School, as it is...

 Today was my daughter's first day of school (5th grade).  Her school is going back in person, and she's wearing a mask and social distancing....  :/  It is all totally necessary and we are staying positive, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous.  I keep telling myself, we're in rural upstate NYS, our positivity rates are low and community transmission seems limited...but still.

But I stuck to tradition and took a vacation day for myself today.  I stitched up a little witch over the weekend ("Salem" by M Designs from an older JCS Halloween issue), and made her into a jar wrapper.  I love the fabric!  The outside is a creepy apothecary print I found at JoAnn Fabric, and the inside is a lime green solid with sparkles.

Unfocused Covid Photo Dump

 Working from home for almost 6 months now, and time has lost all meaning.  My daughter is practically feral, and being raised on video games and fruit snacks.  My husband is back in his office, and I have to go in to the library once a week, but it just feels like nothing is getting done.  I know it is, at least in part, situational depression and anxiety, but DAMN.  This is not where I thought I'd be in my 40s, that's for sure.

But I keep stitching...it keeps me at least a little bit sane.  I start gobs of things, and eventually maybe I'll finish a few.  Here's some pics for proof.

Shepherd's Bush "Devon Hedge."  Some bead substitutions made, as well as a slightly different family of  brown/tans because I thought the ones called for looked just the tiniest bit green on my fabric choice.

This one IS a finish - "Time to Fly" by StitchyFish Designs in this year's Just Cross Stitch Halloween special.  I wanted to finish it in a Tim Holtz alarm clock, but it was just a smidge too big.

My start on the SamSarah "Shining Star" pattern I picked up at the LNS closing sale.  It reminds me of the friend who passed away - she loved Christmas.  So this will be Julia's piece.  <3

By the Bay Needleart's "Spooky Hill."  This has been in my stash forever, and thinking about stitching it always made me smile.  I had all the flosses it called for (and of course I substituted for one, anyway - I used Romy's Creations "Black Tulip" for the rider's body, since I didn't like the orange color used in the pattern!), so I decided to dive in.

And finally, a little find from a new ritual.  There is a giant antique mall less than a mile from our new house, and a few weekends ago when I had to walk into town to drop some mail at the post office, I wandered into the store.  I could spend hours there!  There were some pieces of old needlework, but nothing I felt compelled to "save."  This little...candleholder? vase?.....though - a perfect fancy ort holder!  It makes me smile.  And reminds me that many old things find ways of staying with us, of being rediscovered at the right time by the right people, even as time marches on.  We'll be all right.

August Smalls SAL

As I said earlier, this month has been a little crazier than I expected.  But I DID finish a small - here is "Carpe Noctem" from this year's JCS Halloween special issue.

I'd like to find a small, square frame for this one, since it came out a little larger than I was expecting.  (It is probably about...4 inches square, I'd say?)  I'm glad I swapped the colors around in "noctem," too.

Other than this, I've just been working on those little bird boxes as gifts for my friends - almost done stitching all 4 now, and I have 2 boxes completely put together.  With any luck I'll be able to share a pic of those soon!

Primitive Halloweenies

After finishing "Rotted," I wanted more tombstone-y goodness....so I stitched this little Prairie Schooler card design, too.

The Prairie Schooler tombstone was stitched with some HDF silk - it was labeled Primitive Black, but since it was from a detritus bag, I think it might be a mis-dye of some sort.  The Plum Street design is from the JCS 2012 Halloween special, and I used a combination of DMC and hand-dyed flosses from my stash.

Rotted

So after my Halloween exchange was complete, I got inspired to do some more Halloween-y stitching for myself....

I chose the Plum Street Sampler design from the 2012 JCS Halloween issue, "Rotted but not Forgotted".  I don't have - and probably never WILL have! - 40-ct. fabric, so I used some mystery fabric from my stash.  I think it is 28-ct.?  That is a 6-inch hoop it is in, to give you an estimation of the size.  I'm using DMC for the black and green, and substituted for the off-white and orange from my dyed stash.  Not sure how that random bobbin of blue floss got into the picture....

What I've Been Up To

I love fall....the colors, the smells, the crisp nights.  But it also reminds me of how quickly times passes...how soon the snow will fly....and what's that you say, CHRISTMAS?!?!?  Yikes.

Last weekend we went apple picking, and came home with 2 big bags of Empire apples.  They are a bit too tart for my snacking preferences, but they make a tasty applesauce.

This was my first foray into canning!  And I think it went quite well.  So well, in fact, that after 7 pints of applesauce, I decided to try some cran-apple butter...

6 half-pints!

I still have about 20 pounds of apples in the garage - but I'm thinking I want to get another batch before the picking season ends!  I have big plans.  LOL

My stitching?  Well, that has slowed down considerably again.  After I sent my exchange piece to Becky, I started working on Plum Street Samplers' "Rotted but not Forgotted" ornament from one of the previous JCS Halloween issues.  Nothing worth sharing yet, though.  (I keep getting distracted by apple processing!)  Oh, but I should share the ornament that I received from Carol in the Halloween exchange.

This is a Prairie Schooler design called "Yeow!" from the 2012 JCS Halloween issue.  Isn't it cute??  I think the little bow at the top is just the cutest.  Thank you, Carol!

Halloween Exchange

I stitched up the "Petite Halloween Sampler" by Nikyscreations, in the 2014 JCS Halloween special issue, for Becky.

I used the DMC colors called for, and stitched it over-2 with one strand of floss on a mystery evenweave (I think it was Queen Anne's Lace?) from my stash.  The checkered fabric is what I used for the back or the ornament, and the trim is a piece of jute twine with orange and brown beads.  The bottom bow and beads was my attempt to make a "pumpkin" - not sure if it worked or not, but it is different!

I hope Becky liked it.

Busy busy busy

So to keep my mind off the stuff I don't need to buy, I've been stitching up a storm!!  I finished and mailed a small piece for the Autumn Exchange over at Hooked on Exchanging, and my Halloween piece is stitched as well and the finishing has begun.  AND I finished this for myself:

Lizzie Kate's Halloween Flip-It, #F17 (it is an older pattern, I'm sure she's published a zillion more Halloween-y smalls since then....).  I used a piece of hand-dyed linen labeled "muffin," and swapped a bunch of the flosses.  And almost as exciting as the finish itself -- I had EXACTLY enough of The Dye is Cast's "Swamp Water" light green over-dyed floss for the small gourd.  I knew I'd saved that last lonely length of floss for something...!!!  LOL  (Although it still killed me to throw away the empty skein card.  What is wrong with me?!?!?!?)

Ghoulish Enabling

After posting about The Floss Box yesterday, today I feel obligated to show off my latest little project.She's just too darned cute. (I started this on a piece of Water Lily lugana, because I was really envisioning it on green....but the white got lost. So this is an un-named, un-labeled scrap of natural/dirty linen I found in my stash.) And I added beads to her dress -- because I like beads. LOL