Nearing the Finish Line

 I'm back. I had another fun change of plans come in this morning so my tomorrow just filled up and, since I will be out of town very soon, today seems the perfect time to take you into the family room before time is gone! I made a number of changes in this room this year but I wasn't entirely happy with them and my plan had been to go back and tweak....but, as seems to happen so often this time of year time got away from me and it really is silly to take everything apart and rebuild now. My plan currently stands at trying to remember what I didn't like and figure it out next year. Lol

This cross stitch witch used to be in the living room but I brought her here this year and also brought in the witch candle holder-which is hard to see in this picture. In my younger years I was obsessed with cross stitch . Back then we had a number of nice stores that catered to needlework and holiday designs were abundant! I was SO busy back then that I'm really not sure where I found the time but I do remember it being very calming to me and I think if I was sitting still, I probably had a hoop and needle in my hands.

I bought this "pumpkin man" centerpiece many years ago at a favorite shop down in Indian Rocks Beach. Daughter #1 and I made a trip there every time I was visiting her. It was chock full of home decor and holiday/seasonal delights. The owner was a flower arranger so many of the things included florals and were one of a kind. I was so sorry to see the shop close when the owner decided it was time to retire and no one else took it over. This guy used to be in the living room but since this room seemed to take on more of the vintage vibe while the living room went to solely witches and Poe, he moved in here to join the other pumpkin men

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So this area was my biggest mistake this year. I haven't liked the garlands on the Halloween mantel for several years so I think I told you when I saw this droopy black garland from "My Texas House", I snatched it right up. And I was excited to get it hung. Hanging things on this mantel is a challenge-especially when these VERY fragile Mercury lights are involved. I swear they break if you just look at them. Lol

In any case, after a good bit of time-and probably a few not so nice words-I got everything up there and situated where nothing was going to fall when I stepped back and realized that I just didn't like it. The mantel itself is too dark for this garland. If it was white or anything lighter, I think I would love it...but just not now.

And it was with that in mind that I grabbed yet another of these garlands. My brilliant idea is to use these two across the outside of the front window. That window is larger and there won't be quite as much hanging down-not to mention that the garland that is currently there has just seen better days and sheds more needles during every breeze than it still has on its branches.

That would leave me one garland for here that could go along the top of the mantel and my plan was to add black creepy cloth hanging over the lights.

Definitely NOT going to happen this year. Lol

This was my next faux pas. I love the droopy wreath and thought it would look cute over the round mirror with the vintage cat sign I made last year nestled in...and it is OK but, just OK. I'm not sure if maybe a string of battery powered fairy lights would help? Oh well, at this point I now have a whole year to think about that. LOL

I love this pumpkin. I bought him at Williams inside Lunch on Limoges down in Dade City many, many years ago. It was literally the FIRST faux pumpkin I had ever seen-and, quite honestly one of the most realistic still. This was way before any other stores were selling these things. It was not inexpensive but it is so realistic and I have used it in my decor for three months a year ever since!!

I put the clock that I found at Grandin Road here in the corner this year instead of on the mantel and I actually haven't even put any batteries in it yet. Without any little ones around any more the "scary noises" aren't quite as desired...in fact, they can get get annoying when I'm the only one here getting scared. LOL 

This cutie found its way out here this year.

I still love this guy too. He was a knock off that I made after seeing one just like it in the Grandin Road Halloween catalog and knowing I could reproduce it for much less than the well over $200 they were asking! 

My grandchildren always came to our house for a weekend before almost every holiday during the year. It gave their parents a chance to have a weekend "off" and gave the cousins a chance to truly bond and be more like siblings-not to mention the quality time that Nana and Papa adored!!

We filled the weekends with crafting, cooking, baking, games, movies, etc. all geared to that month's theme. And one of the things we always tried to do was make something that could be given as gifts to the family and if it was something that held a photo, all the better. I think we made one of these stacked block holders for more than one holiday.

 I love how this picture of granddaughter #5 so closely resembles the little girl on the holder. 

And this is an all-time favorite. We shaped the witch hat out of black air-dry clay and once it was dry, we embellished it. It was so simple yet all of the recipients loved it!

That is pretty much the family room. I especially love being in this room at night once all of the candles click on.

That's it for today. Daughter #2 is coming to spend the day tomorrow so I want to get a few things done before then. I think we might just have a few more stops on our tour for this year so I will be back before I head out of town. Stay safe and stay tuned.

Horns of a Dilemma

I was truly on the horns of a dilemma this morning-caught between two things that I love to do! I love to garden (in the correct weather) and I love to craft. Our weather is absolutely beautiful and the perfect day to spend in the garden BUT, I had started the turkey pillow yesterday and I really wanted to see it through! In the end, the pillow won but I do have all of my windows open again and we have a beautiful breeze blowing so I am kind of getting the best of both worlds!

Since I was OK with how yesterday ended with the turkey, today was mostly about assembly. I did decide to draw a black outline around the pieces to remind me where to sew but also to cover my stitches just in case they weren't perfect-more about that in a minute.

I did forget that I needed to make the "year" patch for the corner of the pillow so out came my stamps and ink. After stamping and cutting it out, it too got a marker outline. 

Next I wanted to add the two stripes and I went ahead with my original idea of using a Sharpie marker. If that didn't work I could have pulled out a brush and painted over it but because these lines were thin, a brush on this nubby fabric would be hard to control. A lot of the decisions I made were mainly because of the drop cloth texture. If this was a different fabric, I might have done things differently but I like the rustic feel of this and I am good with its quirks! Lol

I was happy to have the lines there for guidance. When sewing a straight line, this was "easy peasy" but once the turns came into play-and because of the ease of raveling-much of the sewing was slow and a bit stop-&-go so not perfectly in line. And that is where the marker lines helped because when I was totally done with the sewing, if there was any deviance between my stitches and the marker line, I could just easily give it a little fill-in with a bit more marker. I guess I could have sewn everything first and then just gone over it with the marker but, quite honestly, that thought just came to me. Lol

I had originally planned to do a French knot for his eye and embroider on the feet with black embroidery thread but since I drew the stripes, I decided to just draw in these details as well...and I am good with them. Now it is a simple matter of just cutting the two back pieces and sewing the envelope style pillow cover together and stuffing it with one of my many, many pillow inserts.

And, voila! He is done. The only pillow insert I have not already in use right now was one from PB and it may be a tad too large as he is bursting at the seams so as soon as I empty some Halloween pillows I think I can find one a little more fitting.

In any case, I think I like him even though he gave me a bit of a run for my money!

I think I'm off on a few errands tomorrow and not sure what the weekend holds but I definitely need to get back to finish our tour before I head off next week. I HONESTLY DON'T know where my favorite season is going! Stay safe and stay tuned.

But wait, there's more! Lol As I was looking at the last picture I decided that I really didn't like the date tag being the same color as the background of the pillow so I gave it a very light dusting of "vintage photo" distressing ink and I'm hoping it doesn't rub off. Fingers crossed but I like that it stands out a bit more now and kind of balances the large blob of color that is the turkey. LOL.

Third Times the Charm??

 We are having another beautiful autumn day and, since I ran the necessary errands yesterday, I was free today to begin the "turkey" drop cloth pillow. I gathered up some of the supplies I thought I would need and got started.

I started by drawing a pattern which, as the process went on, had more than one body change. Each time I looked at it, it just didn't look right so I tweaked but I do have to remember that there will be stitching around all of the pieces and areas the need to be delineated so it is hard to really see what it will look like at the end. I finally had to stop "tweaking" and "go with it"!

I really wasn't sure how the color was applied on the inspiration so I thought I would start with very watered down paint and hope for a watercolor look.

No matter how much I watered down the paint I kept getting a solid appearance...not to mention the drop cloth being DRENCHED and taking forever to dry! So, a failure on attempt one!

Then I got the brilliant idea that maybe I could add the color to more closely resemble the inspiration with my Tim Holtz inks so...attempt #2.

That was closer but because of some kind of coating on the drop cloth-or so I assume-the inks just sat on the surface and rubbed off every time I touched it. I don't honestly know if they would ever dry or not so, for my purposes, attempt #2 was another failure!

My next thought was dry brushing with very little paint. It wasn't a complete success by any means but, I think I can live with it.

And this is where I am right now...and I am done for today! I might add some depth with the ink to certain areas tomorrow before stitching this onto the pillow front and then zipping up the rest-we shall see. I am not entirely in love with this thing right now but I do think once the stitching gets added to define the areas, I will like it a bit more. 

I'm also thinking of the stripes that are on the inspiration. On the jack-o-lantern pillow I painted the stripes but they were thicker. I am thinking of possibly just doing these with a Sharpie. If I don't like it I can always paint over it.

And so I am done for today. Thought I would post this now so you can see where it is going. I sure wish you could give me some ideas. I just know that one of you knows exactly how the inspiration was done-sure wish you could share as I am stumped. But, I will finish this no matter what and we'll see if I even got close.

Stay safe and stay tuned.

No Comment!

 Just another manic Monday! I'm not sure what is happening but my mind is going in a million directions today and I am having a hard time focusing on one thing. Maybe it's because my grand dog headed home last night and, after having him again for so long, I am still kind of on "dog routine". And, I have LOST a week!! I knew I would be heading to daughter #1 for the last week of the month but, I didn't realize that NEXT week starts the last week of the month until I turned my calendar a bit ago!

And that threw me into a spiral because, not only do I love autumn so much and it is going much too quickly but, I have a host of things I need to get done in November before Thanksgiving-more on that later.

If you're up for a "ride", I'm going to get started but I am telling you now that I will probably drag you along a winding path much as my mind is going! Lol

Let's start with the porch that I haven't shown you yet. The other night I actually thought about taking some pictures at night so I could show you the comparison when we finally got here on the tour.

Do you see what I see? The words on the sign appear distorted but, since these were taken at night, they kind of do "time lapse" and I just thought maybe I didn't hold perfectly still and thought no more about it...until this morning when I was out on the porch transplanting mums-more on that later-and decided to take the daytime porch photos...

...and saw this....

Yikes! I guess somewhere over the last year I have manhandled this in some way and the nails have loosened up a bit. It only took a few whacks of a hammer and we're good again but I will definitely need to add some wood glue and maybe some screws when this next comes down.

I know I've told you the story behind this sign before. I found the idea in a Better Homes and Gardens Halloween magazine many, many years ago and so wanted to do it but it actually took me a bit before I decided to tackle it. It was a doozy to do but I'm so glad that I did. I love it so much-except for having to dig that deep hole every year to get it upright! Lol And may I say that that post is HEAVY!

The lawn guy is avoiding cutting around the tombstones but I am fine with that-in the past they have been knocked over and chipped so this is safer and just adds to the spooky feel. Lol

I repainted this metal pumpkin several years ago and I'm starting to think I may need to be doing it again soon. Our Florida sun has no mercy!

I love this silly doorbell I found at Target several years ago. Even though I live here I find myself ringing it every time I walk by. Lol

One of the main reasons I went out to the porch was to transplant some new mums into the old pots and then put the old plants somewhere where I can still "baby" them. And the reason I'm thinking ahead? Daughters #1 and #3 are hosting an engagement party for granddaughter #1 who recently got engaged...at my house. They are planning to have it on the Saturday after Thanksgiving since everyone in our family will be in town. And, since daughter #3 usually hosts the holiday, we thought hosting two big affairs in two days might be more difficult than needed. And, my granddaughter loves this house so she chose it over renting an outside venue...and that makes my heart happy because she sure spent a lot of time here as a child! And so, I'm already thinking about some of the things I might want to get done before the party and having live mums was on top of my list. I might be able to buy them when I return from St. Pete the beginning of November but I am thinking by then, Christmas trees will already be available and that might mean that it will be out with the mums and in with the poinsettias.

In any case, I told you my mind was jumping today. And so, this also happened. 

What in the world you might ask is that!! And I wouldn't fault you at all for that question. You see, I opened the new garland and was thinking about taking apart the family room mantle when I flipped that calendar page and saw that I had lost that week. And then, with my other list growing, I decided that I just didn't have it in me-at least today-and so I found about the only blank spot in the house and hung it there. Lol We shall see how that goes. Lol

And, since my mind has already jumped into November, I saw a turkey image I had printed awhile ago just sitting next to me here in my office and there was also an empty frame nearby so I did this...

...and that sent me to Pinterest to see if there were any turkey pillow ideas where I could use more of my leftover drop cloth and I found this...

I actually really love this and think it will be fun trying to figure it out. As a matter of fact, if I hadn't spent do much time on the other silliness this morning, I would be diving into this right now. But, you know I like to start projects early in the day so this cutie will have to wait until Wednesday-I have a hair appointment tomorrow-and I'm already looking forward to it.

Have I worn you out with my "jumping" around yet? I know I wore myself out so I am off to grab some lunch and then we'll see what trouble I can get into this afternoon. It is so beautiful out there today. I have almost every window in the house open and right before I took this picture, these drapes were billowing! Everything feels and smells so fresh-fingers crossed it will last a bit longer! Stay safe and stay tuned.