The Night Watchman

    Awhile ago, I bought a lot of Halloween leaflets from Ebay. I started one of the patterns, The Night Watchman, many, many years ago, but never finished. Finally, this year, I said to myself that I was going to finish the projects I'd started, so I chose this one. It took me awhile, as I was half finished, but I finally finished it recently!

    I love the picture as it evokes the Halloween season to me! The scarecrow standing in the pumpkin patch as the witch flies overhead, outlined by the full moon. I haven't framed it yet, but that is my next step, but for now, on to another project! Happy Halloween all!

Wheel of the Year

     The Wheel of the Year is a Pagan way to explain the seasons and the seasonal holidays taking place within a year's time. The traditional beginning is on Samhain, the Witches' New Year and the wheel turns through the different holidays, which are roughly eight weeks apart.
     In the book Sabbat Entertaining: Celebrating the Wiccan Holidays in Style by Willow Polson, there is a lovely little pattern for each of the holidays with a final pattern for to illustrate the Wheel of the Year. It took me quite awhile to do them all, but I managed to get them all completed and found cute little frames for each of them! The book suggests sewing them together in a quilt pattern, but I was having issues with that and found I preferred them framed.

Samhain - honoring the ancestors

Yule - The Holly King is at his greatest power as the Oak King is weakest

Imbolc - purifying fires and first signs of Spring

Ostara - fertility festival

Beltane - bees pollinating flowers

Litha - the Sun is at its most powerful

Lammas - the first harvest of grains 

Mabon - the second harvest and a bountiful time

    These patterns were lovely to stitch and they make a lovely grouping on my wall!

Spells and Bags

     One thing I look forward to every year (besides Halloween itself) is the release of the Just Cross Stitch Halloween magazine. It is full of gorgeous projects to work on! The first one I've done is this ornament.

This one was simple to do and I enjoyed putting it all together. I was excited to see I already had all of the materials it was calling for, except for the mounting board and ribbon, but those were easy to find. I think this would also make a nice cover to a spell book for those crafty Witches out there! ;)

   
     The next project I undertook was to make trick or treat bags from another project in one of the magazines. I made three of them to start with, then sold one of the bags to a friend, so I made yet another! The only problem I had with this one is the stitching of the black thread on the black cloth! In dim lighting, this was a nightmare! Otherwise, they turned out very cute!

    I was looking to sell the bags for Halloween, but so far, no takers. Oh well, at least I've got some cute bags to carry stuff in now! :) Til next time, take care and enjoy!

Blessed Be

     I became interested in cross stitch many, many, MANY years ago (I've lost count) and have yet to finish the first project I'd started! I found a very cool picture of a witch on her broom, flying among bats and carrying a jack o'lantern. I'm about 3/4 of the way done with it, but keep putting it down. I've done many other projects since then, but still haven't finished this one!
      My projects mainly consist of fall/Halloween patterns and Christmas ones. They are just so lovely and evoke happy memories for me! Other projects I've done have been Pagan related, such as this one.

     This was the first project I'd actually finished and I was so excited! I framed it and hung it up. I've also blessed it and it is now a protection talisman and the first thing to enter into a new house after I've blessed the house.
     I've made another for a friend of mine since she admired it so much and am working on yet another for my sister (now you get why I have so many unfinished projects?!). It's a good thing I still love this pattern and I love to cross stitch!