Haunted Library - 20 hours

Hi All!

I began Dark October by working on a project started during Dark October 2019. This is Haunted Library by Mill Hill stitched, for various reasons, on 14ct aida as opposed to the supplied perforated paper.

In 2019 I reached the 10 hour mark:

And now, four years later, have reached the 20 hour mark:

Given this progress, a potential finish is in sight. But, for some unfathomable reason, I have decided to swap to another WIP. Let's see what happens.

Take care,

Rachel x

In The Gloaming - Dark October Progress

Hi all!

I am so proud of myself for resisting the temptation of a new start for Dark October/Halloween and instead pulling out a WIP - In The Gloaming by Whispered By The Wind.

In The Gloaming was the first project Tiff and I started earlier this year for the for Spring Into Summer New Start Binge. We both did a lot of frogging and re-stitching to get the colours right, since those listed on the chart, and supplied with Tiff's kit, were nowhere near the colours on the cover picture. From darkest to lightest I was using 3828, 739, 738 and 3865. I wasn't really happy with the darkest colour, and the middle two were very similar but it looked OK and I left it like this:

I started this session by frogging and re-stitching the first colour in 167, and then the third colour in 738. I think I'm finally happy; well, I must be because I carried and on! Here's how much further I got:

Stitched on 32ct Vintage Grey murano evenweave

Stitching time to date - 20 hours 30 minutes

Last night for Halloween, and to celebrate the full moon, I actually stitched the moon itself. I used one strand of the recommended colours and one strand of white Etoile so it's a lot paler than it should be... perhaps too pale? I'm not sure. But it does have that little bit of sparkle I was after. Maybe next time I pick it up I will frog and re-stitch it slightly darker - well, why not... all of the other colours (apart from the black) have been frogged!

But that's for next time. For now it's on to November and four more new starts to look forward to.  ;)

Talking of which, a few of you are planning, or have expressed an interest, in joining in with Naughty November. It's not an official SAL as such, but would you like me to put up a linky-widget thingy? I don't want to create any pressure, but it might be nice to have a snoop at other new starts. I don't mind either way. Let me know when you leave a comment.

Take care,

Rachel x

A Little Witch Of The Night - finished!

Hi all!

During Dark October I wanted to work on Halloween projects where possible. This has resulted in me already finishing one of my WIPs!

My finish was A Little Witch Of The Night by Soda Stitch, the final one of my seven Summer Of New Start pieces from 2019 to be completed. She's very high up on the cutesy scale, so I appreciate she will not appeal to many, but at least I've finished her at the right time of year.

Here's where I last left her:

After the stitching but before the backstitching:

And finished after almost three hours of backstitching:

A Little Witch Of The Night by Soda Stitch

Stitched on 16ct Dusky Sky over-dyed aida

Stitch Count 60 wide by 55 high

Started - 17th August 2019

Finished - 24th October 2020

Total stitching time - 17 hours 20 minutes

She will be FFOd in the same way as my other Soda Stitch designs (a mini pillow edged with gathered ribbon) which I know will be very time consuming so may not happen for quite a while.

I now have a week left to work on something else Dark October related, and I know just the one!

Take care,
Rachel x

Hocus Pocus - finished!

Hello again!

I have another finish, the last from the Dark Shadows set I started during Dark October.

This is how you last saw it:

And now finished:

Hocus Pocus by Sue Hillis Designs

Stitched on 16ct Pink Pixie over-dyed aida by sewitall.com 2 over 1

Stitch Count 51 wide by 72 high 

Started - 27th October 2019

Finished - 15th December 2019

Total Stitching Time - 8 hours 35 minutes

I do admit to missing out a large section of this one as there should be a yellow crescent moon behind the writing. However, I thought it was too big (I suppose I could have made it smaller) and since there's nothing like it on the others I thought it looked a bit odd anyway.

Here are the six finishes together:

What do you think? Not bad, even if I do say so myself!!

Hocus Pocus will probably be my last finish of 2019; I could probably squeeze in another one but Hogwarts is calling and then I have a lovely new start planned for Christmas Day which will see me through to the end of the year. However, I do have a lot of posts planned so there's no getting away from me (unless of course you ignore them!)

Take care,
Rachel x

Candelabra - finished!

Hello again!

I have another finish! This is the fifth of the six Sue Hillis' Dark Shadows projects I started for Dark October. Those of you with keen eyes may have spotted this finish in my #24 post, but here's the post with all the details.

This is how I had left it:

And now finished:

Candelabra by Sue Hillis Designs

Stitched on 16ct Purple Potion over-dyed aida by sewitall.com 2 over 1

Stitch Count 47 wide by 73 high 

Started - 26th October 2019

Finished - 29th November 2019

Total Stitching Time - 5 hours 45 minutes

It was stitched in 310 Etoile, to give it a tiny bit of sparkle, and silver-lined beads to represent the chains.

Only one more of these Dark Shadows projects to go, which I am confident will be finished in the next couple of weeks.

Take care,
Rachel x

Boo! - finished!

Hello all!

I've been continuing with my one or two (ish) thread lengths per pay Dark Shadows projects started during Dark October and have now finished Boo!

Here's how you saw it at the end of Dark October:

And now completed:

Boo! by Sue Hillis Designs

Stitched on 16ct Pink Pixie over-dyed aida by sewitall.com 2 over 1

Stitch Count 52 wide by 81 high 

Started - 25th October 2019

Finished - 24th November 2019

Total Stitching Time - 9 hours 30 minutes

It almost looks like the witch is carrying a sandwich board which is slightly too big!!

I think I know how I want to FFO these Dark Shadows projects but will wait until all six are finished before making my mind up. I've only got two more to go so if those are finished before Christmas I can plan a good FFOing session sometime over the Christmas holidays.

Take care,
Rachel x

Dark October - the end

Hi all!

The idea of Dark October is to stitch on only Halloween projects for the whole month. I couldn't commit to that so had the idea of slowly stitching one or two small projects alongside my other planned projects.

However, plans can change and they certainly did, with some of my planned non-Halloween projects being swapped for Halloween ones, and some new starts being added in towards the end of the month.

In my previous Dark October post you saw the completed Chandelier and the progress I'd made on Trick or Treat:

Chandelier

Trick Or Treat

What you didn't see was that these were stitched alongside my Smalls SAL piece, RIP Spooky Hootie, and two Halloween WIPs, A Little Witch Of The Night and A Little Wizard Of The Night, which I swapped in and made some progress on.

RIP Spooky Hootie

A Little Witch Of The Night
(continued her face)


A Little Wizard Of The Night
(finished his body and added the broom)

Then, in the final week I went a bit berserk (well, berserk for me anyway).

I increased the time spent on Trick Or Treat each day so that it would be finished before the end of the month:

Trick of Treat from Dark Shadows by Sue Hillis Designs
(with a few alterations to the letters and bats)

Stitched on 16ct Pink Pixie over-dyed aida by sewitall.com 2 over 1

Stitch Count 51 wide by 72 high

Started - 17th October 2019

Finished - 31st October 2019

Total Stitching Time - 9 hours 40 minutes

And started the four remaining pieces from Sue Hillis' Dark Shadows set:

Bird Candelabra (crows? ravens? rooks?)

Stitched on Purple Potion 16ct over-dyed aida
Started 24th October 2019

Boo!

Stitched on Pink Pixie 16ct over-dyed aida
Started 25th October 2019

Candelabra

Stitched on Purple Potion 16ct over-dyed aida

Started 26th October 2019

Hocus Pocus

Stitched on Pink Pixie 16ct over-dyed aida

Started 27th October 2019

And then I started yet another new piece, Haunted Library by Mill Hill, which you saw a few days ago:

Haunted Library by Mill Hill
Stitched on supplied 14ct dark blue perforated paper
Started 28th October 2019

I think all of the above means that, in the end, I actually made quite a good contribution to Dark October! In fact the only non-Halloween projects I stitched during the month were the Birthstone, the Monarch and Hogwarts. Not bad, considering I had originally planned on stitching just one or two of the Sue Hillis designs!

Next year I shall ensure there are no intrusions and that October is set aside for 100% Halloween stitching. I can't wait... 335 days and counting!

For now I'm going to try to continue stitching on the four remaining Sue Hillis projects a little each day. It would be nice to have them all finished by the end of the year.

By the way, does anyone know of any other similarly month-long themed challenges like this one? Christmas in July perhaps? I don't want to join them, just curious (although a month long Christmas in July does sound appealing; I might have to think about that!!)

I'm now looking forward to seeing what others have achieved during Dark October.

Take care,
Rachel x

Dark October - week 3 progress

Hi all!

Three-quarters of the way through Dark October and my small Halloween projects are steadily progressing.

At the end of week two the Chandelier was almost complete:

And now it is!

Chandelier from Dark Shadows by Sue Hillis Designs

Stitched on 16ct Purple Potion over-dyed aida by sewitall.com 2 over 1
Stitched with black Etoile and Miyuki silver-lined gunmetal seed beads

Stitch Count 61 wide by 81 high

Started - 1st October 2019

Finished - 17th October 2019

Total Stitching Time - 8 hours 30 minutes

I used black Etoile for the chandelier, regular DMC for the flames and Miyuki silver-lined Montanna seed beads for the chains, which I think really work and make it look more like a chandelier than using plain crosses.

So, having finished the chandelier I was free to start another. But which one to start next? Here's a reminder of my choices:

I decided on Trick Or Treat (top left) and here is my progress so far:

Stitched on 16ct Pink Pixie over-dyed aida by sewitall.com 2 over 1

I very much doubt this will be finished by the end of October but you never know. You'll find out in my final Dark October posting at the end of the month.

Take care,

Rachel x

Dark October - week 2 progress

Hi all!

So I'm slowly making progress on my Dark October stitching. If you remember I'm stitching the Chandelier from Sue Hillis' Dark Shadows at the rate of two thread lengths per day.

At the end of week one I was here:

At the end of week 2 I was here, having finished the main chandelier:

With just the flames and chains to do this will be a finish very soon, I'll then have the reason I need for starting a second design from this set. Oh goody!

Take care,
Rachel x

Dark October - week 1 progress

Hi again!

Just a quick post to show you the progress on my Dark October stitching. Whilst other stitchers are deep into their Dark October Halloween projects, I am slowly stitching a small piece from Sue Hillis' Dark Shadows set. In case you didn't guess, this is the chandelier.

Here's my progress after day 1:

And after week 1:

You can't see it in the photo but the Etoile is certainly adding a tiny bit of sparkle, as will the beads once it's their turn.

Naturally I'm absolutely desperate to work on it more, but I'm being a good girl and putting it away after adding just two thread lengths each day. I'll show another update after week two (unless I stop being good and have finished it by then!)

Take care,
Rachel x

Dark October - the beginning

Hi all!

Dark October is a stitching SAL which has been around for a few years. It was the brainchild of Michelle Cozyegg and Emily Eclectic Possessions (thanks, Jo, for pointing me in the right direction there) with the idea (I think) of stitching on just Halloween projects for the whole month, whether that be one project, a few projects, or even a new start every day.

I love the idea of Dark October but the format doesn't really fit in with my current stitching schedule. So I had two choices; either change most of my October schedule to make it 100% Dark October, or make Dark October work alongside my original plans. After much procrastination I chose the latter (although, as I'm writing this, I'm thinking if changing my mind again!) mainly because I thought knew the former would tempt me into one or two far too many new starts.

So now my October plan is as follows - stitch on the pieces I had planned to stitch on anyway, but for about 20-30 minutes each day work on one of these Dark Shadows projects by Sue Hillis Designs. That way I can do my planned stitching and participate in Dark October too, if only a little.

Here is yesterday's start. I think you should be able to tell which one I've chosen to stitch first. And if I finish this one then I will start another, and so on, until the end of the month.

Stitched on 16ct Purple Potion by sewitall.com 2 over 1

There are going to be a few changes to the designs - to give them a bit of sparkle I'm substituting the charted blacks and greys with their closest Etoile counterparts, and for the chain-y bits on the candelabra and chandelier I have some silver-lined dark grey beads which I would really like to use. I don't know if they will work but it's worth a try so fingers crossed.

I would say wish me luck, but it's not exactly going to be the most difficult SAL in the world (except perhaps the putting-down-after-only-a-short-while bit!)

Take care,
Rachel x