What a Fun Halloween Season!

I hate to see the Halloween season come to an end! I have really enjoyed all my Halloween decor and will miss it so much when it is packed away this week. Too bad I have no needlepoint to show for Thanksgiving. One of these days I'll have to choose something from Melissa Shirley or Kelly Clark to stitch in honor of Thanksgiving.

Just because the Halloween season is officially over on Monday, it doesn't mean the Halloween stitching has to come to an end. I made some nice progress on the NeedleDeeva Frankenstein canvas this week.

On Saturday I worked on the black and orange background around Frank's face. It's hard to see the stitch but the orange dots are French knots using a Kreinik thread, a tent stitch in a black Petite Very Velvet, and a continuous Mosaic stitch in Elegance. In person, it's a great stitch - wish you could see it better in the photo. This area kept me company while I watched the Georgia-Florida game yesterday. It's about time Georgia beat that particular rival!

Last week I promised you a picture of the Bottle Bouquet canvas.

The flowers are stitched using River Silk ribbon. The stitch itself is a French knot on a stalk. The beads in the center of the flowers are such a beautiful dark honey color - very nice! This bottle was a quick stitch but also one of the smallest bottles in the group. I think the others will take a little more time.

On Saturday I tackled the assembly of my K's floor stand in preparation for the arrival of the Christmas banner this week from Amy's. First I assembled the Evertite stretchers. The 40" length of the stretcher presented a challenge - just because of the length. I hated to do this, but I had to get the hammer out to encourage all the sides to come together. I used a folded towel over the bar to protect it from the hammer. I'm glad that the sides are only 11" in length! Once the Evertites were assembled, I moved on to the floor stand and the arms to hold the frame.

While I have the basic instructions for the K's Creation floor stand, there weren't any instructions for the assembly of the arms that hold the frame. After an hour or so of trial and error (many!) and a trip to Lowe's for a couple of washers and wing nuts, I finally assembled the stand.

Wow! Is it big! If some of you who are stitching the Christmas banner have purchased a similar set-up for your floor stand and are looking at how mine is set up, just realize that this might not be a correct assembly. From what I can tell, this will work. But only time will tell! I set this up in the living room and you can get an idea of the size of the assembled frame in relation to a fairly large leather chair in the background and my fireplace. I may have to do my stitching on the banner in my home office where I have room to maneuver the stand around and can move my chair up to the stand instead of the other way around.

Andrew, Anna, and I are headed to Hilton Head next weekend. I haven't been there in almost eight years and can only imagine the changes to familiar places since then. I imagine there won't be too many familiar places any more! My family had a home there from the mid-'60s through the late '90s so I have seen lots of changes to that island over the years. Andrew will be covering the Concourse d'Elegance for the BMW blog for which he writes. BMW is one of the major sponsors for the Concourse and the organizers have provided Andrew and Anna with a room at the beautiful Inn at Harbour Town (I'll be at the Crowne Plaza) and passes for all of us to the Concourse. Anna and I may make an appearance at the Concourse to check out the cars but I think the outlet mall and other Hilton Head shops may be calling our names instead. We'll have a fun weekend and November is always a beautiful time to be at the South Carolina coast.

Hope you have a wonderful week ahead with no leftover Halloween candy to tempt you!