That bright, golden October light…

Lovely October- the gold, brassy light, streaming into the house, blinding me with its’ brightness, turning the computer screen and TV into nicely reflective mirrors…drat. Time for new curtains!

So- first I measure the windows- or rather, in this case, the glass doors. 8 feet exactly. Okay, I want them long enough to brush elegantly against the floor, 2 inches for that. and, I don’t like sewing drapes, I generally just fold over an allowance at the top to slide the curtain rod through and call it done, so 4 inches for that. 96 inches plus 2 plus four= hmm…lets just make it 3 yards, that’ll be plenty. Now I just need to dig something suitable out of the stash. In the meantime…

I have a little black Pixie Pouch almost done, and plans for a white one to go on the needles before the day is done…

The shower curtain is working out great- until I realized that I never finished off the seams! Drat. Guess I’ll take that down today and do some work on that this week…

It’s time to drag out the Cricket and cut some new Fall shapes again! Bats and pumpkins, leaves and foxes this year…

Playing around with a new Purse idea- it’s involving lots of brown velvet, ribbons, leaves and Fall colours!

And finally, still messing about with doll patterns, ideas, sketches and plans. I really do like the early stages of a new idea, but sometimes the logistics just get in the way!

Pinning for cooler weather- can’t even look at the oven its so hot nowadays!

October!

Gosh I love this time of year!The pumpkin patches are finally up, Pumpkins and squash are heaped in piles in the market, the leaves are spinning down, the earth goes to bed earlier, and everyone longs for a weekend in the mountains…
No baking yet this week- it’s been too hot to turn the oven on! Lots of crafting though:

Finished Tasha’s new Morris Pillow this morning- it’s made from the leftovers of the Shower Curtain I made a few weeks back. After piecing together strips and blocks I put some iron-on interfacing to the back, both to plump it up and also to enhance it’s quilty-ness. Then I put a regular old bed pillow in and sewed it up. Perfect! It goes quite nicely with the new Fall themed dishes I picked up early last month, too…
I also finally- finally!- perfected my new Pixie Pouches pattern! I’ll have pictures to post of that later this week, but basically it’s my knitted bag recipe. I started the process last Fall, believe it or not…
The only other thing I have going at the moment is a pretty major Job Search- time to get these oars back into the water and find some regular work! And no, I’m not giving up on The Dream- it’s just time to realize certain paths didn’t pan out, and time to get back on the Road…

A Second Breakfast Celebration

Happy Second Breakfast! It was a wild party- all the Dwarves showed up, shedding their scarves and hats hither and yon. Even Gandalf dropped by- he left his bag by the bookcase! I hope he remembers to come by and pick it up before the movie premiers- he might need it for his opening scene…

While they were planning their route to take on the Dragon Smaug, I noticed somebody eavesdropping by the door…

Do you see him? Bilbo is such a little fellow, he fits in with the Hallway décor!

 

 

 

Thorin insisted on writing up an Itinerary for the festivities, which Bilbo updated with a few necessary items, namely the Washing Up, which any good Hobbit can tell you is Very Important for any impending adventure preparations!

I suppose you’re interested in learning what they ate whilst planning their epic journey, eh? Well, there were a few things laid out…

Bunting makes a good, cheerful atmosphere for any planning party…

 

 

 

There were Sausages, nicely plump and browned in apple cider…

There was a good dish of gruel (requested by Bombur as an appetizer), and a plate of Cheese and Pickles…

A proper pot of Tea with a plate of Scones for Gandalf- notice that rather ostentatious saque by the bookcase…

A few boiled eggs for the youngsters Fili and Kili, along with a few choice jams, jellies, and mustard …

and lastly a beautiful crusty Beer Bread set out with a full crock of butter was set out for Thorin’s enjoyment.

  Gandalfs traveling bag caused quite a stir-  everyone had to go get his to show of their skills!

 

 

 

A bit of bunting was strung up to give a bit of cheer to the grim proceedings, and Gandalf threw a bunch of maps and travelogues on top of the bookcase when he sat down..

For some reason Bilbo has a model of the tavern The Foot and Fang on his bookshelf…

 

 

 

A few hours later they all took their leave after many “thanks’”  “lovely party’s” and several suspicious lumps in their sacks. Upon closing the door I discovered every last crumb had been swept up and even the heel from the loaf had been taken. Hrrumph! I don’t know whether to be glad- no leftovers to pack away- or despondent- no leftovers for lunch tomorrow! Oh well, at least now I know to make a bit more for next year’s party.

Thank you for stopping by our little Second Breakfast celebration- have a Great Weekend everyone!

A change in the weather

Today is the first cool day we’ve had in ages! It was overcast yesterday, but still muggy and hot. Ick. Today is much nicer, so nice in fact I just had to go out in it so I reworked the entire garden this morning at dawn! It was so cool and delicious! Tasha has been bitten by something- her little cheek has swollen up, but she’s a trooper! Not a peep out of her, so I’m not sure exactly when she was bit, I do know it was yesterday evening though. But this morning she was right there at the door cheering me on as I swiped down all the cobwebs and spider egg sacks I could find. Yeck! They had to go- bugs can be beneficial, but not if they are going to attack my baby!

Once I had finished clearing out the detritus of summer from the garden, I decided to turn mine eyes to the overgrown mess that has grown up over the years here on the blog.The book is still coming along, I have to wait til we can afford to print the monster out, thought the design still needs some work. This week I am messing with the layout of the blog template itself, as well as the content a bit. Today I want to try and create a new labeling system. It is tempting to just open up a whole new blog, but I can’t bring myself to do it so it’s forward with the cleanup of this one!

And because I simply can’t leave just a blank post up, here’s a picture of my lovely little Teddy Bear sunflowers- they are so cute! And only a couple of inches high- I may do these again this fall if I can manage it…

What end of summer projects are you taking care of this month?