Updates, Pictures, Posts, Halloween, & More!

Yay! I'm back! And I can upload pictures again!! Right. Time to catch all and sundry up to date with what's been cooking over here.

Thanks to another house-sitting stay, and nearly two weeks of stitching time, as well as a blissfully wonderful supplies stop in the sale section of the local crafts shop, I've gotten A LOT done since my last post. Phew. So far, I haven't added much to the Mirabilia, with only part of the neck/chest and half the head finished:



I have, however discovered the awesomeness of The Frosted Pumpkin (their Facebook page is here, with lots more pictures and projects by people all over who are stitching their cute work). I have several of their patterns to work on now, including the Dessert of the Month Club set. I've been working on that one steadily (about one dessert a day - hey, they're small), until I came to a sudden halt with the second row. URGH! I got rid of my knots curse (long story; blame my Mother), just to run into the inability-to-count curse. DX So I'm figuring out what to do there, but for now, just revel in their cuteness!

The names of the months are stitched in Korean underneath - January being the little cupcake, to April on the right as the slice of carrot cake. Beneath them are July's and August's desserts, which is where I ran into trouble. They are literally finished, minus the blue plate July's strawberry shortcake will rest on, when I finally clued into the fact that May's dessert will be a full 'dessert' beyond January. >_< The obvious decision would be to rip out the two I've done beneath and start over, from the other side, with better spacing to fit inside the top row. The thing is, I think, that the top row is full of small-width desserts, while the second row is much bigger. On top of the two wide desserts I've done, there's a flan as well that's nearly as big as the shortcake (June's is Bubble Tea, and that's much smaller in width). So. Big sigh. Puzzle for a solution. At this moment, I'm considering finishing them all wonky, and cutting them out, a square of dessert for each month, and maybe stitching them on a pillow like confetti (instead of straight, even rows).

Part of the great-big-supply-buy (which would have cost well over $120, but thanks to all being on sale, I got for just over $30), was an awesome pattern-book of Carousel horses. Is my family the only one that thinks Carousel horses are just for children? Everyone thinks I'll be making them for kids, and I'm thinking they look beautiful, I want to keep them!

6 days of stitching later, and I've got a Halloween Horse nearly completed, and moving onto the surroundings! Really, really in love with the patterns in this book. I've got the thread and fabric for another horse - Thanksgiving - all set up and ready to go for when I've finished this one. I'll probably stitch all of them one day! But Halloween and Thanksgiving in particular really captured my eye.

The rest of my haul included a ten dollar bag of several yards of fine linen, as well as some smaller pieces of different coloured fabrics, "English Roses" from Mirabilia, and Romantic Mandarin Ducks by Pinn Stitch. LOVE. Very happy with how far my money went here, and hope to make such a good deal again in the future!

Updates to the blog are majorily singular; namely the addition of the countdown-to-Halloween widget on the side there. LOVE IT!! I saw it one someone else's blog, and knew I had to have it! Knowing not a thing about adding widgets, it was a learning experience for me, so expect to see more changes in the future! It's been suggested to me that I add a "Blog Roll," and I'm definitely thinking about it now. Perhaps at least, a few sites that have freebie patterns I love? If I link 'em, you'll love 'em - I am no fan of the simple freebie, me. I love patterns that are beautiful, blow your breath away, even if they take a long time to finish. So when I find freebies I like, they're pretty good quality. Lately I've been lucky to find some excellent freebies around, particularly related to Halloween (which, if you couldn't tell by now, is my favourite holiday!), so I'll get to work on adding some links there for fellow fans of freebies!

In the meantime, may your stitching be tangle (and knot) free! Until my next post. (: