Happy Halloween!

My rice krispie cake turned out scary in an unintentional way.  I blame the fact that I was probably drooling at the time.  The frosting is incredible.  The "treat" is made from cocoa krispies and dark chocolate chips and pumpkin spice kisses.  So delicious.  Go get the recipe here at The Sweet Chick.

Of course what's a little party without chex mix?  Another item I could probably eat single-handed.  Good thing I'm going to this party I'm throwing.

I've made some candy corn amigurumis in free moments, and a little ghost.  Pinterest told me to put fangs in little pumpkins so I did.  I'm a slave to Pinterest.

Lots of other goodies at our party this evening but I need to get off the computer and cook and decorate.

I'll leave you with this parting shot of my Pinterest fail.  *sigh.*

Santa's Village #10

I am using every spare minute to get this finished.  One more chart on hand and I think the last one is on the way. This one is the "Gingerbread Emporium."  I think it's funny that the suggested thread has a slight variegation.  Makes the gingerbread men in front of the house look like they have burnt spots.  I would never burn my gingerbread men!

Nine weeks until Christmas!  This will get done.  Then I'm swearing off pattern-of-the-month projects.  (I hope...)

My dishwasher is dying.  Sometimes it decides to work, and sometimes it doesn't.  Days get so busy that sometimes it's just easier to wash everything by hand rather than try to trust it and restart it when it poops out.  With the amount of dishes we use, I need to run it every day.  According to the last repairman who came out, you're not supposed to run them that often.  Whoever decided that didn't have a family that cooked and ate real meals together. 

I haven't shopped for a dishwasher in many years.  I can't imagine what they cost.  *sigh*  I hate projects like this.  Any advice is welcome!

Jack Baskets quilt finished

My Jack-o-lantern baskets quilt is finished!  I have it pinned to a curtain here while I make a sleeve to hang it.  I am so excited to get this done in time for Halloween.

It's machine appliqued.  Then I stitched in the ditch around each shape with monofilament, then quilted with freeform swirls.  I used a lot of thread on this.

I added some mini jack-o-lanterns in the sashing.

The pattern by Buttons and Bees is available here.

Now I'm feeling the time crunch to figure out what I'm going to make for Christmas.  Even just making ornaments for friends takes planning and budgeting.  Still racing to get my Santa's Village done in time to get it framed for Christmas.  You can laugh, but in crafting time, these holidays always come too fast for me.

Santa's Village #9

Just three more little houses to go in Santa's Village.  I'm feeling the pressure to get this done so I can get it to a frame shop and get it on the wall before Christmas.  Only about 10 more weeks!  It's going to fly by.  The Christmas Tree lot down the street is already setting up.  No trees yet, but they're getting ready.  I've ordered my amaryllis bulbs so they'll bloom indoors in time for Christmas.  Drama Girl is talking about putting together a steampunk outfit to wear to the Dickens fair in San Francisco.  Not sure what's going to be involved with that.

I'm still working on my Jack-o-lantern quilt.  All the applique is done and now I'm stitching in the ditch.  I'm very slow at it.  I think the background quilting will be very simple.

I found this great project on Pinterest - just put some soil in an open pumpkin and watch the seeds sprout.  Very cute, isn't it?  What they failed to mention is just how mushy the bottom gets.  Yikes.  This will not be fun to move.  The kids want me to plant it in the ground but I think after a brief display on the porch I'm going to dump it.  Sorry Pinterest (and kids).

I'm enjoying the Halloween season.  I realized that after lunch I was sitting in my living room, which is all decorated for Halloween, with a big black cat named Dumbledore on my lap, reading Harry Potter.   It was a nice moment before I have to get back to reality. I have all the Harry Potter books on my Kindle so I can just dip in once in a while for some light reading.

Drama Girl is going to a special showing of the play "Dracula" on Thursday night.  It's a great book and she has bet me a batch of cookies that she can read it before then.  She started last night.  We'll see if she gets through it.  I read it a few weeks ago.  If you've only seen the movies and not read the book you're really missing the story.  I think none of the movies really gets close. 

Linking up today with Heather at Books and Quilts.

Vintage Thingie Thursday: A Bit of Halloween

I've kept one of the little tables the kids used when they were little.  I was so happy to find this round tablecloth at the thrift store.  Not sure if it's very vintage, but it's excellent quality.  Good enough for a ghostly tea party.

I also recently picked up this wonderful black gingham apron with ric-rac trim.  It's very long.  Perfect for hosting  a Halloween party.

The needleworker who made this used both large and small ric-rac.  Very cute pattern.

Wonderful heavy ceramic mixing bowl with a Halloween motif.  Not Homer Laughlin, alas.  Those are hard to find but very similar.  This one gets to live out on my counter for the season. 

Vintage Thingie Thursday is hosted by Suzanne at Coloradolady.  Visit her blog for lots of vintage goodness today.

Leveraging Your Pinterest Power

I make no secret that I adore Pinterest.  Do you follow any of my boards?  I have over 3000 followers now and it's become my favorite source of creative inspiration  Here are my suggestions for making the best of your Pinterest pin collection.

1. Keep your boards small and specific. If I want to look through your boards, I want to be quick. 200 pins on a "Fall Quilts" board is interesting.  6,000 pins on a "Quilts" board is a lot of noise to work through.  I will probably never make it to the bottom.  You will probably forget what you have on there.

My own rule is to try to split boards once they get much over 200 pins.  I have a Halloween board that's over 600 pins now.  Last weekend I separated all the "Halloween Crafts and DIY" pins and put them on their own board.  If I have a chance this weekend, I will probably separate out Halloween recipes or Halloween decor.  It takes a little time to move pins, but the results are worth it.

2. Review and edit your own boards.  Lots of duplicate pins are a sure sign that you're not really interested in your collection - so why should I follow you?  Pinterest now has a warning message when you've already pinned something, so this shouldn't be the problem it was in the past.  Duplicates that are spaced far apart on a board are forgivable, but if I see them at a casual glance, it tells me that the pinner never looks at their own boards or never bothers to edit.  Not worth my time.

3. Edit the comment when necessary.  Comments help you and others find the perfect pins.  Here are some examples of useless comments:

• Hey Nancy!  We should make this!
• I love this!
• flikr 38r.62sqsitl
• . (the single period used in place of a comment when you can't think of what to say.  I admit I was guilty of this in the past.)
• #using #loads #of #meaningless #hashtags.  Pinterest has an excellent search function which will find words and even strings of letters without hashtags.  They are obnoxious.  Don't use them.

Look at this beautiful board with clean and (for the most part) useful comments: http://www.pinterest.com/hadarmarom/embroidery/

4. Link back to the Source. Nothing is more annoying than clicking on a pin and finding a dead end.  If you are pinning it yourself, pin from a page, not an image.  If you are repinning a pin, check that the link works.  If you find a great recipe, don't post the whole recipe in the comments, link back to the blog or website where the recipe appears.  Give the creator of the content the credit they deserve!  If you are pinning from a blog post, pin from the specific post, not the home page of the blog.

5. Stay legal.  Copyright laws protect artists and writers.  I am particularly sensitive to creators of patterns, since that is what I deal with often.  For example, I see a lot of cross-stitch patterns which have been scanned from printed material.  The designer does not get the profit they deserve from the sale of that book or leaflet.  We want designers to stay in business and keep creating, and Pinterest can kill that.  If you suspect a pattern or work is under copyright, don't repin it. 

Pinterest is a wonderful playground if you stay organized and keep your boards focused. Leave me a link to your boards in the comments so I can follow you.