Your Creative Sewing Machine The English Hedgerow Halloween - the Witching Hour Tastes of the Season: Harvest Home Plus: October Almanac, A Little History of Knitting, Lovely Ideas, Home Comforts and more 1
A Bustle & Sew Publication Copyright Š Bustle & Sew Limited 2020 The right of Helen Grimes to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, or by any means, without the prior written permission of the author, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Every effort has been made to ensure that all the information in this book is accurate. However, due to differing conditions, tools and individual skills, the publisher cannot be responsible for any injuries, losses and other damages that may result from the use of the information in this book.
First published 2020 by: Bustle & Sew Station House West Cranmore Shepton Mallet BA4 4QP www.bustleandsew.com
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Welcome to the October Magazine Hello everyone! October brings beautiful glowing colours to our hedgerows - jewel bright hips, haws and berries festoon the increasingly ragged looking bushes and trees whose arching stems and scrambling ivy create a haven for wildlife, including the noisy chattering sparrows that visit the feeders in our garden every day. I am especially pleased to see these little birds, so common and so familiar in my childhood as they are becoming increasingly hard to find - rather like the hedgehog, whose numbers have plummeted in the last few years. There is a hedgehog of the stitched variety in this month’s edition, along with a rather fine moth - inspired by those that cluster around our lamps outside and sometimes make their way indoors, needing to be rescued and put outside once more the next day. Our recipes this month are inspired by the harvest home, ranging from hazel nuts, to mushrooms, as well as apples and plums of course! I do hope you’ll enjoy this month’s issue - stay safe and warm, and I’ll be back again next month. Very best wishes
Helen xx
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Between this month’s covers … October Almanac
Page 5
Poetry Corner
Page 53
Rich Autumn Days
Page 7
Lovely Idea: Autumn Printable
Page 54
Lunar Moth Hoop
Page 8
Spell Caster Hoop
Page 55
A (very) Little History of Knitting
Page 12
Falling for Pumpkins
Page 58
The English Hedgerow
Page 14
The Creative Sewing Machine
Page 59
Autumn’s Beauty Reflected
Page 16
Summer’s End
Page 61
Apples & Pears Tote Bag
Page 17
Lovely Idea: Mirror Ghosts
Page 62
Lovely Idea: Toffee Apples
Page 21
Starry Bear Cushion Cover
Page 63
Across the Downs
Page 22
The Autumnal Season
Page 65
Halloween: The Witching Hours
Page 23
Home Comforts
Page 66
Autumn Fungi
Page 26
Embroidery Stitch Guide
Page 65
Hedgehog Pin Cushion
Page 27
In the Kitchen: Conversion Tables
Page 66
Tastes of the Season: Harvest Home
Page 31
Templates
Page 67
Autumn Pennant
Page 44
Choosing the Right Fabric
Page 47
What’s in a Name? Your Plants
Page 50
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October Early October brings that glorious last vivid display before nature falls into its long winter sleep and brilliant colour becomes a rare sight in the British countryside. All around the fields are ploughed and bare, whilst birds, squirrels and other wildlife are making the most of the wild harvest by stocking their winter larders before the cold weather arrives. A spell of unusually dry, warm, calm weather occurring in October, or exceptionally early November, is known as an Indian Summer. This name originated in the USA, perhaps a reference to its occurring in regions populated by Native Americans. It’s also known as St Luke’s (little) summer when it occurs around the feast day of that saint on the eighteenth. Here in England, October is the main month for apple-picking and cider-making. Since the early 1990s, as part of a campaign to raise public awareness of the difficulties the apple-growing industry faces in the UK, and to
promote the growing and eating of traditional British varieties, 21 October has been celebrated as Apple day. Events organised on or
“Day by day there are slight changes, subtle alterations in shape, in the mood of the season, it is as though everything is slipping and sliding very gradually downhill, like some great high hayrick sinking softly into itself as it dries. The year has turned and it is autumn….” The Magic Apple Tree Susan Hill, 1982 around this date include guided tours of orchards, apple tastings and advice sessions for fruitgrowers as well as fun activities such as contests to produce the longest unbroken pieces of peel from a single apple!
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If you’re lucky enough to have sweet chestnut trees growing nearby then it’s fun to gather your own chestnuts to take home and roast on the fire. Horse chestnuts, are probably more popular with children and the young at heart though as this is the season for games of conkers. This game probably evolved from a game called “conquerors” which was originally played with snail shells! A later version was played with hazelnuts on strings, but by the 20th century these earlier games had been replaced by the game we know today using pierced horse chestnuts threaded onto the ends of strings. The World Conker Championship is now held annually in Ashton in Northamptonshire on the second Sunday in October. In days past much of the period after September’s harvest was taken up with the work involved in preserving food so that it would last through the colder months to come. Many of the foods we enjoy today as spicy or savoury treats originated as methods of
preserving the harvest bounty. Jams, pickles, smoked and salted meats and fish were all produced using methods and techniques that would prevent the foods from spoiling, allowing them to be stored for many months. October 4th brings the feast day of St Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan order of mendicant friars. Francis was born in Assisi, probably in 1181, the son of a wealthy merchant, and led a carefree, extravagant life until his mid-twenties. His sudden decision to embrace a life of poverty and religious devotion has been variously attributed to severe illness, military experiences and a visionary dream. Today he is perhaps best remembered for his sympathy towards the natural world - he is often shown preaching to birds or surrounded by other animals. In 1980 he was proclaimed patron saint of ecologists and ecology. October 18th brings the feast day of St Luke, a doctor by profession and also the author of the third gospel of the New Testament. He is the patrol saint of physicians, surgeons, artists and butchers. A period of unusually warm, dry and calm weather occurring in October (or early November) is generally called an Indian summer, but may also be known as St Luke’s little
summer when it occurs around this time.
“The woods never look more beautiful than from the close of last month to the middle of October, for by that time it seems as if nature had exhausted all her choicest colours on the foliage. We see the rich, burnished bronze of the oak; red of many hues, up to the gaudiest scarlet; every shade of yellow, from the wan gold of the primrose to the deep orange of the tiger-lily … and all so blended and softened together in parts, that like the colours on a dove’s neck, we cannot tell where one begins and the other ends.” Chambers Book of Days 1864 Whether we enjoy a St Luke’s little summer or not the hedgerows are beautiful at this time of year. Early morning dew glistens on cobwebs and here and there a few wildflowers may still be found in bloom. Red fruits such as rowan berries, hips and haws glow among the hedgerows dying leaves, providing a rich food source for the birds. string or floating in a bowl of water.
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The end of the month traditionally brings witches and goblins. In pagan times it was a brief season when the divide between the worlds of the living and the dead became less secure and the dead returned from their graves to haunt the living. Ritual fires were lit at dusk on hilltops and in open spaces to purify the land and defeat the powers of evil. Boisterous games were played and loud noises made to frighten away the evil spirits. In AD 835, in an attempt to distract their congregations from these pagan practices, the Church moved Hallowmas, the feast of All Hallows or All Saints, from mid-May to the first day of November. Undeterred people focused their ghost-hunting rituals on the night before All Hallows and the celebration of Halloween on 31 October came into existence. Today Halloween is mainly celebrated by children who dress up as witches, ghosts, devils or other ghoulish creatures, and make pumpkin lanterns by scooping out the flesh, cutting shapes in the shell to represent a face and placing a light inside. As well as the introduction from the US of “trick or treat”, recent years have also seen the revival of traditional British Halloween games such as “bobbing” or “ducking” for apples; trying to eat or catch with the teeth an apple suspended on a string.
Rich Days …
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The Great British Hedgerow
Halloween: The Witching Hour
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Signs of Autumn ‌. Fungi extract from The Pocket Encyclopaedia of Natural Phenomena by Thomas Furly Forster published in 1827
In the damp weather of autumn the fungus tribe become very numerous, and often are the first phenomena which remind us of the decline of summer and the approach of the cooler season. There is something remarkable about the growth of fungi. Some fungi appear here and there springing up in places where they are least expected, and where they have perhaps never grown before. How do the seeds come in such places? A learned cryptogamist once said, he thought their semina floated in the air, and were carried up into the clouds, and wafted along with them, and deposited by fogs on the earth’s surface. Is there any particular aspect or side of trees more obnoxious to the growth of parasitical fungi than others?
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Harvest Home‌. 13
Autumn’s Harvest: Mushrooms
The season for most British mushrooms begins at the end of the summer and continues throughout the autumn. However it is this month, October, that provides the best opportunities to find and gather a good haul of the edible species to add perhaps a little variety to the standard offerings available on supermarket shelves the whole year round. The UK is home to around 15,000 species of wild fungi, but there are probably only around 50 edible, nice-tasting types that are in season this month.
It would be extremely irresponsible of me however, not to include a very serious health warning at this point. A large number of mushrooms are poisonous. Some will just give you an upset stomach, but others are deadly enough to kill you in less than an hour. The golden rule is never ever eat anything unless you’re absolutely certain you’ve identified it correctly. In Croatia where mushroom hunting is very popular they have a saying that it’s worth remembering….”All mushrooms are edible, but some only once.”
Mushroom & Thyme Ragu Ingredients ● 2 tablespoons olive oil
● 2 tablespoons butter ● 2 chopped garlic cloves ● 1 chopped onion
Method ● Heat the oil and butter in a heavy-based saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 4-5 minutes, until the onions have softened. ● Increase the heat to high, add the mushrooms and thyme and cook for a further 8-10 minutes, stirring often, until the mushrooms darken and soften.
● 3 large field mushrooms, caps removed and cut into 1” pieces
● Add the red wine and cinnamon to the pan and boil for 5 minutes.
● 200g button mushrooms
● Pour in the stock and season well. Reduce the heat and gently simmer the mixture for 35-40 minutes.
● 100g shiitake mushrooms ● 3 fresh thyme sprigs ● 250ml red wine ● 1 cinnamon stick ● 250ml vegetable or beef stock ● 400g fresh pasta ● Salt & pepper ● Freshly grated Parmesan cheese to serve.
● Cook the pasta in a saucepan of boiling water according to the instructions on the packet. Drain well and place in serving bowls. Spoon the mushroom sauce on top and sprinkle with Parmesan to serve.
Roasted Orchard Fruits Ingredients ● 4 pears, about 550g in total, halved and cores scooped out ● 6 plums, about 350g in total, halved and stoned ● 225g blackberries ● 1 cinnamon stick, broken into large pieces ● 8 cloves ● 2-3 star anise, depending upon size
● Juice of one orange ● 50g butter, diced ● 50g light Muscovado sugar
Method ● Arrange the pears, plums and blackberries in a roasting tin. Sprinkle with the cinnamon, cloves and star anise. Spoon the orange juice over, dot with the butter, then sprinkle with the sugar. ● Bake in a pre-heated oven at 190C, 375F Gas Mark 5 for 20-25 minutes until lightly browned. Serve hot spooned into bowls an topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or a spoonful of crème fraiche or (if you’re feeling especially indulgent) clotted cream.
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Choosing the Right Fabric
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Something told the Wild Geese Something told the wild geese - It was time to go; Though the fields lay golden - Something whispered, - ‘Snow.’ Leaves were green and stirring, - Berries luster-glossed, But beneath warm feathers - Something cautioned, - ‘Frost.’ All the sagging orchards - Steamed with amber spice, But each wild breast stiffened - At remembered ice. Something told the wild geese - It was time to fly Summer sun was on their wings, - Winter in their cry.
Rachel Field (1894 - 1942) 19
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Falling for Pumpkins Pumpkins are of course most closely associated with harvest time and Halloween festivities, but even outside these times, picked from your garden patch or proudly carried home from farm shops, squashes, gourds and pumpkins are a colourful starting point for creating a seasonal display in your home. A cultivar of the squash plant, pumpkins actually come in many shapes, colours and sizes (not just the ubiquitous orange), can feature smooth and knobbly skins and are filled with succulent flesh and seeds. Believed to originate in North America, the name “pumpkin” derives from the Greek. “Pepon” means “large melon”. Pumpkins grow on ground-creeping vines and require a lot of watering over the summer months. Although they’re technically a fruit, we tend to treat them as a vegetable in the kitchen as they’re delicious in many ways - roasted, sauted, mashed and pureed. They can be used in soups, casseroles, pies and much more. Alongside these culinary uses they’ve long been carved and crafted into seasonal decorations. Our modern day jack o’lanterns have their roots in ancient Celtic times when pumpkins were carved and hung up on All Hallows’ Eve to ward away evil spirits. Try filling a glass jar with mini squashes and copper fairy lights to add a golden glow to your room, or turn mini pumpkins into votive holders - simply scoop out enough flesh to insert the candle.
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