Welcome back to Fran’s Friends, and thank you for joining me on my crafting journey.

Autumn has officially arrived. The weather has cooled right down, but oh, how I love this season for making things. Between Thanksgiving celebrations and Halloween just around the corner, there is so much rich inspiration in the air. The gorgeous autumnal palette of rich oranges, burnt tones, and falling leaves is truly phenomenal for upcycled crafting.

Before we dive headfirst into our spooky plans, let’s take a cosy look back at everything we achieved throughout September.

Looking Back: September Highlights and the VIEx Fair

September was such a lovely, whirlwind month. The absolute centrepiece was presenting the Fran’s Friends website in person at the Vancouver Island Exhibition (VIEx).

I dedicated several days to preparing our presentation table, building display poster boards featuring our lovely AI Fran artwork, and creating hard-copy cards emphasising our core mission: upcycling your creative projects, keeping crafting affordable, and sharing sustainable ideas. Thanks to my son’s brilliant help showcasing the site, the fair was a roaring success. I handed out nearly 195 cards, chatted with countless talented makers in our community, and even entered four craft projects into the competition—taking home four wins, which I am ever so proud of.

Across our September videos and social posts, we shared so many fun ideas:

• Keeping Christmas Alive: Our easy fabric yo-yo Christmas tree craft created with recycled wooden thread spools.
• Homemade Latkans: Crafting beautiful hanging tassels and embellishments for all kinds of textile creations.
• Canvas Tote Transformation: Upcycling a plain canvas tote bag with decorative fabric prints, tassels, and handmade latkans.
• Fair Adventures: Behind-the-scenes preparation for the exhibition, live updates straight from the fairgrounds, a reflective post-fair recap, and of course our sleepy “That’s a Wrap” photo alongside my crafted friends.

Inspiration and Fresh Resources for October

To kick off October, I have pulled together a wonderful set of creative resources and visual ideas to share with you all:

• Burcu / Factory Felts: Rich textures and felting supplies.
• Knitting and Embroidery: Exploring lovely yarn work and fine stitching.
• Everything Sewing: Tips, techniques, and construction fundamentals.
• Amily Elisa Creations: Fantastic beadwork and detailed embellishments.
• Harmon Craft: Delightful witchy designs and spooky Halloween themes.

What’s on the Crafting Table This Month

Here is a peek at the projects taking shape in my workroom right now:

Designing My Own Upcycled Scarecrow

I have been gathering inspiration everywhere. I found a fun scarecrow photo on Facebook, clipped classic patterns from crafting magazines, and experimented with a couple of AI-generated scarecrow design concepts. Instead of following just one pattern, I am blending the best bits from each to engineer my own bespoke soft sculpture scarecrow.

For the base, I am bringing the outside in. I cleaned and painted a pair of garden planters to serve as sturdy pedestals. To add extra upcycled character, I saved and spray-painted the empty pineapple tins left over from baking fresh zucchini bread with our bumper garden crop.

Seasonal Décor and Ongoing Works

I dusted off one of my favourite Halloween craft books to scout out new ideas for spooky, charming seasonal ornaments. I will also be continuing work on my ongoing painted chair project.

A Little Personal Note About November and Beyond

I usually keep my personal life quite separate from the website, but I want to keep you all in the loop. In November, I will be heading in for surgery and will need a few months of gentle rehabilitation.

Please don’t worry: I am not abandoning you. I will keep crafting and sharing creativity with you, though at a gentler, slower pace. Over the coming weeks, I will be designing smaller, portable hand-sewing projects that I can comfortably pick up from the sofa for short bursts at a time.

Thank you so much for your warmth, encouragement, and support. Grab a warm cuppa, gather your fabric scraps, and let’s make October a truly spooktacular month of creating.