A day of relaxation.........

I just love the delicate flowers on the Christmas cactus.  This is the second bloom and if I'm lucky there will be 3 more.

I put the pot up high so I could get under the bloom to take a photo. 

I didn't do any sewing yesterday.  Instead I put in some time on the computer and created a new 'page' on my right side bar, Quilted Journal Covers.  One of my readers mentioned she would like the photos all in one spot, and I agreed that I wanted that too.  There are only words at the top and then lots of photos.  You can click on them to enlarge and then if the little magnifying glass appears, click again for an even closer view.  Enjoy............

Last night when I got home from Dad's place, I baked a batch of spritz cookies, using the recipe from my Betty Crocker cookbook that I bought in the 1950's when I was in high school home ec.  I recently learned some new things about making spritz from a cooking site, like beating the butter and sugar for 3-4 minutes before adding anything else.  Also they said to add the flour a little at a time while running the mixer at a low speed.  The chocolate ones are always more tender than the plain ones so I'll have to make another batch to see if the plain ones come out tender too following these new tips.

A couple nights ago I baked shortbread cookies following a recipe from Sharon over at Grass Roots Quilting Studio.  I had never made them before.  I love shortbread and was really surprised by the recipe.  Follow the link if you are interested.  

Baking marathon.............

Some family from another state is coming to this area this weekend so I volunteered my baking skills.  I intended to start the baking in the morning but instead I baked from 4:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.  I started out with pumpkin muffins.  I love these fancy papers from King Arthur Flour.  They are made with parchment paper and they unfold without peeling off any of the muffin like ordinary pleated papers do.

Next I made shortbread cookies.  I decided to try making heart shaped cookies by using my silicone ice cube tray as a mold.  I rolled the little ball in sugar and then pressed it into the heart shape.  I pushed them out from the back and it worked pretty good.

They weren't very impressive after baking so I probably wouldn't spend the time doing that again.

While the second tray of shortbread cookies were baking I made the Amish Friendship bread batter and then baked 2 loaves.

The other small cactus that I thought might be another pink turned out to be white.  The pink blooms are fading but have a couple more days of prettiness.  

The larger pink cactus is sill blooming.  The only other bud I have seen is on my orange cactus.

I was so happy to hear (in the comments) that I'm not the only one with "stuff" we thought we should have but haven't used yet.  I guess owning it and looking at it now and then isn't much different than our fabric stashes that we haven't used yet and that we pet regularly.

More baking.......

I started out with the chocolate Spritz cookies and while butter softened for the shortbread cookies I made fudge.

I had a lot of questions about the Spritz cookies so here are the 2 most important parts.  The cookie press is battery powered and is my second one.  I have been using this style cookie maker for over 30 years.  Second is the butter.  Only good quality butter is used in Spritz cookies.  Store brand butter on sale is never in my kitchen.  Most lower priced butters have a higher water content and that definitely affects the dough and how it comes out of the press.

In the mail yesterday was a Christmas postcard from Vicki Welsh.  I love the colors in this one.  It was in perfect shape and was mailed without an envelope.

My collection of cards from Vicki are on display in my studio all year so I can enjoy them every single day.

Also in the studio, I cut some strips to audition as fillers in the last column to create.

This is the Kaffe fabric in the photo above.  I think it may be too strong of a color for all of the strips I will need to add.  Maybe I will add 3 different fabrics around the 3 bigger blocks.  I could actually use this fabric as 2 different using the pink area around one block and the red around another block.  The third block would probably be a medium value blue.

Two blocks and baking...........

I didn't get much sewing done because I had an oven marathon.  I started out with the lowest temperature and first made Chex mix at 250*, then shortbread cookies at 300*, next frosted creams at 350* and finished with muffins with dried cranberry pieces at 400*.  I started at 4:30 and finished at 7:30.

I decided to play with the pieces before I sewed 2 blocks.  The first was the pinwheels above, then I tried repeated verticals offset every other row.  I think this second one might be interesting with the right fabrics.

Then I did one pinwheel with border.  This could have every other block turned a quarter turn or a positive/negative fabric position option laid out as alternating blocks.

Then I took the 2 completed blocks to the design wall and changed position of every other row to make a vertical zig zag.  It is time to move the blocks to a double design wall before I add more blocks later this evening.

Some more 1990s fabric................

There were lots of Nancy Crow fabrics that didn't make it into the 16 patch selection on yesterday's post.  The one on the right is folded so you can see the whole gradation across the 44".  The sunset in the middle doesn't show the other half which fades to pale apricot.  This is 22" showing from top to bottom.

Again this is 22" from top to bottom in the photo.  It's pretty obvious why they wouldn't work in 2" finished squares.

This photo shows about 11" from top to bottom.  There are more.....  I have more colors in several of these.  These 3 photos show the group called "what am I going to do with these?".

This is a pretty sad photo showing shadows from the top of the box on the cookies.  Yesterday I baked one batch of these shortbread and mixed up a batch of chocolate chip dough to bake this morning.  Then I have one more thing to bake mid-day.  My second grandson is getting married Friday so family will be visiting. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I saw a brightly colored truck pulling into my driveway and couldn't tell where it was from.  The man got out and brought this edible centerpiece to the door.  It is from one of my daughter's life long friends.  She spent many hours here playing as a child and is a real sweetheart.  I can't wait to unwrap it and start munching.

My double vision wasn't as bad yesterday so I decided to make a batch of Chex mix.  It is always a big hit with the family.

Then I decided I needed to bake a double batch of my favorite shortbread cookies (recipe here).  Since it was a double batch I used my mixer to mix them instead of cutting the butter in with a pastry blender.  Now I'm done in the kitchen and the kids can take over for the weekend.

Baking and shopping............

My granddaughter 2 states away is moving again to one state away but only 30 minutes closer to us, still hours away.  I baked 2 batches of cookies and mixed dough for a third batch to send with family that will help them.  I hope the little ones will like the pretty color sugar I dipped the shortbread cookies in.

I also made a shopping trip to W*lm*rt to pick up some things my local grocery store doesn't carry.  Now I'm set for a month.

Here are 4 of the Coral Bell plants in pots waiting for a flower bed to be planted in.  I have one more variety that didn't make it into this photo.  It has large purple and green leaves.

One of the Hostas I dug up broke into about 8 pieces.  I put the 2 largest pieces into pots and they are very happy.  This Hosta is only about 10-12" tall but it spreads out to cover a large area.

I usually buy one new Hosta every year and this is the 2021 plant.  The leaves are both yellow and white with green.  I think I'm going to transplant it into a larger pot today because I'm betting it is really pot bound right now.

 

Baking roundup..........

Friday night I mixed the dough for one of the kinds of Kringlas that I make and yesterday morning I baked them.  I mixed the dough for the other kind yesterday afternoon and I will bake them this morning.

Last night I baked the pink Spritz cookies.  I plan on baking the chocolate ones today.  I only use Land O Lakes butter because it has the lowest water content.  Inexpensive butter has a higher water content and the cookies would flatten out and not hold their shape.  I also use cold eggs (yolks) and my dough always comes out good to use in my cookie press.

The last tray to bake was trees.

This is the best tray though, the broken or misshapen cookies.  I get to eat those right away.

A few days ago I baked the shortbread cookies.  They are a favorite of my great-grandchildren.

I hope to finish up the baking today so I can mail out a couple packages tomorrow.

 

The last 4 mug rugs..........

I spent most of the day yesterday baking and making fudge.  Last night I sewed the binding on the last four mug rugs that were quilted.  I will have all of the mug rugs for sale on my Wandaful Quilts blog.

I forgot to do the photo update on my wax bulb Amaryllis.  It is getting taller and no sign that it is going to open yet.  I showed it the last 2 weeks on Fridays.

In front of the  bulb are my shortbread cookies.  I made the green spritz cookies also.

It started snowing early last evening and now the really cold air gets here.  Luckily it isn't going to last long and we might be above freezing by mid-week.

Baking day............

I started out the morning yesterday with two batches of Chex mix.  I had done one batch the night before too.

Then it was a double batch of shortbread cookies.

Next was the chocolate Spritz cookies.  I made the plain ones the night before.

Here are the rejects, misshapen or broken cookies....I get to eat these.

Yesterday morning I noticed I have a red Christmas cactus blooming.  I thought this was a pink one but I hadn't marked it like I usually do.  It is a rosier red, not bright true red.

While I waited for butter to soften I brought up the colorwash that I designed earlier this week.

I have started sewing it together.  I got two more rows sewn on after I took this photo.

We are supposed to have weather in the 40s from now until Friday when the temperature will drop and maybe snow.  In fact they said we might hit 50 in mid week.

And more stars.......

Yesterday I wrapped gifts for the family party that will be held today.  Then I baked shortbread cookies.  I sewed 3 stars last night.  A few readers have tried to alert me to an incorrect center (like the one on the bottom left) but that is the way I planned it.  I have 5 different centers in all of the blocks.

My plan is to use 4 of this block, each rotated 1/4 turn from the previous one so the 4 together make a circular motion.  Now I'm wondering if I want to group all of them in sets of 4 with matching centers.

Sewing again............

I had enough pieces cut Sunday to start making the pieced blocks for the Karla Alexander quilt called The Square Within (in her Color Shuffle book).  These are the smaller of the 2 pieced blocks.

This is another group I made after I took the above photo.

The idea is to have many different sizes of the center piece in the block.  I have made 12 of 36 in the small category.  Then I will do the same thing with the larger cut pieces for another 36 blocks.

Someone in the family is going to visit the 3 great-grands that live a distance from here so I started baking.  These are the shortbread cookies.

Then later in the day I baked chocolate chip cookies.  It was in the 40s yesterday morning and 61 degrees in the house when I got up.  I don't want to turn on the heat yet because it is going to go up to the 70s starting Friday.  With the natural gas prices at an extreme high I can get by with baking and wearing flannel shirts to keep warm.