Halloween 2023

Well, it's that time of the year again.  Halloween is still viewed as an American tradition in this part of the world, but more and more people are getting in to trick or treating each year.  

My Spooky Darlings quilt won't be finished for this Halloween, but it is progressing well. 

I live on a street that is well known for Halloween because it's wide and straight and a safe place for kids to trick or treat.  It's Spring in the southern hemisphere and it doesn't get dark here until after 8pm at the moment, but the kids can't wait that long so they start about 5pm. 

I need to get my Haunted House out again and enjoy looking at it before it's time to get out the Christmas decorations.  Help!!!

It's been a while since I've shown my Haunted House so if you're after more information you can find all my notes about the Victoria Sampler Gingerbread Village on the Gingerbread Village tab here on my blog.  And more specific information about the Haunted House here.  

Now it's time for the Peacock Party.  Feel free to link up a recent blog post below.

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween.  I hope my gingerbread Haunted House makes you smile. 

It's 8pm on Friday 30 October here, so it's Halloween tomorrow and it's time to bring out my Gingerbread Haunted House again.  

This Gingerbread Haunted House was designed by Thea Dueck of The Victoria Sampler in Canada.  Here's a link to the pattern here.  

I've made most of Thea's Gingerbread Village, and I've got a full page on my blog detailing all my tips and tricks (click here or click on the tab at the top of the page).  The patterns give great instructions for assembly, but it's always useful to hear from someone who has done it themselves, so pop over and read my tips if you're considering making your own Haunted House.  

I always buy the accessories kits when I buy Thea's patterns.  The little buttons that she sources are just so cute, and I know I will never find them in my local shops.  The accessories kits also include all the beautiful silk threads - in just enough quantities to stitch the houses.  

Now it's time for the Peacock Party.  What have you been up to lately? Feel free to link up a recent blog post below. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Halloween

It's Halloween today (which also means it's nearly Christmas!).

I know many of you have seen my Haunted House before, but for my newer followers, here's a couple of photos of my Haunted House that I stitched back in 2015. 

It's from a pattern by The Victoria Sampler, and you can read more about it here, and find all of my helpful tips and tricks on the Gingerbread Village tab at the top of my blog (or click here). 

Happy Halloween everyone. 

Halloween bookmark

Last week I started something new.  It's a mystery Halloween bookmark from the Victoria Sampler Chat Group on Facebook. 

Thea Dueck (owner of The Victoria Sampler) is going to release the pattern over four weeks and we can stitch along as each section gets released.

There are no recommended linens or threads, so everyone's bookmarks will be quite different.

I chose some mauve linen that I had left over from my Sardinian knotwork piece (pattern by Yvette Stanton). 

I'm using some of the threads left over from my Haunted House - also by The Victoria Sampler.

Which of course reminds me that I still have finished my Gingerbread Needlework Shop yet. I only have two more side to make now, so I still intend to have it ready for Christmas 2018.

And then I'll be able to start the Gingerbread Retreat Cottage which I have here waiting for me:

If you'd like to know more about my Gingerbread Village you can click on the tab at the top of this page - Gingerbread Village.

And of course my Christmas Village is still in the "To Do" box too!

 I need more time!!!!

An online friend in Canada had a destash sale this week, and I was tempted to buy a Chatelaine pattern and threads, but I resisted the temptation.  I'm quite proud of myself.  I was realistic and thought "when would I ever get to do this?".

I hope you've got something fun to work on over the weekend. 

My Haunted House

Last night was Halloween.  I only have three Halloween decorations at my house, but I got all of them out a few weeks ago.  

First up is my Haunted House that I made from a pattern by Victoria Sampler.  You can read all about it in this blog post, and more about the other buildings in my Gingerbread Village on the tab at the top of the page.  

 I loved stitching this 3D building.  The ornaments that came with the accessory pack are just so cute!

 My second Halloween decoration is this small table mat I made for the Haunted House to sit on.

And the third decoration is a table runner I English Paper Pieced with Cotton + Steel Halloween fabrics.  I used some of the patterns from The New Hexagon book by Katja Marek.

I hope you've enjoyed Halloween if it's something you celebrate.  It's becoming more popular in New Zealand, but my kids are too old for it now. 

Halloween Haunted House

Last year I made a very cute Gingerbread Haunted House.  It's part of the Gingerbread Village designed by Thea Dueck of Victoria Sampler in Canada.

I'm not going to repeat everything I wrote last year, but will just provide this link to my detailed post all about the Haunted House,

and this link to a whole page dedicated to my Gingerbread Village and links back to all the posts I've written on it.

I will write more about it in the lead up to Christmas, and especially the Gingerbread Quilt Shop which I haven't blogged about yet.

I'm currently working on the Gingerbread Needlework Shop, but I'm not sure if I can finish it before Christmas 2016 or not. The amount of stitching involved can be deceptive!

My Gingerbread Village

It's getting close to Christmas and it's almost time to get my Gingerbread Village out again.

All of these beautiful houses were designed by The Victoria Sampler in Canada, and stitched by me.

I've now created a separate page on my blog with links to all my previous posts about this village. It's just under the cover photo and called "Gingerbread Village".

When I made my first gingerbread house back in 2012 I was worried about how I would assemble it. However, all the patterns have great instructions and colour photos so it really wasn't too difficult, but it did take time. The lid lifts off this house, so the inside had to finished beautifully too, with walls lined with fabric.

I made the Gingerbread Church in 2012 too. Although the stitching was a bit simpler on the church, attaching the steeple was difficult and I now realise I should have used a curved needle. I made sure I had one on hand for the Haunted House assembly in 2015.

my Gingerbread Church

During 2013 I stitched the Candy Cane Cottage, but the fine beading took a long time, so I didn't assemble the cottage until 2014.

Candy Cane Cottage

I made my Gingerbread Bakery in 2014. I learnt that the cardboard for the walls all needs to be symmetrical in order for the house to sit evenly on it's base.  Now I sit the pieces next to each other and compare lengths before attaching the fabric. I love that giant gingerbread man above the door, and the ladies baking the cookies.

the Gingerbread Bakery

I made the Gingerbread Haunted House in 2015.

Finishing the Haunted House has given me motivation to carry on with the next houses in this series. They are all beautifully designed and I love bringing them out at Christmas.

I hope to finish the Gingerbread Christmas Tree Etui before Christmas 2015.

Haunted House is finished!

I'm very excited to show you my finished Haunted House. I've been stitching this house on and off since Christmas, and have spent a lot of time over this past week assembling it.

It would be dwarfed by pumpkins, so here's an orange and mandarin for scale. I'm just posting a few photos of the finished house today. I'll write more details about the finishing in a future post (you can read that post here).

It's such a momentous day that I'll even include a photo of me with the haunted house! Sorry about the crazy hair - that's what you get in Wellington on a windy winters day.

I hope that this house will be treasured for many years to come, so I've put my name and the date on the bottom. That way people will remember who made it long after I'm gone. Clearly I've been watching too much of "Who do you think you are?" on the BBC Knowledge Channel.

You'll see that I had already made a mini quilt for the house to sit on when Halloween arrives. I bought those fabrics at Spotlight in October last year so the quilt was finished long before the house.

This is the back view.  Those candy corns look good enough to eat. Unfortunately we don't get candy corn in New Zealand, but I have tasted it, and I know it's delicious.

Last photo - just to show how the turret is attached on the front.

I love this house and I'm really pleased with my finishing this time.  I'm off to put my feet up and admire it now.

This was one of four things on my Finish A Long list for Q3 2015.

Some new close up photos added October 2016:

July - where did it go?

July was a weird month for me. I was very busy with work for the first week, and then busy with holidays. Does that make sense?  Anyway, life is back to normal now with my boys back at school, and me working from home again.  Here's what I've been working on during July:

1.  Fandango Sky

This is a canvas work design by Laura J Perin. Laura's designs combine variegated threads of different textures, metallic threads and even tiny beads.  I love how she combines colours and textures.  I took this to Melbourne because I knew the lighting in hotels is never great, and if I don't do something in the evenings I just fall asleep in front of the TV! The canvas has big holes so it's great to stitch on in poor lighting.

So here's where I'm up to now:

Fandango Sky

I've made other designs by Laura J Perin in the past and they now hang on the wall in our bedroom:

Starry Nights

Jewel Box - I changed the colours on this one

2.  The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

Have you heard of this company? They design very cute cross stitch patterns and seem to be taking the world by storm. A lot of young women are being drawn into cross stitch by their very cute patterns.  They sell the patterns online as a downloadable pdf to print at home, and they really are very cheap at about USD12 per design. They have a website and are on facebook. There's even a facebook group for those people stitching the designs.

I'm not finished Part 1 yet

I've just downloaded the first of four patterns in A Very Merry Christmas Town, which is their mystery Christmas design for 2015.   There will be one part of the pattern released each month for four months and I should be finished well before Christmas. Although it's a mystery, they do tell you the size of the design so you won't run out of linen!

I bought some sparkly linen when I was in Auckland, and fortunately had all the threads I needed in my stash! (with a few very minor substitutions)

This is my version of the 2014 Christmas mystery sampler from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery:

3.  My Scrappy Bear Paw quilt

I've been trying to fit in a bit of hand quilting each week to keep this quilt moving along.  I've quilted 5 of the 9 stars so I'm past half way.  I haven't decided on the binding yet, but expect it will be some combination of black and white.

Here's a reminder of the whole quilt top.

4. Haunted House - last one I promise

I've started to assemble my Haunted House. It's on my Finish A Long list for Q3 and I know it will take weeks, so I made a start at the weekend. I'm determined that it will be neater than my Bakery last year, when I forgot that the building should be symmetrical, and cut each side independent of the other sides. I can't redo the Bakery, but I can learn from that and make future buildings more balanced.

Here are my other buildings, all designed by Thea Dueck from The Victoria Sampler in Canada and stitched by me over the last 3 years.

I know you're all thinking that there's nothing wrong with the Bakery, but I know the Haunted House is going to be even better.

That's all for now - I wonder what August will bring?