36. The Sweetheart Tree Merry Christmas Bellpull

The Sweetheart Tree Merry Christmas Bellpull

Stitched on 32 count linen

From Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament Special 2004

35. Stitchonomy Snowflakes

Stitchonomy Snowflakes

Stitched on 28 count opalescent blue linen

charted for DMC but I used beads and metallic threads

34. Jessica Savage Embrace

Jessica Savage - Embrace

stitched over 1 on 25 count blue evenweave

Published in Cross Stitcher magazine

Finished as a foldable book:

On the reverse, I used the snarky sayings from our work calendar:

The whole thing concertinas up and is secured with a ribbon:

33. Mirabilia 25th Anniversary Cameo

Nora Corbett released this design to celebrate 25 years of cross stitch designing under the Mirabilia name.

Her official name is Portrait of Antique Vines

I chose a piece of hand-dyed 28 count evenweave gifted to me by Mouse.  That meant I didn't need to stitch the background.

I didn't have the flower beads charted so I used clusters of the black beads instead. 

Framed in a charity shop frame painted black

32. Lavender & Lace Enchanted Alphabet

stitched on 32 count Murano in Tigerlily by Sparklies

The chart is called Enchanted Alphabet designed by Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum under the Lavender & Lace label in 1991.  Here is the original cover photo:

I have always liked the alphabet but was not keen on The World's Frilliest Child and her Bunny on a Leash.  Then one day, I hit on the idea of a Spooky Conversion!  I had a large piece of orange hand-dyed fabric from Sparklies which was wide enough if I removed the child and moved the letters closer together.  I decided on a simple conversion of:

every colour = 310

I started the project in July 2016 as part of a SAL to stitch one letter of an alphabet each month.  I kept up with the schedule and completed Z in August 2018.  And that's when the fun started!

Since then I have been adding little motifs from other charts to add to the spookiness.  Here are some close-ups.

The pumpkins, ghosts and cats are all Just Nan designs from her various Hallowe'en charts.

The raven is from a sampler featured in Cross Stitcher magazine.  

To make it fit, I stitched it over one.

The owl is from the same sampler in Cross Stitcher magazine

The white dove from the original design was stitched in black and grey.

The gate is from the Hallowe'en Night design by Jardin Prive I stitched in 2018

I added a little over one owl on top of one of the gateposts

The moon was a photo of the actual moon which I ran through Pic2Pat.

The bats on the left come from a freebie design

and the one on the right comes from the Cross Stitcher Sampler.

The little frogs are Just Nan too.

This is the cover of the Cross Stitcher magazine issue 349 with the sampler by Maria Diaz on the front cover:

I'm really looking forward to getting this one framed ready for Hallowe'en next year.  It measures 20 inches wide by 8 inches tall so it's unlikely I'll be able to get an off-the-shelf frame.

Edit - thanks to a certain pandemic, it took until 2022 to have the piece professionally framed!

31. Dragon Dreams Never Too Big To Believe

Dragon Dreams Never Too Big To Believe

from Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament Special 2004

stitched on 32 count green linen

Trimmed with Christmas ribbon

Scrapbooked with Not a Creature Was Stirring

30. Jessica Savage Create

Jessica Savage - Create

stitched over 1 on 25 count blue evenweave

Published in Cross Stitcher magazine

Finished as a foldable book:

On the reverse, I used the snarky sayings from our work calendar:

The whole thing concertinas up and is secured with a ribbon:

29. Sue Hillis Victorian Christmas Tree

Victorian Christmas Tree by Sue Hillis Designs 

from the Just Cross Stitch Christmas Special 2003.

stitched on 28 count green evenweave

I used bugle beads to make little candles with a gold bead flame and then strung some random Mill Hill beads left over from a kit to make the garlands, the swags under the ornament and the hanger. There is a mixture of white, green and gold beads.

28. Nora Corbett Raven

Nora Corbett - Raven, one of the Bewitching Pixie series

Stitched on 32 count Belfast in Nebula by Crafty Kitten

The fabric is darker in person and the light patches and blue patches don't stand out so much.

I stitched her skin over 1.

I changed two of the bead colours. I knew there was an issue with the charted 02056 Sable which are now very red so I used 00081 Jet instead. As you can see there is a nice shine to them as opposed to the 02014 which are more of a matt black.

The other bead I changed is 10019 the Claret Magnifica which are used in the strings of beads around her shoulders. I used 03004 Eggplant because their DMC colour is 550 which is used in her dress.

I also substituted 155 for 156 in her dress, one is more blue than the other which did not look right. I also used 3 yellows for the moon - 743, 744 and 745 instead of 743, 3078 and a blend of the two.

Finally framed November 2022

There's just a hint of red in the frame which looks amazing with the fabric.

27. Jessica Savage Imagine

Jessica Savage - Imagine

stitched over 1 on 25 count blue evenweave

Published in Cross Stitcher magazine

Finished as a foldable book:

On the reverse, I used the snarky sayings from our work calendar:

The whole thing concertinas up and is secured with a ribbon: