Hey, I’m back to share with you my continuing journey with the Halloween SAL(A Storybook Halloween) hosted by Stitchonomy! For those of you not in the know, SAL means Stitch-A-Long. It’s where a designer, or group of designers, create a project which they release parts of on a timeline of their choosing. The Halloween SAL I am currently involved in releases a pattern every day. The Mystery Stitch-A-Long by Linen and Threads releases theirs once a month. These projects have a start and finish date, but the finish date is really when someone gets done – patterns are kept available for free for a time after the initial finish date so there’s really not a need to rush.
So, I started on 10 Sept which was a Friday, and my last pattern to date was done yesterday, 17 Sept. The patterns drop at 2pm Central Time, and I didn’t feel like waiting to share this with you!
This was how it looked when I first started:
As you can see, I changed the eyes on my cats because I didn’t like how they looked. I originally used a French Knot, but I didn’t like how big they were. I then changed over to the Colonial Knot which is smaller and for me, easier to make. All of the red dots you see are the Colonial Knot. I’m still not crazy about the look but with the size constraint, making a drop of blood that’s realistic isn’t possible. I’ve seen pictures of people using beads, and they aren’t much better.
I haven’t done the backgrounds on these little gems because I’m planning to use Glow in the Dark thread. It’s white in the light so I’m going to have to get creative to have everything still look pretty creepy in the dark. Any ideas on the cats? If I outline them, they will look more like bats, and I don’t think their eyes will show up.
Also, any ideas on the spine of the book? I think it’s a bit plain even with the sparkly letters. What about the pages?? It’s great the designer provided a floss list to use but is still allowing the use of other colors of the creator’s choice. Still, I could use any ideas or suggestions you have because I’m just not sure….
I am really enjoying this SAL, and I’ve found myself looking forward to the next pattern with a great deal of anticipation.
So, here are the blocks and the stories they’re related to:
Block One: Black Cats for Edgar Allen Poe’s Black Cat
Block Two: The Pumpkin King for The Nightmare Before Christmas
Block Three: A Moth for the Mothman Prophecies
Block Four: The Babuk(Sack Man) for (mainly) Czech folklore.
Block Five: Beetlejuice which is actually based on a book by the same name
Block Six: A Raven for Poe’s famous poem
Block Seven : A Fanged Mouth for Dracula
Block Eight: A House for The Haunting of Hill House
Note
If you decide to join the SAL, the free version started yesterday with the frame pattern and floss list having been released for both paid and free versions last week, or maybe sooner, I forget. The paid version – joining the Pattern Club – had its patterns started last week. I joined the club so I could get started sooner and finish sooner.
This project is a lovely break from Fred, but I still need to get Fred done by the end of the year so I don’t want to be away from it too long.
If you do decide to join the SAL, let me know in the comments below with a link to wherever you’ll be posting your own journey so I can follow along! I’d love to see what others make!
See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!!!
Griffin's Nest 
Oooh I love how your patterns are turning out! The smaller Colonial Knots do seem to fit the ‘mini’ theme better. You’ve inspired me to look up more types of stitches as well. 🙂
The spine and pages look great to me, and glow in the dark thread is really gonna make the whole project pop! You’ve got this one in the bag, and I’m already looking forward to your finished version (framed and all – or however else you’re thinking of finishing.)
As for the cats – does dyeing work with glow in the dark thread? If it does, you could dye it red and replace the current normal-floss eyes with glow in the dark ones, and they’ll look great in light and dark. 🙂
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Since the Glow in the Dark is white in light, I’ll have to do some research on that! It’s a great idea if I can do it! I could also mix one strand of red with one strand of Glow but it might make the eyes look funny.
The Colonials did work up smaller. They would’ve looked nicer on the fanged mouth, but I got a bit rushed there. Still, I’m going to be doing backgrounds and outlines in the Glow to try to make it look creepy in the light and the dark. Several stitchers in the SAL have suggested mixing one strand of the background color with one strand of the Glow, and I’m going to test it out before I settle. I just have to wait to get my Glow in since they don’t sell it around here.
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