Happy Halloween!

You might think my kids never smile for the camera!

The smiles came later when their bags were full of sweet loot.

P.S. After seeing her brother's make-up, Rebecca wanted a goulish face too, but then agreed that Tinker Bell was not a stalker.

haha.

A Kountry Halloween

Have you gotten the viral e-mail with the subject line, "When Farm Boys Get Bored"?

It's full of photos depicting clever sculptures made from round and square hay bales dressed up with clothing or spray paint.

We have Bored Farm Boys just down the road from us.

:)

Now a quiz-

My children look less than happy in the photo because-

A. The sun is in their eyes.

B. The wind was blowing 40 miles per hour.

C. They feel like dorks posing for their mom.

D. All of the above.

This is a no brainer.

There's That Crow Again

Is there a bigger procrastinator than I? Raise your hand high. I want to hear your story. I am almost always operating in "last minute" mode. Take these Halloween cards. I made up 4 quickly yesterday in a last ditch desperation to get them into the mail so they will reach a few friends before Halloween. There is no point to them arriving Monday morning, after the fact!

I am not a huge Halloween fan, but I got this crow stamp a couple months and had to make something with it. That and some plastic mesh I salvaged from a produce purchase-- I had never seen it in orange before. So, back in September, I cut, glued and stitched a few of these designs with the vague idea of making tags or cards and left them in a pile on my sewing machine.

Fast forward to October 26. Only 5 days until Halloween! Suddenly making cards became a priority. I wasn't storing my crow concoctions another year, because they would most likely get lost and there was no guarantee I would want to do anything with them next year, if I did find them. Yellowed pages from Victor Hugo's, "Toilers of the Sea", some old, black, rick rack, some rubber stamping and voila!

Now to think about Christmas...

About Ruby Floy...

You just never know where the internet will lead you, or detour you.

This morning I selected my etsy shop from my browser menu, to visit and do some maintenance, and ended up on a Ruby Floy "search" page. My request could not be completed, even after I tried accessing my shop from my blog's sidebar.
AAaaaaaaaGGGgggghhh!
Locked out of my shop!
Wish there was a back window in the alley I could break into,
but this is the internet.

But I digress.
This post is about Ruby Floy.
The first failed attempt at accessing my shop brought up a search page.
Here I thought "Ruby Floy" was a unique name.
It's my husband's grandmother's name.
Ruby Floy Thompson.
She is 95 years old (her birthday was just last month!)
and lives in California.
Today I found out that Ruby Floy is also the name of an 81 year old woman living in Alabama, whose relations are named Loreitha, Josie, John and Derrick.
(Further info required a fee. My curiosity stopped there.)
I hope she won't expect royalties for the use of her name.
All I can offer her is a gift certificate to my shop.
And a thank you.
:)

The Big Reveal

A few months ago I sent out my antique linen, stitched with "kid art" girl to Linda (Texas), who added a charming bird and balloons and gave it to Virginia (Texas) who added a lovely house and sent it to Margaret (Switzerland), who stitched a shining sun and sent it to Carole (New Zealand), who stitched a crown, a tag and a fabulous butterfly and then sent it to Patty (Virginia, USA) who put the stars in the sky, a felted heart on the house and the words, "eat" and "play". And then my fabulous stitchery came home to me! Our big reveal was 2 days ago. Simultaneously scheduled by Linda.

And that is "Miss Nathalie's World" according to the Queen Bee 5, plus Virginia, (a guest stitcher I requested who is conveniently Linda's BFF, so my stitchery did not have to detour far in Texas). The following photos are in no particular order.


What a privilege to be swapping with such a talented group of girls!!!

Voila!

Carole...


Carole...

Carole...

One of Patty's twinkling stars.

"You are my Sunshine" too, Margaret!

Linda...

Virginia's house and Patty's words.

Oh and Patty also tied scraps of ribbons and fibers to my orange crewel yarn border.

A fun, whimsical finish to the piece!

You can find all of the Queen Bees in my side bar.

All are revealing their finished stitcheries and oh! by the way, today is Carole's birthday in New Zealand (it's already the 23rd there!). Stop by and wish her happy!

Happy Birthday Rebecca!

It was 6 years ago today that Rebecca Floy was born at 10:50 am. It was a Friday then too!

Happy Birthday, Sweetie!

How to Eat Worms

Well, in a teacup, of course!
Present in "dirt" (crushed Oreo cookies- the generic brands just won't do!) and layer with pudding of your choice, mixed with whipped cream or sour cream. It all tastes hideous, which is why my son wanted to make it and the kids were the only ones to eat it without grimacing, (way too sweet!) But the point is, it looks utterly cool!




So, if you are into the whole Halloween theme food thing, you just might buy a package of reduced fat Oreos (read, "less cream filling") and a couple bags of gummy worms. Your kids will be glad you did! Serve in chipped crockery. Most of my old teacups, used to serve this dirt cake, had broken handles and added to the decayed look. Crushing the cookies is the easy part if you have a sturdy plastic bag, a hammer and an eager 11 year old wanting to "help". Do not even bother pulling out the food processor!

Now go have fun!
And use your "good" china!

Just Say It!

Sorry for my disappearance.

Wish I could say I had been on a fabulous trip with the promise of many future posts of my adventures shown in beautiful images.

Nope, I've just been away on my daily journey as a wife and mother.

Can't say that I've done much art and my etsy shop is showing dust and cobwebs (and not because I am decorating it for Halloween!)

Here is a peek of something creative I have done.

I am the last to stitch on Linda's piece for our QB5 round robin.

The common "thread" (pun intended!) in all of my contributions in this rr has been words.

So it seemed only natural that I fill the void on Linda's stitchery also with some kind of quote or motto. And because I am making this up as I go along, it is taking awhile.

I started with a quote from a book on friendship, but now my starting word has taken up more room than I thought so I am altering my orginal plan.

I know it will all turn out looking great in the end, but I have to work it out as I go along.

*sigh*

I don't feel like I have the luxury of time, but at least this sampler doesn't have to be mailed over seas!

I can't wait to see and hear what everyone thinks of theirs!

Mine is sitting in it's envelope, waiting, unopened.

Patty mailed it to me before she left on her trip to California.

I am being real good!

AND If you are in the mood for stitching, but don't have lovely old linen, lace and buttons on hand, I have a kit available in my etsy to get you started! I only have two left!