Halloween Week

I love Halloween. All the pumpkins and skeletons and costumes and decorations. So. many. decorations at our house, second only to Christmas. 

 Leanne is an anime character 

Marie’s work had a Halloween/fall festival, so we had a chance to get some early costume pics.

 Photo by Jaclyn 

Jac wasn’t willing to be *in* the pictures, 

 Photo by Jaclyn 

but she was delighted to take shots of everyone else. 

 Photo by Jaclyn 

And I managed to get a few photos of her

when she wasn’t looking. 

How could I pass up such an adorable little Pegacorn???

Lunch Date

I needed to make a run to Santa Barbara,

so we packed up the mini-sidekicks

and headed north

for lunch (Shoreline Beach Cafe)

sun

and sand. 

One of my favorite things lately is to hand my phone camera off to Jackie and see what happens.

Sometimes it’s magic (I cropped out the guy blowing his nose 😜). . .

and sometimes it’s a misfire, 

but it’s always fun to see what attracts her eye. 

I love Southern California.

Worth It

I thought about ripping and redoing the original firefly but . . .

 “Take a picture on my head!”

so much happier with the all new version.

All the body parts line up so nicely (this time).

Still need to embroider her little legs and antenna, but I’ll probably wait until the end, after it’s been longarmed and do all the stitch-work at once. Jac and I are pretty pleased with this so far. 

Fall Quilt

I think of this design as a Christmas cactus, 

since that’s how I made it the first time, 

but in these colors it needs a different name. 

Fall palm?  Fall cactus?

I wasn’t sure about the blue at first, but I’m happy with how it’s going. Fall leaves, with a touch of ocean. All my favorite colors.

Swear Words

What’s wrong with this picture? Which of course I didn’t spot until it was all sewn together?

Tried to fix it without ripping everything apart . . .

That’s a no. Would anyone else notice, once the quilt’s together? Probably not  . .  but I would. Sigh. 

Looks like I’ll be spending more quality time with my seam ripper tomorrow. 

Pumpkin Table

After drying overnight, Leanne’s rainbow pumpkin table went home today.

Pop asked her if she was sure about the colors - she was - 

so he set her up in the spray booth (aka the back yard) and turned her loose.

Leanne said she picked rainbow colors because that’s Jackie’s favorite, but I think she likes them just as much. 

Hoping Leanne sends me a picture once the pumpkins are in place. Her first piece of furniture! So proud!

Faces

Marie got Jaclyn’s first grade school pictures today. (Remember last year?? Click here. So awesome.)

She looks so sweet . . . 

but this is much more typical. Chocolate ice cream face and a cat toy she “borrowed “ from Lily.

Our silly, quirky, lovely, one-of-a-kind Jac.

Building, Stage 1

Leanne wanted a skinny table to hold the succulent pumpkins her family made. 

Her mom said ‘let’s go shopping.’

Leanne countered with ‘let’s build it!’

Which is how she and Pop ended up in our garage, 

power tools in hand.

 Photo by Jaclyn

Pop is showing her the steps, 

 Photo by Jaclyn

but Leanne is doing the measuring, drilling, sanding and turning of screws.

She’s doing well enough that Pop is comfortable leaving her to work alone (for short-ish periods). 

A couple of legs, some paint and we’ll be ready for ‘it’s done!’ photos. 

Stay tuned!

BB 10

Jac agreed to help me take photos 

of my latest Botanical Beauties finish - 

a fern -

but she actually only wanted pics of herself with her pumpkin. 

Nice of her to help me out anyway. 😂

Adding this so I remember where it is. Need to figure out my values (light-med-dark) for the last two blocks. 

Shake It Up

Hubby became lactose intolerant in his early 40’s

and the one thing he has consistently bemoaned is the loss of chocolate milkshakes. 

 Almond Milk Reddi-Whip!

I guess Rachel was listening, 

since she sent him a milkshake maker and all the necessary non-dairy ingredients for his birthday. 

And the verdict? Two thumbs up!

One 👍 from Jac - “that was so fun to make!” -

and one 👍 from the birthday boy, who has had a shake everyday since. Good job, Rach!