Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween

It was a nice night for trick or treating, not too cold. Ben was a Ghost buster and Cara was a witch
They went to a few doors but a lot of people were hiding in the dark this year and there was very few decorated houses. They did end up with lots of chocolate (of which they have started eating),and only some apples and nuts,(i am sure these will still be uneaten in a few weeks time). A fun night for the kids and another holiday finished, Christmas season next.

scarefest

We are all off to Alton towers theme park for a few days to start the Halloween celebrations. http://www.altontowers.com/

We went last year and it was just a different experience to go on the rides in the dark. The park is nicely decorated and the rides are all changed to include a Halloween theme. My son Ben who is 7 liked the ghost train which was adapted to include real people, he was also a bit scared. He also liked all the light sabres and glow products which were for sale to light up the park at night, in all a very enjoyable day. I hope this year is just as good and at least dry, wet weather is forecast for Thursday and Saturday but Friday looks fine. I also hope to find some craft stores as i would like so new fabric, MO DA looks really good at the moment and i really like their peppermint swirl pincushion, i hope to make it this weekend.

http://www.modabakeshop.com/2009/09/peppermint-swirl-pincushion.html

hello kitty

Here is a Hello Kitty cross stitch pattern i drew up.I have started stitching it and it works well. It is easier if you stitch all of the black first (this is symbol c) then when that is finished it is just like colouring in but with thread.

The pattern is is 66 stitches wide by 80 stitches high which works out about 12 cm by 15 cm on 14 count fabric, so a fabric piece of about 17 cm by 20 cm should do.

It uses few colours:
c black
0 yellow
7 light pink
@ dark pink
B darker pink
blank squares are white for head, hands and feet.

Sew

I have been a bit distracted this week with the arrival of the new Cath Kidston book, its really good. I have already made two bags and the double oven glove, even though i only got it Tuesday afternoon and it took me a day to go out and choose fabric. It was also my birthday Thursday, i got the new PSP GO so i took time to play this too. In all its been a very busy week for things to do which aren't really the things i should be doing on a working week day. The garden is also needing attending to, the leaves are everywhere and the perennials are dying down, Autumn is happening fast! My son Ben is off school on holiday this week coming so i hope he will help to get the garden looking tidy in time for Halloween and fireworks night on November 5Th. I am nearly ready to start the Halloween decorations this week so that should be fun, hope it doesn't rain all week. I also plan to stitch the peg bag and the kids duffel bag from the book and decide what the kids want as Halloween costumes, its turning into a very busy season. Before i know it i will be taken down the Halloween stuff and starting on the Christmas things. No its way to early!

Happy Halloween

More Halloween pictures, i think i may have quite a few by the end of the week. I am suddenly full of Halloween ideas!

I forgot to mention the pictures are made of plain black cotton and scraps of felt i had lying around. Remember small projects like this are great for practising your embroidery stitches, you can really do anything you want.

Embellish with beads, buttons and sequins.

BOO tutorial

Ive been starting the Halloween decorations this weekend with an easy stitched picture, haven't been able to find a black flexi-frame yet so i may just stitch it into a mini quilt hanging with some patchwork round it. you can just print out some letters or draw your own, instructions are as follows:

1. first sew letters and pumpkin shapes onto black cotton using a
straight stitch.

2. stitch pumpkin features.

3. satin stitch letters.

4. stitch background with a star stitch.

i stitched this project using a 5inch embroidery hoop and drew it on A4 paper to size, so if you can print this out you pretty much have an exact pattern.

pingu bag

here is the finished pingu made into a bag.

pingu

my daughter really loves penguins, she has quite the collection. Her favourite was looking a little worn lately due to its constant cuddling so i re stuffed when she was sleeping and it looked back to normal. however when she awoke she kept saying "penguins broke" (she new something just wasn't right) so i had to take some stuffing out and put it in the wash to get it nice and worn again. Anyway i tried to find a cross stitch pattern for a penguin but couldn't find anything suitable so i just drew one by myself. Here is the pattern for any penguin lovers out there, some symbols are missing but you get the idea. colours are as shown, black,white,grey,yellow,orange and red. i will post the finished piece later.