Beary Potter to the Rescue

 Shhh.... be very, very quiet.... I finally grabbed the rest of the roasted pumpkin seeds and figured out how to crack open this plastic lock lid!

Nom... Nom... YUM!!!!

Huh... is it just me or did it just get beary cold???

I'll turn on the fireplace...

Yummers!! Still a bit chilly though.

Do you ever feel like... someone's behind you?

Umm.... brrr....

AHHHHHHH.... Dementor!!!!!!!!

Oh no!!! The dementor is sucking the lift out of Cocoa Beanie!!! Who can help???

Don't worry... it is I, Beary Potter of Gryffindor House... I and my trusty maple wand (with hair of Spirit Bear) will dispel this dementor... Ready... Ah-hem... "Expecto Patronum!!!"

Ok... with more oomph... "EXPECTO PATRONUM!!!"

And then... there it was... the spirit bear patronus... charging the dementor!

And the dementor retreated...

And more.... until it was gone!

Are you OK Cocoa???

I think so... but I might need a mug of hot chocolate to warm me up again!

That was seriously scarey!!

There you are folks... our Halloween pantomime for this year...

With guest appearances from Brum (the patronus), me, Cocoa and... the dementor!

Thanks to Jerry & Ben for hosting their Halloween Contest!

A Top Secret Project

Sooo...  while we were at Gramma's we went to the river island to scrounge something for this year's Halloween costume...

This is where Rose and her Mom and Gramma found all sorts of cool rock painting rocks!

But that's not what I need for my Halloween costume... I can't show you that... not yet, anyway...!

Hmm... what can I show you? Well... Gramma had these garden figures (plastic) from ages ago. But over time, they all faded to white. So she took the rock painting paint and... touched them up... pretty good job!

Yep... these deer were white... she did a great job! She says she used a "wash" on it... wowzers...

The turtle turned out great!!

Oh... and this is choco-beet cake. Sort of like zucchini loaf except with grated beets instead of zucchini. Yummy!!!!

Alright... we just got word that our surprise has been delivered so... we can share some more of the top secret sewing project...

So.... since we had the pattern for the robe already... we thought... why not make a couple more... We had lots and lots of black fabric...

And we went and got a bit of blue fabric and yellow fabric.

Can you tell who they will be for?

Here we go...

There's the blue...

There's a lot of cutting involved here you know!

And then the black...

And... there we go! All cut out... but now we need to leave for home... So the plan is that Gramma will wait until Rose's mom comes up for Remembrance Day in November and she will help Gramma sew it al together...

That was the "plan" but...

Gramma did it all on her own!! 

Sooo... can you guess who these robes were delivered to?

Sewing with Gramma

 Soo... while we were at Gramma's, we embarked on a top secret project (well... not so secret anymore...). A sewing project! When Gramma was younger (much younger), she used to sew clothes for her teddy bear... and then she apprenticed with one of the most famous tailors in Berlin... so she knows her sewing stuff!

First... we need to make a pattern...

We used a sweatshirt and housecoat of mine as the starting point for the pattern...

But then you need to add bits for the seams... it's all beary complicated.

Oooof!!!

Watch the ears!

Right then... we are happy with the pattern... now we have to cut fabric...

Two types of fabric actually...

Gramma is super focused...

Yay!! We have all the fabric cut out... Gramma is muttering to herself about the hood part...

But, I think they look brilliant... pokey but brilliant. Now... we need to sew both sets together...

There we go!!

Now the super tricky part... you turn both sides inside out and sew them together, leaving a gap in the bottom, so you can turn the whole thing right side out again...

I'm going to be beary beary quiet.

And just wait patiently (not!)

There we go... it's almost ready to go...

Now it's getting turned right side out... 

Ta-dah!!!! It still needs the seams poked out properly... and the sleeves need to be hemmed.... but... oh wait...

We also need to sew the edges all around... which means pokey needles again!

And that all gets sewed...

And now it's done!!!

Can you tell what it is???