I didn't think I was going to get any pumpkins at all this year. I planted the seeds late due to rain. The plants came up late due to rain. Everything got a good case of powdery mildew due to rain and yet, here they are. Two glorious pumpkins for my dining pleasure. They're even turning orange. It's the little things that make life sweet.

Hermione Granger Costume

One costume down, four more to go! This is my little Buttercup's Hermione Granger costume, complete with scarf and decal. I'm also working on a cloth copy of Hogwarts: A History, which I'll show you next week when it's done.

This turned out really well and was quick to stitch together. The scarf took some time however and if time is short for you, I'd recommend skipping this accessory.

The house scarves from the first movie had wide bands of each house color. Buttercup is definitely a Gryffindor, so I went with the red and gold for her. I might have to make a Hufflepuff scarf for myself some day. The scarves are knit in the round. I really liked this tutorial from atypically.knit. Not only does she break down the construction, but she gives color and yarn recommendations as well.

Since this is a costume for a 1-year-old, I picked up some of the super cheap Red Heart Super Saver in Gold and Brick. It isn't the best yarn I've ever worked with, but it's good enough for a costume and the colors are perfect. Despite what this picture shows, I did trim my fringe at the bottom to make it neat.

The pattern is designed to make a scarf for someone much larger and it uses circular needles which I hate using. I used size 6 double pointeds and cut the number of stitches in half. Every 11 rows, I switched colors. There are 19 stripes total - 10 in the brick and 9 in the gold.

When you get to the part about making the fringe, I used 3 strands per tassel instead of the recommended 7. I also eyeballed the length, making the fringe a size that looked good to the proportions of the scarf.

The costume itself couldn't have been easier. I started with Simplicity 2571, which is a pattern for, among other things, a witches robe. If you're experienced or daring, you can ignore this portion and draft your own pieces from the shapes below.

Hogwarts robes have hoods and the sleeves aren't especially pointed, so this pattern needed some adjustments. I started by using the smallest size. Since this is a pattern for little kids and not toddlers, I had to keep in mind that it was going to be too long.

Ignoring the instructions, I used the front and back pieces of the robe, the sleeve for the robe and the largest size hood pattern. The front and back pieces I kept the same width because Buttercup has to have a sweater under it. I made it shorter though, because the pattern is made for a much taller child.

The sleeves also got a trim. Because the bell sleeves needed to be less full and shorter, I simply cut off the bottom few inches of the pattern so that they were short enough for Buttercup's long arms.

I picked up a yard each of black cotton and dark red cotton. I cut out two sleeves in black and two in red, two hood sections in black and two in red, two front pieces in black and two in red and one back piece, placed on the fold, in black.

I apologize for not taking more pictures of the actual assembly process, but I think it's fairly straightforward. Starting with the fronts, right sides together, I stitched the red linings to the black fronts, along the neckline to the front center hem. I clipped the corners and turned them right-side out and pressed them flat.

Next came the shoulder seams. Once again, with right sides together, I stitched the fronts to the back, first at the shoulders and then the long seam from the armpit to the hem.

With my basic robe shape done, I stitched the bottoms of the red sleeve linings to the black sleeves, turned them right-side out and pressed them. Then I stitched the sleeve seam and pinned the sleeve to the rest of the robe.

Because I always seem to sew the wrong side of a sleeve to a shirt (or in this case, a robe), I'd like to take a moment and recommend that before sewing anything, you turn the garment right side out to make sure that everything is going the right way. I hate having to rip out seams.

When the sleeves were attached to the robe, the only thing left to stitch was the hood. The long curve is the back and top of the hood so I stitched this seam with right sides together on both the back hood and red lining. I put the right sides of the hood and the lining together and stitched the fronts, leaving the bottom open to turn the piece and to stitch it to the robe.

I ironed the hood pieces and then stitched the black part of the hood to the robe neck. I ironed the raw edge of the lining to the inside of the hood and hand stitched it to the robe. Finally, the robe needed hemming. I managed to get Buttercup to stand still long enough that I was able to determine how much it needed to be taken up. I ends a few inches below her knees so that she won't trip over it when toddling about.

The robe just needed its embellishments to be complete. I used two plain black buttons and a bit of black ribbon to form the closure. The ribbon is a loop, sewed down under one button and slipped over the other. I had to make sure I used enough ribbon to be able to slip the loop over the opposing button, but not so much that the two buttons sat too far apart.

The house crest is an iron-on transfer I made using opaque transfers and this Gryffindor crest I found online. I wasn't crazy about her colors, so I recolored it to suit my taste.

I stitched the scarf onto the robe for two reasons. Firstly, I didn't want Buttercup to lose it and second, I didn't want her to strangle herself with it either. I placed it under her hood and just did a couple of stitches to hold it in place.

The rest of her costume comes straight from her closet. She has a white onesie with a rounded collar, a pair of black pants and black MaryJanes. I'm still on the lookout for a basic grey sweater, but baby clothes manufacturers don't seem to want to dress babies in grey. To simplify the tie issue, I'm going to draw it on with red and gold fabric markers. Cute, right? I'll post pictures after Halloween and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Tomato Blight

It's not confirmed or anything, but I'm pretty sure this is a case of late blight. Not wanting to take chances, I pulled all these tomato plants up and bagged them for disposal rather than risk it.

Such a disappointing year for tomatoes! This is the second year in a row that my crop has been next to nothing and while tomatoes aren't my favorite thing to eat, it really depressing to know that just two years ago (in the old garden), I had so many tomatoes that we were using them for dog toys.

Next summer. Next summer can't be the rainy disaster that has plagued us for two years in a row, right? My fingers are crossed.

The Impossible Meal

My little Buttercup has become quite adept at eating. In fact, she's no longer interested in the morsels that are made exclusively for her. She wants what's on my plate. That's fine by me because it means that I've got one fewer meal to cook.

Meals of late have been chicken or fish or vegetarian and always things that can be cut up into smallish chunks. She loves pasta. She loves cheese. Fruit is better than vegetables, but even broccoli gets eaten these days. It's every mother's dream, right?

So here's where it gets tricky. Husband and I want to drop some pounds and move to a healthier lifestyle. You know, that whole setting a good example thing. This means that we're shifting to lower fat meals but active critters like Buttercup need the calories. Now I'm on the quest for menus that meet all our needs without resorting to cooking three separate meals multiple times a day.

What do you think? Is this possible? How do you make a meal that has flavor, that can be eaten by toddlers and meets a wide range of caloric needs? I'm researching this seemingly impossible combination, and I'm starting with you. What sorts of healthy meals did/does your young family enjoy?

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day - September

Bloom Day is upon us once again which means September is already half over. What is it with these Autumn months that makes them slip by so quickly?

There's still tons of stuff left to do in the garden this year. I have beds to fill with dirt and garlic and bulbs to plant plus I need to get in the seeds for the kale and lamb's lettuce and scallions. Top that off with general garden cleanup and I'll be working until the snow flies.

The chelone, or turtle head, is doing beautifully. All the rain earlier in the season must have agreed with it because they have grown to mammoth proportions. I'd like to add some white ones to this bed next year for some color variety.

I have one last daylily in bright yellow that decided to bloom for me. I have been lamenting the lack of yellow daylilies in the garden and have plans for adding more for next year. I have no idea where this little one came from. Perhaps the garden gnomes have taken pity and planted it for me. It's made me chuckle since the blooms are so huge and as you can see, the rest of the plant is quite puny.

While the echinacia didn't bloom for me this year, this guy... this guy right here... this little, pink-blossomed succulent... no wait... the name of this plant was just in my head a second ago... I've been pointing it out to people all summer because it was something I found growing half forgotten in the pool jungle area... I remember excitedly saying "hey Mom, check out the..."

Nope. It's gone. Damn. Is 38 too young to have a senior moment?

Anyway, I really do know what this plant is called and if someone would be kind enough to remind me, I'd be most appreciative. It's gonna keep me up tonight. It's a neat little plant with a low growing shape and fleshy light green leaves. It has added variety to an otherwise boring garden layout.

Happy bloom day to you all and may the names of all your plants come swiftly to your tongue (or fingers) at a moments notice.

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Addendum at 5:06 PM:

SEDUM!!!

Once again, thank you Ali. :)

Family Game Night and the inside scoop on games

Husband has been away in Wisconsin for a trade convention hosted by one of our distributors. It's just for game industry manufacturers and retailers, so he got a chance to hobnob with some very interesting people like Steve Jackson (Steve Jackson Games), Zev Shlasinger (Z-man Games) and Greg Leeds (Wizards of the Coast). He promises he's coming home with a ton of cool new games (which I'll share next week) and all sorts of ideas to try at the store.

This week, instead of a game review, I want to encourage people to start a Family Game Night. A few years back, Hasbro started using this concept as the basis for an ad campaign. This year's commercial is kinda cute.

Some of my favorite memories are those times when we didn't have electricity for one reason or another and my family sat around in the evenings playing boardgames or card games. In fact, in addition to the games we play for work, we still have a Family Game Night with my folks every Wednesday.

Pick a day of the week that's good for the whole family and switch off the TV. Play American standards like Monopoly, Boggle and Sorry or try out some of the European-style games like Carcassonne or PitchCar. Dust off your games from the big companys like Hasbro or find those gem games by smaller companies like Blue Orange, Rio Grande or Mayfair. Boardgame Geek has tons of recommendation for every game imaginable.

Even if you don't have the money for boardgames, an inexpensive deck of cards can yield hours of fun with tons of games. I like Contract Rummy and Spoons. Check out yard sales and thrift stores for cribbage boards or backgammon sets. Build up a collection of games so that game night can have variation.

Once you've set the day and have something to play, add some traditions like keeping a scoreboard or popping some popcorn. It's cheap fun that can be enjoyed by all ages.

Project Notes: Painting Wands

I seem to have missed all my other intended posts this week, but I'm on top of this continuation of last week's wands.

As promised, I present my painting tutorial for this project. This is where my geeky miniatures stuff comes in handy, as I have tons of colors of paint. For those of you following along at home, to paint a brown wand like the one shown here, you'll want:

• a dark brown paint
• a medium brown paint
• gold paint
• black ink
• brown ink
• suede lacing
• white glue that dries clear
• hot glue
• a couple of paint brushes, one of which has a pointy tip
• a bit of sea sponge
• a bowl of water for cleaning off your brushes
• papertowel
  

If you can't find black and brown ink, you can make it work with black paint and your dark brown paint, but the inks are translucent and allow the colors underneath them to come through.

Last week, I had primed the wands, one white and one brown. The first step in painting is to cover the wand in a wash of black ink. Basically, I dip my brush in the water then, without wiping off any of the water, I dip it in the black ink. This thins out the ink and makes it less opaque. If you're using black paint, water down your paint until it's thin enough that it doesn't cover the brown color already on the wand.

Slather the black over the entire wand. The point of this is to make the nooks and crannies of the wand stand out. Is your ink or paint too thin? Add less water and brush over the wand again. Is your ink or paint too thick? Before it dries, brush over it with water and use the paper towel to wipe off some of the black. This is just the first of a few layers, so you can't mess this up.

You should see almost immediately how the black ink brings out the details of your hot glue work. It's also going to give the wand a used feeling by making it look a little smudged and dirty.

Let the wand dry before moving on to the next step. If you're building multiple wands, do those washes too. Once they are dry, break out your sea sponge and the light brown paint. Dip a bit of the sponge into the brown paint and pat the excess off onto your paper towel. Lightly sponge the brown onto the wand. You don't want to totally cover the wand so that you lose all your good shadows but you want to make sure you have an even pattern. If that doesn't make any sense at all, then just sponge on the light brown until it looks good to you.

Let this dry and repeat this process with the dark brown paint. At this point, I painted some additional lines around the wand and then added another layer of black ink and then more stippling with the sponge. Basically, continue adding very thin layers of paint and ink until your wand looks fabulous.

Let this dry and then break out the gold paint and the pointed brush. Carefully paint the raised parts , but don't get too upset if the gold ends up on the wand. Once the gold is dry you're going to do a brown wash over it. This gives the gold a great patina, emphasizes the recesses of the wand and helps to hide any sloppy gold paint.

Finally, I wrapped the end of this wand with leather lacing. I started by hot-gluing one end to tack it in place. Then I spread a thin layer of white glue on the wand and carefully wrap the leather to form a handle. It works best if you use a thin layer of glue so that you don't end up with glue spots on the handle. It's also a good idea to do small sections at a time - glue and wrap and glue and wrap - rather than trying to glue the whole handle at once. When you've wrapped the handle enough, use hot glue to tack the other end in place and leave the wand somewhere to dry.

Your wand is essentially done at this point. I went a step further and made these boxes to keep the wands in. The plans for the boxes came from this fantastic YouTube video, but the labels are all mine - well, as much as I can lay claim to a label for a business invented by someone else. There are times when I wonder if I do these projects just so I can create packaging.

The white wand was done in much the same way as the brown one. I used a black wash and blue, beige and silver paints with all the same techniques. The wands are so simple to make, I recommend experimenting with your color combinations and washes. You'll be surprised at some of the cool effects you can create by changing the colors.

Clear as mud? Excellent! I will now take questions in an attempt to confuse these directions even more.

Halloween Projects: Costume Wands

Every year around this time, we think of really cool costumes for Halloween. Every year, we put off making said costumes until it's too late. We have to settle for whatever is leftover (and affordable) at the Halloween store. This year, I'm on top of it! We're going as characters from Harry Potter.

I'm working on these costumes now because the sooner I get them done, the sooner I can move on to the bundle of handmade Christmas gifts on my list. If I post my notes now, when we're actually closer to October 31 and someone else is scrambling for costume ideas, these entries will help.

Today's notes are about wands. I'm not going to claim this as a tutorial because like the LED booties, this is not my idea. I'm merely showing you my process to give you another source of information.

This is a very clever project from DadCanDo and Instructibles. The wands are different from the ones in the movies, but I think they have a great look. Plus, they have the added bonus of a hack that lets them light up. These wands are made with things readily available in a craft-friendly home. It starts with a piece of paper, double-sided tape and some white craft glue.

The directions say to roll the paper up, making sure one end is slightly smaller than the other to create the tapered wand look. I did about four to give me choices in my final wand design. Two of the wands were made with regular printer paper and two of them were made with heavier card stock. For future wands, I think I'll stick with the regular printer paper. It's thinner and easier to roll and when the piece is filled with epoxy, it is very solid. I also found that it helped to roll tightly at one end of the paper. This created that lightly tapered end for the perfect wand shape.

I was also skeptical at first that the double sided tape was a necessary step, but I found that because the paper is rolled so tightly, the tape helps to keep the wand shape while you apply the glue to finish off the base.

The trouble with applying tape is that it's hard to be sure what angle your roll will be when you get to the tape part. When I added the tape before I started rolling the paper, one end of the wand would be taped up long before the other end. If I waited until I had the paper at the point where the tape should go, the wand lost its tension when I let go of the roll to apply it. What I recommend is get a second pair of hands to help you out. Get it rolled up to about the point you see in the photo and have a friend or family member run a strip of tape parallel to the roll. Continue rolling so that the tape sticks the whole business together and move on to the gluing step.

This part is a little messy, but it helps to create a smooth wand shape. Apply a bit of glue to the last triangle portion of your paper. The amount you see in this photo is way too much glue, by the way. You want enough that you can cover the whole surface in an even coat and not so much that it all squirts out and coats your hand and makes everything a sticky mess. Yuck.

Once you've applied your glue, roll up the wand tightly and place it somewhere to dry. This may be a tricky thing since the outside of your wand will still be a little sticky. I would not recommend drying your wand by placing it on the nozzle of the glue bottle. There is a very good chance that it will fall off of said bottle and glue up your nice kitchen counter. I'm just saying. I ended up sticking mine in a plastic cup (and then mopping the glue off my nice kitchen counter).

Once the glue is dry, you'll need to break out your glue gun and scissors. Trim the ends and plug the small end with hot glue according to the directions. This is important and the directions will give you tips on how to make the end of your wand look cool.

DadCanDo would have you fill the wand's core entirely with hot glue. I started to do this and realized that it was going to take absolutely forever to melt enough glue and pump it through the gun into the tube. Who has the patience for that? Instead, I turned to my new friend, 5-minute epoxy.

5-minute epoxy is a two part resin/hardener compound. You've probably seen it in hardware stores as a double plunger attached to two tubes of goo. Since this isn't a project where life and death durability is required, don't worry too much about the brand. I went with what was cheap (while Gorilla Glue is awesome, the link is just so you can see what I'm talking about). The important thing to look for is a liquid epoxy that cures in 5 minutes. That's plenty of time to mix it and fill your wand.

A few of things to note: First and foremost, while using epoxy may seem tricky, it's really not. After you've played with it the first time, you'll realize just how simple it is to work with. My extensive notes on this portion are just to help the first-time epoxy-ers know what to expect.

Epoxy will not be friendly to your skin. I recommend slapping on a pair of disposable latex gloves. They are cheap and should be in every crafter's workspace.

Epoxy needs to be mixed very well. I used a craft Popsicle stick and an empty, cleaned out, dry yogurt cup. For one wand you will need the entire contents of a .85 fl. oz. package. You may need a little more if your wand is long or fat and a little less for shorter or skinnier wands. Squeeze the whole business into your mixing container. DO NOT USE A CONTAINER THAT YOU WANT TO KEEP. Mix the resin and the hardener together for about 30 seconds. Scrape the sides often. Epoxy that isn't mixed well won't set up properly and then you just have a big mess on your hands.

Once your epoxy is combined, carefully pour it into your wand. Again, don't do this on any surface that is dear to you. I did this on my basement work bench. Make sure your wand won't tip over. I put mine in a plastic cup clamped securly in my workbench vice. Carefully pour the epoxy into the end of your wand. The hot glue at the other end will act as a stopper to keep the epoxy from going everywhere.

Epoxy gets hot as it cures. Like burn your skin hot. It won't get so hot that your cup will melt or the paper will burst into flames, but I was concerned that my hot glue plug at the end of the wand might melt. I can safely report that it did not. In fact, almost as fast as it heated up, it cooled down again. This is just something you should be aware of.

Even though the epoxy hardens in 5 minutes, you should let it sit overnight to properly cure.

Now it's time to break out the hot glue again. My wands needed a little topping off so I filled the rest of the end with hot glue. You can see how I rounded this off, just like at the tip. You should now be in posession of a solid wand blank in need of customization. I found this part to be the trickiest portion of the project.

The directions call for you to artistically create surface details by rotating your wand in one hand while drizzling hot glue on it with the other. This is harder than it sounds, mostly because getting an even bead of glue in a lattice-type pattern while not allowing it to get too thick in any one spot and not burning yourself with the glue is a lot of things to juggle all at the same time. This is an area where practice definitely helps. Since the materials for this project are relatively cheap and it takes only slightly more time to make 4 than it does to make 1, you might as well make a few and then you can pick the one you like best.

Once your wand is decorated to your liking, prime it with matte spray primer. Since wands are supposed to be wood, I went with the white primer and the brown primer, as you can see in the first photo. Black primer would also be a good base, but this is your wand and you can make it any color you like (or have on hand).

There you have it! Your wand is built and primed and ready for some decorative painting and embellishing. To see how I've decorated mine, tune in next Friday for part 2 of the Harry Potter Wand Project.

(Note: Huge thanks to Mark for coaching me through the epoxy parts. He is heretofore known as "Captain Epoxy")

The last of this year's ice cream

I have made the last batch of ice cream for this year and before I tell you what flavor it is, I want to hit you with a hypothetical. What if I were to say to you that I have an ice cream flavor that tastes like brown sugar and cinnamon with a hint of spiced rum and these crispy bits that add a sweet, smoky, salty and slightly apple flavor to the mix? You'd have a scoop, right? Now what if I were to tell you that the crispy bits are bacon?

Wait! Wait! Don't go! Come back here! I'm serious about this. My last ice cream flavor of the year is candied bacon and it doesn't taste at ALL like you think it does. To begin with the bacon is topped with brown sugar and placed in the oven until it gets all crispy and super sweet. Then it gets chopped up into little pieces, so it's not like getting a big bite of bacon. I'm not kidding you when I say that if you are a fan of bacon, you NEED to try this recipe.

It comes from David Lebovitz who wrote, what is in my opinion, the definitive book on ice cream making, The Perfect Scoop. While he likes all the tried and true favorites, he's also a fan of some "out-there" combinations. After this experience, I trust him completely with my taste buds.

Candied Bacon Ice Cream
David Lebovitz is the creator of this unusual delight and you should check out his version. I'm posting my version of it here since I changed a couple of things, have some recommendations and because like most Americans, I like my cinnamon.

Candied Bacon

• 5 strips bacon - I like the Farmland Cider House Bacon for it's apple undertones, but a good maple would be nice too.
• light brown sugar

Brown Sugar- Cinnamon Ice Cream

• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2-3/4 cups whipping cream
• 5 large egg yolks
• 3 teaspoons spiced rum
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Start by making the candied bacon. Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with tin foil or a silpat and lay bacon strips on top. Sprinkle the tops of the bacon evenly with brown sugar. I probably used 1-1/2 to 2 tsp of loose brown sugar per strip of bacon. You may need a little more or a little less depending on how long your bacon is.

Bake bacon for 8 minutes, remove from oven and flip over making sure to run the strips through any carmalized brown sugar on the tray. You want the bacon to be nice and sweet. Return bacon to the oven and bake for 8 more minutes, or until the strips are a rich brown, shiny, and crispy. Remove from oven and let strips cool on a wire rack. Once they are cool, chop into small pieces, about the size of a grain of rice. Store bacon bits in an airtight container in the fridge.

Put 1-1/4 cups of heavy cream into a heavy saucepan and stir in the brown sugar. Heat over low flame until the sugar is melted and the mixture is hot but does not boil. Pour the remaining 1-1/2 cups of cream into a bowl, stir in cinnamon and set a mesh strainer over the top.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks together and slowly add the hot brown sugar & cream mixture, making sure to whisk continually (you don't want to make scrambled egg yolks). Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook over low heat, constantly stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan, until the custard thickens.

Strain the custard into the cream. Add spice rum and stir mixture together. If your mixture is still quite warm, set the bowl in an ice bath and stir until cool. Cover the mix with plastic wrap and chill overnight. As a side note: if you place the plastic wrap directly on the top of the custard, it will prevent a skin from forming on the surface of the mix.

Once thoroughly chilled, freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Add the bacon bits during the last moment of churning, or stir them in when you remove the ice cream from the machine.