Ain't that Just the Way

 Have you watched Over the Garden Wall? It's a wonderful series of cartoons telling the story of Wirt and Greg as they try to make their way through a scary forest. Gentle enough for all but the youngest kids, it's also witty and poignant enough to appeal to adults (it doesn't hurt that Wirt and Greg remind me of my youngest two sons). It's not just the story, though; the art and autumnal vibe are perfect. I liked the imagery so much I felt the need to memorialize it in thread and fabric.

I'm really proud of this. I used a mix of embroidery and wool and cotton applique I'm especially enamored of Enoch, the pumpkin guy at the top. For him I used long and short stitch which is normally too fussy for impatient me, but a messier, more impressionistic approach worked. The Beast (at the bottom center) was made with turkey stitch and was a total pain, but it was the best way to get the fringe effect. The glow of the Woodman's lantern is a mother of pearl disc bead; I bought a strand of them because I needed one to make a moon but they've turned up in other projects. Adelaide's stork scissors were intended for a cross stitch pattern I bought ages ago. I will need to hunt down another charm when I do stitch it, but that's Future Beadgirl's problem. 

Over the Garden Wall is brilliant, and that's a rock fact!

Leaf Earrings, or Maybe a Bracelet

 Having impulsively purchased a bunch of fall-hued Czech glass leaves, I realized they would make a great pair of earrings, especially if I allowed them to dangle from lengths of chain:

But the resulting pair was way too heavy to wear for more than a few minutes. I thought about replacing a few of the glass leaves with acrylic ones, but that might also be too heavy. Instead I reconnected the two lengths of chain and added a bit more, to make a bracelet:

This had the advantage of needing even more leaves, too! Now I just need to get a copper clasp.

Sparkling Leaves

 I don't know what I'm going to do with them, but they were fun to stitch.

They were stitched on wool-blend felt with Gloriana silk threads and size 8 seed beads.

Trick or Treat Blog Hop

 Happy Halloween to those of you coming from Jo's blog! Your letter is:

It's been kind of a terrible year, so I have gotten very little stitching done. I decided to focus on an old pattern I started decades ago (while I was in law school, I think) but never finished -- Liz Turner Diehl's Cider House Garden. I didn't manage to finish it this year, either, but I made good progress, stitching the house, one of the maple trees, and six of the apple trees:

 

I think I might finally be able to finish it next year.

I also started Wild Violet's primitive tarot set, but didn't get very far:

I dyed the aida myself, using black tea with a little baking soda to (I hope) cut down the acidity.

On to the next blog: http://guavagems.blogspot.com/  Have fun!

One Last Fall Craft

 I love the look of flint corn, aka calico corn, aka indian corn (not a great name). I keep a bundle of three cobs up all fall, I nestle mini cobs in a bowl with pine cones, dried oranges and pomegranates, and cinnamon stick. I even tried my hand at beading a tiny one. So of course I inevitably wanted a neckace.

Rather than soaking the kernels until I could pierce them with a needle (something I heard was hard on the fingers), I drilled each one -- tedious but effective.  

The resulting strand (minus some I turned into a stretchy bracelet for my youngest, and the ones that broke) is quite long, long enough to wrap three times around my neck. I'm contemplating interspersing copper charms throughout the strand.

Squash Squad II

 The next in Sue Spargo’s stitch-along. Blue Hubbard:

Queensland Blue:

Baby Boo:

Four more to go!

Autumn Leaf

 Lolli and Grace has a lovely freebie on her website: an autumn leaf to embroider. I intended to use some lovely autumnal silks from my own stash, but then I actually saw how Anne used a fabulous color scheme of DMC cotton, and changed my mind.

Teal and navy aren't traditional fall colors, but long and short stitching with so many different colors created a kind of thready pointillism, and I love the effect:

I love this leaf so much!

Book Round-Up: Autumn Edition

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-García: This was a good read, a supernatural tale involving Mayan mythology set in 1920s Mexico. The third-person narration was a bit inconsistent in its voice, sometimes subjective and limited, sometimes objective and omniscient. The ending was bittersweet, and entirely fitting for the characters and world Moreno-García described.

Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym: A melancholic look at four older characters, each lonely and uncertain to a greater or lesser extent as they approach the last phase of their lives. Pym's gentle narrative does not shy away from the sadness or regrets the four experience, but there are lovely notes of grace, too.

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths: a rather gentle but still creepy modern gothic novel. It's a little meta -- one of the main characters is an English teacher specializing in gothic fiction -- and a wee bit satirical, with interesting characters and suitably foggy, dark atmosphere.

The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware: a more traditional gothic novel, complete with crumbling mansion, nasty housekeeper, and cold, grey weather. There are cell phones and lattes, but the thrilling plot is timeless.

Yarrow: an Autumn Tale by Charles de Lint: in my early twenties I went through a period where I read a bunch of de Lint's works -- urban fantasy stories set in Canada, incorporating Old and New World mythologies and folklore. This fall I was in the mood to read more by him, so I picked up Yarrow. It's an early novel, and it shows. His storytelling style is there, in the use of parallel worlds and the importance of creativity, but the resolution wasn't quite coherent. On the other hand, his secondary characters, particularly the ones that aren't on the side of the protagonists, were more well-rounded than they would be in later novels. 

Trick or Treat Blog Hop

Welcome to Jo's annual Halloween blog hop!  You are all here for a letter, and it is:

Now onto the stitchy goodness! I've already posted about Millicent, and since then I finished another #stitch9challenge project -- Prairie Schooler's witch from the 2013 Just Cross Stitch Halloween issue:

(I think I'll add a border to match similar ornaments, however.)

An Autumn cat for my mom, from Just Cross Stitch's September/October issue:

Satsuma Street's Cat-o-Lantern for me:

And another cat for me, not yet finished, by Durene Jones (from last year's Just Cross Stitch Halloween issue):

The stitches are supposed to be black, but when I opened one of my thread boxes and spied this thread (Valdani's Quiet Fall), I had to use it right away.

Hop on over to the next blog, A Patchwork of Crafts, for the next letter. Happy Halloween!

Falling Leaves

Years ago, Quilters' Newsletter Magazine wrote about the Original Leaf Applique quilt made in 1890 by Corean Liggitt (1872-1946), including templates of the different leaves Liggitt used. Last year I realized I needed a fall-themed quilt for my wall (I love my tree, cat, and moon quilt, but that's not always the vibe I want). I pulled all my red, orange, and purple batiks and cut out one of each leaf shape, using fusible web to applique them onto a 12" by 18" center:

And then the usual Christmas stitching got in the way, including finishing the Minecraft quilt, so I put the project away. A few weeks ago, after a rather awful summer, I became determined to finish it. Last weekend I sewed up a bunch of maple leaf blocks:

Friday (a blessed day free from my usual obligations) I sewed them on as a border and quilted the whole thing around the center and between the maple leaf blocks. At a loss over how to quilt the center (I did not want the agony of more free-motion quilting), I opted to tie the quilt with embroidery floss and some sparkly beads:

Friday night and Saturday morning I bound the quilt (despite Porcupine's best efforts to prevent me).

I was done! And It makes me so happy to look at it. Fall is my favorite season, and I'm really hoping it's a good one this year; I could use some peace.

1 Year of Stitches: Week 39

I stitched some autumn leaves, in the hope that they would bring cooler weather.

Halloween Woolwork

The pattern is Betz White's "Autumn Sampler." I used linen fabric, wool felt, and Caron Collection's Watercolours thread.  It is temporarily in my quilting hoop; I haven't decided yet whether to make that permanent.

Close-ups:

This was a lot of fun to stitch!  I'm looking forward to making some of White's ornaments, too.

Crocheted Jewelry Was the Inevitable Next Step

Crocheted wrap bracelets are all over pinterest, so it didn't take very long for me to try one.  Hemp is the material of choice, but I didn't like working with it; even with a strand thin enough to go through gemstone beads, the cord was too stiff:

Moreover, I was working with an autumnal palette, and the hemp cord was just too light.  I tried a brown linen thread from my embroidery stash next, but while the color and feel were nice, it was way too flimsy and stretchy:

At my local craft store I found beading cord designed for Kumihimo, and that gave me the color, strength, and softness I wanted.

The stones are jasper, aventurine, agate, coral, and amber, with some faceted glass beads for a little sparkle.  The clasp is made from a large, rough turquoise bead and a stone chip from a mysterious yellow stone (I really wish I had kept track of the names of all the gemstones I've bought over the years).

I intended it as a wrap bracelet:

But I can also wear it as a necklace:

A Fall of Leaves

I fell in love with this pattern immediately.  It's not even the main design -- that would be "Autumnal Equinox" by Leann Baehman*, a statement necklace with a bead-embroidered centerpiece and a riot of leafy fringe.  Off in the corner of the third page they had a small photo of earrings made from the toggle clasp Baehman designed for the necklace.

so pretty ...

I found making the teardrop base fiddly, I think because my size 11 beads were not very consistent in size.  But the fringe more than makes up for it -- fun to plan the colors, fun to make, fun to play with, fun to wear.  My new go-to earrings.

*From the August 2015 issue of Bead & Button.