As you may or may not know, I come from what I describe as a “mish-mash” family: half of my family born in the U.S. and the other half in Ecuador or other Latin American countries. And that’s several generations of us in this somewhat schizophrenic bi-cultural situation, where our common denominator is never quite fitting in one culture or the other and where “Spanglish” is quite definitely the language we feel most comfortable in.
The up-side is that we definitely have two cultures to draw from. And more, when you consider the Swedish heritage on my mother’s side (and the fact that I married into a Swedish family), plus having attended a German school growing up. Seasonal celebrations can be quite interesting: a true melting pot of traditions and foods. Hence the term “mish-mash” family.
Thanksgiving, however, is one time where we try to be more “traditional”. This is not a holiday in Ecuador. It’s a normal working day, so we come together for dinner in the evening, rather than at noon. Other than that…. it’s about turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, corn casserole…you get it. And yes, there has to be pumpkin pie!
And some kind of “fall” table arrangement. We’ll be using the sculpted fabric pumpkins I made last year. Remember them? Project here.
Soft sculpted pumpkins
Since there is no such thing as fall in the Andes (only dry and rainy seasons), I am improvising with fabric autumn leaves. Just fuse some fabric together, cut out leaf shapes, and do some free-hand “thread painting” with embroidery thread.
Fabric leaves
I’ll complete the arrangement with some dry grasses and candles. Will try to remember to take pics! (-:
I am a self-learner. I taught myself to sew and to quilt. And I taught myself how to draw. I am learning how to dye my own fabrics and am dabbling with mixed media. I am a quilt designer and teacher, and design and publish my own line of quilt patterns. With this blog I would like to share the bits and pieces of my life.