Friday, November 5, 2010

Thoughts About Pumpkins

I got to spend several hours in the sewing room today - such a good thing!  I'm still ironing scraps and cutting them with the Go! cutter and I've got a really nice stack of squares and strips for my next scrappy quilt.  Then I spent a little while making a couple of Christmas table runners for a tutorial I'm working on - later I'll post that but today I really want to talk about pumpkins. 

Last week I made several pumpkin coasters.  Some I'll mail to friends, some I'll keep.  Are these not the cutest things?  I found a pumpkin applique picture on the internet, printed it off and made a template of it.  Waaaaay too big.  Started over.  Cut the size down and tried again.  Better!  I used a very light weight fusible for both the front and back and ironed one of them to some batting.  I trimmed that, then ironed the other (not sure which was front and which was back!) to the batting on the other side.  I did a blanket stitch around the outside and a "hand quilting stitch" (which looks nothing like hand quilting to me) for the definitions of the pieces of the pumpkin.  Before I did the blanket stitch at the top I put a wool stem in between layers.  When I did the blanket stitch it held the stem in.  Done!  Quick and easy and uses up some scraps.  I should do some leaves the same way....and maybe acorns.

Now that I look at that picture though it occurs to me, wouldn't it make a cute table topper to make a bunch of these and overlap them like they are in the picture and them sew them somehow to each other?  There are 5 in the picture so with 2 or 3 more it would make a nice size table topper.  I need to think about how to do that.

Do you have pumpkins left from Halloween?  I do too.  And it's about time to cook them - I've done that before though not often.  This time I'm going to try canning the pumpkin.  If you've canned pumpkin I'd sure love to hear from you - how you did it, how you liked it, how you used it.  Last year I ran out of pumpkin and I hated that!  I couldn't find it anywhere and every time I asked at the store they said there was a freeze and it was a bad year for pumpkin.  I'm like a little squirrel I guess - I want to store some up. 

Which reminds me of something else.  We have chipmunks.  This is the way my mind works, get used to it ya'll.  I think maybe we have a married couple - a Mrs. and a Mr. Chipmunk.  When I sit in my chair in the den/sunroom I see a chipmunk come running onto the deck, cross it, go down the steps and out into the yard, stuff his/her cheeks with acorns, run back up the steps, across the deck and down to the yard, I guess back to his/her nest to store the acorns.  The deck must be a shortcut.  Over and over and over they do that.  They come and go so fast I think there must be two.  Cute, cute, cute.  I can stand right at the patio door and they are so busy running back and forth they never see me.  If their activity is any sign of the winter to come - well I'm just sayin' those chipmunks are working steady at gettin' ready.  Maybe I better buy another pumpkin.

15 comments:

  1. Cute coasters! We've been overrun with acorns this year... and wouldn't you know it; the chipmunks have been scurrying across our patio too; we've never had (or at least seen any) chipmunks before! Squirrels, yes... but not chipmunks, they are cute... and BUSY, very busy gathering acorns! Have at it!

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  2. Oh, boy...! Marlene, if you have a Mr. and a Mrs. Chipmunk...it won't be long until you have a whole city of chipmunks! Cute now. Pest later! They will burrow into your rock gardens and into every exterior container of one kind or another. Hate to dampen your enthusiasm, but thought you might want to consider the other side !!! I finally resorted to the mouse irradication program!

    Elora

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  3. When I first pulled up your post this morning, I thought you had made a really cute fall table topper! Then I read your post and found it was coasters. But, yes, you have a good idea there. Put a few of them together for a topper. Cute, cute, cute! I think I have some orange fabric and I may be following your idea!

    Blessings,
    Marge

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  4. I absolutely love those coasters. I'm almost inspired to get out my sewing machine. Almost. lol

    I'm having a cookbook giveaway at my blog if you're interested.

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  5. Those pumpkins are darling. Bigger would make cute placemats.
    I feed my dog a teaspoon of pure pumpkin everyday which he loves. Ended his anal gland problems. Good stuff that pumpkin.

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  6. I have to laugh at the reaction to chipmunks. I grew up on the edge of a forest and we had every wild animal that can be found in Ohio in our yard at one time or another.
    Where I am living now, other than birds, has only feral cats and kuma-nezumi... a kind of mouse ... that the cats are too busy yowling and fighting to catch.

    Those mats a little bigger might be good for placemats, for my team of sloppy eaters.

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  7. Hey Marlene,

    The coasters a very, very cute. They'd also make wonderful placemats, don't you think?

    I love chipmunks...we don't have them around here. I've attempted to draw one for another fabric drawing..still working on it. :)

    Have a happy day!

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  8. I love chipmunks!
    And I thought it was a table runner when I first so the pumpkins.
    Mama Bear

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  9. Well you had me at "PUMPKIN" color orange..my new fav color as you well know..These are super cute...no really super cute.. are these your mug rugs?? lol. You are sew funny...luv a women who can laugh and that you do..
    blessings

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  10. My husband and son go crazy when I switch from one thought to another. Love the pumpkins, good idea on the table topper. I have a friend with a Pumpkin themed kitchen that I really need to make something for and that would be a good start. We have a gazillion chips in our yard, as well as squirrels. Love to watch them, but hate the holes and they eat all the bird seed so quickly.

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  11. Those coasters are SEW stinkin cute! I love them. I can just taste & smell a pumpkin Space Latte!

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  12. Your coasters are awesome, and I hope your chipmunks are just hyperactive, and our winter is mild and SHORT! Have a great weekend!
    Michelle

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  13. Canning pumpkin: I freeze cooked pumpkin. I clean out the seeds and stringy stuff and bake the pumpkin whole - in the shell. After it cools, just scrape out the pulp and stuff in freezing jars. I don't know how long it lasts in the freezer because I use it up so quickly.

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  14. I have a fondness for chipmunks, we don't have any around our yard. I grew up with them running all over and I do miss them. I even caught one when I was a kid...it bit me, but it was worth it:)

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  15. Cute little chipmunk. I see on your book likst that you read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - I just saw on another blog that someone was reading that. What did you think of it?

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