One October Day......

                 I believe , deep down inside of all of us, there is a creative side, waiting to explode.
                                                   Boom! There is is!

                                  Sometimes  this wakes up our senses (Costume makeup for "La Muerte")

                         Sometimes we just want to stay in our box.  On a cold October day.
                                           Time to think "out of the box" . Tap into that creative side.

                        Quilting is so addictive.  .  ( Centennial Square runner)

                       It  screams. Good things. But it screams.
                 This Hanukkah Runner symboizes the flames of the Menorah.

                          Made in velvet, sequins, pearls. coins, lame, sheer tone on tones...

                                     Fabric stripped and pieced like a crazy quilt. No pattern.
                                                    Just randomness. I love randomness.

                                       It made it's way, eventually to California. Quilts travel far.
                                                Heads don't go far. Mannequin Heads. Useful.

                               Finds a place in the garden. To double as a hat model.
                                        Hats crocheted with leaves and flowers. Crochet is incredibly addictive.
                                  So wonderfully repetitive. Ch 1 Dtr 3, ch 1, ch 1 ch 1, ch 1.......but I digress.

                                            Henna tatoos . A new medium to try.

                                            Natural. Earthy.

                                                    As the days grow shorter.

                                      And  cupcakes for sale take on hats of chocolate.
                                    Baking in the fall. In  sugar and  frosting.
                                                     And a lot of "Oh yummms".

                                      Quilts can be large or they can be small. Like this Goshen Star.
                                Back in Civil War times, quilts carried secret codes.Well, so it is believed.

                                      Quilt patterns carried secret messages for the escaping slaves.

                                   Slaves could not read or write, and it was illegal to teach a slave to do so.          
Therefore, codes were part of their existence. Their route to freedom. So the old stories say.

                                           There is no written proof of this,
                but it is greatly understood that the stories of the symbols were passed down.
                       What IS true is that quilt squares all have names and patterns.
                                              And they came from somewhere.

                                      For example, the "North star" symbol  was given to mean two things...

                                           Contained two messages in the quilt square.
                       One to prepare to escape and the other to head north, to Canada.

                                              These days, the patterns are  used and reused over and over again.

                                  This runner is the "Ribbon Star". Done in black and gold.
       I'm not sure if there is a message hidden deep in the pattern. But it is nice to think so. Gives it history. Gives it something mysterious.

                                     And yet, there's another hat. With no message this time. Nothing mysterious, but Bo's lovely purring "Three Threads in a Thrum". A hat for a lovely cat.  On a wonderful October day.