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

New Start - Haunted Library by Mill Hill

Hi everyone!

Yesterday I decided to treat myself to another new start. My stitching for Dark October has already involved a few new starts (more about that in the Dark October round-up post on 31st) but *shock horror* I decided to add in another to commemorate an annual event.

To be fair, I had planned to start this kit this year so don't feel too guilty about adding it to my growing WIP pile. This is, or rather eventually will be, Haunted Library by Mill Hill:

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

It's been 15 years since I last used 14ct and three strands of floss so it felt weird to be stitching on anything other than 16/32ct fabric; I definitely missed railroading and using the cut-and-loop starting method!


This is my first Mill Hill project, so here are a few observations and thoughts.

The threads come in a bundle, rather than pre-sorted, and I'm not sure would be easy to sort out without a shade card, given how close some of the colours are. However, as they're DMC, I didn't even try; I just cheated and went straight to my own stash!

All of the beads came mixed in two bags so, again, had to be sorted. Luckily I'd preempted this and invested in a Tacky Bob; what a life-saver!

I very rarely stitch in hand so couldn't get on with holding the perforated paper. I spent a bit of time sewing some spare aida to the top and bottom so that I could attach it to my frame and therefore use both hands, like I'm used to. Much better!

Apart from where there are stand-alone stitches, which don't lay too well due to the oversized holes in the paper, the coverage is really good.

I don't know if this is down to the perforated paper or to using three strands, but the thread loses its sleekness quite quickly. I'm using 16" lengths, so not exactly long, and finding I'm having to finish quite a way before reaching the end.

I'm very good at procrastinating and have been debating for ages whether to use the supplied perforated paper or swap it for aida. From using them on my monthly birthstone pieces, I found that Mill Hill size 11 beads are slightly too big for 16ct. Part of me wishes I'd done bought some similarly-coloured 14ct aida to stitch this on. Maybe I'll do that for the next one... or this one if I fancy a restart!!!

I'd be very interested to know your thoughts on these kits. Whereas some are happy to stitch on any type or count of fabric, perhaps I'm too attached to my beloved 16ct to be completely happy, and you should all just tell me to suck it up, enjoy the journey, and look forward to the stunning results these kits give!

Take care,
Rachel x

PS I'm way behind on answering emails but hope to catch in the next week or so. Bear with me, you will get yours eventually!

Hogwarts In A Bottle - 120 hours

Hi there!

I had an absolutely fantastic week with Hogwarts, reaching a milestone now that I've more or less finished the buildings, including backstitching, and am moving on to the mountains and clouds of steam.

Last week:

And this week:

And the full piece:

And because I haven't shown it for a while, here's a reminder of how the piece will eventually look. It's satisfying to see I'm about half way through the scene itself.

Hogwarts is going away for a while now but it will be out again in November, hopefully for another two ten-hour sessions.

Take care,
Rachel x

Smalls SAL - October 2019

Hello all!

It's the last Friday of the month so time for the Smalls SAL. Thank you, Mary, for continuing to host this fun little SAL. Pop over to Mary's Blog to see what other participants have been stitching in the way of Smalls this month.

Each month I stitch a small project specifically for this SAL which doesn't appear elsewhere on my blog. This month it was a Spooky Hootie by Pinoy Stitch (etsy) and which which was relevent for Halloween:

RIP Spooky Hootie by Pinoy Stitch (etsy)

Stitch Count 29 wide by 40 high

Stitched on 16ct Wolf over-dyed aida from sewitall.com 2 over 1

Started - 5th October 2019

Finished - 7th October 2019

Total stitching time - 6 hours 10 minutes

I absolutely adore this little chap and his Halloween colours.

The charted pale grey RIP hardly showed up against the grey of the gravestone so I backstitched around it in 3799. It's still not that clear but then neither are traditional carved gravestones so everyone will just have to squint! OK, so I could have swapped the letters for black or white, or even a paler grey, but I thought a paler grey would not have made much difference and the others would have been too harsh a contrast.

For this Smalls SAL I'm also re-showing other qualifying small projects I've stitched during the month.

My birthstone of the month, October In Tourmaline:

And my monarch of the month, Edward II:

For November's Smalls SAL I'm finally going Christmassy with both the design and the use of lots of Etoile threads! Yippee!!

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

Hogwarts In A Bottle - 110 hours

Hi there!

Phew! Another 10 hours on Hogwarts is over, filled with copious amounts of backstitching. In fact 6 out of the ten hours were spent backstitching which is why there hasn't been that much progress stitching-wise.

Last time:

This time:

And the full piece:

Here's the section before and after the backstitching:

The backstitching has obviously brought the buildings to life, so much so that I'm really keen to finish the remaining ones and backstitch them too! I wonder how far I'll get in the next ten hours? Stay tuned.

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