Thanksgiving...dinner for two and autumn displays...

How nice to have Thanksgiving dinner for two at Cranberry Cottage. Unfortunately, for the second time in a month, we had to leave earlier than planned as I have been having major problems with my allergies (at least we think that is the problem) while in the woods. My doctor arranged for me to see my specialist at the hospital again in two weeks though so he can check some things. 

Our dinner was a turkey filet steak with onion gravy, sautéed Brussels sprouts with smoked bacon and roasted butternut squash. This turkey steak was so moist and tender so I think I will do it this way from now on. It means no leftovers but that is not such a bad thing when the meat is so succulent. Dessert is not pumpkin pie but pumpkin mousse. I started making this each year for the holiday a couple of years ago from fresh pumpkin. It is delicious and simple to make. You can find my recipe here on a previous blog post.

Back at home in the city and we are busy getting some big projects done in the garden while preparing to allow the garden to have its winter sleep. I also started taking down my autumn decorations to make way for Christmas. 

I have been trying to use my quilts in different ways that I traditionally do. I feel a need to pare down what I have and start making this more simple to do around the house. Just a few pieces like my bobbinlace toadstool picture, gourds places on wooden candlesticks and a leaf shaped dish with acorn pincushions adorned my sideboard along with a quilt and pots. 

The vintage olive pot is a favorite item and I combined it with an old mustard pot and handmade pottery vase to sit on my quilt. 

We moved my sea chest to the quilt wall now and I can keep changing the flowers in my large crackle effect pot. Did you notice the wreath with Sinterklaas? Hard to believe that it is almost December 5th already! Time flies and it will be Christmas far too soon.....

Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving if you are from the US and otherwise are enjoying the last days of autumn wherever you are in the world!

Heidi

Autumn starts to show her colors.....

There is a buzz in the garden that autumn has come...

Our New York Asters (Symphyotrichum novi-belgii) are in glorious bloom. They have taken over a large area and put on a great show to say goodbye to summer and herald in autumn. The bees are enjoying a final summer feast of nectar.

There is such an overflow of flowers that I even put them in a vase to create an instant autumn table on the terrace just outside the living room. 

And our hydrangeas put on a great show over the summer but are not quite done showing off now with pretty rose tints to welcome the fall. 

There are touches of autumn in our front garden too. I love opening the bedroom curtains in the morning as this table display greets me as I start a new day...

Heidi

An unexpected blogger's break.....

I had an unexpected blogger's break. It was not my intention to take so long to post but many things have happened and I ended up neglecting this blog for two months. I wonder if anyone is out there anymore bothering to even read my posts? *sigh*

First, we had to prepare the house by moving everything from the ground floor as our wooden floors had to be replaced. I will be posting about it all very soon after I get some photos taken. That all seemed to finally fall into place after a drawn out legal battle fought for the mistakes a man made who laid our floors when we moved here 3 years ago. We had to get everything prepared in a short time as the matter was able to come to a close. Lots of photos and the story to follow soon.

At the beginning of November, I took two of my quilt friends for a long weekend away at Cranberry Cottage. These two ladies are both 85 years old and full of life. They are so fun and caring. We had planned this trip back in the spring but waited for autumn to go as it is all three of our favorite season. It was fun to be able to share Jos and my special little hideaway with them. The photos of this post are some of my autumn decorations there.

The toadstools were in the drive and back garden that weekend. Don't you just love the Orange Peel fungus? The first time we had it was last autumn and I thought it was candle wax. It is unreal to see.....

I also had to deal with a major crisis in my quilt group leaving many of us feeling rather hurt by two members. We have had a meeting to discuss where and if we should go from here. We are preparing to move on into a new year for the group with confidence that there will be a closer bond after dealing with some problems. It has really taken a good deal of time to get things back on track.

I am back and will be posting more regularly now. I also have to start taking time to catch up with many of my blogging friends. How are you doing?

Heidi

*Sigh* ... Autumn is here

Autumn is my favorite season. I think the earth sighs as the season begins. It is a time of such beauty and I try to reflect some of that in my decorations. My new quilt wall is donning a quilt I made back in July 2001 which I called "The Colors of an Ohio Fall".

The fabric pumpkins are also handmade. In fact, I made a second set for Cranberry Cottage as I cannot think of autumn with without "Plumpkins".

My quilt ladder is dressed with the quilts of the season. I added some vines and acorns.

Heidi

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today, I might be far away from America but the Thanksgiving holiday is alive in my heart. This is a day to remember that we are all blessed and it is the simple things that really matter. While you read this, you might want to hear a song that always brings this thought of being grateful for the simple things to my mind (click here). 

Our table is set. I love setting the table so decided to go ahead and do it very early ready to enjoy our meal. It is always just Jos and I but with my family back home in our minds and hearts. Our menu is a roasted sage rubbed turkey breast with onion gravey, cheddar-onion potato bake and fresh broccoli. Dessert is something special that I tried a couple of years ago. My mother was visiting and I wanted to do something new with pumpkin so I made pumpkin mousse. Here is what I do to make it.....

First, cut open a pumpkin and scrap out the seeds. I will be roasting them this afternoon for a snack in the evening. I only made a piece of the pumpkin and will bake the rest later. Place (half) pumpkin skin side up on a baking sheet. Add a little water just to ensure it all does not dry out. Place in a 170C/325F oven for 15 to 25 minutes, until the pumpkin is soft when pricked through the skin with a fork. Remove from the oven and turn meat-side up. Allow to cool just slightly and start scraping the meat out of the pumpkin with a spoon. It will scrap out easily so be careful not to get the skin in the meat. You will not need to mash it as you simply stir it well in a bowl. Simple and instant pumpkin puree that tastes better than any canned pumpkin.

For the pumpkin mousse for two.....mix 3/4 cup of pumpkin puree, 1/3 cup of whipping (heavy) cream, a dash of pumpkin spices and 1/4 sugar. Mix the ingredients to a smooth paste and cook on simmer for about 5 minutes. In the meantime, whip 2/3 cup of whipping (heavy) cream with a 7gr sachet of vanilla sugar until the cream is thick and has soft peaks. You can use a dash of vanilla for this instead if you don't have vanilla sugar. Fold in the well cooled pumpkin into the cream. Be sure it is cool before you do this! Now crush some crisp cookies. I used kruidnoten which is a Dutch tiny spice cookie for SinterKlaas but you can use a spice cookie or ginger cookie for this. Place a little of the cookie crumbs in the bottom of a parfait glass. Layer the mousse then another little layer of cookie crumbs half way before adding the remaining mousse. Sprinkle a little of the crumbs on the top and chill.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Heidi

There is a definite chill in the air.....

...and it makes me want to bake...like this new recipe for pumpkin gingerbread to have with our evening coffee...

...and change to our warmer winter quilt...

...oops!...I woke up Dagi who was sound asleep on my pillow...

...but the begonia plant in my bedroom window which I bought for its beautiful leaves seems to think it is spring as this is the first time it has bloomed since I bought it two years ago...

Have a great weekend and keep warm!

Heidi

A Sunday walk in the woods.....

We like to walk in the woods. Two Sundays in a row we have been out enjoying the colors and scents of autumn. The weather has been great here in Holland this fall so I simply put on a warm knitted cardigan (thanks Mom!), wrap myself in a flower scarf I crocheted and off we go...

The woods right beside Cranberry Cottage are small and yet very beautiful. I wanted to go out to forage for chestnuts and some fallen twigs. The twigs you saw in my last post for my Halloween tree. The chestnuts are in a bowl being roasted regularly to eat with dinner. Yum!

This piece of woods is has a good area of hilliness. It is amazing when you think how flat it is in Holland to suddenly have a steep area in the woods caused by glaciers in the ice age.

The dampness in this dense wood creates perfect conditions for toadstools and I was not disappointed on this walk. There were so many pretty fungi to admire.

"It was one of those perfect English autumnal days which occur more frequently in memory than in life."

- PD James

Heidi

Autumn lights.....

An outdoor lantern filled with gourds...

...simple and festive...

...to celebrate autumn!

"Thy bounty shines in autumn unconfined,

And spreads a common feast for all that live."

- James Thomson

Heidi

A decorated shelf...

Jos and I built this shelf unit for our laundry room in our previous home but it now hangs in the entrance as you come into our home.

For autumn, I added a charcoal sketch that I did a long time ago. It complemented my wooden books along with the addition of some mercury glass acorns and faux blackberries.

This is a piece of bobbinlace which I also did some years ago with three toadstools. I simply mounted it on some fabric and framed it.

The small dough bowl has a Halloween pillow with wooden figures (witch's hat, Jack o' lantern and a crow), acorns and pomegranates. I bought these little battery lights last year at Christmas time which I use now year round. I might buy more again this year since it was nice having them on in various areas of the house even after the holidays.

Heidi

Pumpkins.....

The nice thing about my new quilt wall is that I have yet another space to bring in seasonal decorations. Back in August, I showed you this space (click to see the old lamp) with a lamp that was too large. I changed it to this candlestick lamp. What do you think?

The quilt is one of my doll quilts I made back in 2010 which I call Pumpkin Fields. It is so cheerful to see all the autumn shades in the evening when the lamp is on. Again I used another tiny quilt and a stitched pillow on the butler tray.

Our coffee corner in the garden has received an autumn touch with a Turkish turban gourd in my vase planter. Did you know that if you rub pumpkins and gourds with some salad (I used olive oil as that is all I have) oil that it will help it to stay fresh longer locking out moisture?

I am linking to French Country Cottage's Feathered Friday Nest.

"I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion."

- Henry David Thoreau

Happy weekend!

Heidi

No mantle place?

We have a free standing wood stove in our living room which means I have not got a pretty mantle to be able to decorate. Instead, I used a side table to get this kind of look.

Pumpkins and berries in a vase always work so well.

This year, I have a new little stitched piece to add to my Halloween decorations with this witch's game board. For me, seasonal decorating is centered around my quilts and stitched pieces.

Heidi

Welcome autumn!!!

Autumn is officially here. The weather has already turned crisp here in Holland and plants are fading all around us. Yet they are being replaced with brightly colored pumpkins and gourds. Berries are appearing on bushes and soon the leaves will start their display. Autumn...my favorite season!

This is a calico wreath that I made 3 years ago. If you would like to give it a try making one of your own, I have a tutorial on my old handwork blog. Just click here and see the step by step photo instructions.

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."

- George Eliot

Heidi

Enjoying the first signs of fall.....

We have been away enjoying the first signs of fall at Cranberry Cottage. We went up for a 10 day stay at the cottage...

It was wonderful and I really hated having to come back to the city. Everything has started smelling like autumn in the woods. There are signs of it starting like our white hydrangeas getting a tinge of pink to them. We enjoyed the cool evenings with the fireplace crackling. I spent many days with my crocheting and stitching. We treated ourselves to an evening out at our favorite restaurant but time passed all too quickly.

Jos needed time there as he had to get a start on painting as well as gardening. He is a master at trimming conifers and bushes. We have quite a few there that need yearly attention. And he does it all with hand trimmers too...no electric trimming for him! I am always in awe of how nicely he works.

Some people like to get away for vacation and be where they can do nothing. For us, it is most enjoyable in our second home. I don't mind still having my daily routine of cooking and cleaning. It is simply so peaceful to be at Cranberry Cottage.

Our little man Dagi was with us. He is showing his old age so much now and we are simply treasuring each moment we still have to enjoy his cuddles. He supervised my cleaning and decorating just a little for autumn.

I am now busy with my decorations in the house in the city. Come back soon for my autumn house tour.

Heidi