Falling Into Fall

Today I decided to finally "Autumn up" our home, and wanted to start with the lovely pumpkin which my awesome friends, Cory & Ashley(you may remember them from my 1st dinner blog), brought me last weekend.

Flipping through my lastest copy of Martha Stewart Living (by the way I only have a subscription cause it was free) a few days ago, I came across an article on pumpkins in which some of them had initials carved in.  I thought it would be cute to carve out a "T" (our last initial) and add a few swirlies on mine.  So, after I put Ittle Bit in her crib for a nap, I got down to business. 

I made a mental list of everything I would need: pumpkin, newspaper, bowl, carving knife(free after ECBs at CVS), and a big metal spoon.

I laid some newspaper out on my kitchen floor and topped it with my pumpkin.  To the side I set the spoon, bowl, and knife.  Now, I don't have a working printer so I wasn't able to print out a design template or anything to help guide my carving knife.  I was going at this freehand.  I did draw a light sketch on the pumpkin with a pencil to give me an idea of how I was going to go about this and then touched it up as needed while carving. 

First things first, I cut off the top and proceeded to scoop out the seeds and guts, setting the seeds aside for later roasting.  I started off using my hand, but then switched to the spoon since it actually did a much better job of scraping the insides off the inside. 

Next I drew out my "T".  When I got it just the way it should look, I plunged the carving knife in and started sawing like crazy.  (Note: Be very careful when using a little bitty carving knife on a big, thick pumpkin.  Just ask my thumb.)  It took me a while, but I finally got my letter carved and was quite proud of it, crooked lines and all.

After bandaging my thumb and touching up the "T", I used the other end of my tool to scrape off the orange top layer of the rind and make some swirlies.  This was the hardest part.  That little scraper thingy wasn't very big, kept getting clogged with rind, and it was difficult to navigate it around the pumpkin.  So, my swirlies didn't look exactly the way I wanted them to, but I settled for good enough and gave it a rest.  

Now, my pumpkin carving skills are very unrefined.  I have always known this and therefore made a conscience decision to not strive for perfection when slicing out letters and faces and whatever else I get a hankering to give my produce.  I just have fun with it.  That way I am always satisfied and delighted with the results.  Besides, no matter how bad the pumpkin looks in the daytime, putting a candle in it and displaying it on the front porch at night always makes it look glorious.

By the way, Martha Stewart, if you are reading this, don't think for one minute that you have us all fooled into thinking you carved those pumpkins shown in your magazine all by yourself or that you even carved the ones you probably have displayed at your home.  We all know you hired professionals.  YOU ARE NOT THAT PERFECT!!