Another October Post

Yes, it is a lame title, but I sat here for quite a while and came up with nothing better...

Before I forget, if anyone has stitched or is stitching The Blue Ribbon Sampler by Olwyn Horwood could you please contact Nicola at Stitching By a Cornish Sea Shore? She has a couple of questions before she starts and please don't wait too long, I can't wait to see this one stitched!

I know lots of you have beautiful Halloween displays throughout your homes.  Me?  Not so much.  DMom sent me these and they are the only Halloween items I have out, but I think they are very cute.  The owl's lantern is lit but it doesn't really show due to the bright sunshine in the background:

And just because it is my blog and I can...  Despite having two, almost identical, chairs in the den, the cats only seem to sit in one.  The Hubs sent me this picture the other day of Salem and Spot:

Please ignore Spot's glowing eyes I promise they don't glow, not even on Halloween but she seems to be saying, "DAD!! Make him move!!"

I am not thinking too highly of the weather right now you would think that after living here for five years that I would be used to how variable October weather is as we are back in the 70s during the day.  It is so strange to have those temperatures, see people in shorts and then see trees that look like this:

 This is "Yellow Flower Meadow" in the early fall.  The reddish tree is some sort of oak, the yellows are gums and tulip poplars.  The yard is NOT that dark a green, the photo was taken just as the sun was coming over the trees on the other side of the house so it is not well lit.

This is a farm just up the road from me.  I just loved the contrast between the tree and the fences, clouds and buildings.

As I predicted in my last post, I did not get as much stitching done on Chatelaine's Winter Watergarden as I did on Twilight of the Tsars but Twilight has no speciality stitches nor blackwork, but I am happy with what I did get done.

Here is Winter Watergarden before:

And after:

It is difficult to see, but I finished filling in the area between the darker outer border and the middle mandala and lots of Rhodes and eyelet stitches in the middle mandala. I'm stitching on white Belfast with all the recommended fibers and beads.

I have The Nutmeg Company's Parma Violets and Chatelaine's Hawaiian Garden on the to-do list this weekend.  I don't know how much time I will have for stitching as it is The Hubs' birthday tomorrow and I have no idea what he wants to do but I am sure it has nothing to do with mowing the yard one last time or cleaning out the basement.