Post turkey day

We had a nice Thanksgiving - just Paul, Chris and me, as we like it.  The Macy's parade was on TV twice, and we caught a bit of the dog show.  I talked with my mom and one brother, too, which is always nice.  Last weekend we went to Paul's niece Amy's for the traditional meal which was very nice.  There were six of us and 9 dogs!  I had made rolls, and Amy made most of the food.  When we had the B&B and Paul's mom was alive, we had quite a few people at our house for Thanksgiving, and Amy made the turkey even then.  But I like the lowkey way we celebrate these days, too.  

Our menu included turkey breast cooked in the crockpot, mashed potatoes (grown by Chris), peas, pumpkin bread, and apple crisp for dessert.  I thought I had a jar of gravy in the cupboard, but when I looked at the sell-by date - 2015 - I decided to pass!  The guys don't like gravy much anyway.  Today's lunch will include turkey sandwiches with cranberry mayo - yum!  And tonight?  Well, I may make a little turkey tetrazzini which I love.  

No Black Friday shopping for me today.  I will try to get packages ready to mail - how to wrap a teddy bear is my challenge - and then settle in with a little sewing.  I may begin with a little gift bag for that teddy.  Then I'd like to get a few miscellaneous blocks, including the guild BOM, made before turning my attention back to the collage quilt.  It takes up the whole guest bed in my sewing room so is a constant nag.

Happy Thanksgiving

 

When I was a little girl, my dad always bought me candles for holidays.  For Thanksgiving there were Pilgrims and for Christmas there were angels.  I loved them, but I didn't like lighting them because the faces were always burned away first.  That seemed mean to me.   A few years ago, I saw some at a card shop in the mall and nostalgia made me buy them.   I get them out every year, and I definitely don't light them.   They still make the holiday a little happier for me.  May yours be fun, and may you leave room for dessert!  

Busier than busy

I am taking a slight break from working on the Friends of the Library's Light Up the Library logistics - pick ups, deliveries, press releases, and more.  After Dec. 5 I hope I will have some time to breathe.  I have some hand stitching to do on the Green Mountain Sunrise wallhanging binding and hanging sleeve.  I put one at the top and another at the bottom so that it can be weighted down with a dowel or piece of wood.  It will hang over a door and might catch a breeze.  I think I'll get it done in a week or so.

Yesterday I made a block of the month for the guild lottery and then one for myself to go with the others I've made the past couple of months.  It was designed by one of the guild members who traveled to China and saw interesting windows.

Because the lottery will be in Dec., we were to use green and red with a white background.  This year all the backgrounds will be white for unity, and each month's team decides what colors to use.  For the same block that I will keep, I am doing a rainbow of colors, starting with red and orange.  This month, therefore, my block will be in yellows.  I have a lot of medium yellow in my stash, but no real brights or pale yellows.   I settled for butterscotch and regular yellow.

I have been hand appliqueing a wallhanging for the last few months and finished it a week or so ago.  It now measures about 36" square.  Yesterday, I sandwiched it and started machine quilting.  I thought it might be a good stress reliever during this very busy season.  Because of its small size, I can sit down for a little while whenever I feel like it.

Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving, by the way.  Chris came for dinner, and we had a very nice time.  His car is still in the shop, so I drove him home.  Hope it gets fixed (at not too great a cost) very soon.  I talked with my Mom who was expecting my NJ brother and his family for the weekend, and I also talked to my WI brother who was going over to dine with friends.  I'm so glad we don't travel anywhere for these holidays.  As they say, "you can't get there from here" easily in the wilds of Vermont.

Holidays

 

The last two packages went in the mail yesterday, and now I can work on our Christmas letters.  I always mail the international ones first and even have a bunch of stamps ready to go.

I think I'm finished shopping for the guys, too, although I'll probably pick up some stocking stuffers here and there in the next few weeks.  Our Thanksgiving dinner is planned  - a small ham and all the "trimmings" (whatever those really are).  An apple pie made by the Presbyterian Church ladies is waiting for us in the freezer.  

Holiday gift sewing is all finished, too.  The basket is for some neighbors and will have candy and some homemade rolls in it.  The pattern came from McCall's Quick Quilts; untie the ribbons to store it flat.  The binding was the worst part of this little project.  I finished a table runner for another set of neighbors and hope to get a picture today.  It's been so gloomy lately - it's November, after all - that photo taking can be unreliable.

This promises to be a calmer week than last when I had meetings, Paul got his booster shot and needed to go to the optician to fix broken glasses, and there were quite a few other errands.  Today I'll have a pedicure with my friend Debb and hope to stop by the library to see all the Christmas trees being set up by various community groups.  It's a "Light Up the Library" fundraiser that we hope will become an annual event.  

Easy dinner and great bread

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!  I hope your holiday is a fun one,  how ever you celebrate.  We'll be here with the three of us as was the case last year.  The guys are still waxing poetic about the filet mignon I made then, but we're having ham this time.  I couldn't find a turkey breast, and the turkeys were way too big.  Luckily, Samantha is bringing us some leftovers from the big turkey she got.  In the past, we had T'giving dinner with her and Vicki, when she actually cooked the turkey at her house and brought it here.  What a great friend!  She's even willing to take one of the three gigantic squashes Chris gave me.

In preparation for tomorrow's blow out, this week's dinners have been very easy and low cal.   Some have been vegetarian, and here's one that I really like - Greek nachos for two:

Dressing:  mix 1/3 c. hummus with 2 T. olive oil, 1 T. lemon juice, and a 1/8 t. pepper (the New York Times recipe said this served six, but they must have been small eaters).

Put a layer of pita chips (my new favorite) on two dinner plates.  Top each with chopped Romaine lettuce, chopped vegetables (cucumber, tomatoes, green peppers, whatever appeals), sliced olives, and finish with crumbled feta cheese.

Drizzle hummus dressing over all, and enjoy.  Perhaps offer more chips and hummus on the side.

Right now, I'm making 100% whole wheat bread using a recipe from King Arthur Flour in my bread machine.  I have tried a lot of recipes before recently finding one that really works.  It includes flax seed and a good amount of maple syrup; it rises well, is soft, and makes great toast and sandwiches.  I use the dough setting on the machine, which lets me take it out, shape and rise it again, and then bake it in the oven.   It may seem odd to do it that way, but the machine does a thorough job of heavy kneading for my older hands and allows the first rise to be in a warmer spot than my cool kitchen offers.

Later today, I'll make some winter squash for tomorrow, but mostly I'll be sewing today - perfect!