This is  Charlie.  Contrary to everyone’s belief, he has a sweet tooth that would rival anyone.  He would do anything to get a lick of ice-cream, watermelon, sweetened cream, or anything else sweet you can think of.

One day he learned that on All Hallows Eve,  if he puts on a wizard’s hat and a bow tie and sits very very quietly amongst the Jack-O-Lanterns, magic leaves will come and carry him to the land of the Seven Sisters who would give him lots and lots of sweets to eat.  So he came to me and asked if I would make a hat and a bow tie for him.  I was happy to oblige.

As the evening approached, he wore his starry hat and bow tie, smartly walked outside, sat down in the pumpkin patch and waited very patiently.

Charlie has a very bossy sister and two very clueless brothers.  Although they keep a respectable distance from each other, they all love to play with Charlie.  His sister specially loves Charlie and keeps a wary eye on him at all times.   Charlie excitedly told her all about his plan.  She didn’t really believe him, but she was not about to let him sit outside all alone either.  Who knows what peril would befall her brother!  She was also not going to leave the other two out of sight, because then she would have to spend the rest of the night looking for all of them if they got lost.  So the bossy sister pushed the disgruntled brothers out the door and all of them surreptitiously waited a little distance away from little Charlie as the sun sank below the horizon.

They waited and waited and waited some more.  Then, when everything had gone quiet, when all the kids had gone home after their Treat-Or-Trick runs and the Jack-O-Lanterns were about to go out, they heard a rustle and a swoosh.  Suddenly off they went, all four of them, carried away on gigantic leaves!  These were no ordinary leaves, of course!  On each one of them, a different adventure waited for the little kitties.  They stayed together, hopped around and rolled from leaf to leaf, played and had amazing fun.

All this time, while they were busy playing, the leaves carried them onward and upward to the Seven Sisters.  By the time the little kitties got there, they were exhausted.  They sat in the midst of stars and each had their favourite food to eat while watching the Jack-O-Lantern-lit Earth turning down below.  Charlie had his most favourite sweets to eat that day and nobody was going to stop him.  Slowly as the night got deeper, they fell asleep on top of each other and they were carried gently and silently back down to earth, down to their soft, warm beds.

My first-ever visit to a Pumpkin Patch

I had wonderful time drawing, creating the layout, and designing the patterns for Charlie’s Adventure.  I definitely had just as much fun as my little kitties.  Charlie was all right with sharing the story with all of you as long as he and his beloved Papa could have the quilt.

At the last minute I also decided to make this little quilted pillow from the scraps.  I specially fell in love with the orange scene fabric and I really wanted to showcase it.  I will share more detail about the pillow next week along with its measurements so you can make one too.

Charlie sat here and supervised as I was writing the story.   Actually, he was trying to convince me to give him some sweet treats.  He was very disappointed when that didn’t work, “Nobody at home ever gives me anything!”  So he went off to bed to dream about his special All Hallows Eve adventure while snoozing with his pumpkin.  Supposedly the pumpkin gives him sweet dreams.  He wanted me to wish all of you a Very Happy Halloween!

I am off to enjoy a little more October magic!
-Soma