Finally!

A new post from me! Will wonders never cease?! Unfortunately, though, the news isn't good; I'm currently nursing a broken leg, so Autumn Comforts is pretty much out of operation until it heals! :-(

I fell down the stairs on Jan. 26th and broke my left fibula and tore the ligaments all across my ankle and foot; I don't recommend doing so, it's really not much fun! At any rate, I've had one surgery so far and will need one more in a few more weeks. Long story short, I'm hoping to be in a walking boot and on the road to rehabilitation in late March, at which time I'll be able to get upstairs again, where my stores are both housed. But in the interim, while we're still processing orders for Hannah's PinKeep, I'm not getting much of my own crafting done and won't be operating Autumn Comforts until I can get upstairs again.

I apologize for the inconvenience. Believe me, I've been itching to get to my sewing machine again! :-( But accidents happen, and I guess I'll be spending yet a few more weeks catching up on some reading, watching movies on T.V., and just generally being a couch potato, whether I want to or not. :-P

Be safe out there, Folks!
Jodi

I Won! :-)

Well, I can still hardly believe it, but I actually had the honor of winning one of the beautiful samplers offered by Dan in his blog giveaway! Dan did a fantastic job, and I absolutely LOVE my new autumn/Thanksgiving sampler! I've placed it on the window right by my dining room table, and it has added such a nice holiday touch to my dining room. Dan, I'm so honored and grateful to you!





Dan even included a beautiful card with a personal note. You can visit Dan's beautiful blog here. Dan is a special education teacher and a senior writer for "A Primitive Place & Country Journal" magazine. He and his partner have the most incredible primitive/country home! Dan, I'd love to make a home as amazing and inviting as yours some day. Thank you, my friend, for the beautiful sampler, which brings me one step closer to having a home that is warm, inviting, beautiful, and perfectly primitive! :-)

Melt-in-your-mouth Pumpkin Bread

This one was shared in a recent "Community Chickens" email newsletter I received (yes, a chickens group -- note the use of 5 eggs?). It sounded soooo tasty, I had to share! I've been seeing a lot of different pumpkin bread recipes online lately, but this one made my mouth water just reading through the list of ingredients! I can't wait to make it. Enjoy!

Melt-in-your-mouth Pumpkin Bread
by Rebecca Nickols

1 1/4 cups oil
5 eggs
2 cups pumpkin
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 pkg. cook-and-serve vanilla pudding (small boxes)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp soda
1 tsp cinnamon
Blend oil, eggs and pumpkin. Combine other ingredients and add to pumpkin mixture. Sprinkle and lightly pat on the crumb topping (see recipe below). Bake in 2 greased/floured loaf pans at 325° for 1 hour. Lightly dust with powdered sugar after bread has cooled.

Crumb Topping: 1/2 cup flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, pinch of salt. With a pastry blender, cut 3 Tbsp butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.

"Old Haunts" PinKeep/Pillow!

I just finished up a new cross-stitch design for a sweet little Halloween/autumn piece I've called "Old Haunts." The pattern is now available at my site, Hannah's PinKeep. And, the finished model is up for sale also, at Autumn Comforts. I think it turned out pretty cute, and I hope you do as well! :-)



I stitched up the model on Belfast "Dirty" 32-ct. linen in 2 over 2, using 4 colors of hand-dyed flosses from The Gentle Art. This was my first experience with flosses other than good ol' DMC, and I love the way these hand-dyed flosses look for primitive projects! The variations in color depth are amazing and gave this little keep a more muted, aged, "organic" look. I hope you'll check out both the pattern (which can be purchased either as just the pattern, or as a "kit" that includes the flosses and fabrics also) and the finished piece and consider adding one of them to your own collection. Happy Halloween! :-)

Sharing a Giveaway!

I happened on this giveaway while surfing my favorite blogs today: These beautiful samplers!



You can visit Dan's blog here to learn about the giveaway and participate. Good luck to all!