Cool Halloween Finish

Stitching for Halloween is just plain fun.  There is no seriousness involved and to me, that makes for enjoyable stitching.  When one of the Facebook stitch groups I'm in announced a Halloween exchange, I was in!  My little collection of Just Cross Stitch Halloween issues offered a huge selection of ornament ideas and it was difficult to pick just one.  But eventually I chose this cute little owl and pumpkin chart by Blue Ribbon Designs called "Perched On A Pumpkin". 

What could be cuter than a little owl and a happy jack-o-lantern?  Fun to stitch, this is one I would stitch again for me.  I will say that the recipient was delighted and commented that it would become an heirloom in his Halloween collection.  Stitchers love to hear stuff like that, don't they?

I took on the challenge of finishing this ornament the way they suggested in the instructions.  This involved hand sewing the back and front together with thread and beads.  One bead per stitch.  I already had some shiny metallic orange beads in my stash and thought that they would be perfect for this project.

Although I really like this effect, next time I would simply machine sew the two pieces together and find another way to attach some beads.  It was a long process and was difficult to keep the fabric even as I hand-sewed.  But I do like the finished product and am glad that I tried this method.

I'm so happy that I finally got to share this finish!  I'm currently stitching a Christmas ornament which will be a gift, so there will be no photos of that for a while.  Fortunately, I do have some other projects going on which I will happily share in upcoming posts!