Oatmeal, Pecan & Craisin Cookies!

It’s DAY 2 of the baking extravaganza!  I only managed to make one other kind of cookie today – and that’s fine with me.  I was deep in digging myself out of the “Other” side of the basement…the unheated side.  Because, you see --- today---heated or unheated was NOT a problem!  Will you look at what our temp is doing today? INSANE!
 
It’s just about 65 degrees out there, but raining at a pretty steady pace –which took away my first thought of wanting to be OUTSIDE in temps like this.

I have purged, reorganized and repurposed much of the storage room that is off that other side of the basement.  I feel like a kid that’s gone crazy in a donut shop.  And is now sick of donuts and doesn’t want to SEE another one.  Replace DONUT SHOP for FABRIC SHOP and the same holds true.

When you can’t close the cupboards because there is so much in there…when you can’t put another piece of green yardage on the green shelf because it is PACKED FULL ---it’s time to stop shopping and start sewing!

The problem is, haven’t I been sewing all along?  How come everything is still so full to bursting?!
After sweeping up, taking lots of stuff to the “throw out” pile or the “donate” pile…it was time for some kitchen fun.

For those who thought my Drop Sugar Cookies were pitiful, do these look better? I love thick and soft, chewy chunky cookies and these fit the bill.  Do you want to know how to keep some cookies from spreading too much on the pan?  CHILL the dough in the fridge before scooping it into balls and placing them on the cookie sheet.  It works!  I used a roundish Tablespoon measuring spoon and very chilled dough, and these held their shape while baking.

Oatmeal, Pecan & Craisin Cookies:

· 1 cup butter, softened
· 1-1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
· 2 eggs
· 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
· 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
· 1 teaspoon baking soda
· 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
· 1/2 teaspoon salt
· 3 cups rolled oats
· 1 cup Craisins ((Dried Cranberries –Also can substitute raisins OR Chocolate chips –leave out cinnamon if using chocolate chips))
· 3/4 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped ((optional))

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together. Stir this into the butter/sugar mixture. Stir in the oats, raisins and nuts, if using them.

At this point you can either chill the dough for a bit in the fridge and then scoop it, or scoop the cookies onto a cookie sheet and then chill the whole tray before baking them. You could also bake them right away, if you’re impatient, but I do find that they end up slightly less thick.

The cookies should be two inches apart on a baking sheet. Bake them for 10 to 12 minutes taking them out when golden at the edges but still a little undercooked-looking on top. Let them sit on the hot baking sheet for five minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool.  My oven requires the 12 minute routine, so test as needed.

I’m so happy that everyone was glad about Part 6 of Orca Bay being a day early!  Sew on, Everyone, Sew on!

About Togetherness

We exchanged the cat door in my basement studio door for a doggie-sized door so Sadie could come in and out!  Before ---she could push the door open and come in, but she’d never shut the door…and she’d let the warm air out and the cold air in since the other side of the basement isn’t heated!

This morning Jeff and Sadie came in to visit..I love the look on her face as he stuck his head through the doggie door…like “HEY! That’s MY DOOR --- What do you think you’re doing?!

I was also talking with a friend this morning…about this, that, everything – about how Jason can’t come home for Christmas this year, because he works til close on Christmas Eve, and has to work at opening on the day AFTER Christmas….and a 3 hour drive is just far enough to make trying to drive up here and go home in the same day NOT any fun. 

I’ve done that drive….drive down to Columbia in one day, and back on the same day.  It’s 6 hours in the car.  What's the point of spending most of the holiday on the ROAD?! Not worth it. And I understand.

I’ve really felt “OUT” of it this year.  Not down in the dumps like some struggle when it comes to holiday depression --- just – I don’t know!  The kids are grown, traditions are falling by the wayside due to the age of the kids, their availability to come home or not…and just life in general.

A comment from my friend really struck me this morning.:

“Have a wonderful Christmas if you can ---Remember, it’s about the togetherness, the time with the family”

And I knew that if this was going to amount to ANYTHING I had to make a move TOWARD my family, and they to me.

I’ve been working hard down here in the basement all month.  DH is at work until late --- they’ve got Year End stuff coming due, meetings and staff dinners and all kinds of things that keep him out til later.  Tis the season!  Jeff has been doing what all 21 yr old single guys are doing…guy stuff!  Stuff with his friends, his computer, and is gone quite a bit.

This morning after talking to my friend I went up and talked to Jeff and said….."We need some TOGETHERNESS! I am downstairs, you are upstairs.  We are under this roof together, and yet we are separate.  I want to do some things to spend this time TOGETHER instead of APART."

He nodded, said "Okay ---"  and I’m sure I could see his eyes start to roll to the back of his head, but I MEAN IT!  My holiday is almost over…I’ve got 5 days past Christmas and my 2012 starts in full swing on Dec 30th!  THIS. IS. IT!

Memories don’t really just happen on their own.  Most times we have to MAKE them.

So today….we made COOKIES!  Just like we used to when he was little.  And I know he was probably not thrilled to be drug out in the rain to the store at 9am to go get the few things that we needed that we didn’t have already at home --- but we made COOKIES!  And we talked and laughed and made a mess and tasted and tested and…TALKED.  And it was priceless.

Martha Stewart, I am not! But I donned a fave gifted apron with the darling embroidery and we set to work.  Yes, It's bad when you have to do a bathroom phone pic in a mirror to show you the apron effect-- I know.  But this is how we bake around here!

These are drop sugar cookies --- and I bought a tub of cream cheese icing, divided it into 1/3s and colored 1/3 yellow, and 1/3 green.  I was out of red or blue!  And I was not going out in the rain to buy any more food colors!  We are past wanting to do the roll and cut out kind…but these are great.  Okay, I know that they are not BEAUTIFUL, I am not a professional baker and never set out to be.  I'm just a mom.  Just a wife.  And we had fun making these:

Drop Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup butter or 1/2 cup margarine
• 1/2 cup Crisco

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
   
2. Sift dry ingredients, all except sugar, together.
   
3. Cream margarine, shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.
   
4. Add egg and vanilla.
   
5. Beat in dry ingredients until smooth.
   
6. Blend in milk.
   
7. Drop by tablespoon about 3 inches apart onto a greased cookie sheet.
   
8. Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.

 
This recipe works really well as a slice & bake too.
 
Next Up!
 

 

While the sugar cookies were baking, I started up a batch of yummy soft ginger cookies.  These are MY fave---I’ll go for a spicy molasses/ginger cookie over a chocolate chip anything at ANY TIME!

Do any of you have this K-tec mixer? I’ve had it about 10 to 12 years---have loved it.  But the start/stop button no longer works.  I have to hold down the pulse button to get it to run…what a pain.  There may be a new Mixer on my list for my birthday next month!  I like this one because it is small.  I can put it AWAY after use in the bottom cabinet. I don’t want something that lives on the counter, I don’t have that much counter space. It has a gazillion attachments…even a blender sits on it and whirrs like a champ.  That is --- IF you stand there and hold down the pulse button >_<

Here’s the dough after I took the beater bar off the top…ummmm…..can you see the two “Let's taste the dough!!” finger marks in there!  One is Jeff's-- one is Mine! Yummy!  Yes, I am a cookie dough lover…raw eggs be danged!

Dough balls are dipped in sugar and baked…these stay soft if you keep them in an air tight container!

Soft Ginger Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup margarine, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 tablespoons white sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then stir in the water and molasses. Gradually stir the sifted ingredients into the molasses mixture. Shape dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Place the cookies 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet, and flatten slightly.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

The house smells WONDERFUL.  We had a great time.  We’ve also got plans for some Chocolate Chip ones for DH – and Jeff requested my Oatmeal/Pecan/Craisin cookies…so we’ve got that coming maybe tomorrow.  And I love Pecan Sandies – they are always a holiday tradition.  I think that’s IT for the holiday baking extravaganza--- the reason I don’t bake a lot?  I EAT IT!

But Hey, it’s the holidays!  And it feels good to feel like it!

Spinning till I’m Dizzy!

Yesterday after returning from the dentist, I sat in my chair at the sewing machine, and fed 4-patch pairs through.  I seriously quit counting.  I had counted them when cutting them, so I mindlessly watched each pair go through the machine, under the presser foot, to be followed in a long chain by umpteen thousand more.

I wrote about how I cut them all with my Accuquilt Studio HERE.

There is a kind of zen feeling in mindless tasks like this, the only thing I had to be careful of was that I was feeding ALL my pairs with the red squares leading, and feeling with my fingers to make sure that those center seam allowances were butted up to each other nice and tight.

I’m not a pinner by nature….I’m quite lazy about it actually, and if I can pinch it with my fingers to hold, I don’t bother with pinning unless I’m trying to match sharp points on triangles.  But straight butted seams?  Just hold them and let the feed dogs take them through!

Oh yeah, and see that duct tape on the machine extension table?  I had to tape it up again because the glue didn't hold. *SIGH*  But it's okay -- my new one also arrived yesterday!  I'm going to take the broken one to a glass shop now and see if they can fix it good enough to use it as a spare.

After the 4-patches were all sewn,  the REAL chore began!

Does this look like it could possibly be 480 4-patches?!  Well it is….all kinds of fabrics here, if it was red, it went.  It might be a plaid, a geometric, a stripe, a floral, even a few Christmas fabrics found their way in here.  Boy am I glad to put some of this stuff to good use!  By the time a fabric is cut to 1-1/2”, and finishes as a 1” square…there isn’t a lot to see ON the fabric really, just color!

I laid a length of 4 patches down my ironing board…snipped it from the Mother-Pile ---and began to chain press.  Flip, press, flip, press, flip, press --- all the way down the chain.

When I got to the end of the ironing-board-length chain….I snipped them apart.  And one by one, I picked them up and spun the seams on the back like this:

Why do this at all? Because!  Because these 4 patches will be butted up to each other in the block and this will help eliminate some of the bulk especially when working with small units.  I’d rather be able to butt a seam when joining units than press seams open and have to pin everything – remember, I’m a lazy pinner!

Good thing I had netflix playing mindlessly in the background---It took a good movie’s worth of time to get it all done!

If you want to know more about how to spin your seams, check out this previous post I wrote HERE.

The one big thing to remember…is if you are going to spin them at all, make sure they spin in the SAME direction, either clockwise, or counter clockwise, but NOT BOTH!  And this is determined by feeding all your 4 patches through the machine the same way.  If I started with the red square leading, I needed to keep the red square leading on ALL the pairs.  If I fed one with the neutral square leading --- it would make THAT 4 patch spin in the other direction. If it spins the other way, the seams won’t butt when I go to join it to the next one.

Here they are!  All 480 of them!  Oh this is going to be a fun quilt!

Oooh! Another Free Ornie!

I was going to wait until tomorrow to post this, but that puts us only 4 days from Christmas, so I figured sooner was better than later!

I love the shape of this one, don’t you?

It pieces in only 2 sections, and finishes as a 4” block.

Dig into those scraps!  Combine this one with the Ornament block from Yesterday’s Post, decorate the whole tree!

Or file this away for next year, because you know what? It would be adorable as a gift tag, or the cover of a needle book as well as a mug rug!

Download the free PDF file HERE

I made a stop today at Sam’s Club….I’m looking for a new desk for my computer – this one is falling apart, the keyboard tray has lost all its bearings---I was wondering WHY there were bb’s all over the floor ?---- It’s old and clunky and needs to GO…but I’m having the dangdest time finding something I like and something that I can afford.  Everything at IKEA was sleek and streamlined and had no drawers or storage. ((Leave it to the Swedes to go minimalist! I have too much STUFF!!)) So I’m looking.  I liked some of the styles at Office Depot, but they are all made with that faux wood stuff.  My sewing table is that "cultured wood product!!" LOL!! and it does not hold up well over time.

Sam’s didn’t have anything either..but look what I DID find!

The size is AWESOME!  And you don’t have to use those cupcake holder thingy-doodles if you don’t want them in there – they are removeable!

A 3-Stacker for $15??  I think that’s a pretty sweet deal even without the cupcakes in it!

Am I the only one who gets giddy over the possibility of more plastic organizer thingies??

I’m thinking they’ll travel well for retreats, etc.  I have some of the bigger square ones that ornaments were stored in --- those are too big to fit in my tote, and I think these WILL fit!

Deck The Halls with Lots of Cookies! ((Free Cook Book))

I’m back from the dentist.  Dr Drill & Fill did a great job.  I actually LOVE HER!  Yes.  Her.  First time in my life I’ve had a female dentist and I’m wondering why I didn’t do it sooner?  Dr Mel is AWESOME.  She has a gentle voice, small enough hands to fit into my small mouth, and she HUMS while she works!

I tell you, as far as dentistry goes, she is a rare treat.  I sat there smiling – Okay, numb to the gills…to the point that even the right side of my NOSE was numb, and that nostril had closed due to numb numb numb – ((Repeat after me – NUMB IS MY FRIEND!)) –where was I?  OH, yeah, I sat there smiling….thinking of what a difference 50 years makes.

The movie we watched last night, The Help, was set in the early 60’s in Jackson MS.  Around the time I was born.  Today, I was having my dental work done, by an African American Female Dentist --- and loving it.  I wish I could take this scene….and project it to the characters in that movie so they could SEE just what would happen 50 years down the road.  And yes, I know the movie is fictional --- but so much of it was just the plain bare truth.  Was all the upheaval in the 60’s worth it? Yes.  Is the upheaval now worth it? Yes.

So --- how does this lead into cookies? Nowhere really, especially since I am so numb I can’t eat any!  I’m limiting myself to a sippy cup with a straw at this point because I can only smile out of one side of my face, and I’m going to AVOID dribbling on myself.

But this freebie came along, and I figured while we are getting ready for Christmas in just a few days, it might have some goodies to try!

Christmas Cookie Recipes is free in the Amazon store for Kindle users:

Book Description:

A Wonderful Collection Of Delicious Christmas Cookie Recipes!

"Fill your cookie jar this Christmas with these delicious homemade gems! Passionate about cookies? You'll want to sink your teeth into Big, Soft, Chewy Cookies"...

This delectable Christmas cookie cookbook is packed with over more than four hundred recipes for colossal cookie creations. From tried-and-true favorites such as Snowflakes, Christmas Tree Sandwiches, and Gingerbread Cookies to future favorites such as Edible Cookie Ornaments and Eskimo Snowballs there's a cookie here to please every palette.

Plus, you'll even find recipes for chewy cookie bars and special treats like the spirited and festive Eggnog Cookie with Powdered Sugar Icing. Best of all, anyone can bake and enjoy these enormously gooey, enormously good--and just plain enormous--cookies .

This just might get ME in the kitchen for some baking too….but right now those 4-patches are calling ---

The Ms Bee-Haven’s Christmas Party!

While sewing along on my gazillionkatrillion tiny 4-patches yesterday afternoon --- I got a ping on my phone from Lisa who asked if I’d be interested in sharing a ride out to Mrs Goodneedle’s house for our annual bee movie night and round of  “Dirty Santa”. Of COURSE!!

Mrs Goodneedle and I live about as far away from each other than anyone possibly could in our bee, if you are figuring the distance from point A to point B, that is….and the more the merrier when it comes to driving long-ish distances!

So off I went in Shamu to go pick up Miss Lisa --- and we were on our way!

We were greeted with open arms when we got there, and quickly ushered upstairs to the den where we were planning on watching “The Help” --- with much hemming and hawing because it is such a LONG movie – comments went from “Maybe we can watch half of it, and come back and watch the other half another time?” to…. “Well, we can just do Dirty Santa and watch the movie the other time?”  ((Do not say this sentence amidst mixed company who don’t really know what you are talking about!!))

Everyone has their own term for “Dirty Santa” But basically, it’s that pass around game where someone picks a present, the next person can either steal the first person’s present, or go pick a new one.  “Greedy Santa” is more like it, because we were not dirty at all…but Miss Lisa’s adorable tree hanging got stolen the maximum number of times, finally finding its way back to Martha Claire who had grabbed it the first time!

And you see that cute boy up there?  That’s Hannes, and he OWNS the Goodneedles!  He’s such a cutie pie….and he hit right off for Lisa’s bag that had yummies in it….he tore that bag apart and it was so cute to watch.  He was all the way IN the bag!  And not easy to catch on the camera ((Gosh, I was going to say capture on film, but we really can’t say that anymore, can we?!))  The color is off because the room was dark for movie viewing and I was using the flash on my phone ---

As for me and the MOVIE? I said “I don’t have a curfew!  Do you??” This  new found freedom of being Nearly-Fifty has turned me down right sassy, I tell ya! :c)  We are big girls....we can live it up and stay inside and watch a Chick Flick to the end, can't we? Of COURSE we can!

Needless to say, it was MUCH more fun to watch “The Help” all the way through with a room full of girlfriends, than it was to see it sitting in a cold theater with DH.  No offense, DH!  It’s just a girl thing!  Even when the DVD player froze up, and while it was being fixed we were making up dialogue for what the people on the screen “COULD” be saying by the looks on their faces! ----and that was down right funny too!

I didn’t get home til 11:30----but it was so worth it!  I fell into bed with a smile on my face, so grateful for these women who take me into their midst even though I can only make the meetings on a hit or miss basis!

And that missing Christmas spirit?  It’s creeping up on me day by day by day!  Likely by the 24th, it will be full blown and all consuming! ;c)

This morning --- off to the dentist to get that broken filling replaced.  There will be no baby quilt to finish binding while in the waiting room --- I finished the binding at the bee meeting last night! Wooot!  Guess – dare I say it?  I’ll have to bring out the hexagons! They haven’t been touched since the Nov Cruise ---- they are around here ---- SOMEWHERE?!

Don’t forget to go back to yesterday’s post!  We've got over 70 link ups showing progress on the Orca Bay Mystery! This is so exciting to see! You might just find some great blogs to follow that you didn’t know about before.  The talent out there ((Both in the quilting AND in the writing department)) is AMAZING!

Free Paper Pieced Ornament --

I have a bee gathering tonight --- and I’m supposed to bring a gift.  I’ve known about this for months, and planned on a hand made gift, but things got away from me. 

The other day while driving down to Columbia, after having the car serviced…I was chewing a piece of gum, driving down I-85 merrily on my way, and CRUNCH!

All of a sudden the gum I had been chewing felt like it had rocks in it.  ROCKS are not a good thing – especially when it happens to be your tooth!

Long story short --- because I know this can get long --
Instead of making my bee gift, on the day of the bee gathering…pushing it to the last minute anyway --- I wound up sitting in a dentist chair. I’d lost part of an old filling.  That was the “Rocks” part.  Ewww.

So much for the best laid plans!  I did some shopping and I hope my not-so-homemade gift will still please its receiver!

I thought this paper pieced ornament was especially cute!  So I’m linking to it HERE for you. 
It finishes as a 4” square, and can be paper pieced in only 2 sections, which is pretty cool in my book!  It would make a great mug rug or do several of them for a small wall hanging or table runner...I love those geese in the center! FUN!

I’ll be back at the dentist in the morning getting this filling replaced---maybe I’ll get to sit in the waiting room long enough to get that binding finished as well! I’ve got one side to go – and got one whole side done on it while waiting TODAY!

Mystery Monday Link Up! Part 5!

So here we are again.  I can’t believe how these posts are flying by one after another – you think a week is a long time and you have a chance to catch your breath before the next Monday post comes along but NOPE!

I’m really looking forward to seeing your Part 5 progress! And any progress on any step you have made over the past week.

There have been a couple of comments from people who say they are sick of this color, or that color --- All I can do is say, that’s the way it is!  You’ll be glad when you see it all together. It’s WORTH IT!!  And the yardage requirements should give anyone an idea on whether we are done with our black parts yet.

Hang in there a bit longer-- units will be taking shape by the next clue on Friday, and that’s all I’m going to say for now--

As far as my best laid plans for my 4 patches from yesterday go ---I didn’t get very far!  It wasn’t but 10 minutes after I posted and got back to sewing that DH asked if I wanted to go to dinner.  I’m not one to turn down an evening out, so I turned off the machine, double checked that the iron was off…and out we went!

We hit the grocery store too, so by the time we got home it was around 9pm.  The desire to sew further was just not there, and instead I put groceries away, made a batch of rice pudding ((Love it hot off the stove with cinnamon and nutmeg!!)) and settled in to watch  some Law & Order SVU!

And then I remembered I needed to write this and get it set to go live tomorrow morning ---so here I am.

Let’s link up! If you’ve linked before, you don’t need the directions below, but because we have new people joining us every week, I still want to be sure they know what to do:

If you are a blogger, please link your post showing your Orca Bay Mystery progress on Part 5 ((Or any other part, no matter where you are in the mystery)) below!

Remember that we need the url of the specific POST, not just the address for your whole blog. To get the correct address in the linky –right click on the title/subject line of the post you wrote about your quilt progress. Chose “copy link address” and paste this url in the form when you link. You can also CLICK the title line of the post you want to link...and copy the url from the address bar at the top of your browser that way.

For instance, my blog address is http://quiltville.blogspot.com but that isn't enough. I can't link to the WHOLE blog, I need the address of the post. The address of THIS post is    http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2011/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-5.html See the difference?

If you link to just your whole blog, I’ll have to remove your link and have you try again because I can’t fix it FOR you.


We'll leave this open for a week to give you time to write your posts! I LOVED seeing what links came in last week! If you missed those, you can find them linked in the Orca Bay Mystery tab at the top of the blog ---just look at the bottom of that page below the step links for the Mystery Monday Link-Up Links!
Happy Monday!

Bed-Time Edition! Free Kindle Book!

I just finished writing the Mystery Monday Link-Up post that’s going live tomorrow morning..and found myself wandering through Amazon ----

I’ve ordered the whole boxed set of Blue Ray Harry Potter for Christmas!  There will be TONS more binding opportunity once we get that octrilogy ((made up word! HA!!)) going! It should be here by Christmas Eve!

Anyway….how about a free Kindle CHILDREN’S BOOK!?  A Special Christmas type story??

Santa and the Little Teddy Bear by Peter John Lucking is free today from the Amazon  Kindle store, and has received a perfect 5 out of 5 stars based on 18 customer reviews. 

Category: Children

Book Description:

This version of the 2011 INDIE Holiday Book Winner is intended to brought out at Christmas, year after year; create a holiday tradition, sing carols, read as a bedtime story chapter by chapter, delight in the incredible artwork throughout the book.

The Author and Illustrator Peter John Lucking has personally experienced each place in the book.

In Santa & The Little Teddy Bear the Author leads us through each place, giving us insightful information, interweaving a story where Bilbo and Santa visit and revealing the meaning of Christmas and why we celebrate.

It’s Christmas Eve. Free your spirit. Fly around the world with magic transportation on this epic action packed adventure roller coaster ride. Visit exotic places far beyond Woop Woop and the Black Stump.

Encounter strange creatures and exotic cultures. Do wacky crazy things. Scream, dance the Can-can and sing Day Oh in the steam swamps. Experience the Nativity, whisper in the wind to twinkling stars and sing carols with the reindeer.

Be dazzled by emerald isles and sapphire seas more astonishing than you can imagine. Soar with Bilbo The Little Teddy Bear, as he lives a wish, dreams of being a special Christmas gift, searches for his new home while embracing new friendships, lives life, gains self-esteem, and becomes more enlightened; culminating with a very surprising wish sure to bring a tear of joy.

A Christmas season holiday classic for all ages from 1-100.

Sounds like it might be fun if you have little ones in the house.  Kids LOVE to be read to. 

Enjoy!

Sewing My Brains Out!

How have you spent your Sunday?

I wound up having an empty house.  Jeff went over to a friend’s house, DH went with his buddies motorcycling out in the wilderness ---and SHEESH it was frosty cold this morning! I’m so glad that is not me.  It’s not that I don’t like outdoors and adventure, I’m just not crazy about my feet being cold.

I’m working on some sample quilts…you know that Quiltmaker Magazine is putting on a Quilt Along RETREAT in August—in Williamsburg, VA right?  Well --- Somehow I don’t think that my students would be very happy if I just showed up with a BLOCK for them to make…I need an actual QUILT for my workshops….all THREE of them.  And I have until about May to get them made, quilted, and bound…so I can send them off to Quiltmaker for publicity photos, etc….Exciting!  I get to actually turn these blocks into QUILTS!

I decided that instead of working on book stuff today --- I needed a break.  And with the house empty…weehhhaaa! I can sew!

See those strips at the top of the page?  Yup.  The red and neutral ones--  If you remember my Winston Ways block from the Vol 3 last May---  It’s a great star block, with little tiny 4 patches as the accents.  16 4 patches per block.  If I set this quilt 5 X 6 blocks..I need only…*cough*  480 4 patches.  I could get by with only 400 and set it 5 X 5…for a center that is 60” X 60”…but do I really want a square quilt, or do I want it rectangular?  I don't have a lot of use for 60" square quilts. I’m shooting for one row longer and figured for the extra 80 4 patches….if I end up not using them I can use them somewhere else.

I’ve been really making use of my Accuquilt Studio….and getting brave enough to try different things with it.

I pieced all my strip sets…and thought that I could match my strip sets with right sides together and feed them through to cut them into matched pairs….sounds good right?

Well…first I had to draw some perpendicular lines on the black foam of the die --- so I had guides to lay them and wouldn’t place them all crooked.  A silver quilting pencil and a ruler took care of that chore. Now my dies have line up lines!

Here are my strips all laid out on the tray….I’ve played with this and played with this, and I can honestly say that I’ve got it down to the point where there is not any more waste than there would be with rotary cutting.  Only….this way? I cut about 100 pairs at ONE TIME that can easily be sewn into 100 4 patches, already matched together, in nothing flat!



I know this looks funny----but I found that if I just put the plastic sheet on top of the fabric, it has enough static electricity in it that it pulls my sets apart into a big mess.  So…I lay a piece of junk newsprint on top.  When I pull the plastic sheet up after cutting…the paper sticks to the static of the plastic thing, but my fabric pieces are all nice and neat, and stay on the tray.  Happy me!

The plastic sheet is on top of the paper, which is on top of the fabric, and this is ready to feed through!

Here are my sets, all cut into their 4 patch pairs!  From here, I stacked them in sets of 10 and put them on a cookie sheet so I could tell how many I had and determine how many more sets to make. I ran 4 trays full through -- I ended up with 484, 4 more than I needed!

Does this look like 484 4-patch pairs to you?  Well it is!  They are by my machine ready to start sewing….I love silverware trays and other divided things for carrying my pieces back and forth…..
Let’s see how many I can get sewn and pressed before our Mystery Monday Link-Up goes live tomorrow morning!  You’ll want to come back for that.  It’s been great fun to see what everyone else has been up to!
If you want to check previous Mystery Monday Link-Ups, you can find them at the top of the blog under the Orca Bay Mystery tab!

Back to the machine ----

What NOT to buy at the Antique Mall!

Whether I find something I have to have or not…one of the fun things in browsing an Antique Mall—ESPECIALLY with a Buddy-In-Crime --- is to try to find the weirdest item in there.

Sometimes things can turn out quite cool!  Not sure where *I* would put it, but I am sure that someone ELSE would love to have an old Chevy tail gate that’s been made into a lamp to hang over their sofa or their bed.  This is not the weirdest, no, not by the least.

Sometimes a display just catches my eye…and makes me smile.  Oh, if this wall of PHONES could talk!  Can you imagine the stories they’ve heard over the years?  And what if it was a party line --- My mom tells me stories of the party line they had when she was growing up.  Did you have a party line?

I loved visiting Lucy’s house because she still has an old wall phone in use….I kind of miss the “ring” of a real phone.  I’ve set the ringer on my cell to sound like “old phone”.  It’s not quite cutting it! 

How about THIS guy for your centerpiece?  Taxidermy in Antique Malls really cracks me up….

Or what about a basket of tiny deer skulls and antlers?  Ewww!

If one basket wasn’t enough….there was a whole wall of some of the tiniest deer antlers I’d ever seen.  You know, it has kind of an artistic ambiance when hung next to a framed art painting…you know…renaissance art…and deer antlers.  NICE! LOL!

Do you know anyone who would want a concrete Elvis head…..on top of a faux chinese vase?  Ummm..no…I don’t think this is going to fit anywhere in my house!

But THESE!!  Made me howl out loud!  Holy Ball Fringe, Batman!  Let’s take old lamp shades and cover them with trim!  I can’t see how any light will shine through these shades?  Hoochie Koochie shades!

Oh. My.  LOL!

And this is something that made me go HUMMM!?  I’ve loved my Birkenstocks.  I’ve loved Birkenstocks all the way back to High school, and that’s a long time….but when Birkenstocks try to keep up with fashion?  GLADIATOR Birks?  Come on folks…that’s way too many buckles to want to get into when my birks have always been slip on and go! Fashion be danged!

Maybe now that I’m reaching that half century mark I’m just set in the ways of what I like, what is decorative ((for me)) and what is comfortable!  What makes me laugh might not make you laugh.  The opinions expressed here are completely my own and I make NO apologies for what I find funny!

Just a Little Workshop Shout Out!

I know several of you had a great time doing the Mini Marathon that I did on Patchwork Posse! And it was so fun to be able to stop by and check on what you were doing with your little pieces, run to read the comments in the forum, etc….

My buddy Pat Sloan is presenting a really great online workshop with Patchwork Posse in January! Those of you who commented that the cruise quilts were SO GREAT?! Well, you too can make what Pat taught in her class!

Both the adorable wall quilt ((Perfect for Valentine’s Decorating coming up!)) and an adorable felt applique needle book. Two for One!

Click HERE for more info! The workshop starts right after the holidays, perfect timing! The Mystery will be ending, and THIS will be beginning! It runs until Jan 31st ---

Of course, I'm ignoring ALL of January --- I'm turning 50 ((GASP!!)) in January, and I"m not going there!

I’ve been working on writing all day. The border directions for this one quilt just stump me….I am NOT a graphic drawing type….I can count units and I can sew up a storm and do what I need to, but trying to get the diagrams right is killing me!

I think I’ll take a break --- we’ve got just a few hours until we go pick up Michael, Harriet, and Michelle – and head for DH’s holiday office party. I’m keeping my mouth shut unless I am specifically asked anything! And I will NOT tell anyone else how to raise their child, but I can talk about what I did that worked for me – and THAT’S THAT!!