Witches Brew!!

This past Sunday my girlfriends and I got together for our annual Halloween Tea.

Mary Ann, (one of the flea market friends), set a boootiful table for us!! Mary Ann is a great thrifter and used many of her "finds" for the Halloween Tea.

She used a wire egg rack to hold darling egg shape gourds....she added a string of mini white lights.

Apples, and pumpkins on her tablescape, as well as dishes of candy.

I love how people use Scrabble pieces to add to their displays.....I am still on the hunt for a Scrabble game of my own.....so far no luck!!

Mary Ann's tablescape was just perfect!! But I have to say I think my favorite part of the tablescape was the use of the pale orange roses.....this rose is called Joseph's coat.....I just love this simple centerpiece!! And these gorgeous roses grow in her yard!!

As usual, my girlfriends and I always have a wonderful time when we get together...next up...Christmas Tea in 6 weeks!!

Can you believe it?  Christmas Tea in 6 weeks?

EEEEEK!!!

chris



A Halloween Treat!

I needed a hostess gift to take to our annual ladies Halloween tea.

I saw a picture of a throw pillow in a catalog and it was a little....okay whose kidding....a lot out of my price range.

After looking at it for awhile I decide that I could make the same pillow.

Witch's legs showing off her fancy shoes!

I had a good time designing her shoes, and deciding if she had skinny legs or not.

I used wonderunder to attach the legs and shoes to the background fabric. I used some scrap fabric, and some new fabric. One of the Flea Market Friends suggested using old ties for the legs.  I thought that was a great idea.

Before I spent any money on pillow forms, I stopped by the Goodwill to see if they have any pillows that I could use and sure enough I found a few.

A few buttons and ribbons for shoe laces equals all done!!

chris

Something Is Different!



I decided that after blogging for over a year now, it was time to change my header.

Of course, being the computer wiz that I am, I went straight to daughter number 5, Katie, and asked for her help.

And, of course being the wonderful daughter that she is, her answer was yes.

I wanted something that would get me through Halloween and Thanksgiving....we talked about which pictures we would use and decided on a few of my favorites.

There is one picture however, that will always be in my header.....it's the picture of myself with some of my closest friends.

The picture is only 4 years old...a gentle reminder that things do change....

One of the ladies in the picture has Alzheimer's......and she is sick enough to have been placed in an Alzheimer's facility this past July...she is so young, only 59!

This is one of those pictures that my girlfriends and I look at and remember Marcia like she used to be.....she knew who we were.

Any whoo

 a little explanation as to why you will always see that picture in my header.

I hope you like....I sure do!

chris

Are You A Good Witch Or A Bad Witch?

Once again when participating in a swap, I had a difficult time making up my mind about what I should make.

I joined the Witch's Hat Swap hosted by Viv, who blogs at  Viv Out On A Whim.......you needed to create a witch's hat for your swap partner, and perhaps include a few extra treats.  I had a great partner, Linda, who blogs at LBP Sews.

OK enough background....

I ended up making two hats..... Like most girls who grew up in the 60's I loved the TV show Bewitched! 

So, Bewitched was my inspiration for my good witch's hat.

The Bad Witch's Hat....well, it wasn't that it was bad, but it was traditional in it's colors....black and orange

My inspiration for this hat was a postcard my daughter Kate brought back from her trip to Paris last summer.

I also included some treats in the package I sent to Linda....

Which Witch Are You??

A Good Witch or A Bad Witch? Which hat would you wear? Pink or Black?

chris

No Mantel At The Xavier Ct House....

Lately, a lot of my favorite blogs are showing their Halloween decorations......and a lot of my favorite bloggers are decorating mantels.

There is no mantel in the Xavier Ct House to decorate. We used to have a mantel and a fireplace. But, when doing some construction on the house 8 years ago, we found out that if you were working on the fireplace, you either needed to switch to gas or take out the fireplace.....no permits issued for wood burning fireplaces.....too expensive to switch to gas, and we live in Campbell California, not really needed to warm our home....so out it came.

So while others decorate their mantel, I decorate a side board that is in the living room.

I don't have tons of Halloween decorations, so I decided to include a few fall decorations too.

I used one of my tin chicken feeders and filled it with pumpkins and gourds and I added a few fall color flowers and leaves.  I used fake pumpkins and gourds from the dollar store......you've gotta love the dollar!!

I love that I can use the fake ones for years, but I did want to have some "real" nature in my vignette. So I added just a few to my display.

The leaves are starting to change here in Santa Clara Valley.....a little cooler these days as well......and Fall has come to the Xavier Ct House.

chris

Not A Trick In The Bunch!

I had a wonderful swap partner in the Witch"s Hat Swap that Viv, from Viv Out On A Whim hosted.

Linda who blogs at LBP Sews was my partner.  Linda designed a great Witch's hat for me!!

Linda used a green Christmas bulb for the top of the hat...and I Love, Love the flowers she used! And do you see the black spider hiding in the flowers?

She included so many other special treats.....

A little witch doll, and a container of tic tacs with a tag saying Pumpkin Seeds!!

A Halloween pen holder...Linda stitched two pieces of scrap booking paper together to create the holder!  It's perfect in my purse!!

A first place ribbon, with my name on it...

A dishtowel, a dish with candy corn, and tons of creepy, crawlers topped off my box of treats

Linda, thank you so very much for the Halloween treats!!

chris

October is a Special Month!

October 5th was always a special day growing up......

It was my Dad's birthday

and

It was my Mom's birthday

My folks met in 1947 while working for Western Airlines in San Francisco.  They were married on October 16th, 1948.

In our family October was a month of celebrations!!

My Dad was born in Salida Colorado October 5th, 1912, and moved to La Jolla California as a 5 year old.  My Mom was born on October 5th, 1920 in Long Beach California.  My mom used to say she knew she was going to marry my Dad because he was the only man she had ever dated that could body surf in the ocean of Northern California like she did!!

You have to be a hearty soul to swim in the ocean of Northern California!! The ocean is cold!

My Mom and Dad shared their love of the ocean all of their lives!

Sorry the pictures aren't too good and I'm not sure what's up with the backwards number 7  but......

My Mom and Dad shared a cake every year. And would  put both their ages on the cake....they thought it was so funny!! My Dad would say, "ladies first", my Mom would blow out her candles, and then spin the cake around so my Dad could blow his candles out!

Calgary 1988

My Dad's 90th birthday celebration

My Dad passed away in 2005, almost 93 years old.  My Mom passed away in 2007, almost 87.

They loved life and loved a great party.

You can bet the McKinley's will be having a birthday party today

And to continue the tradition of October being a month of celebrations, daughter number 5, Katie, was born on my Mom and Dad's anniversary, October 16th!

Party On!!

chris

My Favorite Corner....

of the Xavier Ct house is in the living room. I had a few pictures of flowers, that were very special....two of them had been painted by my Grandper Cote', two of them lived with Grandper and Nana Cote', one was a needlework done by Grandper's aunt as a young girl and one was done by my Uncle Bud's Mother-in-Law.

And over time as I stopped at more and more garage sales, I seemed to be drawn to pictures of flowers. It seemed that for period of time, I couldn't stop at a garage sale without finding a picture of flowers and bringing it home.

the corner table is also home to Nana Cote's Hummels. Well, home to the ones that didn't break in the 1989 earthquake we had in the Bay Area. I have saved the pieces, not sure why, it just seems a shame to toss them out...I have to say every time I see them, it makes me laugh that I can't throw them away....

anyhoo...

I also have a small cloche filled with my Dad's marbles.  He always said he saved them because he loved the colors! I do love looking at the marbles and picturing him playing with them as a young boy!

Perhaps I'm enjoying looking at my Dad's marbles more this week  because it's his birthday week.....

He'd be 100 years old this Friday!!

chris