Hi! I am so busy around here that only now I am posting some Halloween pictures.
This year Brenda wanted to be Rapunzel. It was my first time sewing a princess costume. I used a Simplicity pattern.

We did a lot this Halloween. We  went to Disneyland.

And to our church's party.

Brenda had the school parade and class party on Halloween morning. Of course she went trick or treating at night.

She had the chance to wear her old witch costume at the school fundraiser party on the Friday before Halloween. I got a picture before we left.

This year our pumpkin was turned into a witch.

With spiders on her hair.

 We had some yummy treats, like this chocolate coffin our friend Jodie and her kids made for us.

How cool was that?

Around Halloween Brenda's best friend was baptized.

I made her a CTR towel. You can see more about CTR towels on this post .

On the weekend after Halloween  we went to the Children's Tumor Foundation's San Diego walk.

It was a fun event ! To learn more about Neurofibromatosis (NF) and how you can help, please click here .
Time goes so fast. I have lots to do before Christmas.
Right now I am working on knitted hats and quilts that will be donated by our church women's group to shelters in our area.
Thanks for stopping by!

 Ana Paula.

Slipcovers and fall decor

Hi! Several weeks ago I finally finished the slipcovers for my "new" dinning room chairs.
Well, they were not really new, but had good bones. That's a very good reason to make slipcovers.

I used the directions from this book I got at Joann.

The fabric is also from Joann. It was my first time making slipcovers and I am all excited to make more. :)

Now, a little bit of Fall decor. My friend Jodie gave me this super cute spider.

She made it using the pattern from the 2011 Holiday Crafts magazine.

I was lucky to find this vase with our family initial at Home Goods. The flowers are from Tai Pan Trading. I was looking for sunflowers, but when I found these poppies I changed my mind.

As I said on a previews post, i don't do a lot of Halloween decor, but when I find stuff like this little witch, I can't resist. Sorry for the bad shot.

It was a bargain I found last year at Ross.

And here is my last Cross Stitch Sampler to share.

This is the Autumn Sampler from Janlynn. I got it on e-bay and I love it ! It is my favorite of the three I have. The colors are beautiful.  I posted about the other samples here and here .

Sorry for another bad picture. I just can't get a good one from my framed cross stitch pieces.

Thanks for stopping by and have a happy and safe Halloween.

Ana Paula.

A Halloween Cross Stitch and a Fabric Pumpkin

Hello!
Today I have a couple of new things to share. The first one is  this Halloween mini pillow . The cross stitch pattern is from San Man Originals.

It was hard to find a matching orange print. I had the aida at home and got the bat fabric at a quilt show last Saturday. It is from Moda fabrics. I think next time I will do black and white... it will be easier to match the colors. I used tiny felt triangles for the fangs because I could not find the right buttons. I think it came out ok.

I am not big on decorating for Halloween, just a little thing here and there. Last night Brenda and I put spider webs over the plants outside. Halloween is fun.
And here is my new fabric pumpkin. With a real stem!

I made it using this great tutorial from The Simple Wife . It was fast and easy.  I had one stem from last year and will use all the ones I can get my hands on this year to make more pumpkins. I loved this project!

Thanks for stopping by! I have a lot of cleaning to do now.
Ana Paula.

Two new finishes

Hello!
I have two JBW designs finishes to share.
The first one is  Christmas Purse.

I wanted to finish it a little different. This is what I came up with.
I made a pillow using a gold dusted cotton.  With a dark red and gold fabric and the stitched piece, I made a "belt" tied with bows on both sides of the pillow.
I love the design and I think the finish looks very festive.

The second finish is  A Very Merry Christmas.

I finished it as a double flanged mini pillow. I saw some pictures of this kind of pillow finish online but could not find any tutorial. After a while I came up with my version. I am very happy with how it turned out.
I used two shades of green Christmas fabrics, and some gold buttons.

Maybe I will write a tutorial for this finish one of these days. :)
Thanks for stopping by.
Ana Paula.

Handmade Christmas Gift #1 and more

Hello!
I am starting working on several new projects. Some are Christmas gifts. So far I finished one.

This is the half way picture. And following, the finished scarf.

It is very simple pattern, since my knitting  skills are a little rusted.

It will be a Christmas gift  for my Mother-in-law. I love this shade of blue and hope she likes it too.

Now the projects I need to finish.

This will be one of the popular rainbow pencil rolls that are all over the net. I will use denim for the pocket and exterior.
Brenda will get it for Christmas. I will post the finished pencil roll when I finish.

And here are the 7" squares for a Christmas rag quilt. The back will be red flannel, and the top red corduroy  and the Christmas paper dolls fabric.

I also started a new crochet basket, this time using t-shirt yarn. But I run out of t-shirts and the basket will have to wait.
I have some other projects that will be finished soon.

Now, some new treats I got recently.

A friend gave me this beautiful Moda Jelly roll. It is from the Hometown collection. It is the first time a have a jelly roll and I am trilled. It is a quite pricey little thing, really a treat because I only buy fabric by the yard at Joann using a coupon. I never buy pre cut fabrics and  rarely buy fabric at other places.  I don't have many choices around here.
I am still deciding what to do with this beauty.

I was crazy for this magazine. The new Just Cross Stitch Magazine Sept/Oct.  My husband stopped by a Joann super store on his way from work to get me one. The two Joann's near by don't carry Just Cross Stitch.

And look what I got in the mail today. The Christmas Ornaments Special Issue and the new Halloween book. They are beautiful. I ordered about  two weeks ago!  Silver Needle was very busy.
As you can see, I have enough to keep me busy for a while.
Thanks for stopping by!

Ana Paula.

Summer and Little House on the Prairie Activities

I am back on blogging. Brenda started school yesterday and now I have more time. Lots of projects waiting! :)
I want to share some of my summer stuff. Yes, now when summer is almost over.
I really don't have a lot of summer decor items, but here it is.

This is my beloved  Summer Sampler in Cross Stitch.  I got it on e-bay. It is From Janlynn. I got both Summer and Fall Samplers from a Canadian lady.  A real bargain.

My friend Jodie made the seahorse and the picture frame I got at Hallmark.  The little sailor girl is from Boyd's Bears.

The picture of Brenda at the beach is in Brazil, about 4 years ago.
That was it.  I will do better next year.

Now...  we gave Brenda the first five books from Laura's Little House for her birthday.
We started to read the books together and I decided to do some related activities.
My inspiration was this :


"Wash on Monday,
Iron on Tuesday,
Mend on Wednesday,
Churn on Thursday,
Clean on Friday,
Bake on Saturday,
Rest on Sunday."

Little House in the Big Woods, pg 29

So, we started our work for the week, Ma's  style.
I was lucky to find a washboard at a Peddler's Market.

Our wash day was a blast! Brenda loved to scrub her doll's clothes.

She loved to hang the clothes too. She thinks doing laundry this way is so much fun.

For our Ironing day we used a Barbie iron. I could not find my vintage toy iron.

For mending day we did a  simple embroidery.

It was another favorite. She was very excited.

For Churning day we colored the cream like Ma Ingalls did. With grated carrots.

Now shake, shake, shake! After all the  shaking the butter was inside the container. Like magic!

Now it was ready to eat on bread.

 No pictures for cleaning day. It was a very hot day.
 For the baking day I made muffins... way too hot for Brenda to be at the kitchen.  Also, no pictures. Sorry.
For resting day, we went to church, as we always do. Here is Miss Brenda all ready to go.

She wants to do the activities all over again, specially washing day.
Hope you are enjoying your last days of Summer. Here in Southern California the heat will stay for awhile.
Thanks for stopping by!
Ana Paula.