Halloween Trick or Treat Blog Hop 2023

 Here we are again, time for the Halloween Hop, if you have participated before and came here via the hop then just keep going, if you are new to the hop  Click Here to visit the host blog and find out what it is all about.

Here is my stitch for this year, it has to be the smallest Halloween stitch I have done so far, I had left it late this year so small was required. Although small he has a lot of character with just a few lines and two French knots.

It comes from Better Holmes 2001 Cros stitch Designs 

I am going to use a stitch from a previous hop to share the letter for this one. Here it is.

then for the next letter Click HERE to go to the next blog on the hop to collect your next letter. Oh we are not all blogging from the same times zone so if a post/letter is not up yet please pop back later to collect the full set.

Oh and if you would like to see past hops Click here all links should open in new windows and are to other blogs.

And as a little addition (some posts are getting them as I find a song that feels right) here is a little Korean ghost story of a song.

BFF 14 in the pink

 at the start of the night and still in the pink by the end.

I had intended once the second lightest shade of pink was don to add either all of the light shade or all of the Mid shade. However, I got one length of the mid in and just lost my eye for that shade. I was finding it so much easier to "see" the dark pink.

It was a fun night, my BFF was particularly chuffed to spot my missing length of pink thread which was trying to hide by clinging to my top in what was proving to be a blind spot for me.

Mislaid thread or needles or scissors is not something we can generally help each other locate over the internet.

Click HERE to see my BFF's progress on this SAL.

BFF 14 Double Splat

 that is what my project looks like at the moment. Regardless of the lack of definition so far I enjoyed building the pink and look forward to the potential for relaxing fill in the future.

there was also a bit of thread checking following my BFF's adventures in thread this week Click HERE

to see her progress and her thread discovery / challenge.

Sunday Stitchings

 A bit more brown and then a change and some blue....there will will be more of that to come.

still enjoying this and finding it very relaxing. 

BFF SAL 14 Soothing stitching

 mostly till the last little bit where in a funny version of same but different I echoed my BFF in finding a single stitch mistake that had continued on and needed to come back out.

I spotted it when I started to add the pale pink. What pink? Well it is there I promise but the picture is not showing it well. Perhaps as it grows it will be easier to see.

To see my BFF's progress CLICK HERE

Sunday Stitchings

 a new shade started and I am still enjoying this 

got quite a bit added today.

(posting this late as had issues getting the photo to transfer over.

BFF SAL Variations on a Theme 1, Christmas

 and into our second month of our new "themed" week and starting with some update pictures. You may recall that we were not restricting ourselves to our weekly facetime sewing sessions. That we can work on anything within the theme whenever we want.

So my blackwork Christmas themed piece was very much a "want " to sew. Firstly to finish the two strand stitching round the edge of the design, the snowflakes. Then the outline of the tree, and as always with outlines the relief when they join up where they are supposed to.

Then the fill with one strand, and the relaxation of the repeat pattern. There should have been some baubles here, outlined in two strands and with different fills. However I was all about the total fill and just left them off.

As I moved onto the second level of the tree I changed to a pointy needle as the original was worked on evenweave and I had green in 14 count, so a pointy needle was needed to make it work

This reminds me very much of a quilting pattern I hope to try someday. All straight lines that give the illusion of curves.

Once that third fill was completed I moved onto the single strand stitching on the snowflakes and a touch of metallic at the top of the tree.

And then the tree was completed, leaving me to decide how to decorate it given I had deviated from the pattern and left off the intended baubles.

I did have a plan, some time ago, quite a long time ago now I think about it, I bought a bag of mixed sequins in bronze tones. I have used some of them on a Previous Project. It is always nice to incorporate something from the "useful someday" stash into a project.

It is finished for the moment,(there were some French Knots and I considered replacing them with beads but I quite like it as is) the final finishing may wait till the other patterns in the series are complete. (As a reminder they are from issue 123 of Cross Stitch Gold,  Red Work Cards by Durene Jones.

Update on the tree completed what was I actually working on tonight? 

A change to red on white, I had made a start pre stitching session so started the evening like this.

I realised as I worked the top left corner I was a stitch out, too late to correct it so there will be some design deviations that were unintended that may lead to some intended ones.

So this is my end point for the evening. I have some contemplation to do now. I am not sure if that means in the off time I will work on this as much as I did the tree or if it will languish till next month.

To see how my BFF's themed stitching is going Click HERE she has also been stitching "off camera" as she calls it and has quite a bit to show.

Conference Stitching

 ended up being the 3 angels, and adding to the white. 

Still a long way to go with this. But the single colour stitching was very good for focusing on the talks.

New Pyrography Tool

 I bought a new tool, with a temperature display and two pens that I can alternate between. 

The thing to do with a new tool is have a practice, test the new tips (it came with lots of tips) on scrap wood and see what kind of marks they make. 

That would be the smart thing to do. However, I am ever impatient and feel that having made the effort to get the "stuff" out that I should have something to show for it.

When I did the -prague-castle.  for the lady at work she then gave me a bag with a few different styles of boxes from The Works.

One of which is an oval box about 5.5 inches by 3 inches. Which was just big enough to fit on a dragon design I had saved from a magazine. So that is what I did.

I managed to try four different tips, reminding myself how much I enjoy doing this and that I should work out designs to go onto the many a wood item I have collected for that purpose.

I am rather pleased with the way the burn went and am pleased that the tool works for me. I liked being able to set the temperature exactly. I liked the pen rests that safely hold the pen whilst it cools. I liked having a pen cooling whilst I could work with a different nip at the same time. I liked the size of the tool and the grip which stayed comfortable and cool throughout.

I also liked the length of the wire on the plug (no need for an extension cable, as with my other tools) I look forward to investigating the other tips. 

I might have to add a touch of colour on the sphere the dragon is holding to remove the wolf's head effect. (does anyone else see a wolf?)

BFF SAL 14

 We chose a book we both own as the source for this BFF. Two companion designs, I knew which I wanted to do but my BFF was not sure if she would work on the same one or go for the companion design.

The pattern calls for Rustico 14. I am using 14 count but the Natural from Home Bargains, The same material I used for the previous BFF SAL.

After a quick thread check my BFF decided to do the same design as myself. We started in the same place (the middle) and with the same colour.

This is my progress for the evening.

two colours in.

Click Here to see what two colours in from the same starting point looks like for my BFF.