Happy Halloween

 🎃👻🕸 Happy Halloween 🕸👻🎃

I don't have any new stitching to show, October has been a month th of stitching for Christmas. I have quite a bit of urgent stitching to do 8n November but we are also quite busy so I hope I can get it all done in time. 

I have decorated the house with my Halloween ornaments including a cushion our daughter stitched when she was young. 

It's lovely to hang my Halloween ornaments on my tree, many are from exchanges from my stitchy friends. I always see new designs but just never seem to have time, I think my 2026 plans will include making my need busy again. 

I'm not really a spooky fan but I do like the Halloween colours and cute side of ghosts and pumpkins. It's quite a shame when they are put away again, the next set of ornaments is winter but not until December as  officially November is the third month of autumn so my pumpkins and scarecrows will stay out a little longer.

I have new flowers since I took these photos. Hubby buys me flowers every week so our house always has fresh flowers throughout the year, most weeks a simple bunch then extra special ones for significant times. I'm a very lucky lady.

🎃👻🕸 Happy Halloween 🕸👻🎃

Autumn Exchange

Over the last few years at Needlecraft Haven we've changed our exchange this time of year from Halloween to Autumn as we all prefer an autumn themed ornament. 

I saw this design on etsy by The Stitcherhood, in fact Maria has a couple of designs but I liked this best. It was lovely to stitch and finish for Julie who was my exchange partner.

I also made a themed card. I had a print of the rabbit and trimmed round the leaves so I could use a circle cut out card. It was tricky to get the leaves outside the card without ripping but after gentle encouragement it sat perfectly. 

I used some dots left from another design on my stick on foils to edge the circle. I was so pleased with how it turned out.

I forgot to take a photo of my exchange before I sent it, this is Julie's photo from her Needlecraft Haven post. 

The exchange was an ornament, threads, a sweet treat and a card. I included two DMC threads, a sunflower button and some pistachio chocolate along with my ornament and card.

I received a super parcel from Julie, very autumnal. I haven't seen mini gingerbread men before, they will be lovely with one of the hot chocolates. Julie sent two lovely DMC threads and some leaf design ribbon. 

The ornament Julie stitched is lovely, definitely a theme for autumn. There's nothing better than a hot cuppa as the nights draw in. I love bringing the colours of this time if year into the house, the jug on my ornament would be perfect on my sideboard.

Thank you Julie for my lovely exchange ornament and gifts. 

I'm busy sorting my Christmas gifting now and I have some other occasions to stitch for, my needles certainly need to be busy.

Autumn time

I have put out our autumn decorations and Halloween but I'll share those later this month.

A few years ago I saved some of my Chinese lanterns and dried them using silica crystals. I also collected conkers, acorns and fortunes and did the same. They are lovely to get out each year and display them in my leaf dish. 

The candle holders I picked up in a sale on our recent trip to Wales, I love how the light shines through the leaves.

My tealight pumpkin houses have made their annual appearance along with my ceramic scarecrows. The sunflower candle jar looks and smells lovely but I haven't lit it as I want to save it. 

It's looking and feeling quite cosy, the nights are drawing in. 

I have finished one of my temperature table mats, unknowingly I did the coldest nights first hee hee. 

I'll have the Needlecraft Haven Autumn Exchange to post about next time as the 21st is opening day, I'm posting mine soon. 

Hello October

A little late with this as we are away in Wales, we're having a lovely time which I'll be posting about in my other blog Wine, food and travel with Clare Yesterday we saw some dolphins in the bay, I managed to catch one as it leaped out of the sea.

Whenever we go away I always bring a project that doesn't need lots of concentration or perfect lighting, although I often find I have stitched very little.

My holiday project this time is a UFO that has been in my 'to do' bag for ages ...  well since 2019 as it's a temperature project. One piece shows the lowest temperature each day, the other shows the highest. It was the year we celebrated our 30th Wedding Anniversary and went on our first cruise. 

It is sad that I didn't finish it before but I'm hoping to make them into small mats, ideal for putting a vase on or a jar candle.

I have spent a couple of nights pinning each one so the folds are ready. The next step is to stitch two kloster blocks at right angles in each corner, cut and draw the threads between. Each draw section then needs finishing with tent stitch, catching down the hem as I work along.

This is just a fun photo, every Wednesday the members of Needlecraft Haven meet in the virtual Parlour and stitch together. Each week we also share a photo of something from a given letter: we have a word that runs a number of weeks so each week gives a letter for our photos. 

The week before we came away the letter was E so my photo was 'Ellie' the elephant my mum made me when I was young.

This week's letter will be S .... being as we are on the coast I'm not sure I'll find anything... hee hee.

Today we visited Cardigan, so many little independent shops. In the market hall was an amazing cardigan knitted by the community in 2010. It's hung in the space from the upper gallery, it really is a beautiful piece and must have taken many hours of work.

My mini October piece, the first year in its frame matching my Drawn Thread months that I display every month.

The Chinese lanterns are also looking good and ready to pick when we get home, I'm hoping to catch some in skeleton form this year.

Once home it will be time to put my autumn and Halloween decorations out so plenty of seasonal photos in my next post.

A large project

I didn't think it would be but this took ages. In my stash I have had two pillowcases for a very long time. Over the years I have had many ideas but never really got anything started.

When our daughter got married I did think of stitching Mr & Mrs for their wedding night.... but again I didn't get started.

This year was their second anniversary, I'm not sure where those months went. The gift for a second anniversary is cotton so guess what came to mind, the pillowcases.

But what to stitch? Earlier this year our daughter and son-in-law bought their first house and on one visit she showed me a green lampshade for their bedroom so at least I had a colour idea. 

I know she likes leaves and was so pleased to spot this chart on etsy. It was a wedding sampler and too big but I was hoping the leaf tips would work.

Savanna was very good and although I didn't use it she did chart Philippa and Michael for me so I can always use it on another project.

I used the colours as Savenna had designed and had a rye smile as our daughter and son-in-law started painting their bedroom in near exact same colours.

The leaves took ages to do, I hadn't really looked at how much there was to do. My super Hubby flipped the chart so the pillowcases matched and I added a few to each edge as the chart wasn't quite long enough. 

I finished just in time for their visit, I was really pleased how they turned out and the Anniversary Couple loved them.

A special September

Firstly I would like to thank Rachel for hosting Fully Finished Objects and Jo for hosting Gifted Gorgeousness and so many brilliant blog hops. This September marks a change for me and one change is I'm no longer participating in blog events BUT will be (hopefully) posting more throughout each month, huge thanks Rachel & Jo for your blog event hosting I've really enjoyed them.

So why is this September so special .... well Wednesday 10th was my 60th birthday, I'm not quite sure how I made it here, there's been a few close shaves especially in my fifties but I'm still going.

I've had a fantastic birthday, starting early with a celebration a few days before with my friends and close family. My Hubby, daughter, son-in-law, son and girlfriend decorated the house including putting up my late Dad's scouting pennants in the garden. My daughter designed my beautiful cake and treated me to breakfast out; with her living a couple of hours away we rarely get time for just us.

My early celebration was a great afternoon with friends enjoying bubbly and cake in the garden thanks to it being a sunny day. This was followed by a super meal at a local Turkish restaurant where my elder relatives joined us. 

For my actual birthday Hubby and I took a trip to Ireland, staying in England on the way and Wales on the way back, so quite a tour. I'll be writing about our adventures in my other blog Wine, food and travel with Clare. I have already posted about our English stay in Chester and turning 60 in Dublin and will soon post about the other places we visited.

I have had so many beautiful cards and gifts, everyone has been so kind and generous. I took my cards and non-alcoholic pressies to open in Dublin and our room had the perfect window sill to put them out, quite a collection. There were more cards and gifts waiting here when we came home. I've been a little overwhelmed with everyone's kindness; our son and girlfriend's gifts included a beautiful locket, and our daughter and son-in-law's a smart watch, gifts I will certainly treasure.

So as you can see a very special September and moving on with a few changes, initially the name change of my blog. I'll be posting throughout each month with a variety of crafts including cooking & baking. I do have some stitching to share but I'll leave this post focusing on my birthday and my super family.

Gifted Gorgeousness August

Yesterday was the 15th so it was Gifted Gorgeousness hosted by the lovely Jo at Serendipitous Stitching a lovely chance to share our latest gifts. These can be gifts given or received, or any item made using fabric, threads, buttons, ribbon, chart, backing fabric that has been gifted.

This month I have two gifts to share, norh of which you have probably seen in my FFO blog. The first is a heart I stitched for my friend Julie's birthday. It's a Little House Needleworks design and was fun to stitch. Finishing was a bit fiddly but it came out looking heart shaped.

My second finish also includes a heart, a sampler for our daughter's bridesmaid and her new hubby. They live here so our daughter and son-in-law came home for the weekend which was lovely. The wedding was just family and close friends but as we were playing taxi we did get to see the bride and groom, both looked lovely. 

I have stitched this before, it's a Lizzie Kate design that's quite quick to stitch and easy to align names.

My bigger project is about half way and I hope will be finished soon, as long as last weekend's frog does not visit again.