October projects done

So I'm eternally writing about what I did last month or something like that because sometimes my ADHD interferes with getting everything documented. I know I get a few views but I do treat this blog as more of a timeline for the starting and finishing of projects.

October wasn't my busiest month but I did have a lot to do. My cousin always throws a Halloween party and I always enjoy making something Halloween inspired. I decorated my office with my Halloween Bunting I made last year and a small pumpkin table topper/wall hanging.

I also started two cross-stitch along's. The first one by Cunning Cross Stitch is a Harry Potter Themed project that they call a stitch your own adventure. I figured this would be a good hand stitch project to do since they give us almost two months between pattern releases. The second was a shorter more pattern of the day stitch along by Stitchonomy based on the Drawlloween prompts for October. Both stitch along's are on facebook and I found the prompts and Stitchonomy's daily patterns on Instagram. She does sell the pattern as a whole in her pattern club on patreon. I do encourage you to check her out because her work is fantastic. I started that one about mid-October so I have the most of it done. Just some decorations outside my frame to finish and cleaning. She also has a winter stitch along coming up you can sign up for.

The other big project I did was a Halloween Wallhanging. I used my ruler I got at the beginning of the month for the witch hats. I didn't have a pattern for any of it. A lot of it was guessing and when that didn't work just add more fabric around it. I did get the ghost pattern online for free. In the end, I got tired of piecing and started the cross stitch projects. I reminded myself none of this had to be complicated and cut out extra squares of the Halloween fabric to fill in the spots. Most of the fabric is from Joann's and I tried to use some stash fabrics. A few are from my Row by Row winnings this year.

Speaking of winnings I wanted to show you what I got. I took some photos of the fat quarters laid out. I love the colors and variety I am itching to do more with them.

Tea for today is actually from me and my brother hanging out last month. We had stopped at the grocery store and got drinks before starting out and he got a Mango Snapple which he wholeheartedly endorses, and I got a green tea. I love matcha and this is the first unsweetened tea I ever got myself use to drinking. I don't drink my tea unsweetened often. Usually, I do add artificial sweeteners. This one is nostalgic for me to drink. It reminds me of the first time I had sushi.

WIP - Spooktacular Halloween Wall Hanging/Quilt

It may be a bit early to be thinking about Halloween but since I was dipping into my WIP pile I have this one I started but didn't get far into. In Oct 2016 I did a small shop hop that consisted of 4 shops.

It was near the end of Oct. I don't know why I didn't blog about the shop hop at the time. I know that was around the time I lost my job and was very depressed. I did not get much from the hop because I wanted the patterns but needed to be conservative with my money. I am still very happy I got them because Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year and I don't really have many projects I've done with a Halloween or Fall theme.

The pattern was of an applique of a Halloween scene of trick-or-treaters that says Happy Haunting. The samples I saw were a cute play on the silhouettes that ranged from a quilt to wall hangings. I have the kits for all the people but the words.

At one shop they used part of a quilt pattern to make a quilt/wall hanging that looked a bit like a calendar. I wanted to do that with my project. I had a layer cake of Haunted Gala by Moda already in my stash and picked up the Tri Tri Again pattern for the day slots from the shop. I started this almost immediately and then something happened to make me put it aside. I don't remember what but it's over two years later and I've not picked it back up.

I have 29 of the Tri Tri Again blocks complete. I want the hanging to have 5 rows of seven so it matches a calendar page. Two of the blocks are going to be of the circular details in the center of the panel. I'm most likely just going to use the top part of the panel for the hanging since most of the colors are leaning to that color scheme. I will save the bottom house in orange for another Halloween wall hanging project.

I plan to work on it next. I'm still forcing myself to work on the Rose for My Boyfriend and I've not been able to work for the last week on that. I can't let myself switch or I'll never get this done.


The Shops that participated were:

Atomic Fibers - Oak Ridge TN
Gina's Bernina Sewing Center - Knoxville TN - This is where i picked up the pattern.
Lana's Quilts and Sew Much More - Cleveland TN
Chattanooga Quilts - Ooltewah TN (Also found this awesome article about them in the Badass Quilters Society blog)

I always like the trek from Lana's to Chattanooga Quilts because the path takes me by the Little Debbie factory. They have their factory store there and it's fun to stock up on snacks.

Today's tea is Bigelow's Orange & Spice. One of my favorite teas is the Hint of Orange that Petros sells. The celestial seasons Orange tea is closer and this one a bit bolder then the other two. I have a habit of picking up Bigelow's though because I don't always think of that. I just think "Ooh! Orange Tea", and grab it. I like the Bigelow's a lot also. I wouldn't buy it if I didn't.