Halloween Wrap Up

Ahh, what a fun Halloween we had! I realized I totally forgot to show you our pumpkins. They're the same kind of felt pumpkins we made last year. Since they're not carved, they'll last a few weeks. Yeah, I know, totally cheating by not carving, but this was so much easier.

We also finally finished the straw. We went super simple... rolled up poster board covered in white felt. I was going to add stripes but Pi insisted on a solid straw. Easier for me? Ok!

I wanted to go with the duct tape idea to attach the straw, but it wouldn't stick to the inside of the laundry basket. Hubby came up with a genius idea. Wire ties! Three of those suckers held that straw in place all day!

Then we headed downtown for some pre-costume contest trick-or-treating at the stores. We found this awesome Addams family display by the train station.

A lot of the stores went all out with decorations. Who knew a whole town was this into Halloween?

It was FREEZING so we stopped for cappuccinos. Yum!

Next came the costume contest. The kids had to stand along side barricades to display their costumes to the judges. There were a few different categories, like best food, best athlete, etc. If a judge liked your costume, you had to parade around in front of the crowd to get judged some more.

My little Slurpee was chosen to parade around pretty quickly. There were some other really amazing homemade costumes too. I was in awe of the time and effort people put into these things. My favorite had to be a cupcake made of quilting batting and corrugated cardboard. Completely adorable. After about 30 minutes of this, they finally announced the winners.

Pi won the "Sweetest Costume" award and received a medal and a $20 gift certificate to the best bakery in town. Do you hear that sound? It's my waistline expanding.

As if that wasn't enough, we went trick-or-treating house to house after the contest.

Last, but not least... a quick trip to 7-11. They were so impressed (and amused, haha) that they offered Pi a free Slurpee.

I don't think she could have had anymore fun today! Seeing Pi's face light up when she won the contest made all the time and effort worth it.

Happy Halloween everyone!

It's confirmed

Normal mothers send bags of candy to school on Halloween. Buy mounds of candy, drop them in treat bags, close them and viola. Super easy and kids are happy.

But I never claimed to be normal. Crazies like me make chocolate covered pretzel Frankensteins. This confirms I have the crazies.

I love them. Alot. Poor hubby was enlisted to help and did most of the work.

Inspiration found HERE.

Oh, and no straw yet. It's not midnight yet... I have time. *gulp*

Slurpee - Oh so close!

Ahh man, this costume needs to be done by Friday morning for Pi's school parade. I'm so close, but not quite there.

So where did we leave off? Oh yeah, I finished the bottom of the Slurpee cup. Now onto the hard part... the top! Hubby and I sat and thought about this long and hard. Finally, we thought the best (and easiest and cheapest) way to go would be to use red felt ($2.99 a yard on sale at Joann's... boo ya!)

I bought one yard of felt, killed a tree printing a partial Slurpee picture, depleted my printing ink and got to sketching with chalk. Then I cut out a front and back.

To sorta kinda make it look like there were swirls, I zigzagged a few lines across. You can't really see this but I give myself an E for effort.

Then I cut a hole in the middle for Pi's face. I decided measuring is for weenies (or people with more time) and I eyeballed it. This is where those of you that know I have double vision should groan and hope for the best. ;)

This is what we've got at this point. The poor zigzags are all but invisible.

Then I pinned my little heart out. And one of my fingers. Ouch!

I sewed both sides together and turned right side out. Then, I stuffed the point of the Slurpee with poly fill. It's the area right over the face hole. I didn't want the point to flop over, so hoped this would work. Then I sewed right across the top to secure the poly fill inside.

I pinned the top and bottom of the Slurpee right sides together and sewed all the way around.

A few slits for armholes (so glad felt doesn't fray!) and we have a Slurpee!

Think she likes it? I know I'm totally biased, but that is the cutest Slurpee I ever saw!

Like I said, I'm so close but not done. I only have tomorrow to figure out how to make and attach a straw. Totally open to suggestions!

So whaddya think?

Slurpee - the beginning

We started with a collapsible laundry basket. Pi fits into it comfortably and it's shaped like a cup.

I cut out the bottom so Pi could stand in it.

Cut felt to wrap around the laundry basket. Using an empty Slurpee cup as inspiration, I cut felt swirls and basted them on with quilt basting spray. This held them in place, so I could sew them without them shifting.

Add the purple swirls because Piper keeps telling you that they have to be on there. Now!

I photocopied my flat Slurpee cup and enlarged it by 400% on legal paper. I used the giant copy as a pattern to cut Slurpee letters out of felt.

Baste some more!

Here it is pinned on the laundry basket to get a feel for how it looks.

Next up is add a 7-11 fabric patch. I used fabric scraps ironed onto freezer paper to feed it through an ink jet printer.

Stay tuned to see how the Slurpee progresses this week. It's crunch time now!

P.S. - sorry for the dark pics. Most of this was done in the middle of the night.

Sometimes, it's just an off night.

These were supposed to be peanut butter kiss cookies. I think I had the oven just a smidgen too high. Oops. Right in the trash.



These were supposed to be chocolate chip, but I melted the butter instead of softening it. The hot butter melted the chips, making them wet, chocolate blob cookies. They still tasted good, so not a total loss.

*sigh*

Little Quilts for Little People

Remember this quilt I made for my friend Monica? Well, the red color scheme of that quilt wasn't exactly planned. What actually happened is that I made 21 pinwheels with random scrap fabric from my stash. I was going to make it super colorful, but hubby nixed that idea fast. He suggested just using the red blocks and it turned out much better that way.

But, that left 6 pinwheel blocks on my sewing table for the last few months. I wasn't sure exactly what to do with them, so they were just sitting and waiting for inspiration. Then my friend Joyce told me that her mother was collecting handmade blankets for the NICU at Staten Island University Hospital. She's originally from Staten Island, so she's got a soft spot for the hospital.

The NICU gave me the perfect reason to use up those blocks and I love knowing that they're going to good use! I split the blocks up to make a boy quilt and a girl quilt. They each measure 20"x28", which is what S.I.U.H. requested.

I used yellow fleece as the backing and it made the quilts super soft and cuddly.

I hope the babies that get these will enjoy them!

Pick it and eat it!

Nothing says fall more than apple and pumpkin picking! I've been meaning to take Pi for awhile now and we practically ran to the pick your own farm when I realized that October is already half over.

I wanted to go to a bigger farm that was recommended, but they stopped their apple picking already. *boooo!* Luckily, we found a farm 20 minutes from where we live that still had their orchards open. It's a small but very cute farm and I'd love to go back in the spring to pick berries.

We rode this tractor up to the orchards. Pi and her friend loved it and giggled the entire time.

Who knew bouncing around the back of a tractor could be so entertaining?

It was on the cold side and windy. Two shirts, a sweater, and a neckwarmer weren't enough to keep me warm!

Pi wasn't bothered by the weather at all. She was too busy looking for the "perfect" pumpkin.

Fuji apples.. yum!

I wish I could have taken all of these pumpkins home. They look so pretty grouped together.

Look at that view!

On the way home, we passed by a church and noticed a bunch of people building scarecrows in the front yard. We stopped and found out that it was a fundraiser. We had to make one and bring him home! He originally had a button down shirt, but we thought he'd look more authentic in flannel. That's Piper's shirt from her school play last year, where she played an apple farmer.

The goods!

Apple pie anyone?

Picking apples, pumpkins, and building a scarecrow had to make this a seriously perfect Fall day. Have I mentioned how much I love this season?

Fall Scarf

Whoa, has is it really been nearly two weeks since I've been here? Craziness!

I'm in the midst of midterms, a paper, and a group project, all due within the next two weeks. I'm fairly certain that college professors think students are superheroes. How else do they expect people to get so much done in so little time?

My sewing time has been limited, but the extra commuting has given me a chance to get reacquainted with my yarn stash. Most days, I'd rather knit or crochet on the bus, because I just can't-read-another-chapter.

Other blogs are already showing off Christmas crafts and that sent my heart into a fit of palpitations. It's so close and getting closer everyday! Pfftt... I'm so behind!

I pulled out this half finished scarf (started way back in February or so when I had ridiculous dreams of making Christmas gifts all year long). It's an Ifeoma, which is my scarf staple, because it makes a pretty, squishy scarf.

I know it's some sort of Red Heart, but I lost the ball band and can't remember the exact kind. It's super soft and the color changes are beautiful with such a simple pattern.

This one is getting thrown in the Christmas pile. It'll probably go to one of Pi's teachers, though I'm not 100% sure just yet.

Totally random: Piper wants to be a 7-11 Slurpee for Halloween. She couldn't have possibly picked a weirder costume. Cross your fingers I can figure out how to do it!

Tiramisu

My friend Joyce has the cutest twin nephews. They were baptised this past weekend and Joyce is one of the twin's godmother. She wanted to make something special for the Christening, but couldn't just make something for only one of the boys!

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She fell in love with the Tiramisu baby blanket but was running out of time, so she asked me to help. I made one blanket and she made the other. Twin Tiramisus!

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Our gauge is a little different so her blanket was slightly larger than mine, but I don't think anyone will notice. She also added blue ribbon so it wouldn't be all white.

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Personally, I think the blue and white is her subconscious, expressing her love of the Yankees (boo Yankees!). Haha!

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P.S. - sorry my blog has been so quiet lately. School is kicking my butt! The amount of reading/homework/papers has pretty much obliterated my free time. If only I was a energetic as I was 10 years ago, haha!

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P.P.S - If you're wondering what's up with the dotted lines, it's my lazy way of fixing the spacing issue I'm having with blogger.