Happy Hallowe'en!!!

Aren't these the cutest ribbons you ever saw?!! I used them to make a few Halloween cards this week. Ribbon is another of my "fetishes"!

And this cute fellow is just old orange crepe paper streamer drawn up with needle and thread into a circle and the cute sticker added.........it looks like a Halloween flower!

And these bad boys are the REAL Hallowe'en photo for you today! The pair of buzzards were sitting on the dead pine this week sunning their wings after lunch. (Getting ready for Hallowe'en supper tonight!) Heh, heh......

I hope you all have a safe, fun and happy All Hallows Eve tonight! I'll be locked inside my dark little house watching old black and white horror movies and eating chocolate!

Autumn stuff...............

One day I brought home from my walk some leaves that are steadily falling everywhere around here and tried to trace them onto felt. Hmmmm..........
some did nicely; some didn't. These sheets of felt from Joggles.com are wonderful.......large and lots of colors with dots of other colors mixed in and some with free-motion stitching already done! Above there's a maple leaf, an oak leaf, and a pumpkin I free-handed and forgot to leave a stem on it! Grrrrr! Click on the photo to enlarge it and notice the stitching and the blue blot of felt in the brown leaf! Off to play with them some more......


Is this sugar maple leaf "painted" neatly by Mother Nature, or what??!!!!!
Coloring right in the lines! And off the same tree below............

.........click on these also to see the really neat color patterns. I've never noticed the autumn leaves with patches of color like this, but they're all just gorgeous. AND all different! Like snowflakes! Is God great, or what?!!

This moccasin (dead!) was at the edge of our driveway near the highway on one morning's walk last week............a vehicle must have run over it since we couldn't find any terrible-looking wounds on it like it would have had if an animal (or gun) had killed it. I suppose the snakes are on the move quickly now trying to find "hidey-holes" to spend the winter in hibernation. Our area has had warmish night temps so far, but this week we're getting the first hard frost; and our NC mountains are getting some snow/sleet today! Some local friends spent the weekend riding their motorcycles to the Blue Ridge Parkway to see the leaves, and said the scenery was just beautiful and the colors at their peak. Lucky dogs.

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On another note altogether: I want to thank a couple of my blogging friends who have recently tagged me to play a game telling stuff about me you don't know; and then tagging 7 others to do the same. I must apologize to them for not playing this time around; I did that one several times last spring and summer and don't have time now to play, but I appreciate you visiting my blog and thinking of including me! Try again next spring, when my mood is better and DH has his new knee replacement and I'm all done with making Christmas presents and dealing with "company" and cooking and all that stuff I hate! (Can you tell I'm one of those "Scrooge" persons?!) HUMBUG!!!!! Heh, heh...........

Cat-nap time...............

Baby Sister is napping in the "boy bed" some days; but it doesn't have enough stuffing for her old arthritic joints. I need to open it up and stuff a piece of her "fleece" pad shown here into the center. But some days she likes the fleece without the bed! Another cranky old lady lives here!

And this is the reason Sister cat isn't sleeping in HER pink, well-stuffed bed! Buddy/Bubba boy takes over whichever bed he thinks she wants to use, just to see if I'll make him move. Guess who won?

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I see by my former posts that I'm slowing down and not posting to my blog nearly as often as I used to. The autumn's beautiful weather is one reason: I want to be outside in it as much as possible! And I'm not interested in much right now.......I guess we're waiting for DH's new knee to get put in soon, and then maybe while he's recuperating here, I can concentrate and get to work on some projects that are waiting! And the cold fronts that are shooting thru NC on a regular basis are playing havoc with my spinal osteo-arthritis pain as well; so bear with me and I'll be back on a more regular basis soon, I hope! Right now I'm off to read awhile with the cats (in the BIG bed, not one of the little cat beds!) Heh, heh.........

More autumn scenes........

The squirrels and other woodland critters leave this kind of proof every day of what they're having for lunch on the big rocks! They got ALL the pecans this year, they have hickory nuts and walnuts and buckeyes...............
and the woods are full of fruits for the wildlife. They all should be fat and sleek for the winter!

I have a handful of glorious zinnias and cosmos left blooming this week; they are just gorgeous. I guess they heard the weatherman saying we're gonna have nights down in the '40s this weekend, and very cool days! I'll go out and cut all the blooms before the cold front comes in so I can enjoy the flowers in the house. I'm always sad to see them go for the season.

Fall colors.............

The patches of wild morning glories around the farm are just bursting out with new blooms recently. I guess the few cold nights we had reminded them they'd better "do their thing" before winter sets in eventually!

..........and the yaupon tree in the front yard is just showing off with its gorgeous dress of red berries. The birds don't like these to eat as much as they do the dogwood berries, so when these leaves are gone from the yaupon soon, we will enjoy the burst of color against the naked tree and sky all winter.

.........and all the dozens of dogwood trees around here have made a good crop of berries this year, but the cardinals and bluebirds have almost eaten them all. But even if the berries disappear, the dogwoods' pretty leaves are turning their special shades of red and when the afternoon sun is on them, they're like a watercolor painting............

Spooky things.................!

.........our very old black walnut tree loaded with nuts this year...............
.......the "outdoor cats" eyes glaring in the dark! They're sleeping on heating pads on the seat of the golf cart under a big shed out of the weather.......do they have it made, or what???!!!!!!

.........and my October beaded ghost pin is finished!!! I wish her little orange seed bead eyes showed up better, but her required rhinestones are the two letter "0"s, in the "boo". And there is actually a space between the top and bottom parts of the exclamation point; it doesn't run together like it seems in this photo. I haven't decided yet what my November dolly will be....stay tuned!
.........and another spookier photo of the old walnut tree against the grey sky; it looks like it's reaching lots of "arm" limbs up to grab birds as they fly by! Hmmmmm...........wonder if animals celebrate Hallowe'en like we nutsy humans do? (They probably see us all costumed up and run as fast as they can in the other direction!) Heh, heh............

Reading and beading..........

These are my latest two library books I've enjoyed reading........both about the southeastern coastal waters and towns and people! If you love the ocean and beaches and good stories, these are for you, too...........my fantasy life is to live like the eccentric old lady in the big old "cottage" right on the sea's edge. She rides a bike to "town" and dresses in long, loose vintage clothing with beaded and embroidered scarves and big hats; and spends days abed among fluffy pillows reading to her heart's content! Ahhhh......
we old women can still DREAM, can't we???!!!!

And this is my latest project: an embellished evening clutch/purse using vintage bridal satin from old dresses........this is the front. Click on the photos so you can see the white-on-white beads and sequins! The scattered tiny dots on the front are little pearls, and on the back I used Swarovski delica crystal glass beads..........love the sparkle!
This is the back of the purse, using pieces of the daughter's debutante gown from the 1960s. (This is a commission piece for an elderly friend who, like me, cannot bear to part with gorgeous vintage needlework and fabric and handmade thingies!) Now her grown daughter will have a meaningful surprise birthday gift soon, and it will bring back memories of her southern heritage as a debutante at the ball many years ago!

The lining is just a white-on-white design cotton fabric, and I used little pieces of white "hook-and-loop" for the unseen closure under the flap. This was a joy to work on, because my favorite part of any project is the fun of digging through my stashes for just the right embellishments, and seeing it all come together. Of course, it's especially nice when the customer first sees it and says, "Oh, how LOVELY it is!" Thank you, my creative muse... now we're off to try our hand at painting glass Christmas tree ornaments like I did for many years awhile back. With the economy bottoming out, I'm having to resurrect all my latent talents and pray my hands don't shake and my eyes hold out, because Christmas is coming! And Santa needs help!