Halloween Fun

it's that goblin time of the year.  when all the cute kids around our neighborhood dress up in all kinds of imaginative costumes.  this year was no different.  except for one thing.... my good friend, Ellen, decided she was going to dress up at work as the breast cancer awareness ribbon.  not a bad idea, right?  she bought 3 yards of pink felt to make something.  trouble is, she then decided she didn't know how to make the idea she had in her head. so she called me on wednesday.  she needed the ribbon costume for work friday morning... so she needed it ready thursday night (last night).  :-)  i love ellen.  she's the best.  so here is what i did...

i cut out a sort of dress form.

used pinking shears to trim all the edges... to make it look a little fancier.  ok, ok, i know it is felt.  for a costume.  but i just couldn't help myself.

then i sewed the edges together using a zigzag stitch.  it matched the cutting from the pinking shears.  and i cut a v-shaped opening at the neck.

then i added a large pink ribbon in the front middle.  ellen added one to the back after she picked it up.

while i was working on the costume... my dog laid around staring at me.  i think he was wishing he could go for a walk.  no such luck.  it was almost time for the trick-or-treaters!

our neighbors have a nice little fire to roast hotdogs & marshmallows before and after the kids go collecting their loot.  it is fun.  however, last night was freezing.  brrrrrr. so my husband dressed me up in his uniform for the evening so i wouldn't be so cold.  it worked!  it was nice and toasting.  and i looked like i had planned a costume.

my daughter come home to help hand out the candy and check out the parade of goblins.  it was a good day.  hope your halloween is full of treats and not so much trickery!

Workspace Love

having a space to create things is so wonderful.  my family has all had the need to use 'my' space at one time or another.  for fun, for school projects, for wedding preparations, and more.  I use it for painting, card making, sewing, scrapbooking, and, oh, we have even used it for thanksgiving dinner one year when we had a crowd!  here are some things I love about this space:

lots of paintbrushes in the sunshine

plenty of acrylic paints from which to choose

cubbies for odds & ends... and an extra plug which has come in sooooo handy!

A place to store canvas and roles of fabric, etc

primitive 'dolls' which I love!  made by erika crawford. 

the craft table my husband made me years ago went through a makeover last Christmas when he and my children added the cubby holes and a storage area for my floorcloths under the tabletop so I can lay them flat when I am not working on them.  it is fabulouso.  it is great for cutting out fabric pieces for, oh, quilts and sewing projects.  and... I am almost finished with the floorcloth I started last week.  once i have the 5+ coats of polyurethane on, it will be time to move to its new home at TH's house!  here is a peek at what it looks like now:

I should receive the new fabric today which I need to start a quilt for a friend having a baby soon.  I will share that tomorrow.  I can't wait!  yay!  oooooooo, the mailman just dropped it off at the door.... gotta go....

My Canning Man

first, let me just say, this is what you want to read when you arrive in your kitchen after your daughter has been home to visit:

it as delicious!  scrumptious!  we ate it all and wanted more.  anna, come back and make us more!

now, what I was going to discuss to begin with... canned vegetables.  it just sounds good.  fresh.  organic.  green.

I always have high hopes for having a garden full of bright and delicious vegetables, which my husband & I would then can... then eat throughout   the cold winter months.  a girl can dream.  but this year, with our daughter's wedding, I informed my husband that I just couldn't keep up with the garden.  soooo, he took it on.  planted tomatoes (grape, roma, some other large variety), peppers (bell & hot), cucumbers, squash, green beans, beets, lettuce, and even a couple watermelon plants.  not everything wanted to grace us with yummy goodness though.  some beetles ate up the green beans.  a mean fungus attacked our squash & cucumber plants... and if that wasn't bad enough - a nasty little bug decided to have a feast on the vine of both of those plants and killed them dead.  our lettuce was bitter, and the peppers didn't really impress us much.  BUT, our beets were great!  we had beets galore.  and our tomatoes did well... we even had volunteers (those we didn't plant, but they grew from last year's plants) join the garden.  yellow pear tomatoes.  in july, I helped my sweet husband can some of our beets.

then in August, my husband gathered all the fresh tomatoes and canned them while I was out of town.  and just last week, he took all the tomatoes left and canned those as well.

I really will have some canned veggies to use during those cold, snowy winter nights!

all because i have a canning man.  i love that guy! 

Darn Camera

I contemplated what to share today... I baked a new recipe today: pepperoni pizza mini puffs.  cute little pizza bites that you can whip up in just a few minutes.  or maybe the progress I have made on my floorcloth.  or maybe I will show everyone how wonderfully versatile my husband is by sharing some photos of him canning the last of our tomatoes this evening.  but to no avail... my camera is messing with me.  challenging me.  I have learned (a lot of the time just plain guessed) about how to take the best pictures, the settings on my camera, etc.  but last night it started doing something weird.  not wanting to focus on the subject at hand.  not wanting to capture the picture by letting me hear that wonderful little "click" sound.  nope, it wouldn't have any of that.  so, now, tomorrow I will have to sit down and find some tutorials to help me figure out what I did... because, I am sure the camera didn't do anything to make it not function properly.  it's frustrating, but none the less, time to actually learn a little more about my camera (Nikon D40) and stop guessing!  pictures tomorrow. no matter what.  promise.