Tuesday, December 1, 2020

Virtual Cookie Exchange and Christmas Blog Hop

 Ho Ho Ho

Who doesn't love cookies?


Can you believe it is already December 1st?  Where has the time gone?  We have been through many trials and tribulations this year, some of them devastating, but we are here today in each other's company, enjoying a bit of seasonal fun.  Well done, us!  I'm sure I'm not the only one who is appreciative of all our fellow quilters and artists who have contributed so much of their time and self  to bring us a little comfort and joy during difficult times.  Thank you, sister quilters, and thank you, Carol and Carla, for hosting these hops this past year, and for helping to keep our hands, hearts, and minds busy.  God Bless You All.

And now to share my contribution to the Virtual Cookie Exchange and Christmas Blog Hop hosted by Carol of Just Let Me Quilt

I'm sure Santa won't be able to resist these delicious chocolate chip cookies when he stops by this Christmas Eve.  This recipe comes from my lettering teacher, Lindsay Ostrom, Creator of Cuteness.  These are basically oatmeal cookies chock full of yummy goodness like Rice Krispies, milk chocolate chips, and chopped nuts.  Your kitchen will smell heavenly while these are baking in the oven!  The recipe makes a boatload of cookies to share, but you will want to make a second batch just for you.



DOUBLE DOODLE COOKIES

Step One
Mix together --
1/2 cups oats (I use 1-Minute)
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
a generous shake of cinnamon

Step Two
Mix together in another bowl --
1 cup unsalted butter (I use salted butter because I prefer it)
2 large eggs
3/4 cups packed brown sugar
1 Tablespoon real Vanilla (Lindsay adds an extra splash)
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice

Step 3
Combine the oats and flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix together.

And the best part
To mixture add
3 cups milk chocolate chips
1 - 2 cups Rice Krispies
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts or pecans

Dough can be chilled 2-4 hours before baking if desired.

Drop teaspoon-sized mounds on parchment paper and bake at 350 degrees F for 9-12 minutes.

Serve with ice cold milk.

YUMMY!!!


I love to cook, but I can make the biggest mess imaginable!  For my project I made a Christmas apron.  This was a panel apron called Sugar and Spice.  It was created by Karen Tye Bentley for Northcott fabrics.  


These little panel aprons go together so quickly.  The directions suggest folding back the edges and topstitching, but I actually lined mine for a little more protection.  (Like I said, I am messy!)  


The neck and apron ties can be a little tricky to turn right side out after stitched, so I used an old seamstress trick my mother taught me.  I've made reference to this before and was asked how to do it, so I'm taking this opportunity to share this trick.

Once your ties are sewn, insert a wide straw inside fabric tube as shown. (They actually do make wide cylinders to buy in fabric stores for this purpose.)

Scrunch up tie on straw.

Using a pen or long dowel, begin pushing the scrunched up fabric through the straw.


The tie will come out the other end of the tube right side out, ready to sew to your apron.  


Thank you so much for stopping by today.  I hope you will try the Double Doodle cookies.  They really are scrumptious!  

Be sure to visit all the other bloggers in the list below for more yummy treats and inspirational projects.


December 1

Creatin' in the Sticks

Doreen – Just Let Me Quilt Guest

Bumbleberry Stitches

Home Sewn By Us

Quilt Schmilt

Food for Thought

Life in the Scrapatch

Ms P Designs USA

Just Sew Quilter

Cathie's Craftworks

Cynthia's Creating Ark

 December 2

MooseStashQuilting

Karen's Korner

Sew Many Yarns

Selina Quilts

Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life

Days Filled With Joy

Words & Stitches

Just Because Quilts

Beaquilter

December 3

Quiltscapes

Websterquilt

DayBrook Designs

Karrin’s Crazy World

Samelia's Mum

Songbird Designs

For The Love Of Geese

Stitchin At Home

Dreamworthy Quilts

That Fabric Feeling

 December 4

Just Let Me Quilt

Quilt Fabrication

DesertSky Quilting

Seams To Be Sew

Happy Cottage Quilter

Pumpkin Patch Patterns & Quilting

The Darling Dogwood

Kathleen McMusing

Scrapdash

 

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe holiday.

Merry Christmas!!


Monday, October 26, 2020

FROM THE HEART Blog Hop

 


Welcome to the second day of the From the Heart Blog Hop, the brainchild of Carol of  Just Let Me Quilt.  Thank you, Carol, for hosting this fun and inspirational hop.

From time to time, we all want to give a little gift to someone who has done us a kindness, and it's always more special if that gift is handmade.  Carol's idea for this hop was to share small projects we can make and give as gifts.  Of course I had to join the fun, but I was so excited to see the great projects made by everyone else!

For my project, I made a Composition Notebook cover.  


I like to keep a stash of these inexpensive booklets.  They are bound and have about 100 pages of either lined or grid paper.  (I personally like the grid paper.)   I keep quilt ideas in one, recipes in another, to-do lists in another -- their uses are endless.  

These are great little notebooks, but they are not very pretty.  My grandkids use these in school for taking class notes, and by the time they reach the last few pages, the books look pretty dogeared.  As my project I thought it would be nice to make some pretty covers for my grandkids' school notebooks.




I made my cover like I would a quilt, with a top, backing, and binding.  There are all sorts of videos on YouTube on how to make these covers, so I won't bore you with how I made this one.  

One of the most important things to remember when you are making one of these is to measure the book you are covering.  They are not all the same size!

I added a pencil holder to the front of my cover and side pockets to the inside flaps.





I did some simple and quick quilting in the ditch to the front of my cover, then placed the backing on top of this and pinned it in place.  I cut my binding strips at 2 1/2" and sewed around the cover.  







Since this is a gift for my granddaughters, I am covering the notebooks with some scrapbooking paper (front and back) and gluing a nice picture to the front.  


Thanks so much for stopping by!  I'm going to pour myself another cup of coffee and go see what great projects the others are doing.  Won't you join me?

October 27

MooseStashQuilting

Just Because Quilts (you are here)

Day Brook Designs

Karen's Korner

Quilt Schmilt

Kathy's Kwilts and More

Karrin’s Crazy World

Words & Stitches

Vroomans Quilts

Sew Many Yarns

Songbird Designs

Samelia's Mum





Sunday, October 18, 2020

Halloween Hoppin' Blog Hop

2020 HHBH

 BOO!

And welcome to the Halloween Hoppin' Blog Hop hosted by Marian at Seams To Be Sew.  Thank you, Marian, for putting together this fun and inspirational hop for all of us ghoul fiends! 

Today is the first day of this SPOOK-tacular hop, and I'm excited to show you what I've been working on.  We won't be handing out any treats this year because of Covid 19, so I focused my attention on decorating the inside of the house.

I found a cute trio of ghosts on Pinterest created by Bloomin Minds.  The dining room table needed a spot of festive color, so I created this bats and ghosts table runner.  They look friendly, don't they?  (I was going to applique fangs on the bats, but I didn't want anything scary.  We've had enough scary this year.)  


I drew the ghosts on a long strip of white cotton fabric with fusible backing underneath.  Once the ghosts were adhered to the background, I sewed around them in black to keep them secure and to give them some definition.  Their eyes are different sizes of black buttons.  Because I wanted their happy grins to stand out, I outlined them with Tulip Slick paint.  The bats were cut out and fused to the background, then outlined in white thread.  

So that's it for my Halloween project.  I am so glad you stopped by, but don't stop now -- there is lots more fun ahead.  Below is a list of the participants in this fab-BOO-lous hop that have brewed up some delightful treats for you.  

Monday, October 19

Samelia's Mum
Just Because Quilts
MooseStashQuilting
Orange Blossom Quilt Design Studio
Ms P Designs USA
Morning Glory Designs

Scrapdash

Tuesday, October 20

Songbird Designs
Elizabeth Coughlin Designs
Slice of Pi Quilts
Just Let Me Quilt
Appliqués Quilts and More

Wednesday, October 21

Words & Stitches
Kathy's kwilts and more
Count It All Joy
Quilted Diary
Flying Parrot Quilts
Seams To Be Sew


Tuesday, September 22, 2020

Hello Fall Blog Hop

When Carla at Creatin' in the Sticks announced she was hosting a hop for Fall, I just had to join.  Fall is my favorite time of year, when cool breezes blow out the summer's heat and brings us such fabulous colors, tastes, and smells.  Can't you just smell the spiced apple cider?  Thank you, Carla, for hosting yet another great blog hop.

 

I am so excited to share with you today my Fall project.  I chose to make a simple table runner accented by embroidered leaves.  


From my scrap pile, I cut 2 1/2" squares from various Fall-colored fabrics and made a checkerboard design using dark fabric squares in between the colorful pieces.   You could choose any number of squares to make your own table runner, but for mine I used 7 squares wide and 13 squares long.  



I cut 2 pieces of a neutral-colored fabric approximately 9" x 15" and embroidered an outline of Fall leaves on each piece for the ends of my table runner.  The black jumbo rickrack added a bit of movement to this otherwise super simple design.



I had a large scrap that worked perfectly for the backing, then bound the completed runner in black.


This was a super easy project that I think looks great on my table, and is one I can leave in place from September through November.  (The chances of that are slim.  Once October dawns, my thoughts turn to spooky and my decorations will reflect that.)

Well, that's it for me, but don't stop now -- go see what wonderful projects my fellow talented bloggers have created.  And don't forget to visit Carla at Creatin' in the Sticks for a chance to win a gift certificate from Fat Quarter Shop.



Thank you, Carla, for hosting this fun and inspirational blog hop.