Another Holiday Recipe!

Why do our lives have to get so hectic around the holidays! Every year I promise myself I will get things done early and have the time to sit and enjoy myself during the holidays. Unfortunately, every month has it's pressing matters and when there is time to take care of holiday shopping or baking, it is way too early to be in the mood! 
We have a Christmas Eve wedding in our family this year, so there is an extra reason for the season to be hectic. My niece (my brother's daughter) is getting married in my sister's back yard. That is possible here in southern Texas, although still risky as far as weather goes.
I am supposed to make a groom's cake that looks like an X-Box 360 with a controller. :0) It is to be Italian Cream Cake with an amaretto filling. I am beginning to stress over this. I have only seen an X-Box once. I have looked it up online and even gone to the store to gaze at it. Time is running out. This is not something I can really do much ahead of time unless the guests want a petrified cake! My mother is doing the wedding cake. (She used to do wedding cakes professionally and they were much in demand!) A "groom's cake" is, for those of you not in the southern USA, a cake that depicts the groom's interests in some way or is in his favorite flavor. If you saw the movie Steel Magnolias, you saw a red velvet groom's cake shaped like an armadillo!
All this is to say, I will be pretty busy these next few weeks!  
I don't have time to quilt or even sew. I do have lots of cooking to do for family coming  to visit, so I decided to put a great recipe here for you. This was my mother-in-law's recipe. She gave a lot of parties and she would make these ahead of time and freeze them in huge batches. 

                         Dorothy Winters' Pocketbook Sandwiches 
1 lb. New York Sharp or other very sharp cheddar cheese
3 oz. Blue cheese
3 oz. cream cheese (like Philadelphia brand)
1 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce (a sauce made of hot, red peppers)
dash of garlic salt
dash of red pepper (optional)
dash of paprika
2 tablespoons mayonnaise (I use sour cream or yogurt)
1 1/2 loaves of FRESH thinly sliced sandwich bread
Remove crust from each slice of bread and keep wrapped so they don't dry out. Spread with melted butter on one side only. Don't soak the bread in butter. Just a thin spread.
Place the slices buttered side down and put a spoonful of cheese mixture in the center (on the unbuttered side). Fold the corners to the center of the bread over the cheese. Turn folded side down on a greased cookie sheet. Freeze. When frozen, they can be stored in  an airtight container or freezer bag in the freezer until ready to bake. 
When ready to bake, turn right side up (the side with the points in the center) and bake on a  cookie sheet about 20 minutes at 400 degrees. (Bake right from the freezer. Do not thaw.)  Although you can grease the cookie sheet, the sandwiches should not stick because they have been buttered. 

These are very popular among the men in my family. Give them a try. They're great with soup, by the way! 

Until next time, have fun preparing for the holidays!  

Chocolate Truffle Cookies

If you need to take a break from quilting, mix up this dough and have it in the freezer, ready for unexpected company or just a "chocolate fix". This is a great recipe for a cookie that can be formed into scoops, frozen,and then pulled out of the freezer and baked on the "spur of the moment". If you need something sweet to serve with coffee or cocoa, this is it! (It could also go with hot tea or a glass of milk!) These are extremely rich and are soft in the middle after baking. (They are much better hot out of the oven than they are the next day.)

Chocolate Truffle Cookies

1 1/4 cups soft butter (2 1/2 sticks)

2 1/4 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 cups chocolate chips

Cream the butter with the sugar and cocoa until fluffy. Beat in the sour cream, vanilla, flour, and chocolate chips. NOTE: You could easily add nuts to this dough along with chocolate chips, if desired. Refrigerate 1 hour. Roll into 1" balls or use a small scoop.  Place on foil covered cookie sheet about 2" apart and bake 10 minutes only at 325 degrees F. 

To freeze, place on cookie sheets and pop into freezer until frozen. Remove from cookie sheet and place in plastic zipper gallon freezer bags.
To bake frozen dough, remove from freezer and place on foil covered cookie sheet. Bake at 325 degrees F for 15 minutes. (Note that you cook them a little longer since they were frozen.)

Christmas with the Three Bears

            

       

The "black forest" tree decorated with bears, antique illustrations, and miniature chairs.

   Christmas is only a few weeks away!

 

My "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" guest room last Christmas.

 It's my favorite holiday, but I still feel a sense of panic when I realize just how little time there is to get presents bought and shipped. I've started to think about Christmas decorating. This time last year, I had finished all my decorating, but I had to have the house ready for a Christmas tour. This year, I'm just now beginning to think about it!

The other end of the Goldilocks room. Not a great photo, but maybe you can see the three stuffed bears with the bowl of porridge on the antique trunk. The book in front of the quilt is open to the story of The Three Bears.

  I  used a quilt for inspiration in this room.  The tree is decorated with Scherensnitte bears, copies of illustrations of the story from antique books (mounted on cardboard), and miniature doll chairs. 

I had a small, narrow tree to represent the Black Forest. (In actuality, I brought home a tree that turned out to be BLACK ! I thought Black pine was similar to white pine or yellow pine, just another type of pine tree. It wasn't. I decided that it would be okay and it was. With all the little white twinkly lights, you could barely tell that it was not just a dark green.

One of the Scherensnitte bears, cut from plain white paper and coffee stained.

          This year, I plan to add Goldilocks if I do this room again.  

I've been working hard at getting a pattern made for this doll. I have little deformed doll bodies, arms, legs, and heads all over the room from my trials and errors. I have to make it easy enough for an inexperienced doll maker, yet detailed enough to be recognizable as the Goldilocks in my quilt pattern.  

All this to remind you that you can decorate around your quilts. You can use a quilt as a tree skirt. Why not take that another step and decorate the tree in ornaments that are in colors from the quilt? 

You could "decoupage" ornaments in fabric scraps.

You could make little stuffed pieced stars.

You could make yo-yo chains from scraps.

You could decorate the tree in your quilting room with spools of colorful thread or pin cushions.

 If you have some ideas for incorporating quilts and fabric into your Christmas decorating, post them in your comments. We'd like to know! In the meantime, Happy Decorating!

  

Fiona vs. Old MacDonald

It is a beautiful day outside. Sixty-six degrees, sunny, flowers still blooming. Not what most of you would consider a fall morning, but fairly typical of this time of year in south Texas.
  I had finished a sample quilt of Old MacDonald and needed to photograph it before taking it to the quilt shop this morning. I  carefully posed it across the back of a chair and was trying to snap a quick shot when Fiona, our neighbor's dog, decided to visit.She is small enough that she fits between the openings in the fence. Since her owners are gone most of the day, she gets lonely and when we go outside, she often comes for a visit.
  I don't have pets because I don't want to need a "dog sitter" when I'm gone. I also don't want to worry about dog or cat hairs on my quilts! Fiona thought I was spreading this out just for her. When I called her away from the quilt, she just tilted her head and looked at me like I was crazy or something. I'm rarely lonely, but I understand what it's like. I try to play with her if she visits while I'm in the yard. I actually miss her if she doesn't come and worry that something is wrong. I guess I'll have to wash this quilt once again, but that's okay.
                     Old MacDonald had a farm...
                                        E-I-E-I-O
                   And on that farm he had a dog....    
 Too bad Fiona is not a chicken. She would have fit the theme a LOT better!

Itsy-Bitsy Spider

I've been hard at work trying to finish a sample quilt for my Itsy-Bitsy Spider pattern. I also wanted to finish it by today for a presentation at a local quilt guild. Since most of my sample quilts are in quilt shops, I needed more quilts.

I had so much fun with the colors, I might even make another one soon!



   I'm not a bit squeemish about spiders. I think they do wonderful things for our gardens. I also love the song, Itsy-Bitsy Spider (or Eensy-Weensy Spider for my British friends). It is one of the first songs my children learned. I loved watching their tiny fingers "climbing up the water spout". (Just what is a water spout, anyway? I always picture a drain "pipe" coming down from the gutter.) 
Children are fascinated with spiders. We are the ones who make children afraid of them.  As a teacher, I tried to teach them to just leave them alone to do their work -  don't touch, but admire. What artists they are! It's fun to watch them. 
Your child or grandchild wouldn't have any problem with snuggling up in an Itsy-Bitsy Spider quilt. What a great snuggly for a rainy day!

Now scorpions are a different matter. I don't think I'll be putting them on a quilt any time soon! Here in South Texas, we do have them around. I know they serve their purpose, but they are just creepy to me. Then again, I've been stung by one and it wasn't fun! I don't know of any children's songs about them either! Maybe I can write one:

                            Creepy, creepy scorpion

                               underneath a stone.

                            Stung the weary gardener

                           and oh, how she did moan! 
 
  Well, I don't think it will catch on! Maybe I should just stick to quilting!!!

Pressing Matters

When I first started quilting, I thought that after years of ironing my husband's shirts I knew all there was to know about "pressing". 
 WRONG!

 
← If ironed instead of pressed, this simple fabric square can become
             

                  this!!!!!!!!!→








The difference was "ironing" vs. "pressing. If you are new to quilting, you may not have been told about this. Ironing involves moving the iron across the fabric. It can push the fibers out of shape, leaving your fabric out of square. Pressing involves setting the iron down on the fabric, pressing down briefly, and lifting it without pushing it across the fabric grain. 

One great tool to help you press instead of iron is "The Steady Betty". The special foam surface grips your fabric to keep it from moving under the iron even if you make an ironing movement. (I'm not affiliated with this company and they are not compensating me in any way. I just happen to have one and love it!) You can find out more about it on their website, www.steadybetty.com. Your quilt shop may carry them. They come in different sizes.

    
I like to use spray starch on my quilt fabric to help stabilize it. Using starch also gives it a crisp feel that makes it easy to work with. If you want, you can make your own. You can mix liquid starch with water, 1 cup starch to 1 cup water. Mix it well and put it in a spritzer bottle. (You can also make a stiffer solution by increasing the amount of starch to water.) This is the formula I use when I make my own spray starch.

Another way to make spray starch is to mix 1/4 cup cornstarch with 1/2 cup water. Slowly add 4 cups boiling water to this and let it cool before putting it in a spritzer bottle. You will need to shake this well each time you use it. 
An easier version of this is to add 1 tablespoon of cornstarch to 2 cups of water. Stir it well and put in a spritzer bottle. Shake it well before using. (The uncooked cornstarch may tend to leave more residue. 
Each of the cornstarch recipes will last only about 2 weeks. You may get longer use out of the cornstarch mixtures if you keep them in the refrigerator. 



You will notice that there is a pillow case slipped over the end of my ironing board. I do this so that I can easily slip it off and wash it when needed. I put three large safety pins underneath to pinch the loose ends together and hold it in place. When one side gets dingy, I unpin it and rotate it so that the area that had been underneath is now on top. I use a pillow case that had been used to submit a quilt to a quilt show. We were to write our name and the name of the quilt on the pillowcase with marker. Since I wasn't keen on putting this on my bed, I use it for the ironing board.

If you knew all of this already, hopefully you don't mind a refresher, but if not, you will find that correct pressing will make a huge difference in the accuracy of your piecing.   Until next time, good luck in all pressing matters!

Gift Idea for Quilters

Don't laugh, but I have found that if I make my tools a little more feminine, I don't have to search for them in the garage!  They tend to stay put a little better. 
 
My orange handled scissors just screamed "construction zone" to my husband, so I bought a pair with pink handles. I haven't had a problem since then. No more cutting metal flashing with my good scissors!!! 

After a search for my tape measure and after finding it in the garage among dirty, oily stuff, I decided it needed a little feminizing too! (Just in case you think I have an inconsiderate husband, I need to tell you that he is the most generous, loving man around. We share everything, so in his mind it was "no big deal" to use my tools. When I explained their use and my objection to them being used in the garage, he stopped using them. Making them more feminine helps him see that they are MINE and not HIS.)

That said, I thought that maybe this little idea would make a good gift for quilting friends.

Start with a tape measure. I have two. One small one for the purse, and a larger one for blocking and measuring quilts.

Using a piece of paper, make a pattern of the circular or oval logo area. Just run your fingernail around the perimeter to emboss it to the right size and shape.

 

 

Cut the pattern out and use it to cut a cardboard base. Check to be sure it fits in the logo area.

Cut a fabric scrap or pieced scrap about an inch larger all around than the cardboard. Sew a running stitch around the outer perimeter. 

Put a small wad of stuffing inside.

Place the cardboard inside.

Pull the gathering snug around the cardboard and tie it off.

Use a good glue and put some on the logo area of the tape.

Place the "button" you have just made over the glue in the logo area. Press down firmly all around. (NOTE: I used a bag of rice to weigh it down until the glue was set. It was able to go over the "puff" where other weights couldn't.)

                                                                        That's all there is to it! You could forgo the stuffed button and just cover it with a decorative paper or sticker. You could also glue a string of beads around the edge of the "puff". This could be fun! And I think it just might stay in the sewing room now!