OhSewCrafty Blog

• Pattern by Sandra Parlow / X’s and Oh’s Designs
• Materials: 32 ct belfast Thunderstorm by Silkweaver (vintage), DMC, Kreinik, Petite Treasure Braid
• Size: 15″ x 14″
• Time to stitch: 60 days over 2 years

Presenting my haunted house!  At least my favorite of all the haunted house charts I’ve seen… a bucket list chart, if you will.

The pattern is completely wonderful and crazy.  I had no idea what I was getting into when I started.  I knew it was a large sort of chart, but I failed to appreciate all the fractional stitches, blended threads, and backstitching.  There are areas of painstaking detail and other large sections of single color stitching.  If you’re like me, and you consider stitching houses to be on the easy side, this one will disabuse you of that notion.  Even with a few separate charts provided, some of the backstitching (the longstitching in variegated DMC for the grass) nearly drove me insane and I had to fudge it.

As for the fabric, I used what the pattern suggests- “Thunderstorm” belfast.  It was one of my first hand dyed fabric purchases, from Silkweaver, many years ago.  It’s a dark grey marbled with deep purple, and perfect for this spooky scene.  The pattern calls for 12-15 spools of Kreinik #4 braid in glow in the dark grapefruit, for the moon.  Well, with Kreinik being about $3 per, do the math.  I also balked at the idea of using glow-in-the-dark thread.  Not that I have anything against the idea, but I’m not in the habit of looking at my stitching in the dark and it makes zero sense to spend a lot on glow in the dark thread, in my opinion.  

So I found petite treasure braid in a suitable moon-glow sort of color (White Pearl PB10), and with PTB costing about the same as Kreinik but with twice the yardage, it was much more cost effective.  I used almost 5 cards of PTB PB10 in the end, and it is pleasant enough to stitch, PTB being thinner and more thread-like, compared to Kreink #4 braid.  The PTB is significantly thinner, but the coverage was fine, stitched 1 over 2 threads on 32 count fabric.  And it is so shimmery!  I just love my sparkly moon. In addition the metallic moon, 2 shades of Kreinik- silver & gold, are used in the piece.   

My favorite details are probably the hidden faces- there are 2 on the house and 1 in the tree.  Speaking of the tree, I love its curvaceous pose.  Some of the gravestones in the yard have cute inscriptions like “C U Latr”. I love the little ghostly silhouettes you can see in the windows, the spider and its web, and the lightning strike- what is going on, in that house?

I like the little balconies with Kreinik railings, and general dimensionality of the house.  The backstitching in this piece is extensive, but it works to great effect.  I love the big shimmery moon and how the grass below it is lighter.  That was not planned, but actually a happy accident with the variegated DMC, which has a super long color repeat.   

I’m “over the moon” excited to have this done in time for Halloween… after er, 22 months.  This may be my first haunted house stitch, but it certainly won’t be the last.  It was pretty much finished last month, but I had looked online for a frame and couldn’t find anything I liked, so my mojo flagged.  

On the day before my retreat, Stitchfest (last weekend), I was at Michaels’ in Ellicott City, and found this lovely, ornate, weathered black frame in the open back section.  The finish is rather shiny and at first I wondered if the frame might be plastic but it is far too heavy for that; it is solid wood according to the info online.  The regular frames sold on the shelf at Michaels are generally not deep enough to mount on acid free foamcore, as is my preference.  This open back frame has the necessary depth. It was on sale for half off, so the cost was $37 for the 16″ x 20″ size and glass will be extra.  I’m entirely chuffed with the full finish!