Can you believe it? It’s October 1st already! I simply cannot believe how quickly the time is flying. We are truly heading into the home stretch before December, marking almost an entire year on this crafting journey—and we’re already up to 81 videos! September was a bit of a strange month, full of unexpected delights and one small disappointment, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Let’s dive right into what I was up to, and then we’ll see what magic I’m stirring up for this wonderful, colorful month of October!

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September Wrap-Up: Projects I Adore

September saw me falling back in love with the birds, as I’d planned. But the projects I completed pushed me a little behind schedule in the best way possible!

Chili the Penguin (And His Baby!)

The first thing that happened was I opened up my very first masterclass pattern from Lisa Pay—a penguin! I fell completely in love with it. My penguin, who I’ve affectionately named Chile, is made from felt, t-shirt fabric, and a lovely piece of an old dress I used to wear. His little feet are clogged feet that I used an epoxy sculpt on, but my sweet husband had to mix the product for me as my hands just don’t have the strength sometimes.

I am absolutely thrilled with how he turned out. He has little hearts stitched on his back and a tiny hat with a pom-pom on top! And of course, I had to make him a little baby penguin to go along with him. The name Chile is a nod to a special trip my husband and I took to Chile, South America, where we had the pleasure of seeing the penguins in the south. I always love incorporating a little bit of sensitivity and symbolism into my work.

Zek the Daxi Dog & Tiny Bears

After my horse project, Ruth, from last month, I managed to complete my stuffed dachshund, or my “daxi dog,” whom I’m calling Zeke. I used an old sweater my mother had made for my two pups one Christmas. I tried a new technique using knitted fabric with an adhesive interfacing, and it worked out so well!

I also managed to squeeze in my embroidery bear, using beads and some of the border edge techniques I’ve been working on. But the true fun was continuing my love for small projects with another mini bear. This time, she was made entirely out of dollar store Halloween ribbon and sits on a DVD with a little wooden-leaf pumpkin in her hand. She has knickers underneath her little dress, a lace/ribbon dress, and a sweet little collar finished with a blanket stitch. Small projects are intricate and require precision, but they are a lot of fun! I’m hoping to make one mini bear every month if I can.

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Fair Fun & Feelings: The VIEX Experience

The highlight of September was entering the VIEX on the 19th, 20th, and 21st! I have mixed feelings about the experience, but I was so pleased with the ribbons I won:

• Best in Division for my Christmas display, called “Canada A,” which is done in a lovely red and black Canadian motif.
• Needle Craft Best in Division for the entire fair, which I won for my elephant project, Ellie!

My son and I even made a funny little short video about my ribbon wins, set to Tina Turner’s “You’re Simply The Best.” It’s definitely “over the top,” but it’s what this whole creative website journey is all about—enjoying it!

The only small letdown was that my main goal was to do a “website blitz.” All my projects were labeled with my logo, and I had a pile of my cards to give out, but very few went out. I’ll just carry on, though! I’m giving out cards on my walks three days a week, and I’ve been getting wonderful responses about how professional the website looks, which I owe entirely to my son!

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A Treasure Trove of Inspiration

I received the most wonderful surprise from my husband’s coffee buddy’s wife! She sent me a complete grouping of magazines—some dating back to 1985! I’ve had such a blast going through them, finding countless patterns and techniques. I spent hours grouping them into piles for Christmas, Easter, and Halloween.

She even included a book on paper twist. She had already given me some of the material, and now I have all sorts of ideas about how to use it and incorporate it into my art projects. I also spotted some iron-on stencils in the books, which might be a fun little side project for next month.

The Pinterest Discovery

On a tip from my husband, I checked out Pinterest and Etsy for resources. Oh my goodness, I just fell in love! I typed in “free bear patterns,” and everything imaginable came up. I spent quite a long time browsing! My workaround for downloading them was to simply take a picture of the pattern with my phone, put the photo on my desktop, and then print it out—it worked like a charm! I’m now going to play around with enlarging them using the resizing tutorials on my own website.

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Looking Ahead: October’s Crafting Cauldron

I always love October! I just adore the beautiful, autonomous colors—the oranges, the greens, and all the wonderful harvest tones. Since it’s the month of Thanksgiving and Halloween, I’m dedicating this time to something a bit spooky!

The 3D Canvas Crow

I’ve made a chicken and a Mother Goose before, all using the canvas bags my son collects from conferences and brings home at Christmas. I cut them up and use the canvas for my soft sculptures.

For October, I found a two-dimensional crow in a book called Prims. I don’t want to do another 2D piece, so I’m transforming it into a three-dimensional crow! I added gussets, using the seal pattern from my masterclass as a guide. The wing is made from canvas, painted with acrylics, with cotton on the back. I also interfaced the canvas with a cheap adhesive interfacing to give it more strength. I looked at pictures of real crows to design the tail a bit differently. This will be my Halloween crow for the month!

More Plans

I’m also planning on creating some festive table decor for our Thanksgiving dinner for two, and I’ll definitely try another mini bear using that pattern I found and printed from Pinterest.

For my final calendar ornament of the month, I’m going to make a wreath with embroidery and beads for October. (Last month’s Scandinavian heart just wasn’t working for me, so I just added ribbon!)

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It’s going to be a fun month! I hope you keep enjoying the videos; I am truly having a great time doing this and thinking about where we go after the new year!