Good-bye 2017--Hello 2018!

The 2018 challenge from Elizabeth Ravenwood (Ravelry)

So excited to knit this Shetland Lace Shawl throughout the year!

Too bad I didn't have Shetland fiber on hand but I am 

spinning a lovely roving.

I purchased this 80% Polworth 20% silk roving last January

at our annual spinning conference.

This is a special edition as it is undyed--Gale

usually has wonderful dyed yarns and fibers.

This is spinning quite nice!  Love the feel of the fiber through my fingers!

Am getting such a fine yarn, which will be a good 2 ply.

There are a couple of other 2018 Knit Alongs that look interesting.

Like this Year of Cables MKAL by Elizabeth Ravenwood (Ravelry)

This begins Janaury 20th.

And there will be another Shetland Lace Sampler too from

Toni L Lorenz (Ravelry)  Shetland Lace Sampler will be available

to knit January 15.  I'm looking for Shetland lace yarn.  The

tradition of the Shetland lace scarf should fit through a wedding ring!

I better find a BIG wedding ring!  :-)  

It's a free Cowl KAL from Heather Anderson (Ravelry)!

Let The Celebration Begin!

Brown Headed Daughter Arrives tonight!  The Doctor will be in the house!  She'll be here till December 29th--I'm taking a brief time off from blogging to visit with her and enjoy the season with
the blond headed daughter, SON, grandkids, hubby and brown headed daughter!

From my house to yours!

May your holiday be blessed with family, friends, 

fun, fellowship, food, Father Christmas, Festive

activities, and much love

I send to you a big bouqet with hugs of joy

That the reason for the season is

Jesus---Oh Joy!

And with our chili pepper tree, this

blog sends you greetings of great 

happiness.

See you back here December 31!

Celebrate the season!!

Step by Step----Day by Day.......................

It's a busy time of the year and of course, I'm baking, wrapping, shopping,

meal planning, etc. etc. etc.

As you are as well.........

But, I'm also working on a couple of projects--

This is weekly one and this is step two and three

combined

It's lots of 2" square corners--sew, cut, press

Also, all the 240 5" long ones are finished and

200 2"x3" ones are done!!

This is for Bonnie Hunter's 2017-18 mystery--

I'm loving the color choices I made (that's

unusuaometimes)

This is daily one and I'm here on day 5--well, I would have been

futher along if I hadn't taken off the first yarn I selected--

just didn't like the way it felt in my hands

That yarn felt so rough and I thought "why am I knitting

this pattern each day and hating the yarn?"

Back to the stash bin to find a better yarn--might not be

the best color, but it sure feels good in my hands!

This is Advent scarf through Ravelry,

there were many choices for Advent things this season--

hard to choose..........

Step by step; day by day we continue our journey.....

A Walk Through Memories

Every year around this time in December, I get out my litte

weather beaten Betsy Clark Recipe book and browse through

my old recipes

This book holds many memories of our 1976 Christmas--

December 16 our house burned to the ground and

soon after friends, family and neighbors rallied around

to create for us a Christmas like we would never forget

on so many levels!

Recipes from far and wide were collected and presented to

me in this recipe book and to this day, I use most of

them as fond thoughts of those who contributed.

And when I read the recipes, the names of the authors

are shared--many have departed this earth, others

moved to other places; I've lost contact with others

but each name is a person that I hold dear in my heart

There is even one from my brother's first wife--don't

know if I've ever used her recipe though--but, it's

in my book as memories of her--Some from my 

mother-in-law, who was a great cook!

Some recipes come from interesting locations--

and recipes I thought I would never eat

have become standards in my menus

Here in this little book lies all that is needed to know

about the warmth and love that surrounds you in times

of need.  I think on those who have lost their homes in

the Texas floods and California wildfires--just one

small recipe can make a world of difference when

presented in a collection from many.

Which recipe would you contribute to their book of love?

Quilt History Challenge..........

Civil War quilt BOM 

These Snowballs Won't Melt!

Temecula Quilt Company has the coolest

pattern for a snowball quilt!

and these snowballs will definitely not melt!

Thes quantities listed will make a 52" x 60" finished quilt.

This is an easy quilt to make larger by making more 

blocks or adding a border.

But on the other hand, these snowball cookies will melt ~~

in your mouth!

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups finely chopped pecans

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup  Butter softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

How to make

1. STEP 1
   Heat oven to 325°F.
2. STEP 2
   Combine all ingredients except powdered sugar in bowl. Beat at low speed, scraping bowl occasionally, until well mixed.
3. STEP 3
   Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 1 inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 18-25 minutes or until very lightly browned. Cool 5 minutes; roll in powdered sugar while still warm and again when cool.

So Many Stars....................

I love Star blocks!  This one came from 

From My Carolina Home--

great tutorial to use your Christmas theme fabrics.

And how about these fabulous stars!?

Such a cool way to create star points

This comes from Cluck Cluck Sew

I can see Christmas 2018 in my future---

Christmas Season Recipe

Sorry--I didn't post the recipe for my Christmas cookies!

This recipe is at least 40 years old--don't remember

where I picked it up or found it--

I have such miss shaped cookie cutters--the kids had a 

big laugh trying to figure out what shape they were eating!

Oh, well--  here is my 'old' recipe:

2 cups shortening (I know! but don't use butter!)

3 cups sugar (sometimes I use a little less--or maybe

I'm not so precise in my measuring)

4 eggs

1 tsp nutmeg (fresh grated is the best!)

1 tsp vanilla or almond flavoring--I think the almond over powers

the nutmeg

6-7 cups flour

Beat sugar and shortening together till creamy!  Beat in eggs, add vanilla

now add dry ingredients--flour, nutmeg, vanilla

Add flour till it forms a stiff dough--form into a ball, wrap in

plastic wrap and chill at least one hour!

But, in my case, I chilled a week--forgot about the dough..........

roll out and cut into shapes.

Here is my little secret--I use powdered or confectioners sugar

instead of flour to roll out--

bake at 400* 8-10 minutes, but each oven is different.

And don't forget that last batch in the oven

like I did!

Let the Baking Begin........................

Somehow, and don't ask me how, I got in a baking mood--

didn't matter that the house is a wreck--workmen coming 

and comiing--

I decided to make my Christmas cookies! and

the best part of the recipe is the fresh grated nutmeg

Just something about that little bit of nutmeg that adds to

the flavor, also could be the bourbon aged vanilla that added also.

Dough is resting in the refrigerator--these are cut out cookies

Yum!  Yum!  A plate goes to our grandson!

Another saved recipe that I found in the bottom of

my shopping bag is one that I'm recreating too.

This recipe comes from one of our award winning

local bakeries--Ooh La La--Oatmeal chocolate pecan

cookies!  Delicious!  

We took a plate to our grand-daughter's office as

they have been slammed with all the Hurricane Harvey

damage remodeling.  They deserve a cookie break!

One Year Long Challenge-----Completed!!

Finished!  My year long challenge for Elizabeth Ravenwood's Estonian Lace Scarf (found on Ravelry) is finished!  

Every year Elizabeth has a new challenge--I try to have handspun

each time--I used this wool/silk blend

I had already spun--you can see the bits of brown

and then when it came time to spin up more, I decided

I didn't want the brown so took our the brown areas to get a

nice clean look with blues and greens

I like to use beads, although the pattern calls for nupps

too--I just replace the nupps with beads

Another year long challenge is complete and ready to wear!

Dishtowel Weaving Adventure Continues

AT November monthly weavers study group meeting, we enjoyed

looking at handwoven towels from our past to learn about

our future weaving.

We continued our conversation about hems.  Interesting how each

weaver approaches the task of hemming our handwoven items

Here is one way to put a decorative edge--hem stitch and then turned

up to finish the hem

Hems are all sizes

Here is hem stitched towel for great look--this technique

is done on loom

Here is an extra wide hem

Hem that is embroideried after hemming

An example ofa really bad hem, done on the sewing machine

No care was taken on finishing--don't let htis happen to you!

Neat hem sitched down with needle and thread

We looked at many different types of woven towels

to learn about techiques that would give us a good

hem

How do you decide on the width of the hem?

should it be narrow?

Or wide?

Skinny?

Some hems include hang tabs woven in 

How will you handle the next hem on your handwoven towel?

Two more samples of woven in tabs.

Our next discussion will be on warp setts and fiber content.