Happy Thanksgiving

Just a quick post to wish you all a happy thanksgiving from our little turkey's to yours!

So very, very many things to be thankful for this year, but our little Caspian Finn has to top the list.

His big sisters just adore him.

This little man is such a blessing for all of us.  Be still my heart, how I love him so.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Roasted Butternut Squash with Onions & Garlic ~ Recipe

Roasted butternut squash with onions and garlic is the perfect fall side-dish to accompany any meal.  Looking for a new Thanksgiving side-dish? Well this could be it.  Simple ingredients with complex flavor.  You can't beat that!

Roasted Butternut Squash with Onions & Garlic

Ingredients:

1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cubed

1 large yellow onion

1 head garlic

1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Peel butternut squash, remove seeds/pulp and cut into 1" cubes.  Cut onion in half, remove skin and cut into large chunks.  Separate garlic cloves and peel individual cloves.  Place on a large baking sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Toss, using hands, to combine.

Place in oven for a total of 25 minutes or until butternut squash is fork-tender.  Halfway through cooking time, stir up mixture to ensure even cooking on all sides.

Once cooked, the garlic becomes tender and delicious.  Make sure you get some nice caramelization (color) on the onions and butternut squash, that's what gives it such great flavor!

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Gobble, Gobble: Turkey Shirt Tutorial

Since we have so many new readers, I'm re-posting some of my favorite fall tutorials from last year.  The Turkey Shirt was one of the most popular tutorials of 2010 and many of you have submitted great versions of your own via The Cottage Home Flickr Group.

Have you made your "Gobble, Gobble Turkey Shirt" this year?  If so, add it to our Flickr Group - I plan to feature some of my favorite turkey shirts in the coming weeks!

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I wanted to make some shirts for my girls to celebrate one of my favorite holidays of the year.  I love the fun and colorful nature of this turkey shirt.  This is a wonderful way to use up those small scraps of fabric that you have lying around.

For this tutorial I have included a template for you to use for the turkey body and the feathers.

Click HERE to view and print the template.

Supplies:

1 Shirt or Onesie

6 different prints of scraps of fabric

Fusible interfacing (Steam-a-Seam or WonderUnder)

Turkey Template

Sewing Machine

Iron

Embroidery floss and needle (optional)

Thread

Directions:

Gather your supplies.  Print out the turkey template and cut out the body and feather.

Take out one sheet of fusible interfacing.  You can use whatever type of fusible interfacing that you prefer.  I don't really have a preference, I tend to flip-flop between different brands.

Peel off one side of the paper on the fusible interfacing.  Place your fabric scraps on top of the side without the paper.  Fabric should be right-side up.  Press fabric to the interfacing.  I like to press on both sides - fabric and paper.  Make sure your iron doesn't touch any of the exposed parts of the interfacing (that could get a little sticky)!

Trace the feathers onto the paper side of the interfacing.  Trace about two feathers per scrap of fabric.  Cut out feathers.

Apply interfacing to the fabric you are using for the body of the turkey.  I chose to use a linen/cotton fabric for the body to add a little texture.  Use whatever fabric you like (cotton, linen, felt, fleece, minky, chenille).  Trace the turkey body from the turkey template.  Cut out turkey body.

Peel the paper backing off all of the feathers.  Start laying out your feathers.  This is kind of trial and error until it looks the way you want it to and is somewhat centered.  I started from the outside and worked inward, though you could do the opposite if you prefer.  I used two feathers out of each fabric scrap except for the very middle feather.  That was a total of 11 feathers (six different fabric prints).

Once you have the feathers laid out the way you want them.  Peel the paper backing off of the turkey body and place in the middle.  Press the feathers and the body with a very hot iron to fuse the turkey to your shirt or onesie.

Once the turkey is fused to the shirt, stitch around the exterior of the feathers and the body.  Normally I would prefer a zig-zag stitch, but I thought a little fraying might be nice since this is a bird - so I used a straight stitch.  If you look closely in the picture above, you will see that I stitched around three-quarter of each feather and stopped when one feather overlapped with the other.  I also stitched around the entire exterior of the body.

I added two eyes, a nose, and two little feet with some brown embroidery floss.  You can do your own thing with this part of the shirt - make it as simple or elaborate as you choose!  You could even cut these parts out of fabric and applique them on.  I love little embroidered touches, so that's why I opted for the embroidery floss.  Either way will look adorable!

Once your turkey shirt is complete, pair it with a skirt or jeans and your little ones favorite shoes and you've got a cute and festive outfit sure to get noticed in a crowd!

This shirt would work well for a boy or a girl.  Try using some green, blue and brown fabrics for the feathers on a boy shirt and change up the body by making it brown.

Gobble, Gobble!

Cottage Mama's Note:  I've recently started "The Cottage Home Blog" flickr group for you all to share your pictures of the things you've made from tutorials found here on this blog.  I would love to start featuring some of you super-talented folks.  So if you've made anything from a tutorial on this blog, please head on over and upload your pictures!  

Who knows.....maybe you'll be featured on The Cottage Home!

Click HERE to go to The Cottage Home flickr group.

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Fall Fabric Pumpkin Tutorial

Since I am taking some time off to enjoy our new baby boy, I thought I would re-post one of my favorite fall tutorials from last year.  I know a bunch of you are new to the blog (thanks so much for joining us), so you might have missed this one.  This is a really easy and inexpensive fall project, but I just love the end result!

It's really starting to feel like fall here in the Midwest.  We still have our occasional warm day, but for the most part fall is upon us.  Fall is my favorite time of year with all the fun festivals, pumpkin patches, apple orchards.......I truly value the beautiful seasons each year.

Since it finally feels like fall, I think it's time to get out some decorations for around the house.  I wanted to make something for our home that tied in with the season as well as our decor.  Though I tend to use bright colors in my clothing design, my home is decorated in more rich tones....think deep red, green, mahogany and cherry wood.  I came up with these chubby fabric pumpkins and can't wait to put them around the house.  I thought you might like to make some too.........so here's the "how to":

Fabric Pumpkin Tutorial

Supplies:

Fabric pieces - variety of sizes

2 pieces of brown felt

1 piece tan felt

Fiberfill or other stuffing material

Brown embroidery floss

Thick twine

Hand-sewing needle

Sewing Machine

Decorative wire berries (optional)

Directions:

Gather your fabric.  I found these upholstery fabric samples at Joann's for $2.00 a piece.  They were discontinued special order fabrics.  I decided to use decorator fabric because I love the variation in textures and designs, but you could definitely used quilting cotton for this project if you would prefer.

Cut your fabric.  I wanted my pumpkins to be all different sizes since no two pumpkins are ever the same.  Here are some of the measurements I used:

17.5" x 10"

17.5" x 12"

12" x 6"

12.5" x 7.5"

17" x 13"

Basically you are looking to cut out a rectangle shape.

Fold your rectangle, right-sides together.  Stitch down the long-side (side to the right) with a regular straight-stitch.  Then run a gathering stitch around the top and the bottom (leaving the top and bottom OPEN).  Turn right-side out.

Pull the bobbin thread to start gathering one of the ends.  Work the gather until you have pulled it as closed as possible.  If you are using regular cotton this will be much easier.  If you are using decorator fabrics, this can take some time.  You may also consider hand-sewing a large straight stitch with embroidery floss and using that to gather instead of your machine (my thread broke on one of my pumpkins).  Either way will work. 

This is as tight as I could pull my bobbin thread with the upholstery fabric.  Tie your thread ends together and turn it in-side out again.

Place the gathered end in your sewing machine and stitch to close.  You will have to kind of jam the fabric under the foot as it is very thick, but don't worry, your machine can handle it.  You may also choose to hand-sew the opening closed with embroidery floss.

Next fill your pumpkin with fiberfill or whatever type of stuffing you have on hand.

Once you have stuffed your pumpkin, pull the bobbin thread from your other gathering stitch to begin to close the opening.

Close the opening entirely by hand-sewing.

Take your twine and wrap it around the pumpkin (very tightly).  Do this as if you were wrapping a present.  Loop it around, then cross-over, around and cross-over.  You will cross-over at the top and bottom of the pumpkin.  Go back and forth until you have 6-8 sections on each pumpkin.  Finish by simply tying in a knot.

You may need to slide the twine around until you have even look sections - just work it until you like the look.

Next you will need to make your stems and leaves.  I made each stem a different size, so just cut out whatever shape you like from your brown felt.  I also machine stitched on top of the felt to add some texture.  Place both stem pieces together (right-sides together) and stitch around the curve (leave the straight-side open).  Turn right-side out.

Suff your stem with fiberfill.

Cut out two to three leaves per pumpkin.  I did mostly brown leaves and a couple tan ones.  Again, I machine stitched veins onto the brown felt with brown thread.  This is your opportunity to be creative......cut your leaves out in any shape or size that you like.  Mine were all different.

Next hand-sew your stem and leaves to the top of each pumpkin.  There is no special technique here.  Just place the leaves where you like and stitch away.

You can certainly skip the stitching on the stem and the leaves, but I think it adds a more realistic feel to the pumpkins.

For a final finishing touch, I took a bunch of deep red and green berries and added them to the top of each pumpkin.  This was just one bunch that I purchased at Joann's.  I cut the bunch apart and wrapped two wire pieces around each stem.  To make the curls, wrap the wire around a pen or pencil.

On a couple of the tan leaves, I hand embroidered some detail.  I like the contrast between the tan leaves and the brown ones.  You could hand-embroider all of the leaves or machine-stitch all of them......again, it's up to you.

And there you have it - a family of festive fall fabric pumpkins!

They are just so cute, don't you think?  I could just squeeze them!  Well, I won't, but my daughter Savannah already did......she gave each one a hug and said, "I love you pumpkins!".

Happy Fall!

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Blackberry and Mustard Glazed Ham

This ham was SO good (if I do say so myself)!  I served this for Christmas Eve dinner for my family, my in-laws and my two sister-in-laws.  And even my husband, who would much prefer some type of red meat, absolutely loved it.  This recipe was given to my mom by someone she works with (Miss Mary) and then was passed onto me.

If you're looking for a great, crowd-pleasing ham, this recipe will do the trick!

Blackberry and Mustard Glazed Ham

Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

1 6-8lb. fully cooked, spiral sliced ham

1 jar (12 oz.) blackberry preserves

1 jar (7 oz.) whole grain mustard

1/2 cup apple cider or apple juice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare glaze.  Mix blackberry preserves, whole grain mustard and apple juice together.  Set 1/2 of mixture aside to be made into sauce (see step below).

Brush some of the mixture on top of the ham.  Place ham in oven for 1.5 hours, basting with glaze every 20 minutes.

Place 1/2 of the reserved glaze into a heavy bottom saucepan.  Set on medium-low heat and allow glaze to reduce by half.  Place in a dish and serve alongside ham as a sauce.

Place ham on a large serving platter and garnish with fresh blackberries, sliced apples, and fresh herbs.  Enjoy!

Cottage Mama's Note:  This glaze would be delicious on grilled pork chops, chicken breasts, lamb or any other meat that is complimented by a slightly sweet sauce.  Ham was served with mashed potatoes and gravy, cornbread stuffing, salad with dried cranberries, sugared pecans and feta cheese, and homemade bread.

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A Very Special Thanksgiving Week

So, I have pneumonia.  Needless to say, crafting, cooking, decorating and all the fun Christmas stuff has been put on hold until I see the Dr. again on Friday.  I'm feeling a little better, so hopefully all will look good and we can go cut down our tree this weekend!  But meanwhile, I thought I would share kind of a personal post with you all.........

This last Thanksgiving week was very special for my family.  We (Cottage Mama, Cottage Papa, Savannah Rose and Matilda Jane) flew down to Houston, Texas on November 19, 2010 to be there to celebrate my mom, Jane Harrison's marriage to her new husband, Allen Michel on November 21, 2010.

My Mom is such an incredible woman.  Yes, she is my mother, but she is so much more than that to me - she is my ear to talk to, my sounding-board for all things, my shopping buddy, my inspiration, my role-model, and above all things she is truly my best friend.  I feel so fortunate to be blessed with such an incredible relationship with another woman in this world and even more blessed to have that with my mother.

My Mom met Allen at the most perfect time in her life.  My husband Brett and I had just gotten married and my younger brother, Ben, was heading off to college.  Mom was officially going to be an empty-nester.  But not more than two weeks later did Mr. Allen Michel walk into her life.  And we are all so glad he did!

Allen is a wonderful man, good through and through.  He is honest, loyal, loving, trust-worthy and a truly good soul.  You can tell this simply by his presence and the fact that he has so many close friends who love him.  He loves my girls as if they were his own and Savannah and Matilda adore him as well.

I wanted to share some pictures of the special time we had during our week down in Houston, Texas.  I took some pictures at the rehearsal, but we'll have to wait for the professional wedding pictures at a later date.

The Wedding Rehearsal

 

Mom, Grandpa Bill, and my brother Ben

The soon-to-be Mr. and Mrs. Michel

Pure Joy

Daddy practicing with one of his flower girls (Matilda).  We gave them sweet and low packets to use as practice petals........classy, I know.

Savannah took her flower girl duties very seriously.

But not too seriously!

Uncle Ben and his niece Matilda

Grandpa Bill Harrison

Next are some pictures taken at the wedding.  Some taken by me, some by my husband.  I'll share the professional ones with you once we receive them, but here's a little snippet.

The happy bride and groom after they first entered the reception.

Two of my Mom's three sisters flew in from California and Colorado for the wedding.  Aunt Nancy and Aunt Susan were a giant help in keeping the stress level to a minimum.

Miss Matilda has been really into her binky the last couple weeks due to some serious teething.  This was definitely her main accessory with "The Party Dress" (dress pattern HERE).

The girls had me dancing up a storm!

Matilda was so proud to be standing on her own.  She just loves dancing and had to be like big sister Savannah!

And my dear husband, Brett, read the girls stories as the wedding celebration came to an end.

We continued our stay in Texas through Thanksgiving week.  We had lots of fun just relaxing and taking it easy.

The girls had a blast playing with the bubble machine that my Mom and Allen (aka Pepo) got for them!

The girls had so much fun doing "Build a Bear" for the first time.  Savannah chose a super-soft puppy dog that she named "Snoopy" and Matilda chose a classic teddy bear that we helped her name "Molly".

We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner at Mom and Allen's house.  It was really fun to use the centerpieces and bouquets from the wedding in our Thanksgiving decorations.

All and all there was a lot of joy and A LOT of fun had during this special Thanksgiving week.  We are so blessed to have Allen join our family and wish he and my Mom a lifetime of happiness and love!

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