go astray..
and broken glass can have other consequences, so I have given up on that framing plan and the frame itself with its print, well it will be going to a different charity shop, perhaps someone else will want it for the print. I have not replaced the masking tape so that another re-framer will be able to see the issues with it for that purpose.
That leaves the question of what I did with the rest of our evening?
The answer is
any guesses?
as for my BFF well Click Here for a delightful double update.
you may notice that I am late with my blog post, that was due to a combination of our stitching session overrunning a little followed by my being ill the day after our stitch session and a catch up on the Friday.
However I shall consider it serendipitous as it means I am posting on the day that Forestella have released a new original song. So whilst my frame issue is not quite at the level of the title of the new song I shall shoehorn it in!
If you follow K-Pop at all you might feel that this is something that Hong Seunghan formerly of the group RIIZE might sing. It makes me happy that the fan group I belong to Soopbyeol is made up of a differently minded fan base that is supportive of the group being real people with lives and relationships.
Back to the stitching, as my BFF noted she has a scheduling conflict for next week, so that backstitching is going to wait a bit longer. Which will give me time to got frame shopping, initially in the loft and my stash, fingers crossed one of the frames I have will suit. If not it might be awhile finding one the right size.
how annoying is it when you know you have a particular shade of thread and it is not in its place in the box, or in any of the ongoing projects it might be with!
Very that's the answer to that. So there were substitutions and I am nearly almost done ! Ah so near and yet so far! All the full cross stitches are done, just half stitches in one or two strands of the same blue remain to do before backstitching can start.
The big white space, or slice of cheese as my BFF referred to it is now filled in and looking much more boat.
The little houses are all done.
I anticipate it will be backstitching next week and then we will change to BFF randoms till the New year I expect when BFF 17 will need to be chosen.
I am not sure yet if this is for me or if it will be gifted.
I might add a little something to the design either way, but the what is going to depend on the for whom!
Click Here to pop over to my BFF's blog for her update.
I have not posted for a few weeks, I had a cold and it rather interrupted everything including our BFF sessions.
There has been off camera sewing in dispensation time, and at the end of this evenings session we agreed to free stitching up to the backstitch stage and we will then pause and wait till we are both ready for that whomever gets there first. We get to that point sometimes on the joint projects when we want to be finished and on to something new even if what that will be is as yet unplanned.
So her is the progress up to this evening.
that half stitch sky, some in one strand some in two is most likely going the same way as the sky in the EasterBunnies .
I am very glad now I have less sky to fill in than my BFF.
It feels good to have more of the little houses done (i have done a little remodelling on mine , so you can play spot the difference between mine and my BFF's if you like.)
And at last with that line of blue I am making progress on the big boat at the bottom and getting rid of the "slice of cheese" as my BFF has been calling it.
I checked what thread I was missing and for at least one of them I will be doing a substitution rather than try and get just the one skein of thread .
CLICK HERE to see try that spot the difference on the houses.
We had another conversation about the passage of time, and our joint astonishment at being on BFF SAL 16, but then we have been doing this for 4 years now, wait what!
Gosh so we have. Mind so far stitched more than fully finished. I will have to check that and get some finishing done.
