Fall is in the air!

I've put a few little autumn bits and bobs in my etsy shop.







This way if you're interested.

More to come.  Maybe even a plushy blue box!

When holidays collide.

Yesterday we took down our Thanksgiving decorations, started baking Christmas goodies, and carved our pumpkins.

Tardis Pumpkin!

My kitties have chosen their costumes.

Miss. Kitty is going to be a mandrake.



Susan is going with a more general potions theme.



Oh dear, someone seems to have changed her mind.




Silly Kitties.

Tea anyone?

I've wanted to make a tea cosy for years. The Harry Potter House Cup on Ravelry finally gave me a good reason. I followed the basic pattern by Yasmin . I used two skeins of Burnt Pumpkin and placed a stitch marker on one of the skeins to keep the confusion to a minimum. Added a crocheted stem and curl, no leaves, leaves were too much.

My cosy is keeping my tea warm and lovely as I type.

Punkins!

The Doctor's Daughter

After much debate and many changes of mind, K decided to be the Doctor's new companion Amy Pond for Halloween. She chose the costume Amy wore in Vampires in Venice (one of two costumes Amy has worn thus far, that a young girl should wear.) The long, not pink, skirt and accessories were K's idea.

She desperately wanted Mr. Man to dress up for trunk or treat. I was going as Molly Weasley, so he was going to be Arthur, until we realized his grey hair would be ginger for quite some time if we used the red hair spray. Not an option.

Determined, K started rummaging through our closets and laying pieces out on the bed. Ten minutes later, I'd made the final piece, a burgundy bow tie, and K had made herself the Doctor's Daughter.

OK, she's been the Doctor's Daughter since birth, but this absolutely made her day.

Can you guess who we were for Halloween?

We had a wonderful Halloween this year.

Mr Man was...

...Dilbert!

K was...

...Nudge from Maximum Ride. (Yup, jeans, a tshirt, windbreaker and wings. All I had to do was paint the wings like a tauwny owl. Least time I've spent on a costume this decade.)

And I was...

...Merope! I just wore my locket and had fun watchings peoples reactions. Several people understood at first sight, several thought it was cool after I explained, and several looked at me like I had really bad fashion sense. Pretty much a normal day then. :)

And even more Squeeee Mail!

Our dear friend Pren surprised us with Halloween Squeee mail! K and I literally danced when we saw who it was from.

The moment we opened the package we were met with the most wonderful aroma. She sent us a bar of handmade soap, made by her friend Libby (her etsy store is Maylees Garden.) The scent is Pumpkin Cider and it smells lovely, but not overpowering. And it leaves your hands soft, with just the most delicate hint of fragrance. It is really, really lovely. I have it by the kitchen sink and I am going to buy a pretty soap dish for it, because it is just that special.

Pren also sent us some Halloween erasers, K has an eraser obsession, and Halloween Pencils and Halloween straws. Fun!

Now Pren, don't make me get all over you AGAIN about being all kind, generous, sweet, and thoughtful woman!

You are here by forbidden to send us anything else, until we finish your housewarming surprise! Seriously, I mean it, save your pennies for your new house. Roofs and A/C cost big bucks Babe and die at a moments notice. Hail is no ones friend.

We will finish your presy before Christmas (fingers and toes crossed.) But till then,... *glaring with one eyebrow raised high*

P.S. K hit little Voldy. He's been buggin' her for a while now and yesturday he started poking her and she told him to stop and he didn't and she asked him to stop again and he didn't and she put up with it for as long as she could and she just hauled off and smacked him a good one. Teacher didn't see. He's leavin' her alone. I didn't punch the air,... while she was looking. Go K!

Swappity, Swap, Squeeee!

We participated in a Halloween Swap and did we get the goodies! Hermione_jean is a cheater pants and sent us a BIG box full of goodies, wrapped up in brown paper and strings:

We love glowey necklaces!

She made the dish Towels! Love Them! And the potholders are sooooooo cute! I put them out, but I wouldn't use the potholders or the towels, they might get messed up. The orange fuzzy yarn will soon become a fuzzy orange pumpkin.

K ate the pop rocks with a coke and lived to tell the tale. :D And Halloween Socks! We'll wear 'em till Christmas!

K put the ghosts together and hung them in our front tree. Yes, they're still there. We'll probably just put Santa hats on them and wave at the neighbors on Christmas.

Needless to say, we we're well pleased. Thank you Hermione_jean! We loved our Goodies!

We sent a goodie box to Dragonsinger954. It was regulation size *pointedly staring at hermione_jean* but we compression packed that little bugger with everything we love for Halloween.

Of course there were erasers and glow stick bracelets. And eyeballs! Can you see all the eyeballs? Googley eyeball glasses

A crocheted eyeball,

Bouncy Rubber eyeballs

Evil vampire eyeball dishcloth (that was Dragonsinger954's idea after all)

Why eyeballs, because I have a problem. But admitting a problem is the first step.

I love these crochet pumpkins. I made a bunch for gifts for Halloween and I'm making more for Thanksgiving. Quick and cute, just the thing.

And pom poms and cauldrons and ribbons and the loudest noisemaker on the planet and gel decorations and crochet candy corns and stickers and ironons,... Oh MY!

We had such fun putting dragonsinger954's goodie box together! Hope you liked it!

Princess Leaf, there you are again!

Oh my giddy aunt!

Mr. Man just called and told me to check out the October issue of Initiatives put out by the Huntsville Chamber of Commerce, and look what I found!



So the images that define our fair city are, the Japanese Bridge in Big Spring Park, the Saturn 5 Rocket at the Space and Rocket Center, the Antebellum homes in the Twickenham District and...... Princess Leaf!


Princess Leaf is our scarecrow, the one K and I designed and built when she was in kindergarten for a Scarecrow Trail at the Botanical Garden!!!!!

Isnt she cute! Princess Leaf was pretty cute too.

Over the past 5 years, our Leaf has appeared on TV and in print so many times we can't keep count. The year Leaf was entered in the Scarecrow trail, the director of the Gardens took her to all the morning news stations as part of their advertizement campaign. She's been featured on the Scarecrow Trail flyer ever since, I saw one in the mall last week. She pops up on the Gardens TV commercials and web site every now and then. And we got a phone call from friends in Illinois a few years ago when they found her in Family Fun Magazine accompanying an article about the garden.

And would you believe Leaf did not win the scarecrow contest.


In the long run, I guess she really did.

I got Bored Again...

Miss. Kitty likes big eyeball.

Lil Pumpkin

Made a little pumpkin for the Harry Potter Knit and crochet house cup on Ravelry. I kinda sorta followed Armina's Ami-Nals Crochet Pumpkin Pincushion pattern, but I made a lot of modifications. The stem is totally different. Mainly because I am not good at reading patterns. I might submit it as homework in Transfiguation or perhaps in Charms, since I made two, one large and one small.

Can you submit the same project for more than one class? Hum... probably not.

The Tale of Lady Amber of Mossflower Woods

K's Halloween costumes follow a distinct pattern. Last year she was Sarah Jane Smith with a pull along K-9. The year before she was tough Ginny Weasley. One year she was Tiger Lily. Then there was Princess Leia, Jesse the Cowgirl, Sally, and of course Hermione. Do we sense a cute but tough trend? Yup, that's my girl.

This year for Halloween, K was Lady Amber, a character that appears in the Redwall Series of books by Brian Jacques.. Basically the books are about cute, little animals, that sing, play, occasionally eat under the table, with all four paws,... and fight continuously. There are 20 books in the series so far, with more in the works. K has read about 12 1/2 in the last 6 months and LOVES them! K says they are better than Harry Potter,... today. Tomorrow, she may change her mind.

K designed her costume in early October, even working out the tail attached to the belt.

The coolest thing about her costume is that it was almost exclusively made with stuff we found in the basement or yard. I crocheted the shawl from yarn I found in my stash. Just kinda made it up as I went along. (It's really very nice and warm, and I've been wearing it ever since.)

The tunic is made from a pattern based on a medieval garment found on a female body in a bog in Denmark. (Cool!) Since it was made of wool, it didn't decay too much, and it could be pieced back together. You can read about it here and here. I used this gown pattern

But left out the front gores, because K just didn't like them.

I chose this pattern because it was very easy, no curved seams, except the keyhole neckline, and because it was extremely economical when it can to fabric usage. (Makes sense really.) I was lucky enough to find 4 yards of brown cotton flannel on sale at Walmart as a remnant for 2$,... yes total, and it was just enough. Love it! The dress is so comfy, K is using it as a night gown and wants another one. In green, of course.

K designed and constructed her bag and made her sling shot from leather strips and brown peach suede we found in the basement.

Mr. Man helped her make her bow out of a crepe myrtle branch and twine. It works very well, maybe too well. I bought her 4 dowel rods for about $3.50 and and helped her collect duck feathers at the pond for her arrows. And I made her a quiver from an old shipping tube, peach suede and green fabric paint. K did the painting.

The tail was made from a heavy wire skeleton and covered with the only scrap of long fun fur left in the city. I searched everywhere and they just don't sell it anymore, except online for 20 bucks a yard. Yikes! The piece I finally found was perfect and happened to be right in my basement of all places. Just enough for a tail and one ear. I loaned K my wide leather belt and tied the top to a harness around her shoulder and we had a tail.

The only change we made was her hat. We found one picture of Lady Amber on the Redwall Wiki and decided to make the hat shown in the picture.

The hat was made from some red peach suede I found, you guessed it, in the basement, the cat's feather and a piece of jewelry to hold a feather (I'm sure it has a name ?) we found on the ground somewhere years ago.

I love the ear and you can't even tell it is pieced together from an impossibly tiny scrap of fur.

All toll, Lady Amber cost about $4.50 plus scrounged supplies. Not bad, not bad at all.