Thursday, October 30, 2014

ELDERBERRY FEST 2014 -- PART 3 (HALLOWEEN ELEGANCE)



Hallie and Nick
Friday night, Hallie asked Mike to pick up a couple of pumpkins while in town so that they could carve jack-o-lanterns. Unbeknownst to her, I already had a nice one on hand. My idea was to set a chrysanthemum inside the pumpkin for a porch decoration, but after buying the pumpkin I couldn’t find a chrysanthemum. Mike brought a second pumpkin from town.
 
Nick is an artist and approaches all projects with an artist’s eye and attention to detail. Hallie suggested the designs and then Nick painstakingly transferred them to the pumpkins by hand. Together, they carved the faces. The result was ghoulishly elegant, worthy of the “Better Homes and Gardens” Halloween celebration. It’s just that – well – they aren’t going to last, you know. They took one and I kept one, and I’m afraid mine is already slowly folding into itself. It might not be available for Halloween. Oh well.

And now, our autumn celebration is over and suddenly (Egads!) it’s two months until Christmas. I really must get a move on! A silent auction mid-November pushes me quickly into Christmas projects, and somehow I just can’t get going. Last night I made a list of many possible projects. Most of it won’t happen, but putting on my “thinking cap” and listing my ideas helped me to prioritize.
 
 What about that Halloween quilt, you ask. Well, it didn’t get finished this year, but I made progress – AND -- I made six of these machine lace skeletons (from "Halloween Couture" by OESD) – one for us and for each of our families. That was good – and it was fun -- and I finished all of them! KW



4 comments:

Hallie said...

Nick wants a photo of the pumpkin all lit up before it caves in!

Kathy said...

I'm not sure I can comply -- but I'll try. I meant to light it last night, but then I forgot.

Meanwhile, I posted the photo of your pumpkin.

Chris said...

Your lace work turned out perfectly!! And you had Halloween fun just working on your quilt, so that counts. :-)

I'm so impressed with Hallie and Nick's talents!! What does Hallie use to cut the pumpkin? I always had a horrible time with the cutting and finally gave it up to Dan and kids.

Kathy said...

Thank you, Chris. You just can't go wrong with free-standing lace -- no placement issues and it's beautiful when finished. But -- I also think of branching out and learning other techniques. Experimentation takes time and I get frustrated.

I finished the center outlining on the Halloween quilt and put it away. It might come out after Christmas --we'll see.

As for pumpkin carving tools, I've been buying templates and tools for years. I think Hallie is using some little saw.

Your comment reminds me of an old family story about Grandpa Portfors. Nina was ready to carve her pumpkin, but Grandpa was afraid she would cut herself and insisted on doing it for her. You guessed it -- he cut himself.