"What Have I Been Up To" You Ask......

I know I have mentioned that I love autumn more than a few times. I also love sewing, but I am not the kind of sewer who can "wing it". I need a pattern. But, alas, that has not been the type of sewing I have been asked to do of late.

Things began with my daughter asking me to do some sewing for her new home. It started out as simple panels for the LR and DR windows but somehow became lined drapes - and almost lined pinch pleats except that she didn't buy enough fabric for them-whew!!! I think the reason I like pattern sewing is that someone else has already done all of the pre-thought and measuring. I am not much of a pre-planner. I like to dive right in and it has gotten me several times. Luckily for me, I am also a pretty good jerry-rigger so I can get myself out of most fixes I get into.

This Halloween, NOT ONE of the six costumes I made were made straight from a pattern and four of them actually had to be completely designed from scratch and the other two tweaked and changed  a lot - could be why I ended up sewing my finger into the machine and needing a trip to the doctor's office but that will be for another post-ha-ha.

 

In any case, I made the panels for both rooms, taffeta curtains, pillow shams, dust ruffle, a pillow and throw for Presley's room and throw pillows for the boys' beds. Think they all turned out pretty nicely.

It seems like October is also the month of observations and play-off tournaments for all sports.

Grand daughter Morgan (lower left) plays for Howard Bishop Middle School and they won 2nd place in the county play-offs.

Grand daughter Hannah (#4-second from top right) plays on the varsity team at Eastside H.S. and they won their district championship and are on their way to regionals.

Then we go to this little munchkin. Presley is only 3 years old, so this is her first year of dance. Her class is tap/ballet/gymnastics and she loves it. She is the youngest in the class but oh so serious about it. It was so cute to see her concentrating on her "spot" on the floor and heel/toe, etc. Simply can't wait for her recital! I love the recitals as the girls get older and their skill levels get better and better. A good dancer is a beautiful thing to watch...but, I have to admit, I LOVE watching the littlest ones on stage. Nothing better than them bumping into each other or having one completely take over and tell everyone else where to go. This group was just told that they are going to be sea creatures in the June recital-can't wait!

And finally, we got to watch Caitlin perform with the Devilettes at the St. Pete H.S. game. This is a varsity squad and since Caitlin is only a freshman, we are so proud of her.

 A few random Halloween pictures. Here is the fireplace in the sunroom. Just a bag of bones from Wal-Mart and a few extra body parts I had laying around. So simple yet it looks fantastic when it is lit at night!

Here is a picture of the lighting idea I stole borrowed from my oldest daughter. It is really hard to see here, but I took off the shades and replaced the regular bulbs with flicker light bulbs from Home Depot. Even though they are clear, they "read" as orange when lit and give the room an eery ambiance-love it!

 
 And here is my favorite surprise of the holiday. My cousin knows how much I love Bethany Lowe so when she found a picture of this pillow in her file, she replicated it as a gift for me. I love the pillow so much but the fact that she spent so much of her time making me something she knew I would love truly humbles me. Thanks again Diane. I will cherish this gift always...and look how at home it looks nestled on the bench by the front door.

We still have Halloween at Nana & Papa's house, pumpkin patch, costume party, school party and trick-or-treating to go. So, you see what I have been up to but I wouldn't trade a second of it. Love all of the craziness that goes with this family. Stay tuned-there will be more.

"Mums" the Word!

Wow! October has been a whirlwind!!! I can hardly believe it is almost over. I will be sad. But, I have managed to fit in so many fun times that I haven't had a minute to get to this computer and post about them.

Thought I would use the next few posts to bring you up to date. Today's post will be just a short one as I prepare to edit ALL of the other fun times I want to share with you!

I'm not much of a "mummy" person, but if you need a quick and easy craft of any kind, a mummy will usually fill the bill.

My three youngest grand children were at our house for the day while Mom & Dad headed to a Gator game. Wanted to find a craft they could do but I didn't have a lot of time to plan or shop so I hit my supply cabinets-yes, I said cabinets! I have many because over the years I have tried every craft  known and I am a firm believer of "more is more". I love to have a handy supply of all things crafts and this is a case in point.

Headed to the cabinets and found 3 leftover 2x4 blocks with the clothespins already attached ( left over from an old 4th of July picture holder project). I let the kids paint them white and then I simply gave them strips of cheese cloth to wrap around. Because the wood was a little rough, the cheesecloth pretty much stuck to the block by itself, but occasionally we would add a drop of glue just to be sure. Then, wobble eyes were added. So simple and so cute.

|

Yes, I know I said "eyes" were added but who said there can't be a cyclops mummy? We ran outside and took the pictures of them holding their masterpieces, came in and let them help me edit and choose which was their favorite, printed and had waiting for Mommy and Daddy when they returned home that night.

Mummies also popped up the weekend all of the kids were at our house for Nana & Papa's Halloween Fest. I like things the kids can really do themselves and these french bread pizzas are perfect. After all, there is no wrong way to "wrap a mummy". Took this picture before they went in the oven but never got one of the finished product.

The mummified Oreos were also "all kid crafted"-no way to make a mistakes. Simply melt white chocolate bark in the microwave, cover cookies, add 2 mini M&Ms and drizzle more chocolate-yummy!

Since all of these projects had worked so well, when I needed some hand made Halloween cards - but I was still in the throes of costume making so I knew it had to be quick - I once again reverted to the cheesecloth wrap. It really could not have been easier and I love the results.

So that is it for today. So much more to share. I know I have you on the edge of your seats. Stay tuned!

It Is Official......

...there just ARE NOT the same number of hours in the days during October as there are during the days in the rest of the months of the year. It is either that, or I am doing way too much fun stuff! Have I told you how much I love October? All of my pumpkin patch visits, baby sitting, going to lunch (way too often) and the Autumn Market, volleyball games, costume making and getting ready for this weekend with all 7 grand children at Nana and Papa's has left me wishing there was more time in each day to cram in just a bit more. But, alas, there isn't and so my poor blog has been the one to suffer.

That being said, I hope you will understand why this post will be a mostly pictorial visit through my kitchen and dining room this year. A lot of it is the same but I hope you can garner a few ideas from the things I have stolen borrowed from others.

I will only comment on the new ideas. Which, the birds in the above pictures happen to be. The branches you see were once displayed in a tall metal French flower bucket strung with orange lights. Some times I had my Halloween cones and Bingo cards hanging from the branches but most recently I had it filled with crows. Let's just say the bag of branches had an unhappy demise when they got tangled in my garage door mechanism. Since I didn't want to throw them out, I wired them together and stuck them behind this panel that hangs in the dining room. Then, I perched the surviving birds on the branches and I am happy with it. 
 

The niche is a little different this year as well with several inexpensive tomb stones propped up behind the haunted house.

This tea cart is where the branch bucket once stood so I knew I needed something large to fill the gap. Sort of killed two birds with one stone when I came up with this idea as I didn't have to find a place to store the large lantern and it filled up the space pretty well. Just kind of loaded it with all of my left over glittered bones.

We have the best weekend ahead of us-all 7 grand children here for all sorts of Halloween crafts, games and food. I'm sure I will have much to share next time. Stay tuned.

Welcome...

Have I told you how much I LOVE this sign? It is now MY FAVORITE thing I have made-EVER!!!! The sad thing is that it has been on my to-do list since the day the idea was first published in BH&G Halloween magazine 2 years ago. So glad I finally got myself going. It really wasn't hard to make but it did take a bit of time. Since it is supposed to look a bit time and weather worn, you really can't make a mistake and I had many of the supplies sitting in either my garage or my back yard!

Just got this fabulous glittery witch broom from daughter #3. I knew it would work in this vignette and I love it here. Now I am ready for a quick trip at a moment's notice-ha-ha!

Just a quick trip around the family room. Much of it is the same as last year. I made a few changes to the mantle. My goal this year had been to take down this mirror, hang my new mirror (bought after Halloween last year) from Grandin Road and then add the other tilted frames around it. Unfortutely, when I re-did our fireplace years ago, I covered it in a Venetian plaster. That makes it a bit slick, so I couldn't find any way to hang the frames without them sliding off short of drilling in the plaster. The current mirror hangs from nails I simply plastered around so I thought I could possibly still hang the new mirror with some sort of wire/ribbon set-up but, alas, the new mirror has a small keyhole for hanging so I could not come up with any solution.

 But, while hunting for something in one of the closets, I came upon this empty frame and realized I  could hang it over the frame of the current mirror with a large S hook. It was a bit empty in the large opening so I found a string of small black frames that spell out EEK to dangle-kind of hard to see in this picture between the lighting and reflections in the mirror.

Couldn't get a good picture, but the newest addition to my photo gallery is the headless couple behind the small black candle stick. It is a free download from PB. There a number to choose from and they aren't the "gory" kind of headless photos, so I don't think any of us will have nightmares over it!

I will be back soon with another room. If I don't get started on Halloween costumes soon, we will have one boring costume party! And, next weekend is Halloween at Nana & Papa's and I haven't started my plans for that yet either. Where has the month gone??? Stay tuned.