Tricks and Treats

 This isn't my usual over the top Halloween post because I'm just not feeling it this year. I may make donuts tonight. Maybe. I may put on my witch hat and watch Hocus Pocus while sipping a Bloody Mary. Maybe. I did get this finished. All most. I need to put on the copper beads but that will be for next year.

 I got the words all finished on this Halloween sampler. Every night in October I lit up the pumpkin lights, watched one episode of Supernatural on Netflix and stitched a little. I am going to miss that.

 Poor Jack O'Lantern didn't get any attention at all.

 You have to rest your arms on the frame to stitch and since my arms were covered in poison ivy it was a no go. Ouch.

 I did pull out the wool I will use for the background. Next year.

In a month that was sadly filled with anything but-the Kindness block got done on the Sheep Virtues Sampler. Up next is Gratitude.

Inktober was a success. Every day I inked a little something. It was brain candy during some tough times. I highly recommend it.

Happy Halloween everybody. Eat, drink and be scary!

Go Ravens!

 The only thing I like about football is that it keeps The Mister busy so I can get stuff done. Sunday I got the Ravens warp threaded through the reed and tied on.

  Then I got a few inches woven just to see what was going to happen. I was worried about all that purple.

It's not bad. They are not my colors but I think it's going to work. Let's just hope it brings the Ravens some luck. They are having a pretty bad year so far.

A Scrappy Sunday

We are finally starting to go from green to gold but it's hard to appreciate the changing colors with all the dead trees lying about looking so sad.

 While I was sidelined last week with the itch that shall not be named, The Mister did a great job clearing the other side of the house. A pile of split wood is now where that huge pile of brush used to be.

Football started at 9:30 yesterday morning so I had the whole day to play. First up was chopping up the fat quarters for the fall batik quilt I had started what seems like ages ago.

I hadn't planned on using the greens at first but they were just too pretty not to so I did some backtracking with the center squares and made five more.

Now I am adding a scrappy border around them all. This is going to take a while.

 I also got the latest Dear Jane finished but oh, dear. It looks a little wonky in this photo. I swear I covered the pieces correctly and put them together using the pattern. Maybe it's the camera angle?

I also got more of the outside border done on the Dresden. Just looking at this made me itch last week but I had no problem at all working on it. I'm still rather bumpy but the worst is over.

Finally, I worked up the courage to start meandering all over the baby quilt. This took a lot of courage and a strong cup of tea. After what I did to Daddio's last quilt I really had my confidence shaken with this free motion stuff. So far, so good. I quit after just a bit to let that victory sink in. As much as I strangely enjoyed it, I really don't want to be picking this one out too.

Rained Out

 That's the view through my skylight. It rained all day yesterday. We were supposed to go the doggie Halloween parade. It was still on but we didn't feel like putting on rain gear to go. Pup would have hated it. She hates her raincoat so we gave it a pass. I had even bought her a costume. Oh, well. There's always next year.

I had been up all night with tummy troubles anyway. Why I thought it would be a good idea to buy a gallon of pumpkin ice cream is beyond me. I would have said it was worth it but at 3 am it certainly wasn't. I was just as happy to stay inside and do absolutely nothing. I had told myself on Friday I would give myself a news break. No internet just old movies but I made the mistake of peeking at Twitter at 10 am and well.....you know. Another day, another horror. Sigh.

Sleepy Saturday

 I had to buy yarn. It's not great yarn but I had to buy it.

 I was putting the fringe on my red wrap and ran out with just a little bit to go. Amazon got it here in a day.

Ta dah....something done. It only took a year. It's had a bath and now it's ready to use. These things are great for napping with a good book. Looking out the window, it's probably all I am going to be doing today. It's pretty miserable out.

Dear Jane

The poison ivy is clearly on the retreat but I am still in search of non-itchy things to keep my hands busy and I remembered that it's been a while since I added a block to Dear Jane. This is the next one. Yikes. It's a doozy.

This is one of those blocks that make me very happy to have discovered the glue pen. 

 It didn't take long to get all those pieces cut out and covered but it's going to take forever to get them sewn. Why, Jane? Why?

And for all you sweet folks who keep telling me to go get some steroids to cure this nasty rash, I've got them. I'm just afraid to take them. Sometimes the side effects can be worse than the original malady and being someone who is allergic to EVERYTHING on the planet (I must be some kind of alien) I always proceed with caution with stuff like this. Once when I had a terrible reaction to come cashew nuts they gave me a shot of the stuff in the ER and it was way worse than the rash from the nuts. I never get easy answers for things like this so I tend to just let nature take its course when I can. I'm pretty much an expert at itchy stuff since it seems I can't go a month without an episode either from bugs, foods or plants anymore. Phooey.

Four

Pup turned four yesterday.

I still call her Pup because it just seems like only yesterday that she was one

 To celebrate, we took her to the boardwalk for a treat. We were supposed to be sharing a scone but while I was taking the photo she gave it a lick. She loves a good scone. So do I.

 I am happy to say that I could get dressed today. The itchys are not gone but they are more manageable. I still can't wear wool so even though it was a good sock day I had to go with some store bought softies.

 Ditto with a handknit sweater. It would have been agony so I had to get out a big old comfy sweatshirt. I did suffer through my Halloween mitts. It was too warm to wear them last year and this year the town Halloween fest is probably going to be a washout due to the nor'easter heading our way this weekend.

There is still not too much in the way of Halloween decor in town but I did spy this. I had to laugh.

Pup's day ended with a trip to her favorite eatery. She got some peeled nuggets and I got some french fries. Good times.

 I came home to a surprise in the mailbox. Sandy M. sent me a big bag of goodies. When The Mister saw the pumpkin he said "Good. Finally one you can't break". Ha, ha. It really tickled me to know her mom and dad made it. My mom and Daddio used to paint little wooden things for us too. That's a mug rug in the front. It's almost too pretty to use, right? It's all sitting on an apron that is made from the prettiest fall material I have ever seen. Sandy keeps me in aprons which is nice because truth be told-I hate to make them but love to wear them.

I was tossing out the envelope when I noticed...there was another little package inside. A handy date book and a Halloween dish towel. I was just saying that I need a fun Halloween dish towel and look at that-one showed up!

Thanks so much Sandy! I of all people know how much fun it is to make up little packages to surprise people with and I can't tell you how much this is appreciated. That 42 thing...I had to laugh. I am a huge fan of the Hitchhiker's Guide and will answer quite randomly 42 to questions for no reason at all.
I have never made a Hitchhiker but I should have. As soon as I have working arms, I am going to look through my handspun and get one started!

Keeping Busy

The only thing I have managed to accomplish since the poison ivy took over my arms was getting the Raven's warp on the loom. I went from itchy mess to feeling like I have second degree burns up and down my arms and legs. Ugh.

 Those crazy colors don't look too bad all spread out.

 This is going to be my view for a while.

 I could only get an inch or so done before my poor blistered arms were objecting to brushing up against the beater bar.

 I also went digging for some soft knitting to keep me busy. I am not used to all this free time and it's making me antsy. What I found was another mess. Have you ever vacuumed your knitting? I just did.

I started this shawl last year and forgot about it. It was in an open bag in the corner of my bedroom where it collected all kinds of nasty stuff. What a mess. I can't wash it because it's still all live stitches. I bet it gives me a terrible allergy attack. I'll have to take a swig of Benedryl to get it done but since I'm living on the stuff at the moment that shouldn't be a problem.

Frankenpumpkin Update

 Every day since the great Jack O'Lantern tragedy we've been gluing a few pieces back in. It's been painstaking work. I don't think The Mister will ever get that Gorilla Glue off his fingers.

 These are the pieces we have left. We know where they go but they will take a lot of filing to get them in so we are calling this a done deal for now.

 She looks pretty good up on her high perch. She will live there the rest of her life. I'll just turn her around so she's just a pumpkin after Halloween.

I always loved the pumpkin cookie jar on the Mary Tyler Moore show so it doesn't seem too weird to me.

 Not bad. I gave her a quick orange acrylic paint touch up. She has scars but she earned them, poor thing.

She's got a new dimple too. We are going to patch that with some drywall repair stuff after the holiday. Right now she needs a break and so do we. It was a nerve wracking process.

 After she's all together we are going to remove all the duct tape supports we have going on inside her and seal her with this.

While we are on the subject of Halloween let me rant for a moment. All candy corn is NOT the same. The Mister bought me a bag of Brach's which I have completely devoured so I went looking for more only to find no one has it. Instead I picked up a knock off Walmart version.  Yuck. Now I see why so many people hate candy corn. There is a BIG difference. I am so disappointed. Ugh.