I ran across a mention of the Primitive Needle on another blog (whose link I can’t find now, so I apologize for not giving credit wherever it’s due) and liked the country/vintage look of their patterns so much I decided to give them a try.

I chose the Hallow Sampler, which recommended floss and linen from Weeks Dye Works (which can be purchased cheaper at Picture This Plus). I finally finished the piece, and although I’m quite pleased with it I do have some comments:

– The directions call for “Dill” linen, but the Dill color is way darker than whatever they used for their sample. Since the floss colors they specify are all fairly dull, I think some of the detail got lost in the background. I’d recommend ignoring their fabric suggestion and choosing a lighter color.

– The directions also specify 40-count linen. Brothers and sisters, as dog is my witness, 40 count is really freaking small. I had to either sit under a strong light source or borrow Shadow Jack’s reading glasses to see the holes well enough to count them, and I still wound up missing stitches and having to pull rows back out. (This piece definitely has the highest profanity count of any cross-stitch I’ve ever done.)

– The hand-dyed floss is gorgeous, with subtle variegation and colors that aren’t as harsh as many commercial brands. However, the variegation tended to be a problem with the small size of the elements. In particular the “Thyme” color–a mixture of grey and green–gave me trouble because the floss would change noticeably from grey to green about halfway through the row.

All of that being said, I really do like the richness that the hand-dyeing gives to the piece, and the tiny stitches make it look old-fashioned and elegant. The pattern itself is great (and the same company has loads of others in the same mold), and if you don’t have the patience for little fiddly stitches you could always use linen with a lower thread count. One or two of the elements would also be cute stitched onto clothing as an accent.

If you enjoy cross-stitch, I’d definitely recommend these guys.

Bonus link: Check out the awesome new Headless Horseman pattern at Picture This Plus.

The ever-marvelous Wondermark has created The Stokes-Whibley Natural Index of Supernatural Collective Nouns, an eminently useful guide to consult the next time you need to know what a group of succubi, manticores, or gnomes is called.

(Also check out the Fiction Generator, which several fans promptly automated.)

Shanty2Chic is the work of two sisters who delight in taking cheap items and transforming them into lovely home décor. They have all kinds of great ideas for little projects, and since they tend to do things with dark wood and metal their style definitely has a gothy vibe.

Some of my favorites include the apothecary jars made of wooden candlesticks and glass canisters, some spruced-up white pumpkins made with cheap faux pumpkins and twine, a magnet board with wonderful vintage-looking letters, and some revamped candlesticks (even the “before”–which one of the sisters also did–is great).

If you’re looking for inexpensive ways to add a lot of personal style to your home, definitely check out this blog. It’s amazing how much you can do with a little paint and some imagination.

Today is All Soul’s Day, when many believe that the spirits of the dead return to the world of the living for one night. Dishes made with beans or lentils–long associated with ghosts–are often eaten, and cookies in the shape of bones are popular.

Ossi die Morti (Dead Bone Cookies) – Makes about 4 dozen

2/3 C sugar
1/2 C butter
2 large eggs
2 C all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 C almonds, finely chopped
Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 400F. Cream the sugar, butter and eggs together. Add the flour gradually, beating until smooth. Add the vanilla and nuts, blending well. Form teaspoons of dough into a bone or crescent shape, placing the cookies an inch apart on greased baking sheets. Bake 10 minutes or until the cookies are lightly browned. Dust with powdered sugar if desired.

If that recipe doesn’t appeal, you might also try making your bones out of pretzels and mini-marshmallows, shaped meringue, or plain old sugar cookies cut into bone shapes (you can cut them freehand or use a cookie cutter). The little meringue or marshmallow bones would also be cute decorations on cupcakes.

Halloween may be over, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop celebrating. Give these little bones a try!

Halloween
Dexter Kozen

Autumn’s turned the leaves to rust
The trees have fallen bare
Silver clouds enshroud the moon
A chill is in the air
Shadows of a thousand years
Rise again unseen
Voices whisper in the trees
Tonight is Halloween

On wings of mortals’ weary dreams
Across the night we’ll fly
We’ll dance among the stars unchained
Until the dawn is nigh
A year has passed away, my love
Since we’ve each other seen
Softly now and take my hand
Tonight is Halloween

This was the text inside my wedding invitations. It’s also been set to music by the band “Severe Tire Damage.” You can hear a sound file of the song at their site (http://www.std.org/).

intro   C7-5/E  Em

verse   [Am6/E Em-5 E] x4
         E7 Am4 Am
         C#-/G C#-/F#
        [Am6/E Em-5 E] x2

vamp    [Am6/C  C#-
         Em-5 Em Em-5 Em] x2
         Am6/C  C#-
         C7-5/E   Em

fugue   [Em     |       |Am       |        |
        |D      |       |G        |        |
        |C      |       |F#       |        |
        |B  B/D#|E      |A    A/C#|D       |
        |G      |C/G    |A        |Dm/A    |
        |B      |C   Am |Em/B Am/C|Em/B  B7] x2
        (vamp)

(From Para Abnormal, natch.)

Burning Cities Firescreens – These are just prototypes, but they’re kind of awesome. Choose London or Rome.

The Vampire Survival Guide – This would be an amusing gift accompanied by a stake and a wreath of garlic.

Halloween Cheese Assortment – I’m mostly just amused at the marketing genius who figured out how to promote their product for Halloween, but this is also a nice suggestion for a party.

Craftster art and craft roundups:
Werewolf
Vampire
Day of the Dead 1
Day of the Dead 2

Zombify Yourself – Promotional site for Zombieland; upload a photo of yourself and turn it into a zombie. It’d be fun to do photos of all your friends and use printouts as placecards for a dinner party. Or slip them into your holiday newsletter without comment. (Hat tip to Fiend4Halloween)

The Watchers – Awesomely cool handpainted matryoshka.

Bob Burns’ Hollywood Halloween – Bob Burns did legendary Halloween displays. This site includes photos and video of his “haunts.”

Terrorium – Tutorial for making a decorative jar with a landscape of teensy skulls. Also I love the name.

Soft Sculpture Bats – Really cute free pattern for making a mobile out of cloth bats and a tree branch.

Bookstore Sign – You’ll laugh because it’s true.

p.s. – I’m participating in the unfortunately-acronymed NaBloPoMo again this year, so there will be a post every day of November, including weekends. Can you hardly wait? I thought so.

As is customary, I have to show off my little guy in his Halloween finery (click to enlarge).

I predicted last year that it was probably the last Halloween when I was going to be allowed to dictate his costume, but fortunately he’s become rather passionate about wizards so it wasn’t too hard to chivvy him in that direction. Someday, though, he’s going to come home and announce that he wants to be Spiderman and then my little brocade-and-velvet-loving heart is going to shatter into a million pieces.*

This portrait will join the others in my Halloween gallery: We do a professional 8×10 photo of him in costume every year, choose an appropriate-looking frame (this one will go in a bronze frame with lots of twisty metal bits), and add it to the lineup. It’s a nice year-round reminder of our favorite holiday.

What are you doing for Halloween this year?

*And then I’ll sweep up the pieces and start figuring out how I can make him a functional web shooter, because my family motto is, “If a Thing is Worth Doing, it is Worth Overdoing.” But that’s another post.

(via I have seen the whole of the internet)

You’ve probably seen the all-coffin kitchen and other themed furniture made by Coffin It Up. It probably comes as no surprise that the proprietors’ own house is also coffin-themed.

Bryan and Dusty Schoening have a year-round cemetery at their house, complete with a coffin-shaped gazebo where they host several weddings every year.

HGTV has a short home tour of their exterior, plus some photos of the famous coffin kitchen that they did for a client. I’m very much taken with the columns on their front porch.