Happy Halloween

On All-Hallow's Eve

the dreaded awake

Their solitary purpose

to make your knees quake

Witches soar across starry skies

Where the moon shines with grim intent.

to light the way for the luckless few

who'll see All Hallow's dark portent

Black as the night

with silent feet

This is one Hallow creature

You'll not want to meet

To cross his path on Hallow's Night

Could spell the last you'll ever know

For you'll be caught within the sight

of feline eyes yellow aglow

So if you see a shadowed form 

streak across your wondering path

turn around and retrace your steps

Lest you see All Hallow's Wrath

Author: Sarah Ellison

 


This black cat pattern I had designed for a Make-it & Take-it class in Lancaster, PA last fall.   I stitched it in the continental stitch with 6 strands of floss on 14 count mono canvas.  I then finished it into a cell phone pouch.  

While the kids are out enjoying their night of Trick or Treating, click here for a little treat for you. 

I headed home early to put some Halloween into my front door.

 

What an awesome night, filled with screams and treats. Many brave little superheros, dragons and princesses dared pass my skeleton crew to collect their treats. I had a blast from all the screams and shrieks from the kids that came to our door and were startled by my singing & dancing Pirate motion detector, spooky noise making Scream mask, eerie noise making door mat, and spiders. There were also quite a number of little kids that wouldn't approach the door without mummy.  But the promise of a sugary treat always won out over fear. I had a blast.

Blast from the past.

This past week I visit my oldest and dearest friend at her new home.  My housewarming gift to her was one she had requested, a biscornu.  Ever since she spied the bowl of biscornu's at Gitta's Getaway this past April, she just had to have one.   Not being a cross stitcher herself, I stitched one for her in her favourite colour - purple.

To my surprise I was not the only one bearing a gift.  While packing for her move she had come across a photo she had taken of me at Gitta's, the original shop.

She had taken this photo in 1995.  What fascinates me with this photo, besides my polka-dotted top, is the size of our fabric corner, just 2 shelving units, and the collection of specialty fibres just to the right of the fabric shelves.  Today our selection of linens, evenweaves, aidas, and canvases have their own "room" (about 1/3 of the shop),  and our selection of specialty fibres has expanded greatly to the entire fibre collections from numerous silk and cotton floss dyers.
The floor space of the old shop was only about 1/4 of what we have today.  In 1995 we would have been in this shop 9 years and already bursting at the seams.  It was the following year that we moved just 10 shops down the road, to our current location.

Out Numbered

Petit Point model

The newest design in our Inuit series is Out Numbered.  Being a petit pointer at heart, we stitched our model in petit point, using the continental (tent) stitch on silk gauze.  While visiting with David's family on the Canada Day long weekend, my mother-in-law had cross stitched these cute little playful Huskies and gave it to her granddaughter for her birthday.  David & I loved it, so once we were home I arranged to have it cross stitched for the shop.  The friend that stitched it, loved the design's title as much as the design.  She wanted me to chart the title "Out Numbered" so she could stitch it as part of the finished piece.  While we were away on holiday in Alaska she finished the stitching and my mother framed it.  They wanted it done as a surprise on our return home.  It looks fantastic, David was pleased with the finished piece, and here it is!

Cross stitched model

As the charted wording is not part of the original chart pack, Click here for this additional chart of  "Out Numbered".  I will also add it to the Gitta's website as a free companion chart to G-139.  Enjoy.