Five Favorites - Fall Edition II

 Candle Mat - I love fall candles! My favorite scents are vanilla bourbon and anything pine/cedar for autumn and winter, and lemon and vanilla scents for the spring and summer. I wanted a candle mat to match some of my other fall decor, Which leads into: 

“Quilt as You Go” quilting - I am not much of a quilter, but this I can do and it turns out! You simply cut out your batting a little bigger than the size you want (this project had a piece of regular batting and a piece of heat-protective batting), decide on the size of your center piece (mine was approximately 2”) and your strips (I used 1.25” for the width). There really isn’t a “wrong” way to do it, just variations on how it comes out! What does matter is fully covering the fabric already down (so you don’t see “holes” where the batting shows through), and building it evenly (don’t keep piling the fabric on just one side - keep going around). 

Many people do this on a layer of batting and their backing. I did a layer of regular cotton quilt batting, heat-protective batting (such as Insul-Bright) and put the backing on later to cover up my quilting threads. 

All I did was center my square, and then put a strip right side down, lining up the edges, and stitched it  with a 1/4” seam. Then I flipped it so the right side was up. Then I put down another strip at an angle to cover both pieces already down, sew and kept repeating until it was the size I wanted. Then I added my backing and stitched around to hold it in place. 

I trimmed everything to size and then put on bias binding, and then it was ready to use! 

Pumpkin Blueberry Muffins - my mom made this recipe multiple times every fall when I was growing up, and it’s my favorite pumpkin recipe! I think she got it in a magazine as an ad for Libby pumpkin puree, but we’ve always made our own from the pumpkins she grows in her garden. Regardless of where you get your puree, it’s a great recipe. I’ve adapted it a little from the original 

Streusel 

1 TBL butter, softened

2 TBL flour

2 TBL sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Mix together with a fork (or your fingers) and set aside

Muffins

1 2/3 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder 

1 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice mix 

1/2 tsp salt 

1 cup pumpkin puree 

1/4 cup milk

6 TBL butter 

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 cup blueberries (frozen is fine, but do not defrost) 

1 TBL flour

In a small mixing bowl, mix streusel ingredients with a fork. Set aside. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease or line 18 regular muffin cups. 

In a large bowl, mix 1 2/3 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and pumpkin spice mix. Set aside. 

In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter and sugar. Add egg and mix well. Beat in 1/3 of the dry ingredients. Add pumpkin. Best in another 1/3 of dry ingredients. Beat in milk. Beat in remaining dry ingredients. Mix blueberries and 1 TBL flour together in a small bowl, and then stir into the batter by hand. 

Divide batter amongst the 18 prepared cups. Top with streusel. Bake for 40 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy! 

This Vase - A friend of my dad’s made this gorgeous vase and I think it looks so pretty with these silk flowers I picked up at the craft store. 

Knitting - I associate knitting with fall and winter, probably because that’s when my mom did it with us when I was growing up. I remember taking turns reading a book aloud (though mostly she did it) as we knitted or did other creative things in the fall and winter before bed. I have started on a new project, and am really excited about working on it!