Give me something good to eat!! I think that's how the rhyme goes. The folks around my neighbourhood take their kids trick or treating on the Sunday afternoon before Halloween. This year, I won't be handing out candy at my house because I'm off to spend the afternoon at a friend's place. However, I hate to disappoint my neighbour kids. Hence, I will be doing a reverse trick-or-treating routine. Yep. Before heading out for the afternoon, I will stop by my neighbours' and deliver some candy their kids. Since it doesn't make sense to walk up to someone's house and hand out a couple of candy bars, I decided that I needed to assemble a couple of treat sacks!!! 
What's up with the stray candy bars? Well, they disappeared shortly after this picture was taken, so all is well. Happy Halloween!
This was an interesting pincushion to make. It started out as a dodecahedron (basically, it's 12 pentagons linked together). After the sewn pieces were stuffed until the seams were about to pop, I realized that it resembled a ball. Oy. A roly poly pincushion's not a good thing! Hence, in keeping with the pentagon pieces, I decided to make a 5-lobed flower. I'm quite pleased with the final result! 
CC has finally received the goodies for October's edition of our personal fabric swap!!! Along with our usual exchange of fabrics, I also sent her a knitted skinny scarf (which travelled to Washington, DC with me!) in Autumn colours, a fabric covered journal, and the requisite bag of Halloween candy. 
I had fun selecting the fabrics for this month's swap. To me, Autumn is best represented by the changing colours of the leaves. Hence, I selected fabrics that had red, orange and yellow hues.
Here's a close-up of the journal. It's my first time sewing a cover of any kind for a book/journal/what have you! Being the usual freak that I am, I spent a week or so trying to visualize what the finished result should look like before getting down with it.
Interior shot:
Last but not least, a gratuitous shot of the yummy Choxie Chocolate PB squares :)
I've done the unthinkable. After seven years with my current machine, I decided it was time to get another one.
My current workhorse, Joyce, has been really, really cranky. She eats fabric at will, and grumbles when I use her for largish projects. Having said that, she has been there for me when I needed to hem my graduation gown, sew curtains for my apartments, and work on a wide array of swap projects. I have no plans to fully retire her, but I will definitely be using my new machine for the tough jobs.
Without further ado, here's my new Husqvarna. I got her last night but I've yet to come up with a name for her. Any suggestions?
ETA: I've decided! Her name is Ulla :)
While I've always had a thing for fabrics, I never really looked into trims and such. Imagine my delight when I happened to chance upon these pretties! Oy vey. I do not need another obsession!
If I'm not mistaken, this is my third post on knitted pantas! For some reason or other, I keep making them for my swap partners *bewildered* This time round, the pantas are headed for Australia! TF's pantas are done in cotton candy pink and dark sage yarns:
Along with the pantas, I also offered to send her a little something on the side. She mentioned that she has always been curious about American chocolate bars. I had a field day with her request!
My partner in crime, CC, selected this month's theme. As a tribute to the change of seasons, she suggested that we do a Fall-themed swap. What a brilliant idea! Here's what she sent my way:
Along with the beautiful fall-themed fabrics (there's a really lush piece of brown velvet included in the mix!), she also sent bits and bobs of ribbon and scrapbooking stickers. Did I mention the lovely embroidered dish towel?!? Here's a close-up of the cute acorn she sketched and embroidered:
What's this? There's more??? Yep. She also included a Halloween surprise for my girls, Kaia and Saffy! Bits of fabric with small scale prints on them! CC sure knows how to spoil us girls!
It's no coincidence that I'm writing about pincushions...again. The Queen of Pincushions, CD, decided to send me one of her lovelies! I've always teased her about petting her pincushions and now I'll have to eat my words *sigh* This little gem is really plush and you just can't help wanting to, erm, stroke it! 
Along with the awesome purple pincushion, she also sent me a little Halloween surprise. I'd like to introduce you to Baxter, the wee masked crusader!!
Lately, CD and MC have been churning out pincushions (using this tutorial) like there's no tomorrow! After a series of not-so-subtle taunts from the gals, I finally caved in and made one. Aside from a couple of needle pricks *ouch*, it was surprisingly easy to make. In retrospect, the most tedious bit was my indecision on which fabric scrap to use! Here's the result of tonight's experiment:
I knew this was a wicked idea from the start! RY asked if I would knit her a couple of pantas in exchange for some earrings. Of course, I couldn't say no. Let's just say that things kinda snowballed and the results are astounding! Note: Pictures of RY's swap goodies were taken by RY, since I didn't get around to taking any pictures before meeting up with her in Washington, DC!
Here are the pantas I knitted using KnitPicks' 100% Merino wool. I fell in love with the colour (incidentally, it's called 'Asparagus', which is one of my favourite vegetables!) and I hope that RY likes it too!
Other miscellaneous items I included for RY's daughter plus the requisite candy for RY!
The whole enchilada! Hey! Do you spot a little teddy bear standing by the candy? 
Hi there, little bear!
In return, RY sent my girls Saffy and Kaia the best dresses ever! She's a formidable seamstress! The girls will be psyched with their new frocks!
Along with two pairs of earrings, RY also made me a gorgeous butterfly necklace. All in shades of purple. I don't usually wear necklaces, but I really love this one!
Last but not least, she included a bunch of cool fabrics and candy! Well, not just any candy, but SMARTIES! 
As you can see, it all started with pantas for earrings. RY sure knows how to spoil her swap partners!
These two books caught my fancy, and I had to have them for my collection! The book on the left has all sorts of cool patterns for felt critters, while the book on the right has sewing patterns for cute zakka. 
Sneak peek of the gorgeous felt critters in the book:
Sneak peek of zakka I hope to make...someday:
This weekend, I took a little road trip to visit a friend in Columbus, Ohio and came home with all sorts of goodies!!!
Dice beads, bone-shaped paper punch and trim:
100% Baby Alpaca Yarn *swoon* and circular needles with patented speed tips: