Monster Mash Blog Hop Day 1: Fallishly Fun Pepitas!

Hello and welcome to the Morning Latte.

 Here we drink lots of coffee and talk about quilty projects.

We also make lists to make sure those projects get done.

Today kicks off the Monster Mash Blog Hop.

For my day to host, I've chosen to go all out pumpkin.

(Not a surprise if you know me.)

First I have a fallishly fun pumpkin quilt to share and then

I'll follow it up with one of my favorite pumpkin recipes.

So hop on in, grab a cup of your favorite beverage and settle in

for some fallishly fun.  When you're done, be sure to check out

 the other blogs joining in today and throughout the week.

(See the list at the bottom of this post.)

If your new here, you should know that fall is My Time.

The weather, the food (soups!), the clothes (sweaters! boots!)

and most especially the colors.  Oh, and the pumpkins.

I like to say I was "pumpkin" way before "pumpkin" was cool.

 (Pumpkin spice lattes weren't a thing back then.)

As a young teen I was buying fresh pumpkins and making

pureé for breads and pies.  But that still wasn't fresh enough.

A few years later I started growing my own,

not just for baking but also for decorating.

One year, I ended up with over 13 bushel baskets of gourds

and smaller pumpkins.  We had lots of big pumpkins too.

I still grow a small variety but I've backed way off the amount.

Taking care of all of that vegetation is a lot of work.

 (The watering, weeding, pests, clean up--oi!)

These days I prefer to spend more time in my quilting studio

(or on the golf course) where I can just sew up some pumpkins.

Here are just a few of my more recent pumpkin quilts:

The Pattern Basket's popular pattern Hocus Pocus.

Last month I made a second one up in these colors.

My version of Farmhouse Fall by Erica Arndt.

(I kinda have a thing for blue pumpkins!)

And this one is from County Seat Quilts, a favorite book. 

 (I"ve made a lot of quilts from this one!)

But hey, enough chatting!  Let's get down to today's feature!
I've been keeping this one on the down-low for weeks but

today I'm excited to show my latest pumpkin quilt!

The pattern is Pumpkin Festival by Corey Yoder.

She typically releases a $5 pattern every month.

(To keep up, subscribe to her newsletter.)

 When this one came up a month or so ago, I knew

immediately that I would name mine Pepitas.

I love all kinds of nuts and seeds but pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

are pretty much my fave (go figure!), esp hulled.

They're great by themselves but I also love them on salads.

(Darn you Target for recently discontinuing them!)

But, I digress.  Back to quilted pumpkins...

My latest fall quilt features eighty-five little pumpkins!

The hop theme is really about anything fall but I decided

this fit in pretty well with "Monster Mash" in that it
turned out to be a bit of a monster of a quilt.

I'm really more of a border kinda quilter so I had to throw on

a couple and then, after quilting, it finished up at 87x105.

It took several weeks to make--especially when, ahem,

I've been traipsing off to the golf course almost daily.

(More on that in tomorrow's post)

When I ran out of fabric for the back and found no coordinating

fabrics in my stash, I made a few extra pumpkins and did what

I could to make it all blend--I think it turned out okay!

The quilting design, West Wind in Autumn, is by Creative Stitches

and I think it softens up the sharper lines beautifully...but then

I'm a little partial to the autumn-themed designs.

What do you think?

I would certainly recommend Corey's pattern,

especially if you're a pumpkin fanatic like me!

Now if you are crazy about pumpkin foods, I'd have to

recommend the following pumpkin bread recipe to you.

Wait--before you think "Ho-hum, another pumpkin bread,"

this one has a twist that takes it up a few notches.

I've made about every version: chocolate chips, nuts,

bourbon, browned butter,  you name it.  The pepitas

just make this one my absolute favorite.

Pumpkin Bread With Chocolate Pepita Swirl

(I think from Midwest Living Magazine?)

1/4 c roasted pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds)

1 c plus 2 T sugar, divided

1 t cinnamon, divided

1/2 t plus 1 pinch kosher salt, divided

1/4 c miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips*

1 c flour

3/4 t baking soda

1/2 t ground ginger

1/2 t nutmeg

5 T unsalted butter, cut up

2/3 c pumpkin pureé

1 egg

1/3 c milk

1/4 t vanilla extract

1) For swirl:  In a food processor, combine pepitas, 2 T sugar,

1/2 t cinnamon and the pinch of salt.  Pulse until mixture forms

 gritty bits.  Stir in chocolate chips.  

2) Grease 8x4-inch loaf pan and line with parchment paper.

Set oven rack in center position.   Preheat oven to 350'.

3) For bread:  In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda,

remaining 1/2 t salt and 1/2 t cinnamon, the ginger and nutmeg.

4) Browning the butter:  In a large saucepan, melt butter over

 medium heat.  Cook, stirring and scraping bottom of pan with

silicone spatula, until butter is riddled with golden brown specks,

about 8 min. Remove from heat and stir in the remaining

1 c sugar.   Let cool 5 min.

5)  Add pumpkin, egg, milk and vanilla to butter mixture,

stirring to combine.  Stir in flour mixture just until combined.

Don't fret over lumps.

6) Scrape half the batter into prepared loaf pan.

Sprinkle with the swirl mixture.  Cover with remaining batter.

Use a chopstick or butter knife to carve a few letter s's

through the pan, lightly swirling mixture into batter.

7) Bake until toothpick poked into the center comes out clean,

about 50 min.  Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 mins.  Tip bread

out of pan and cool completely.

(Or if you're me, you'll wanna eat it nice and warm!)

*I recommend Ghirardelli mini chocolate chips

Happy quilting!

Monday October 23
MooseStashQuilting
SelinaQuilts
The Morning Latte
Quilted Snail
Just Sew Quilter
Tuesday October 24
Scrapdash
Words & Stitches
Homespun Hannah's Blog
Domestic Felicity
Wednesday October 25
Karrin’s Crazy World
Just Because Quilts
Quilt Doodle Designs
Elizabeth Coughlin Designs
MS P Designs USA
Thursday October 26
Just Let Me Quilt
BeaQuilter
Inflorescence
Quilting Gail
Quilted Delights