What I love most about Autumn - Pumpkins

First of all welcome to Pam of A Good Life in Tydd, and Blondie. 

 
The vegetable garden in autumn is a busy time, produce to be picked and stored for winter and plots ready for winter crops.  In this part of the world, that is mainly brassicas, especially the kales and broccoli’s.  Oh I forgot Leeks and Celery.

Yesterday I tidied up the pumpkin patch and added three more to my pile hardening off.   I noticed one buttercup had cracked skin from where the sun had burnt the skin.  That would not keep, so I took it into the kitchen to use straight away.

My vegetable cool box in the fridge is chocker full, so I needed to use it all up straight away as this variety is prone to mould if left out for more than a couple of days when cut.  Not a problem!

 First make some vegetable soup to freeze.

Then bake some spicy pumpkin scones to freeze to have with soup meals.

I was making bread for the week so pulled of some dough and used it to make a pumpkin, chorizo and feta pizza for dinner.

The rest I will puree and freeze ready for pumpkin bread or for a recipe I am dying to try pumpkin spicy muffins.

Of course I had to taste test the scones for lunch, yummy.  Here is the recipe.

Spicy Pumpkin Scones

• 50g softened butter
• 1 cup mashed pumpkin
• 1 tsp. dried coriander and1 tsp. cumin or ½ tsp. curry powder
• 2 tbsp. chopped coriander or parsley
• 1 ½ tsps. Salt
• 2 tsps. Baking Powder
• 2 ½ - 3 cups s/r flour (depends on the water content of your pumpkin) 

Cream butter and spices together. Whisk in all other ingredients except the flour. Fold in flour with a knife.  You may need to add more flour or a little milk depending on how watery the pumpkin is. Turn out on to a floured surface and lightly knead, just until the ingredients come together. Make a roundish shape circle with the dough, and roughly divide or use round cutters to cut out rounds.  Place on a floured baking tray and bake at 210C for about 10 - 15 minutes.  They last longer than ordinary scones and in fact taste better the next day.  For keeping longer than 2 days I would freeze.

( I have used mashed sweet potato and even parsnip!  All delicious) If you don’t like spice leave it out however they do need the herbs).

The weather here is glorious at the moment, cold first thing, but lovely and hot during the day, perfect autumn weather. Today I am going to get stuck into some preserving - zuchinni pickles and chow chow as I have a glut of zuchinnis, cauliflower and beans!  Of course I will do some crochet during my breaks.  Will blog about that tomorrow.

Have a great day!

Serendipity

I have just had one of those days where everything goes perfectly.  It didn’t look as if it would go that way as there was a heavy mist/fog and made me almost change my plans of going to the local car boot market.

As I really needed some eggs and other bits and pieces I girded my loinss and set off, (shanks pony style!) along the drive against the fence I have a grape vine and in the four years I have been here it hasn’t done very well.  However I had high hopes this year as it was heavily laden with pump fruit.  I just had to have a peek and a taste, bliss, lovely and sweet, Yay!  Enough for eating, giving away and grape cordial!

First I decided to go to the supermarket and pick up a back of kitty dry food as it was on special $7 as opposed to the normal $11/12.  While there I glanced in the meat section think of buying a small chicken for dinner as a treat.  But hey there was some rump steak on special – about $8 a kilo normally it is about $18!  Well my dinner was decided and the cats could have the trimmings as a treat.  Enough to freeze for another day also. 

 On to the market.  While I was buying my eggs from the egg lady I noticed that she had packets of Ernest Adams slices on her table, and my favourite ‘gooey caramel’!   They were only$2 or 3 for $5, normally they are about $5 a pack.  So guess what, yeah they were near their best before date.  But I am sure they will be scoffed well before that.  I have a few elderly shut-in neighbours, who love cake!

Then on to the nursery man to buy some purple sprouting broccoli seedlings (I forgot to sow the seeds).  He had some lovely begonias for $1.50...Isn’t it beautiful!

I was about to wend my way home when I espied a stall selling handbags etc.  Now I have been looking for a circular bamboo handles for a project for ages and no such luck.  Well my luck had changed, there was a hag with exactly the handles I wanted and only for $2.  This project will no longer be an UFO!

Later on in the morning I was tidying the dining room that acts as my craft/art room I saw my stack of fat quarters for a quilting project.  I wonder I thought ….. Yes!  There was matching material for the handle project.  Isn’t that a great match?

What is the project you may ask.  It is a carry bag for my Mum.  She is in a rest home in Perth Australia,(she has Alzheimer’s) my sister works at the Rest Home and tells me that she gives everything away, so it is difficult to find things to send her.  However she has one thing she will not give away her handbags or totes.  She will carry several on her wrist everywhere. 

When I was browsing the crochet sites a while ago I saw a wonderful pattern for a handbag at  colour in a simple life this one was made with waterlily flowers, absolutely beautiful!  It had bamboo handles and I thought that would be great for Mum!  The flowers were puff stitch and I thought it would be too bulky for Mum so I decided to do the African Flower pattern from Heidi Bears, which is hexagon shaped like the lily flowers.  

So I spent a pleasant hour or so getting the crochet side finished – mainly tidying all the ends, tomorrow I will cut the lining out and start on fitting it. 

Now I am as waste not want not person and I was looking at my pile of trimmings, um, they would make great stuffing for toys etc.  So out comes a bag to collect all future ends.  While on this bent I had a great idea for the scraps that are starting to build up with my crochet obsession.  I had really wanted to crochet my Mum a lap blanket, but my sister said she would only give it away!  I will crochet her a lap blanket, out of scraps and if she gives it away, it is no big deal, it probably would adorn some other souls lap. So I did a few, just tiny plain grannie squares.

The rest of the afternoon I finished reading David Baldacci’s novel, One Summer.  You need a hanky for it is a real tear jerker.  Totally different from his usual style, that man can write.

Just before I sat down to do this post I went out to pick some beans for my dinner, and thought I had better check up on the strawberries.

They have been cropping all summer – just enough for dessert or to have with cereal for breakfast.  I thought they surely would be finished now with cold nights.  But no, a bowl full for my dessert, with cream of course!

Well that has been my day, very pleasant with lots of savings to be had to boot.  Now I am off to cook my dinner, steak with mustard cream sauce ( deglaze the fry pan while the steak is resting, with seeded mustard and when the seeds start to pop add cream and cook till the cream is thick, pour over the steak) it is to die for. With potatoes and pumpkin and beans from the garden and strawberries after.  Now, isn’t that heaven!

Mood Blanket 2014

I am having a love affair with hexagons!  In fact I have 3 projects that involve them!

I have decided to do a Mood Blanket,  it involves doing one square, row or whatever a day for a year. Originally I was going to do the hexagons in one colour according to my mood of that day.  But when I saw Attic's 24 flower garden, I just had to do that, after all our mood changes during the course of a day.

Lucy's tutorial also showed how to join as you go, I gave it a go but in the end decided to sew them together in my usual manner as I wanted to do the complete hexagon in one go.

As I have changed the project for the mood blanket I am playing catch up! So far I have 35 hexagons, but then I have about 30 of the origional which I am using to make a throw for one of my sofas.

If you want to take part in the project there is a facebook group. 

African Flower Potholders

I find myself when reading blogs about crochet wanting to try various patterns or stitches.  I have a number of squares, hexagons and flowers, all waiting for a use.  Last week I discovered the African flower hexagon and discovered the flicker site for African flowers, some gave me ideas and so I started on my first project.

I decided to try the pot holders and after a few trials and errors I managed them!  I found it quite difficult to transform the hexagon into a circle evenly.  I did a simple backing in one colour for the backing.

This one I did first and I think my transition was a bit off!

This one I am much happier with.  Anyway, they will be good enough to adorn my kitchen wall when they are finished!  Too pretty to use!

Have a great weekend!

 

Happy Accidents

This was the sight that greeted me yesterday morning, naughty cat, Ambrose decided that the balls of wool made a lovely bed.  I had gone to bed without ptting away my crochet.  He had pawed the wools into a fine tangle! 

I have a ritual every morning of having a mug of tea out under the plum tree after I have done the housework.  Usually I take a ball or two of wool with me to kept my fingers buzy while completating the day ahead. I have several projects underway and the one that I usually choose to do outside is the plain hexagon throw for my two seater sofa in the lounge.

Yesterday, I was a bit distracted and snipped the wool after the second round.  Drat!  Looking at it I wondered whether to start afresh or make a join.  Something made me pick up one of the other colours and do a round.  I liked it a lot.  Coaster I thought!
  

So I did a round of double crochet and voila, later I had 6 coasters and this morning I did a large hexagon.

 

I am really pleased with them, they wsill make a wonderful gift for a friend who is crazy about aqua coours.  If I hadnt cut that yarn absent mindedly I nnever would have thought about doing hexagon coasters.  I really like the effect of the stripe and am seriously thinking of adding some randomly to the hexagon throw.

Might make a set for myself!