Are You Ready for Halloween Yet?
Halloween? But that’s not for another three and a half months yet!
I’m not referring to buying your chocolate yet. It would either go stale or be eaten (the second, more likely 
) well in advance of Halloween.
Do you recall my telling you about the new YahooGroup called Wonderful XS World which Helga Mandl of Helga Mandl Designs recently created? As a way of increasing the group’s membership, Helga came up with a brilliant idea. In order to encourage other designers and many more stitchers to join and participate in the group so that it can help forge successful relationships between stitchers and designers, wXSw is hosting a stitch-a-long (SAL) to create ornaments for a Halloween tree.
The Halloween tree SAL with Wonderful XS World will begin on August 1, 2007, and stitchers may participate for FREE in the SAL, which will take place over an eleven week period every weekend from August 1, 2007, through October 14, 2007. However, stitchers must be a member of wXSw, and need to contact Helga to enroll in the SAL. Also, stitchers must agree not to give the charts for the SAL designs to anyone else; these SAL charts are exclusively available to members of wXSw who have registered with Helga for the SAL. Further details about the SAL are available in this .pdf file.
To add another element of fun, at the close of the SAL on October 14th, there will be a competition (with prizes!) hosted right here on INDEPENDENT NEEDLEWORK NEWS! Stay tuned to wXSw for further details (a number of which have yet to be determined).
Helga and another of the first needlework designers who joined the group, Lady Periphaeria of Periphaeria Designs, have been hard at work this week creating ornament-sized Halloween-related freebie designs just for this very special SAL and competition. So far, Helga has put up twenty-five designs with more to come, while Lady Periphaeria has contributed fifteen and plans on more.
I am terrifically impressed by all of the Halloween designs each designer has created so far! I think they’ve set the bar very high for any other designers who may join this fun project, which will only make it even more fun!
Helga knows I am already one of her biggest fans, and her designs for this SAL project have once again proved just as charming as I expected. I particularly adore Spider Flops; I think the spiders would be great stitched with one of those fuzzy fibers, so the spiders turn out really big and hairy — but still cute, of course — and perhaps with big beads for their eyes! Meanwhile, my stitched witch collection will grow larger thanks to Guess Who Day, Witches Hat Day, and If the Broom Fits. Helga has also done several terrific frog designs for the SAL which could be of use to a stitcher at any time of year.
Lady Periphaeria viewed designing patterns for Halloween as a challenge because they are a clear deviation from her usual style. Well, in my opinion — and although I am just a stitcher, I am a stitcher who loves to stitch Halloween designs, who especially loves to stitch fun/cute Halloween designs (as opposed to ugly/scary ones), and who REALLY loves to stitch WITCHES (hint, hint! 
) — she more than met the challenge she set for herself. Raving Radish is radiantly ravishing, and I cannot skulk away from Skull Pots. By the way, skulls and skeletons usually creep me out, but both designers created some really, really cute ones which I’ll truly enjoy stitching and hanging on my Halloween tree — which I’m leaving up year round! With Lady Periphaeria’s artistic talent, the slightly icky inside joke of Cook-Eyes is amazingly CUTE! Happy Hal-lowe-en captured my heart, too, with the romantic monsters lovingly using straws to sip the same drink … ew … oh … ha ha ha ha! Monster Kitchen is also darling, with more cute spiders, and Bones Crossing is simply awesome!
Really, really great job, Lady P! I just have one complaint request: Please work some of your designing magic on a witch or two! Pretty please!
I want to stitch them all at once! I also love that so many of these can be finished in different ways … I can see not just ornaments, but also biscornus, key chains, scissor fobs, pinkeeps, needlebooks, and so on … And the frogs are applicable all year for us stitchers, except that perhaps these frogs are so cute we might WANT them around!
Helga is still welcoming designers interested in contributing free designs to the Halloween tree SAL with Wonderful XS World. If you’re a designer who is interested in being part of this fun and unique project, please contact Helga.
Stitchers may become members of wXSw at any time and are encouraged to register for the SAL by contacting Helga. Also, consider contacting your favorite designer(s) to ask her to take part in the Halloween tree SAL with Wonderful XS World, too — the more, the merrier!
Technorati Tags: Halloween, Helga Mandl, Spider Flops, Guess Who Day, If the Broom Fits, frog, Witches Hat Day, cross stitch, wXSw, wonderful XS world, tree, ornament, SAL, stitch-a-long, Halloween Tree SAL, HMDesigns, exclusive, free, freebie, Periphaeria, Lady P, Skull Pots, Monster Kitchen, Bones Crossing, Happy Hal-lowe-en, Cook-Eyes, Raving Radish