WIP Wednesday - 10/31/2018

I'd hoped to have a finish this week, but I didn't quite make it.  Unfortunately, if I stitch too long, my right arm starts to ache and that happened last night.  All that's left is some of the backstitching, so I'll probably finish it tonight.

As of 10/24/2018

As of 10/31/2018

My new chart for Miranda of the Hocus Pocus Trilogy has arrived, so I'll work on that as soon as I finish this one.

Halloween through the Years

Janice posted some memories of previous Halloween costumes on Facebook this morning, so I thought I'd do the same starting with 2012.  In 2008, she was a pumpkin.

Tinkerbell in 2009

Cinderella in 2010

A butterfly in 2011

A pirate Princess in 2012

Rapunzel in 2013

Elsa in 2014

 Mal from Descendants in 2015 (Janice was Malificent)

 Cat Woman in 2016

A Witch in 2017

And finally, Picachu in 2018

I wonder what she'll be next year!

Happy Halloween

I hope everyone has/had a Happy and Safe Halloween today.  Here are some Halloween related activities.

Devin had to work late on Monday, so Janice and Kyleigh carved their pumpkins.  Kyleigh did Batsy and Janice did Picachu.

Kyleigh and Janice went to Treats in the Streets in the Orange Circle on Thursday with a friend and her daughter.  The expression says it all.

Don't worry, she got plenty of candy!

Friday night was Trunk or Treat, a Friendraiser at the Ronald McDonald House in Orange.  I worked the sign-in table for volunteers and then joined Devin, Janice and Kyleigh for fun games and goodies.  The lady next to me stayed at the house when her daughter was born a year ago and came back to help out.

Both  the Ghostbusters and Wild Wing (the Ducks mascot) were there.

And finally a group picture. Kyleigh is Picachu if you don't recognize the costume.

Finally, two more pictures that are Halloween related.  A selfie of Janice and Kyleigh

And a couple of pumpkins I found on one of the blogs I read this morning.  I have no idea where the picture actually came from.

WIP Wednesday - 10/24/2018

I almost didn't post this today, because I didn't make much progress on this project since last night is the only time I stitched on it this week.  This is Sophie Squirrel, the 12th Advent Animal from Brooke's Books.

This is my starting point for last night:

 And this is where I stopped stitching last night.

Happy Dance - Fitzwilliam Frog

Started: 5/2/2018 (As part of Stitch Maynia)

Finished: 10/22/2018

This is the 11th day of Brooke's Books' Advent Animals free chart series.  It's stitched on 14-count Misty Blue Aida with the called for DMC.  It is also stitched as charted except that when it called for three strands of floss for the border, I only used two.

Happy Dance - Fabulous Lemon

Started: 10/13/2018

Finished: 10/17/2018

This is another of the Fabulous Fruit in the Crazy for ... section of Cross Stitch Crazy #192.   It was designed by Jenny Barton.  

It's stitched as charted with the called for DMC floss on 14-count white Aida.  

I'm halfway done with these little guys right now.  I also think I found the perfect fabric for finishing them.

WIP Wednesday - 10/17/2018

Here I am, back again with the second WIP Wednesday in a row.   I had hoped to have a finish instead, but that didn't happen this week.  I continued working on Miranda and even joined the Weekend Push at Cross Stitch Frog Busters, but somehow, between Thursday and Friday, I managed to lose the instructions and color key.  I've looked every place I can think of, but they're not to be found anywhere, so this project has been temporarily (I hope) set aside until I can think of somewhere else to look.

As of 10/10/2018

As of 10/12/2018

I did start another small project, but since it will probably be finished tonight, I'll post the Happy Dance instead of the WIP.  Then, I'll just have to decide what to stitch next.

WIP Wednesday - 10/10/2018

My stitchy mojo is back, at least partly so I'm finally back with another WIP Wednesday.

I made a goal to stitch everyday in October and so far I'm meeting that goal.  So far this month, I've been an OAAT stitcher, but that's okay; at least I'm stitching.  After finishing Witchy Jack on the first, I pulled out Miranda, one of the Hocus Pocus Trilogy from Mill Hill. 

As of 10/5

As of 10/7

As of 10/9

The first two pictures were taken for the Weekend Push on the Cross Stitch Frog Busters Facebook Group.

I'm now working on the backstitching, of which there's quite a bit.  Then comes the beading--I did the eyes, because I'm uncomfortable with and a little superstitious about blank spaces for eyes.  This is the last of the trilogy and I hope to be able to post a happy dance this week.

Happy Dance - Witchy Jack

Started: 9/6/2018

Finished 10/1/2018

This is from the Just Cross Stitch 2018 Halloween Issue.  It was stitched on white 14-count Aida in the called for DMC.  This is another piece that required a lot of frogging and one major unintentional customization remains.  I doubt if you can tell what it is without comparing it to the chart though.

This was stitched for WOCS for a SAL using a Halloween charm pack.

September Recap

I thought I did very little stitching during the month of September, but when I looked at my daily log, I'd stitched more than I thought.  I actually stitched 17 out of the 30 days of September.  I didn't make much progress on my large stitches though.  This is why there weren't any Wednesday WIP updates for the month of September.  I think I'm back on track, but I thought that at the beginning of September also.  I did have three finishes though:

Anniversary Flower

Started: 7/17/2018

Finished 9/21/2018

This was stitched for Q4OC for their 2018 Anniversary Flower SAL.  It was a free chart from Cross Stitching Guild (Michael Learner).  It is stitched on 14-count white Aida with DMC 602 and 604.

Coffee Is Always a Good Idea

Started: 8/7/2018

Finished: 9/2/2018

This was stitched for the  Coffee or Tea SAL on WOCS and came from Cross Stitch Crazy #245.  It's stitched on white 14-count Aida with mostly as charted with the called for threads.  I had a lot of problems stitching this one so there are some unintended customizations, one of which is that the top color in Coffee should have been the same color as IDEA.

I (heart) the USA

Started: 9/3/2018

Finished: 9/5/2018

This was also stitched for WOCS, for their Patriotic SAL.  The chart came from World of Cross Stitching #271.  It is again stitched on 14-count white Aida with the called for DMC.  The only change I made to this one was to add the word "the".

That makes 33 finishes so far this year.

I also stitched on Advent Animals #11, but discovered that I had made a mistake last time and all that has been done has to be frogged.  (This may be part of the reason I didn't stitch as much as usual--September was the month of the FROG.)

I'm not recapping my goals for August or September as both months were a dismal failure and I haven't made any goals for October.  I'm just going to stitch what calls to me.