Spooky times with Brenda Hart at the Bristly Thistle

We had a wonderful 3 days with Brenda in October. Strangely enough, there were more than a few Halloween canvases in the store!

Brenda will be visiting us next March 16-18 2012.

Creepy Devil

What a handsome devil we have here.  This is the latest release of "the Creeps" from Needle Deeva, with stitch guide by Robin King.

I only made one change--I stitched the stars in glow-in-the-dark Kreinik.  "The Creeps" are addictive!

Third Witch Hat

My new ghost magnet is celebrating the finish of my 3rd Kelly Clark witch hat.  I am using the stitch guide that is available for the hats, with a few twists of my own.

For the background, I used 2 strands of Splendor and 2 strands of Accentuate for a brick stitch on the hat and skip tent on the brim.  My favorite thing: using beading thread from The Collection to couch the Kreinik Hot Wire and braid.  Whether I pierced the couched thread or looped over it, you can't see the couching stitches.

Tip:  Place the crystals for the spider bodies (I used hot fix Swarovski crystals) before you bead the legs.  (Do as I say, not as I did.)

Creepy Hooty Owl finished

My Hooty Owl canvas is finished and will be back soon to hang on my Halloween tree.

Hooty and Robin King (and NeedleDeeva, of course) were featured in the most recent issue of Needlepoint Now.  You may have noticed that the current canvases differ in color from the one Robin stitched.  It's not uncommon for production canvases to vary from the pre-production canvases, causing bits (or more) of havoc for the stitch guide author.

I chose to follow the colors Robin used, especially for the background.  This meant that I had to use a full coverage stitch--basketweave.  I used Silk Lame' and needed a card plus part of another--so make sure you buy 2 10 yard skeins or cards if you decide to change the canvas background color.

I can't wait for the next "Creep" to arrive!