Krampus is Here

Every year I make up some Krampus items for the store and this year is no exception. Hurry in to see them when you can!

Samhain Shabby Chic

I'm getting the feeling that Samhain is a much busier holiday for me than Yule, the reason being that I am having way too much fun making things! Case in point are the Samhain theme machine embroidered lace bookmarks (pictured above) I made to give as gifts at my annual Witches Tea. I also put a set of three into the shop as well!
I have a friend who's birthday is on Halloween, a holiday which he really loves. This year I decided to make him a rag quilt that he could throw on his sofa for the season. I like designing rag quilts because I think of them as shabby chic, which appeals to a lot of people who would not normally like the country feel of most quilts. This quit is also an easy and fun thing to make! I designed his quilt using a combination of solid and printed squares in order to make it a bit more masculine. I used gray and black as my color themes and was very pleased with the result. So pleased in fact, that I almost didn't want to give it up! I was able to give it to him last week at our Halloween cocktail party so he could enjoy it for the rest of this month. My cat Gypsy enjoyed the quilt while I was trying to take a picture of it. The second picture is the back side of the quilt. If you are interested in making a rag quilt of your own, there are some nice tutorials and ideas at www.favequilts.com that you might enjoy. Happy crafting!

Finally Fall!

The excitement of the coming of Fall starts with Lammas for me. As we start and celebrate the first harvest, I am already anticipating what lies ahead.

October is my favorite month of the year. Although Fall arrives on September 23rd, here in Colorado we see Fall in all of its splendor in the early days of October. We took a ride out to the high country a few weeks ago and took in some of the beautiful scenery in Guenella Pass. I was inspired by the sights and smells of Fall as we hiked and drove through this beautiful area! I couldn't wait to get home and sew and knit Fall things. Although I seek out the beauty in all seasons, it is the dark side of the year that awakens my soul which in turn, fires up my creativity. I want each day to go by as slowly as possible so I can savor each minute.

After taking this photo, we walked across the bridge and hiked along a beautiful trail through the woods

Looking down as you hike along has it's advantages

Autumn leaves tarot cloth close up. The leaves sit in the center of a black cloth

Harvest Time

Our gardens did pretty well this year. We tried some new vegetables and are still waiting to see how things will turn out for some. We had great success with green beans, tomatoes and lettuce. In our back yard we have a beautiful white crab apple tree that has given us one of the largest amount of fruit we have seen in years despite a late snow this past spring. I was excited about being able to make my crab apple butter, but decided I needed help this year in learning how to can it since we had a bumper crop. My kitchen maven friend and fellow blogger Pink at That Crafty Bitch (see my blog favs on the right) instructed me in the fine art of canning which, as it turns out, is not as complicated as I thought it might be. It was just a whole lot of fun! Here are the highlights in pictures from concept to finish

Lammas

 For the first harvest of the season, this is our harvest of squash from our garden, along with a corn salad accented with our garden herbs of thyme, lemon thyme oregano and basil. The bread is a rich corn bread I make from a recipe I got from the Baldpate Inn, here in Estes Park Colorado. The corn cloth is one of the tarot cloths from my Etsy shop! Lammas blessings to all!

Passion For Purple

After having two snowstorms in late April and early May, we finally got some Spring! We have three large Lilac bushes in our back yard and they are finally in full bloom. I sat outside the other day to read and take in the glorious scent of Lilac.Living in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains means a very late start to Spring planting season. We won't be able to plant any warm weather crops until the end of May.
This did not stop us going out to our community garden opening today and planting some cold weather plant seeds. We planted brussel sprouts and beets today and checked on our lettuce which is already in progress.
 A good day indeed considering it was 45 degrees!
We also planted three new bushes outside the front of the house. Our Vinca is spreading and blooming over the rocks in the front of the house, looking as beautiful as ever. I decided to join in the spirit of it all and add a bit of purple to my hair as well. I am happy with the results!

New Beginnings

I celebrated Ostara by doing a ritual for a very small group of friends. I called it a Crafting ritual. During our Ostara ritual we all sat around and colored an Ostara illustration while listening to Vivaldi's Spring from the four seasons. Later, to wrap up our ritual we all got started on the process of regenerating a plant of our own to help us with our ritual intentions of regenerating something in our lives. The plant I used is called a Resurrection Plant.

It is in the family of air plants, and as such is easy to care for and really fun to watch it come to life within an hour of adding water! I was pretty thrilled to see that when my plant opened fully it looks like the Green Man! After our ritual, we all enjoyed a piece of Honey Cake that I made using the recipe from "Ostara" which is one of  Llewellyn's Sabbat Essentials series of books. I love these little books! They are small in size but each of them are packed with holiday history and lore plus recipes and other fun holiday ideas. I decided to collect and use them as each of the holidays approach.
I added some Ostara inspired items to the store! I like to craft seasonally in order to really embrace the present. I added some herb bags in anticipation of growing season. They also make wonderful little charm bags that can be used as gifts or for yourself! They have their own section in the store so they can easily be found!

Spring is here, welcome new beginnings! Blessed Be!

Winter Is Magic

I always love January! A new year bringing with it countless new opportunities. I also love the frosty days, especially the ones that include snow! I enjoy drinking my tea from my red and white nordic mug while sitting in my chair with one of the cats nearby, "helping me knit". The deer are everywhere here in the neighborhood looking for some goodies. A definite inspiration for my Stag tarot cloth! Everywhere I look I see magic and enchantment.

 I started my work year with a custom order for some snowflake handkerchiefs and was inspired to make some for the store as well. A handkerchief is just the thing for those cold outdoor moon rituals, not to mention the upcoming Imbolc! For my ritual, I think I would like to use the colors in this Celtic snowflake handkerchief.