Countdown to Trick-OR-Treating Commencing…

Zero minus 4 days and counting. There is still plenty of work to do over here before Halloween can happen.

Costumes - Quinby needs to wear hers to school in the morning, but PZ, Hubs, and I don’t need ours until Sunday evening when we are going to a Halloween party. I also have until Monday night before I have to make warm cloaks for them and bags for trick-or-treating.

Quinby’s Tinker Bell costume is done. Yay! She really loves it, too. So that does a Mama’s heart good.

I finished the little slippers today, finished the arm holes off with my pinking shears, and added a warm inside skirt to the dress made from green minki fabric. This should help with the scratchy complaint and keep her warmer.

PZ’s Peter Pan costume still needs a hat with a feather. She really likes her costume, too. Especially the little dagger. Stabbedy Stab Stab. Take that Captain Hook!

The hat I worked on tonight after ballet class turned out just a wee bit small I’m afraid. I’ll have to wait until she’s awake so I can remeasure and try again.

Hubs is planning on going as Captain Hook. I need to put some ruffles on an old shirt of his. Everything else I think he’s pulling out of the costume box.

I’m planning on going as Princess Tiger Lily. I need to make myself a tunic with some fringe and fashion or buy some moccasins. I already have the braid ties, but I’ll need a headband with a feather which is something I’ve been wanting to make for EVER now anyway.

Decorations - 

We already carved pumpkins and made tissue paper ghosts for our outside staircase. We also made paper jack-o-lanterns for the door and bats for our windows.

I still want to make some luminaries for the bottom of the stairs.

What are you hoping to mark off of your Halloween to-do list? Are you making a costume this year?

Handprinted Swap News

Over at onegirl, Leslie is having a handprinted fabric swap and I signed up. I’ve been in a bit of a crafting slump lately (a blog posting slump as well! sorry!!) and I’m hoping that participating in this swap helps.

We found out our swap mates today which is always fun. Especially since the swap is international. I DO love getting and giving international mail. I’ll be swapping with:

Jessica from Nebraska. Her shop is BornLippy, but it’s empty right now so she’s a bit of a mystery.

Riyo from Japan. Her shop is Talk to the Sun and her blog is Talk to the Wind and Sun. She seems to do felting and block printing.

Lili from Tasmania. Her shop is Once Upon a Time and her blog is Lazy Days although it looks like her days are anything but! She makes really fun stuffies.

Rachel from Ohio. Both her shop and her blog are named Imagine Gnats. She is new to printing like me.

Jenn and I have done a bit of printing lately and have even paired up to make pillows, etc. for a craft show coming up next month. (Another step I’m taking in trying to find the HAPPY in my crafting.) She had the idea to do really great jellyfish prints which reminded me of my trip to Orcas Island this past summer, so I’ve decided to use that trip as inspiration for my block prints. Here are some pictures (reposted) that I’m hoping will inspire me (and maybe you. Who knows!?!).

The Unmotivational

How Sweet It Is Oatmeal Peanut Butter Snack Squares (with chocolate chips! and found on Pinterest)

Yum!

I don’t bake enough bar cookies. I always forget how good they are and I’m pretty sure the girls are going to think I’m awesome right around snack time. I’ve been baking a lot recently. This week I baked my tried and true pumpkin bread (with chocolate chips! Are you sensing a theme here?), banana bread muffins, and the snack bars.

Last week, I made these yummy Crusty Baguettes. They took only 30 minutes to make! Slight verge from recipe, I used whole wheat pastry dough because that was all I had. Still, and maybe even more so, easy and crusty and good!

It’s definitely autumn here in Portland. We’ve got wet, wet, wet and a little more wet just in case you missed the first three dousings. With the chill, I’ve been inspired already this week to make Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup (using our own heirloom tomatoes that finally came up around the beginning of the month!) and baked spaghetti (using Hub’s tomato sauce that we canned last month). I chose to wing it this week without creating a meal plan or shopping list.  Actually way more fun for me if not 100 times harder.

Oh, well. As you may have noticed, there hasn’t been much sewing done around here. I finally have the time to work and I am so unmotivated even going in my studio, much less sitting behind the machine, feels like a chore. Bleh! So I’m getting my creative expression out mostly in the kitchen these days.

That doesn’t mean I’m not still sewing some. I’ve started making the girls’ costumes, TinkerBell and Peter Pan, and I’ve been taking a clothing pattern, drafting, draping, and construction class so I’m currently working on making a muslin for an a-line skirt there. I also started crocheting a sweater for Q and now just need sit down and do it. Online, I’ve signed up for onegirl’s handprinted: a fabric swap (you should too!) and Jenn and I just need to make a date to do some handprinting. Anyone else interested in having a party out of it?

So that’s what I’m working on. How about you? Are you cooking anything I might need the recipe or link to? Working on any projects I need to know about?

Tinked Off

I got this pattern at a local fabric shop last spring, just in case. Now its October and PZ has decided she wants to be Peter Pan for Halloween and we’re pretty much pigeonholing Quinby into the role of TinkerBell. She wanted to be a turtle like last year, but that didn’t seem “fun” to me.

Two hours into the pattern tracing portion of this little costume project and the turtle idea is sounding more “fun” by the minute! I haven’t even started on the Peter Pan outfit. Grrrr…..