Pinspiration - Cross Stitch Pumpkin

I'm linking up this week with The CSI Project. Their challenge is a project inspired by Pinterest! That is what Pinspiration is all about. :)

 

Last week I posted about starting my Halloween projects. Here are my four projects, again. They can all be found, along with several dozen other awesome Halloween projects, on my Halloween Pinterest Board.

1. Felt flower wreath    2. Cross stitch pumpkin   3. Mantle scarf   4. Black cat pillows

Well, I am happy to post that I have finished my first Halloween project. My cross stitch pumpkin is finally complete! This was one of the very first projects I pinned on Pinterest, so it is very satisfying to have finished it, and before Halloween too.

If you remember from last week, I explained how I mapped out the skull pattern and poked all of the holes. That was actually the really difficult part. Once the cross stitching started it was just a matter of following the pattern and weaving the yarn through the correct hole.

My progress was slow, but steady:

Sorry for the bad pics, but these were taken late at night with my cell phone. :( I wanted to show the hole patterns, but they are a little hard to see.

You can see them a little better in this picture. I did have to go back and poke each hole again before threading my needle and yarn through it. The foam holes closed up over time.

It took me a little over a week to complete my pumpkin, but I didn't work on it every day. I think all in all it took, maybe 5 hours. One bit of advice, keep your strand of yarn short. The first few rows I stitched with a very long strand of yarn. As I continued to pull it through the holes it got tangled and eventually frayed. I finally tied it off, cut it, and then opted for a much shorter strand. That worked a whole lot better!

So, here is it! My very own cross stitch skull pumpkin.

Not so sure I'll put it on my white mantle. I think it gets lost in all of the white. But, maybe once I put up my orange and black Halloween decor it will blend a lot better.

Overall, I am very pleased with the way it turned out. Some of the lines aren't exactly straight, but for cross stitching on a ribbed pumpkin I think it looks great.

This was a pretty inexpensive project too.

Materials:
Fake white pumpkin, medium size - $19.99 (I used a 40% Michaels coupon)
1 skein of black yarn - free (from my stash)
Yarn needle - free (from my stash)
Pointy object to poke holes - free (I used a knitting needle from my stash)

Total cost: $12.00

I'd love to try another pattern and even a different color pumpkin, maybe black with a white yarn raven or maybe a Halloween word like Boo! I just have to wait for another 40% off coupon. :)