little happy apple

soap factory

autumn's fire brings chilly days that lend themselves perfectly to simmering kettles of hot liquid over the hearth...Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn, and caldron bubble.  Lots of soap to make getting ready for the upcoming holiday season.  we have peppermint with green tea, ylang ylang with rose clay, lemongrass-clary sage-lavender blend, sweet orange-clove-aloe blend, geranium grapefruit and anise.  every batch is looking lovely.  soapmaking is so rewarding and my house smells so nice.

more soap on the horizon.  maybe as soon as tomorrow. 

riding in the sky

 
in keeping with our annual halloween tradition, the girls and i made some of our little wool felt witches again this year with the fabulous addition of corn silk to the end of the broom....it makes it even prettier than it's original version.  you can view a how to tutorial here.  few things are better than halloween crafts with the children.   this year we had a little craft party with about 12 girls and made witches, needlefelted pumpkin pins, wet felted wool acorns and beeswax candles from a handy kit we found at magic cabin. they loved making the candles and they were so pretty!  i also made some caramel apples that were gorgeous using real sticks and drizzling white and dark chocolate atop a la jackson pollock.  each little artist left with a basket of handmade goodies.  my idea of a party.

a bushel and a peck

wonderful afternoon at the skytop orchard in flat rock, nc.  what a cool place.  majestic views and miles of trees dotted with shades of red and green and gold.    we packed a picnic and the kids ran for hours, picking apples and rolling down hills.  everyone crashed once in a while into a big dog pile of love.  i had heard that this was the tourist place and in years past we have visited smaller mom and pop orchards.  i will say however, that i was pleasantly surprised because the prices were good, the apples were beautiful and the scenery couldn't have been better.  everywhere you turned was pure magic and you could walk for quite a while without seeing another human being despite the packed parking lot.  it seemed to me to be the perfect romantic getaway...don't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me, anyone else but me....  we got ourselves a good variety of our favorites:  galas and pink ladies, grannies for cooking and whatever else we could grab for apple butter.  i have got big plans for these beauties.  big plans.   stay tuned for more on canning.