I love the start of a new year. Each month I love to write a round up of what I’ve been making and my analogue hobbies. This helps me to see what I’ve made, and holds me accountable for projects half started or bought. This year I’m calling my series The Monthly Thread. October’s post is all about cute and cosy and roasted pumpkin.

The Monthly Thread: cute and cosy & roasted pumpkin

Making

I saw a Cute & Cosy Sticker Rooms book in TK Maxx so I bought Comfy Shops. I bought it for my youngest teen but it was actually more fun than I thought, so we ended up sharing it. You create your own rooms with the stickers and you can follow the layout guide or create your own. There were 10 rooms to create and we finished it an evening but enjoyed trying something new.

I finished a Happily 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle called Shops and another Happily 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle called Wanderlust. I really like this series of puzzles. They are not too difficult to do in a weekend.

I made a wooden pumpkin stand kit from The Works. Its the perfect size for Maileg mice and so we made a pumpkin stand as part of our Halloween decorations. The wooden kit needed painting so it made a good crafty project. I am hoping I can re-use it for a Christmas display next month.

The youngest teen and I went to an autumnal Jellycat workshop at our local ceramic cafe. We have a been a few times and enjoyed making three clay models. My daughter made a snowman, a monk and Snoopy. I made a Jellycat inspired Christmas tree, pumpkin and candy cane. We go back in a few weeks to paint them once they’ve been fired.

Baking

The youngest teen made the Sainsbury’s Halloween Brookie Monsters kit, a fudgy chocolate brownie mix layered with an orange-flavour cookie crumb topping, chocolate drops, white icing, and sugar decorations. It made 8 spooky brookies.

We made our annual trip to the Pop Up Farm and picked pumpkins. We roasted one, made pumpkin soup with one, and carved the rest!

Reading

Last month we went to see Janice Hallett talk and I finished reading her latest book, The Silent Appeal. I enjoy her books because the story is told via WhatsApp messages, emails and texts. I never manage to solve the crime but I enjoyed reading the book.