Trick or Treat

Tonight was the night for Trick or Treat...finally we have it actually on Halloween! We went to the town square for the "Safe Trick or Treat" event, and plenty of loot was obtained by the Jedi Warriors pictured below.



Our warriors shied away from frontal photos, opting instead for the action pose! Their costumes came out pretty good -- at least everyone seemed to know what they were supposed to be! No other Jedi's were spotted tonight, although one Darth Vader was confronted. However, a duel was avoided due to the large police presence on the square!

Halloween Costumes

Again this year, the boys have had a hard time deciding what to dress up as for Halloween. I honestly don't remember being so laid back and/or indecisive about this event. We started planning for Halloween usually within a week or so of going back to school. We rarely bought our costumes -- my mom usually made something so she needed a little notice! Halloween was a big deal when I was growing up. I don't know if it was my neighborhood, or if it was just my dad -- this is his very favorite holiday. But I loved dressing up and I loved carving pumpkins and I loved going through all of our loot after trick or treating.

Of course, trick or treating for the boys is very different than it was for me. I lived in a suburban neighborhood with lots of kids, and we knew all of our neighbors for several blocks. We now live in the country, and while we know our neighbors within a mile of us, that is still only about 5 people! I usually take the boys to the town square where the city sponsors a beggars night. It is crowded but a lot of fun to see all of the kids dressed up.

So they finally decided Friday night that they would be Jedi warriors. So Saturday morning off I go to Joanne Fabrics to find some brown, drapey, kind of warm, fabric. Ok, found it. Thank goodness for coupons! I only spend $12. And I spend another $12 getting them long sleeve light brown t-shirts to wear under their Jedi robes. Saturday afternoon I am sewing away and the Jedi robes are done. They will look awesome I think, especially for being thrown together at the last minute. Pictures will follow!

Nota Bene Pt. 2

Here are some of the postcards that I made and sent out earlier this month. I have really enjoyed this swap, but time has gotten away from me and I still have a few more to send out at the 11th hour. But I should be able to finish them up today and send them on their way on Monday, and meet the deadline of completing by November!



I was very pleased with how these came out. This is one of those techniques that really does work better on a small scale. This is some of the fabric that I painted with my Neocolor II Caron D'ache water pastels. I then painted with some silver Lumiere, covered with light blue crepe de chine and meander quilted it. Then I took my hot gun and burned out the crepe in places to allow the silver to show through.

This is more of the handpainted fabric, same technique. However, this I stamped with the big swirlys with my Lumiere stamp pad and it didn't have enough "bling" so I went over those very lightly with some gold Lumiere paint. I quilted these with gold metallic thread in swirlys to echo the stamps. These were "ok" but not really my best work...

And now for something completely different! This is hand dyed commercial fabric and I stamped another piece of hand dyed with the word "dream" in silver Lumiere paint. First time I had stamped with paint, and I think the results were good. I also added some purplish foil in triangular shapes -- the rectangle applique and triangular foil setting of the prominent circles in the fabric. Very minimal quilting, sort of loose and dreamlike. I was really pleased with thes postcards, another example of small scale techniques.

Maine Lobsters in the Midwest

One of the perks of travel, is that I get to experience all different kinds of regional culinary specialties. Of course, when I go to Boston, lobster is always on the menu somewhere! I go to Boston often enough that my boys were jealous, and wanted to experience some lobster too. These are two of the lobsters shipped from Maine.



The boys were amazed that they were still alive and moving!

And here are the four chix, ready for the pot! They kept moving around as I was trying to take this picture!

And this is a Midwestern boy, trying to figure out how to eat a lobster!

What Flower Are You?

You Are a Tulip

You have a wild, experimental side that craves change. You often switch jobs and men, always looking for something better. But deep down, you're also very well grounded and content. And you will come to know that the life you live is already ideal.

What Flower Are You?

House of Disease; Enter at Your Own Risk!

So, upon returning from Boston, I find that I have entered the House of Disease! My husband has had a very bad cold; bad enough that he was trying to wash everything before I got home. Not so bad you say...you're right, if only that was the end of it. My oldest son had a chest cold before I left. With me out of the house, he didn't feel that he needed to take his decongestant. This earned him a trip to the ER in the middle of the night with an ear infection. Ok, so not great but still, how bad is this really. Still, not the end of it. The next night, my youngest son, decided to come down with an entirely different disease -- the flu!

This is when I started wondering if I should have stayed in Boston a few more days!

Traveling Woman

This is what I have been! I had a trip to San Diego at the end of September and a trip to Boston in mid-October, which has left me no time at all for blogging.

September saw me on Coronado Island for a week for a conference, which I extended over a weekend so that I could do some sightseeing! I stayed at the beautiful Leows Resort which has gorgeous rooms, and wonderful restaurants. The only disadvantage is that the resort is very isolated from the main part of the island. Picures will come in a later post.

I just got caught up with my life after that trip when I had to start getting ready for my trip to Boston. Another conference, but since I have been several times I limited the sightseeing to trips to my favorite stores! I stayed for the first time at the Ritz Carlton and I have never had better service in a hotel. It was wonderful!