It is time again for the annual halloween mystery quilt along and stitch along that Fat Quarter Shop hosts. They generously post a new part of the pattern every week in June to make a cute wall quilt and a cute cross stitch design.

I received in the mail the fabric for the quilt. This year they are using Urban Chiks Owl-O-Ween fabrics from Moda.

From what I can tell, it appears to be a castle, haunted of course.

The cross stitch seems to have a pumpkin and a bat.

I thought about using DMC but went for the fancy floss because it looks like the pumpkin is a large enough piece that the variation would look good.

I decided to make a grime guard for my QSnap in the same fabric line. It makes it all the more festive. See you in June.

Since 4th of July is around the corner I decided to stitch up a few small patriotic pieces. To motivate me I jumped on the Primrose Cottage Stitching challenge.

I have done of a few of their ”kisses” patterns. Not only are they cute, they are fast to stitch.

Now for the million dollar question. How do I plan to finish them? I am thinking the small decorative pillows to put in the dough bowl. But we shall see.

To see other great projects from fellow stitches on the challenge use this hashtag #starspangledstitching

I finished part three of the Little Women SAL. I was hoping to catch up on the book but I have been kinda dragging lately.

This part has the dates and names down on the bottom. In an effort to catch up I immediately started Part Four so I can catch up.

I saw someone on Instagram who made a project bag out of the finished project. I am not sure what I want to do with this sampler. I am leaning towards frame art, but framing is so expensive. I can try to frame this myself, but I doubt I can do it justice.

What do you think? What should I do with it.

I was not expecting a new SAL so soon. We have not even finished the Bats and Boos Mystery SAL.

But I am game. My sister Janice is even participating. As soon as I saw the items on the New Items page I snatched it up. I am always concerned about the items running out. My sister told me the cloth was already gone.

I was able to snag the Red Project Bag, the Fancy Floss package, the needle minder and the Aida cloth.

Of course this picture shows DMC, but I got the other thread pack.

This time the project goes over 5 weeks. I already went and bought the chalkboard easel from Hobby Lobby so I am prepared. My sister said that her store did not have it. I personally think they do not know their inventory as I have been able to find every item and she never can. But maybe they really dont have it. Who knows.

Again I was tempted to do the quilt but decided not too do it. It will be too much pressure on me.

Besides September is Sunflower September Stitch-a-long where we focus on Sunflower cross stitch projects. I only have two but that is just enough. I cannot do what these professionals accomplish.

So at least count me in for the All The Trimmings Stitch-a-Long.

Part three was a breeze and I finished it on Sunday! It was the star in the middle and took no time at all to finish. Now that allows me a whole week to finish the Little Women SAL. Or at least get a lot done on the sampler.

OK so I am weak. I bought two more cute patterns on Etsy.

I saw this one made up by Kimberly at the Fat Quarter Shop. It was a video from last year and was sadden to see she no longer sells it. But I checked Etsy and there it was. I think this cutie will be framed.

And one little one from Real Housewives of Stitching. This one is called Hello Fall. Very cute fox in a mug. I think I will make it into a small decoration that I can either put on a tiered tray or on an autumn decorative piece if I can find one I like.

Well I need to get back to my chores as no one else will do them for me. Darn it!

I strted to watch Floss Tube on youtube to learn more about cross stitching when I stumbled across videos from The Fat Quarter Shop. This is a great quilting shop that I have bought tons of fabric from. Well I guess they do cross-stitch too. Oh the glory!

They provide project bags, fancy floss, great patterns and a ton of inspiration

Fat Quarter Shop, who is known for thier generosity (Once they sent me a $100 gift certificate because I was such a good customer) decided to do a free stitch-a-long with a Halloween theme. WHHHHHHAAAAAAAATTTTTTT

Halloween, be still my heart.

This time I was able to convince my sister Janice to do it with me. We both bought the fancy threads.

They are also doing a quilt kit but I decided to skip it. I am downloading the pattern should I decide later to do the quilt.

Because they are so cool, I bought the halloween project bag, the ghost zipper pull and a needle minder.

These people think like me, do stuff with cute accessories

and anyone who knows me, knows I love Halloween. How fun! I think I can show this without getting in trouble. I am not sure how long the stitch a long pattern will be free, so go now and get the different parts (click on picture)

Part One was hard as I stitched the bat wing wrong and had to pull out the stitches. The webbing in the background was a bit meandering. But otherwise an easy pattern.

Part two was much easier!

I have started part three so I will have more to post later!

Recently I decided to take up cross-stitch again. I ordered a few kits online that were full coverage and felt a little overwhelmed. Full coverage….gee will that take me a 100 years to finish. I am not known for finishing these projects.

So I decided to try a small piece to warm up the old skills I use to have

I started with a little pumpkin. Lordy I made so many mistakes. Missed stitches. Stitches going the wrong way, misreading the chart. Lordy when did this get so hard. Or was I just getting old. I can do it, I know I can.

I then did a small piece called “Not all Witches Live in Salem” Sorry I do not have a picture, but you can find a pattern at Etsy from the WitchyStitcher.

I started to get my rhythm back. I did make a mistake but it was minor.

But what I was missing is the joy of stitching with friends. Why oh Why am I surrounded by people who do not do crafts. I need a wider circle of friends.

So I decided to see if I can find a Stitch-a-long (SAL) on Etsy or another place so at least I can join others on a group event.

I found this fun SAL/Book Club from Sapphire Mountain Handicrafts. WHAT!!! a book club and a mystery cross stitch event. I have never read the book but always wanted to, so this was a win-win for me.

I joined a bit late and have had to catch up.

I ended up doing this on linen so it was more old-fashioned. By the way, I do not like linen. It looks great but ugh! So hard to count and keep the linen straight.

Part One was easy. When I took this picture I realized that my phone case was Little Women. I photographed this on some of my Great Grandmothers linens I inherited from my Grandmother.

Part two was hard. The gray house was hard to see. My eyes are old and this was really hard to see. But loved how it turned out.

I keep plugging along when I got bit by another Stitch-a-long.