♪♫♪ Noel, Noel ♪♫♪

Well, I'm back with one last finish for 2024--and it's probably my biggest! May I present the lovely "Noel Sampler" by With Thy Needle and Thread. Now, I'm not much of a sampler stitcher, but this one really caught my eye with that beautiful red house, the noble looking deer, and the tiny figures. It is stitched on 40 ct. porcelain Newcastle linen with most of the suggested threads. I love that this piece used only DMC threads! I did darken up some of the snowflakes and made a few of the letters either darker or lighter than charted so they would show up better on my chosen linen. 

"Noel Sampler" designed by With Thy Needle and Thread

Don't you love a nice red house at Christmas time?

The main change I made to this finish, was to stitch an entire family down at the bottom left instead of just a man and woman. I chose to stitch three little boys instead of the trees that were charted to represent my three sons. No, they're not triplets--I just made them the same size because it was easier :) Today, as young men of 42, 39, and 36, they are all about the same height with my middle son being just a bit taller than his brothers. I did give them hair color to represent each, though--the oldest has the darkest hair, the middle the lightest, and the youngest has hair in a nice shade of brown.  I also chose to stitch our dear all black cat, Shadow, instead of the dog that was charted. Shadow was my sons' steadfast companion for 14 years and such an integral part of our daily lives and holidays. He was a huge guy weighing in at 20 pounds--not overweight, just giant! The veterinarian once told me he could double as a black panther if anyone was making a movie.

My little family. I was the only girl--even the cat was male!

Below is a collage of three photos from the early 1990s  of my three boys with their beloved Shadow cat. 

Such wonderful memories of Christmas in the early '90s!

I truly love how this sampler turned out and hope to have it professionally framed. It may actually stay up on my wall year-round... We'll see! Do any of you leave out Christmas stitching all year? It seems a shame to put these big pieces away for eleven months of the year after all that hard work. 

As you know, this was the year of my plan to stitch some larger pieces for Christmas in addition to the small ornaments that I'm usually sharing with you. I'm happy to say that I finished five larger pieces this year! Would you like a recap? If you'd like more information on what fabric or threads were used, just click on the title for each one.

"REINDEER GAMES"

In April, I finished "Reindeer Games" by Erica Michaels. Such a fun and unique design!

"CHRISTMAS IS COMING"

In May, I completed "Christmas is Coming" by Shakespeare's Peddler. I just love stitching words so this one was a real treat.

"SANTA STOPS HERE"

August brought the darling "Santa Stops Here" by With Thy Needle and Thread. The colors and charming house made this one a joy to stitch!

"GLAD TIDINGS"

And in November, I finished "Glad Tidings" by The Drawn Thread. The silk threads I used added such depth to the color in this piece.

So, which one is your favorite? Oh, this is a hard choice for me, I truly love them all! Two are quite whimsical, two are very classic, and the fifth is just plain sweet. However, those darling stocking-capped birds in the Drawn Thread "Glad Tidings" finish have captured my heart so I'll pick that one. Now to get them finished and up on my wall by next Christmas. Wish me luck! You all know I'm a terrible procrastinator when it comes to framing pieces. 

Seven days left until Christmas... I can hardly believe it. I still haven't sent out cards and also have shopping to do. But, because we'll be having a belated Christmas celebration with my grandson in January (he'll be in Texas with his mom's side of the family on Christmas Day), I feel like I have a bit more time on my side. Tomorrow, I will work on my cards and finish decorating my tree. I'm finally getting my energy back after that prolonged virus--almost three weeks of feeling yukky. Thank you all so much for your well wishes in my last post. It sounds like this virus is making the rounds in all parts of the U.S. and I hope it's gone for good soon! Anyway, thank you so very much for stopping by during this busy time of year--I do love hearing from you. Take care now, my friends. I'll be back one last time before Christmas. Bye for now...

For the Love Of Black Cats

Happy end of September! Are you ready for a new month? In some ways it seems 2020 is passing at a snail's pace and in others, it is like a runaway train--speeding by with no sense of direction. It's been a beautiful month here in the mid-Atlantic states with warm days and cool nights--perfect sleeping weather. The cooler weather moved in yesterday, however, and I think it's here to stay. Great stitching weather, though, and I'm looking forward to it. 

Today I have a trio of finishes to share with you on one of my favorite subjects: black cats! Oh, I know... black cats are supposed to bring bad luck and they are even adopted from shelters at a much lower rate than other cats because of that superstition. Well, having had a black cat named Shadow for 14 years when my sons were growing up was one of the best chapters in my life. Ever since then, I've had a love for the sleek felines and, if it weren't for our travels and my husband's allergies to them, I would definitely adopt another one. 

These cute pillows are all designed by Blue Ribbon Designs and were featured in various Just Cross Stitch Magazines. I had stitched the one below on the left last year and decided to make two more and finish them in a similar way to display in this little wooden tray.

A trio of black cat finishes

 

The chart from the one I stitched last year can be found in the October 2018 issue of Just Cross Stitch magazine and is called "Startled Superstition." Don't you love the expression on the cat's face? Now, hovering right above the cat are two things I do fear--bats! Ugh!!!

 

"Startled Superstition"

 

I used 40 ct. vintage country mocha Newcastle for these and changed the colors to all DMC: 311, 3826, 976, 640, 729, 648, B5200. I also changed the outer border from orange to black. To finish it, I added some black ric-rak and a thin border of an orange and black print fabric to the side. Of course, I had to add my cording along with a black button, topped with a rust colored button, topped with a little checked bow.

 

Love black cats, but don't care for those bats!

The second pillow, called "Midnight Meeting" (from the October 2016 issue of Just Cross Stitch magazine, was stitched on the same fabric with the same thread colors that I chose for the pillow above.

"Midnight Meeting"

I wanted the borders to match on all three, so I changed that up a bit, too. I think the shy smiles on the little ghosts are so sweet! This was the narrowest of the three designs so I did a border of ric-rak and fabric on each side, topped it with a gingham ribbon and an old brass jack-o-lantern charm.

Love the cute ghosts!

The final black cat stitchery is called "Scaredy Cat" and can be found in the Just Cross Stitch Halloween magazine from 2011. It's also stitched on 40 count vintage country mocha with the same DMC threads. I began stitching this one and thought, "Wait a minute! If I'm going to display these together, I want the two cats on each end to be facing each other." So, I took a photo of the chart with my phone and flipped it so it was the mirror image. Luckily, I had only stitched the cat's tail so I didn't have much to rip out!

"Scaredy Cat"

The border on this third design was totally different and done in green so I re-charted it to match the borders on the other two. Here is a close-up of it all finished up... what do you think? As you can see, I put the fabric strip on the opposite side of that in the first finish. I love the way all three look together and think this is a cute Halloween display without being creepy or scary. I haven't done much Halloween stitching since 2014 when my dad died on Halloween, but I'm hoping to do a few pieces now and then. It definitely changed the feeling of the holiday for me.

It was nice being able to use the same colors and fabric for all three!

So, do you have a favorite? I think I like the last one the best--not sure why! I like the happy (rather than scary) pumpkin in it, too. I haven't stitched very many Blue Ribbon Designs, but will definitely be doing more.

 

One final look at the black cat trio.

Would you like to see a photo of my sweet Shadow who started my love for all-black cats? He was one big black cat--nearly 20 pounds! The vet said he could double as a panther in an action movie--he was that big. And, he was the very best pet for our boys--he followed them around in the yard, slept with my middle son, and really behaved much more like a dog than a cat. He, sadly, developed a tumor in his intestines and, even though we had him operated on, he ended up dying of it about 18 months later. Shadow was 14 years old when he died in 2007 and I still miss him dearly.

Shadow, 1993-2007

Gifts galore! In other stitching news, I've received some lovely gifts from stitchy friends from both Instagram and fellow bloggers. I still feel quite overwhelmed at the sheer thoughtfulness and generosity found in our community and I hope this kindness spreads to other online communities as well. This year, more than ever, we need a lot more kindness in our world, don't you think? Thank you to all of my sweet friends who surprised me with little bits of happiness in my mailbox recently...

 

Instagram friend Claire, in Canada, made me this darling scissor fob with the tiniest "over one" cardinals and the letter "C."

Instagram friend, Lois, from Northern Ireland sent my grandson this adorable book by two of my favorite children's authors.

Instagram friend, Tricia in Illinois, sent me some delicious honey harvested from her husband's beehives, two beeswax candles and these sweet bee-themed scissors.

Blogging and Instagram friend Stasi, in Virginia, sent this wonderful selection of ribbons for my finishing and two sweet "Handmade With Love" charms.

Blogging friend June, in England sent me a cute beveled frame so I can put some stitching or photos in it for my grandson's room.

Giveaway time... I haven't offered a giveaway in a while so how about the chance to win these two charts? I'm offering both because the chart for one is on the back of the photo for the other and I can't separate them. These are from an old Leisure Arts magazine (sorry, but I don't know the issue). One is a seasonal band sampler called "Peace and Plenty" and is filled with pumpkins and sunflowers and a pastoral looking farm scene. And the other is called "Toy-Lovers Santa" and features good St. Nick carrying a bag of toys and carrying a snow globe with what appears to be a tiny Nativity scene inside.

If you would like to win these two charts, please follow the three steps below and I'll pull a name from the hat and post it sometime in October.

If you would like to win these two charts (which are torn from a magazine and will be folded to fit in a legal sized envelope to keep postage costs down): 1) Please let me know you are entering the giveaway in your comment below; 2) Make sure to leave your email if I don't have it already, and 3) Answer the question in my "Getting To Know You" section below. I'll let you know the winner in late October so you have a while to enter! Good luck to all!

Getting to know you... For today's question, I'd love to know if you like your first name and why or why not? My answer: Actually, I do like my first name even though "Carol" definitely screams "born in the 1950s." My mom and dad named me Carol as I was supposed to be born on Christmas, but just wasn't ready to appear until mid-January. "Carol" originated in France and means "song of joy"  and, to me, it always sounds like a happy name. ♪♫♪ I wasn't named after anyone... my parents simply liked the name and I'm happy they chose it!

So, now it's your turn... Do you like your first name? I'd love to get to know you a bit better...

With fall comes the job of cleaning up the garden which I leave to my husband. This spring he put up a new deer and critter-proof fence  and halved the size of our garden. This fenced in area is the only place we can grow flowers due to our overly abundant and very hungry deer, so the four raised beds are used for both vegetables and a few flowers. This is what it looked like in early summer (my husband surprised me by planting those small sunflowers when I returned from caring for my mom in May). I love the concrete slabs in between the beds as they keep your feet free of dirt when picking vegetables or flowers.

The newly configured garden in spring...

And here is the view at the end of summer. There were lots of tomatoes and butternut squash...

... and in fall 2020

Actually, there are way too many butternut squash--we have almost 20! Does anyone have any good recipes to recommend that would use up some of them? I am not usually a squash eater, but I may have to force myself this year!

I need Butternut Squash recipes--help!!

 

This year was definitely a transition year and my husband hopes to plant more flowers and a wider variety of vegetables next year. I did manage to get some pretty bouquets from our garden, though!

Love how the pink and white flowers look in the Delft pieces from my dear mother.

These gorgeous mums were sitting beside mom's grave during the funeral service and each of us kids took a pot of them home. 

Mom would have loved these mums so very much... She always enjoyed the colors of autumn in the northeast.

I'm still planning on doing a memorial tribute for my dear mother, just need to get a bit stronger. The good news is that I am getting less weepy--I noticed a distinct improvement this weekend so I'm hopeful... I still miss her dreadfully, though.

Well, that's it for me for September. I'll be taking a bit of a blogging break for part of October... Bet you know what that means, right? Yep--we are off to visit our little sweetheart grandson, "Baby B" who is now nearly 3 months old. I can't wait to hold him again--although he will look nothing like the nine day old cherub in this photo below. I mean look at that sweet dimple... sigh! Once again, we will be quarantining in an Airbnb before moving in with my son's family just to make sure we didn't pick up Covid on the flight to California. Wish us luck! I will be able to read your blogs while I'm gone, but won't be able to comment on them.

I have this photo of my sweet grandson right here in my kitchen where I can see it as I cook!

Don't forget, if you want to enter the giveaway, please make sure to include your email address (and that goes for anyone who wants a reply to a question as well, please). I hope you all have a wonderful October ahead and thank you all for visiting "Stitching Dreams," reading my way-too-long posts, and commenting--I do appreciate each of you so much! Bye for now... 

♥ Happy October to all! ♥

Hope you like black cats!!

Good morning, my dear friends! And a warm welcome to my new followers! I never post on Sundays, but with Hurricane Sandy making her way up to the north east, I decided to get this written because, yes, western Pennsylvania is in that highlighted red area you see on all of those weather maps. Hopefully, it is just high winds and rain (I'd even take some snow!), but you just can't be sure... Last week we enjoyed summer-like record-breaking temperatures and here we are just seven days later with hurricane warnings!  That Mother Nature sure is a fickle woman, isn't she? We are very blessed in the western Pennsylvania region to usually manage to escape nature's ravages...few tornadoes, wild fires, hurricanes, or any of the other devastating events that effect so many other parts of the country rarely hit us here. BUT, we were affected by Hurricane Ivan back in 2004. Our whole basement was flooded and I sure hope history doesn't repeat itself. My thoughts are with all of you on--especially those of you on the coast--as the storm approaches...

So, what have I been doing over the past three weeks? Well, playing with little black cats, of course! No, not real ones (unfortunately), but these sweet stitched ones. Yes, as many of you guessed, black cats is the theme for my October bowl of smalls. I love black cats because of the one and only cat we ever owned--my dear Shadow cat (more about him later!). Even though he's been gone for five years, I still miss him and since we aren't able to get another cat due to my husband's allergies, I have to get my "black cat fix" through my stitching. This month, I managed to stitch five new pieces featuring the fabulous felines and finish two of my unfinished-finishes that had been hidden away in a drawer for three years!

October 2012 Black Cat Finishes

This trio of grinning black cats marching along with their pumpkin heads made me smile the very first time I saw it, so I knew it would be making it into my bowl. This is actually just a small motif taken from the bottom portion of Prairie Schooler Book No. 165 Sweeping Cobwebs. I stitched this one on 40 ct. R&R Creme Brulee with DMC threads. It was the first time I'd worked on this fabric and I'll have to say, it wasn't my favorite. It was very loosely woven and almost stretchy--I didn't think the coverage (I normally use one thread on 40ct. fabrics) was as good as on other 40 ct. linens that I've used. I do like the mottled appearance of this linen, though, for a Halloween finish. The black and tan gingham and orange ruched ribbon finished up the little pillow quite nicely, don't you think?

"Sweeping Cobwebs" motif by Prairie Schooler

 

Next up is a finish called "Cat O'Lanterns" by Silly Snobs Gallery--a chart that I've had in my stash for a l-o-n-g time. It was published way back in 1993!! Again I used the 40 ct. R&R Creme Brulee for this piece, but learning from experience  on the previous finish, this time I used TWO threads for the black portions of the design and I'm much happier with the result. The cats have a lovely, almost velvety appearance. And how cute is that tiny gray mouse peaking out of the littlest pumpkin! I did end up changing the colors for the pumpkins because the charted colors were just too bright of an orange for my taste. This one is finished as a flat mount with miniature black pompom trim, a gingham bow, and tiny button as accents.

"Cat O'Lantern" by Silly Snobs Gallery

From the wonderful imagination of The Sampler Girl comes my next finish called "Quaker Boo." I'm really happy with how this one turned out--I picked the fabric colors after I'd finished the stitching, but they truly look like they were meant to go with my chosen floss colors. For this one, I used a combination of DMC, Needle Necessities, and WDW threads stitched over one on 25 ct. mushroom lugana. The chart is still available for purchase on Tanya's website . And how about those adorable black cat scissors in the photo--thanks again, Mary--I just love them! 

"Quaker Boo" by The Sampler Girl

I knew this freebie from Our Pioneer Homestead blog would be a perfect addition to my bowl of kitties. For the first time in a long, long time, I used 18ct. Aida for this finish.  Not my favorite to stitch on, but the color of burnt orange was perfect. I added another bat, a black star charm, and changed the border to finish this one. I wanted to make a black cording, but ran out of DMC 310, so I had to resort to whipstitching the back to the front which, boy, sure takes a lot longer than making a simple pillow and adding cording!

"Black Cat Inn" freebie from

Our Pioneer Homestead

And finally, I dove into my drawer of unfinished finishes and pulled out these two cuties... In a way, I'm glad I didn't finish them way back in 2009 when I stitched them, because I've gotten much more confident in my finishing skills and had tons of practice on finishing smalls since then!

This finish is called simply "Halloween Sampler" and is from the book The New Cross Stitch Sampler Book by Helen Philipps. You may be able to find a copy of the book at your local library which is where I found this one... If you're interested in reading more about this finish, you can read more about it in this post.

To make the pillow, I chose the ghostly fabric displayed behind it and added a black cording and bow--quick and easy and oh-so-cute!

 

"Halloween Sampler" from

The New Cross Stitch Sampler Book by Helen Phillips

And finally (whew!!), the adorable "Halloween Spots" design by The Trilogy. You can read about my finish in this post from way back in October of 2009. I love that skinny-legged ghost, don't you? Reminds me of my boys when they were tiny. For the finish, I chose a plain black fabric and a black and white polka-dot fabric to sew the pillow. Just adding on stripes of orange and black checked ribbon and a little brass pumpkin charm makes this one of my favorite finishes of this year.

"Halloween Spots" by The Trilogy

Seven black cat finishes (including the Prairie Schooler one from my last post) are shown below. Which one do you like best? It's really hard for me to pick this month--I'm really happy with each one of them!

 October 2012 Black Cat Finishes

So, here they are in my wooden bowl... Ten months down, two to go!! This monthly goal has been such a good way to finally stitch many of the older charts that I've had languishing in my stash for so long. I highly recommend it as a way of stitching some of those "oldies, but goodies" that you might have in your stitching collection, too... 

  October 2012 bowl of finishes

So, are any of my fellow stitchers also fans of black cats? Are you wondering how my obsession with them come about? Well, blame it on this little guy--my sweet "Shadow" who was our one and only pet for 14 years. In 1993, he wandered into our yard as a stray when my three young sons were playing outside with their friends and quickly made himself right at home. He really was the perfect Halloween kitty--this photo taken back in 2001 is one of my favorites.

Shadow in October 2001

Shadow was a constant companion to my sons--a great confidante who probably heard more of their hopes and dreams than any human being. The photo below was taken on our front porch in Halloween 1998 with my youngest "mummy" son and my middle "detective" son. (No, that isn't my oldest son in the rocking chair--it is just a giant stuffed monkey dressed up as Dracula!). We enjoyed eight more wonderful Halloweens with Shadow until an intestinal tumor took him from us in the summer of 2007. I still miss him every day...

 Halloween 1998

I won a lovely giveaway from my friend, Anne, who blogs at Doll's Musings. The plaid fabric is just perfect for future Christmas ornament finishing, isn't it? She also included some pretty green ribbon and a skein of Watercolors thread that she thought would be perfect to make cording along with three packets of tea. If you haven't visited Anne's blog, please stop by and say "hello." I'm sure you'll be impressed with her beautiful stitching and finishing... Thank you so very much, Anne--it has been a pleasure to get to know you better this year!  

Giveaway win from Anne

We've had such a gorgeous fall here in western Pennsylvania. I was afraid the colors wouldn't be very vibrant on the trees this year due to our hot, dry summer, but I think they were the prettiest they've been in years. I took the picture on the left driving home from my parents a couple of weeks ago, the one on the top right on my way to work, and the one on the bottom right from the library parking lot. Western Pennsylvania is very hilly and I think that only adds to the gorgeous display. I can't imagine not living with four beautiful and distinct seasons like we have here... 

 

Fall Foliage in Western Pennsylvania: October 2012

My husband put out the old sunflower heads for our resident deer and they've been having fun feasting while we enjoy watching them graze. We usually see three to five almost daily in our back yard. The middle photo of the collage shows the three females. The antlered males seem to come by less often, but they are so impressive to see when they do grace us with their appearance. 

 Backyard deer: Autumn 2012

I meant to share more photos from our North Carolina trip with everyone, but I'm just out of energy and in a bit of pain right now. I've been having trouble with my right thumb and am seriously wondering if it might be carpal tunnel syndrome. Anyone have any experience with that? I'm so afraid I'll have to give up stitching... Anyway, time to get off the computer and rest it a bit. Typing really bothers it and it's almost impossible not to use the right thumb since that is the one I use to hit the space bar!! 

Thank you, thank you for your kind comments and compliments on my finishes. I'm truly honored to hear that I've inspired you in some small way or other--really... Another reminder about your questions--I'm happy to answer them if I can, but you must leave an email address in order for me to get in touch with you. Anyway, I hope you each enjoy the remainder of your week and for those of you who celebrate... I wish you a most enjoyable Halloween filled with chocolate galore! Bye for now... 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN !

Week Forty-One: Cat-O-Lantern

Black cats and glowing pumpkins--does anything say Halloween any better? As many of you know, I'm partial to black cats--my dear all-black cat Shadow was just a perfect Halloween kitty and I think of him often at this time of year. He used to love greeting the trick-or-treaters at the front door (and then attempting to escape outside, of course). I've had this Calico Crossroads chart (called "Cat-O-Lantern") in my stash for years and I thought it would be the perfect thing to stitch this week. My sons wondered why the pumpkins on the left weren't orange... Perhaps they are pumpkins disguised as ghosts? I'm not sure, but it definitely made for a quicker stitch not having to fill in all of that orange. The design, which I stitched on 32-ct. white Jobelan, called for three strands of DMC to fill in the cat and pumpkin which gave them a really lush, defined appearance. I'm not sure if I'll frame this one or turn it into a wall hanging...but it should be a cute addition to my Halloween decorating.

It just hit me last night that Halloween is in three weeks--time to buy the candy for the trick-or-treaters. I love this time of year because I can actually purchase candy without feeling guilty. Of course, I always buy way too much (we usually get only a dozen trick-or-treaters, but I buy enough for fifty!) and then I squirrel away the extra for myself... Do you have a favorite treat to hand out? I love anything with chocolate and peanut butter or caramel, especially peanut butter M & M's, Reese's peanut butter cups, Rolos... Mmmmm...think I'll head to the store right after work! Have a great weekend everyone...