Straw Pumpkin

I made another pumpkin for our patch today!

The base is another of the foam carvable pumpkins from Dollar Tree. These have been bases for many of my pumpkins.

I lightly spray-painted the foam pumpkin with white paint, just to make the orange less bright because some of the orange was going to show through the holes of the straw ribbon.

The braided straw material came from a summer hat, also bought from Dollar Tree. It was very easy to find the end of the spiral on the brim and pull the hat apart into the long straw ribbon. Then it was a matter of cutting the ribbon to length and hot gluing the strips to the pumpkin.

Once the pumpkin was covered, I took the very crown of the hat, cut it down, and glued the circular piece to the bottom of the pumpkin to cover the untidiness where all the straw ribbons meet.

For the stem, I covered a piece of a skewer with twine, poked the point of the skewer into the top of the pumpkin, frayed some of the twine at the base of the stem, and glued the twine together at the top of the stem. While the glue was drying, I curved the tip of the stem over and held it in place with a rubber band. Once the glue dried, the stem stayed curved at the top.

I added this straw pumpkin to the patch in our entryway. It's nestled between my beaded pumpkin and my painted jar pumpkin.

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I got directions and inspiration for the straw pumpkin from this video by Justin Wray.

It's in the Bag

 At first, I saw a heart.

Then, whoooo! It was a ghost! Eek!

On close inspection, it was nothin' but a plastic bag. Somebody missed the trash can.

From the Other Side

Dusk was beautiful last night. The weather was cool and crisp. Neighbors were drawn to the sports field behind our house. Flag football teams. Coaches. Babies in strollers. Toddlers with balls of their own, imitating their big brothers. Moms and dads. Even grandparent types like Dale and me.

The moon was rising in the east. The field lights were ablaze. We were in the midst of laughter, shouts, and the whistles of coaches calling the end of a play. The teenagers were across the parking lot in the skateboard park.

Click for larger image

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From this side of the field, it appeared to be what life might feel like on the other side of this pandemic. 

It felt like ... life!

Dale and I usually catch the scene from here.

Our New Neighbor

 A new ghoulfriend moved in down the street!

I hope to get to know her better.

Play Time

 I took a walk over to the school yard today.

I miss seeing the kids playing at recess. I miss the shrieks of laughter.

Sunflowers

 Tall and majestic

Bright on an autumn day

Pollen collector

Starts so small

Finish! Pumpkins and the Blackbird

Today I did the finishing work on my recent stitchery. I don't know what this kind of finish is officially called. Maybe double-mounted? I'm not sure.

It starts by mounting the pressed stitchery on a backboard. Some use matboard. I chose foam core. Nothing fancy. I cut the stitched fabric about an inch larger than the stitches, centered it on the foam core, then taped it to the back. This little piece isn't intended to be an heirloom, so I'm not too concerned about using adhesives.

Next I cut another piece of foam core about two inches taller and wider than the mounted stitchery. I covered the foam core with a thin layer of batting. I centered foam core on the check fabric, wrapped the fabric around the foam core, and taped it in place.

I had a little trouble getting the corners to look nice, no matter how often I fussed with them, taped them, or glued then. I finally got out a needle and thread, smoothed the fabric, and sewed it in place. I simply have better results with a needle in my hand.

I used hot glue to adhere the stitchery to the check back piece. This photo details how thick the two pieces are together.

The final step was to make the back look pretty. I cut a scrap of orange felt into a rectangle just big enough to cover the tape that holds the check fabric to the foam core. I glued it in place with hot glue. Then I printed the label, cut it with some edge scissors, and adhered it in place with double-sided tape.

Tidy!

For now, I've got the piece displayed on an easel amidst my living room pumpkin patch.

This is a project that was enjoyable from start to finish -- even with a few hiccups along the way. I don't often create pieces that I haven't planned thoroughly and thought about for weeks. So being spontaneous with this sign and trying out a different finishing technique became an unexpected joy.

I plan to be spontaneous again.  😊

Shine On

 Last week I spent many enjoyable hours designing, stitching and finishing this naughty embroidered hoop for a friend's birthday. I used one of her most endearing phrases.

I learned that the piece arrived yesterday, so I can share it on my blog today.

I found the script online to use as the anchor of the piece. The rest of it was designed using Microsoft Word's Wordart feature. I traced the design onto the fabric by sandwiching the design between the fabric and a lightboard. I used an air-erase pen for the temporary markings.

I backed the fabric with some tear-away stabilizer so that the fabric had some body for the embroidery. The main part of the embroidery is stitched with DMC variegated floss. I  used a combination of stem stitch and chain stitch for the words, dotted with colonial knots at the end of each flourish.

To finish the piece, I gave it a good pressing on the backside. Putting a thick towel underneath the stitching while pressing it with steam allowed the embroidery to rise up off the fabric. I trimmed the fabric into a circle, placed it back in the hoop, and made it drum-tight. Then I wrapped the extra fabric to the back of the hoop, and held it in place using a running stitch that was synched tightly. 

I then covered the back with a matching felt circle. I stitched it to the fabric around the edge.

The final step was to stitch on a label.

I love gifting handcrafted pieces to this friend because she's always so appreciative. Plus, I adore her laugh and try to elicit one from her any chance I get.

Update: Pumpkins and the Blackbird

 The stitching is done!

This was an enjoyable little piece to stitch. Maybe I can do the finishing work this weekend.

Pumpkins and the Blackbird

 I got an itch to stitch, so found this adorable design by Lynn B to begin yesterday.

I got a good start last night

Then picked up my needle again this morning and stitched while catching up on YouTube videos. I guess I wasn't paying close enough attention to the stitching, though. I finished the letters, the bird and the pumpkin, then started on the border. But things weren't falling into place. It took me a while to figure out why.

Ooops. I stitched to *I*s. It didn't take much to rip things out and get back on track. I stitched more tonight while watching the presidential debate and made some excellent progress. This is where I'm leaving it tonight.

Depending on our activities, there's a chance I could finish the stitching tomorrow. I have plans to finish it in a way I've never tried before. It's something in between an ornament and a framed piece. When it's done, I'll display it with my pumpkin patch.

Grandbears

I had the opportunity to have a video chat with Julie and the grandkids today. They tried on their new bear suits this morning because it will soon be c-o-l-d in Moscow, Idaho. They expect snow this week!

Melody remembers snow ... that it's white, it's cold, you can make a ball out of it, and you can sled on it. Annie is in for a treat this year.

I'm sure looking forward to the day I can go visit in my new Mimimobile and take them for a ride. 

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Julie took this wonderful photo this morning.

Pretty. Frustrating.

 The image on this puzzle and the colors of the Antelope Valley are beautiful.

However, as a puzzle, this picture stinks. This was one of those very frustrating puzzles where too many of the pieces look alike. Once the blues and yellows and purples were done, a sea of red and orange was left over. It was a case of sorting pieces by shape, then having to try piece after piece after piece with very few visual clues. That's not engaging or fun. It's drudgery. 

As a further insult, the four pieces in the top right corner were missing. Hrumpf.

It wasn't even a dollar's worth of fun. After taking photos, I threw this one away. 

Not good. Not good. 

I'm tempted to redo the guitar puzzle as a cleanse. 

Call Me Sparky

 After over 12 years with my blue Charmed Car (Hyundai Accent), our ways have parted. Jeanne's car gave up the ghost the week before she moved from Spokane Valley to Eugene/Springfield, so I offered my car as a way to get her here quickly.

I've missed having wheels! Yesterday, Dale and I found this 2019 beauty. It's a Chevy Spark. This baby fits me just right and has lots of features the Charmed Car never had ...

like a rear windshield wiper.

It's the little things.

Happily, "buy a new car" was one of the alternate goals on my 20 Goals in 2020 list. It feels great to check that one off. I'd been meaning to get a new car for over three years. I was finally pushed into the dreaded searching/buying process. Luckily, I felt comfortable with the very first car I test drove. Bam! Done!

Growing the Patch

 Once I completed the turning-sweaters-into-pillows project, I still had sweater fabric left over. I used the sleeves of the black sweater to decorate a couple more pumpkins. 

I saw examples of black pumpkins with orange polka dots on Pinterest, so decided to use the ideas as my starting point. 

I covered the first pumpkin with silver and orange sequins, held in place using straight pins with black and orange heads.

I fashioned a stem out of floral wire covered in black yarn. Then gave the stem a collar of black felt imbued with iridescent glitter.

The second pumpkin was covered in the black sweater, then bedazzled with four sizes of google eyes.

I admit to burning my fingers several times with the hot glue as I stuck the eyes to the pumpkin.

I created another stem with floral wire covered in black yarn. This time, I unraveled some yarn to use as a collar around the stem.

They're quite a pair! My granddaughter Melody particularly likes the one with eyeballs.

Using the sweater material for two more projects works toward one of my alternate 20 Goals in 2020. I may yet finish 20 of the projects I've begun or had kitted up. 

Tonight's Sunset

 Glorious

Day of the Dead

 Another day, another 300 piece puzzle. Because this puzzle has so many colors, so close together, I really couldn't sort the pieces by color as I usually do. Instead, my approach to putting this puzzle together was to grab a piece, check it out against the photo, put it on the board in approximately the correct spot, repeat. Eventually the pieces start lining up and connecting. 

Though I call it the Day of the Dead puzzle, it's officially called Colorful Traditional Mexican Ceramics.

This is another case of a one-dollar puzzle with a missing piece. I did my trick with gluing several layers of card stock together to make the 4th corner. This puzzle was enjoyable enough that I can picture putting it together again.

Autumn Wreath

 Jodie came by last weekend and we made Autumn wreaths together. We each did our own thing. Jodie's wreath highlighted sunflowers. I made mine in these two shades of orange. I think they're chrysanthemums.  

I glued the flowers to a wire frame in clusters of three. Then I added in some leaves here and there.

I decided to hang the wreath in the living room on the stairway wall where the couch and loveseat meet. It's an 18" wreath, so has a substantial presence.

The bright splash of color is beautiful among the neutral grays and navy. 

Here's a peek at the chrome and glass lamp that we added this week. Snazzy!