Good morning, my dear friends! And a warm welcome to my new followers! I never post on Sundays, but with Hurricane Sandy making her way up to the north east, I decided to get this written because, yes, western Pennsylvania is in that highlighted
red area you see on all of those weather maps. Hopefully, it is just high
winds and rain (I'd even take some snow!), but you just can't be sure... Last week we enjoyed summer-like record-breaking temperatures and here we are just seven days later with hurricane warnings! That Mother Nature sure is a fickle woman, isn't she? We are very blessed in the western Pennsylvania region to usually manage to escape nature's ravages...few tornadoes, wild fires, hurricanes, or any of the other devastating events that effect so many other parts of the country rarely hit us here. BUT, we were affected by Hurricane Ivan back in 2004. Our whole basement was flooded and I sure hope history doesn't repeat itself. My thoughts are with all of you on--especially those of you on the coast--as the storm approaches...
So, what have I been doing over the past three weeks? Well, playing with little black cats, of course! No, not real ones (unfortunately), but these sweet stitched ones. Yes, as many of you guessed, black cats is the theme for my October bowl of smalls. I love black cats because of the one and only cat we ever owned--my dear Shadow cat (more about him later!). Even though he's been gone for five years, I still miss him and since we aren't able to get another cat due to my husband's allergies, I have to get my "black cat fix" through my stitching. This month, I managed to stitch five new pieces featuring the fabulous felines and finish two of my unfinished-finishes that had been hidden away in a drawer for three years!
October 2012 Black Cat Finishes
This trio of grinning black cats marching along with their pumpkin heads
made me smile the very first time I saw it, so I knew it would be
making it into my bowl. This is actually just a small motif taken from
the bottom portion of Prairie Schooler Book No. 165 Sweeping Cobwebs. I
stitched this one on 40 ct. R&R Creme Brulee with DMC threads. It was the first time I'd worked on this fabric and I'll have to say,
it wasn't my favorite. It was very loosely woven and almost
stretchy--I didn't think the coverage (I normally use one thread on
40ct. fabrics) was as good as on other 40 ct. linens that I've used. I
do like the mottled appearance of this linen, though, for a Halloween
finish. The black and tan gingham and orange ruched ribbon finished up
the little pillow quite nicely, don't you think?
"Sweeping Cobwebs" motif by Prairie Schooler
Next up is a finish called "Cat O'Lanterns" by
Silly Snobs Gallery--a chart that I've had in my stash for a l-o-n-g
time. It was published way back in 1993!! Again I used the 40
ct. R&R Creme Brulee for this piece, but learning from
experience on the previous finish, this time I used TWO threads for the
black portions of the design and I'm much happier with the result. The cats have a lovely, almost velvety appearance. And how cute is that tiny gray mouse peaking out of the littlest pumpkin! I did end up changing the colors for the pumpkins because the charted colors were just too bright of an orange for my taste. This one is finished as a flat mount with miniature black pompom trim, a gingham bow, and tiny button as accents.
"Cat O'Lantern" by Silly Snobs Gallery
From the wonderful imagination of The Sampler Girl comes my next finish
called "Quaker Boo." I'm really happy with how this one turned out--I
picked the fabric colors after I'd finished the stitching, but
they truly look like they were meant to go with my chosen floss colors. For
this one, I used a combination of DMC, Needle Necessities, and WDW
threads stitched over one on 25 ct. mushroom lugana. The chart is still
available for purchase on Tanya's website . And how about those adorable black cat scissors in the photo--thanks again, Mary--I just love them!
"Quaker Boo" by The Sampler Girl
I knew this freebie from Our Pioneer Homestead blog
would be a perfect addition to my bowl of kitties. For the first time
in a long, long time, I used 18ct. Aida for this finish. Not my
favorite to stitch on, but the color of burnt orange was perfect. I
added another bat, a black star charm, and changed the border to finish
this one. I wanted to make a black cording, but ran out of DMC 310, so I
had to resort to whipstitching the back to the front which, boy, sure
takes a lot longer than making a simple pillow and adding cording!
"Black Cat Inn" freebie from
And finally, I dove into my drawer of unfinished finishes and pulled out these two cuties... In a way, I'm glad I didn't
finish them way back in 2009 when I stitched them, because I've gotten
much more confident in my finishing skills and had tons of practice on
finishing smalls since then!
This finish is called simply "Halloween Sampler" and is from the book The New Cross Stitch Sampler Book by
Helen Philipps. You may be able to find a copy of the book at your
local library which is where I found this one... If you're interested in
reading more about this finish, you can read more about it in this post.
To
make the pillow, I chose the ghostly fabric displayed behind it and
added a black cording and bow--quick and easy and oh-so-cute!
"Halloween Sampler" from
The New Cross Stitch Sampler Book by Helen Phillips
And finally (whew!!), the adorable "Halloween Spots" design by The Trilogy. You can read about my finish in this post from
way back in October of 2009. I love that skinny-legged ghost, don't
you? Reminds me of my boys when they were tiny. For the finish, I chose a
plain black fabric and a black and white polka-dot fabric to sew the
pillow. Just adding on stripes of orange and black checked ribbon and a
little brass pumpkin charm makes this one of my favorite finishes of
this year.
"Halloween Spots" by The Trilogy
Seven black
cat finishes (including the Prairie Schooler one from my last post) are
shown below. Which one do you like best? It's really hard for me to pick
this month--I'm really happy with each one of them!
October 2012 Black Cat Finishes
So, here they are in my wooden bowl... Ten months down, two to go!! This
monthly goal has been such a good way to finally stitch many of the
older charts that I've had languishing in my stash for so long. I highly
recommend it as a way of stitching some of those "oldies, but goodies"
that you might have in your stitching collection, too...
October 2012 bowl of finishes
So, are any of my fellow stitchers also fans of black cats? Are you
wondering how my obsession with them come about? Well, blame it on this
little guy--my sweet "Shadow" who was our one and only pet for 14 years.
In 1993, he wandered into our yard as a stray when my three young sons
were playing outside with their friends and quickly made himself right
at home. He really was the perfect Halloween kitty--this photo taken
back in 2001 is one of my favorites.
Shadow in October 2001
Shadow was a constant companion to my sons--a great confidante who
probably heard more of their hopes and dreams than any human being. The
photo below was taken on our front porch in Halloween 1998 with my
youngest "mummy" son and my middle "detective" son. (No, that isn't my
oldest son in the rocking chair--it is just a giant stuffed monkey
dressed up as Dracula!). We enjoyed eight more wonderful Halloweens with
Shadow until an intestinal tumor took him from us in the summer of
2007. I still miss him every day...
Halloween 1998
I won a lovely giveaway from my friend, Anne, who blogs at Doll's Musings.
The plaid fabric is just perfect for future Christmas ornament
finishing, isn't it? She also included some pretty green ribbon and a
skein of Watercolors thread that she thought would be perfect to make
cording along with three packets of tea. If you haven't visited Anne's blog,
please stop by and say "hello." I'm sure you'll be impressed with her
beautiful stitching and finishing... Thank you so very much, Anne--it
has been a pleasure to get to know you better this year!
Giveaway win from Anne
We've
had such a gorgeous fall here in western Pennsylvania. I was afraid the
colors wouldn't be very vibrant on the trees this year due to our hot,
dry summer, but I think they were the prettiest they've been in years. I
took the picture on the left driving home from my parents a couple of
weeks ago, the one on the top right on my way to work, and the one on
the bottom right from the library parking lot. Western Pennsylvania is
very hilly and I think that only adds to the gorgeous display. I can't
imagine not living with four beautiful and distinct seasons like we have
here...
Fall Foliage in Western Pennsylvania: October 2012
My husband put out the old sunflower heads for our resident deer and
they've been having fun feasting while we enjoy watching them graze. We
usually see three to five almost daily in our back yard. The middle
photo of the collage shows the three females. The antlered males seem to
come by less often, but they are so impressive to see when they do
grace us with their appearance.
Backyard deer: Autumn 2012
I meant to share more photos from our North Carolina trip with everyone,
but I'm just out of energy and in a bit of pain right now. I've been
having trouble with my right thumb and am seriously wondering if it
might be carpal tunnel syndrome. Anyone have any experience with that?
I'm so afraid I'll have to give up stitching... Anyway, time to get off
the computer and rest it a bit. Typing really bothers it and it's almost
impossible not to use the right thumb since that is the one I use to
hit the space bar!!
Thank you, thank you for your kind comments and compliments on my
finishes. I'm truly honored to hear that I've inspired you in some small
way or other--really... Another reminder about your questions--I'm
happy to answer them if I can, but you must leave an email address in
order for me to get in touch with you. Anyway, I hope you each enjoy the
remainder of your week and for those of you who celebrate... I wish you
a most enjoyable Halloween filled with chocolate galore! Bye for now...
HAPPY HALLOWEEN !
