Last week, D and I went to Miller Farms. As previously stated, I love...love...LOVE PUMPKINS!!! And anything to do with pumpkins and squashes and gourds and fall. I begged D to go to a pumpkin patch with me. I do this every year. Begging starts around September 20th or so, after D's birthday but well before it's appropriate to pick a pumpkin. When I got the okay this year, I had my place picked out and everything.



Miller Farms. How excellent. For $15.00 a person, you are transported over hundreds of acres via hay wagon and given six large plastic potato sacks to fill with whatever is in season at that time. For us, that meant potatoes, ornamental corn, red potatoes, cabbage and pumpkins.



Here is my collection of weird little carrots friends:






What does one do with bags of pumpkins and corn? Well...









I was so excited to decorate my house with ample fall! I already had this wreath I bought for $1.00 at an estate sale:



I spruced it up with glass owls from my ma and a few glittery fruits.

And D gave me the go ahead to put up the cobweb, so I was in business. Ready for tricker-treaters!

And after Halloween, I was going to take down the web and rearrange my fall goodies in the window boxes to look just like a Martha Stewert cover. But then...



Oh, the devastation!



The heartless destruction!



Pure horror!



I must look away!


Who could have been so foul?, I hear you gasp. Was it D?



Sure he was a bit miffed having to carry his weight in pumpkins, even after being injured by a ferociously stubborn carrot (got under his nail so deep the doctor had to take it out!). But no, vandalism is not his style.

Was it the Pru? A feline so terrifying all beetles and crickets run as soon as the back door opens?



Couldn't be. Pru hates veggies. Well what about our other cat, Emma?



No. She couldn't be bothered with anything so labor intensive.

Then, I caught a glimpse of the culprit in the act. I ran for my camera but the scourdral had made his escape. No matter. You are all familiar with him - Tamiasciurus douglasii. Evil squirrel.




No garden is safe. No decoration pristine while he's around doing his dirty work. Let this blogpost be a tale of caution. Beware!

Also, I finished D's hat! I wanted to post a picture of it but he wore it to school. I guess he likes it. Hooray!

*tshirt pic from Zazzle.com

Cozy-ing up by the computer

I have been working on some quilted cushions to put on the rocking chair I refinished this summer. I decided to use a clam shell pattern. Here's an example pic from www.quiltersmuse.com:



The pattern originated in the 1830s, if I remember correctly, and can be difficult because it's all curves. I decided to piece to tops by hand and it's going well so far.

I love to sew and watch a good movie or something. Add a great cup of tea and it's pure bliss. I just watched Craft In America, which I give no less that a billion stars to. It's a PBS series that explains the history of crafts in this country with interviews from furniture makers, blacksmiths, quilters and jewelry makers. It's so fantastic! And you can see the whole series for free right here.

All of the artists were great. My favorite was Jan Yager. She's a jewelry maker (imagine that) working in Philadelphia. She uses objects she finds in her neighborhood for inspiration. She had a bone necklace similar to this picture, which I found here:


Except hers had several strands and was ancient. She was looking at it, as she explains in her interview in Craft in America, and thought that the maker of the necklace had collected bones, perhaps the bones of his dinner, and made them into a necklace for no real practical purpose. Just a desire to adorn ourselves that human beings apparently always had. She started looking around her immediate environment for things to make jewelry out of and made this:



At first glance, it looks like it could be a bone necklace or at least a tribal necklace of some sort. It's made from vials crack/cocaine in bought in that Yager found around her block. I think it's just fascinating.

Also, I have been watching Jim Henson's The Storyteller, an old series from 1987 where folktales are acted out using fantastic muppets or "creatures from the creature shop" as the credits say.






I'm so happy Netflix has these streaming online!

Giveaway Details

Okay, now we're in business! After a bit of trouble with my camera, I can now explain the giveaway. First, please download the button to your blog if you enter. It's the first button I've ever made! (See left margin)

If 10 people enter the giveaway, this will be given to one lucky winner whose name will be drawn at random:



Of course, most everything is vintage. I call this the emerald package. Green fabric scraps, the cutest quilted block, buttons, trims, etc. A few surprises will also be sent.

If 20 people enter, I will also give away this:



A sewing bonanza! Lots of vintage cloth, some quite old. Good yardage, too. And also a selection of my favorite trims:



Great stuff, truly. Perfect crafting supplies for when one must hunker down for movies and hot cocoa in the cold weather to come.

To enter, just respond to this post. I'll put all names in a hat and draw one on November 10.

If 30 people respond, another gift package will be added so tell your friends!

Good luck!

Giveaway

Last Week's Finds

I went to a happy little estate sale last week. A tiny little house in an old neigborhood where 4 girls were raised - sharing one bedroom! The house was full of girly things. Pretty plastic dolls with handmade outfits, cake decorating supplies, old board games, puzzles with pretty castles and gardens, tea sets and luncheon plates... I was in heaven!

First, I snagged a bag of plastic fall veggies and little Indian chiefs to enhance my pumpkin collection. I think they were meant for fall cupcakes long ago. The whole lot was $2.00!



Next up, a nice aqua plastic sewing organizer for $1.00 and a printed vintage tablecloth for $3.00


A tiny bouquet of the tiniest flowers. What can I use these for?



Old plastic flowers. These were all in the same $3.00 bag. What to use them for? I don't know. They were all so sweet, I couldn't pass them up. Mom C and I have talked about decorating bird houses, so maybe I could use them for that.





Then there are these fellows. A whole army that were in the same bag as the flowers.




Finally, my new aviary.


See the bees? My ma gave me a bunch of these when we decorated bird houses last year and I had them buzzing all over mine which I painted light blue and yellow with vitage brown buttons glued to the sides. Buttons and Bees. Such a good combo.


That's not all. Next post will have the first PEAS PORRIGE GIVEAWAY!!! Keep your eyes peeled. It's a good one!