Halloween

Every year the American Needlepoint Guild holds a Charity Auction of needlework donated by members.
One of the joys of stitching something for the auction is that you can choose a canvas that looks as though it would be fun to stitch but which you wouldn't necessarily want to own permanently. In 2010 I chose two different canvases. The first was Halloween. I don't know who the designer was, and there were no instructions or stitch guide, only the painting on the canvas.
I'd love to hear from anyone who recognises it.

Obviously, being Halloween, it had to be 'loud' and the letters had to be in the same stitch. I had the ugly pumpkin orange and just knew it was what I wanted. I considered making the O the same colour as the other letters, but decided that the silhouette witch would look better against the sickly yellow. The background had to be night-like, and in a stitch that was complementary but sat back from the letters and figures. It had to be a dark blue, black tends to be deadening, and grey would never have worked, neither supporting or clashing with the orange.

The figures were fun. I did most of them in tent stitch, but I used fluffy threads for the cats and the owl, and a variegated wool for the tree. The green of the goop from the cauldron had to be yucky of course and the pumpkins had to have lit up eyes and mouths. The witch, following the best traditions of wicked witches, had to have stripy stockings and purple hair.

Halloween, with apologies for the  over-run

It was fun to choose colours that went together, but didn't quite, if you follow me, and I enjoyed playing with ideas for the figures. It took me 88 hours to stitch Halloween.