hot water plotter

It's almost October, and quilts are out!

Happily, it rained on our first "official" day of fall.  After a long, hot summer, there's really nothing that I love more than chilly fall days.

To commemorate, I baked pumpkin bread "acorns."

They were so delicious that I made a loaf, too.  The recipe I use is less ostentatious than its showy cousin, the one that uses 3 cups of sugar and 2 cups of oil for 2 small loaves.  My stripped-down version calls for just 2 tablespoons of oil and 1/2 cup honey, and as someone who loves pumpkin bread, I honestly don't miss it.  A simple frosting of cream cheese, vanilla, milk, and a bit of honey makes a perfect topping.

Although we have an apple tree, pumpkin is still king here in the fall.  I have two other pumpkin staples that I have to recommend:  spicy pumpkin scones and brown butter pumpkin oatmeal cookies.  It's not autumn around here without them!

Mornings have been delightfully brisk.  Todd dons his warm plaid shirts without comment, because he knows that I have to have the windows open, even if it's only 45 degrees.  It's fall, y'all!

We had our first fire this week!

Since I don't normally do them, most of my 500-piece puzzles got the axe during my Marie Kondo sweep.  However, this one made the cut...barely...because of the cheerful autumn theme!

This is the perfect weather for crafting.  I found and completed another knitting project, a hot water bottle cover.  

I've mentioned this here before, but I used to consider hot water bottles tools of the elderly in some sepia-toned past.  It wasn't until I was staying with a friend in Germany that I was introduced to their pleasures - they retain heat for around 8 hours, and there isn't anything more delightful than a fresh one slipped under a quilt.  I didn't get to use mine in South Carolina, but Indiana weather is pretty perfect for it!  

I've been continuing to work on embroidery practice.  I've always had trouble transferring patterns before, but I've discovered that coping the design on tracing paper with a permanent marker, and then tracing on the back with a charcoal pencil, works nicely.  With some pressure, the charcoal transfers tidily to your fabric surface.

I've mainly been practicing stem and chain stitches...

...but I think I'm ready to move on to my old nemesis, the satin stitch.  

photo courtesy of trishburr.com

Speaking of tools of the elderly, I bought a magnifying lamp with bright LEDs to help with this detail work.  I'm prone to migraines so wanted to limit my eye strain.  So far, so good!  

Because of persistent tendonitis, I've had to pause on quilting right now.  I've moved on to a different project: dried flower wreaths.  It's a lot harder than expected - my flowers are mostly larger, with no frilly "fillers" available.  I'm pretty clumsy with it.  At least I have a lot of material to work with!

Although I have a few other varieties, I'm mainly working with celosia.  I love the colors!

Looking back at this time last year, I can see that in the first week of October = first frost!

The trees around the pond were in full autumn mode.

It's quite the contrast to this year (glaring at our 85 degree forecast today).  Still, I know that it won't be long.  

Have a great week!

the life-changing magic of tidying...YUP!

Hello, fall (cue convenient Halloween cat)!

We've been busy busy busy here.  Todd hired excavators to do some much-needed work down by the pond, leveling out the ground, adding gravel, and seeding it for grass.  It sounds minor, but it was two days of work to get it exactly right.

Now it's ready for adirondack chairs and a big fire pit...perfect for fall! 

I've been busy too.  I like to downsize infrequently, but I was galvanized for action after reading Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.  I attacked my closets and filled 8 large garbage bags with clothes.  I divested myself of stacks and stacks of books.  The kitchen was emptied, and I donated countless cookie cutters, cake molds, and miscellaneous huh?s.  The real challenge was the craft room.

When you craft, people give you things.  And when you have a LOT of hobbies, you accumulate quite a bit of stuff.  Rubber stamps and paper punches that were never used.  Thick cardboard books for card making, still in the original plastic.  Cheesy religious stickers, bedazzled specialty paper.  Ugly acrylic yarn and stiff, unpleasant fabric.  Hundreds of plastic buttons and shiny ribbon.  I dragged all offenders into the open and assessed them with a critical eye.  Tabitha assisted from above while I sat on the floor and sorted. So helpful?

In the end, I donated bags and bags and bags.  Now, everything that remains has been carefully curated. Every bit of fabric, every skein of yarn, every piece of paper - chosen.  Since I got rid of over 300 rubber stamps, the ones left behind can actually be accessed easily and utilized...ditto the paper punches.  Every remaining yarn skein is knit-worthy.  After removing two large garbage bags full of fabric, what I have now is of good quality and ready to use in any project.  I have so much more room, and everything is so organized.  I LOVE IT!  

Relenting to logic, I frogged several knitting UFOs (unfinished objects) but found a great one to continue on with!

I've also shaved down my embroidery patterns, making space for what I really want to try.  Lots of practicing now!

I've also halved my vacation photo albums (8 albums...gone!) and bagged nearly every cookbook.  Less-than-soft sheets and towels, gone.  Unused table clothes and overused cloth napkins, gone.  Continuing the trend, I deleted most of my Facebook groups and tidied up my Friends list.  Without so much scrolling, Facebook now takes about 15 minutes of my day, tops!  All in all, it's been an incredibly busy - but productive - time!  Time for reflection, too.  Growing up poor, I never would've dreamed of having so much stuff.  I felt grateful for having had the opportunity to possess it, and happy that I was passing it along to someone who might need it.  

I haven't missed the continuing signs of fall outside.  Ignoring the 90 degree heat, I've observed an increasing number of geese overhead.

Although the garden is done in my mind, I do still go out to its edges sometimes.  Everything is finally going to seed.

Somewhere in that mad tangle is my little pumpkin patch.  I spotted my first one - the deeply-ridged pale orange Porcelain Doll!

I saw several tiny Jack-Be-Littles that are nearly ready for picking, too.  Hooray for pumpkins!  We've been out of butter...butter!...for an entire week, so I haven't had a chance to do any baking with our apples, but that will soon be remedied.  And, of course, the pumpkin baking will soon commence!

It's been hard to get into the spirit, though, with the unrelenting heat and high humidity.  This morning it was 72 degrees, but with 97% humidity.  Like walking into a sauna.  The cats are feeling it!

We are really, really looking forward to cooling temperatures.  October is my very favorite month (daily Halloween movies!  Fall baking!  Outdoor fires! Plaid!!), in part because it brings some relief from the relentless heat.  Phew!  Not long now.

Have a great week!

turk lurk and nearby fungi

 More signs of the time!  Everything is going to seed, like these Chinese Lanterns.  I don't remember planting them, but I've got such an unmanageable jungle that who knows what might be growing there?

I love that the seeds sit in these delicate lace cages.

The front bushes are beginning to blush...

...and so are my Limelight hydrangeas.  Taking on this pink cast means that they're finally ready to be picked and dried!

This light color is echoed in my Autumn Joy sedum...

...and in Lady's Thumb, an annual weed resembling heather.  

This is spider season, too.  Every morning there are delicate works of art spun on every available surface...

...and they're blown away by midday.  Spin, eat, sleep, repeat!

September means APPLES!  Most of the apples are finally ripe.  They're pretty tiny...

...and they're all infected with both sooty blotch and flyspeck, types of fungi that would also make fantastic future cat names!  :)

The "bruised" patches are sooty blotch.  

Those gorgeous whorls of dots are the flyspeck fungus.

Apples have a protective layer of natural wax.  The fungi live in this wax and "drink" any apple juices that bleed through the skin.  It sounds disgusting, but the apples are perfectly safe to eat.  Braver souls can eat the skin itself, but those who quail at the thought of ingesting live fungi can just remove the peel.  The fungi does not penetrate the skin...and the apple are delicious!  We're leaving plenty on the ground for the deer, and are not even considering the treatment for this issue, which is chemical sprays.

The turkeys are out almost daily, bulking up for winter. From my office window, I can see group of up to 20 congregating in the back fields!

Geese are out, too, with their distinctive fall "honk! honk!"s.  They rest in the field from time to time before continuing on their way.

Todd's hungry groundhog is always out, too, with his pre-winter activities.

I'm also heeding these signs, thinking of organizing and getting my own little nest ready for the long winter.  I'm frogging failed knitting projects...

(heavily modified sweater that was mysteriously taking on alarming proportions)

...and putting away successful ones, like this wool hat for Todd.

Tabitha watches and approves of my diligence.

Hey, it's going to be 92 degrees today.  But it's nearly the middle of September, and I know that real fall weather is just around the corner.

Have a great week!