Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Autumn ~ My Favorite Time Of The Year

Thanks to those who participated in the HOE Halloween Ornament Exchanges my Halloween Tree has improved.  So many wonderful ornaments are now nicely displayed...





I keep this small tree up all year so that I can enjoy a little bit of Halloween everyday. Thanks to each one of you who stitched for me in one of the Halloween exchanges ~ you helped to make my tree look amazing. 

I get to add this beauty to the tree...



Lily sent me this wonderful HOE Halloween Exchange ornament.  What a great design and so beautifully stitched and finished.  I love the colored wire hair and tiny little button at the tip of the witch hat...too cute! Thank you again, Lily.


Keeping in the theme of "witchy" I recently finished this design:


Designer: La D Da

I found the perfect frame. It looks a bit spooky.



My DS asked if I could make a fall table runner for his GF so I stitched this:  



He did not give me much notice so I decided to make a simple quilted table runner using two pieces of fabric. The center is from Moda's Fall Harvest line.  I like it because it looks like cornucopias.


This is my favorite time of year.  I love all things fall ~ the colors, the climate, the food.  One of my favorite vegetables is butternut squash and I have been cooking quite a bit of it.  This is what's cooking at my house:



Such a super easy, delicious side dish!

Butternut Squash Apple Cranberry Bake

1 Large Butternut Squash, peeled and cut into 1" pieces
2 Large cooking apples, peeled and cut into 1/2" thick slices
1/2 Cup fresh or frozen cranberries
1/2 Cup brown sugar
1/4 Cup butter
1 Tbsp flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp mace or nutmeg

Preheat oven 350 degrees. Slice and peel squash and apples.  Place squash in ungreased 7 x 11" baking dish. Place apples on top and then add cranberries.  Mix flour, salt, brown sugar, mace or nutmeg, and sprinkle on top.  Dot with butter. Bake 50-60 minutes until tender.

Yield: 8 Servings

And here is what's hanging around at my house:



These little Halloween Byers Choice Kindles are adorable and can "hang out" just about anywhere!

Thanks for stopping by and 
Until next time remember...

"Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting, 
and autumn a mosaic of them all."
Stanley Horowitz

8 comments:

Ruth said...

Marie -- congrats on your awesome fall decor. I'll tell you what, you can have my share of the world's butternut squash... ick ;-) I'm such a giver!

Marilyn said...

What a cool Halloween tree.
Great La D Da finish also, the frame is pretty.
Thanks for the recipe.
Mariyln

Blu said...

Your tree is so cute and the fall decor looks lovely.

AnaCristina said...

wonderfull! I have a Halloween tree too;
http://anacristinap.blogspot.com.br/2014/10/halloween-2014.html

:-)

Ellen said...

Wonderful tree, love it! Lily's Halloween witch is awesome!

I am not blogging much, just not in the mood ha ha! My blog is being neglected...

Happy Halloween!

Hugs,

Andrea said...

Wonderful tree. Great stitching too, your frame is a perfect compliment.

Carol said...

Such a great post, Marie--I just love all of your Halloween stitchings and your newest framed piece is wonderful, too. You're right--it IS the perfect frame.

Thanks for the recipe--sounds like something that just might make its way onto my Thanksgiving table :)

Brigitte said...

I'm totally in awe of your Halloween tree. It has so many gorgeous ornaments and I can understand why you have them up all year round. Very nice framed piece from LA-D-DA and a great new ornament from Lily.