I love Autumn so much!

I have two things for you this time - liver bones for your favourite doggy fur baby and some fabric pumpkins to decorate the house.

Ready? Well here they come! First of all, liver bones...

And then the pumpkin for a Halloween display......

If the pumpkin is your thing, scroll down, it is just underneath the recipe.

But first, let's get baking! These bones are healthy and the dog loves them. Bliss!

Gather these supplies:
225g finely processed chicken liver
4 tablespoons dried herbs
2 eggs
400g (or thereabouts) spelt flour
100g ground hazelnuts. Pulse these to leave some slightly larger pieces.

Find a bone shaped cutter too. They are available all over the place where baking things are to be found. I found mine here.

Now you will notice that I have said or thereabouts when mentioning the flour. Make sure that you have enough on hand to make a dough that doesn't stick to everything like glue. You can add more of this flour until you have the right consistency. Just add a little at a time - you cannot take it out!

Preheat your oven to moderate and line a  tray with baking paper.
Mix all of the ingredients together well until you have a non sticky dough. wrap the dough in clingfilm and then rest it in the fridge for half an hour.

Roll the rested dough out on a well floured surface and then cut the biscuits out with your bone shaped cutter...

As you can see, the bone shaped cutter makes all the difference!

Lay the biscuits onto the prepared tray and then bake for about 30 minutes, slightly longer if you want crisper biscuits. As you can see, mine a quite floury. This is easier to handle and looks nicely artisan. The dog likes it too!

Not a terribly patient person! Well, okay, let's get on with it then Sally!

Cool the biscuits on a baking tray with a strong and established armed guard - one which doesn't include the dog...

The fluff monster is hovering. Keep your cooled biscuits in a sealed tin. A small dog may prefer you to break them up a bit. I include one with Sally's dinner but they make a good treat too.

And that is all there is to it! Now I promised two posts didn't I? It occurred to me the other day while I was walking in the woods that the animals are decorating for Halloween...

This was a reasonably freshly dug burrow and the leaf just set it off beautifully. So. What can we make? I think that pumpkins are just the thing. Made from your favourite fabrics in Autumn colours, they can be made in different sizes and piled up as a display.

Here is what we are aiming for.....

So what do we need? Well for a start, we have to find some fabrics, a stick, some wire and some stuffing. You need a button for the bottom too and a hot glue gun is really handy  - I cannot live without my Dremel.
Make the stick match the size of pumpkin that you are aiming for. Here is the selection that I have come up with...

Halloween things can be a bit grungy and a bit prim so I have opted for muted shades in my fabric selection. My button is brown and the wire is rusty. The stick is a thumb thickness piece of a twisted willow in my garden.
The pumpkin is made from 6 sections like the one in the picture below. You can either make all of the sections different for a patchwork effect or all the same. It is up to you. Here is the basic pattern piece.

You can reduce or enlarge the pattern piece as you like. If you are a beginner, don't go too small because sewing can be a bit of a trial if it is too fiddly.

Cut the sections of the pumpkin from your fabrics and then, with the right sides together, sew the sections. Leave a gap in the top for turning out and for stuffing.

And here is what it looks like turned the right way out.

Half done!

Stuff well and then sew the top closed, leaving just a small (your stick sized) hole in the top. 

As you sew, attach the button to the base and draw the pumpkin in a little to contour the shape. An extra long doll needle is really useful here.

Your pumpkin should look like this now....

And from the bottom...

Prepare the wire next. Cut about 30cm of wire and wind it around a pen, pencil or chopstick like this...

Notice the I have left a little 'tail'. Then pull it off the stick and pull it out, curve it and make it look a little more natural....

Heat the hot glue gun and glue the stalk and the wire into the centre hole. The tail on the wire pokes into the pumpkin.

et voila! We have a pumpkin! Make a pile in different sizes and heap them up for a really nice Autumn display - who says that Christmas has to have it all!

I hope that you have enjoyed this quite long post! Thank you so much for stopping by and don't forget to leave a comment.
Hugs and kisses
Debs
xxx