Blooming in time for Christmas..............

The first blooms are open and there are going to be five on this stalk.  I took this photo in the morning yesterday and another has opened fully since then.

The points of the petals are white and the rest a beautiful red.  This bloom is 7" across.

I filled my three bird feeders late Wednesday and there  have been a lot of birds braving the cold and wind.  It got up to -3 degrees yesterday.  They are in the Viburnum bush outside my kitchen window here.  I trim the bush down every spring because it blocks my view of the back garden and then by fall it has grown back up again.

 Even Jack Frost didn't linger in the -9 degrees overnight to make an intricate design.  This one is pretty simple though still pretty.

Yesterday I packed the last of the cookies in boxes for my local family members and then I had 7 containers to wash in addition to the Chex Mix bowl and pan.  

Today I will do some sewing.  I need to press the big X blocks made with the Kaffe stripes so I can sew that top together before the end of the year.  Also on the slate is finalizing the borders for the Sunday only project.

Stocking finished............

 I knew I needed to go into the studio early yesterday and finish the Christmas stocking before I did anything else and it was finished by 1 p.m.  It took me about 4 hours total to make it including time looking for the fabric, looking for the embroidery pattern and then the embroidery and all of the cutting and construction.  I took my time and didn't have to rip out any stitches.

While I was making 2 more batches of Chex Mix for the local family members I sorted my large Kaffe collective scraps.  I was looking for some that will work in Colorwash (pile on lower cabinet, low volume lights and everything else (large prints, duplicates).

Here are the low volume prints spread out a little more.

There was one more group, the small scraps.  Some of them will get cut into triangles soon.

Yesterday it was 28 degrees in the morning and the snow started around 9 a.m.  We didn't get much snow but it was blowing around with the strong winds.  By 10:30 last night it was down to -8 degrees.  Next Thursday they are predicting 47 degrees; so much variation in our weather.

Stocking progress........

I decided to reposition the embroidery a little lower on the Christmas stocking so the design wouldn't be so close to a seam.  I still have to make the cuff and embroider the name on it.  I was tired last night and decided I should wait until morning to tackle that part of it.

The lining is a modern Christmas print by Alexander Henry, lots of cute animals.  I like the lining to be light so you can see down into the stocking.  

Yesterday I paid all of the bills for the rest of the month, picked up a few groceries I forgot on Monday and delivered a Christmas gift to my sister-in-law.

Snow will start today and now they are down to 2-5" of light fluffy snow and high winds.  I'm happy their early predictions of 6-14" isn't happening here.  Now IN and MI is where the most will land and they always seem to get more than us.

Time to make a Christmas stocking..........

It took at least an hour to look through my Christmas embroidery designs to find an appropriate one in the right size for this Christmas stocking.  Then another hour looking for all of the thread colors it called for.  When an embroidery is going to take over an hour to stitch out I want to be sure I have the recommended colors from the designer of the embroidery.

I'm going to have to move the stocking outline to the right another  quarter to half an inch to get the embroidery placement better.  I used an erasable pen to draw it.  I'm using old blue jeans to make the stocking.

The Amaryllis is going to be red.  It opened a little more during the day yesterday but I don't think it will be in full bloom for a couple more days.  Photo taken with daylight from the east window.  It is really a prettier red than this.

Update on the "big storm" they have been predicting with early reports of 6 - 14" of snow.  Now it is down to 2 - 5" because the main part of the storm is going farther east than they first thought.  The worst news is -5 degrees Friday morning with a high of 3 degrees during the day and high winds.

I think the last 2 blooms on the red cactus are going to gone before Christmas day.  No new buds have formed on any of the rest of the plants.  I think I only have 3 that haven't bloomed at all out of the 15 I have.

 

A day to slow down................

Yesterday I got the two packages mailed in the early afternoon and then did a little grocery shopping.  Sunday was such a busy day I was ready to just veg out for a few hours yesterday.

Finally last night I chose thread and started quilting the colorwash I showed last week.  I have 7 rows quilted in the ditch in one direction.  There are 7 more seams in this direction.  If I decide I need to quilt the other direction too there are 14 more ditches to sew in.  

Now they are talking about 6 - 10" of snow starting Thursday and all day Friday.  Very cold for Christmas Eve and Christmas day.  They can't pinpoint exactly where the heaviest snow will be yet.  They have projected 17" at O'Hare airport in Chicago.  That will surely disrupt a lot of family parties.

It's all about the treats...........

First up was baking the second kind of Kringlas with the chilled dough.

You can find recipes for almost every baked thing I show by going up to the search box in the top left corner of the blog and type in recipe or the name of the treat, such as Kringla.  Another way but a longer journey would be going to my label list on the right side bar and click on Food.

The second was the chocolate spritz.  It is a little harder to tell when they are baked just right because they are already dark.  I have burnt some in previous bakings because I thought they weren't done and they definitely were.

These are made with the recipe in the original 1950s Betty Crocker cookbook.  We were able to buy the book through our home ec. class. (click to enlarge photo)

I use my Kitchen Aid mixer to mix them and don't work the flour in with my hands as is in the recipe.  I was glad they put the number of ounces of chocolate to melt because it is 4 squares for 2 oz. now compared to packaging back in the 50s when 2 squares was 2 oz.

Next was fudge.  The recipe isn't on the Marshmallow Creme jar any more.  I had to go to the internet to find it.

Next was English Toffee Squares.  I had nuts on my shopping list last week and still forgot to buy them.  Most of my family likes them without the nuts.  I have posted the recipe for this previously.

The last item to make for the day was one batch of Chex Mix.

Now I have the variety I need to mail 2 packages.  I will make more Chex Mix today while all of the ingredients are out.

I should be able to start quilting my colorwash today.  I watched the weather forecast last night and now they are predicting a huge storm with 6" of snow for us on Thursday into Friday.  However they show the storm track a little south of us.  Time will tell.

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.