Thought I Was All Done With Fall Creating But I Was Wrong

I know I said I was done working on Fall but Joni has been very busy selling my Fall primitives in her shop so that meant that I had to put a hold on Christmas creating for today and slam out a few more Fall items. I had a few items started but put them on the back burner a couple weeks ago to get started on Christmas and also because I got a little frustrated with them. I don't know about you gals, but sometimes when I get stuck on a project or overwhelmed I find myself making every excuse in the book why I am avoiding the project. I think this is a very DUMB habit because when I finally get back to the "on hold project", it goes together fast and I wonder why I was making such a big deal about it earlier. I NEED to work on this problem I have....it bothers me!!!!!

Anyway, the 3 pumpkins above are one of the projects I had on hold and was just going to wait until next year to finish (I know, how DUMB!!!). I made these pumpkins out of a vintage chenille bedspread. I painted them pumpkin orange and dusted them with cinnamon. I used a tree branch stick for the steam and sweet annie for the leaves. I am SO GLAD I finished them. I think they turned out nice....not sure why I made such a big deal out of these very simple pumpkins...maybe I was PMS'in :)

These witch hats are another project I was going to put off til next Fall. I made one early in the season and it sold pretty much right away which I was happy about. I wanted to get these to Joni's but was busy making other FUN creations (I think I got bored with these hats) and also, I had put the seam in the front of these hats instead of on the side by mistake and didn't want to rip them out. I had went ahead and painted them black hoping that would help the seam disaster but it didn't so they got put on the back burner also. Well, Today when I drug them out of hiding to make their trip to Joni's finished I had to deal with the seam problem. At first I was just going to leave it and shut my eyes and just finish them....but.....being the perfectionist that I am (which can also be annoying) I HAD to fix them. I didn't want to rip...so I cut. I cut the hats from the brims and hot glued them on the right way. To my surprise....it worked perfect and you could not even tell I made the seam snafu. I am VERY happy I finished them...I think they turned out even better then the first one I made :)

It is such a GREAT feeling when you MAKE yourself face things that you have been avoiding, it's such freedom to finish what you start.

From this picture you can tell how much the cinnamon grudging adds to the finished look. The back 2 have been grudged, the front one is waiting to be grudged....big difference!!!!

I LOVE the bats...I hadn't put bats on the first one I made.

Last but not least....these little guys have really been a good seller. He is the last one I am doing for sure this year. I do not have any more pumpkins made up to make more so that's all folks :)

My sisters salsa recipe simmering on the stove.

I did manage to make salsa yesterday even after hunting and hunting for canning jars in this town. My salsa journey started when I went home last week. My daughter Kara gave me some tomatoes out of her garden so I decided I wanted to try my sisters awesome salsa recipe. She is going to sell her homemade salsa at the craft show we are doing in Spooner in November. Anyway, everyone was out of jars here and they would not be ordering anymore. I told my husband I am going to make this salsa no matter what. I finally did find some 1/2 gallon jars (which are HUGE) at Ace Hardware and snatched them up just because they were the only chance I had at canning this salsa, I thought I was home free. Well, when I got home I realized that my kettle was NOT big enough for these big jars to fit in and all my big stock pots for canning of course are packed away in a storage building somewhere.....the joys of being in transition.....I always go to find something and think to myself...I know I have one of those...then I remember...IT'S PACKED!!!!!! Anyway, At one point I thought I could freeze the salsa, but didn't think it would be as good that way. Yesterday morning I went to Piggly Wiggly and YES!!! they had pint size canning jars....it was salsa time :)

The salsa turned out really good I ended up getting 9 pints. I even have enough tomatoes for a second batch when the tomatoes ripen a bit more. My husband and daughter LOVE the salsa...life is good!!!!

Alyssa is home from college for the weekend so I will be enjoying cooking her favorite meals taking care of her. She just got over the flu and was a very sick girl last week at college. She had the swine flu test and it WAS NOT the swine....just the old regular flu...but still not fun AT ALL. Her first request for supper was veggie beef soup without meat and fresh baked bread. So when she hit the door tonight that's what she enjoyed. Tomorrow...it's pumpkin pie and homemade pizza mmmmmm.

I have been working on Christmas primitives and will post pictures of that work in progress next post....have a BLESSED weekend.....Rhonda