Happy Halloween!

This is my son, Russell, and his girlfriend, Tracey. Russ is a graphic artist and hand-painted Tracey's skeleton costume. It took him about twelve hours. Don't they look great? Tracey is expecting my first grandchild sometime in February, a girl, so the baby skelly has a little pink bow in it's hair - well, on it's skull, actually. They went to a costume party Saturday night. I used to love costume parties! When this guy was little we would decorate the front porch with those gauzey fake spider webs and large black spiders and made little hanging ghosts from squares of inexpensive white sheets wrapped around styrofoam balls. They looked great at night, blowing in the October breeze. I always had a "bleeding" candle on a table near the door, though not too near as to catch a little one's costume on fire. Not sure if Yankee Candle still makes these. One year we played a scary CD of screaming and moaning sounds in a boom box. I remember a group of little kids stopping in their tracks on their way up the front walk, wondering if they should continue or not! It was a really scary CD, even scared me playing it! Ah, those were the days! Tonight we'll be lucky if we get the little tykes from the family that bought the house next door, that is if the snow melts enough so it's not an icy walk up the driveway. We'll have our carved pumpkin on the porch at least, like we always do, and will enjoy the snack-size Reese's peanut butter cups while watching something not-too-scary on TV. Didn't have time to make a scarecrow for the porch before the October Nor'easter hit. The leaves are all buried under a couple of inches of unwelcome snow.

Enjoy your Halloween night!

Needful Things

Isn't this the cutest? This is a magnetic "needle minder", designed to hold your needle or a pin or two at your sewing table. This one is called "Pumpkin Crow", but there are a few others as well, and retail for $9.50. Size is approximately 1-3/4" x 1-1/4". A perfect little gift for a sewing buddy, or just for you.

These are sweet little "Putford" scissors. You may have seen them on cross-stitch pattern covers. Small, only 2-1/2" long, but can be used, and are great to tuck into a little huswif or sewing book.

More cool sewing needfuls are on the Sundries page under the Et Cetera category. Hope you'll check them out!

Happy Monday!

Maine's Ultimate Yard Sale Redux

We'll try this again! Maine's Ultimate Yard Sale was rescheduled from last weekend and will be held this Saturday, Oct. 22nd from 9am-2pm at the Cumberland Fairgrounds in Cumberland, Maine. I'll be set up with two tables loaded with super bargains on fiber art patterns, books, supplies and other primitive goodes. The producers of this event expect upwards of 5,000 people to attend. Over 100 sellers will be set up and there will also be Maine craftspeople and food vendors. Sounds like it should be a fun day. If you're in the area, I hope to see you there!

Another Wool Quilt

This is a fun and folky wool quilt by Buttermilk Basin called Potted Flower. Six floral blocks, some with crows, framed with sashing and an outer border. Personally, I feel the block background used for this model wasn't the best choice and doesn't translate well in the photograph, but I could see this done using a less mottled or solid sky-blue wool, or a scrappier look with various small-scale textured wools that would provide good contrast with whatever colors you choose for the flowers. The set includes six block patterns and a finishing instructions pattern, seven in total for a special price of $29.95. Finished size of this wool quilt is 32" x 57".

The rain and clouds should be leaving later today, thank goodness! My mood is definitely affected by gloomy days and I hope to feel better as the hours tick by! Have yourself a sunny day,

Natural Fibers and Zombies

Soft, subtle, elegant, natural... This is DMC linen embroidery floss, a unique fiber for your embroidery and needlepunch projects. Made with 100% European linen fibers in nine soft, muted shades to give your needlework a time-worn look and feel. There is just such a wonderful feel to this floss. 8.7 yards per skein. DMC has actually discontinued this floss so what I have is "it" for me.

And now, on to zombies! I've become addicted to AMC's original series, The Walking Dead, that premiered it's second season last night. What a great, suspenseful series! I watched the first four episodes of season one in two days on Amazon Instant Play - $1.99 an episode - and watched the last two on AMC last night before the new season began. My husband recorded the 90 minute premiere episode for me to watch today, after breakfast. Not to be watched while eating - anything! Wow - anyone else watching this?

I grew up with three brothers and we all loved dinosaurs, monsters and sci-fi. Two of my brothers went on to become horror and sci-fi authors - Jeffrey Thomas, author of the critically acclaimed Punktown, and Scott Thomas, author of Midnight in New England and the recent Quill and Candle. You can find their works on Amazon and in bookstores.

Enjoy your pre-Hallowe'en fun!

Special Purchases

Tis Hallowe'en is a little book with designs for 13 mini cross-stitched stockings with Hallowe'en-inspired motifs. Blackbird Designs created them all, sized at 3" x 5", they're quick to stitch and display. There are also four additional projects: two necklaces, a pumpkin pinkeep and magnetic needle minder. Due to an ordering goof, I have a few too many, so have reduced the price by 25%, from $24.00 to $18.00. These would look cool all made up and hung on a little black feather tree.

The classic Lake View Primitives Wool Bed Rug is an absolutely gorgeous heirloom-quality project. The complete set of 21 patterns - 20 quilt blocks and finishing instructions - is available at a savings of 20%, from $168.00 to $135.00. This will certainly keep the winter chills away while you stitch!

Rain, rain, go away. I get so unmotivated on rainy days! I'm one of those SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) people who really need nice, sunny days. We've had lots of them lately, so I knew there had to be rain eventually. I'll get through it. It's almost the weekend, after all!

Stay dry,

Ultimate Yard Sale Rescheduled

I just got word that Maine's Ultimate Yard Sale, originally scheduled to be this Saturday, the 15th, has been rescheduled to NEXT Saturday, the 22nd, due to rain and wind predicted. Same time, 9am-2pm at the Cumberland Fairgrounds, Cumberland, Maine. At least that gives me more time to gather more good stuff to sell. Hope to see you there!