Halloween Sewing Party and a Pumpkin Loaf Cake

Last Sunday I went over to see Judi from Handmade in Hunton for our annual Halloween sewing party. We used to work together and between 5 of us, we form a little collective of sewing enthusiasts. We all turned 30 and went crazy, bought sewing machines, started buying fabric, invested in some knitting needles and away we went! Our Halloween sewing party was full of cake and pumpkins. Judi put on her usual display of looooovely cakes, Halloween themed and absolutely delicious:

I made a pumpkin loaf with pumpkin buttercream based on this recipe. I was very worried that we would all unanimously dislike it but surprise surprise it was very much like carrot cake! I'm still not keen on the ikea of pumpkin pie but the loaf cake was a great idea and very Halloween-esque!

I have to give a mention to Stuart, who carved the main pumpkin and to Judi for finding the other 'gourds' - my new favourite word. Apparently the word 'gourd' describes a crop of squash types vegetables! Judi was not scrumping though, oh no no no, well sort of. She found the interesting looking squash type things whilst walking the dogs, they had been discarded by the harvester who took all the good ones and these poor runts of the litter were left. I am reliably informed that in relation to scrumping, the following rules apply:

You can 'pick and pluck' but you cannot 'dig or cut'.

So, it looks like the Police won't be knocking at Judi's door any time soon for the gourds she found in the corner of a field. We decided that they didn't look particularly edible and were much nicer to just look at for now. Plus, we've formed the Pumpkin Protection Society (PPS) such is our fascination with these little balls of squash!

Judi has been working on a crochet blanket and bought a huge batch of Rooster yarn from me earlier in the year. I was amazed to see how well she had progressed and how neat her squares were. She decided to edge them in white so she had a uniform colour scheme in connecting them. Otherwise it turns into the Krypton Factor trying to get a good colour balance. I can't wait to see how the blanket turns out. The colours remind me of Nicki Trench's Springtime Throw that featured in Country Homes & Interiors magazine last year.

Not content with the one project, Judi has been crocheting poppies for a project with Purl Queens Yarn Installations who are trying to get as many knitted or crocheted poppies together for an installation on the Road of Remembrance in Folkestone, Kent. This event will of course take place on 11th November 2012 and I look forward to seeing the product of all their hard work for Remembrance Day.