Auntie Pasto is coming to dinner

The other day Mr. Gadget suggested we might invite our good friends, Jack and Jane, over to our house for dinner.

"We've been to their house several times and I think we owe them," he said. "Besides, now we have this nice, new place suitable for entertaining."

I responded with no response, which is usually how I let him know I'm not thrilled with whatever it is he's just proposed. After all, I'm the kind of gal who's much more comfortable with a sewing machine than with a stove.

Soon I was able to collect my thoughts. "Maybe I'll serve witches and frogs as the main course." I said.

"And I'll fill the wine glasses with a refreshing alternative.""For dessert I'll make a colorful yarn parfait," I said. "This will be a great dinner and I won't even have to go to the grocery store."

Mr. Gadget gave me the look. How sad that the man has no sense of whimsy.

Then I remembered Auntie Pasto. She came to the dinner party I gave for the neighbor ladies at the Calcondo. Afterwards, when the ladies called to thank me, they all had wonderful things to say about Auntie P.

So I'm planning to fly her in for the party. I'll pick her up Friday morning so she'll have plenty of time before the evening's festivities to kick back, relax and marinate. I hope her flight isn't late...

Call of the colors

I was sitting in the Treehouse this morning working on a couple of Santas and a stray cat (how did he sneak in?)......

....when I happened to look outside and see this:

You may remember when it looked like this:

So I suggested to Mr. Gadget that we go for a ride because the show will be over soon.

There's just nothing like Fall in Connecticut.

Fernando gets lucky

This is Fernando, one of several of my dolls that sold at the craft fair in the old hotel. Fernando is one lucky frog. See that ladybug on his foot? Ladybugs bring luck, you know. I purchased it on one of my bead-shopping extravaganzas--with no special embellishment plans in mind. Then it occurred to me, as I was finishing up Fernando, that a frog foot would make a good landing spot for a ladybug. I hope Fernando was lucky enough to find a good home.

And speaking of ladybugs, here is a photo I took today of the back of our condo.

I was outside enjoying the warm sunshine (wasn't it snowing just a few days ago?) and discovered our building was covered with hundreds of ladybugs. I probably should have run right out and purchased a lottery ticket.

There are some benefits to not selling all of my dolls at a craft fair. It means I have plenty of accessories suitable for home decorating.

I think Delores adds a nice touch to the guest bathroom.

Especially when paired with a festive orange hand towel.....

.....and some tissues to match her hat and socks, and an orange candle.

Now I'm busy working on a few dolls for the holiday fair in early December. I'll make mostly Santas and snowmen and angels--suitable for decorating and gift-giving. But lookee what I found in my stash!

I think I'll make one more ladybug.

Who knows? I could get lucky.

Pilgrimage to Rhinebeck

Other Marcia (who is no longer blogging....how sad) and I made our annual trek to the NY Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck on Sunday. The weather was frightful, but not nearly bad enough to deter a couple of dyed-in-the-wool fiber fanatics. I purchased a couple of trinkets. Can you pick them out in the picture? Wool balls. It's always good to have a few extra pincushions if you're a person like me who sews. In fact, it's not a bad idea to have one in every room, along with a pair of reading glasses.

You never know when the urge to sew might strike.

I'm feeling a little under the weather today, so I'm going to make this short and post a few photos of interesting festival oddities.

A lovely free-form crocheted dress/tunic thingie.

Maybe just the thing for cruise formal nights.

These are most likely not on the TSA's approved for carry-on list.

Take a good look at this picture and tell me what you see. I'm pretty sure you see a very large, lazy sheep. I, on the other hand, see hundreds of Santa beards.

I'll be back soon. I'm off to find some Tylenol, and hopefully a little sympathy.

Not quite a clutter

I admit, I've been catting around. Too bad there isn't a holiday devoted to cats. I'd make a whole clutter.

At the moment, I'm making one in the same fabric as this one I sold on eBay a couple of years ago to a very nice woman in Boston. I named him Henry after my former neighbor's cat who looks very much like the cat on the fabric.

The piano (gifted as part of our pre-move de-cluttering process) now belongs to a very nice family here in Connecticut, with children who wanted to take lessons. I often wonder if they're still taking those lessons, or if they've given them up like I did long ago because my teacher had horribly bad breath. I'm sure if he'd had regular dental care, or at least a pack of mints, I'd be playing etudes and sonatas today.

I've also had a request to make an angel....a replacement angel.

Seems the original was given by a woman to her elderly mother as a gift. A few years passed and the mother died, and when the daughter went to retrieve it, it had gone missing. I mentioned this to Mr. Gadget at lunch today, and said it might be the first time one of my dolls has gone missing and I wondered if it was worthy of breaking news on CNN, like the balloon boy story. He didn't think so, but he did propose another possible scenario.

"Maybe she accompanied Mom up to the pearly gates," he said. "I think angels occasionally perform those kinds of duties. It says so in the Angel Manual."

"Well then," I said. "It's the first time one of my dolls has traveled that far. That's certainly worthy of the nightly news."

Now for a couple of random items.

It snowed here yesterday. It's much too early. It's gone today. Good riddance, I say.

Yesterday one of the condo worker guys spray-painted a white line on the dirt out from the building foundation next to us that has been awaiting framing. On one side he painted a "G" and on the other a "P". Mr. Gadget and I were having fun trying to decide what it all meant....but then the snow came and covered it up. Now that the snow has melted we have resumed our wondering. Thank goodness we won't be standing around wondering too long, as we have plans to meet friends for dinner.

So no cooking for me tonight. That means more time for catting.

Liar, liar, pants on fire!

I rode along with Mr. Gadget today on a trip to the tractor store, but I stayed in the car while he went in because I was pretty sure they didn't have fabric. Mr. G. wanted to purchase some oil for our new generator. Whereas I am totally content to sit and knit by candlelight for the duration of a power failure, Mr. Gadget--as you might surmise from the name I've given him--very quickly begins to fidget and soon develops withdrawal symptoms.

So, I decided to make another witch. You must know by now that I don't always tell the truth. Natasha's head was lolling around in the Treehouse calling to me. Here she is before her complete make-over.

And here she is awaiting her close-up. I'm warning you, you'd better brace yourself. In fact, assume the position flight attendants would instruct you to do in preparation for a hard landing.

I did warn you. It's a face only a mother could love, which is why I've decided to keep her. I'm thinking that if the scarecrow wears the Freddy Krueger mask and Natasha sits on his lap, I won't have to buy any Halloween candy.

Trip to the fair

Mr. Gadget and I took a drive up to the craft fair yesterday to see how my doll sales were going. It was a beautiful day and the fall colors were....well.....colorful! Please enjoy the photos. There are none of the craft fair. Somehow my camera was stuck to the bottom of my purse. I hate when that happens.

There were some leaf-peepers along the way, and a few lollygaggers too, but we didn't mind ambling along at 25 mph because I was quite sure these folks were all on their way to the craft fair to purchase one or several of my dolls.

I told Mr. G as we were driving that I was very anxious to see if the dolls were selling, since I'm considering making more dolls for their Christmas fair, and if things weren't moving I might be inclined to find something else to do. Maybe even knit.

After we walked in, I took a quick look around and was pleased to see how nicely my dolls were displayed. They were scattered around the old hotel just as I had hoped, and they were posed with some attitude, just as I had suggested. But I was disappointed to see so many of them still there midway through the second day of the show. Mr. G started to count. Thank goodness he didn't have a spreadsheet.

"How many dolls did you bring?" he asked. "I've counted 12."

"Seventeen," I said. "And I'm sure they didn't put them all out. I guess there's no point in making any Christmas dolls."

Before we left, I stopped by the check-out counter. I introduced myself and asked how my sales were going.

"Oh, your dolls have been quite popular," the check-out lady said. "We've sold quite a few....the bee, the frog, and some others. I was going to call you to see if you had more dolls at home." Huh?

"But the bee and the frog are still on display," I said, confused as all get out.

"Yes," she said. "But several have been spoken for and have sold stickers on them." Oh!

So Mr. Gadget and I--in a lighthearted mood-- headed home so I could get started on Christmas dolls.

"Would you like to stop at Jimmy's road kill, I mean street food, restaurant for lunch to celebrate?" he asked.

"No thanks," I replied. "I've got liver and onions in the fridge."

Moving along

It's almost Santa season here in the Treehouse and I already have a few underway.

I used to make Santas with black bead eyes, but this time I decided to draw them on. And what's a Santa without glasses? My usual way of applying beards is to make yarn bundles and glue them on across the face. This time I'm going to try something different to see if I can eliminate lots of yarn ends that fray. Santa should never be scruffy-looking; he should always look sharp and well-groomed for his numerous mall appearances.

So I'll be making beards and stuffing Santa boots for the next few days while I watch baseball with Mr. Gadget. We're big Yankee fans. I'm not sure how that happened exactly. I used to be a big Dodger fan while I was growing up in southern California. In fact, I would often take my transister radio to bed so I could hear the end of the games on school nights. I don't think my folks ever knew.

Back then, players stayed with one team for their whole careers, unless they were really bad and then they might get traded. Things are a lot different now and it irritates me. The teams that start the season in April rarely resemble the team that finished the previous October. It's all about big money now and the quick fix.

"I'm not going to be watching much baseball this year," I tell Mr. Gadget as spring training begins. "I hardly recognize anyone on the team." But then I watch a game or two--just to keep Mr. G company and to do a little knitting--and before you know it I'm hooked and cheering for all those strangers. By the end of the season, we've become old friends.

I guess there's just something about the game and the long season, not to mention all that knitting, that softens me up and makes me forget my springtime sentiments. I wonder if I could make bobble-head dolls?

"Ahhhh!"

he sighed in his gruff scarecrow voice. "This is much more comfy! Maybe if I ask politely she'll bring me a beer."

Just one more witch, I promise

She's just a little witch. I made her over the weekend for a friend. It's a Santa pattern I bought long ago, and I changed a few things. I had a piece of Halloween fabric with a border print in my stash and thought it would work well for this doll. I lined her hat with the non-border part....just black background with stars. Her scarf is cheesecloth that I quickly soaked in coffee and embellished with a silver spider.

Here's a better view of her hat. I stitched the hatband on and then glued on a little mum I had in my box-o-flowers. I was able to make her with fabric and supplies I had on hand....always a plus!

So, I've been pondering the placement of my scarecrow on the front porch.

I think he might be more comfortable seated, with his hands in his lap holding the pumpkin. I wouldn't want him to be intimidating to visitors and UPS guys and those Publishers Clearinghouse folks when they come to deliver my big check. I think I can re-arrange the straw in his legs so his knees will bend, and maybe remove some of those shoulder bones.

And then, when it's time for those pesky little grandkids of the residents to do their trick-or-treating here at the condos, I'll put the Freddy Krueger mask on him....

Sunday scarecrow

Big City Girl and I were looking forward to some mother-daughter scarecrow-making yesterday, but the weather didn't cooperate. Sadly, she couldn't stay over till today--the rain date. I wasn't sure I wanted to go by myself, and it was so not Mr. Gadget's thing. But finally I said to myself, "What the heck. Why not?"

Here's what a scarecrow skeleton looks like, in case you've always wondered.Hmmm......I'm not sure I'm doing this correctly. If only BCG were here. She would know.This family had the right idea. They made a witch. How hard could that be?

OK. Now I think I'm getting the hang of it. He's gonna be a real hunk.

But not nearly as hunky as her scarecrow. He gave me quite a fright when I turned around suddenly. Good thing I wasn't holding a hot cup of coffee or something.

Mostly the moms were dressing the scarecrows....with occasional help from their little hay handlers.

Here he is on the front porch. Not too bad for a first attempt. He could use a little tweaking, but can't we all? What do you think, BCG? Husband material?

Sneak peek

Soon they'll be off to the fair!

Beelinda the polka-dotted bee.

Finally, after a two-year wait, she got her wings.

Agnes.

She's not too thrilled. She fears she has a run in her stocking.

Trixie. She's got a spider on her clothes--just like the Pope.

The similarities stop right there.

Charlotte.

She got the wrong memo.

She thinks if she kisses a spider, he'll turn into a handsome prince.

Wilma.

She really wanted to be a red hat lady.

But at the last minute, something went terribly wrong.

Mr. Felix Frost.

I will request he not be put in a sunny window.

How sad to have hours of effort reduced to a puddle.