Halloween is rapidly approaching. Carved pumpkins with toothless smiles will invite children to knock on doors for candy treats. In my time it was common for people to hand out homemade snacks like caramel popcorn, peanut brittle and the most delicious candy apples with a hard red coating you could lick or bite to gain access to the juicy apple underneath. Dressed as creatures
of the night, ghostly figures made from old bed sheets or fairy princesses we were rewarded with
brown sugar, chocolate or peanut butter fudge, maybe a rice crispy square, handfuls of candy kisses or an apple. Those were definitely the good old days; a simpler era when mother’s had the time to prepare homemade goodies. Of course no one will let their kiddies eat homemade Halloween snacks anymore, unless your phone number and name are written on the bag and then only after it's examined with a CSI scrutiny. Apples are just chucked in the garbage to avoid a potential catastrophe, worried that pins and needles or a razor blade might be buried deep inside its flesh. Sadly, we live in a different world now. To protect children, some areas have canceled Trick or Treating altogether. How sad that future generations won’t get to experience All Hollows Eve’s Trick or Treat fun.
One tradition hasn’t changed though; the desire to decorate our homes with fall colours and seasonal frills. Throughout the year we sell a lot of autumn geared designs, with pumpkins
and harvest scenes, witches, skulls and haunted houses. The most popular pattern is called Pumpkin Grinners, weird shaped cat heads sporting Cheshire smiles that crown long necks growing out of pumpkins. I put the design on the rack with trepidation. Bordering on ugly, it seemed too far out there to sell as a pattern. Well, I know nothing! It has become, by
far, the most sought after Halloween design that we sell. People adore the cats with their overzealous grins. The finished rug, sold to the shop by rug hooker, Ann Durkee, remained on display for several years until a few weeks ago when someone saw it in our window display, fell in love and bought it on the spot. Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder. Now
I miss the darn thing. Those happy faces, curly eyelashes and colourful pumpkins with a rich mottled purple background grew on me and was a great source of fun comments and conversation for the shop.
of the night, ghostly figures made from old bed sheets or fairy princesses we were rewarded with
brown sugar, chocolate or peanut butter fudge, maybe a rice crispy square, handfuls of candy kisses or an apple. Those were definitely the good old days; a simpler era when mother’s had the time to prepare homemade goodies. Of course no one will let their kiddies eat homemade Halloween snacks anymore, unless your phone number and name are written on the bag and then only after it's examined with a CSI scrutiny. Apples are just chucked in the garbage to avoid a potential catastrophe, worried that pins and needles or a razor blade might be buried deep inside its flesh. Sadly, we live in a different world now. To protect children, some areas have canceled Trick or Treating altogether. How sad that future generations won’t get to experience All Hollows Eve’s Trick or Treat fun.
One tradition hasn’t changed though; the desire to decorate our homes with fall colours and seasonal frills. Throughout the year we sell a lot of autumn geared designs, with pumpkins
and harvest scenes, witches, skulls and haunted houses. The most popular pattern is called Pumpkin Grinners, weird shaped cat heads sporting Cheshire smiles that crown long necks growing out of pumpkins. I put the design on the rack with trepidation. Bordering on ugly, it seemed too far out there to sell as a pattern. Well, I know nothing! It has become, by
far, the most sought after Halloween design that we sell. People adore the cats with their overzealous grins. The finished rug, sold to the shop by rug hooker, Ann Durkee, remained on display for several years until a few weeks ago when someone saw it in our window display, fell in love and bought it on the spot. Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder. Now
I miss the darn thing. Those happy faces, curly eyelashes and colourful pumpkins with a rich mottled purple background grew on me and was a great source of fun comments and conversation for the shop.
Pumpkin Grinners hooked by Ann Durkee.
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