"I'll have your guts for garters girl!"

Ha, I couldn't think of a good title, and we have been watching all of our favorite Halloween movies this month- do you remember which one this is from? 

Halloween is fast approaching, and I have been trying to catch up on my Halloween finishing to no avail! Christina of Whilst Iris Naps and I did a Halloween exchange this year. Below is what she sent me, and her finishing is as usual gorgeous. The linen is a light dusty purple, and the ruched black trim edging is just awesome. Do you see the little purple spider button at the very top too? 

And here are all the extra goodies she sent me. Three Crescent Colors threads in some beautiful oranges, a cute little pair of orange scissors, a drawn thread chart, and the fabric in the back the skulls are actually glittery (you can't see it in my photo). 

 And here is what I sent off. I made a project bag using Vonna's tutorial on Youtube. I have made two of these now for myself, and like using them much more than the gallon ziploc bags I was using before. The little pumpkin pins were from Target, a Lizzie Kate Halloween pattern, a pair of scissors with cute pumpkins on them, and my stitched piece. My stitched piece was another LK pattern, and I edged the little pillow and made the hangar out of some black chain I found at Hobby Lobby. I thought it was unique for a Halloween finish.

So October is always a busy month for us. I think I decorate more for Halloween than I maybe do for Christmas! Also the AZ state fair comes to town, and while I normally try and enter a stitched piece this year I did not have anything framed and worthy of going. So I'll show you everyone else's lovely work. Below is an Ink Circles design "Cirque Des Cercles". I have seen this before, but stitched on that dark linen with the beautiful variegated gold it is just breathtaking. 

I don't know the name of the following stitches, but enjoyed seeing the variety of what everyone is stitching. I think it is good for the public to see too, that cross stitching has all these beautiful different styles and is not just a grandmothers hobby.














I am hoping to get one more post in pre-Halloween, I have lots more to show before having to put it all away for next year. I had a discussion with my husband that some people start Christmas decorating at the beginning of November, so why couldn't we just leave our Halloween decorations up until the end of November? He shook his head, but seemed to understand my love of all things spooky.

I have sooooo much to show you!

While I haven't been a busy blogger, I have been a very busy stitcher! So I have lots to share. Our Fall season has been super-busy but super fun! We have been doing lots of weekend trips out of town to enjoy the cooler weather and fall colors up north. But lets get to the stitching first. Above is "Spirits & Spells" a With Thy Needle and Thread pattern. I hand-dyed this linen, and I used little gold beads for the buttons on her collar, and did french knots for the owl's eyes. This is such a cute design. I did change the color of the leaves to CC "Pea Pod" it had a lot more variegation than I expected, but I love the pea-soup color. 

 And I have continued stitching on the word-play series by Country Stitches. I have now finished July/August, and half of September. Here is October mostly finished. I don't like the blank spot to the right of the witch and am thinking of stitching another crow to fill it in. I do love the tiny little witch though. Calvin (my toddler) has taken to calling witches "shadows" this year. I don't know where he got that from, but I kind of like it.

Another tiny finish. A Lizzie Kate pattern out of a JCS Halloween issue. I changed the colors of the lettering, and like how I did alternating colors in the top letters.

And here is some of my Halloween decor at home. The bat is a LK pattern "Velcome", an oldie but a goodie. The bat himself is literally made out of felt and pipe cleaners (my crafting skills have gotten better I swear!) but I still love him. The basket on the table is new this year, a little spiderweb bowl from Kohls for holding all my little ornaments. 

 And this is our fall/Halloween table. I found the candle tray at Hobby Lobby. I was going to fill the bottom with little skulls or eyeballs but kind of like the little rat peaking out from under the leaves.

 And my kitchen seasonal wall. In the middle is my Mirabilia "Trick or Treat Fairy", on the right is a Barbara Ana "Halloween Stack", and then lots of little stitched ornaments. I'll have to do a close up tour during the day when I can get some better pictures.

 Here is my bedroom dresser with all of my Jim Shore witches up safe and out of reach. The little goat on the right hand side is new this year, and he is so cute and primitive. His little beard is real wool. I have to laugh though about my toddler, he begged to hold the goat and I told him no knowing he would rip the wool right off his chin. So as I am leaving the bedroom I hear sweet little toddler turn to dad and ask him to get his stuffed animal (the goat) down off the dresser- hoping dad would assume it was just another toy and give it to him. Can't beat kids and their sneakiness sometimes.

And i'll finish with some cute photos of said toddler. This was a weekend trip up towards Flagstaff. We went to the Grand Canyon Deer Farm. They let the deer roam free, and they will eat right out of your hand. Below is him trying on Halloween costumes in Target, if you can't tell he is doing a chicken dance while wearing a flamingo hat!