The Spooky House and Other Stuff

This morning the Spooky House got picked up and transported to Hawthorne School for the month of October. Last October the house was the guest of the Curtis Library. The kids just love the skeletons, spiders and bats that decorate the house. The windows are decorated with Sculpty "sunflower" seeds I made last year. I swirled black and white clay together and then made small-- findernail size-- seed shapes and baked them. Click to see larger.

Last night I had "plans" for showing and telling how to make your own Spooky House. If there is interest I will do it. If not. Not. It's really just a cardboard box all jazzed up. And it has lasted far longer than I anticipated. Those of you who read Martha Stewart Living will recognize the house--Martha had a much smaller one for sale in her catalog. Well, I like bigger so I made my own.

Another Subject. That Hand, Foot, Mouth virus I had in late June/early July is still causing problems. Now my fingernails are showing a "bubble" that must have started with the virus and is now causing the nail to crumble and peel. My beloved long, red, gel nails had to be removed. After years (we think nearly nine or ten) I have short nails and am typing with the pad of my finger--which feels really weird. Looking at my plain, not so pretty nails isn't pleasant either. They don't hurt, but the nail is thin and I could hurt myself if not careful.

My garden is being "put to bed" for the winter and in a few weeks G and I will be shredding garbage cans full of leaves to blanket the raised beds. I need to buy lime for the garden to sweeten the soil over the winter. I also need to call and get replacement raspberry bushes. Five of the 12 didn't survive. I just hope G's weekend off coincides with dry leaf time. He works one weekend and is off the next. I'm not liking this aspect of the job.

I covered each of my trash formations with tulle or net and I'm just going to stitch a grid pattern over the top. The tulle will hold all the bits down (I'll need to press it with the iron and put in a few pins to hold everything together, but this is easier than using glue). And with the condition of my nails--glue is out for a while. I used lavender, pink and navy tulle.

I have to admit that yesterday I stood in front of my fabric closet and looked at the absolutely FULL shelves and felt defeated. How on earth can I ever use all of it to make wonderful things? There is just too much. And lately, the pieces I've been working on, use so little. I start with a small pile of fabric and scraps--make a piece and it seems like the pile I started with is the same size--or possibly bigger. You would think the pile would disappear.

The only real way to use up large amounts of fabric is to make bed size quilts. UGH! I can't even begin to describe the agony that would be for me. I love the finished product but the tedious, repetitive work---oh, I just can't do it. I will have to drag each piece of fabric out and cut a strip or two from them for my trashy pieces. So many of the fabrics are so cute. All those cheerful dots.

I've also been thinking about this blog--as my Blog-o-Versary is on October 14th. I'm thinking I should be more serious. You know--indepth stuff, how to's with pictures, philosophic discussions on aging, art and society. Right.