Great Halloween Ideas

I happen to be a fan of the Martha Stewart show. Normally I tape a week's worth of the shows and watch them on Friday nights or anytime before the a new week of shows begin again. The old VCR is acting up and may be on it's last leg. So today I sat down and watched the show and wanted to share some thoughts on it.

Martha does a great job of sharing ideas for the holidays. She does have a wonderful staff of creative people helping with a great many ideas.

Today's show was all about Halloween, but with a theme from the movie "Where the wild things are". Costumes and decorations were all related to "wild things". There was a great buffet set up with interesting recipes for this holiday. Jimmy Fallon was the guest that Martha had share several dishes from the buffet.

I'm posting a link to that segment of the show that was filled with creative ideas for a wild party. Check out Martha's Buffet.

Halloween

This Saturday will be Halloween and the last day of October. The next day will not only usher in a new month but days will become a little shorter and darkness will come sooner. The weather should be good for "trick & treating". Hope we get kids from the community just next to us! Hope that "goblins" of all ages have a good time!

Back To The Workroom

Since returning home from Houston I'm finding it difficult to get back to work. Trying to get some ideas worked out for possible class submissions. Have several ideas bouncing around my brain.

Several ideas in beginning stages for possible classes. Two layouts ready to sew for "service quilts". One quilt on the quilt frame waiting to be finished. Once that one is complete, there are two more to quilt before Christmas.

Waiting to hear about some display projects to make for the winter CHA show for one of my favorite companies.

Lots on my plate!

Sunday With The Family

The sun was shining on this last Sunday of October. (How did this month pass so quickly?) The leaves have changed here and many have already fallen. Time now to clean things up and get ready for the winter season here in the Midwest.

This afternoon the kids came over. It's been awhile since we have all been together. With three grown children it's not easy to do. We live in a 55+ community and on the Sunday before Halloween we have a special day of "trick & treating" for the grandchildren of the residents. It's really a fun day and kids get tons of treats from all the grandparents.

It worked out great for us because we had extra hands to give us help putting things away and getting some other jobs done. Their payment was a nice hot, hardy soup and homemade pumpkin pie!

Thanks

This week I have been trying to get caught up with so many things. It's been a fairly busy week and I still have several things to get done.

I don't want another day to go by without sending out a "thank you". "Thanks" need to be extended to a variety of people. The first goes to my husband, Mike and my family. Their support and encouragement have been so important to all my creative endeavors. And Michael, thanks for making the trip, the sight-seeing and your help at festival. Special thanks to my friend Rebekah. It was fun sharing space for a couple of days and your help and of course, moral support. A very special thank-you to Judy Murrah, from Quilts, Inc. for giving me the opportunity to experience and participate at Quilt Festival.

Others that I need to give a huge shout of "thanks" to are: Nancy of Earth Safe Finishes, Julianna from Sizzix, Lisa from C & T, Chris from Walnut Hollow, Jacque from The Warm Company, Diane from Beacon Adhesives, Tim for sharing great products, Christin from National Nonwovens, Dawn from AMACO, Belinda from Pentel, your help and generosity was so greatly appreciated.

Lastly, I would like to say thanks to all of the people that participated in my classes and mixed media sessions. You made my first visit and teaching opportunity at Quilt Festival successful!

New Issue of Totally Creative

Check out Totally Creative magazine. The newest issue is now ready.

Quilt Festival

With this post I would like to share photos of only a few of the amazing displays this past week inHouston. I only wish that I could have taken photos of each and everything I saw at the show.

The designs, the colors, the textures, the techniques and the beauty of the quilts is something that I would like to share.

Some things of interest seen at the show was a display called "Fabric Forest". Panels representing tree trunks hung from the ceiling. Twenty-one quilters from Germany made the 33 panels to look like trees from the Black Forest. There was a collection of antique quilts that are always something to see because of the fact that you know these quilts were entirely made my hand. (The first quilt to the left was part of this collection. A version of "Gramma's Flower Garden, made with small hexagon shapes.) Another collection of antique quilts was titled "Text on Textiles: Words as design in antique quilts". A display of 20 quilts from Russia were beautiful. Kaleidoscope quilts by Paula Nadelstern were inspirational to see the manipulation of fabrics and colors. A wall of 32,000, 2 1/4 inch squares formed 21 panels that stretched a distance of 80 feet. It's title was "The Pittsburgh Friendship Quilt".

There are usually a handful of exhibits that do not allow photos to be taken. So unfortunately some of the above mentioned displays I was not able to share with photographs. Of course, there were way too many for me to photograph. They were all works of art!

Besides the quilts there were a variety of wearable art pieces, a whole exhibit of handmade cloth dolls, numerous smaller art quilts and several award winners.

If you ever have the chance to attend one of the shows put on by Quilts, Inc., you should try, it's like walking through any other art gallery.

Home Sweet Home

A very quick post tonight and photos will have to wait a day. We are home, safe and sound. Our flight out of Houston was delayed about one hour. We arrived home around 9:30 but the trip from Midway Airport to home was at least an hour ride.

Suitcases are unpacked but many things to still put away and laundry to do, but that will have to wait till later. I have many stories and photos to share and will very soon. Enjoyed the week but so glad to be home!