It's pumpkin time......

I'm very excited that my pumpkin wallhanging long arm quilting was done in time for pumpkin time. As soon as I picked it up I sewed the binding and hanging sleeve on. This will eventually look better once we paint the walls a light gray.  I get to enjoy this quilt until it's time for a christmas/holiday quilt which my husband's cousin made for us a few years ago. (This pattern is called Mini Pumpkins by Some Kind of Wonderful - I made mine much bigger than the original pattern)

And here's my pumpkin table runner finished.  This was a manageable size for me to quilt on my sewing machine. The pumpkin wallhanging is on the wall at the end of where this table is. (This pattern is Punkin' Patch Runner by Bonnie K Hunter of Quiltville) 

I have gotten a little more time at the sewing machine to work on some small holiday gifts for family and friends but I can't show those yet.  I'm almost finished with our holiday cards too. 

Pumpkin season

 

I am trying to make a little time each day for myself rather than be consumed by all that is happening in my life.  My mental health is at stake. 

Remember the pumpkin quilt wallhanging top I pieced?  Well, it's still at the long arm quilter who is swamped but she contacted me earlier this week to get my decision on a stitching design for the quilting so I think it will be ready in the near future. I decided I need to work on making a quilted pumpkin table runner. I still have the borders to add to this and then the quilting. I'll be doing the machine quilting myself since it's a small project - either stitch in the ditch or freeform, undecided at this point.  This pattern is by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville. I love her scrappy patterns and so enjoy reading her blog every day. 

I am more than ready for pumpkin season, hoping for an earlier than normal end to fire season this year. Sure wish the east coast could send those flooding rains out west.

Pumpkins.......

 The pumpkin piecing is done. It turned out to be around 48" x 66".  Next up is to call the long arm quilter to get it to her for quilting. I'm happy to say it should be hanging on the 'quilt wall' this autumn. Before I start on any other projects at the sewing machine I really need to get my machine in to my  Bernina shop for maintenance, it's way overdue because of covid restrictions........guess they apply to sewing machines too. 

Sideways pumpkins

 Here's my new quilting project although one has to turn their head to see it correctly.  I have this problem when I upload pictures to blogger from my phone but never from my camera so this is a first........and it's irritating.  Anyhow, these are pieced white/gray pumpkins and orange pumpkins on a dark gray print background. I learned something new with this project, how to sew concave and convex shapes to get curves. I'm coming down the homestretch on making the blocks, then it will be time to sew them all together. My goal is to get it to a long arm quilter quickly as she has a 8 week backlog.  My other goal is to hang this on the big wall opposite the dining room table this fall. Right now the barn quilt is hanging there. Another goal is to eventually have 4-5 quilts to exchange out in that spot during the year......that will take a while and I'll be working on other projects before that happens.  

Thinking ahead..........

I'm thinking ahead to autumn..........or I could look at it as being far behind from last year.  A friend bought me this pumpkin wallhanging pattern and ruler christmas 2019. I had good intentions of making it to hang up during the fall months but as far as I got was to buy fabric. Yesterday I sat down with the pattern and took out some scrap fabric to try my hand at making one block. I've never sewn curves like this before. I did ok. My pumpkin isn't perfect but it's pretty danged close. The pattern is for a 36" square size but I'm going to make mine around 52"x72". I guessed at how much fabric I need, now I see I need a few more different oranges, I'm good on the neutral pumpkins.  I did not buy enough gray for the background so need to pick up some gray. It's amazing that the pattern as shown is exactly the colors I would have chosen since we have gray in our decor. I may have to resort to ordering fabric online as not all quilt shops are open at this time. But I can start on cutting out the neutral pumpkins in the meantime, but can't sew them until I pick up more background gray fabric as I'm sure I can't match what I have so will need to buy new.........except I'm busy for the next 5 days. My goal is to get this done and hanging by the end of September but who knows.......it's a lot of pumpkin blocks to sew and the current lead time on machine quilting here is 8 weeks. At least I'm starting on it.  

This week I worked on my community sewing that our neighborhood group does as part of the American Sewing Guild. I made a total of 19 tote bags and 10 fleece hats.  For Christmas we fill the tote bags with coloring books, crayons, treats, toothbrushes, toothpaste and a fleece hat for the Head Start kids in our town. Last year we also made them fun masks.
 

Happy Fall

I love autumn, it's my favorite time of the year, it's still nice out but the air is crisp and has a bit of a chill to it...….so happy not to be sweating like during the heat of the summer.  I could skip summer - go from spring directly to fall and I'd be happy, love winter here in the northwest too, love rain although we don't get as much as we used to.

I made these pumpkins several weeks back.  I saw them in a magazine, can't say which one now as I gave the stack of them to a friend.  I made a total of 9 pumpkins, which is what I got out of one 8 ft fence post. And one 4 ft dowel was enough for all the stems. I bought orange and green outdoor craft paint.....just put one coat as I wanted the wood to show through. Found raffia in my stash and bows were made. The magazine version also had some artificial leaves at the stems, I bought a small package but then didn't like the look so squirreled them away into the bin of craft supplies.  I'm pleased with how these look on my porch, the other 3 are on the other side of the door. They would look cute with jack-o-lantern faces painted on them too but I want these to last for the entire autumn season, not just for Halloween. Will have to figure out where to store these the rest of the year.  I'm wondering if I should get a real pumpkin and carve it for trick or treaters to see......guess it will depend on if I have time or not...….

Happy Fall You'all

 When under stress I have trouble doing much of anything creative - the embroidery machine fits the bill, not too much thinking required and I've accomplished something.

New towels for sale in my etsy shop.......yes, I'm actually thinking ahead to the holidays.......for once.  I am loving all these towels but those pumpkins are so danged cute - I'll definitely be stitching up some for me too.

I hope all stay safe in Texas and surrounding states with the approaching hurricane, torrential rains and storm surge.......sure wish some of that rain could be spread out along the west coast.

I do love pumpkin........

Last night I called neighbors C & M to ask if they'd like to come over to share a big pot of pasta de fagioli. This morning I decided I needed dessert, looked in the pantry and all I had was strawberry cake mix and pink frosting with sprinkles for cupcakes or a yellow cake mix. Hmm, I had a big can of pumpkin too. Out came the Pumpkin Streusel Cake recipe. You can find the recipe in a post from back in 2010 HERE.  The best part is I had one of those huge cans of pumpkin so there's lots left - I'll have to make some muffins or bread, maybe a smoothie or two with the leftovers. It's super easy, quick to make and super yummy.  So the pasta de fagioli turned into more of a minestrone - put potatoes in it rather than using pasta - it's in the crockpot - the house is smelling incredible.......but dinnertime is many hours away.........

For the weavers out there - don't you just love my platter?  I found it at our local kitchen store a few years back. Not long after I went back to get a few for gifts and they no longer had them.

Pumpkin yummy

Pumpkin Spice Latte is my sweet indulgence this morning and is it ever good. I found the recipe earlier in the month but just today decided to make it - A Farm Girl Dabbles blog has great recipes - I've made several in the past few months. I normally use Splenda and flavored coffee creamer in my coffee, only one cup a day unless I'm having tea which is half of the time......this is really sweet in comparison. I substituted fat free sweetened condensed milk for the full fat version and we don't have whole milk in the house so skim it was - it doesn't taste like anything could possibly be missing. Next batch I'll cut down on the brown sugar. Usually I only have one cup of decaf, this morning it might have to be two cups.

This fun celtic pumpkin is an embroidery design from Embroidery Library - I recently stitched it on a linen towel for someone who won't get it for at least another month. I might have to stitch it on something for me too. If you have an embroidery machine and don't know about Embroidery Library go check it out and sign up for the weekly email, tremendous prices with new sales weekly. How can one resist when patterns end up costing between $1-$2?

Update:  Ok, so I couldn't drink another pumpkin latte this morning, can't do quite that much sweet in the morning but I'm saving my coffee and may try an iced pumpkin latte this afternoon.

Pumpkin - YUM

I love pumpkin! Pumpkin in any form - baked, roasted, soup, cakes, pies, Trader Joe's pancake mix, DQ Blizzards, milkshakes, smoothies, lattes......hmm, what did I miss? Whatever it is I know I love it. Unfortunately I will not be eating a piece of this pumpkin struesel cake unless I want to bake another one (not likely since I don't really enjoy baking). Sam needs something to contribute to tomorrow's turkey day luncheon at work so I baked this morning. It's an easy recipe so I've put it below for any other pumpkin lovers. And it doesn't have to be made in a bundt pan, I've also made it in the past in loaf pans to use as gifts, I think it makes 2 loaves.

Pumpkin Streusel Spice Cake

Cake:

1 box yellow cake mix

1 cup canned pumpkin

3/4 cup brown sugar, light or dark

1/2 cupe vegetable oil

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp allspice

4 eggs

Streusel Glaze:

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup brown sugar, light or dark

1/2 to 3/4 cups chopped pecans

Combine cake mix, pumpkin, brown sugar, oil, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. Beat for 1 minute, add eggs. Beat 2 minutes more. Pour into greased bundt pan. For topping, melt butter with brown sugar, add nuts. Pour half of the mixture on top of the cake batter. Bake cake at 350 for approximately 1 hour. Cool in pan for 15 minutes, then invert onto plate.

When completely cool, drizzle remaining topping on cake.