Happy Holidays! 
Do you have a favorite window? This is the view from mine today. It is so beautiful with the snow coming down. We can usually see deer from this window and birds fleeting around. What can you see from your favorite window?
Em and I have happily worked on our little gingerbread kit house. Icing came in a bag and was a mess to work with, we used our fingers mostly. :-)
We had a lovely first snow this morning. It is all melted off this afternoon but it was so pretty coming down, landing on the branches of this hemlock in the yard. It was just gorgeous! And speaking of gorgeous, check out these new mittens that my mom knit up for me. :-) She is such an accomplished knitter, a whiz. I got the pattern (from Spilly Jane Knits), the yarn from Knitpicks and Mom knit them up for me. I am in love with them, clapping my hands delightedly. I was out in the yard in sweats early this morning just so I could enjoy them in the first snow. :-)
Here they are!! Yeah!!
Straying from the pattern I added some decorations to the bottom of the girl gnome's apron and changed the colors of the hair and beard.
The yarn I used was the palette yarn from KnitPicks (fingering weight). The facial yarn color wasn't perfect, a little dark or something but it works OK, I think.
The pumpkins are made by none other than Meg--her own pattern. :-) 
Step right in........
Our Emmy saw the countdown calendar for Halloween in a Pottery Barn catalog and wanted it so badly for this year. Halloween is one of her very favorite holidays. I asked her why she didn't make one of her own and with the artful spirit I love about my girls she set to. She even parted with some of her allowance to purchase orange felt. She designed the house, pockets, windows, etc. and I helped with some last minute sewing, ghost & number-making, along with rod-pocket and stick-cutting.
Each numbered pocket can hold candy but I am going to put a little note in each with directions for Em to seek out the treat and possibly a trick or two. :-)
Em even planned out the window opening for the last Halloween night to reveal the hidden 13th night pocket. We added the ghost last night.
We took a trip this weekend to see more fall colors. This is Holmes County, Ohio where many Amish families have lived for a long time. Their well-kept farms are beautiful with the autumn colors in the background. We saw lots of groups of Amish walking on the roadside, on bicycles and in horse-drawn buggies. I kept myself to descreet peeking, though I longed to stare, especially at the children. Taking pictures was more fun than usual because there aren't as many telephone poles. Telephone poles and wires have become a real visual menace--hate 'em. (tho I like my electric lights--thank you very much) :-) 
We took a short drive in our county this weekend and marveled at the beautiful trees and loving the shape and color of the clouds that day. The clouds made the sun sharpen onto some of the hills and intensify the color.
We all went to a community art night and made bowls for a charity event. I fear mine will not be among the desired bowls when auctioned. I just flat out stink at sculpting! The above is supposed to be a fish---I hope whomever glazes/paints it makes it look better. It was fun though and wish I could have tried throwing a pot on a wheel--it was uber crowded in that room. I guess everyone wanted to send the clay whirling in circles. :-)
Looking around the net, I stumbled upon the coolest of ideas from Robin Romain at Rawbone Studio. I saw a string of orange and black skulls she had done on the blog Feeling Stitchy and wanted to make one of my own in all different bright colors. Robin sells her many strings of skulls on her Etsy site. Very Cool!
The sun came out but sadly the close-ups aren't that great. Oh, well.......... :-)
The sun is not shining (but for a moment this morning when I took a picture of my new favorite spot), and the rain will start raining so I think I'll stay inside on this cold, grayish, damp day. Where are Thing One and Thing Two or a Cat in a Hat???
Autumny doll quilt top done......now to the binding and backing. These are the parts that I dread the most. Loving the nesting dolls still! :-)
Moda's Hello Betty collection. I love the dots and can hardly wait to use the fabric. I have never gotten a jellyroll of fabric strips before and am not sure how to use them. I think I will look around the blogs for all the great idea's.
A little garden vege from good neighbors of my parents. Mr. & Mrs. M have lived and farmed in the valley their entire lives. I remember, in my teens, walking along the dirt road to their house on sultry summer afternoons and watching General Hospital with Mrs. M. We were limited to one TV show a week at our house and this way we got to see some extra TV and it really felt like we were getting away with something. :-) I didn't continue to watch the soaps when I moved away but I still smile thinking of "Luke & Laura" of General Hospital fame.
The little gnome hat is done for the girl gnome. I am all done knitting the parts and am stitching it together.
I know--how obnoxious is this--more photos of mushrooms. It is gorgeous tho--all the ribs and bumps. It is gone now--mowed over today--unfortunately.
A little rain on the grass and look what pops up. A blushing mushroom with a skirt around its stem. :-)
We have been watching this deer herd for the past several days now, coming thru our yard to munch on all the acorns. Em especially likes it--her room looks right over this part of the yard. 
Pumpkins and Gourds all over the place at the Country Living Fair this weekend in Columbus, Ohio. How lucky I feel to have had this in my own "backyard". It was fun and inspiring, tiring and expensive. Meg and I got there just as it opened and it was mobbed--long wait at the ticket/entrance booths--Meg was smart and brought her knitting which she pulled out while we waited in line. :-)
Here is a farm wagon full of fabric pumpkins--very cool idea.
Artist Debbie Thibault gives a speech--about her inspirations and artwork. She seemed very nice. The room--an old schoolhouse building--was jammed with people--not even standing room left. Meg and I got there early and we got seats in the second row.
Isn't this an unusual colored background field for Dresden Plate? I really liked its boldness. I didn't take very many pictures during the day, first of all I wanted to take pictures of the products being sold and it wasn't encouraged for obvious reasons. But, I fairly haunted the Earth Angels tent. I really like the work of Jody Battaglia and she was very friendly. I was still too shy tho to ask her about taking her picture at her table. She had decorated her table with old children's toys, a dollhouse and all of her little figures. Really neat!
The dogwood leaves are changing and I am loving the cooler weather. The house was cold for most of the morning but I couldn't bring myself to shut the windows. So I snuggled up with our dog giz under a blanket and finished the latest Dan Brown novel "The Lost Symbol". I don't read as fast as I used to, it took me forever it seems like to finish it. After I finished it I took a walk in the little bit of woods behind the house. It was sunny and peaceful, the breeze blowing thru the trees and a few birds darting about. I brought a folding chair down with me to the back of the property and sat listening to the horses and cows in the pastures on the other side of the fence.
I've been waiting for this knitting pattern and now I've finally got my greedy little hands on it. :-) Published in the August issue of Simply Knitting (just now available in US--bookstores/fabricstores)
Paddling quietly through my weekend. These babies are super quiet in the water and we are having so much fun with them. 
How's your weekend? Enjoy!
