Happy Hallowe'en...Happy Samhain....

{Fog/mist descending around the outbuildings a few weeks back} 

Halloween is here. 

I almost typed "finally," but caught myself.

The truth is, I never want Halloween to come.

I just want it to always be October.

Perhaps that is why I never actually finish my decorating or preparations for Halloween?

In any event, I wanted to at least pop in to say I hope you are wrapping yourself in the last of autumn...the quiet spirit that seems to descend and envelop the landscape and the rooms we pass through.

I had hoped to share more of my "preparations" for the holiday, but the days slipped through my hands. 

I count it as a good thing this time of year, though, as I know I was hearing the crunch of the leaves beneath me, smelling the mellowing earth fold into itself and watching the moon dance.

I will leave you with a very abbreviated version of some of my (real...unlike the faux-vintage treat boxes in the last post) vintage Halloween treasures.

Most of you know that I generally embrace a primitive/colonial style.

But when it comes to Halloween, I can't help but let vintage in.

I have an October soul and those colors, those graphics, those echoes of simpler times are irresistible. 

One of my main weaknesses: Pulp paper/papier mache Jack-o-Lanterns:

I have battery-operated candles in many of them, so they twinkle at night. 

Two of my favorites:

{Who doesn't love a cat face??}

{My only "two-faced" jack (he has a face on both sides)}

And I have a penchant for vintage noisemakers...

This year I displayed my horns mostly among the jacks but think I'll re-think that next year.

Dye cuts and honeycomb:

Vintage candy tins and boxes (and who doesn't need a case of embalming fluid??): 

Oh...there's more... 

Vintage Halloween books, framed vintage Halloween sheet music, 

pulp paper owls, Gurley candles, and....

I'll leave it at that...and this for now. 

I've only a bit more than 2 hours before October draws its final breath.

They say the veil between this world and the other thins then and, perhaps, it does. 

The shadows here have darkened and the sounds of this old house have quieted as if listening for something I cannot yet hear.

 But each year I gather more ghosts so I think I, too, need to listen.

Wishing you light in the dark corners of the night.

Happy Halloween.

Not Feeling the Love

 That pretty much sums it up these days....on so very many levels unfortunately, but I'll stick to the most obvious:

Valentine's Day.

Since I have a predilection for hearts, I have an excuse each year to add splashes of red to the overly white and dreary days of January and February.

And each year I usually do a small cross stitch pinkeep, or even a small punched or hooked piece, to commemorate the uneventful day.

Not this year.

The best I could muster was finally finishing the heart pinkeep I stitched (ahem) 2 years ago that has been lingering in Never Never Finished Land.

{"Love Bird Pincushion" and "Love Letter Needle Keep" from With Thy Needle & Thread's "Be My Valentine" pattern.  Stitched on 35ct Abecedarian from R&R Reproductions using WDW flosses.}

I did pull out a few heart things....

But, with 9 days to go, that will likely be all she wrote.

I also managed to pull out my "intended" holiday project - pattern, linen and floss...  I don't suppose that counts though.

{"Sweetheart Pincushion" by Blackbird Designs}

Perhaps next year.

Our winter has begun in earnest.  We have had several snows since October of course, but yesterday was the biggest snowfall so far this winter.  

This little fella was out and about in the early part of the storm. I hope he made it home safely.

We got a little over 8" (hmmm, the forecast started out at 2")....then the winds came, and now the Frigid Cold.  As in -20º frigid....and that's without the windchill.

Yeah, just not feeling the love.