Fall at the Botanic Garden

On Saturday, I went to the Chicago Botanic Garden for the Fine Art of Fiber show.  After looking at all of the different fiber art pieces and vendor, I went outside and took some pictures and am thinking about ways to interpret them as part of Sharon B's Stitch Explorer challenge. 

I think that the wooden forms in this picture lend themselves to an interpretation using laid filling stitches.

The fall colors are also magnificent.

Witch Cats Hat

I finished my Witch Cats Halloween Hat.  Just in time for next Halloween.

Happy Halloween

Trick or treating is winding down but not over yet.  We had quite a few kids at our house, I think partially because it has been raining so much that people came here because we have sidewalks and some of the older neighborhoods do not.  In addition to children of various sizes we had at least 3 dogs come to the door.  I thought about putting some dog treats by the door with the candy, maybe next year.

I participated in a Halloween Exchange this year.  I chose to use a Secret Needle Night piece as the basis for my exchange and I made it into a bag using several colors of calico and some trims that I had.  I think it came out rather well.  I filled it with various treats -- some stitching and some not -- and sent it on to its new owner.  I hope she enjoyed her Halloween treats.

Various updates

I have been sewing, knitting, and even doing some stitching.  This has resulted in a nice looking Halloween bag for an exchange, a pair of socks, a beaded scissor fob and a lot of unfinished projects.  I can't show off the bag yet, it was just sent off to its new owner, so I am going to share my completed Golden Darner Scissor Fob by Fern Ridge.  I really enjoyed doing the peyote work, but got tired of the fringe at the bottom long before it was done.  It looks great though.  Now, I am working on the needle book to go with it. 

I am also going to share my Cookie A Summer Sox.  They are knitted out of Eat your Vegetables Claudia's Handpaints sock yarn.  I love the name of the yarn and the socks are beautiful and very comfortable.  I used slightly smaller needles than the pattern called for and the socks fit perfectly.  This is a wonderful thing because a lot of sock patterns come out too large for me when they are knitted up.  Since these socks went so well, I bought Cookie A's new book of sock patterns, Sock Innovation.