Rock 'n Roll Halloween

Each year my office has a Halloween party that usually centers on a specific theme.  We all have lunch together and there are a few contests.  This year the theme was the 50s.  I thought I'd share with you a few photos from the day.

The kitchen was decorated like a rock and roll diner with records, cars, and fuzzy dice.  Since we're all getting a little older every year, I guess the idea of car hops on roller skates serving our food was out of the question; instead, we had two old school waitresses, Trixie and Madge.  (They won prizes for best couple or pair.)

The Blue Plate Special was meatloaf, mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy, mixed vegetables, rolls, and green jello with whipped cream.  Beverages were sodas and floats.  Dessert was a wide selection pies.  Yum!

Here are two of our attorneys--Elvis, and . . . well, I'm not quite sure, but that's the guy I'm working for now, the one on the right.  This Elvis--because we had two--won the hula hoop contest.  At the risk of sexual harrassment, I couldn't help but compliment him on his swiveling hip action.  I wonder if the REAL Elvis was as good with a hula hoop?

There were quite a few ladies--Pink Ladies, in fact--dressed in satin jackets, poodle skirts, and saddle shoes.  Here's the OTHER Elvis with one of the poodle gals.

This next couple won the award for most original.  The girl was about a foot taller than her nerdy boyfriend.  I'll tell you a little secret though.  The nerdy guy is really a girl--one of the secretaries at my office who is also an actress.  She's always a lot of fun at these things, because she's excellent with costuming and makeup and she manages to stay in character all day long.

Are you wondering about my costume?  You know, I just really can't see myself in a poodle skirt--or a skirt or dress of any kind if I can avoid it.  Been there, done that, don't like it.  And I've never been too fond of the 50s as an era.  And I'd rather not spend the time messing with a costume I'm not excited about when I could be sewing instead.  So I chose to interpret the theme a little bit differently.

I didn't win any prizes, but I DID get a few laughs, and I bet I was one of the most comfortable people at work today.

I hope you had more treats than tricks for your Halloween.

How Could I Forget?

As I was playing in the Sweat Shop tonight, I was sort of thinking about Halloween and how quickly this month has passed, when I suddenly remembered I was supposed to post the latest Comfort & Joy block at some point!  Yikes!  How late WAS I?

Well, I checked my email and found I was supposed to have shown you the block two days ago . . . but the other problem is that I haven't even started it yet.  So I won't be showing you this next block anytime soon, but you certainly CAN check it out over at Anne's blog--she has hers to show and no-blog Sandy's, and there are also links to other participants who I hope had better memories than I did this month.

In case you were wondering what I was playing with in the Sweat Shop . . . well, now that Halloween is here, it's time to think about Christmas.  I'm always drawn to simple, traditional red and white quilts and I don't really have any, so I grabbed the huge pile of red and white half square triangles that were leftover my red and white flying geese blocks I made a couple months back and started trimming.  If my math is correct, I should have about 240 half square triangles from the geese, so I trimmed up the first 48 and laid them out like this:

Then I thought about what I'd want to put in the center, and it occurred to me a white star on a red background might stand out nicely, so then I rotated all of those half square triangles so the red was facing the center, and now it looks like this:

I kind of think a white star on a red background will stand out more than a red star on a white background, which is what I'd have to make with the first lay out--IF I wanted a star center.

With 240 half square triangles altogether and each block needing 48 of them, I'll have enough to make four large blocks with some leftover half square triangles (actually enough to make five blocks, I think but how would I arrange FIVE?).  And I think the best way to do this one is going to be to put all of these half square triangles up on the design wall before sewing them together.  Can you tell this project might take me awhile?  Yep, I can too.

So, tomorrow night--Halloween night--between the Trick-or-Treaters, I'll take down and fold away the stuff that's on my wall now and start putting up 2-1/2" half square triangle blocks.  I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Happy Halloween!

She Says Catsup, They say Ketchup,

but what I'm really talking about is catch up!  Okay, bad word play, I know, but I like to play with words, so I couldn't let it pass.  I just want to announce that I'm finally caught up with the County Cottages BOM--for about another week, I think.  Here's the October block:

I really like the design of this block with the pumpkins and corn stalk.  Originally I thought I'd want to make my October house orange, but that would have been too much orange with the pumpkins too, so I held back.  I wonder what we'll have for November?  A turkey, perhaps?  Two more blocks and we'll have all of them made for this one.

All of you back east are in my thoughts, and I hope the current storm, Sandy, doesn't do as much damage as they predicted or linger too long.  So far, it's hit just as hard as expected, but it seems the flood waters are already starting to go down, so they're hopeful the worst is over.  If you've been hit by the storm . . . well, you may well have lost power and not be reading this at all, but if you are, hang in there. 

It's Apple Time

In my ongoing effort to catch up with the several block of the month projects I'm behind on, I finished the September Country Cottages block--and September's focus was apples!

How appropriate then that I also visited Apple Hill this weekend!  I've told you about Apple Hill before--it's an area in the foothills near Placerville with a large number of apple orchards and farms that open up to the public, primarily in the fall.  On weekends, may of the farms rent spaces to craft vendors, and visitors travel from apple farm to apple farm, getting outside and enjoying the weather, eating apple desserts and other goodies, and purchasing fresh fruit and veggies as well as bottled and jarred specialty items, like sauces, dressings, olives, pickles, etc.

I picked up my friend Imelda early Saturday morning, and our first stop was High Hill Ranch where we browsed the craft booths, sampled some apple wine, and fought crowds in order to purchase yummy fudge and caramel at the fudge shop next door.

We planned to stop at Grandpa's Cellar next and Boa Vista last, but as we were passing Boa Vista, we spotted a perfect parking spot, so we pulled in.  At Boa Vista we ate BBQ'd tri tip sandwiches and purchased apple cider and dough balls--balls of pie dough already made and ready to roll out.

It was a beautiful day with blue skies and temperatures in the 70s.

We also bought unbaked apple turnovers to bake at home.  I'd love to show them to you, but they're  gone now.  BUT . . . I still have dough balls, so I suppose I could make more!

Our last stop was at Grandpa's Cellar.  Not only do they have a bunch of preserves, syrups, and other goodies, but . . .

they sell a lot of kitchen gadgets, and I'd been looking for a couple things I was able to find there.

I very nearly bought one of these aebleskiver pans.  I had it in my basket, but then I heard Hubby's voice--I swear it sounded like he was right behind me--asking me why I bought one of those things and where I thought I was going to store it.  The problem is that our kitchen space is small, so unless I think I'll use something often, I really have no business buying it and bringing it home.  I hate it when I hear Hubby's voice when he's not even THERE, and I've asked him to please stop it, but he doesn't listen, so I'm sure I'll continue to hear his voice when I least want to.

The other couple of kitchen gadgets I bought are small and have a purpose, so I was okay with them.  No nagging Hubby.

By the time we finished at Grandpa's Cellar, it was after 1 p.m. and the crowds were getting thick.  Traveling by car on one of the main roads was very slow as traffic had backed up and was proceeding at a crawl, so we figured it was time to leave Apple Hill and make a few other stops on the way home at various shops, including a quilt shop and Hobby Lobby.  By the time we pulled up in front of my friend's house, the back seat of the car was filled with bags.  Judging by our loot, yep, I'd say it was a very successful AND fun day!

Little Bites--

Now that I think about it, isn't "Little Bites" the perfect pattern line name for this Halloween time of year?

Tonight I randomly picked a winner, and that winner was lucky number 11--Karen said:

"Kim, I would love to win this pattern. I follow you regularly through my google reader. I'll be sure to check back Sunday. Thanks!"

That's Karen there.  I thought maybe I should "grab" her photo too, in case there were any other Karens who entered--because I only have enough patterns for one Karen and I didn't want any confusion.

Congratulations, Karen!  Please email me your mailing address and I'll get it in the mail to you right away.  Thanks for entering, everyone!

Less Hair or More?

I was watching TV tonight and there was Brad, selling perfume.  Over the years, he's been a strong presence on my To Do list.  For quite some time now, I've thought that if it wasn't for Angelina, it would be me and Brad.  But you know what?  I don't really like the long hair, do you?

It's not that I don't like long hair on men--I DO like it on some men.  But I think I prefer my Brad with shorter hair.



So if anything ever happens with Angelina and Brad realizes he's destined to be with me, first thing I'm going to have to do is cut his hair.

Second thing I'm going to have to do is . . . well, never mind.  Which is your favorite Brad?  To make things easy, because I know you don't like that word verification thing, I've posted a poll in my sidebar so you can weigh in.  That's not to say you can't comment too--you can, of course and I hope you do.  But the poll is an easy option.

And speaking of polls, maybe next week I'll have a new poll, so start thinking:  If Brad Pitt and George Clooney were both running for President of the United States, and neither was affiliated with any political party, who would you vote for?  Kinda makes you think, doesn't it?

So Let's Do This . . .

I felt slightly . . . VERY SLIGHTLY . . . more motivated in the Sweat Shop tonight.  I got started a little late though.  I'm not a big baseball fan, but living in northern California and being surrounded by big baseball fans, I couldn't help but watch some of the World Series game while having dinner, and then lingering in the living room with Hubby, watching until the game ended.  Go GIANTS!

So, eventually I made it into the Sweat Shop, but I don't really have anything to show you yet since I spent much of my time looking at stuff and figuring out what I wanted to do next.  I finally settled on the Country Cottages BOM (by Shabby Fabrics)--I last finished August, so I have September and October to catch up on.  And, by the time I turned out the Sweat Shop light, I had the fabrics picked out and had started prep on the September block.  I think my applique finger is just about ready to go back into battle.  So . . . another day or two, and maybe I'll have something to show.

In the meantime, I realized when I was looking through my stuff that I'd never done a giveaway of the Little Bites pattern, Speck.  Remember I made this one?

I still haven't quilted it but I will . . . eventually.  The pattern gives a couple different options for making "X"s or "O"s, and some people, as you may have seen on Sinta's or Sherri's blogs when they had the "parade" at the beginning of October, did a combination of both or made the blocks into table runners and other things--there are lots of options.  And these Little Bites patterns use the new precuts that measure 2-1/2"--if you have some and wondered what to do with them, now you know!  OR, you could do what I did and cut a charm pack into 2-1/2" squares--each 5" charm makes four 2-1/2" small squares.

So, are you interested?  If so, you just need to do two things:  (1) Leave me a comment telling me you'd like to be entered in the drawing and (2) come back here on Sunday to see whose name I picked when I closed the drawing on Saturday night.  Because I won't contact you directly--you have to come back and check.  Silly, I know, but at least I know the people who win my drawings are people who actually VISIT me here and aren't just people searching for random giveaways, right?  It's kind of like "you must be present to win."

If you're interested in these little patterns and don't win mine, or even if you DO win, you might want to check out Carrie Nelson's blog--she's been making up some cute Little Bites pattern projects HERE.  Good inspiration for other things to do with these patterns.  You can also purchase these patterns direct from Carrie Nelson HERE.  [And did you see the link she has in that blog post to a free variation on the Tidbit pattern?  Yep, she's good that way.]  Oh, and you can also buy from her PDF/emailed versions of each of these patterns, so it's just like being in a quilt shop and buying a pattern right then and there, except you don't have to drive anywhere or even comb your hair.  No waiting for the mail unless that's the way you'd prefer to get your patterns.

So, anyway, if you want a chance to win Speck, leave me a comment and tell me you want it.  Thanks for visiting me!

What Happened to the Rain?

On Monday, we had a big storm with tornadoes and funnel clouds touching down in the somewhat rural areas surrounding Sacramento.  I didn't walk that morning.  More rain was expected Monday night although it would be dryer on Tuesday.  Again I didn't walk on Tuesday--I didn't even get up early, thinking it would still be rainy.  Nope, clear as a bell.  They also predicted Wednesday would be just as stormy as Monday, so again I didn't get up to walk.  And again, except for a few light sprinkles, we saw no substantial rain on Wednesday.

I mentioned yesterday that I thought I'd give my applique finger a rest and do something other than applique tonight.  It occurred to me that if it was going to be stormy, it might be a nice night to put on my warm jammies and go to bed early with a good book and a cup of hot chocolate.  But as it turns out, no rain.  And at 8:30 p.m., it's still about 60 degrees out, which isn't exactly HOT, but I'm not sure it justifies flannel and hot chocolate either.  The mood just doesn't feel quite right.

So I wandered into the Sweat Shop, turned on the TV, and sat there for about ten minutes wondering what I wanted to do.  Nothing.  Blah!  If I was a kid, I'd have been whining to my mom about having nothing to do.  It felt exactly like that.

So I think I WILL go to bed early and read.  And maybe a chocolate chip cookie will feel more "right" than a cup of hot chocolate.  And maybe, just maybe, I'll go to sleep early enough to make getting up and walking in the morning an attractive idea.  I just checked the weather forecast and there's no rain expected--sunny and clear all day (well I should qualify the "sunny" part--it will be sunny after 7:25 a.m. when the sun rises).

Goodnight!

And Another One . . .

I finished another little wallhanging tonight.  This is the OTHER little project I'd done that I offered as a possibility to my daughter, but she chose the pumpkin.  Of course, this one IS Halloween, so its shelf life is considerably shorter--in fact, I guess I'll only be able to enjoy it for about another week before it's packed away for a year.

I'm planning to put this one up at my desk at the office . . . for a few days, at least.  Up until now, I've had a summer-themed wallhanging on my wall, and I keep thinking it's just sooooooo wrong; now I'll be able to replace it.

Again, this was simple enough to finish; I even used the same border fabrics I used on the Wild Child's wallhanging.  It sure feels good to get these two little projects done, finally!

My applique finger has been sore the last couple of days, so I'm not sure what I'll work on next.  Maybe it will feel better tomorrow, or maybe I'll find a piecing project or a quilting project to work on.  Of course, I'll show you whatever I settle on.  "See" you then!

P.S.:  This is a free design from Bird Brain Designs.  You can find it HERE.

A Rose by Any Other Name

Just before I sat down to write tonight's post, I offered to serve Hubby and myself the last two servings of the pots de creme I made Saturday night.  To Hubby, these little bowls of chocolate heaven are "pudding."  Pudding!  Pudding is something Bill Cosby sells that comes in cardboard boxes, to which you add milk, beat, and refrigerate.  Hubby's clearly a caveman and should not be allowed to enjoy pots de creme.  I think if I make these again, I'm going to make up a batch of pudding for him, and I'll keep the pots de creme for myself.  Pudding!  Sheesh.

Tonight I made this little wallhanging for the Wild Child:

The center applique is something I made last year as a learning project when my friend Imelda taught our stitchery group her method of starch and glue applique.  When the Wild Child was here for Soccer Son's wedding, I asked if she'd like one of two little projects that I had languishing in the Sweat Shop--I told her I could finish it up for her to hang in the standing metal frame I gave her last Christmas.  Of the two projects, this was the one she picked.  I really thought I'd get to it a couple weeks ago, but there were other projects to get done first.  Good thing she picked the project that's more generically "fall" and not Halloween!  So tonight I finally added the borders, quilted it, and bound it--a fairly fast and simple little project.  Tomorrow I'll get it in the mail to her along with all the junk mail that's been accumulating here the last couple weeks.  I'll also send her the newest issue of Food Network magazine--it's their Thanksgiving issue.  Did I tell you Hubby and I are going to spend Thanksgiving up at her place this year?  That's the plan so far, anyway.  I know she and Manager Man are talking about what to cook, so the magazine may be helpful.

Well, I guess I should also mention that I got up this morning, got dressed, and put on my shoes to walk, but when I opened the door, I realized it was raining out.  I'm just NOT that dedicated a walker, so I took my shoes off and fixed myself a cup of coffee instead.  The weather people think it will rain off and on throughout the night tonight but should clear up by the morning commute; I don't think I trust them enough to get up early again on the chance I'll be able to get out and walk, so I'll postpone my morning exercise for the next day or two.  Besides, some of the rural areas around Sacramento saw tornados and funnel clouds today, and I'd hate to get whirled away accidentally just for the sake of exercise, you know?  It's supposed to rain heavy again on Wednesday like it did today so maybe more tornados then, but they say by Thursday the weather should be better.

I guess if I'm not going to be able to walk in the morning, it's a good thing we don't have any more pots de creme.  Or pudding.