Halloween, in a Nutshell

For many folks, Christmas is the busiest holiday of the year. The baking, the decorating, the company, the spiritual observance, the activities, etc. For me, it's the Halloween/Samhain season, and this year's was a non-stop, action-packed, three week period filled with friends, food, theater, film, games, and so much more.

Let's recap some of the highlights, shall we?

Exhibit A: "At the Opera Tonight..."

The festivities began the weekend before Halloween, with a weekend trip to the state capital for the Sacramento Horror Film Festival. This was purely a pleasure trip (I hadn't submitted my film this year) to see a screening of Repo! The Genetic Opera, with cast and creators in attendance.

It was a great evening (though it was preceded by a nauseatingly bad pre-show), complete with shadow cast performances, audience participation, and a lively Q&A with Terrance Zdunich (co-creator/"Graverobber"), Darren Smith (co-creator/"Opera Maestro"), Alisa Burket ("Henchwoman 1"), and Andreja Punkris ("Henchwoman 2").

I waited in line to get autographs from them all, and was quite pleased that I didn't make an ass of myself. I usually tend to put my foot in my mouth when meeting artists or celebrities, so this was a step up!

Exhibit B: "Holy Sugar Cookies, Batman!"

Like I mentioned before, baking is integral to my Halloween season. And when I bake...I BAKE:

In one evening, I made over 100 sugar cookies in 3 different colors of dough and flavors of sugar topping: orange leaves and pumpkins with real Wisconsin maple sugar on top, white ghosts and bones with vanilla sugar, and purple-black cats and witches with purple sugar.

I think, out of all the cookies this year, I am most proud of my Batman cookies:

You see, my video game of the season was Batman: Arkham Asylum, and I had to commemorate the occasion in cookie dough. *nods seriously*

The reason for so many cookies? I made enough to ship to friends and family, share with co-workers, take as my contribution to a play-reading/potluck party, and have enough left over for my own guests at a Rock Band party. Even with all that, we still didn't finish the last cookie until two days ago.

Exhibit C: Making Halloween

Of course, what Halloween is complete without crafts?

I didn't have much time, but I did manage to get a little stitching in:

This wee ghostie was made using a free Annie Oakleaves pattern I snagged last year. I made him using back, satin, and long-and short stitches.

I tried to finish a little friend for him:

But I didn't quite make it. Perhaps next year!

Now it's time to switch gears. Though my favorite holiday is over, there's still two big, special events right around the corner. That being said, I'm looking forward to a couple of weeks of mellow-time before we kick back into holiday mode!

Hand: Having a Hoot

"Hoot?" Get it? 'cause this post has owls...oh nevermind.

More fun with Annie Oakleaves patterns, only these come in a form of a test pattern that I volunteered to help stitch.

This one is the biggest of all the owls:


This one is my not-so-secret favorite:


This one I call "Tweaky," 'cause really, look at those eyes:

He looks like he's been awake for three days straight! In a cute way.

I'm hoping to stitch these onto some nice, rich, mustard colored napkins I picked up, in a patch sort of way. 'cause really, what dinner table doesn't need some owls to spice it up?

Hand: Hello December

Though it usually fills me with a vague sense of terror, I'm actually glad it's December this time around. Maybe it's just because it's been such a bear of a semester for my husband the Professor (which I always get to share in at home), and December heralds the end of the insanity. Maybe I'm actually looking forward to the holidays, with the making of gifts, and thus avoiding the shop-and-gift-fair battles that come with the season. Maybe it's as simple as being excited to see both sets of families (his and mine) in the span of one month, plus the added bonus of two weeks off work.

To celebrate this new found joy of the month, I've decked out my blog layout in an appropriately "wintry" theme, though:

1. I know it's still Autumn for 20 more days.
2. I live in the Bay Area. The last time it snowed here was 2005. And that was a freak occurrence.

But that doesn't matter. I hope you check it out and enjoy!

I think I was partially inspired by one of the latest stitching projects I completed, this cute little snowman from a free Annie Oakleaves pattern.




I'm seriously hooked to her patterns, they're so simple and so sweet, I can't help but feel cheerful whenever I work on one. You can download this pattern from her Flickr.

I've already bought a matching fabric to make a little wall hanging with him, so hopefully I'll have pictures to share soon!

Another reason I love the snowman is that it reminds me of one of my favorite B-movies Cannibal! The Musical, which was Trey Parker and Matt Stone's first film, pre-South Park. It's hilarious, sufficiently gory, and filled with ridiculous musical numbers such as "Let's Build a Snowman!" A warning, Not work or kid-safe, as there is language and a bit of gore at the end. But then again, what holiday video would be complete without it?