Pumpkin Time!

What’s not to love about Pumpkins? Okay, maybe the guts. But pumpkin is used in all kinds of cooking in the fall, from Pumpkin Spice Lattes to Pumpkin Seed Cranberry Chips (the bomb from Trader Joe’s). Pumpkin is even a favorite term of endearment and who didn’t learn this favorite poem in their childhood?

Peter Peter pumpkin eater,
Had a wife and couldn’t keep her!
He put her in a pumpkin shell,
And there he kept her very well!

This month’s block is one of my favorites from the I Love Us Year Round pattern. I confess, I designed the block but my sister, Lora put it together. The leaves are just the icing on the pumpkin spice cake. The three leaves are layered appliqué creating dimensions and beauty. She carefully (and slowly) did a blanket stitch around each machine appliquéed layer in a matching thread. When she quilted it, she quilted in the vines giving the leaves even more dimension. Delicious!

If you’d like to make this pretty block, just down load the pattern here. ILoveUsYearRound.31-33pages (Sorry, free download expired. Please purchase I Love Us pattern to get the instructions). When you add blanket stitches to your machine appliqué projects, remember before starting to test your blanket stitch settings and change your machine’s foot to an open toe. You want plenty of space to view what you’re doing! See, easy as pumpkin pie.

I’m teaching this block tomorrow, Oct. 4, at In Between Stitches from 1pm – 5pm. If you’re local, join us for some fun. You can contact In Between Stitches or register for class online.

I’ll sign off with my favorite pumpkin recipe. Brew some nice hot coffee. Fill 3/4 in a mug, add a little William Sonoma’s Pumpkin Coffee syrup, a little half and half, a splash of rum (or two splashes), top with whip cream and sprinkle with pumpkin spice… hmmm… perfect. However, too much of a good thing and you’ll end up doing some seam ripping. 😉

Absewlutely,

Lisa