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Autumntide
Sep. 30th, 2025 10:03 amOctober is almost upon us! Although the weather (after an early burst of lovely cool temperatures) is feeling summery again, I’ve got autumn on my mind, as I feel that the Hummingbird Cottage deserves to be properly decorated for the season.
First of all, I’m going in for decorative gourds this year. I’ve made a decorative gourd centerpiece, strategically based gourds in my china cabinet and the tea nook, and am considering a small gourd art installation in the upstairs bathroom when my guest comes to visit for Feast of the Hunter’s Moon.
Once the gourds have spent sufficient time being decorative, most of them will be roasted and eaten, although a few are too small and also of unknown species so will probably escape the general conflagration.
Second, I’m hard at work on a Halloween cross-stitch. This pattern is from Lindsay Swearingen’s Creepy Cross Stitch, but I also cracked and bought Witchy Stitching, because apparently “spooky” is how I like my cross stitch. Actually I would like to do cross-stitches for ALL the holidays and switch them out seasonally, but I’ve had more luck finding patterns I like for Halloween than many of the others. A lot of cross-stitch patterns are in a cutesy Mary Englebreit-meets-Precious Moments style which is not my thing. Particularly a problem for Christmas patterns!
But returning to the Halloween cross stitch. I’m on track to finish the stitching in plenty of time; the real question is whether I have the stamina to get it ironed and framed, as the pattern is too big to display in an embroidery hoop.
Bramble, being a black cat, brings a Halloween atmosphere with him wherever he goes.
And of course I’m planning a few of my favorite autumn treats: pumpkin bread, pecan bars, perhaps some mulled apple cider. Have already acquired my beloved hard cider Autumntide.
Last but not least, I’ve stocked on spooky books for Halloween: Tasha Tudor’s Pumpkin Moonshine, L. M. Montgomery’s Among the Shadows (a collection of Montgomery’s darker short stories), Vivien Alcock’s The Cuckoo Sister and The Stonewalkers, Penelope Lively’s The Ghost of Thomas Kempe. And at long last I’m having a crack at Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire!
First of all, I’m going in for decorative gourds this year. I’ve made a decorative gourd centerpiece, strategically based gourds in my china cabinet and the tea nook, and am considering a small gourd art installation in the upstairs bathroom when my guest comes to visit for Feast of the Hunter’s Moon.
Once the gourds have spent sufficient time being decorative, most of them will be roasted and eaten, although a few are too small and also of unknown species so will probably escape the general conflagration.
Second, I’m hard at work on a Halloween cross-stitch. This pattern is from Lindsay Swearingen’s Creepy Cross Stitch, but I also cracked and bought Witchy Stitching, because apparently “spooky” is how I like my cross stitch. Actually I would like to do cross-stitches for ALL the holidays and switch them out seasonally, but I’ve had more luck finding patterns I like for Halloween than many of the others. A lot of cross-stitch patterns are in a cutesy Mary Englebreit-meets-Precious Moments style which is not my thing. Particularly a problem for Christmas patterns!
But returning to the Halloween cross stitch. I’m on track to finish the stitching in plenty of time; the real question is whether I have the stamina to get it ironed and framed, as the pattern is too big to display in an embroidery hoop.
Bramble, being a black cat, brings a Halloween atmosphere with him wherever he goes.
And of course I’m planning a few of my favorite autumn treats: pumpkin bread, pecan bars, perhaps some mulled apple cider. Have already acquired my beloved hard cider Autumntide.
Last but not least, I’ve stocked on spooky books for Halloween: Tasha Tudor’s Pumpkin Moonshine, L. M. Montgomery’s Among the Shadows (a collection of Montgomery’s darker short stories), Vivien Alcock’s The Cuckoo Sister and The Stonewalkers, Penelope Lively’s The Ghost of Thomas Kempe. And at long last I’m having a crack at Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire!
