Front porch for fall and pie

Hello everyone! A cool front moved in to Oklahoma while we slept and it finally feels like Autumn.  

Below is our front entryway, decorated for fall.  

Below is a Pinterest photo that I used for inspiration.  Mine does not look just like it but I like the black funiture with the fall pillow and yellow mum.  I also like how simple it is.  

I made the pillow from a printed fabric panel that I had in the sewing room.  (If you look back at posts about my craft room, you can see I have a huge amount of supplies, mostly from my dad's yard sale finds and my mom downsizing her stash when they moved) 

Anyway, this panel was for a wall hanging but I used it make the pillow front.  I reused an old living room floor pillow for the pillow.  I used some iron on adhesive, WonderUnder, to attach it to the pillow front and then I zigzagged all the edges.  

I made the rag banner across the window, also inspired by Pinterest.  My strips were about 22 by 1 inch and just rough cut by hand -not precise or straight at all.  

The base was 2 lengths of jute twine,  I tied a loop on each end so they could just hang on a nail.  

The $3 mum is from Walmart, repotted into a spray painted trick or treat pumpkin, $1 at Walmart. 

The black chair and plantstand are from our backyard.  

Grandson don't get porch decorations.  One grandson brought the sunflower pillow into the house and said "found this outside" 😂

For supper last night,  my parents, son and 2 grandsons were here.  

I made soft chicken tacos with refried  beans and salad. 

Dessert was a just baked pumpkin pie.  

My dad ate 1 taco and 2 pieces of pie 😄

Gavin is a pie fan too.  He also had 2 pieces.  

I used a new to me pumpkin pie recipe.  It has 2 tablespoons of molasses and it really adds a deep flavor.  Apparently my dad and Gavin really liked the new recipe. 

http://www.gonnawantseconds.com/2009/11/classic-pumpkin-pie/

Happy Fall Y'all 😄

Getting back to "doing stuff"

If you haven't noticed from my scarce posts,  I don't feel like I have been living up to my motto.  

Not that I am being Idle but the last year has brought lots of changes -my husband retired, my parents moved to our town, we now have 8 young grandchildren with 3 of them being babies.  

So I have been busy but I haven't done much creating or extra stuff that I like to do and get so much satisfaction from.   And when I do have free time, I've relaxed with Social Media and Candy Crush instead of doing things like handwork or recipe book reading,  

So yesterday, I decided it was time to get back to my "do stuff" ways.  

Our front entryway needs spruced up for fall so I looked on Pinterest for inspiration.  I found a simple photo and I am shooting for that look.  Here is a peek - a just sewn up Autumn-looking pillow by me

This morning, I got out the food processor and mixed up 12 pie crusts.  One will be for supper tonight and the rest are going in the freezer.  I used my tried and true recipe and mixed it up 3 times.  

Simple ingredients --- 

All the dough mixed up

Rolled out 

Then stacked alternating with wax paper in a plastic cake keeper.  9 of them went in pie pans and  the others are just discs of dough for top crusts or lattice when needed,  

My son is probably wondering how did I ever get this many pie crusts in our freezer,  Sunday, he helped me dig out a container of pecans when this chest freezer was messy and heavily frosted on the sides.  That was quite a chore.  So........

Monday, I defrosted and organized that neglected freezer so now there is plenty of room, see? 

There is a mess on the counter 

And in the sink but I only have to clean it up once!  

Other tips if you want to bulk-make pie crusts to freeze.....

    All of my pie pans, except one don't have handles.  The plain pans are easier to fit into bags or a        

     plastic pie or cake keeper.  

    Don't bother with fancy crimping before freezing.  When stacked, it will just get squashed. 

     Do the crimping after the crust thaws when you are making pie. 

We are a family that really enjoys pie.  I think these 12 crusts will last for several months and will be so handy to make a great dessert even if I'm busy.  

This sign is over the door of one of our pantries.  

Hopefully tomorrow,  I'll have the front porch area finished and ready to share.