Passels of Pumpkins

Fall is my favorite season of the year in Utah. I absolutely love the exquisite colors of the changing leaves on our mountains. While I don't exactly enjoy that the hours of daylight are decreasing, I do enjoy the cooler air. Fall colors are also my favorites. As September progresses, I eagerly wait for the temperatures to get cool enough to pull out the fall clothes.

One of my favorite sights during the fall season is the abundance of pumpkins. By late September, pumpkins seem to be about everywhere. From in front of the grocery store to the roadside fruit stands to neighborhood porches, pumpkins are in abundance. 

During our 2012 summer vacation, I picked up a kit for a wall hanging featuring a group of pumpkins framed by a checkerboard border of orange and black. The kit ended up sitting in the unfinished project box until late August of this year. As you can see from the picture below, it features wool appliqué with the pumpkin pieces sewn onto a black background. Given that I didn't have my first class in wool appliqué until January of this year, it probably is a good thing that I put off working on it until more recently. I was even brave enough to do the machine quilting work myself using the walking foot attachment on my machine. 

For the second year now, we have enjoyed a successful garden with space to accommodate pumpkin vines. While we didn't have as an abundant a yield as last year, we still managed to grow an assortment of good-sized pumpkins. Here are some of them while still on the vine and here they are adorning the steps leading to the front door.

In this season of harvest, I am going to close this posting with a verse in which God is speaking through the prophet Hosea to call the nation of Israel to repentance.  Even though Israel had been faithless and would experience God's judgment, God was still calling them to to be restored to Himself. These words still ring true for us today. Are we willing to allow God to break up the fallow ground within us and truly seek Him with our whole hearts?

Sow with a view to righteousness,

Reap in accordance with kindness;

Break up your fallow ground, 

For it is time to seek the LORD

Until He comes to rain righteousness on you.

                    Hosea 10:12