The most wonderful time of the year

Now that cooler temps are here to stay, I've tucked away my hiking shoes and have been happily spending hours being more crafty.  I adore Halloween, it is so much fun to see all the smiling little ones reigning in the goodies.  We get quite a few visitors as our city does not have set trick or treat times,  I load up on candy at Sams Club.

  This year I couldn't choose just one pattern, so I carved three.

Why the crater over the graveyard you ask? 

Well the squirrels around here really appreciate a fancy lunch
(the pumpkins are now inside until Monday)

The camera doesn't show it very well, but 

the bats have little glowing eyes.

Kathi if you're reading this, thanks again for sharing the Dingy Boat kit that Grandpa found.  I could no longer resist.  I will say that so far it's very utility knife intensive, so be ready to get back on that horse.  Hope you are healing fast!

The instructions are very clear with 

diagrams, blueprint and assembly pictures. 

They tell you to put plastic wrap over the blueprints to keep you from gluing to the pages.  Let me just say you will likely just be gluing the plastic to your boat.

Here's the trick I used:  A glass cutting board that used to have a decorative image on the back.  Those pictures come off very easily with a razor, hot water and soap. It's been very useful for other projects as well.

Step 15 / 95  (about an hour)

Now, following up on punch needle. After much searching for carbon paper (I wanted to use this quilt pattern as the template) I was finally able to get a practice piece made.

I used what floss I had on hand so the colors could be better (see quilt pattern).

I learned so much from this one tiny piece.  I got my needle from Carol Sherry Miniatures. Thank goodness for the Greenleaf forums or I would have never found a single thread needle at a decent price. It was fun and easy to do. I look forward to improving :)

Oh I almost forgot. Since I'm sure you will ask what little Mr. Xavier will be dressing up as this year,  I let him pick his own costume out...

I tried to teach him "Skunk" but he insists on "keyty cah" (kitty cat).