Halloween Awesomeness

Who needs to search Pinterest for ideas at Halloween when Julie throws the awesomest parties with the coolest treats and the best decorations?  All bow down to the Queen of Themed Parties!

The tacos are looking at you...

Sweet little cheeseball pumpkins!

The cupcakes had all been stabbed

Mini-Mounds bugs are too cute, but I'll leave the coconut for others

Peanut butter eyeballs... I could have eaten these all night!

Cute ornaments on her Halloween tree

A mummy walking a spider?  Adorable!

All Natural Yarn

Pretty Planner

Last year, by BFF sent me a gift certificate to order myself a pretty personalized planner for Christmas. This year I debated about the expense, but finally decided that if it made me happy, it was worth it to order another Erin Condren notebook planner.  I eagerly watched the package's progress via FedEx and was super excited to find it on my doorstep last Friday!

New colors this year, but the same cute box!

The design is called "Peacock" in green and teal

By the end of the night, all birthdays and anniversaries had been added

It's not big enough to curl up and nap *kitty pout*

Belated Flat-Fold Reveal

It's been how long since I posted?  And how many posts do I have floating around in my head?  All I can say is life is crazy busy, and when I get home, the computer usually stays off.

Anyway, back at the end of September, the other stitching Karen gathered a few of the local stitchers together for a flat-fold class.  What is a flat fold?  It's a way of framing cross stitch.  By the way, the piece I framed was lovingly stitched for me by HistoryDiva a few years back.

All of the pieces waiting to be assembled

A line-up of flat-folds from our class

The Knit Wit is temporarily at home on the mantle, next to a stack of
almost finished knit projects I need to keep out of reach of kitty paws...

The Countdown Returns

The Tomato Cafe & Tea Room

Dave and I just got back from a week-long beach vacation in Florida. Using the wonderful TeaMap Directory, I located a tea shop in Havana, about an hour north of our final destination.  We made a late afternoon stop at The Tomato Cafe & Tea Room on the drive down.  Dave tried a Gingerbread Creme black tea, and I ordered the Snickerdoodle black tea.

The verdict: Dave liked his tea, and I really wanted to like mine, too.  It smelled wonderful, but it tasted funny.  I realized the next day that the problem was the Florida tap water when I brewed one of my regular teas for breakfast and couldn't force myself to finish it.  Unfortunately, the Tomato Cafe didn't seem to have tea for sale loose-leaf or in teabags.  This probably won't be a stop on future road trips unless I bring bottled water for them to use for my tea, and sadly this has confirmed that I am a tap water snob...

Summer Stitching

Finishing the Sewing Room has allowed me to start a new
cross stitch project.  What is it?  Wait and see...

Using a double-strand of red chenille yarn makes a nice winter scarf

Finished in August: A fuchsia chenille scarf and a
child's fringed scarf in some purple remnants from previous projects

Knitting patterns: Crushed-Velvet Scarf from Simple 1-2-3 Knitting Scarves (red scarf), Easy Scarf in Faggot Stitch (fuchsia scarf), and I honestly don't remember the pattern for the purple remnant scarf because I frogged it so many times--I was trying to make a full-sized scarf from the remnant yarn, but I finally gave up, added a fringe, and dubbed it a "princess scarf" for some lucky little girl...