Four Haunting rings

They are all done and are going in the mail to Judy. Hopefully she gets them in time for her celebration on Saturday. This morning I glued the cut out shapes to the felt and let it dry. I did the white one first and used Fabric Tac. It took forever to dry. Then I went back to the good ole Tacky Glue. Works everytime. Finally, I cut them away from the felt. I then took the matching thread and whip stitched up and back matching the ends together! Very quick, very easy, very cute!

They are stitched!

I finished all of the buttonhole stitching around all of the napkin rings! I cut them all out too!
Now, I am going to glue, yes....glue, them to off white felt and cut them out again. Last I will stitch the ends together and mail them to Judy on Monday.........she should have them in time for Halloween!!

I got it!

Yes, I went by and picked up more of the Navy Kreinik and also the white. I finished the sky on the cat and started buttonhole stitch around the outside as well. I did just under the cat and around to the right. Tomorrow, I will try and get the buttonhole stitch done around all four of them! We will see how that goes!

Last, I added eyes!

I finished all of the white background!! I added Mill Hill beads in 2010--the clear ones with the
silver lining to fill in the web, and then the green Magnificas for the spider eyes. I then started the buttonhole stitch around the bottom and up the right side and ran out of the white Kreinik--oh no! It is alright....I am going to the LNS tomorrow to get the navy for the cat so I will also get more white!

Making the hair stand out

I finished compensating the top through the web and then down the right side including through the legs. He is nice and fuzzy and stands out very nicely! The LNS has the navy blue in stock for the cat in the moon piece and I will get by as quick as I can to work on that one some more!

Midnight Sky....

First I worked on the left side and finish down through the bottom and started under the moon. I then moved up to the top on the right. This is where I realized I am going to run out of thread again! Crap! So, I set it down and finished the buttonhole stitch around the red skull and crossbones. This then is ready for the felt backing and the final sew it together!

Across the top

I went back to working the white compensation through the top of the spider napkin ring and down around the top of the first leg on the right side. I kept the laying tool handy to pick up the fuzzy stuff to keep it on the top of the piece.

And the sky turned to night

So tonight I put some of the sky in on the cat napkin ring. Again, I am doing the Diagonal Triple Parisian and on this one I am using two strands of #8 in Kreinik 018, Navy. It really makes the stars shine on!

Spinning a web

I started the spider's web. I used tent stitch and 001HL so it would be really shiny. I will be adding beads to the web but am waiting until I have the background filled in behind it first. Then I started the background with the Triple Parisian for the background. I started on the left and am working my way over and through the web as there is a great deal of compensating through the web. I started a second line to make it easier to compensate all the way across the web. Jane of Chilly Hollow wrote a great note about compensating on her blog and has some excellent ideas. I thought about just doing tent through the web, but I decided to go ahead and comp through it.

Are the stars out tonight?

Of course! I stitched them with Kreinik 001HL in a Double straight cross stitch. I moved on to the fence and decided it would look best in tent stitch and that it definitely needed to be the brown. I decided on my Kreinik Ombre in color 1700-Misty Gold. Notice how the thread is variegated. I think it has a great fall look to it.

The full moon!

I finished the Harvest moon! Again, I used Kreinik #8, color 210 and I used two strands to get the coverage. Jane noticed his eye is green and I will be filling that with a bead after all the stitching is done.

Part of the moon

I used Kreinik #8 in color 210 to fill in most of the moon tonight. I did not get it finished

but almost!

The wedding was beautiful! Here is bride Amanda in the receving line after the vows.

A little black spider....

I had originally planned on using the black Alpaca on both the cat and the spider. Then after the backgrounds were stitched, I planned on brushing up the fur so they would both be fuzzy. Since I used up my black Alpaca on the cat (it wasn't a full card) I started through the stash to find a suitable replacement without having to go to the LNS. After rejecting quite a few fibers, I found my Fuzzy stuff! A single strand creates great spiders! Again, I won't brush it until I have finished the background around him!

Meow!

There has to be a black cat for Halloween! I worked him in basketweave using Alpaca black #64. I will be putting a green bead in for his eye after I finish the stitching. I used up the card of Alpaca I had, so I added a point today!

Two down....

I finished all the black Pavillion stitches tonight, so all the design area is now stitched on these two napkin rings! I will be doing the finishing on these when I have all four of them stitched.

So, here are the next two rings. These are by Judy Harper and are on her Freebies site which you can navigate to through her Possibilities blog down on the right.

Red & Black

Yes, I finished the red one! Stopped and got more of the Kreinik 003 red and finished the red one.
Then I resumed stitching on the black one and finished down to the bottom on the right side, filled in all the middle and am working from the bottom up on the left. I hope to finish this one on Saturday! I also picked up all the other Kreinik I needed to do the next two!

It is time

Yes, I need to get back to the Halloween Napkin Rings for Judy of Possibilities. Remember she has put these on her Freebies site, which you can link to through her blog listed on the right. I am doing the Pavilion stitch now to fill in the background on these two pieces. I ran out of red while working on this the last time, and since I have not had a chance to pick any up, I started out by doing the skull and cross bones again with the glow in the dark Kreinik. I then picked up the black and started the background on the right. Yes, they really do glow in the dark. I will pick up the red at the LNS this weekend!

Just a little left

I packed this to stitch in the car today. I wanted to get all of the red done in the Kreinik #8 red 003. I am doing the Pavillion stitch with two strands for the background. However, I used the entire spool and ended up short for finishing the stitching. So I can add that I used up a spool for the stash reduction column but will have to subtract one as I have to buy another spool. Kind of a wash, isn't it? LOL, Ah, well, maybe I will get a chance to pick one up on our trip....you just never know!

Taking Shape

I finished all of the cross bones tonight using the Kreinik #4 glow in the dark thread in 052F in the basket weave stitch. I then resumed stitching the Pavilion stitch using two strands of Kreinik #8 in color 003. These patterns can be found on Judy Harper's freebie blog site: http://needle-crafts.blogspot.com/

I don't want to scare you....

but this is going to be a Napkin Ring. Judy Harper of Possibilities (link to her blog on the right) has designed four different Halloween napkin rings. I am going to blog stitch these for her! So this is another one of the new projects that are in the rotation. Judy has painted this on 18 count canvas. I stitched the head tonight using Kreinik #4, 2 strands, of 052F. This is one of the glow in the dark fibers! How cool is that? Then I filled in the face with one strand of Kreinik #8 in 003 red. All of this was done in basketweave, with a few tent stitches. The Pavillion stitch to the right of the face is done with 2 strands of the red also.
Jane commented yesterday that I am doing a variety of stitching techniques in all these projects! I had not realized that I put together such a variety of techniques until she mentioned it. I always want to try different projects so I can continue to learn different styles and techniques. Some of my projects are driven by requests, others by what has caught my eye. I hope you are all enjoying the variety!