Halloween Circle

Up until now I've been writing about my designs chronologically. I'm going out of sequence now because this is a good time for a Halloween design.

This was based upon my "Circle of Seasons" which I'll write about soon. It has a snowflake in the center, then spring green leaves, flowers and along the outside fall leaves. As I was working on it, my mind wandered on to other possible circles, the Halloween Circle being one of them. I changed the outer fall leaves and decided to fill the center with Halloweeny designs. The bats and the pumpking came quickly. I even tried a bigger pumpkin in the center. But I abandoned that when I came up with the spider idea. 4 small spiders are way too many spiders for me. So the pumpkins became smaller and went in the inner circle. I love the pattern the vine makes as they curl around.

The spider was a challenge. All my initial sketches either looked dorky or too cutesy for this design. There's nothing wrong with a cutesly spider, but I didn't want one here. (That sounds like a challenge to me - maybe I'll have to come up with a good cutesly spider now) I design best from observation but I draw the line at going into the yard and looking for good spider specimens (If I still lived in Arizona it would be easy). So, I did the next best thing and went to the library for an insect and spider identification guide. The spider is still totally made up. But I used the (really creepy) spider pictures in the guide to gauge body and leg length and proportions. I think the plan worked rather well because if I catch that spider in the corner of my eye I have to repress the urge to smack it. (Absolutley no spiders where harmed during the design and stitching of this pattern)

I've designed many versions of a "Chrismtas Circle" and a "Winter Circle" but haven't hit upon the magic combination where it "works" yet. Stay tuned, I'll have more circles eventually.

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Erica's Stitches

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