Halloween costume sneak peak

Sydney thought she'd be the Mad Hatter but then changed her mind.

Now she's working on an Aphrodite costume.

And for Jasper... well see if you can figure it out. Mustache to follow...

Halloween

The Halloween gnomes and cat were made using patterns from Feltcraft by Petra Berger.

Pumpkin time

We made felt pumpkins using a basic ball pattern from Feltcraft by Petra Berger. The big pumpkin was made with 10 sections and the smaller ones with 6 sections.

For the stem, I improvised with green felt using a pipe cleaner to give it support. Then we stuffed the ball and stem with batting.

The small ball is a great sewing project for kids as young as 5 years old. Use embroidery floss and an embroidery needle so if kids poke themselves, it's not so sharp.

The quality of the felt is important so we try to get 100% wool felt. It's a lot nicer to work with and can make these pumpkins everlasting. A Child's Dream Come True is a good source for natural 100% wool felt.

Joshua Tree

We took a couple of days last week and went camping in Joshua Tree National Park. We hiked boulders and ate by firelight.

And then we saw this guy walking around the boulders... a huge taranchula!

Farm fresh

At the Abbot Kinney Street fair last week we signed up for Farms Fresh To You. An intimidating box of beautiful vegetables and fruit arrived tonight.

After considering many possibilities we made fresh salsa with heirloom tomatoes, cilantro and onions.

Then we simmered the radishes, turnips and carrots in some water with butter, salt and sugar. We boiled the fingerling potatoes then added salt and olive oil.

Fantastic dinner. Lots more to cook up tomorrow night.

Kites

Sunday we were at the Annual Japan American Kite Festival in Seal Beach. We flew kites and Jasper swan with a seal.

Urban Adventure

On Saturday we headed into Santa Monica to Wild Fiber yarn shop. In their parking lot was a Wensleydale Longwool sheep and an Angora goat brought to the Westside from Temecula by Namaste Farms. Inside the shop were bags of beautifully dyed yarns from the animals. We even attempted to spin their wool.