To Do Tuesday 12-28-21

Welcome to the last To Do Tuesday of 2021! I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas. Now, what are your plans for New Year's Eve?  It will be Party Town at our house - in our PJ's - haha! Let us know your plans and projects by joining the link party below.

Last week I had big dreams for my goals, but in reality a lot of time was spent in food prep for Christmas Eve brunch with our daughter and little grands. I thoroughly enjoyed myself in the kitchen, taking my time with homemade slider buns for the ham and my Granny Mitchell's sugar cookie recipe. Although my husband and daughter were both a little bit under the weather, we still had a great time together. The car racing tower was put together by Papaw and Everett, and it was the star of the day, along with sugar cookies!

Christmas Eve was a good day! 

Here is the list from last week:

1. Make progress on the Wedding Quilt

✅2. Spend Christmas Eve morning with our daughter and The Littles

✅3. Spend Christmas day at home or maybe we will go out to eat

4. Take down decorations and clean the house

5. Work on Pieces of the Santa Fe Trail - last block and layout

✅6. Make and post last Color Challenge block for 2021 - made the block but no post yet

✅7. Bind and do a post on Christmas wall quilt - done and posted here

We just relaxed after Christmas Eve and did a lot of reading (and eating!) This book was recommended by someone I follow on Instagram. Lots of twists and turns and a great read. Now I'm reading Firefly Season by Melanie Lageschulte, the 10th book in the Melinda Foster series. I love these "gentle reads".

If I can stop reading long enough, these are my goals for the coming week:

1. Wedding Quilt - cutting

2. Take down Christmas decorations

3. Pieces of the Santa Fe Trail - last block, layout, and post

4. Color Challenge layout and post

Now it's your turn! Can't wait to read what all of you have going on these last few days of 2021!

UPDATE: Inlinkz continues to have issues with the link for Marsha's blog, so I will provide it right here. Go give her some encouragement and blog love, since her daughter is in the hospital!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Christmas Eve Wall Quilt

Here is a quilt for our wall that I'm calling Christmas Eve. There was no particular pattern, I just put blocks together with some pretty fabrics!

I used a gorgeous Hustle and Bustle layer cake from Fort Worth Fabric Studio and A Countryside Winter fabric from Bernie's now closed Needle and Foot Etsy shop.

I could also call it "Perfectly Imperfect" due to turning one of the red and white "bowties" into an hourglass. And in spite of being careful sewing the blocks together, I did not see it until I started taking photos of the finished quilt. In the famous (and wise) words of my Mom "It will never be noticed from a galloping horse."

I used a Christmas plaid from Joann's as the sashing

I love the little houses, red birds, and pine trees on the Countryside Winter fabric

The black sparkly snowflake binding is another great find from Joann's

More sparkly snowflakes on the back - yep, it's from Joann's

Meander quilting

Quilt Details

Pattern: My own design

Finished size: 40" x 40"

Front fabrics:

Hustle and Bustle layer cake by Basic Grey for Moda

A Countryside Winter in Cream Snowflake by Lewis and Irene

Sashing and cornerstones:

Christmas plaid fabric from Joann's

Holiday Lodge by Deb Stain for Moda

Back:

Sparkly light gray snowflake fabric from Joann's

Binding:

Black metallic with snowflakes from Joann's

Superior Threads

Piecing: So Fine 50wt #503 Genoa Gray

Quilting: Fantastico 40wt #5170 Pixie Dust

And here is the Reason for the Season.

Merry Christmas!

To Do Tuesday Christmas Week 12-21-21

Well here we are with Christmas just 4 days away, whether we are ready or not! Join us for a linky party today and show us what you've got going on! Even if you have no goals other than to enjoy Christmas, we'd love to see your decorations or your projects or your neighborhood Christmas lights or your Christmas baking or your table decorations - everything is welcome. To add your post, just click on the link below.

Babysitting for the Littles while Mommy had an appointment - sweet times!

Goodies ready for delivery to City Hall and Police Department, the family drug store, and neighbors!

Over the weekend I made Danish kringle dough, Cathedral Windows candy, oatmeal white chocolate cookie dough, and snack mix. Yesterday morning everything got baked and packaged, and then we played Santa!

My goals last week:

✅1. Post about my SAHRR quilt, which is now a Christmas quilt - posted right here

✅2. Clean house for visiting SIL and nephew on Wednesday - we had a wonderful visit in our clean house!

✅3. Do a little babysitting on Thursday - See photo above 😄

✅4. Make a 36 x 36 Christmas wall quilt - Quilting is done, but it is 40 x 40, so hope it will fit!

Sneak peek at Christmas wall quilt

My goals this coming week:

1. Make progress on the Wedding Quilt

2. Spend Christmas Eve morning with our daughter and The Littles

3. Spend Christmas day at home or maybe we will go out to eat

4. Take down decorations and clean the house

5. Work on Pieces of the Santa Fe Trail - last block and layout

6. Make and post last Color Challenge block for 2021

7. Bind and do a post on Christmas wall quilt

Our daughter is bringing the little grands over for Christmas Eve brunch, then they will head back home (she is an hour away from us) for Christmas Eve services at her church. I'm so grateful for her good church family to support her during her divorce. We were planning to drive down to north of Houston (4-1/2 hours) to spend Christmas day and night with our son and family, but we decided not to make the trip and just stay home and relax. Christmas day will be exactly like our first Christmas - just the two of us!

What's going on at your house this week? Travel plans? Staying home in your pajamas? Just click the link below and share with us!  If you have any trouble adding your link or just need general instructions, please let me know - click the little envelope in the top right corner of this page and email me.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

All Roads Lead Home At Christmas - SAHRR Quilt Finish

This quilt is the result of the Stay At Home Round Robin (SAHRR) hosted by Home Sewn By Us the first part of 2021. During this event, various bloggers suggested borders to add to an initial block of one's choosing.

I chose as my starting block the Lynx Star by Lucky Penny Quilts, and it is a block I made in November 2020 after being inspired by Pieceful Wendy's block. That is the original block in the photo above, and you can read about my process of completing it right here.

The round robin began in January, and every couple of weeks various bloggers posted a suggested border to add. I made it through Round 6 before the quilt size started getting larger than I had intended. I ended up taking off one of the borders I had added because of some flaring issues I had, but I am very happy with the final result. All the suggested borders were lovely, but my favorite was prompted by Chris at Chris Knits, who suggested piano keys!

I found a great panel in my stash for the backing, and I used the quote on it as my quilt name. I pieced it with a dark sparkly snowflake fabric I found at Joann's (see Roseanne, I like sparkly too!) and some of the red checked fabric from the front border. As much as I love the front, the back is my favorite part of the quilt - it's just so cozy!

My "signature" meander quilting (haven't mastered anything else yet!) was done with Longmire, the HQ Simply Sixteen. When we purchased Longmire, the store where we bought it gave me a generous store credit, which I recently applied to the purchase of the Quilt From the Back Kit! This will enable me to use an occasional pantograph for something different, while I (hopefully) master more free motion stitches.

I liked the panel selvage so much, I left it on!

We both love the back so much we decided we needed a Christmas quilt on our bed!

Quilt Details

Main Pattern: Lynx Star by Lucky Penny Quilts (pattern is under revision and is not available at this time)

Finished size: 45" x 49"

Fabrics

Front: Various Christmas fabrics from stash

Back: Holiday Lodge Panel by Deb Strain for Moda and sparkly dark print from Joann Fabrics

Binding: White and off-white sparkly snowflake print from Joann Fabrics

Superior Thread

Piecing: 50wt So Fine Genoa Gray #503

Quilting: 40wt Magnifico Shiver #2164

 

I hope all your roads lead home at Christmas!

To Do Tuesday 12-14-21

Welcome to To Do Tuesday! Eeeek, I can't believe it's so close to Christmas! How are you doing on your get-ready-for-Christmas list? Yesterday we finally got our decorations out and started decorating the house. My husband's sister and nephew are coming for a visit tomorrow, so we got it done just in the nick of time.

May I say a word about how much I enjoy To Do Tuesday? I read all your posts, where I laugh, cry, find inspiration, and always feel a connection with you as I get to know you through your blogs. I am very grateful to have that opportunity to experience the friendship and kindness you each offer each week, so thank you! If you are reading this post, then please join in the fun, whether it's for one day a year, or each week. You don't have to be a quilter, you can post about anything you'd like to share, and you are welcome to join us. Find more information by clicking on the To Do Tuesday in my sidebar.

 

 

Here is part of the Christmas decorating I did on Monday

Here is the list of my goals last week: 

✅1. Make photographs of my finished project and schedule my Virtual Christmas Cookie Exchange post for Thursday December 9! Posted right here

❌2. Finish quilting Indian Corn - poor Indian Corn, still patiently waiting

❌3. Make new Pieces of the Santa Fe Trail block and post

✅4. Quilt and bind SAHRR and hang in entry hall - finished but put on our bed instead - looks great!

❌5. Cut pieces for a wedding quilt for my great-nephew

 

 My plans for the coming week:

1. Post about my SAHRR quilt, which is now a Christmas quilt

2. Clean house for visiting SIL and nephew on Wednesday

3. Do a little babysitting on Thursday

4. Make a 36 x 36 Christmas wall quilt

And now it's time for you to link up! Tell us what you've been up to and what you are planning for this coming week, and go visit other blogs to see lots of holiday goodness!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

2021 Virtual Christmas Cookie Exchange Blog Hop!

Welcome to the 2021 Virtual Cookie Exchange Blog Hop!

Come on in and have a cookie and some Irish coffee or hot cocoa..

 

It's time for Christmas carols and Ho-Ho-Ho and good cheer and jingle bells. And with that in mind, it's also time for the Virtual Christmas Cookie Exchange! A big thank you to Carol of Just Let Me Quilt, who has hosted this fun event for several years. When I saw it mentioned by Pat at Life In The Scrapatch, I wanted to join in and Carol graciously agreed. Be sure to click on the links below to see other blogs participating for Christmas inspiration and cookie recipes. I'm sharing my recipe for Gingerdoodles below!

For those of you who are reading my blog for the first time, I want to invite you to come back for our weekly event - To Do Tuesday! We love to read about your tablescapes, cross stitch, embroidery, crochet, knitting, quilting, photography or anything that you would like to share. Click on the To Do Tuesday logo  or in my sidebar for more information!

 

Runner photo from the internet

For my project, I had planned to finish up a Christmas quilt I have in my UFO pile, but I decided instead on a runner for our entry table. I found a picture of a runner I liked on the internet and away I went!

I absolutely love log cabins, but I always have trouble sewing them together in the correct order. After a few stops and starts I made four blocks and joined them like the photo I had found, then added a border and a pointed edge. I wanted a runner that would drape softly, so I left out batting and fashioned a backing to fit. Some in the ditch quilting and a binding and it was a finish!

 

Here is a peek at the back

Quilting was mostly stitch in the ditch, some cross hatch, and a couple of decorative stitches

from my Janome, all done with variegated red and green thread

 

A perfect fit for our entry table - all ready for Irish coffee and hot cocoa

Runner Details

Pattern: My own design based on an internet photo

Finished size: 18" x 54"

Fabrics

Esprit de Noel by French General for Moda

My Christmas stash

Jo-Ann Fabrics

Mary Engelbreit Cranston Village

Superior Threads

Piecing - 50wt So Fine #402 Pearl

Quilting - King Tut #1002 Holly and Ivy (variegated)

And here is the best part of my post - cookies! Everyone has a favorite recipe for molasses or ginger cookies, and this one is mine. I updated a recipe I've used for years called Mrs. Ekoff's Molasses Cookies, and it is from our old church cookbook. I added ginger and rolled them in a sugar/cinnamon mixture, and now they are Gingerdoodles! They are buttery and chewy with slightly crisp edges and are fragrant with molasses and ginger. If you would like to make her original molasses cookies, you can read my original post about them on my old blog right here.

 

Gingerdoodles

Makes about 26 cookies*

 

6 tablespoons Crisco Butter Flavor Shortening

6 tablespoons salted butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup molasses

2 cups unbleached flour

2 teaspoons soda

Scant 1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

 

Topping - mix together:

3 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Cream shortening and butter until smooth, add sugar and mix until fluffy. Add egg, vanilla, and molasses and mix until light in color. Whisk together flour, soda, salt, and spices; add gradually to batter and mix well. Scoop and form into 1" or 1-1/2" balls*. Roll in cinnamon/sugar mixture and place 4-5 inches apart on baking pan prepared with parchment paper. Bake in 350 oven 8-10 minutes. Cool in pan until firm, then remove to wire rack or to mouth. ;)

* I weigh the scooped dough at 1 oz, and then roll into a 1-1/2 inch diameter ball. For that size I leave in the oven the full 10 minutes.

 

I am belatedly linking this post to Alycia's Finished or Not Friday!

 

 Be sure to visit these other blogs participating in the cookie exchange for December 9!

Just Let Me Quilt

Home Sewn By Us

Food For Thought

Just Sew Quilter

Ms P Designs USA

Quiltscapes

Creative Latitude

That Fabric Feeling

To Do Tuesday 12-7-21

UPDATE: The link is OPEN! I mistakenly input 12:01PM instead of 12:01AM. Thank you for bearing with my mistakes!

 

It's time for To Do Tuesday, where we share our assorted projects and cheer each other on for the coming week! If you are reading this post, then you are invited to link up your post at the linky button below. We love reading about your creative ventures, so join in if you have something to share  -  tablescapes, cross stitch, embroidery, crochet, knitting, quilting, photography - whatever sparks your creativity!

In honor of Pearl Harbor Day!

This is the week for the 2021 Virtual Christmas Cookie Exchange. Carol is the host, and head over to her blog Just Let Me Quilt for today's lineup. Don't forget to come here Thursday to see my contribution!

 

 

Sneak peek at my project for the 2021 Virtual Christmas Cookie Exchange

 

Last week my goals were to get a bunch of things finished - I did pretty well:

❌1. Finish quilting Indian Corn

✅2. Make Color Challenge block for November and post later today - posted here

❌3. Make new Pieces of the Santa Fe Trail block and post

✅4. Finish Virtual Christmas Cookie Exchange project and get post ready

✅5. Post my finishes - here and here

❌6. Quilt and bind SAHRR quilt

✅7. Work on Christmas stitching projects

 

Bought a pattern and fabrics at my local quilt shop at 30% off!

 

And my goals for the coming week:

1. Make photographs of my finished project and schedule my Virtual Christmas Cookie Exchange post for Thursday December 9!

2. Finish quilting Indian Corn

3. Make new Pieces of the Santa Fe Trail block and post

4. Quilt and bind SAHRR and hang in entry hall 

5. Cut pieces for a wedding quilt for my great-nephew

What are you working on this week?

 

UPDATE:

For those of you who tried to post early, I had mistakenly

put "12:01 PM" in the time slot instead of AM - sorry about that!

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter