On this Halloween, follow my motto . . . eat, drink and be scary!

Boo!

The annuals in my container gardens have been thriving for the last few weeks. They are obviously enjoying the sunny days and cooler temperatures. They won’t last long now, so it’s nice to get some photos while they are looking good.

Have a great weekend!

Thanks, everyone, for your compliments on the Vivian sweater progress. It’s nice that so many of you think I deserve a break from this but believe me when I tell you that I have taken plenty of breaks from knitting this sweater. I started it back in April. My goal was to have it finished by Hannah’s birthday and that was September 3rd. Whoops. My goal now is Christmas but I’d really like to have it done by Thanksgiving so I really just need to keep moving forward. So far I have resisted the call of the Hawthorne but I’ve told myself I can cast it on as a reward when I get the second sleeve finished.

In the meantime, I have finished another lap quilt. The fabrics are from a second jelly roll that I bought at Keepsake Quilting when we visited last summer and it’s totally different from the one for Hannah.

It’s all blues and browns, for one thing.

And the pattern is a more traditional block, for another thing.

I dug through my fabric stash for the border and and binding fabrics found this floral print which is perfect. I think I had bought this for a Civil war period tie for Dale but either I never got around to making it or he didn’t like the fabric. It’s all used up now, though, so too bad for him.

I also found the backing fabric in my fiber stash. This, too, was bought for Dale. I believe it was going to be a Civil War period shirt but then he announced that he would only wear white shirts and black ties because that’s what General Hancock did. Whateverrrrr. Again, it’s a win for me because I didn’t have to go shopping to buy something to go with this quilt. That meant it got finished faster and for less money. Yay.

And it’s also a win for Dale since I made this quilt for him. He  clearly loves it and it’s much more useful than an 1860s style shirt and tie. It’s warmer, too.

I’ve been diligently plugging away on the Vivian sweater for Hannah.

The back is done and one sleeve is done. I’m so close to the finish line I can practically see it. This is good because I promised I wouldn’t start anything else until this sweater was done.

You know what they say about promises, right?

Props to Kym, who came up with this week’s timely topic once again  . . . 10 Best Halloween Costumes You’ve Ever Seen.

1. When my mom was alive she always made Hannah’s Halloween costumes. I loved the first year when she was only 7 weeks old and we called her a Pumpkin Princess and I loved the year she was a clown, complete with pink high top sneakers but I can’t find photos of that one. I think my favorite costume my mom made for Hannah was the pilgrim one. She had just turned one and carried a little pumpkin and was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.
2. Back in the day, Dale’s band always played big Halloween parties and we saw some great costumes over the years. One of my favorites was the guy who was a dry waller. He wore his stilts but covered them with leather “chaps” and was a super tall cowboy. It was a terrific costume and I think he won first prize that year.
3. Of course when the band plays a Halloween party they have to dress up, too, and my favorite was the year they went as Robin Hood and His Merry Men. The tights were awesome. Just sayin.
4. At that same Halloween party was a guy dressed as a gangster and his wife was a flapper. He had a pin striped suit and carried a plastic machine gun, she wore a red dress covered in black fringe and she had bright red lipstick. They made a great couple.
5. One year it was raining really hard on Halloween. We scrapped Hannah’s planned costume – I don’t even remember what it was – and we dressed her in a yellow slicker and rain hat. She carried a fishing pole with a fish made from a brown paper bag hanging off the end and she had a bait bucket for collecting her candy. We threw that costume together in about 10 minutes and got more compliments on it than anything else she’s ever worn. Plus, she was warm and dry while the other kids were cold and wet. Winning!
6. Last year for our Halloween party our friends Amy and Bob came as victims from the movie The Birds. It was original and funny and full of awesome.
7. Years ago Dale dressed as Beetlejuice for a party Hannah had. He teased his hair all up and covered his face in white paint. He wore torn clothes and had rubber bugs coming out of his pockets. It was a riot!
8. Our friend Bruce came as a bottle of fruit juice last year. His wife made his costume and the label on his “bottle” read Juicy Bruce. Like Juicy Juice. Get it? hahahahahaha.
9. Our bank used to have a Halloween parade for the kids and I remember one year there was a girl dressed as a rose. She wore dark green sweat pants and a dark green sweat shirt and her mother made this amazing head piece that looked just like a red rose. It was very cool. That was the year Hannah was a clown and my mother was pissed when the rose won first prize – a $25 savings bond.
10. When I was a kid my best friend, Kimberly, and I went as a pair of dice. We wore black leotards and tights and my mom turned 2 cardboard boxes into dice by painting them white with black circles. It was a neat costume but I couldn’t sit down and that was a drag.

A weekend without plans and obligations is a beautiful thing. There is a downside, though. No blog fodder. That’s not to say that I didn’t have fun, because I did, but I didn’t have fun that can be turned into a nice little blog post.

Sure, I had dinner at my friend Jo-Ann’s house Friday night. And sure, we drank beer and ate delicious steak. We even attempted a fire outside but the wood was wet. The conversation was great, though, and we had a fun time.

I spent Saturday planning the menu for our Halloween party and I started getting the decorations up, too. Again, fun, but also not much to blog about.

Saturday night was a wonderful evening at home with shrimp and scallops and pasta, martinis and bourbon and beer, lots of music and dancing in the kitchen with my very romantic husband. He even cleaned up after dinner and I did take a photo or two of that. I thought I might be able to cobble a blog post out of those photos but they weren’t that great. I’m sure that had nothing to do with the martinis and bourbon and beer. Ahem.

Sunday was breakfast with our daughters as Hannah was home to go to a concert this weekend. And then more Halloween party prep. There was driving around and shopping and good fun but still, nothing for the blog. Then we came home and it was chilly so Dale built the first woodstove fire of the season.

Thank goodness I took a photo.

I love the bokeh-ness of this shot of a heart shaped crystal that I saw in a booth at King Richard’s Faire. It’s just so fun to take pictures of stuff like this, playing with the camera and the settings and post-processing.

How about you? What are you going to do that’s fun this weekend?

Nothing screams Socktoberfest like a pair of socks made from Knitterly Things sock yarn in a Halloween inspired combination.

Aren’t they awesome? The color is called “Boogie Man” and I just love the combo of orange, purple and black. I don’t know how Julia gets those stripes to match so perfectly but they always do – from their picot edges right down to their toes. It must be magic.

They are perfect for Halloween and I’m thrilled that they are finished in time to actually wear them before the holiday.

Now where’s that witchiepoo costume?

Fall.

I love when I get unsolicited topic suggestions for Ten on Tuesday. I particularly love it when they come from Kym, because she has good ideas. As you can probably surmise, she came up with this week’s topic, 10 Ways to Eat Pumpkin. Mmmm. I love pumpkin so here goes.

1. Pie. You knew this would be first, right? Plain old pumpkin pie is my very favorite of all pies.
2. Speaking of pie, how about pumpkin whoopie pies? I made them last year and they were yummy.
3. Bread. I like mine with raisins. It’s moist and delicious and it freezes well so you can make extra to have on hand for the holidays. It also makes amazing bread pudding.
4. Pumpkin cake. I saw this recipe the other day and I’m considering making it for our Halloween party. The colors alone are fabulous but I bet it tastes wonderful, too.
5. Soup. I haven’t actually made pumpkin soup myself but we had some really delicious butternut squash soup at a wedding a few weeks ago and I think pumpkin soup has to be pretty similar in taste.
6. Muffins. I’ve heard you can make pumpkin muffins with just a can of pumpkin and a box of spice cake mix. I haven’t tried it yet but it sure sounds easy.
7. Cheesecake. There are tons of recipes for pumpkin cheesecake, from fancy ones to no bake ones to swirl ones and they all make me swoon.
8. Pumpkin Latte. Pumpkin, spices and caffeine make an excellent combination.
9. Roasted pumpkin seeds. I like mine with salt and cayenne pepper.
10. Pancakes. Or waffles. The addition of pumpkin makes them super moist and the perfect autumn breakfast.