Great Halloween, Shoreline Fire Department, Sewing, Antique train, Depression era Goverment issue manuals

Whew!... That was a lot of work!  But another successful Halloween is now behind us. The show was great, The kids were happy. The parents were happy. We were happy.  The fire department was happy.  Yes the fire department showed up and Jimmy and I thought we were in trouble cuz we had smoke and fog rolling all through the neighborhood.  No worries though... they just stopped by our house to hand out candy because they saw the group of 30 or so kids at our door. Kudos to the Shoreline Fire Department for public relations work.
We did a 'Cowboy' theme this year.  Tumbleweeds, vultures, cow skulls, dead cowboy with arrows sticking out of him and at the last minute .....  Jimmy made an Awesome locomotive train  in about 2 hours out of pvc, black visquine and a planting pot from the back yard. It rocked!  Once it got really dark the black disappeared and only the outline, fluorescent paint and back lit smoke from the smoke tower  showed so it was a rockin' ghost train! I did get some pictures... Once again the photos are not great but they will give you an idea.
Today we are back to real life. We have to tear it all down , recycle, and store the usable stuff. Then we have to stack a cord of wood in prep for the cold snowy winter the Old Farmers Almanac and the local weather guys are predicting. Then I have to clean the studio after the last minute frenzy of work and get it ready to get back in there and do  some ' fine art'.  We did all the sewing for the costumes in there and I am always surprised  at the mess sewing  makes.  I guess if I used patterns it wouldn't be so messy, but I don't.  So, it is.  Check out Jimmy's vest and my skirt. I designed and made them both. Maybe in my next blog I will talk about  all the great depression era, government issue, how to, materials my Grandmother saved for me. They might have seemed redundant in 1935 when everyone knew how to sew,can and garden... but in 2010 when basic survival skills are going the way of  dinosaur..... they are priceless!