The Perfect Thanksgiving Dinner

What makes the perfect Thanksgiving Dinner?  Well, it doesn't take much...  It should be easy, not what you eat every day, taste great, and have friends or family to share it with.

Here are the ingredients:

• Lots of gratitude to God. He's the reason for the season!!
  
• visiting relatives, children, grandchildren, or friends--lots more fun!
• a place to take a walk after dinner
• games and perhaps a movie no one has seen yet
• a camera!! 
• pets (like horses, cats or dogs to eat scraps or play with)
• football or frisbee
  

Those things make the holiday fun and special ...

But seriously, for dinner..the following things are great but substitutions are allowed.  :o)

• one defrosted turkey or other poultry and some foil
  
• a few cans of green beans and some kind of sauce (cheese or soup), plus anything crunchy to top it with
• a few cans of sweet potatos, brown sugar, and butter (nuts optional)
  
• 5-10lbs white potatoes and some butter
  
• cranberries or sauce (optional)
• a pie or any other nice dessert (whip cream is nice too)  (or pour a can of fruit pie filling in an 8x11 dish and cover with a box of cake mix, dollop with butter and bake about 30min. at 350 for easy cobbler--my daughter-in-law's recipe)
  
• favorite drink for dinner, and coffee to go with dessert
• instant stuffing (optional)
  
• rolls optional 
• 2 -3oz boxes lime jello, 1 8oz pk. cream cheese, 12-20 oz whip cream and 2 13oz cans crushed pineapple  (totally optional...but really yummy!)
  

Our dinner hasn't changed in 20 years! We have taken a cooked turkey and the cans of veges and soup and some frenchfried onions to have Thanksgiving while camping.  We bake the potatoes in the coals.  Even my 19yr old cooked Thanksgiving dinner!--(actually it was Christmas but we do the same menu.)  Too bad we all had the stomach flu that day. 

I start early..I get up at 6 or maybe as late as 7pm and get the turkey in the oven. That way he'll be cooked by 1-2pm.  I do give him a bath the night before...it's a family ritual!  We put him in a tub of cold water to defrost overnight.  Then in the morning, I take off the plastic, rinse him, pat him dry, rub him with oil and salt and rub a little salt inside.  Then I sit him on a rack in any pan big enough to hold him.  I cover him loosely with foil and turn the oven on 325.  My cookbook says about 6-7 hours for 25 lbs. He was well done today when I took him out and the meat was falling off the bone!

Click here for roasting times per pound of turkey

Frankly, when we can all smell him...it's probably time to take him out!  I cover him with foil ASAP and don't carve him up until we all sit down for dinner. That keeps him nice and juicy! (Poor Turkey..He gave the ultimate sacrifice and we appreciate it. :o). I'm afraid I'm a little sentimental about poultry!)    I do drain off all of the broth and fat.  I pour the fat into a can to discard later and save the broth for gravy.     Once the turkey is in the oven, the time critical element is over.  I jump back into bed for another hour of snoozing.  Ahh....Nice!

Cooking dinner for a holiday is like cooking any other except that it's more important to cook the things that take the longest or need to cool, first.

Here are the steps and schedule for our family:

7am TURKEY: Start turkey. See above instructions. Go back to bed for a while!

9am CRANBERRY SAUCE: Cook Cranberry sauce...1 cup sugar, 1cup water, 3 cups frozen cranberries. Bring to boil, simmer for 10 minutes, let cool on the deck. Cover with towel so the cats don't lick the top layer off and the honeybees will leave it alone!!

9:30am JELLO SALAD:  Make lime jello salad. (Not on the list, but we all love it!)  Boil 4 c. water in hot pot, stir in 3 3oz pks lime jello till dissolved. Stir in 8oz pk cream cheese till melted--or use blender.  Stir in leftover juice from two 20oz cans crushed pineapple.  Let set in fridge until it starts to thicken.  Then stir in a med. size cont. of whipcream and the pineapple and let set in fridge until dinner.

10:00 am MASHED POTATOES: Peel and cut in chunks, the white potatoes.  I fill the pan. (I don't want to cook the day after Thanksgiving!).  Salt and leave setting in water on stove to cook later.
10:30am SET TABLE, MAKE DRINKS: Set table nicely. Make iced tea early so it can cool and won't need so much ice or make homemade lemonade (1c. lemon juice, 1c. sugar, 2qts water). Get coffee ready so you only have to push a button. Put butter on plate to soften, put sugar in sugar bowl.  Ask kids to help!  For a festive drink, you can stir together carbonated water and frozen juice. Nice!

11:00am STUFFING: Set bags or boxes of stuffing near stove until ready to make. (Takes 5 min. or less). Stir pineapple and whip cream into jello to set the rest of the way.  Put cranberry sauce in fridge to cool.

11:15 GREENBEAN CASSEROLE: Stir together 2-4 cns greenbeans, 1-2cans mushrooms soup, salt, pepper, 1/2-1 c. milk and 1/2 a container frenchfried onions if you have them. (Substitute any soup you like or make white sauce and stir in grated cheese).  Pour in 8x11 pan to wait until turkey is out of oven. (Top with crackers or corn flakes or potatoe chips and butter if you don't have FF.Onions about 5 min. before you take it out of oven.)

11:30pm SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE: Stir together chunks of canned sweet potatoes, generous amount of brown sugar and 1/2to 1c. walnuts or other nuts (if you have them and like them).  Top with dollops of butter all over. Cover in foil and set aside to cook later.

12:00pm  LIGHT LUNCH BREAK: Have a little snack like fruit, applesauce, eggs, or toast for lunch,  if you plan to eat by 2-3pm. Take a break!

12:30pm. BREAD/POTATOES: Put rolls or frenchbread etc on cookies sheet and brush with butter to cook right before dinner.  Start white potatoes cooking.
1:00pm  START CASSEROLES: Take turkey out of oven and put sweet potato casserole and greenbean casserole in oven at 350 to cook for 30 min.

1:15pm. GRAVY:  Pour broth out to make turkey gravy.  Cover turkey in pan completely so juices can't get out. Don't cut until ready to serve.  Let cool a bit.  Make gravy.  About 3 T. cornstarch per 2 cups broth. Add as much water as you have broth to double gravy.  Salt and pepper gravy. Stir in cornstarch or mix twice the amount of flour(vs. cornstarch)  with water and whisk into broth.  Make sure broth has cooled down so as not to make lumps. Stir continuously over high heat with whisk until thick and bubbly. (If you need to add more flour,stir it into cool water in a small bowl or cup, then whisk that into the hot gravy to avoid lumps...never add dry anything to hot gravy!)

1:30pm Follow package directions for stuffing.  (A hot pot heats the water quickly.)  Usually, you heat the water and butter (I substitute turkey drippings) to boiling, remove from heat, stir in dry stuffing mix, cover, set aside for 5 min. fluff and then bake for a little while in you want.

1:45pm FINISH POTATOES: Take out casseroles and set aside. Drain water from potatoes, mash, add butter, whip with beaters. Salt and pepper to taste. (keep warm)

2:00pm SERVE DINNER/HEAT ROLLS. Put food in containers with serving utensils. Fill glasses with ice.  Cook rolls.

You are done.  This schedule leaves plenty of time for breaks, washing and drying dishes so you don't have to do them later, and visiting.  Don't make this complicated! And say yes if anyone offers to help. If no one does, ask them to. :o)

After twenty years of always doing the WHOLE dinner...I can do this in my sleep.  I'm all for GREAT TASTE, EASY COOKING and lots of visiting!

The family ALWAYS loves this dinner and it never gets old.  Holidays are for fellowship and hearty, easy, good tasting dishes that you don't eat every day.  So what if they aren't super healthy!  It's time for feasting not fasting!  Eat healthy the rest of the year, and the pies and whip cream won't hurt you. :o) 

Pray before dinner and thank the Lord for all your blessings. Take a walk after dinner...and save the dessert and coffee for later.  Play games, visit a lot!,  play with the babies, and take lots of pictures to preserve the special memories.  And remember!...No dessert unless everyone helps with the dishes!


Have a great Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!.....and a poem

My dear daughter-in-law, Elisabeth Rodgers, and I have been painting glass today. She's teaching me how to do it.  She painted the plate on the right and I painted the crystal candlesticks to match my favorite dishes...just in time for Thanksgiving!

I will be posting a little tutorial later, but for now, I just want to share a poem/song I wrote several years ago especially for this holiday.  Click here to listen to a recording:   http://www.box.net/shared/8hdj1xa5zi

In Everything Give Thanks..

For this new day that You have made,
Each detail you have planned.
The pleasant and the difficult,
Remind me to be glad.

For everything I need to live,
my food, my clothes, my home.
For all the blessings that You give,
my thanks to You I owe.

I thank you for your Holy Word,
to light my path each day,
and grace to follow you, Oh Lord,
if only I will pray.

Let no ungrateful words be said,
and may it never be,
that I would carelessly neglect
to give my thanks to Thee.

In everything I will give thanks,
For this is the will of God.
Since all things work out for the good,
to those who love the Lord.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Donna

How to Make a Cottage-Inspired Apron

Click for instructions for Cottage Style Aprons

I spent the day working on this apron and had such a hard time of it, that I thought I might better give you some pictures for making this.  It is darling and after I finished it, I realized how easy it was. Have fun, but don't forget to put your skirt on the fold!! I couldn't read the fine print and ended up cutting out a daughter size apron.  Click on the link for a downloadable pattern and instructions.  I have numbered my pictures to go with their instructions.  I'm missing pix for the waistband because that part of the instructions didn't print out.  Hmm.  so I didn't end up taking pictures.  I'll upload some later since I will be making several of these.

To get started, pick some coordinating fabrics, download the pattern and instructions, cut them out and cut out the strips for ruffles, ties, and piping.  A rotary cutter makes this step a lot easier!

Step 2 Make the piping.    Sew it to the lower edge of skirt.        Step 3 Make the ruffle and hem it. 

Now it's time to make the ties and waistband

1. Hem the two ties. 2. Make the points and sew in place.  3. fold a small pleat so the unhemmed edge is only 1 1/4" wide.  Stitch in place.  Continue with the instructions for making the waistband.

 

Now we make the pockets!  1. Make piping for pocket.  2. Hem sides and lower edge of pocket ruffle. 3. Gather upper edge of pocket ruffle.  4. Lay piping and pocket ruffle on upper edge of lower pocket and stitch.

Freezer Paper--a Seamstress's Best friend

Besides using freezer paper to make pattern pieces when duplicating store-bought clothes, there are other uses. Like making extra copies of the same pattern when you have 8 seamstresses sewing and only one pattern.

I also love using it to make applique pieces.  I draw the picture I want on the freezer paper, cut out the pieces of the picture, lay them on the appropriate colors to make a picture and iron them on the cloth. The wax on the back makes the freezer paper stick to the cloth very lightly.

Then I either sew the pieces on to a background by zig-zagging the raw edges, or cut out each piece leaving a quarter inch border all around the freezer paper piece (like a tree or house).  Then I turn under the raw edges with the tip of my needle and stitch each piece down in the proper place to make the picture. (Needle-turn applique is what that technique is called.)

This picture was made by using stitch witchery to iron the pieces down, then using a special needle that goes through very thick cloth, I blanket stitched all around the edges.  This was the first real applique I ever did.

Darcy Anne's Baby Quilt

 

Nicole just recently sent me these photos from when I was at Darcy Anne's birth.  I had just finished the stitches on the way to the hospital and Tim and I wanted to get it to them, just in case Darcy didn't live very long.  Isn't God good, that he let them have almost two whole weeks together as a family before she went to Heaven.

They had asked me to make a special block just for her on their 'family tree' quilt, which I designed from scratch.  This is the sweetest picture!  Thanks Nicole!

Shona took this one and I treasure it!  In the next picture, I'm showing the Ramos family their new quilt.  I'm pointing to Mom and Dad's block with their wedding date on it.  I don't have a picture of the whole quilt finished yet, but they will be getting it to me soon. 

Our church is so excited about Tracy's book  "letters to darcy"  If you'd like to get a copy just contact them at www.darcyanne.weebly.com.

Copying Store Bought Clothes

Do you have a favorite blouse, dress, or nightgown that you wish you could have a duplicate of without ripping it apart?  Well, so do I! 

In fact, I had several items of clothing that I wished I had two or three of. But I didn't know how to accurately make a pattern from a store-bought piece of clothing. 

Then a friend asked me if I would be willing to make a pattern from a very unusual and expensive version of a modest bathing suit for her daughter.  She didn't want to have to buy another one. We are talking about an $85.00 bathing suit! As usual, through trial and error and a hint from a college sewing textbook, I figured out how to do it and got paid a lovely $40.00 for making a pattern off of that suit and her favorite nightgown!  Not only that, I learned a valuable new skill!

As a result, I spent a month this summer sewing blouse after blouse, skirt after skirt, and even copying my very favorite worn out nightgown. 
Here is how you do it...

Step 1:  Lay out the clothing item on a piece of butcher paper which is laid over a cardboard cutting board.
Flatten out the piece you want and pin it all the way through the clothing item, the freezer paper, and into the cutting board.

Step 2: Remove the pins and clothing item.

Step 3: Observe and mark all the dots left by the pin holes.

Step 4: Connect the dots! These are your seam lines.

Step 5: Measure and draw new lines  5/8" away from the seam lines you just drew. These are your cutting lines.

Step 6. Cut out the pattern piece.

Step 7. Label the piece marking the grain line you want, how many you should cut out, and any other reminders you need. (Mark fold lines.)

Step 8: Keep laying out the piece of clothing in whatever position is necessary to get at the pattern piece you need.

Step 9: Write some instructions to your self of how to put it together. (I know...sometimes easier said than done!)

Step 10: Lay out all the pieces on some cloth from your stash that is still folded in the original 22" wide when folded manner.  Try to come up with the best possible use of the fabric while keeping the grain lines straight.

Step 11: Take a picture..and print it. This is your layout.

Step 12: Measure how much yardage it takes to lay out all of the pieces.  This is your yardage.

Step 13: Put all the pieces in a 5 x 8 manilla envelope and tape a picture of the item to the front of the envelope.   Now you have a pattern of your favorite clothing item and can use it as much as you like!

Making Greeting Cards

Homemade Greeting Cards

Thanks to a fantastic card making workshop by Nicole Watson, I got to spend an enjoyable day learning some scrapbooking techniques.  I've purposely avoided scrapbooking like the plague.  All I need is another hobby!  But being a die-hard do it your-self-er, I just had to join her.

Kim Spendlove, a very sweet friend of mine, and I are proudly displaying the cards we just made.  Kim was quite confident, cutting, glueing, stamping etc.  She did all five in the time it took me to do two cards. But Nicole gave me plenty of help while I worked. 

It was so interesting learning how to use all the punches and stamps and other tools of her trade. I just love learning how to do something new and I've always loved playing with paper.  The only kink is that I don't want to give the cards away..I'd rather frame them.  She designed all of the samples and I didn't deviate very much.  I trusted her eye on this.  Shona amazed me with her creativity making her fall trees bare and using blue snowflakes instead of leaves.  As much as I loved the serenity of the soft blues of a winter day that Shona captured so perfectly, I'm a fall colors person and adore leaves!!  But I'd sure like to make some of those snowflake cards.    I really loved the blue bird card that Nicole designed. With all the paper lace it made me think of an old timey card from the 1920's.  My hubby liked it so much he claimed one right away to send birthday greetings to his dad. 

The cards are so pretty and I have to say I had a delightful time!  Just the sheer pleasure of a quiet day with good friends and enjoying the gracious hospitality of our hostess and the scrumptious  lunch she made for us, was worth every penny of the workshop!  It was like a mini-vacation.   Now I think I'd rather have a scrapbooking kit for Christmas, instead of a weaving loom!  Perhaps I'll just wait for Nicole's next workshop.  I certainly won't miss it...especially if she cooks again.  Sign me up, Nicole!

Sigh... it was truly a lovely day...

Nativity Costumes.....Cutting Cloth

Now I know how Rapunzel felt! 

My fun project today is to cut all of this into the proper yardage and arrange it into packets for wonderful seamstresses at our church to sew into costumes for our church's Live Nativity which Kristy Bailey is organzing.

I had to use a spreadsheet to figure out how much yardage and of what types of cloth and trims would be needed to make an adult and teen size costume for nine different characters.  Kristy wondered why we needed a spreadsheet..but when we started trying to pull out cloth from my stash and cut it into head covers, sashes, and belts...she understood!  I finally decided to use butcher paper to make copies of all the pieces x 9 so that everyone could have the pattern pieces needed.
 

I'll post my efforts later, since Rebekah has my camera at Mock Trial in Brenham today.  Kristy Bailey bought most of the linen and it's all at her house since she wanted to get started right away. She is the one coordinating this huge project.  She has such a heart for outreach in her community!  I'm glad she asked me to help.

I kind of 'guessed' at what was needed of the upholstry fabric since it was so much wider than what the pattern uses for yardage requirements.  I may have to finagle a little to get sleeves for the kings coats out of it.  We are going to use the red side of the fabric above with the little gold balls for two of the kings and then the inside which is bright yellow with red circles for the other set. At $7.00/ a yard, it was too good of a price to resist!

The Art of Homemaking

Welcome to our Home!  Can you believe that we've lived in 18 different houses in 22 years? One year we had to move three times! And not once did we have a budget for decorating.  I'm sure you are thinking...why bother if you have to move every year.  Well, we actually have stayed more than 1 year...sometimes 3 years. But each time we move into a new home, I have always felt that each room in that home was a 'palette' waiting for me to paint on.

   Until we moved to the country, our style  leaned towards formal, traditional or victorian.  My favorite look is English.  But my main approach to decorating, was to group like colors together to match whatever decor or paint color happened to be there already.  I've only painted a room once in all these years except to paint rooms white before we left to get our deposit back.  

I knew this was MY house the first time I walked in and saw the border of wolves, bears, and moose.  A little cliche I'm sure, but since I have so many quilts and paintings of cabins in the woods...it was absolutely perfect for me and not just a store bought copy to make a 'woodsy' look.

Here was the real problem though...we've always decorated English/Victorian!  Where was all this stuff supposed to go in my new 'country' home?!!  In the bedroom of course...but it's not just any bedroom now! We have three bookshelves in this room and a beautiful old 70's chandelier thanks to Angela Frye's dad!  It really is our get away.  Tim loves it too!  Every room in our 1600 ft house does double duty...so welcome to our library too!

Typically, I have a fall colors room, a pastel room  (hints of the country blue and pink days of the 80's), our favorite blue and burgandy color scheme, and sometimes a forest green/red. 
 

In my sewing room/computer room, I actually did something I wanted since it was our first time to actually BUY a home, so I made the room spring green with Beatrix Potter wall prints that I purchased because I love her art.   I wanted to have a garden feel to the room. and am hoping to have Laurie help me actually paint a room for the first time ever! 

At first, my sewing/computer room was all pastel blues because of the framed wedding heart that I have...a cross stitch by Tim's grandmother for our wedding, the baby quilt of Rebekahs and a huge beautiful impressionist print of the the beach and a flower garden.  But I was so tired of pastel blue that I finally took the print down.  

Our last home forced me into a PINK color scheme. Sigh... I discovered I had more pink or compatible to pink stuff than I thought. 

  Every house has some decorating scheme that I tend to fight or resist.  Cream wall paper with pink flowers all over it drove me crazy, but finally, I gave in and made it look like a tea room. 

Our bathrooms here are awful colors--hunter green and purple! How I fought it! I finally gave in and discovered I love deep purple rugs. 

I played up the white and purple in the guest bathroom but those Sante Fe style splotches on the wall drive me nuts!  I found a beautiful shower curtain with silk embroidered flowers on it, that almost made it seem 'planned'.  Now I like it a lot better! 

Each room has a few pieces of our favorite art but is also full of things people have given us over the years...gifts, giveaway items etc.  Very few things were bought on purpose. 

Occasionally, I'll buy a rug, or make a matching curtain.  But it takes very little to 'complete' my pictures.  I just have to be willing to shuffle everything around for the new house.  I wait for it to tell me how it should be decorated rather than insist it work the way the old house did. 

The kitchen has a lot of blue and white which made it hard to keep my fall colors theme.  But I have lots of retro and antique kitchen items. That made it a lot of fun!     The coffee pot and a teapot are both antique porcelain pots from Corningware with blue and white flowers which really works well in here.  

I got the the canisters for $5.00 at our local thrift store to match the counter tops.   Andrew and Ebeth gave me the rooster papertowel holder, and my dad, who loves to can, gave me jars of canned jalapenos.  They look awesome in here.  I'm 'warming up' to southwestern decor, however, I do have a beautiful chicken border which I have not  replaced the Sante Fe border with yet.  

  This hutch is an antique my mother came up with.  I have an English china tea set on it, and several items from Tim's trip to Poland, our trip through Holland on the way to Germany and a ruby red antique crystal bell.  Some other collectibles and an antique chocolate pot from Prussia (wedding gift to Tim's grandmother)  are on the top shelf and our gift wrapping supplies and candles are all tucked in the drawers, plus our art supplies.  I had not hung up the rooster in the corner yet in this picture. I was working on the entry way at the time. 

 The hutch is the first thing you see if you come in through the french glass doors from the deck into the kitchen.   It separates the kitchen from the sewing room.

My final challenge is the main entrance into the home, which is supposed to be in the front but ends up being on the side through the laundry room of all places.  I did my best to make it look hospitable inspite of the coats being the first thing to greet visitors.  I covered the laundry hamper with my grandma's heart quilt--kind of matches the coats don't you think?  I even hid the power box with a pretty calendar. 

Well, that's our home.  I hope you enjoyed my little tour!  I really was inspired years ago, by Edith Schaffer, in her book, "The Art of Homemaking" to make every part of my home a work of art.  I hope my blog helps to pass on that vision to the next generation of homemakers.  I love my job and love to share that enthusiasm with you.

Happy Homemaking!

Moonstones Won!

I'm so excited and pleased that Moonstones won the 3-dimensional division of the 2009 GCC artshow. Andrew's artwork is so amazing and unique. When I saw the watercolor that this one is based off of, I begged him to let me try to replicate it in cloth. I promised Andrew that if I made a hash of it, I wouldn't enter it. I'm glad the judges and my artsy friends liked it as much as I did!

Using the Kuna Indian's mola techniques and traditional reverse applique, I was able to do it. It has over 96 pieces and I limited the project to 32 colors. (Oh my!) Thank goodness for Batiks!! They are the only kind of cloth that will give the depth that a watercolor painting has. Normal cloth would have looked very plain and boring. The cigar lines has the Kuna Indians call them, are slits in the cloth pulled apart, turned under at the very edge and stitched down with teeny tiny applique stitches. It was actually intended to be flat...but I just can't resist making it three dimensional. It's like I crave the look and feel of depth and texture. I couldn't really quilt it in the traditional sense because it was too thick. I sort of 'stab' quilted it, but I needed to stitch down both sides of the white lines to keep the definition. It really helped the shapes to stand out.

Thanks to Margie Lawrence, who taught me needle-turn applique, I was able to tackle this project and do a barely creditable job of sewing. I kept hearing her voice saying..."Smaller stitches, Donna!". That was eight years ago! When I look close I feel so anxious about not having done a good enough job. Sigh...perfectionism rearing it's head. Next time, I'll work through the summer so I can go slower!

Even if I had not won, I would have been thoroughly happy...I knew that my artsy friends loved it and that was plenty enough reward for me! I feel like I know Andrew's painting inside and out after analyzing every color, shape, and nuance. Someday the world will appreciate his style as much as I do! Thanks Andrew--this would not have happened without you.

And thank you so much Shona, Shannon, Marcus, and Colleen for your encouragement and inspiration. Shona and Shannon especially have been assuring me that what I do is 'art'...after two winning entries...maybe I will begin to believe that I really am my 'father's daughter'. He is a wonderful artist and sculptor and I think I'm beginning to realize that I did inherit some of his talent. :o)

I can't wait for next year's show! Without the art show, I'd never have a deadline, or judges to give that feedback.


I also entered my Sunbonnet Sue quilt which is a gift for Lena and Elisabeth, my daughter-in-law. It didn't win, but that's ok...they like it and that's all that matters. Really, the wonderful thing about entering things like that, knowing they aren't particularly 'artsy' is the enjoyment they bring to others. We like to see each others work even if everything can't win! Everyone likes to ooh and aah over each other's creations. I'm always so amazed at the art our church turns out...even the kids' work is astonishing!