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Mrs Frosting Does Frock-tober (Frosting Fortnight & MPB's Halloween Sew-Along)

(also known as Tempest bites off way more than she can chew).

What do you do when you're stressed each week making something for Sew Weekly?

Well I bet any normal person would buckle down and concentrate on that challenge.

As you will have realised by now, I don't do normal or sensible. So when two more challenges came along that seemed big fun I thought I'd better join up to them as well. I mean, you only live once don't you? If I wait till next year to join in, I might not be here....or they might not happen twice.

Soooo, this Frock-tober (that's October with lots of frock-making involved), I, Tempest Devyne, will be:

• trying to keep up with the Sew Weekly challenges (we've got 'UFOs' this week, 'Fall Palette' next week, then 'Halloween' and because we make the week before they're posted about, in the last week of October I'll be doing 'Aprons' to be published in the week of Nov 5th).

• joining in with the Frosting Fortnight:

'Frosting' and 'cake' are terms that have emerged in the self-made clothing blogosphere (yeah, I said it) recently. 'Cake' refers to your staple wardrobe, the sensible clothes, the ones you might wear in an office setting or might be solid sensible colours you can mix and match easily. 'Frosting' allegedly refers to things that don't match or fit in well with the rest of your wardrobe, the extravagant items that you might wear out very rarely....yep, basically most of the things I've made this year as part of the Sew Weekly:

 

But as Mari on her blog Disparate Disciplines so right points out, one woman's (or man's) frosting, is another woman's/man's cake. Personally I reckon the terms should be bread and cake, as cake can never be a thing viewed as boring or regular....you just have to look at photos of me to realise I LIKE CAKE! But obviously Frosting works better for the alliteration - Frosting Fortnight......Cake Century might be a bit much even for me!

So anyway, from October 18th-31st, I'll be pulling out my less worn 'frosting' items and trying to get some fun photos of them to post on the Frosting Fortnight Flickr group....why don't you join us? You know you want to....the clothing doesn't have to be handmade (you soooooo know I'm going to try and get a pic of me in a ballgown down the supermarket don't you....)

• And finally penultimately, as I'm going to be making something for the Sew Weekly Halloween challenge, I thought it would be fun to join in Male Pattern Boldness's Halloween Sew-Along 2012:

Again, why don't you join us? People are already posting pics of patterns and hints at what they're making in the MPB Halloween Sew-Along Flickr Group.

I'll be trying to strike a balance between posting hints and teases and 'aaargh why did I decide to do this's without posting about the finished item until Sew Weekly publishes the finished articles first.....but do you want a hint at what I'm biting off more than I can chew for Halloween? Of course you do:

• And finally, I'll be trying to Halloweenify my home and garden.....because I'm very behind with my bat-making. There will obviously be photos.

Wish me luck and promise to mop my brow periodically....

Halloween Watch 2011 pt 1 - decorating our front garden/yard....the beginnings

Just in case you need a little break from all the burlesque - here's the start of this year's Halloween Watch.

Do you remember last year I went around taking photos of all the weird and wacky things that happen here in the USA in the run up to Halloween? You don't? OK, here are some links to posts about fab garden/yard decorations, costumes, supermarket overkill etc:

Halloween Watch 2010 pt 1 and why I didn't really get Halloween (as you'll soon tell, I'm a total convert now)

Halloween Watch 2010 pt 2 - How the neighbourhood's front gardens are getting scary

Halloween Watch 2010 pt 3 - Getting the right costume

Halloween Watch 2010 pt 4 - The outdoor decorations are getting bigger and scarier (if you're going to click on only one of these links, make it this one - some of the decorating has to be seen to be believed)

Halloween Watch 2010 pt 5 - the final round up

I'll put up some photos of what the neighbours have out in their gardens/yards after this next weekend (I'm off to BurlyCon!) but here are some initial pics of what we've making and putting up ourselves (Halloween comes just at the right time with school hols for being crafty!). Photos are by Goth Child, as part of her school Photography class homework she had to document the break with a sort of photo journal, which was very useful for the blog!

 

 

I know our 'graveyard' is looking a bit sparse at the moment, but we've only being decorating for 2 years now.....I plan to 'invest' in a couple more gravestones each year, and possibly letting Goth Child have her way eventually and letting her make some zombies 'coming out' of the ground....possibly. She's a bit gruesome.

 

 

Our motion sensitive Frankenstein's monster - he shouts things about wanting a jumpstart and needing more juice before shaking to electrifying noises when you walk past him.

 

We made a big spider out of a plain black sheet ($3.99) from Goodwill and stuffed him full of old plastic shopping bags. I think he looks cute.

 

And we're slowly filling up the garage doors with black cardboard bats.......yep, and batman symbols....

 

And in all our front facing windows we've made silhouettes out of big sheets of cardboard.....but I'll have to post some pics of these another day because Goth Child refused to go out and be my photographer last night and sent me to do it with instructions about changing the ISO and other stuff that I didn't understand......as you can see:

 

Yep, I need a photographer who knows what she's doing to take these pics. Especially as I then get distracted and try taking arty photos of Melchett dancing in the orange glow of our pumpkin lights:

 

Anyway, more sensible pics another day and more Halloween Watch 2011 to come :)

Halloween Watch pt 5 - the final round up

Wow. Halloween 2010 is over. That was quite an experience.

And actually it was good. It was fun. It wasn't anything at all like the Halloween I've avoided before in the UK.

On Friday it was Melchett's school's Halloween disco. The school hall was packed with families dressed up and having fun. Melchett went as Hermione Granger going to the Yule Ball. I went as Nymphadora Tonks (but don't call me Nymphadora!)....or should I say Nymphadora Lupin? Sorry no pics of me, but Melchett looked like this:

 

Actually, this was taken on Halloween itself - but she wore it both nights. She adored the curly hair I gave her with my heated hotsticks and even at one point suggested I should do for her most school mornings........yeah though!

Saturday and Sunday we had a really fun family weekend - we bought candy to give out from Sweeties, which I told you about in a previous post and the girls decorated out front garden:

 

Goth Child put up spiders webs whilst Melchett made pipe cleaner spiders and flies to suspend in the webs:

 

And we carved pumpkins, the girls LOVED scooping out the mushy stuff in the middles:

 

Yep, really loved it:

 

But once the gooeyness was removed, then the real concentrated effort could begin:

 

The rest of the weekend we spent watching some of the Halloween themed family movies on the telly cuddled up under duvets including Ghostbusters, Hocus Pocus, The Haunted Mansion, Mask and for some reason Evan Almighty (not sure what that had to do with Halloween but it was probably that went down best with all of us).

Mr Devyne then made his superb Shepherd's Pie whilst the girls got dressed ready for trick or treating:

 

I was pretty proud of these dresses. Melchett's was a whole $9 (£5.61) from my favourite charity shop but was made for age 12 so I had to cut off the sleeves, cut about 3 inches off at the shoulders to make the bodice shorter, cut new arm holes and sew the sleeves back on.

Goth Child's was an even more satisfying $2 (£1.25) for two dresses (again from the charity shop) - I used one formal black crepe dress for the base and cut the satin bits out of the other one to make a flouncey longer hem she wanted and Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen like cuffs:

 

Unfortunately you can't see her raven companion perched on her fingers there. Would it surprise you that one of her favourite authors at the moment is Edgar Allen Poe? No, I thought not.

Then almost as soon as it was dark, we went and sat outside with large bowls of mini kit-kats, treat sized bags of M&Ms and tiny individually wrapped gummy Sponge Bob Squarepants Crabby Patties (which I have to say were by way the favourite all night with our trick or treaters).

We reminded the girls of the rules (advice) their schools and karate instructor had given - only go to houses with all their lights on and whose front gardens clearly indicated they were in a Halloween mood (which to be honest in our neighbourhood was virtually every other house), not to go inside any houses, never take anything not wrapped, NOT to eat any candy or chocolate until they got back to us and we could check it...and we insited that Melchett for one night at least listen to her big sister who would look after her.

But to be honest, we needn't have worried - there were so many families and children just walking up and down the street they tagged along with a big group that had several very little ones with them. It was like one giant street party (yes, I am aware how very lucky we are on times like this when we can sit outside without coats) with mums, dads, grandparents and children all dressed up in their wonderful Halloween costumes. And those who weren't trick or treating sat out on their driveways ready with candy.

Yep, it was fun....and very possibly I might get even more into it next year....I've already picked up quite a few half price decorations in the sales, so next year you might even see pics of our garden decor in Halloween Watch 2011!

 

You might also be interested in these previous posts:

Halloween Watch pt 1 - stuff you can get in supermarkets and why I don't get Halloween being a Brit

Halloween Watch pt 2 - front garden decor

Halloween Watch pt 3 - getting the costume right

Halloween Watch pt 4 - decorations getting bigger and scarier

Could this be THE King of Halloween Garden Decor one-upmanship?

You want more pics of Halloween inflatables here in Phoenix? Were my examples from Halloween Watch 2 and Halloween Watch 4 not good enough for you?

Right, well here you go then:

 

See that - that cat's looking at you. No I'm serious, because when you walk or drive a little further down the road it's head follows you...

 

And I think it looks even more startling in real life, I'm not sure this photo does it full credit. The cat's not much smaller than my car!

It's a huge inflatable that someone has bought and climbed up on their roof to secure...and if this isn't enough - it has a motor so it's head rotates from side to side!

Amazing.

But this still isn't enough - what's that at the side of the house?

 

 

It's a huge Halloween snowglobe that constantly has bits of large confetti blowing around in it....and lights up at night.

And this family have obviously been out on their roof again to hang two large witches. And they have orange Halloween lights all around the garden as well as numerous wooden Halloweeny stakes shoved into their lawn.

It might not be the most creative of all the front garden decorations I seen (and for these check out my previous Halloween Watch posts) but it is the biggest and most startling when you drive down the street.

I also saw some great use of previous year costumes today whilst out and about but didn't have my camera on me (and wasn't particularly in the mood, went to the doctors today about the constant pain in my right leg - now got to go for bloodwork (which I hope is what they call a bloodtest here), an ultrasound on my leg, another ultrasound on my pelvis AND a mammogram - they start them over here far younger than in the UK)...

...what was I saying, oh yes, there was one house where they've obviously been dressing up as superheroes for a few years now - so they'd stuffed the Spiderman, Hulk, Batman etc costumes and suspended them around the front of the house as if they were all deciding to climb up it at the same time.

Anyway, I must be getting on - it's Melchett's Halloween Dance at her school tomorrow (as I'm sure most schools in the country will be doing) and every child has to be chaperoned...and as per usual I have 2 half finished costumes awaiting me in Tempest's Creative Laboratory that need urgent finishing. So byee for noweee.

 

You might also be interested in these previous posts:

Halloween Watch pt 1 - stuff you can get in supermarkets and why I don't get Halloween being a Brit

Halloween Watch pt 2 - front garden decor

Halloween Watch pt 3 - getting the costume right

Halloween Watch pt 4 - decorations getting bigger and scarier

Halloween Watch pt 4 - Decorations getting bigger and scarier

So back on 8th October (which seems a lifetime ago) I showed you pics of some of the front yard garden Halloween decor that had started appearing.

And I seem to remember saying that this was only the start as there were still 3 weeks to go until Halloween...well, I was right. The decorations are growing in number and size (it's like The Blob), and we've still a week to go:

 

 

I actually showed you this house the 1st time round, but that was before a graveyard and a skeleton pirate appeared out on their front lawn.

One thing I've started noticing, is what a bad spider problem Arizona has...

 

(They've actually rigged this so the garage doors can still move up and down - genius!)

And look, there's more over there:

 

If there's one piece of decor a house has...well it's a pumpkin. There are some houses that have made us giggle because the only thing they've got is a single pumpkin plonked in the middle of their lawn. We're not quite sure why they bothered, I mean there are plenty of house who don't seem to be decorating at all. I would say if you took our estate on average 1 out of 3 houses have Halloween decorations so far.

But if there's 2 bits of decor you have as a minimum, it's a pumpkin AND a bag of cottonwool-like spider's web:

 

This is the first one I've seen that had actually 'caught' creepy-crawlies in it - most of them were plastic scorpions. And I love the dedication to Halloween meaning that anyone using the front door has to duck or limbo dance their way in under the web.

At the front of the photo there you can also see they have spider coloured lights. Driving around at night, it feels like Christmas, so many houses have lights up (although most are orange lights, some are multicoloured too).

And remember what I was saying about the decorations basically being in 3 categories:

1. Cute, kitsch
2. Gothic horror
3. Gorey screamfest

Well here's some examples - first cute, kitsch:

 

Yep, they do love their inflatables:

 

(The funniest thing was I took this photo about 2pm...but then wanted to drive the girls past it after school to show them, and in the meantime an additional HUGE inflatable of a headless horseman...on an inflatable black horse had appeared behind the Mummy haha).

 

 

Whereas in the UK around now there'll be tons of posters going up in windows telling trick or treaters to go away, here people are putting signs up in their gardens welcoming them:

 

 

I don't know if you can make that out very well, but the sign at the bottom right of the photo there mimics lots of the house selling open house ones you see go up every weekend here.

I suppose that last photo shows you a bit of what I mean about gothic horror. Here are some more:

 

 

and....

 

 

Can you see in the middle at the bottom there, a scarecrow? There's lots of this as well - Halloween decor alongside Harvest or Autumn decor. I wonder if it's to take the edge off the scary? Lots of houses have Autumnal wreaths on their doors....and skeletons sticking out of their lawns.

I thought this was an inspired use of house structure in the gothicky style:

 

Yes, one of the eyes is a bit droopy but I think that makes it scarier.

So we've done cute/kitsch and gothic horror. You know what's left don't you.....downright gorey scary:

 

 

No surprises that Goth Child likes these houses the best.

 

And there's something highly disturbing about an empty crib, a rocker chair that's been 'distressed', 'mutilated' body parts hanging up in plastic bags and lots of Police Crime Scene tape in a front garden:

 

Ah America! Haha, you never fail to amaze me.

And as I said - we've still got a week to go. Who knows what will appear over the weekend!

 

You might also be interested in these previous posts:

Halloween Watch pt 1 - stuff you can get in supermarkets and why I don't get Halloween being a Brit

Halloween Watch pt 2 - front garden decor

Halloween Watch pt 3 - getting the costume right

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