Fellow Quilters,
Last weekend I was lucky enough to be invited to a friend’s cottage. The previous week I had purchased a ½-bushel of apples and a peck of pears at a local market, so I took a freshly-baked apple pie and a pear sour cream coffee cake, in addition to my always-present oatmeal cookies – we ate well! Fall was definitely in the air – we awoke to near-freezing temperatures but by noon, the sun had warmed the cool air enough that we could enjoy an invigorating 2-hour walk along leaf-covered country roads, taking in the scent of the Autumnal forest. Fall is my favorite season, and stepping on crunchy dried leaves is my favorite activity. After a few hours of outdoor activities, we headed inside to sip on a warm beverage and sit in front of a crackling fire. So cozy!
“Cozy” is in fact the theme for this month’s Quilt Block Mania. What do YOU think of when you hear the word “cozy?” Quilts, of course, and perhaps slippers and sweaters. When I am chilled, my go-to is tea – it warms me up from the inside out. My Nana was a tea drinker. She came from England and had the quintessential Brown Betty teapot, made in England. It looked like this one. 
Two versions of the classic Brown Betty teapot manufactured in England
At some point, it ended up in our house when I was growing up. The Brown Betty is typically golden brown with a few lighter- or darker-brown stripes encircling the teapot. Nana was a knitter and she’d knit a tea cozy for anyone who had a teapot – think of it as a thick sweater for your teapot.
Nana’s usual style of tea cozy, from an old knitting pattern
I even knit one or two myself. Here is my Brown Betty block.
My Brown Betty block, pouring tea into my teal mug
You can download the pattern for the Brown Betty block here– substitute the mug color with the color of your favorite mug – or choose a fun novelty print or colorful batik like I did here (showing my current favorite teapot).
There are 9 other designers participating this month and you can find the links to their free “cozy” block patterns here:
Sweater Weather by Carolina Moore
Candles
Hot Chocolate by Inquiring Quilter
Cozy Quilt by Memory Barn Studio
Mittens by QuiltFabrication
Cabin in a Long Cabin by The Quilted Diary
October at Studio B
Brown Bet-tea by Patti’s Patchwork
Warm and Cozy
Scrappy Deep Mug by Katie Mae Quilts
Warm & Cozy by Appliques Quilts and More
So, interesting fact: Brown Betty isn’t just a teapot. It’s also a baked apple & crumb dessert, similar to apple crumble or apple crisp.
I have always made apple crisp, with its oatmeal crumble topping. Apparently, Apple Brown Betty is made with either flour or with toasted breadcrumbs. The sweetened flour/breadcrumb mixture is layered with the cinnamon-sugar-coated apple chunks before being baked. I might have to give it a try, with some of my ½-bushel of apples (it’s a LOT of apples). Here’s a mouth-watering photo of the classic breadcrumb Brown Betty from the Delish website, along with the link to the recipe.
Apple Brown Betty from Delish.com’s website
In other news… If you’re in the Grey-Bruce area, I’ll be presenting a trunk show at the Meaford Quilt Guild next Thursday October 15th at 1pm. If you’re local to the area, consider joining the meeting as a guest. I snapped this photo during my trunk show to the Georgian Bay Quilters Guild last month.
The dynamic Georgian Bay Quilt Guild enjoyed my trunk show last month
I’m also finishing up 4 new patterns featuring upcoming Northcott collections, as well as working on new designs with the still-under-wraps collections. Stay tuned for the new patterns 😊. Until then, let’s enjoy these fabulous Fall days and cozy nights.
Cheers,
Patti
