Snaps From The Long Weekend

 Over the weekend Penny helped me decorate the outside of the house for fall.

We made a scarecrow. I rested the pumpkin on top of his shirt for a head, but overnight it rolled off his neck, down the driveway and across the road. I assumed some neighborhood kid had stolen it and smashed it, but alas my pumpkin just rolled away on it's own accord. 

Charlie and I did trail work. Sometimes on the weekends I wait until he gets dressed and then purposefully put on a matching outfit because I think it's funny. We wore the same sweatshirt that we both got for finishing the marathon last year, and our Carhart vests that we got for Christmas two years ago. 

Had pizza and beer at Schillings in Littleton. I was expecting a dumpy town but it was so cute and busy. 

 Dug up a bunch of blubs, and then planted other bulbs. It seemed counter intuitive, but I did it anyways.

Went hiking and picked out a Christmas tree. I swear this was Charlie's idea. You pick on you want and decorate it then go back and cut it down, you know, after HalloweenThanksgiving.

Harvested sweet pea pods. This was one thing I grew this summer that actually did really well. Hopefully I'll be able to use the seeds to grow even better sweet peas next year. 

Enjoyed cider donuts, hot cider and a game of checkers at the new and improved Cardigan Mountain Country Store. 

Took the dogs for lots of walks and runs. This walk involved a covered bridge which neither minded, and a wire suspension bridge, which both dogs hated. It was pretty funny watching them walk across it. It was the only time all weekend Blaze didn't tug on his leash.

I wish every weekend was a three day weekend.

Lauren

Fall Bucket List

I was recently telling my friend about how much I hate Fall, but how I am going to make an effort to enjoy it more this year. She was kind enough to send me a bucket list she created just for me. How sweet. I'll try my best to do them all with a smile.

1. Have a PSL from Starbucks once a week.
2. Make a fall wreath.
3. Decorate outside entry way. 
4. Have mulling spice on the stove on Saturdays. 
5. Make a scarecrow for the garden. 
6. Sit outside in ski chairs and watch the leaves fall. Perhaps next to a fire.
7. Go apple picking.
8. Paint some pumpkins and bring them to work.
9. Carve a pumpkin.
10. Wear a Halloween costume to work if allowed. 
11. Host a harvest party and bob for apples.
12. Buy a new fall sweater.
13. Plant an acorn.
14. Buy fall riding boots.
15. Do a corn maze with friends.
16. Buy real apple cider.
17. Make apple sauce.
18. Go for a long drive leaf peeping.
19. Make a leaf pile. 
20. Hike a mountain and admire the pretty colors below.

Anything you think I should add?

What's your least favorite season? 

Lauren 

Fabric Pumpkins: Lauren Tries To Decorate For Fall

I'm trying to embrace fall. It's kind of working, but mostly not. A few weeks ago I pinned some fabric pumpkins on Pinterest, bought some orange fabric and got to work. I finished these three weeks ago but never showed them to you because I was getting home from work and XC practice after the sun had set so the lighting wasn't good for pictures. Anyways, this is the only area in our house that looks remotely decorated for fall, except the front door. The mini gourds were bought at a farmers market, the chicken thing was on sale for $1.99 at Michael's

These first two were made using THIS tutorial/pattern. For the first one I did the pattern exactly as it said, for the second I enlarged the pieces, but that created some problems which lead to my mis-shaped pumpkin. I think it looks more real though with the weird bumps. 

For the last one I kind of used this picture link I found on Pinterest. Instead of using the embroidery floss all the way around the pumpkin I did a running stitch to squeeze it together.

Last night I tried to start knitting a pumpkin to add to the collection. I didn't have a pattern so I just started making it up. This morning I cam downstairs to this:

Good thing I didn't invest too much time on that project. 

What do you do for fall decorating? I'm going to carve a pumpkin tonight. I want to do one like this one but I'm pretty sure I would fail miserably. 

Lauren 

Copy Cat Skirt

On the first day of school this year the librarian at the Elementary School I work at wore a really cute skirt. I told her I liked it, she said I could probably make it, I told her if she let me borrow it for a while I probably could.  She did let me borrow it and two(ish) months later I finally finished the skirt. 

I tried to dress like her for Halloween, but no one noticed. I guess we dress too much alike to begin with.

The fabric makes me kind of dizzy looking at these photos. The fabric was on sale, and I thought it was   somewhat "Autumnal". Someone said that word in front of me the other day and I have been trying to find ways to say it all week to make myself look smart. Did it work?

 Can you see my invisible zipper? Didn't think so. Boo Yeah! It only took me two tries. Down one from my typical three.

I got home hours ago and waited for Charlie to come home to snap some photos. I wouldn't typically show photos of my derriere (had to look up the spelling on that one Dad), but this below photo makes me laugh because you'd think Charlie would say, "Hey your skirt, the one you're having me take pictures of for your blog, is folded up in one spot."Maybe not for one photo, but there are 20 pictures just like this one that I just downloaded. Perhaps he was too distracted by my butt to notice. Or the spot of Elmer's glue on my tights that I used to fix the snag in them. Who knows.

As always, Penny wanted in on the photo shoot action. Really I was just standing close to the door and she thought I would take her out. Doesn't she know it's Halloween and I can't take her outside, lest she bite one of the children I work with. 

Please excuse my hair. I am no stranger to blogging pictures of me with my hair looking a mess. Right? Right?

Happy Halloween!

Lauren 

Fall Skirt; Just in Time for Fall

I started sewing this skirt last winter. It's the Simplicity 2226 pattern that I used last year to make this skirt. I loved it so much, and got tons of compliments  so I figured I'd make another.  The fabric is eons old, I've had it sitting around for quite a while and always wanted to use it for a skirt.

I asked my Mom to help me with part of it because I am terrible at the gathered look thing. She fixed my errors back in June. Then it got packed away for a while. Over the rainy long weekend I pulled it out, sewed the invisible zipper into it approximately 4 times until it really was invisible. Then begged Charlie to help me hem it. He measured it with a ski pole for me because we don't own a yard stick. Doesn't he look super pumped to be helping me? He's so excited that he's backwards flipping me off.

Anyways, he pinned it, then I sewed it. I tried to get all fancy with a double needle. It did not go as planned. I ripped out all of the stitching, expecting to be able to just re-do the hem. Not so much. The fabric had two lines where the first hem had been so it needed to be shortened to hide the two lines.

You can see that the double needle effect worked splendidly on the pockets. I had hoped to carry over the accent but sewing the entire hem was too much for the double needle to withstand. Bummer. I'll keep practicing.

I am quite proud of the pockets. I also recently bought the cardigan. I've been trying to branch out in terms of colors I wear. Heavens a gal can only have so many purple cardigans after all. Amiright? 

I even sewed a "Made By Lauren" tag into this garment. How snazzy am I? I need to make more of these but I've been putting it off because the Mac Crash of 2012 deleted my file with the document I used to make the tags. I'm going to need tons for all of the holiday sewing I have planned! 

Besides the tag I also added some aqua blue fabric to the lining. It goes against the Fall feel of the skirt, but I can't be expected to branch out that much at once.  

Look at me, wearing heels to work! And I got my hair cut!

All and all it's not as interesting as the first one I made, but I like it. It loosened up as I wore it today and got more flowy, this morning, when the pictures were taken, it was kind of stiff and prone to wrinkle. I did get some compliments at work today. One of my co-workers even said she recognized the skirt, then I got scared that she was stalking me and looking in my windows. Really she meant she recognized the pattern from the other one I made. Oh, thank goodness. I couldn't deal with being stalked.

Off to work on another Fall skirt. 

Lauren 

Snaps From the Weekend

There was...

A visit at our friends new, gorgeous house. 

A trip to Cider Hill Farm for cider and donuts. 

A romp on the beach with two playful dogs.

Delicious Italian food.

Home-brewed beer.

A roaring fire and great conversations, lots of laughs and smiles.

Impromptu leaf photo shoot in the grocery store parking lot. 

stollen from Jaclyn's Instagram

It was a great weekend. I hope yours was too.

Lauren