Stitching Friends Forever

October and Halloween
Week One
Styling with Stitches
Bonus: Framed Sampler
Mini Give Away details

October is such a wonderful time of the year.  My blogging buddy Mary in New York will be enjoying  the changing colors of the  leaves and the weather cooling as will most of our beautiful country.  It is the time of the year I miss most living in Florida when it is still in the 90's and so muggy!  But it does have it's perks too...like going to the beach.  

We chose to make Halloween tags for our decorated cloches for our Styling with Stitches post.  BUT, I got the opportunity to go to St. Augustine beach for a week or make my tag.  Hard choice I know, but I chose the beach!   So I will be showing my Halloween stitch clipped to a clipboard for now but promise to finish it during the month and show it later.   But, Mary has her cloche tag finished which looks wonderful on her beautifully decorated cloche.

I also have a bonus stitch to show you which I made at the beach.

Plus Mary has an adorable mini give away for October too.  Details are at the end of the post.  Enjoy!


Styling with Stitches 

RJ's -  I chose Seasonal Mementos by Mary Garry's Sewing Cabin.   She is a cute little witch and was a fun stitch.  I first saw her on Carol's blog Stitching Dreams.  I fell in love with this pattern and always wanted to stitch her.   For now I just clipped some pumpkin fabric and the stitch to a black clipboard with a cloche tag to follow later.  

Here's a neat way to display your stitch until you have time to actually finish it.

Closeup of such a cute little witch.   That is a linen thread that I did not notice until later and pulled off.

Seasonal Mementos
by Mary Garry Sewing Cabin
40 ct. flax Newcastle linen
over dyed threads that I already had
pumpkin fabric from Joann's Fabrics
clipboard from Kohl's

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Mary's - This was the first tag I have made and although it won't be my last it will certainly be the last one that I improvise on making.   I will be using directions from an expert in the future!

I found this chart on Pinterest and the source is 
www.happinessiscrossstitching.blogspot.co.uk       It is a free chart for personal use only.  Thanks Lynn for designing this really cute chart. 

I stitched it on 30 ct. Weeks mocha linen and used a check wool for the finishing fabric.  I used an orange metallic thread for the French knots I made for the eyes.   And I used these over dyed threads: pumpkin - CC Colonial copper, tree trunk - CC Roasted Chestnut, leaves - GA Fragrant cloves, spider and cat body - Weeks onyx and pumpkin stems - CC avocado

It was a fun and easy stitch and perfect for Halloween.   I glued the cute trim on which went very well and added to the finish.

Sweet Halloween tag on my filled cloche

Closeup of this cute stitch from a free pattern with the added trim

Free chart
by Happiness is Cross Stitching
30 ct. Weeks mocha linen
over dyed threads
metallic thread
orange and black check wool fabric

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RJ's Bonus Stitch  

 I was able to stitch at night while we were at the beach and I made a cute Lizzie Kate baby sampler.   Remember when I made this little sampler for a baby girl and I added long stemmed tulips to make the whole stitch longer to fit the frame better?   Well this time it was for a baby boy so instead of tulips I made little sailboats in red, white and blue to add near the bottom to lengthen the stitch.  The top and bottom border is slightly different for the boy too.  I used Wks cayenne, GA freedom, GA baby spinach, CC eggshell and CC deep blue sea over dyed threads instead of the colors called for.  Hope you like how it turned out.

Closeup of Baby Boy sampler with added sailboats

Closeup of added sailboats

Photo of the baby girl's sampler with the added tulips

Welcome Baby
by Lizzie Kate
With added sailboats
40 ct. flax Newcastle linen
over dyed threads

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Mary's October give away 

Batty about Halloween is an adorable pattern by Homespun Elegance.  I ordered two of these by mistake and would like to give away the second brand new pattern to one of our most appreciated followers for the fall season.   If you would like to win this chart please be a sidebar follower and leave a comment telling us your favorite Halloween candy.  The winner will be announced next week on October 17th.   It is open to followers out of the mainland too.

Here is Batty finished as an ornament

I made this one for my friend last year that loves Halloween

Closeup of the October give away pattern

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Thank you all for stopping by for a visit.   We so enjoy each of your kind comments and really appreciate you taking the time to read our blog.  We hope to see you next week with our grab bag post and our Christmas challenge stitches.    Mary and RJ

                                   Autumn...the year's last, loveliest smile
                                                          William Cullent Bryant