Merry Christmas to All

                             

Snow is always at the top of my Christmas list but Santa has not been listening to me lately . . . . 

Do you have Christmas family traditions? This morning I got up early to put together the star of our traditional Christmas Eve dinner - Christmas Lasagna. This tradition began years ago when I decided to include on the holiday menu a few international dishes like Swedish Meatballs, Pierogis, Sweet and Sour Cabbage, Baklava (bakery bought). Eggrolls as an appetizer. It was a lot of fun to do this and the one tradition that really stuck was the lasagna. It now makes an appearance every Christmas. When my daughter was a vegetarian I began making it with spinach instead of meat and now that has become our main Christmas dish. The family probably wouldn't miss ham or turkey but they'd cry if I didn't make lasagna every year. 

Easy recipe - Sauce, cooked lasagna noodles, a bag of frozen spinach sauteed with garlic, shredded mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese mixed with a beaten egg and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Place a bit of sauce in bottom of lasagna pan. Then, layer one at a time - noodles, spinach, ricotta cheese, mozzarella, sauce. Layer each ingredient twice, except for noodles - end with a layer of noodles on top. Then top with mozzarella cheese and more sauce. Yes, I find that Prego is just as good as the sauce my mom used to make from scratch and I copied for years. I often spice it up if I feel like it. My sister the cook likes to use Italian sausage in hers. With everything else I have to do or worry about around Christmastime, the last thing I need to do is make my own sauce or feel bad about myself if I don't.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Enjoy!

 

Merry Christmas! And all good wishes for the New Year! 

                                                                              -Kathy

Pre-Thanksgiving Jitters

I hope you're all taking a little time for yourself during a busy pre-holiday week. Not much sewing going on lately. I get Thanksgiving jitters around this time every year just thinking about everything I have to do - shopping, baking, cooking, cleaning - to make sure everything turns out great. It always does so I don't know what I worry about. The food is always superb and the company behaves well. If the house and table isn't perfect, Ehh. 

For the last few years I've gotten a lot better at saying "Oh well" if a curve ball gets thrown at me. Except for the time a couple of years ago when I let the dog out right after Thanksgiving dinner without checking to see if the gate to the backyard was closed after dark. It wasn't. She spotted a skunk in the far corner, then chased after it like her life and the lives of her family depended on it. We both got skunked as I ran after her and tried to scoop her away. I had to leave the party to run upstairs and take a shower with Dawn dish soap. I left my husband with the de-skunking of the dog part. 

Yeah, I can laugh about it now . . . . I even bought a tiny skunk ornament for the tree that Christmas so we'd remember.  So you can see why I still get a bit stressed.

 Anyway, I always make sure I take some silent time for gratitude during this week as I prepare, to keep the calm feelings going forward. And, if it gets to be too much on the actual day (have you watched The Bear, LOL??) I steal myself away from the crowd and retreat upstairs for 15 minutes while I leave the post-dinner cleanup to others. Shh, don't tell anyone. So far no one's noticed and I'd hate to have to give that up . . . .

Garden Quilt Show

Yesterday, I spent some time at the Fine Art of Fiber show at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Lots of pretty quilts in a beautiful (indoor) garden setting. I usually go every year but missed last year for some reason. 

          Two things I love: walking around outside in my favorite season and looking at some lovely quilts. 

Lots of pretty, colorful quilts and lovely fall surroundings. I was disappointed that there were not many traditional quilts displayed (my style) but they were all beautiful nonetheless. This quilt below, a Lori Holt design made by Lydia Hoelle, was my favorite.  

This sweater reminded me of the quilt.

Still a few flowers blooming here and there.

Some parts of the garden were blocked off because they were setting up a winter light show that starts later next week. One of my favorite parts is always the waterfall. It was closed though, so here are a few photos of what it looked like in years past. 

 

                                           

                                 

                     

 It was a perfect fall day and the colors of the leaves were just beautiful. 

                        

                                   

                            

                     

The weather forecast originally called for rain but it turned out to be a beautiful day. If you're in the Chicago area, the Botanic Garden is always worth a trip. The show runs through Sunday, Nov. 9. 

                                                                                                           -Kathy

Darting Birds Quilt for Fall

I love this block!! Have you started making them yet?  

I decided to make 9 blocks and set them randomly to look like - what else? - birds darting to and fro. 

Then a few days ago I had some time to begin the quilting stage.  Simple stitches for a simple but busy quilt. I opted for no border, just binding. 

A very simple finish. 

Fall Mini Quilt - Darting Birds

I hope you'll join me in making a sweet little fall quilt using the "Darting Birds" block. Isn't it cute? In all my years of sewing, this is a block I've never made before, can you believe it?  

You'll find the pattern in my Facebook group files and also on my website. You can make your quilt with 6 or 9 blocks, add sashing, borders or whatever. There's even instructions to make a 3" block if you're feeling adventurous and want to go smaller. Have fun with them and arrange the "little birds" in different formations to give your quilt a sense of movement. Hope you all have a great weekend! 

                                                                                                            -Kath

Fall Mini Quilt Sew Along

 

If you love playing around with your reproduction fabrics (and especially scraps), I hope you'll join me in my Fall Mini Quilt Sew Along beginning this coming Friday, Sept 19. I'll post the directions to make a sweet little block and you'll find them in the Facebook group files that morning. I'll also post directions on my website www.countrylanequits.com

We'll be making a simple quilt using some of your favorite fall colored fabric scraps. And, believe it or not, it's a block I've never made before. So pick through your fabric scraps this week and come up with a few background lights as well as two medium or dark prints for each block. The more the merrier. The quilt I designed is comprised of six blocks but you may not be able to stop at six so pull out some extra fabrics and maybe you'll enjoy making a few more. I always make a few extra blocks anyway just so I can play around with different colors. Scrappy little quilts are such fun to make!

September

It's September. The temperatures are a little cooler than they've been for a long time. The flowers in the garden may be fading but quilts endure, bringing lasting comfort.