Punkin Beanies

Had some fun making a basketful of punkin beanies for M. and company to play with.

I love the personality that developed in each one as I stitched up the scraps from my stash and added vintage button eyes.

The rice filling gives them the perfect amount of plopability. I think we'll try a punkin hunt tomorrow. (think Easter egg hunt for the opposite equinox)

I got so into making them that should have plenty to give as treats to my lion-hearted nephew next autumn. Isn't he just the greatest?

It's Brain Season Again!

Osage oranges, horse apples, monkeyballs, all synonyms for my favorite decorative fruit, which we refer to simply as "brains". The trees they fall from each autumn are pretty rare around here, but a few years ago I found a fruitful one which drops these goofy things on the public road. Going to scoop them up has become as much of a tradition as a trip to the pumpkin patch. They have a great citrus aroma and are credited with being a natural pest repellent and will stay rot free if kept cool for 2-3 months..

You just can't beat their lime green hue against the vivid orange of a ripe pumpkin.

I think God had some fun thinking this one up!

Consider The Lilies

This banner and these flower pins are a gift for a dear friend of mine and I hope you will visit her beautiful blog here.

My recently broken toe has blessed me with a little down time to spend with my stash of vintage fabrics and hankies. Earlier this year I saw a sweet pennant banner like this in a Pottery Barn catalog and hoped to replicate it for some special occasion.

Baby Lily's precious life is just such an occasion! Her name's origin and her parents' great faith which you will witness through their posts will make you want to wave a banner and celebrate life just to spite death.

As I stitched and pondered the passage from the book of Matthew, I also considered other people I've prayed for whose seemingly insignificant lives ultimately impact eternity. Consider the Lilies.

Matthew 6:28-34

"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all of his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?" or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'. For the pagans run after all of these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."