Tag Archives: pumpkin

Aug 17 2022

Give Thanks

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After ripping out the wording because it was too low and got in the way of the border, then restitching it, then ripping out more because I STILL didn’t have it right, I am finally done with this project! It took much longer than it should have to complete, the border was really boring to stitch, and some of the colors that came in the kit were just awful and needed to be replaced (the pumpkin was supposed to be stitched with DMC 975!)… but now that it is complete I just love it. I am usually not a big fan of buttons as embellishments but the green heart button is really cute. I have another Bent Creek zippers kit to work on for Halloween but the pumpkin on that one uses the same dark brown floss, so I am going to replace it with a Weeks Dye Works color like I did here. But since one skein was exactly enough without really having any extra to spare, I think I am going to have to order another one before I start. And actually, I should order two skeins and use both of those and keep the one I have for something else, since the dye lots will likely be quite different.

XXX
Carrie

Jul 31 2022

Pumpkin Time

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It’s still summer, and I do have that new bicycle project to start on. But sometimes you just need a break to work on something really simple. I love these Bent Creek Zipper kits because they are stitched on 18 count fabric over 2, and with pearl cotton – only one strand! Woo-hoo! The kit came with a really dark brown shade of DMC for the pumpkin, which I thought looked really off. So I found this skein of Chrysanthemum from Weeks Dye Works in my stash and it looks like a wonderful pumpkin shade!

But after I had stitched quite a bit of the pumpkin, I realized I was probably going to run out of floss, and I didn’t have another one. I could order one, but the odds that it would be an exact match would be pretty slim. So I started strategizing. I stitched the far right side of the pumpkin, then the far left side. To do the middle sections I would stitch a couple of rows, jump over to an empty spot, and stitch a couple of more rows. This way if I had to pick 2 solid colors of DMC to fill in, they would not be all in the same place. As I stitched more and more, I filled in the empty areas I had, in a sort of zig-zag motion. When it was getting close to the end I could finally sigh with relief and I completed the pumpkin with about 7 inches of floss to spare. Whew!

The photo doesn’t clearly show the colors. The raven is black and the stem is dark green. The star is a brown color stitched with the only variegated floss that came in the kit. The pumpkin is made up of two shades, orange and coral.

XXX
Carrie

Apr 30 2022

Witches Brew

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Now that this is done I am very pleased with how it turned out, although I am a bit disappointed about there not being any purple in the design. But I’ve already found myself a new Halloween freebie to work on, a Durene Jones design that I think will look amazing on some linen I hand dyed purple a couple of years ago.

This design is a freebie from Cheryl McKinnon at Tiny Modernist.

XXX
Carrie

Sep 28 2012

October’s Harvest

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This project was so much fun to stitch, and worked up quite quickly. The design is from Blackbird Designs and I chose to stitch it on 28 count Apple Brown Bindy.  Only one color of floss is used, DMC color variations 4126. The colors are so much better in real life than in the photo. The original design called for a fabric and floss that I didn’t have on hand, so I improvised. My initials (CP) are in the lower right corner and the year (2012) in the lower left. The chart was dated 2001, and no other numbers were given, but luckily I was able to change it easily. I am glad I didn’t attempt this one in 2013, as that would have required charting the number 3 myself! Unfortunately this didn’t get framed in time for display this year.

Carrie