Happy Halloween

threatening letters

found under my 8 year olds' pillow this morning

Skeleton, you are my friend

I haven't made dollies for a long time, but I owed my gal Jen a skeleton gal from a trade a few years back (how embarrassing). It feels good to finally make good on a promise. One of my pet peeves, up there with entire families at the grocery store at midnight or later (oh don't get me started on that one)- is folks who say they are going to do something and then never follow through. If you never planned on actually doing something then don't say so in the first place. So- today I feel less like a loser for finally getting little skeleton dollie completed. In the spirit of true penitence, I should overnight this to Jen so she can get it by Halloween.




Hanging on the wall after all of the bones have been zig zag stitched onto the black felt.




All of the fabrics are wool felt- wool seems to wear so much better than regular felt, if you ask me, it's worth paying extra for wool. The jewels above the eyes are affixed with the Bejeweler. So much more fabulous a tool than the BeDazzler- the gems get glued on with a hot poker tool and are way more sparkly than Bedazzler gems that have a silver ring around them with prongs that grab the fabric. I am finding that Bejeweler gems are getting more and more difficult to come by, craft stores aren't stocking them anymore, I need to look online for a better selection- perhaps cheaper that way too. The flower detail is just embroidery then a 3 layer felt flower with some sequins and a bead in the middle to hold it all down.



The skirt is 4 layers of tulle, super-gathered with a sequined band for the waist. The skirt attaches with a little piece of velcro in the back.

in case you still haven't decided

General Colin Powell breaks it down

Halloween par-tay

We went to the Call's annual Halloween bash Saturday evening. It's always a good time- dancin' like we're teens, snackin' down delicious treats, yuckin' it up, taking way too many pictures. I'll admit we could have been more clever, I didn't sew a stitch of my own costume- just went with what we had laying around. I think I was Hello Kitty or something along those lines... I just had to wear the kitty mask.
I know, I said I wanted to be a Hot Dog on a Stick worker (still do), and Steve O a hot dog but he refused to be a "sidekick", and the whole plan fell through. I think it was more in the interest of time and frugal leanings that we went with the ready-made kitty and Steve O wore the fish taco costume I made last year.


The ladies- Colett as a flapper, Kanani, Molly and Stephanie were Harajuku girls, and I'm the hairless kitty on the end. For more party pics/costume ideas look here.

I think this is funny

Clown-a-rama

The finished product looks a little crazy on the hanger but I assure you it looks good on- with the nose and clown red wig, I can wait to see him riding the unicycle in this outfit. I added a bit or flashy rick rack to the collar ruffle and went with the traditional three pom-poms over the wacky clown tie.

The back view- even crazier I think.

I think we will forgo the ginormous clown shoes. His black Chuck Taylor's look just as good. This clown has very serious plans for trick-or-treating until he drops or until the bag is too heavy for a human being to carry- being that Halloween falls on a Friday this year- no getting up early, in-school candy hangover to deal with the next day. Floppy cartoon shoes will only slow him down, and we can't have that now can we. I say bring it on. We aren't a big sugared cereal, candy in the cupboards sort of family- so we let it all hang out on Halloween, get your fill my darling little pranksters. And I might be skimming a few favorites of the top of those overflowing treat bags too.
Oh, I love Halloween for so many reasons.

jumpsuit

You know you are adding a little awesomeness to your day when you finally get to use this pattern. I don't have the original outer package with the colored picture because my friend Leann laminated it and made it into a journal, (and sold it at a craft fair somewhere) but she was clever enough to save all the original (and in this case uncut) patterns from the books she made and give them to me- yeah!
I've had my eye on this pattern in particular for years now. How could I possibly incorporate a jumpsuit into my life? When my 10 year old said he wanted to be a clown I knew right away where to look.

We are leaving out the pocket details and side-cinchers, they don't quite fit into the clown look. But, I should actually put in at least one secret pocket for magic trick supplies or balloon animal makings.

Does that say knit fabrics?

In the spirit of frugal costuming we decided to use a bag full of fancy scarves my mother-in-law gave to me instead of the Salvation Army (thank you) to make up the costume. It's turning out great, and since this clown in particular knows how to ride a unicycle and is learning to juggle as we speak- I think it's going to be a hit.
Can you say part-time job- 10 year old clown for hire: birthday parties, social events or family reunions perhaps?!

a truly saucy dwelling

I have a special place in my heart for objects pulled from the trash and fix/altered/overhauled/painted. What is it about free that is so darn appealing? So what if it doesn't turn out exactly the way you pictured? Just chuck it back into the trash.
I ran across this saucy room makeover with the recycled TV's dresser today. The ideas for kitsching things up are inspiring to the budget minded- and who's not these days- to see the rest of the space look here.

I especially love the dental impression under the terrarium and the not-my-family portrait from Goodwill.

a little upsetting

I know, I know... I should have seen it coming, but- it caught me off guard this year and I could do nothing about it because I was on vacation.
My garden froze.
My huge patch of basil I planned to make into pesto and freeze for the winter is a crispy- then wilty when it thawed out- brown pile of crap. I didn't even get a chance to dig up a plant or two to take inside for the winter.
Luckily all of the tomatoes that were ready to eat were picked in time, I'll be sad when they have been gobbled up in the next few days. sigh... I'm really going to miss summer garden fresh eating.
The geraniums are still good, I think I'll go out and dig some of those up to bring inside and brighten things up during the winter months- make myself feel a bit better.

Barcelona, Spain

We made it back safely to the US of A, and into the waiting arms of our children- well, not quite. I'm pretty sure the kids wouldn't have minded if we'd been gone longer. They got treated exquisitely by grandma and grandpa- to put it lightly. All of their favorite home baked treats on request, card games every night, not 1 but 2 trips to McDonalds for C- the 4 year old. It's kind of funny how one little persons idea of paradise can be another persons (his mother) idea of disgusting hell. Grandma was kind enough to oblige him. A huge thank you to Jan and Owen for filling in are parental units, and doing such a bang 'em up job!

Anyway, here is some cool felt work I came across in Barcelona. This gals shop is in the neighborhood of the Picasso Museum, I was so happy to have stumbled upon it. All of her amazing felt goods are displayed in the front of the shop, she makes everything right there in the back- you can watch her a work. I believe her name is Mariela Marabi, her store is called Almacen Marabi, you can see more of her wares on her blog.

I also love this chick's stuff, her website is cute- I got some of her hair clipys.

Charley Harper

I have been enjoying and admiring the artwork and illustrations of Charley Harper ever since I saw the story about him on CBS Sunday Morning a few months ago. If you have room in your life for an enormous- yet brilliant- coffee table book that weights about 10 lbs. you should ask for his book for Christmas, I flipped through it a few weeks ago in Anthropologie and wished it was mine. He has also illustrated children's books, calenders and coloring books- take a peek if you've got a minute.

We are off to Espana in the morning. I am so looking forward to every minute of it. Even the long flights- time spent just sitting still, people bringing me food and drink- sounds delightful. This trip will seem so easy- compared to traveling with the 4 kids across Europe last summer- only having to worry about oneself seems almost too simple.
I'll be able to relax and get in vaycay mode when I finally get on the plane tomorrow. Until then, every last detail of what I am leaving my very capable, extremely wonderful in-laws in charge of will be rolling through my head like a freight train. Have a wonderful week, see you again next Monday.
Words to live by this week, wherever you are: Happiness is in the journey.

Mr. W.

Here is a little quiz. See if you can guess who this is before the end of this 2 minute film.
A brilliant little spot.

pieced, but not yet quilted...

Here is a quilt from start- little piles of color ideas on the floor- to almost finished, sorry I couldn't wait until all-the-way-finished happened. I'll post the finished, quilted and bound product-hopefully in the next few weeks.

I cut out all of the indian girls to be hand appliqued at the same time. I put them, all sorted out in a bag with thread, needles and pins, scissors the background fabric squares, and the pattern map. I have been carrying the bag around with me for a month or two- hand stitching whenever I got a minute- watching a movie, sitting on the passenger side of a car, lounging at Lake Powell. Sorry if I annoyed anyone ( friends and family), it suited the muti-tasker in me. But, the cool thing was... the next thing I knew I had finished all 9 indian gals.

The next tricky part was trying to figure out the pattern from the picture I have. For those who missed the earlier post about this quilt, I am copying a quilt my mother-in-law made, then my Mom and I borrowed to hang in my Mom's bed and breakfast, Slot Canyons Inn. Jan, (MIL) couldn't find the pattern again, so I made it up as I went along, and somehow... I think it turned out.
I sewed the beads on the bottom of the skirts, then picked them out after I realized it would be tough to quilt over beads. I'll have to put them back on when it's all finished.

I found the Alexander Henry "lacota plains" fabric, with the teepees on it- already in my stash and just couldn't help myself but use it in the border. The feathers were cut out, pre-washed to fray then top stitched onto the quilt top.

It's finally all put together and shipped off (to the other side of town) to be quilted by my favorite machine quilter. (I'm gonna have to keep her name a secret or the waiting list will get even impossibly longer) The finished product is about 39" x 44".
I made it for my Mom, it will go in the Slickrock Room at the Slot Canyons Inn, her amazing bed and breakfast in Escalante Utah.

what should I be for Halloween?

That's right, it's October 1st- time to start thinking of what you want to be for Halloween, if you haven't already decided of course. Here is Uncle Randy (my husband's friend's uncle), his website rocks.