It's Beginning to Look A Little Like Halloween Around Here

The menfolk finally got our Halloween decorations out of storage in the garage. (The garage is where all the toxic stuff goes to live or air out so I avoid going in there as much as I possibly can.) DD is coming over tomorrow so between the two of us we ought to be able to get the main rooms decorated and alternately watch or play with the grandchildren. Maybe I'll even dust before she gets here! In the meantime, this is what you'd see today if you were coming to my house for a visit...


This metal jack o'lantern is one of my more recent acquisitions. I bought it last year so I wouldn't feel obligated to carve a pumpkin anymore. I can put a light in it from the backside on the night and it's much easier to clean up when the holiday is over!



Yes, we have lovely 1970's -style orange carpeting in the entryway. The house is not that old. It must have been something the previous owner had on hand when she enclosed the space between the house and the garage. (I did not do a very good job getting the bits of debris off the mat before I photographed it!)

Cue the ominous music ~ The Front Door:

What are those dark blobs on the door?

Door knockers of course!

Any other fans of the movie "The Labyrinth" out there?!

It's always fun when people actually try to use these knockers. They don't bang very loudly. Usually Reilly is the one who hears it first and then, of course, his barking alerts us that someone is at the door.

There are other things that get hung here in the entryway. For example, there's a piece of fabric - black, with glow-in-the-dark skeletons on it. I also have a very special beaded curtain that I put out there. But you'll just have to wait and see that another time ;- )

Welcome to Punkin Corners, Texas

But be careful on Halloween!

I made this quilt in 2000, I think for a specific event but I don't remember what it was now. It was a lot of fun to make and still makes me smile. It was one of those quilts that almost made itself. (Wish they would happen a little more frequently, don't you?)

The sign in the yard says, "Wanted Sweet & Young Trick or Treaters." The sign on the door is a brass charm that reads "Dead End." That's a black cat button to the right of the door.

If you look closely at this detail shot you'll see that the armadillo has been hit by lightning. I lived in Texas for almost 15 years and saw only one live armadillo that whole time. And that was in a state park. I don't know how the species survives!

My boxes of Halloween decorations are still out in the garage. If we don't get them in the house soon it will be too late!

Back to Work

I feel like it's been forever since I've posted but I think I have some pretty good excuses for being away from the computer...

My sister came up from Portland for the weekend and we went out to see Darling Daughter and the Delightful Granddaughters. I played with Miss Margaret in ways my body is not accustomed to anymore and I'm paying for it now! I can hardly stand up straight today ;- )

"I wonder if I can get Grandma to swing me one more time?"

Before my sister arrived I had a brainstorm for the Fabric of Life challenge quilt. I had to go out and buy some beads for it (oh darn!) but then got right to work yesterday and finished it up. (I don't seem to be able to take a straight picture of it however. I am just not a photographer.)

I bought what I know as antique African trade beads. The label on the strand calls them "Venetian Bead Mix, 150-200 Yrs." They are a mix of sizes and colors and even shapes. I had to supplement them with a few new seed beads to make the more expensive beads extend all the way across the width of the quilt twice. I also picked up four cowrie shells to accent the center of the quilt. I ended up doing more machine quilting than I had intended, but it's all in the ditch so it's not really visible.

Overall I'm happy with the finished product. The only change I would make if I could would be to make that slant of the striped print along the bottom edge of the center medallion more pronounced. Tonya recommended leaving that bit alone when I originally showed it but it had such a curve to it I wasn't comfortable working with it so I whacked some of it off. As it turns out, I whacked off a little too much. In a perfect world I would have had more of that stripe to play with! Oh well; live and learn. All it lacks at this point is the sleeve and label. I could have turned it in on the original deadline afterall! It sure feels good to get things done. Now I have to be careful not to lose my momentum and get back to my monthly journal quilts...

By the way, thank you for all the positive comments lately. I've been a little lazy about responding personally but I do appreciate every one of them. Keep up the good work! I enjoy hearing from y'all :- )

Danger Will Robinson!

This is my PMS Banner. I made it almost ten years ago to hang as a warning to family members, sort of like the gale warning flags that are flown on the coast during stormy weather.

The blocks are, from top to bottom, Shoo Fly (as in, "Get away from me!"), Broken Dishes, and Crosses & Losses. I thought it was a stroke of brilliance to put Hourglass blocks in the corners of the border. You can't see them in this picture, but there are tiny blue seed beads sewn randomly all over the borders and in the sashing strips. One of the first quilts on which I used that technique. It's also been hand quilted with yellow embroidery floss in the background areas of the blocks. It may be the only quilt on which I've ever done that technique! I backed the quilt with a print of ice cream sundaes, at the time one of my favorite comfort foods. (I must not have had a print featuring chocolate.) I have to grudgingly admit that since I quit dairy foods altogether my PMS symptoms have subsided somewhat. Increasing other foods in my diet has also helped. Still waiting for it all to go away though!

I had a minor emotional meltdown Saturday morning just before my DH went off to see a movie. To his credit, after the movie he went into one of my favorite stores in the mall and bought me a couple of trinkets to cheer me up. He also brought me these:

I knew there was a reason I married that man!

Let's Try That Again...

I had my DH (the photographer) reshoot "Summer Love," my latest journal page. He even did a detail shot of my sun:

After I made my last post I still had flannel scraps out so I started playing around to see if I could create yet another preemie quilt. I found a couple of four patch blocks I must have made some time ago and added a few more. There was enough of the tiny heart print flannel to make alternate squares, and enough of the odd shade of green to do both borders and backing. Unfortunately, I burned the inside of my forearm on the edge of the iron (reaching across to straighten the fabric if I remember correctly) before I got the borders sewn on. It has taken me until today to get back to the project and finish it up.

It feels good to get some of these old fabrics and blocks used up. I have several more tops and collections of blocks to turn into quilts someday but I'm finding that I'm not that interested in making new, or more, traditional pieced blocks. (I don't do applique, except under duress.) All I want to do these days is piece improvisationally. The nice thing about working with the orphan blocks is that I already have a starting point. That seems to be the hardest part for me: getting started. I need a theme or a challenge fabric or something to get the juices flowing. And I don't seem to be that adept at coming up with ideas on my own. At least, not consciously. When I work intuitively, improvisationally, my sub-conscious seems to have no trouble at all! I was astonished at how Summer Love (see above) developed.

I also marvel at the people who are able to make something just because they want to. I've always needed a reason to make something: a bed to cover, a child to comfort, a gift to give, etc. This business of making something because the making of it gives me pleasure is a foreign concept. One of the reasons I undertook the journal quilt project was to help me overcome that stumbling block. Progress is being made, as evidenced by the Halloween doll quilt I started a couple of weeks ago. (And one of these days I'll actually get it quilted!) Having said that, I now need to get started on the next journal quilt...!