Thursday, November 29, 2018

2018 Finish-Along, Last of Christmas Decorations


Just wanted to document 2 more finishes for quarter 4, co-hosted by Marci Girl Designs.

Back in October I stated my goals for quarter 4 here.

#1 on my list was the Angel Quilt, a gift for our oldest daughter for Christmas.  I shared this earlier this week, but wanted to document for the purpose of the 2018 Finish-A-Long, Q4.




The second finish was #5 on my list, the owl table runner for our other daughter, who loves owls. Top of the head is grandson Jaeger.  He gets taller every single time I see him!  Someone asked thelast time I showed this owl redwork how many threads I used for the redwork, but left no way for me to contact them.  I used 498 DMC Pearl Cotton #8, 1 strand because I wanted it to stand out some.  




I will be linking these finishes up in January at Marci Girl Designs.

If you are bored with my Christmas decorations you can stop reading here.  I am going to share some of the dolls I made.  Some of the porcelain ones I dress up at Christmas time.  Long,long time ago, I used to make porcelain dolls, and cloth dolls, and I have some especially for the holidays.


Grandma and Grandpa I dress up for the holidays





Hark and Herald 


This is a cloth doll, Santa who is working on a baby.  He has a pincushion and scissors attached to his arm. Somehow he lost one shoe this year,.  He was wearing a toddler shoe.  I knit his hat and socks too.


These are cloth dolls whose faces were stretched over plastic molds and I painted the faces.



This is a watercolor wreath I painted a long time ago.


On this ledge, I made the cloth Santa sitting on the left.  I also made the Santa who is fishing with a star hanging from his pole, it says "Catch a Falling Star"


This prized painting of a nutcracker, my now 18-year-old granddaughter painted when she was about 3-4 in an art class.  That year, I made this my Christmas card.


These two babies are dressed up in PJ's waiting for Santa.


These 3 folks I bought at a Harvest festival three separate years.  

Guess that is it for now.  Thanks for stopping by!

Karrin


Virtual Cookie Exchange, Last Day


Today is the last day of the Virtual Cookie Exchange Blog Hop hosted by Carol @ Just Let Me Quilt.    I'd like to thank Carol again for the chance to participate in this great blog hop!

The past two days have had some terrific recipes and holiday traditions.  Below is a list with all three days' participants.  If you haven't had a chance to visit check them all out.  


Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Virtual Cookie Exchange




I was so thrilled to be able to join Carol @Just Let Me Quilt Virtual Cookie Exchange Blog Hop.  Christmas is one of my favorite holidays, I love decorating, making tins of cookies for family and friends.

One of our traditions is for me, with the help of my grandchildren Kyleigh and Jaeger to decorate the day after Thanksgiving.  It usually takes 2 days for the decorations to be up, with their help.  Last year, due to my husband's ongoing health issues and being in and out of the hospital/and rehab from October to December, I did not feel like putting my village up or the tree.  I did put my nutcrackers and nativity scene up,  

Granddaughter Kyleigh helped with the tree before she left to return to college in Massachusetts on Friday.  

It is hard to get a good picture, the lighting in my house, especially on a rainy day is not that great.



My dear mother-in-law painted a Nativity Scene for us just after we got married 43 years ago.  Our oldest daughter when she was small used to beg and beg John to put it up.  


Another of my favorites are my nutcrackers which I have been collecting for years.  They take up 3 surfaces.





Then I have my village.  I have a lot of sea-based houses, and boats, and lighthouses, with my love of the ocean.  Jaeger, our almost 16-year-old grandson helps me organize and put these up, and makes sure all the cords are hooked up under the tables.  Jaeger was not available to help this year, so 13-year-old Keaton helped, and somehow, I didn't put up one of  the leaves in the dining room table, and things seemed more squished than usual, but it was too late to start over.  


The whole setup


My sea and part of the fishing village


Jane's Quilt Shop


Fanny's Fabrics!


I also love getting my Christmas quilts out!  This first one was one of my first quilts, from 1999, quilted by none other than Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville, back in the day when she did longarm quilting for others.  Bonnie has gone on to author 7 books now, does extensive traveling and teaching,  and the yearly mystery quilts, and soon to have a Quiltville Inn Retreat I hope to visit one day.  This quilt was called Days Past was from a book called Christmas Or Not by Gerry Kimmel, Linda Brannock and Jan Patek.


This one Plaza Trees is from a book called A Nice Mix by Gerry Kimmel..  I didn't even label this one, but I probably made it in 1996 or so and quilted it myself.


I love these angels, called Joy, and it was also in the Christmas or Not book.  I hand quilted this one.



Lastly my Angel Wreath.  This was a pattern by Linda Brannock, in a book called Gardening for Quilters.  I made this a goal in Quarter 2 of the Finish-Along.  I had finished the top in 1997, and hand-quilted on it off and on over the years, and it would get stuck in a pile or in the cabinet, and if I didn't see it, I forgot about it.  I was thrilled to finish this up and be able to have it out this year.  I had finished the pillow top quilting,and was able to get the pillow made.





I have other decorations to share, but this post is getting rather long.  Maybe I'll share the others another day.   

Another of our traditions is to make around 10 or so kinds of Christmas cookies and to hand them out to family and friends.  John used to make the sugar cookies, but is no longer able to do that. So I do them all now.  Two of our favorites are Fudge and Crunchy Peanut Bark, recipes my mother obtained from a friend back in the 60's.  I have been making these since then.  

The recipes are here: 

FUDGE
by Karrin Hurd
http://karrinscrazyworld.blogspot.com/

Place in large bowl:
18 oz chocolate chips
1/2 pound butter (2 sticks)
10 oz miniature marshmallows
2 cups walnuts or pecans
2 tsp vanilla

In large pot place:
4.5 cups sugar
1 can evaporated milk.

Grease a 13 x 9 inch pan with butter and set aside.  Bring to a full boil, stirring constantly.  Cook 8 full minutes (I use my watch to keep track).  When cooked, pour over mixture in bowl and hand beat until butter and marshmallows melt.  Refrigerate and then cut into pieces. 

Note, after sugar/milk mixture has cooked, need to immediately pour over the mixture in the bowl and mix thoroughly as it sets up pretty fast.




CRUNCHY PEANUT BARK
by Karrin Hurd
http://karrinscrazyworld.blogspot.com/

2 pounds white confectionary coating (sometimes called almond bark or candy coating
1 cup peanut butter (I use chunky)
3 cups crispy rice cereal
2 cups dry roasted peanuts
2 cups miniature marshmallows

Place the crispy rice cereal, peanuts and marshmallows in a large bowl.  Place waxed paper on countertop to drop the spoonfuls of bark to set up.

Place confectionary coating in a large microwave safe bowl and microwave at until melted, about 2-3 minutes, then mix in the peanut butter.  Pour the mixture over the peanut/crispy rice/marshmallow mixture in the other bowl.   Mix thoroughly and drop byspoonfuls onto waxed paper and let set up. 

The whole Virtual Cookie Exchange Blog Hop participants are below if you haven't had a chance to visit.  There are some wonderful recipes, projects and traditions being shared.  Many thanks again to Carol of Just Let Me Quilt for hosting this fun hop!



November 27


November 28


November 29


Tuesday, November 27, 2018

One Monthly Goal Finish, November 2018, Virtual Cookie Exchange

OMG November Finish Link-Up is OPEN!


Patty at Elm Street Quilts hosts One Monthly Goal, and I have found it extremely helpful in keeping myself on track.

The beginning of the month, I made it my one monthly goal to hand-quilt the Angel Quilt for my daughter for Christmas.  I stated my goal right here.

I'm thrilled that I finished the quilting, got the binding and label on.  This was big stitch primitive quilting.  I so love how it came out.   I had my grandson here yesterday to help put my Christmas boxes back in the attic, so we were able to get some pictures outside before it turned gloomy again.



Front



Back


Label




Also the Virtual Cookie Exchange blog hop started today hosted by Carol at Just Let me Quilt.  I have found a number of great recipes and ideas today in the hop.  My day to share will be tomorrow, November 28th.  The line-up is as follows:  




Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to stop by again tomorrow for my contribution.

Karrin