Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Pumpkin Pie, I must have one before I die!

I kind of can't help myself when it comes to Halloween and Halloween decorations. For the last few years the kids and I have cut out pumpkins and bats from construction paper to decorate the house with. I love making things with the kids and I think we will still be cutting up a significant amount of paper this year but I thought it might be time to start a little Halloween crafting of my own. I know that I have more than two months to go but this is my favorite time of the year and if I start now, maybe it will last longer. Or maybe I will get burned out, ......... moving right along.

Last year I went to a friend’s house and she had a schload of Halloween decorations up and they looked so great. At the time we were right in the middle of moving, selling, building and a whole lot of crazy so I knew that making anything was out of the question. I really wanted to buy some Halloweenie things but buying more stuff before the move would have been super lame. I guess that didn't stop me from buying a number of Halloween wigs at 75% off last year after Halloween, but that is neither here nor there. Anyway, I have been dying to decorate and now I am so glad I didn't buy any decorations last year because it is so much more fun to make it myself.

The point for me is not to have it look amazing, it's the crafting, (the blood, sweat and tears) the experience of making whatever it is that counts. It's not that I don't have high hopes every time I start a project, it’s just that I know it will never be as perfect as it is in my head and I have decided that perfection isn't the goal. Mostly I just love that I made it even if it is really homely.

So for this project I really wanted to make some pumpkins, so I used a Martha Stewart "pattern" for tomato pincushions and just made them much bigger. I love these little pincushions, they are adorable. I made a couple of them a few years ago and I still love using them.

I didn't have any fiber fill so we just used A LOT of grocery bags and a little batting. The really hard part turned out to be getting the needle with the crochet thread through the center of the pumpkin for the veins. After we finished the pumpkins I found these Massive needles that would have saved my fingers a lot of trouble. Anyway, I LOVE them! I think they might be cooler if I made them with an off-white linen or solid Autumn colors but I'm not that cool. Maybe another year.

Josh requested a pumpkin with a blue stem for his room. Jane wanted a stuffed princess, we comprimised with stuffed Christmas trees.