Hallowe'en 2026

Truly a bizarre night:  Hallowe'en was warm and there was no rain and very little wind!!!  This is the only October 31st that we can remember when we were not fighting the elements or brushing off snow before hauling in the wet and wind-whipped decorations!  

It was spook-tacular and we looked great...

In the end we only had 41 trick 'r treaters, which I think was due to the fact that it was a Saturday.  It was a good thing I started doubling the chocolate handouts early on or we would have been left with far too much!!!  There were some great costumes, police and firefighters were the obvious favorites... I did not have even one Spiderman, though.  

The next night we set up to receive the invited dead...

Our Day of the Dead altar, with treats for humans, dogs and even the hamsters and birds that were part of the family.

It is something that is really missing in our culture:  to set aside one night to remember our lost loved ones and think about them, share a treat and honour what they meant to us.  

It's a wonderful opportunity to reflect on what's important and be grateful for all the good times, past, present and (hopefully) future!

I hope you enjoyed Hallowe'en and had some spooky fun and that the Day of the Dead offered you a renewed sense of peace and belonging.

Artisan Showcase 2026

For the Artisan Showcase on September 26th, I needed to have something new to demonstrate needle felting.  I wanted something big and bold, bright and colorful... 

So I made the sun!  

Then I made the moon!

And at the show, along with my main table...

...they looked great!

Thank you again to Carol Vair for inviting me to participate, it's a wonderful opportunity to share what I love to do.

Inspiration

I've written about inspiration here before, and it can be surprising how quickly you can go from "stuck" to "Voila!"  

I wanted to make simple mice for a long while but somehow it never happened.  Then, while we were on vacation in Kincardine, this stunning fibre was found in a lovely shop on the main street.  On a top shelf in Stilara there was a basket of fluff... 

I was immediately drawn to it... but walked away.  I have so much fibre already!!  But I went back the next day, probably because the color matches my sweet Zorro so well!  Look at that!  

Once I had the fibre, everything fell into place.  Kinny was born that same day!  

I'm terrible at replicating my work, so the next three mice were all different!  Stilara, Cameron and Baby were all completed in time for the Artisan Showcase and all three found new homes.

That's Stilara, Cameron, Baby and Kinny from left to right.

Even unborn, Baby was super photogenic.  

Once she was finished, there was no stopping that adorable little creature!

Still, Kinny is my favorite and I'm glad I kept him!

Finishing touches

So this is my first post for 2026... I like writing this blog but I find it hard to justify the time since so few people read it.  I suppose I write it for myself.

Anyway, just a quick one:  finishing touches!  What a difference they make!  Take a look at these two photos:

Adding the green napkins introduced a bright color and also realism.  I cut these from an actual napkin, separating the layers and using the edge that had a little embossing.  

The idea (or realization) came from the haunted food I ordered through etsy (another post on that later!).  One of the dishes arrived with a wee folded napkin and I thought it was very clever.  Thanks again to the ladies of PiccoliSpazi for planting the seed that spawned this improvement.

Bump in the Night: Hallowe'en 2025

It was a dark and stormy night... well, it's true.  The wind was terrible and we had to take in some of the decorations before they got ruined.  I didn't have much out on the lawn this year and the weather didn't permit adding much more.  Of course, we were still decorated more than most houses and looked good but I wish Mother Nature would be a little kinder to us spooks!  

Anyway, it was cold, very windy and started to rain again around 7:30.  We still had 59 trick or treaters, which is about normal.  There were some imaginative costumes!

The next day, our Day of the Dead celebration was sombre and beautiful, and there were treats laid out for everyone.  The dogs were restless, so I think we did have some visitors.  

Before Hallowe'en, I did needle felt a rather special fellow, a new addition to my perpetual spooky decor.  He started out as a rather large, white blob:

I used polyester fibrefil because I still have bags of the stuff and it felts super fast.

I then began carving out and shaping his face, building on the nose and cutting out the eye holes.

I wanted a yellow rind so I poked on a lovely bright yellow fine Merino where the orange flesh would have been cut away on a real pumpkin.

Then it was time for the orange fibre!  Gosh, I love the shading!!  It's "Orange" Brecknock Hill Cheviot from akara.

I went through my stash of pumpkin stems and found this one that suited him well.  I drilled a hole into the base and screwed in a skewer.  The skewer was then jammed into the top of the pumpkin (with the help of an awl) and it's quite secure.

It took some time to cover the entire pumpkin with the orange and in the meantime I played around with what I could use for eyes.  I had bought ping pong balls for another project but now they seemed the perfect choice for this guy!  I added small black plastic Teddy Bear eyes with posts and used the holes in the posts to attach strings that could be used to secure the eyes... but they are in the sockets pretty good and it's fun to move the eyes around so I didn't attach the strings.

But he was looking too friendly for my liking... what to do?

I started to experiment with colors and this combination seemed to bring out the creepy in my Jack!

Along with some pumpkin carving plastic teeth and the real stem, Bump became a first class Jack o'Lantern!  

We felt very safe on Hallowe'en with Bump guarding our house.  

Beach House Part 14: Come join us!

The beach house is ready!  The furniture is finished and only extra details will be added in the months (and years!) to come.  

So here it is!

  The beach and the doors opening onto the sand...

The beach house, waiting for us to return from our walk on the beach...

The garden, sheltered from the winds and the sun...

...by a lovely stone wall covered in blooms, enclosing a pond inhabited by fish, turtles and a lizard (and some rabbits nibbling the grass).

How am I getting such nice, clear photos?  With good lighting from the strip lights I found on Amazon.  These battery powered lights are taped to the underside of the shelf and turn on with a handy button.

You can see how important good lighting is in this Youtube video, where I get to turn on the sun on my beach!

Ta-da!  A dream come true!  

Beach House Part 13: a place for books!

 Here we are so far:  

If you know me, you probably notice something is missing... books!  There's nothing here to read!  No crafts or games either.  And no place to put them.  So this room desperately needs a coffee table with a shelf at the very least. 

I couldn't find what I wanted so I decided to build the table.

From a kit, I scavenged the table top and shelf and for the legs I pulled out the little square sticks again.  

The legs were made to support the shelf and make it nice and sturdy.  

I used watered down acrylic paint to "stain" the table before going further with the construction.

And there it is, with lots of room for our books, games and pastries!

But you can never have enough books, and there are three of us, so...

I built a wee little plant stand with a shelf...

...that just fits by the door!  I think 5-6 books should fit on there...

Next:  the end?  Only for now!