Saturday, December 25, 2021

Merry Christmas, Slow Sunday Stitching

 


Hope everyone is having a great Holiday Season!  Wishing you all the best for the New Year, health and happiness!  

This has been another busy week here in Northern California.  Lots of rain and wind.  

Tuesday daughter Katie and I went to the Begonia Society's Annual Christmas Potluck.  There was a raffle too.  I won this begonia, which is apparently a tropical one according to the person who donated it.  I was the first and fourth number called and got my choice of plants, and there was this huge one there.  



At the Begonia Society get together a woman came up to me and asked if I remembered her, that we had met several times.   She looked sort of familiar, but I couldn't remember her.  20 years ago or so I was on a Yahoo Group called Fat Quarters consisting of a group of quilters.  A number of us live in the Northern California area and had two meet-ups that I remember.  Her name is Nancy, and she lives in the area and has been a member of the Begonia Society for 20 years.  Katie and I just joined a couple of months ago.  


This week was also one of finishing up Christmas gifts.  I made a bunch of shadow box framed pictures of my family, cutting out card stock on my Cricut.






I finished up the memory bear for Klara.  The label made us tear up as Klara read it.  







I also made another gnome for everyone with the help of my SIL Char.  She likes to do crafts like I do and is a whiz at glue guns, unlike me!   The pants were made from some of John's pajama bottoms with moose on it.  


We had Christmas eve pizza here at my house, mainly because I have my dining room tables taken up by the Christmas village, so it needed to be something casual.  We also opened gifts and stockings here.  Then Christmas evening we will be going to daughter Kristen's house for dinner, a prime rib which I am cooking as I type.  

Sister Mary liked her Christmas quilt.


Brother Bill loved his lighthouse quilt.  Bill has been quite busy since they arrived on Wednesday.   He changed the guts in two of my toilets,  secured some kitchen cabinets better to the ceiling, cut a tree root that was impeding a gate from opening.  He made a big pile of John's tools which I don't need.  He is taking them back in his truck home to Southern California and is going to try to sell them for me.  He tested all the tools before he took them because John had a tendency to buy new tools when another didn't work, but didn't get rid of the old ones.    Bill has an add up while he is here to try to get rid of the wood for free if someone will pick it all up.    He cleaned out a big section of the garage for me too.  Bill doesn't like to sit still.  He was in the hospital last week for two bleeding ulcers apparently caused by aspirin products.    So he has to leave off those for his headaches.  



This is my sister-in-law Char.  She is my sister of the heart.  We love to craft together.  We love the ocean and mermaids, sea life.  Char and Bill will be leaving tomorrow, I shall miss them for sure.  


This is my new mermaid tee-shirt I got and I love it.  I think I am going to wear it to Christmas dinner! 



Cousins Keaton and John.


Me and all of my grandchildren.  



I also finished this Kathy Schmitz embroidery this week while we were sitting at night watching Christmas movies. 




This is one I will work on next, I already had it traced out on fabric.  



I will be linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.  Head on over and find out what everyone is working on.  

Thanks for stopping by, and again Happy Holidays!  
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Saturday, December 18, 2021

Slow Sunday Stitching

It has been another busy week.  I had planned on going to the Christmas Guild meeting on Wednesday, but that day and time were the only opening my SIL had time to take my car and get a new tire.  I had had a screw in the sidewall, and he was leaving town to pick up my grandson Jaeger from college.  

Friday I attended Jaeger's girlfriend's dance recital which was lovely.  

Every year I make the grandkids new pillowcases using fabrics they would like.  This was for Jaeger, he asked for cars.  I found a really nice panel with a red Mustang on it, with a white mustang horse above it racing in the clouds.  It seemed a waste of that panel as it would have been folded in half.  So I plan to finish that into a wallhanging.  



This one is for grandson John.  They have 4 cats.  Last year I bought a panel with a large tuxedo cat.  I found this fabric with cats in the news.  John knows a lot of trivia and has a quirky sense of humor, so I think he will like this.  


This one is for granddaughter Klara.  She likes unicorns.  It says something about being magical.


This one is for Kyleigh's boyfriend Drew.  She said he likes the outdoors, camping, hiking, and redwood trees.  


This one is for Jaeger's girlfriend Cali.  She likes elephants.  



Kyleigh said she didn't want a pillowcase, she wanted another cover for one of her throw pillows with a Santa on it.  



Also I made Jaeger and Cali each pillows with the picture that was taken of them at Thanksgiving.   I had really bad lighting in the house today with the dreary weather.  



What I will be doing this week for Slow Sunday Stitching is sew these pillows closed.  

I also have this memory bear I made for Klara out of Papa's pajama bottoms.  I need to sew him shut, add buttons for the eyes and stitch the nose.  



Hope everyone has a lovely Christmas.  My brother and SIL and sister will be coming in this week, plus I am watching John and Klara Monday and Tuesday since they are out of school.  

I'm going to link up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.    Head on over there and see what everyone has been up to.  

Thanks for stopping by!





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Saturday, December 11, 2021

Slow Sunday Stitching

This has been another busy week.  I was busy cooking 11 different kinds of cookies, which I hand out in boxes to my family and friends.  That took up most of the week.  If you didn't seen my day on the Virtual Cookie Exchange you can see it here, along with my recipes.  

I made one cookie I haven't made since I left home at 22.  My mother, from the time I was about 13 or so would hand me a list of cookies she wanted me to make for Christmas, so that she could hand out boxes to friends, family and coworkers.  My mother used to collect the Pillsbury Bakeoff recipe books, and in 1967, a recipe came out for Oatmeal Carmelitas.  I didn't like to make these because you had to unwrap 32 caramels.  The papers would have static electricity and you would go to throw them out and they would stick to your fingers.  When I left home, I stopped making these.  This week, I decided to make them, because my sister is coming for Christmas and likes these.  I saw somewhere on Pinterest you could substitute caramel sauce, so I decided to give it a try again.  

I noted the recipe on Pinterest you used an 8 x 8 inch pan, but I remembered using a 9x13 inch pan.  So I went to look in my mother's recipe box and the card wasn't there.  My sister, when she gave me the box years ago said she helped herself to what she wanted before she gave it to me.  I remembered that I had all my mother's old Pillsbury Bakeoff Books and I found the recipe in the second book I looked in.  I made the cookies with the old recipe, and noted at the bottom of the recipe I could have used caramel sauce all along.  







This week, I had a couple of social activities associated with the quilt guild.  The first, on Wednesday was a lunch with the single ladies group at Claim Jumper.  

Then on Friday, one of the members of the mini group I belong to had a brunch at her house.  She has wonderful decorations, and had a delicious lunch, and made everyone a quilt.  Only 2 of us out of 7 were able to attend this month but we were sure treated like queens!    This is the quilt I won. 


Today, one of the ladies I met at quilt guild and I went to a Christmas Pops/Chorale Program that was excellent.  We then had a little dinner after the program.   Every morning my daughter texts me the link for a Christmas song, and I add it to my Pandora Play list and I play Christmas songs all day as I go about my activities.  I love Christmas music!  What I will be doing this week for Slow Sunday Stitching will be to sew labels on these two quilts.  My sister's Christmas Quilt, and my brother's Christmas present, which also happens to be my final project in the String and Story Free Motion Quilting class.  I will be able to graduate next Saturday!




I will be linking up at Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.  Head on over and see what everyone has been up to.  

Thanks for stopping by!



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Tuesday, December 07, 2021

Virtual Cookie Exchange & Blog Hop, Day 3, My Day

 




Today is the 3rd day of the Virtual Cookie Exchange Blog Hop. This is the 8th Virtual Cookie Exchange hosted by the fabulous Carol @Just Let Me Quilt.    There have been some great projects and recipes shared in the past couple of days.  The entire line up for the blog hop is stated below.  Many thanks again to Carol for organizing this, it has always been my favorite blog hop to participate in.  

My history of cookie making goes back to when I was 13 or so and my mom handed me a list of cookies to make for Christmas.  She liked to fill boxes lined with aluminum foil filled with a variety of cookies and give them to family, neighbors, and coworkers.   I have been practicing the same cookie gifting ever since.  I usually make 10-12 kinds of cookies and candy.  

Two kinds of cookies I always make I spoke about here in the 2018 Virtual Cookie Exchange, Fudge and Crunchy Peanut Bark.   We always make Sugar cookies, and Russian Tea Cakes, although we have always called them Pecan Balls.  Every year, I go through Pinterest and various places to look for new cookies to make.

This year, I tried multiple new kinds.  These are called Buckeye Cookies III, and they were found on Allrecipes here.  




Peppermint Bark is also a new one for me and I found it here on  I heart naptime.  



I made these last year, they are called German Chocolate Truffles and they were yummy.  The recipe was from Tastes Better From Scratch.  


These are also new this year called Mint Oreo Truffles.  They were from Just Add Sprinkles.  


The last one I have made so far are called Grinch Cookies.  I found them here on The Recipe Critic.  


This might have happened in the making of the Grinch Cookies.  I added 3 cups of flour to the mixer and accidentally turned it on high!




I still have 5 more kinds of cookies to go.

One project I made a couple of months ago were gnome ornaments to give out as stocking stuffers.


Hope you have gotten some ideas for cookies.  Be sure and visit the other bloggers below.  Thanks again to Carol @Just Let Me Quilt.  

 December 6

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Sunday, December 05, 2021

Virtual Cookie Exchange Starts today




The Virtual Cookie Exchange Blog Hop starts today.  This is the 8th Virtual Cookie Exchange hosted by the fabulous Carol @Just Let Me Quilt.    I have participated in the last 3.  People exchange their favorite cookie recipes, Christmas traditions/or Christmas projects.  Here is the complete list.  My day is on Wednesday, December 8th.  


 December 6

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Saturday, December 04, 2021

One Monthly Goal, December

 



Time to link up up One Monthly Goal for December with Elm Street Quilts.    I really appreciate this monthly motivation and all that Patty does!

I finished my monthly goal for November, one day too late to link up.

Last fall I started Holly Anne Knight's Free Motion Academy @ String and Story   I was supposed to have finished my final projects, a 30 motif sampler, and a whole cloth project to graduate in December.  Life had other plans for me at that time.    My husband was hospitalized and underwent rehab, so I set this aside.   In the spring, I had planned to graduate with the next cohort, but he was hospitalized, came home on hospice and subsequently passed away the end of April.   Then the summer cohort came and I didn't feel able to finish up.  I had about 25 motifs on my sampler.

I picked my sampler up again the first part of November and finished my last 5 motifs.  The fall cohort is graduating December 18th, and it is my plan to graduate this time.  I need to have my whole cloth 
quilt done by the 15th with photos.

So my One Monthly Goal for December is to finish up my whole cloth quilt and bind it.  Light was poor this morning, but it is a lighthouse, and it will also be a Christmas present for my brother who loves lighthouses.  



I'll be linking up with Elm Street Quilts for One Monthly Goal.   

Thanks for stopping by!

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Hand Quilt Along, Slow Sunday Stitching

I spent 2 hours tonight trying to transfer photos from my i-Phone to my PC.  I don't know how the settings got changed in I-Cloud, but my PC wouldn't import photos.  What a hassle!  

I think I forgot to check in for the last Hand Quilt Along, the last time I checked in was October.  I did get my Handi Quilter Moxie put together.  The second thing I quilted was my sister's Christmas Quilt.  I finished the binding last weekend.  

Check out the other Hand Quilting Links below.  


This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Nanette, Sharon, Karrin, and Daisy

I had some Christmas decoration helpers last weekend that helped decorate my tree, my least favorite part.  My daughter made a video of it on Instagram here.   







Grandson Keaton got under the tables and lit up all the houses.  

What I will be working on for my Slow Sunday Stitching this week will be this month's stitchery from Kathy Schmitz's One Stitch At a Time Club.  I haven't traced it out yet, but I'm anxious to start this one.  


I'll be linking up at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.  Head on over and check out what everyone else is doing.  

Thanks for stopping by!


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