Halloween Table Square

Love this bat fabric.  The morning sun does cast a strong shadow.  Really should retake these photos later today.  Meanwhile...

A simple square with basic strip border makes a quick "special occasion" table set while using some of those scraps for the border.

                                                                                                                     

It's mine..

and I'm not giving it up!  Tri usually naps on the scratcher pad, but Goldie claimed it this morning.  His customary spot at the patio sliders must be a bit cool; there is the hint of winter in the air.

Only One Witch

And certainly not one of Macbeth's.  My neighborhood has run the complete gambit of trick & treaters -- from hordes of small children, especially when ours were small, to none at all (fear of contaminated candy?).  Fortunately the only trick was an occasional draping of a neighborhood tree.  It was aways fun to see the small ones in their costumes, and rather sad that things have so changed.    But a bag of small-sized candy bars will keep this witch's sweet tooth happy for some time while familiars Goldie & Tri celebrate with catmint from the garden. 

Currently Reading

Murder at the PTA by Laura Alden.  This is her first book, and so far -- I'm little more than 1/2 way through -- she's going on my "watch list" for another in this series.  It's my usual cozy murder mystery. 

Just finished Old World Murder by Kathleen Ernst.   "Chloe Ellefson is a newly hired curator at Old World Wisconsin, an actual pioneer living history museum in the Wisconsin."  The setting reminded me of Sturbridge Village in MA, which we spent a very enjoyable day at years ago.  Always meant to go to their Thanksgiving dinner at the Oliver Wight Tavern. http://www.osv.org/activities_events/event_calendar_more.html?ID=564&DateID=1635

Doesn't that menu sound yummy!  Think I'll look for a recipe for the Roast Pineapple Slices -- it would make a different side dish that should be rather easy to do.   I love acorn squash & it's in now -- must pick up some; I've done it with the brown sugar & maple syrup. 

Weekend Excitement

Friday night DD & I had a great time at the local scrapbooking crop.  Got quite a few pages put together, had a delish supper of giant shells with homemade cake for desert, and bought my Christmas cards from The Card Lady. 

Saturday turned into a rather exciting day -- My neighbor had a tree removed.  Goldie watched every minute; I assured him that his birdie friends would find a new nesting place when they returned in the spring.

Making holiday cards

While I don't make my Christmas cards, I do like to make the gift tags.  It's not too early to start collecting supplies for this project -- Michaels certainly has their holiday offerings out.  And, there is more selection now than there will be in a few weeks.  With the economy still weak, I have found that stores are not replenishing seasonal items once they are sold out.

So out will come the holiday punches, stamps & stickers on hand.  will surf the net for creative sparks too.

Actually this is rather like making a quilt -- taking bits of paper rather than fabric and creating from those bits & pieces.  

Bur first, one Halloween card to make for a family member.  

Swimming Upstream

Figuratively.  Since my daughter and I are going to a scrapbooking crop this coming weekend, I'm trying to put page bits & pieces together so I can work on the cruise photos from April.  With the way things are just not falling into place, causing much hair tearing, it's a wonder I'm not bald!  Really need a Cuttlebug that intuits my need for blue letters/numbers and cuts them, in the desired size.   While wishes are being wished, I would not object to having flowers at breakfast.

Rushing the Seasons?

The December issue of Scrapbooks etc. arrived today.  The December issue!  December!  We haven't even had Halloween yet!  Once that first shock wears off, if you want to do a December Daily Album like Ali Edwards, it's certainly timely to begin collecting supplies and putting together the base. And it's really not too early to at least start thinking about making package tags, which is a December project I like to do.  No need to think Holiday Quilts -- have more than enough to hang and to curl up under.  Must photo them this year.
  

A "Tablescape" for Thursday



Photo: Tablescape Lines from Linderhof.

I've grown as well as purchased these decorative gourds / pumpkins. 

Growing them is a fun thing to do, but as with any garden no guarantee

on the end product.  Sadly my current tablemates have no interest in

non-edible centerpieces.  "Wouldn't a pot of catmint be just as Fallish?"
queries Tri.







Wordless Wednesday

Fat Quarter Wall, Rainbow's End, FL 2003



Currently reading

Highland Laddie Gone by Sharyn Mccrumb.  Takes place at a Scottish Game festival in Virginia, not in Scotland.  Light and fun.  

Plaid isn't a fabric pattern I tend to use frequently.  Mary Mashuta wrote Stripes in Quilts, which I have and Barbara Horton wrote Plaids & Stripes: The Use of Directional Fabric in Quilts .

Should look to see if I have any plaid in the stash that would work well in the next child's quilt I do for charity.  It could add that bit of "dash".

How do they do it?

Decades ago I clipped a stew recipe from Woman's Day.  It became a favorite go-to recipe for fall and winter.  With the evenings becoming nippy, I had a yearning for that stew and for my Grandmother's Dutch Apple Cake.  

 At the grocery store today I picked up all the ingredients for both.  The bill came to $45, not including cough drops or cleansers.  I remember, in the distant "dark ages", feeding my young family of 4 -- meat, veggies, fruit and mostly homemade sweets -- for $30 a week.  How do young families today manage, especially if they have voracious teens?  

And still have funds left for fabric? 

Postnote from Tri & Goldie: We volunteer to taste-test  -- the stew, not the cake.   





Wordless Wednesday

The Chocolate Cure

"It melts ever so slowly on your tongue, and tortures you with pleasure" (Chocolat).

Everything is better with chocolate.

 

Humor turns to Anger

Sat, Oct 2nd, my neighbor got a new ride-around lawn mower.  Now our lawns in this 50s pre-zoning development (i.e., cram as many in as possible for max profit) are less than a quarter-acre, much less -- averaging 40x70 along my street, "handkerchief" would be a very apt descriptive.

So, watching Mike H. ride around killing the proverbial mosquito with his elephant, I thought of it as a subject for a humorous blog post.  You know, along the lines of  "men and their toys" & yes, maybe a subtle, or not so subtle, suggestion that it could be considered a classic Freudian phallic symbol.   

And then he crashed his toy into the storm drain -- smashing the pipe from my new, only 2-week-old drain.  This is the drain I had to put in, in my yard, because the drainage from his new special-permit-required 2.5 car garage diverts water into my yard, and into my formerly-dry cellar. 

If you want to shoot your neighbor, have your defense attorney put me on the jury -- you could confess with Both hands on Good Books, I'll still vote "Not Guilty".