Across My Kitchen Table

Breakfast for supper

2012-02-09T08:28:00.000-05:00

(Photo by Taste of Home)

We always enjoy having breakfast foods at supper time, and I often plan one meal like this per week. On Tuesday night, we enjoyed a couple of old favorite recipes. I actually would not be likely to make these omelets at breakfast time, as they involve too much fussing to do early in the morning. They are easy enough, but they involve several dishes and several different steps.

Here is the omelet recipe: Layered Omelets with Cheese Sauce. These omelets are baked in the oven in pie pans. To serve them, you cut them in wedges (2 per serving) and layer them on the plate with cheese sauce between the layers and on top.

Any sort of potato dish would go well with these, but I chose an old favorite, Oven Potato Wedges. I most often serve these with hot dogs and beans, burgers, etc. but they are good with breakfast foods too. I chose them this time because they bake for an hour in the oven unattended, so I could do other things while they cooked. Always a plus in my book! I enjoy cooking, but I almost always have something else I'd like to do with any extra time.

Any vegetable would go well with this menu. I love frozen veggies, especially the asparagus stir-fry blend and other blends of unsauced vegetables. But I had been given some baby bok choy, so I stir-fried that to go along with our omelets this time. What a yummy meal! Maybe your family would like to try these recipes, too.

A healthy, delicious supper!

2012-02-08T10:29:00.001-05:00

(Photo by Taste of Home)

Back in November, I took advantage of a $5 subscription offer from Healthy Cooking magazine. I have received two issues so far and am very pleased with the magazine. It has fantastic recipes and some interesting articles. In the first issue, which was December/January, in the quick and easy section for suppers, I found these two recipes: Chicken Sausage with Peppers and Cheese Smashed Potatoes. They were suggested as main dish and accompanying side dish. I made this meal for my dad (I cook for him several times a week) and also for Mr. T and myself, and we all enjoyed it.

The only thing I changed with the sausage recipe was to use all orange peppers instead of different colors. I had been given some orange peppers, and I don't quibble with colors on free food! In the potato recipe, I had only russet potatoes so used them, and I did peel them as the outsides weren't too appetizing-looking. And, I was out of shredded cheddar, so I substituted 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese for the 2/3 cup cheddar, reasoning that as it is a sharper, more flavorful cheese I could get by with less. Both substitutions worked out just fine -- and I must add that no one could taste the cauliflower in the potatoes. Both of these recipes are "keepers" for me. Hope your family enjoys these if you try them out!

Weekly Goals 2/5/2012

2012-02-06T14:13:00.001-05:00

(Photo taken February 4!)

During the last few days of January, I finally identified some goals for 2012, and I also reached the conclusion that it would be a good idea to set a few weekly goals that would help me to reach the yearly ones. My intent is to try and do a "Weekly Goals" post every week and also to recap how I did with the previous week's goals. Obviously I can't post a list of everything I hope to accomplish in a given week; I will just post a few weekly goals that line up with the yearly ones. So here is this week's list:

1. Memorize Psalm 19:7-10.
2. Read one chapter in Essential Virtues.
3. Exercise 3 to 5 times.
4. Plan healthy menus; cook healthy meals.
5. Declutter for 1 hour in computer room.
6. Make 8 small craft items for gifts or possible sale.
7. Work ahead on study for next Sunday School lesson.

Now, as to how I did last week. I only fully accomplished 2 of my seven goals -- planning healthy menus and writing to faraway family. I partially accomplished 3 of the seven goals, involving Scripture memory, decluttering, and crafting. I had planned to memorize 5 verses and only managed two, but went on to a different passage for this week to stay with the program I'm trying to use. I only spent about 15 minutes decluttering and crafted 3 of the small items. And 2 of my goals -- exercise and reading -- were not accomplished at all. So I am definitely hoping for a better week this week!

Delightful giveaway at Prairie Flower Farm!

2012-02-06T09:17:00.000-05:00

(Photo by Prairie Flower Farm)

Yes, Linda is having another sweet giveaway this week. She is giving away this delightful set of salt & pepper shakers in the shape of a teapot and teacup. Aren't they sweet? The giveaway ends on the 11th, so head on over to Prairie Flower Farm salt & pepper giveaway and get in on the fun!

Teatime Table Runners

2012-02-04T15:41:00.000-05:00

Some years ago, my mother gave me a bag of vintage handkerchiefs. Some had been mine as a child, some had been hers, and I think some are even older than that. She had kept them in a fabric bag in a dresser drawer all those years. I just don't believe in doing that with heirlooms -- stashing them away so that no one, not even the person who stashed them there, ever sees them or enjoys them. I have always wanted to put these hankies to some good use, and had actually planned to make them into a quilt. I was so determined to do this that I had found a free pattern I wanted to use and had even bought the fabric for the quilt. I had even tried sewing several of the vintage hankies into the center of the quilt blocks. But as much as I wanted to make the quilt, I just couldn't get enthused about the project or get off the ground with it. I don't know if other people ever feel this way about projects, but sometimes I do. It just wasn't looking as nice as I hoped, and, truth be told, was somewhat of a boring project. (Hope my grandchildren never read this, as they are not allowed to use the "B" word.)

This year, I came up with the idea to use some of the hankies to make a table runner instead. I wanted to make more of these for gifts, so I decided to use the kids' hankies that had been mine as a child in blocks for a sample table runner and see how it all worked out. I decided to use the hankies as "doilies" or "napkins" under various tea-themed items such as teapots, teacups, etc. which I would applique out of coordinating fabric. Well! It took quite awhile, and some time on the part of several craft forum friends, to find enough motifs to use for the tea-themed items, but in the end, I ended up with more than enough ideas.

I made the runner for myself this summer, and it turned out quite well even using the cartoon-themed hankies and the brighter colors. It was a fun summer project.


Half of the more colorful runner

The second half of the colorful runner

I planned to make two more, one for each of my daughters, for Christmas. The hankies for theirs are some of the prettier floral designs, plus others. I managed to get one runner done in time for Christmas, and finished the second one in mid-January. Now that it is safely in Carrie's hands, there's no more need for secrecy and I can share pictures.

Half of the pastel runner

A simple cup of tea

A cupcake

The other half of the runner

Stack of teacups

Teakettle ~ love the unusual design on this hanky

A simple teapot

Teapot with teacup ~ I got the inspiration for this design from a motif on a child's tin tea set!

Hope you have enjoyed this look at my tea-themed table runners! I am so happy to have found a use for those vintage hankies so they can be seen and admired at last.

The oldest UFO

2012-02-04T11:46:00.000-05:00

Yes, I think this was it ... the oldest unfinished object in my craft room. I can't tell you what a great feeling of accomplishment it was to finally cross this off my list after 30+ years.

My husband used to love playing chess. At the time I started this project, he was in the process of acquiring a set of collectible chessmen. I had seen this nifty chessboard needlepoint rug in a magazine and decided that he needed to have one as a fitting backdrop for his chessmen. I sent away for the pattern, yarn, and canvas needed. There were no craft stores in our area then; just a department store or two that did sell craft supplies, but nothing like this.

A closer look at the medieval village border; you can see the color difference in the inner tan border to the upper right.

Partway through the project, I ran out of one color of yarn for the inner border. I matched it locally as best I could (there were only a few inches to go) and continued on. And, after a number of years (I can't even remember how many), I finally finished the stitching. Meanwhile, my husband almost never played chess anymore and has never even used the collectible chessmen now residing in the attic.

This shows a corner motif. Two are trees, and two are suns.

The rug, folded in a pile with other UFOs, grew old and tired looking as it waited for me to figure out how to finish it. A couple of years ago I decided to finish it, but it was dusty and creased so I tried washing it. I figured if it got totally destroyed, I could then throw it away with a clear conscience. Well, it didn't get totally destroyed. But the canvas disintegrated on two opposite sides of it into fringes several inches long. I refolded the rug and returned it to the pile; it obviously couldn't be finished using any simple method.

This year I determined it would be finished. If nothing else, the grandkids would enjoy playing checkers on it. So I took it in hand. The intact edges were sewed down on the back of the rug. The fringed edges were taped down with yellow duct tape on the back. Then I cut a piece of light green felt to fit the back and sewed it in place to protect the stitching. Finally, to tie everything together, I crocheted a black edging around the entire rug.

Finished at last! Bring on the checkers!

Cinnamon Almonds ~ a healthy snack

2012-02-03T09:11:00.000-05:00

The other day I was browsing through one of my favorite Jane Brody cookbooks, Jane Brody's Good Food Gourmet, and came upon a recipe for cinnamon-toasted nuts. I had bought a bag of wonderful whole almonds at a terrific price a couple of weeks ago, and had been wondering just how to use them other than snacking on them plain. Jane's recipe calls for both almonds and hazelnuts, and uses double the quantity that I used. I chose to only make half the recipe because I wanted to be able to use some of my almonds for something else.

I must emphasize that these almonds are not a sweet, glazed type of snack. They are plain and simple, roasted almonds dusted with cinnamon. The only sweetness comes from the nuts themselves and the cinnamon. But you might find, as I did, that they make a satisfying, healthy snack (in moderation, of course) that will help you stick to a healthy eating plan.

Here's the recipe:
CINNAMON ALMONDS
1 cup whole almonds
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400º. Spread out the almonds on a baking pan. Sprinkle the cinnamon over the almonds and stir to combine. Toast for 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. Cool before eating or storing. I put mine in a little jar and they are retaining their cinnamon flavor nicely.

February 1

2012-02-01T11:34:00.000-05:00

... and, in the dormer window by my crafting desk, a somewhat confused Christmas cactus.

(Photo was taken on Monday so it is even prettier now.)

I noticed on Monday that a blossom was coming and turned it so that side of the plant was away from the cold window. What am I to think? This cactus has bloomed at odd times before, including Halloween, Thanksgiving, Civil Rights Day and St. Patrick's Day. Maybe it's a holiday cactus .. it will still be blooming tomorrow on Groundhog Day! No matter, its cheery color and exuberant blossom brightens up this dreary winter day.

Goals for 2012

2012-01-31T09:34:00.001-05:00

Finally on the last day of January I can post a list of goals for the year. It seems to have taken me this long to find a few quiet moments to reflect on 2011 and to think through my goals for 2012. I used the goal-setting questions from SimpleMom.net to get my thinking going. They suggest five categories and so I have chosen to use those as well.

The first is PERSONAL GROWTH. I want to work (again) on the character qualities of perseverance, unselfishness, and self-control. There's been progress in each of these, but I have a long way to go. I want to grow (even more) in the area of trusting God in every circumstance. Again, there's been good progress but I can learn to make trust my first response rather than my second one. I'd also like to begin a Scripture memory program, read more books, and continue working on Bible studies. It seems to me that nurturing creativity is part of personal growth -- at least for me -- and to that end, I want to spend time crafting, both for gifts and for my home. And I want to persevere in finishing what I start!

The second category is PHYSICAL HEALTH. For this category, I would like to exercise between 3 and 5 times per week, get enough sleep, drink more water, and cook and eat with health in mind.

The third category is MARRIAGE & FAMILY LIFE, which includes homemaking. I would love to declutter the entire house this year. (That had been a goal last year that didn't get met.) I also want to take advantage of time with my husband, planning regular date nights and periodic getaways. We are anticipating a visit from faraway family this year, so I also want to plan carefully for their visit.

Fourth category: MONEY MATTERS. I would like to spend less on groceries this year. To bring in a bit of extra income, I am considering selling some items at craft shows and fairs this fall. For that to happen, I must craft extra items each month, so I am thinking I will make a dozen or so items monthly. Another eventual goal is an Etsy shop. I also could put much more time and effort into my A-Store. Decluttering may also reveal some items we could sell.

Lastly, RELATIONSHIPS OUTSIDE THE HOME. I would like to be more of an encouragement and help to my aging mother-in-law and my dad. I would also like to be more of an encourager to my friends and to the ladies in my Sunday School class.

WEEKLY GOALS
Several of my friends are setting weekly goals in order to help them reach their yearly goals. This sounds like a good idea to me and makes those big goals much more doable by breaking them down into smaller parts. So here are a few goals for my week:
1. Memorize Psalm 119:1-5.
2. Read 1 chapter in Essential Virtues.
3. Exercise at least 3 times this week.
4. Plan healthy menus.
5. Spend 1 hour decluttering in computer room.
6. Craft items for possible sale/gifts.
7. Write a note to faraway children/grandchildren.

Reflections on 2011

2012-01-30T11:26:00.000-05:00

How did January move so quickly? Here we are at the next-to-last day of the month, and I haven't yet posted about any goals for the new year. Dare I say I haven't even written any down?

Before I posted about goals, I wanted to post about reflections on 2011. I saw some reflection questions for 2011 from Simple Mom and thought they would help me get thinking. Furthermore, I felt that reflecting on 2011 might help me in my goal-setting for 2012. I'm still not sure about that, but thought I would post the reflection questions and my answers anyway. So here they are. I will put my answers in italics for easier reading.

Reflection Questions for 2011
1. What was the single best thing that happened this past year? I was going to say the birth of a new grandchild in August. But for the single best thing with eternal consequences, I would have to say the new birth -- a decision for Christ -- of two grandchildren, a 5-year-old in July and an 8-year-old in August.

2. What was the single most challenging thing that happened? Having my husband spend days and weeks away from home for work.

3. What was an unexpected joy this past year? Having my two oldest granddaughters here for much of the summer.

4. What was an unexpected obstacle this past year? My biggest obstacle is clearly myself -- I tend to get in my own way.

5. Pick three words to describe 2011. Challenging. Exhausting. Rewarding.

6. Pick three words your spouse would use to describe your 2011 (don't ask them; guess based upon how you think your spouse sees you). Challenging. Tiring. Stressful.

7. Pick three words your spouse would pick to describe their 2011 (again, don't ask them). Challenging. Exhausting. Worthwhile.

8. What were the best books you read this year? I didn't read a lot of books, but the best was easily What Do I Know About my God? by Mardi Collier.

9. With whom were your most valuable relationships? My husband, my daughters, my granddaughters, and two good friends.

10. What was your biggest personal change from January to December of this past year? I realized that I could get through anything in God's strength and with His help. I have been through extremely hard things in previous years and thought I already knew this, but I learned it in a new way while my husband was working away from home.

11. In what way(s) did you grow emotionally? In general, I was able to trust God, not my wildly wavering emotions, and was able to keep my emotions under better control. This was an answer to my ongoing prayer to grow in emotional stability.

12. In what way(s) did you grow spiritually? I definitely deepened my knowledge of God as revealed in His Word, and was reminded again that the better we know God, the better able we are to trust Him. I also learned, more than ever before, the truth of 1 Corinthians 10:13, that God will not allow us to be tested above what we are able, but will, with the temptation, provide a way to escape so we will be able to bear it.

13. In what way(s) did you grow in your relationships with others? I grew closer to my granddaughters as they spent so much time here during the summer. And I grew much closer to my husband; we were especially encouraged by a couples' retreat we attended in October.

14. What was the most enjoyable part of your work (both professionally and at home)? Being able to exercise creativity and also making things orderly.

15. What was the most challenging part of your work (both professionally and at home)? Using my time wisely.

16. What was your single biggest time waster in your life this past year? Procrastination.

17. What was the best way you used your time this past year? Writing, studying, encouraging, and teaching (both ladies and granddaughters); also, visiting faraway family.
18. What was the biggest thing you learned this past year? Not anything new, but again that God is trustworthy for every situation we face in life.

19. Create a phrase or statement that describes 2011 for you. "Another opportunity to trust the Lord." This is not an original phrase with me; I borrowed it from Elizabeth George's fantastic book, Loving God with All Your Mind. But it fit my year so perfectly, I decided to use it.

Now to think these things through in relationship to my goals. Hope I can share something concerning my goals tomorrow, while it's still January!

Winter decorating

2012-01-27T16:08:00.001-05:00

"January" garland made by my friend J.

It's a wintry weather day up here in northern New England today! Snow, sleet and freezing rain have been ongoing since last evening. Now it's mostly rain, but is still not much above freezing. There are a multitude of icicles on every little twig. Wish I dared go out and take some pictures, but I don't -- our driveway is a sheet of ice. So I'll show some pictures of indoor winter decorating instead!

This is the centerpiece I had on the dining room table until I finished the frosty pillar candles. The basket looks like it is carved from ice. The snowflakes have a vintage look and are made from stiff glittery cream-colored felt with red or silver tinsel centers.

Part of one hutch shelf. Just a plastic house I painted and put it under my little cake dome. Plastic reindeer from my childhood.

Cabin was a school project one of my girls did. The wooden tree and the cute mice just seemed to go with it.

A card I found years ago (and bought for myself) and little papier-mache snowman baskets. They are a bit glittery and have orange felt noses.

I painted this little set of papier-mache boxes to resemble a full size set of boxes I had seen painted to resemble a snowman. I had forgotten all about this until I found it this year.

Adorable dollar store snowmen from years gone by.

Glittery blue church ($10 deal at Marshalls last year!), the glass basket filled with snowflakes, and family heirloom ironstone soup tureen

Frosty pillar candles again ~ love these!

Winter ribbon board in the front hallway

Some of my lighted houses -- love that woodchopper wiping his brow and the other one eating lunch, with a squirrel for company. The sawmill was a gift from my daughter and her hubby years ago.

Love the needlework and quilt shop! The lady just leaving the shop is an after-Christmas find this year for 78¢ or so. She could be me, leaving the needlework shop with a happy spring in her step.

The lady and little boy just leaving the crockery shop are new this year too, for the same clearance price. Looks like the little boy wants to go by and see the sawmill in action.

On my winter garland, snowflake mitten made by the amazing Linda Stubbs from Prairie Flower Farm.

One of the sparkly snowflakes on my garland

The pinecones and berries are part of this garland. I've had it for years and add trims for every season.

This ornament, a gift from my mother-in-law, is on a corner of my ribbon board for winter.

Snowflakes and a vintage card

Tin ice skates and cards with skating scenes

And back to the village to see the public library. One of my favorites. It's so much fun to watch my grandchildren (even the older ones) enjoying this little village. I've found some of my littler ones lying on the floor looking into the lighted windows!

Hope you have enjoyed this look at our winter decorations. We need to keep icy, glittery snowmen and snowflakes for awhile yet to help us tolerate winter, which will be with us several more months!

Fabric Giveaway at Cotton+Wood!

2012-01-26T11:25:00.000-05:00

(The fabrics pictured below are from my stash and are for illustrative purposes only. They are not the fabrics being given away at Cotton+Wood.)

I made coasters (seen below) from some of my stash fabrics!

I love fabric; it's an established fact. Years ago, my family gave me a magnet reading "I'm a Fabric-holic!" and it was quite true. Even today, my daughters know that a sure-fire gift for me is a selection of fat quarters or half-yard pieces of a variety of fabric. But I think I can probably now say that I'm a recovering fabric-holic. I tend not to buy fabric unless I have an idea of what I will use it for. And I've done a fairly decent job of using up fabric from my stash.

Still, I must admit that my heart beats a little bit faster when I see some wonderful fabric online or when I read about a fabric giveaway like this one: Fabric Giveaway at Cotton+Wood!. Maybe you too would like the opportunity to win some new fabric. If so, head on over to Cotton+Wood and get in on the fun!

Tomato Chicken Rice Soup

2012-01-25T11:22:00.002-05:00

(Photo by Taste of Home)

I tried a new soup recipe last night and we really enjoyed it, so I thought I would share the link. You can find it here: Tomato Chicken Rice Soup.

I should note that I changed a couple of things. First of all, I skipped the step of browning the flour at the beginning -- in fact, I skipped the flour completely. I achieved the slight thickening of the soup (which may not even be necessary) by way of reserving 1/2 cup of the water until the end of the recipe and mixing 2 Tablespoons cornstarch -- the equivalent of 1/4 cup flour -- into it. Then I stirred this into the simmering soup at the very end.

The other thing I changed was the herbs. I was running low on thyme and I don't care for large amounts of that herb anyway. So I substituted 1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning (which typically contains both of these herbs in addition to others) for the oregano and thyme.

We thought this soup was absolutely delicious and I will be likely to make it whenever I have some leftover cooked chicken on hand. Perhaps your family would enjoy this hearty soup as well!

What are some of your favorite soup recipes?

A sparkly winter centerpiece

2012-01-24T11:00:00.002-05:00

I came across this beautiful idea on Homespun with Love and immediately knew I had to try it before winter was over. It's a centerpiece made with these Frosty Pillar Candles.

All of the components, other than Mod Podge®, may be found at Dollar Tree. You may even have things like pillar candles and glass plates already around your house. I had to buy the candles and plate, but had Epsom salts and Mod Podge already on hand. The greenery I used is vintage plastic greenery (with a touch of glitter) from the 1950s. I knew I had been saving that for something! I gave it the Epsom salts treatment too. The only word of warning (and this may not bother you, but just in case) is that once you get all three of those candles unwrapped and in close proximity to one another, the aroma is just a bit overwhelming. It might even be prudent to set the centerpiece outdoors or on a porch for awhile, just to let the scent dissipate for a bit before displaying it.

Have fun with this idea! I certainly did, and a friend suggested these would be nice to do in red and pink for Valentine's Day. I just might have to try that!

Cran-apple sauce

2012-01-23T14:42:00.000-05:00

(Photo by Taste of Home)

I've been meaning to post this link for some time. We enjoyed this delicious sauce with our roast pork for Christmas dinner, but it would be nice with turkey or a roasted chicken as well. Here is the link: Cran-Apple Sauce.

We loved the flavor of this fruity applesauce. However, I didn't puree the sauce as the recipe says to do; I just mashed it a bit with a potato masher. So the batch that I made didn't have the smooth appearance of the one in the picture. But if you think you would like your cran-apple sauce better if it was silky-smooth, then by all means go right ahead and puree it. Enjoy this yummy recipe!

A hearty soup for a cold winter day!

2012-01-21T12:22:00.002-05:00

(Photo by Taste of Home)

A few weeks ago, I found a small package of cubed ham in the freezer and was trying to decide how to use it. I remembered this great Cheddar Chowder recipe I used to make years ago. So I tried it again, making the recipe somewhat lower in fat, and we really liked this soup. Hearty and comforting on a cold day! I have changed the recipe so much from how it was written in an old A Taste of the Country cookbook that I will just write it out the way I made it.

CHEDDAR CHOWDER
3 cups water
3 cups diced potatoes
2 cups diced carrots
1 to 2 cups diced celery
1 medium onion, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
3 cups milk
6 Tablespoons flour OR 3 Tablespoons cornstarch
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup (or more) cubed ham

In a large soup kettle combine water, potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 10 to 15 minutes or until carrots are nearly tender. Do not drain vegetables or turn off stove burner.

Shake together the milk and flour until well combined. I like to use one of those Tupperware® plastic shaker gadgets. These only hold 2 cups, so I did 1 1/2 cups and 3 Tblsp. flour to start with and then did the remaining 1 1/2 cups of milk and 3 Tblsp. flour. (If you prefer to use cornstarch, it will work better to stir the cornstarch into the milk until it is smooth.) In either case, flour or cornstarch, slowly stir the milk mixture into the simmering vegetables. Continue stirring and cooking until the soup has thickened.

Stir in the cheddar cheese until melted; add the cubed ham and heat through.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

This is becoming one of our favorite winter soups! I hope that you and your family enjoy it, too.

A small flurry of handmade gifts

2012-01-18T11:51:00.000-05:00

I still have one belated Christmas gift which I'm working on. But I thought I would show pictures of the last few more-or-less handmade items that I gave. You'll see why I say "more-or-less" in a minute.

Quite a few years back, I came up with a small "puzzle kit" gift for kids which really seems to go over quite well with kids and parents too. Basically, it's a small-size child's puzzle from the dollar store or Walmart, packaged with a packet of microwave popcorn and one of hot cocoa mix. (If you know kids who can't eat popcorn, or their family doesn't have a microwave, you can just adapt this by using animal crackers, fruit treats, or something else instead of popcorn.)I designed Christmas packaging for the packets and a little instruction tag for the kit. Sometimes I will design new packets specifically to go with a a certain puzzle, like Cars, Toy Story or Thomas the Tank Engine. Here is the blog post where I tell about how to make the kits. Puzzle Kits

And here are some of the kits I gave this year. I tied them all together with some candy-striped yarn I found at a dollar store in Nevada.

I also made some more "His Eye is on the Sparrow" embroidered pillowcases. These are a slightly different design from the ones I did last year.

Here's where to find the bird designs: Bluebird Embroidery Designs. And, if you would like to read my post from last year about using the designs in other ways, plus learn exactly how I transferred the designs to the pillowcases, you can find that here: Bluebird & Sparrow projects.

Lastly, I did several crocheted pot holders. My daughters use these as hot mats on the table, and they keep them in a drawer, so I eliminated the hanging loop on these. This is the pattern I use: Scalloped Potholder. This easy pattern can look so different depending on your color combinations. I saw one done in red & white which I really loved. Future project!

In Christmas colors

The reverse side of the hot mat below

More Christmas colors

The variegated color in the next few is called "Winterberry". I actually only made 2 mats, but they are double-sided.

Hope you have enjoyed this look at a few little crafted gifts!

Homemade granola bars

2012-01-17T11:50:00.004-05:00

This Christmas I tried a couple of new-to-me recipes from my favorite recipe newsletter, Cook & Tell for some of my kitchen gifts.. I had these in mind particularly for a friend and a grandchild who must avoid gluten and wheat. The first recipe, which can be found here:Date-Nut Casserole Cookies, contains no wheat and is actually more of a sugar-plum like confection than a cookie. The second recipe, Ashley's Granola Bars, did call for wheat germ but I left it out and added coconut instead.

Both recipes are very delicious and they both freeze well. They are very handy to keep in the freezer in tins or plastic containers for when a little snack is needed. Here's the granola bar recipe:

ASHLEY'S HOMEMADE GRANOLA BARS

2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
3/4 cup flaked or shredded coconut
3/4 cup sunflower seeds
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup dark corn syrup
4 Tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sliced or slivered almonds, toasted
8 to 10 ounces dried fruit, chopped

Preheat the oven to 400º for toasting. In a large bowl, combine the oats, coconut, sunflower seeds. (I added the almonds here, also, so they could toast at the same time as the other things.) Spread mixture on a shallow pan and toast for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Line a glass baking dish (I used either a 9-inch square or an 11x7 oblong, I forget which) with waxed paper. (Be sure to leave overhanging wax paper on the sides so you can more easily lift out the whole mass for cutting later.) Spray the waxed paper with cooking spray.

Combine the brown sugar, honey, syrup, butter and salt in a medium heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, stirring frequently, till the mixture thickens and will drop off a metal spoon in a single drip. Remove from heat and add the vanilla. Stir in the toasted ingredients. Add the fruit (and almonds, if you toasted them separately). Press the entire mass evenly into the waxed-paper-lined sprayed dish. Cool for 2 hours.

Remove from dish to cutting board and peel off the waxed paper. Cut into small bars and wrap individually in plastic wrap. The amount of granola bars will depend on how small you cut them, but I got a good number from the recipe.

As mentioned, the recipes came from Cook & Tell. I did adapt the granola bar one somewhat. Hope you enjoy these recipes if you try them!

A few more sewing projects

2012-01-13T12:25:00.000-05:00

Here are the last few pictures of sewing projects I made for gifts. Still have one gift to finish so can't show a picture of that yet. And, I have a few other miscellaneous gifts to show, but these are the sewing ones.

For a little grandson, I decided he needed his own little library tote. His older siblings have these. They are made from dish towels and are easy and fun to make.

I actually bought the dish towel for this while we were visiting their family. I always give a book when I give a library tote.

If you want to try making some, here's the link: Little Library Totes .

For my newest little grandson, I had to make a name banner to go along with the Happy Birthday banner I made for his family last year.

Half of the banner

The second half. I have no idea why these photos are so different in size; maybe because I had to stand far back to get all of "Birthday" in. This project came from Alicia Paulson's wonderful book Stitched in Time.

I also made a "dogbone" pillow for his mom's birthday which was just after Christmas.

I was trying to sort of replicate a pillow she already owns which gets a lot of use. This one turned out to be a bit smaller.

You can see the print sort of coordinates with the pillowcases I made for her and her hubby for Christmas.

Also, I previously showed a couple other sewing projects on my Christmas blog. One was these little purses.

You can read about them here: Little Purses.

These are made from the little fabric pouches that some pillowcases come packaged in. This is the front of the purse.

And this is the back of the purse. I made these for my two youngest granddaughters.

And then last of all I made some more felt food.

Orange, cherry and lime felt popsicles

Felt Christmas cookies

You can see more pictures and read about that here:More Fun with Felt Food.

And there you have (for now) the last of my Christmas sewing projects!

A few more handmade gifts ~ barley hot packs

2012-01-12T12:37:00.003-05:00

January 1948 in northern New Hampshire

At our house we love these barley hot packs -- or, as we call them, simply "barley bags". They are terrific for soothing sore muscles, cramps, etc., or just for warming up a cold bed at night. In the old days people would heat bricks on the wood stove to serve that latter purpose. My husband (who is not that old) actually remembers doing this. Now, heating a barley bag in the microwave can achieve the same result. You can find the instructions for making them here: How to make barley hot packs.

This Christmas I thought it would be a fine idea to make my two older granddaughters their very own barley bags. I was right. They were thrilled and put the hot packs to use that very night. One hot pack was red plaid:

And one was green plaid:

And I have since made a third one since they thought their mom would like to have one too.

As I mentioned in the directions, I think, over time the barley can take on a scorched aroma. When that happens, you can open up the place where the bag was hand-stitched shut, dump out the scorched barley, put the empty bag through the washer and dryer, add fresh barley, and stitch it up again. I just did this with one of ours. Just like new again!

The pictures can't really convey how warm and cozy these flannel hot packs are. If it's cold in your neck of the woods, you might want to whip up a few of these!

Reading through the Bible

2012-01-09T14:25:00.000-05:00

Again this year, one of my goals is to read through the Bible. I've done this a number of different times using various methods; you can read about some of them here: Reading Through the Bible. I mentioned in that post the staggering statistic that only 5% of Christians have ever read the Bible in its entirety. That is so hard to believe, when you consider how important God's Word is and how we are commanded to search the scriptures. For years I was one of the 95% who had not read the Bible through. Finally I came to the place where I set that as a goal for myself. That was many years ago, and now I have read it many times over. Last year I decided not to read through the entire Bible, but just to read through the Gospels repeatedly. I thought it would be a really good reminder to me of how Jesus handled ministry and the problems of and interactions with people. It would have been, too, if I had stuck with it, but for whatever reason on the second or third time through I got bogged down in the book of Luke. So I determined that in 2012 I would read through the entire Bible again. It's been great! I'm using a 52-week plan from Revive Our Hearts which breaks the readings down by genre -- prophecy, poetry, history, etc. It's similar to another plan I've used in the past, but this one is much better organized. Revive Our Hearts offers a number of free Bible reading plans. You can check them out here: Bible Reading Plans. It's still January, not at all too late to jump into reading through God's Word. You will be glad you did!

Embroidered dish towels

2012-01-06T08:32:00.002-05:00

Here's another of the handmade gifts I made this Christmas. These tea towels were sent to faraway friends who live and work in an RV park on the west coast. They liked these a lot and have them displayed in their kitchen. My friend told me she's not using them to dry dishes just yet!

These are just ordinary flour sack towels from Walmart (cut in half and raw edge hemmed). For the vintage camper design, I used the Camp Out transfers available from Sublime Stitching. Although the edgier designs on this site don't appeal to me, some of the transfer sets like Camp Out, Forest Friends, etc. are cute. I have used this camper design a bunch of times and the transfer is still working perfectly.

For the fabric trim, I followed this tutorial at Sew4Home: Fancy Border Tea Towels. For this project, I chose to use only one fabric for the border. When I used the same pattern earlier, for trimming bistro towels for my giveaway last fall, I used the two fabrics. Here is how that looks:

Embroidery is so much fun ... and I love dish towels! Guess I have simple tastes.

Vintage style pillowcases

2012-01-05T10:03:00.001-05:00

I thought I would share some of the handmade gifts I sewed for this past Christmas. A few years ago I found this wonderful tutorial: How to Make a Vintage-Style Pillowcase
on Pleasant View Schoolhouse
and loved it. One neat thing about it is that you can use a more plain or utilitarian fabric for the actual pillowcase and then use a small amount of something more special or fanciful for the trim.

I have made quite a number of these pillowcases for gifts since finding this pattern. I usually leave off the rickrack, which makes it even easier. For me the most difficult part of making these is just working with the large expanse of fabric it takes for a pillowcase, and cutting it to the right size. I made a tracing paper pattern to use, and that does make it easier, but I still struggle with it. Once the fabric is cut it takes very little time -- between a half hour and an hour -- to put one of these together. So, here are some of the ones I made this year:

For a two-year-old grandson, a transportation print

With a vintage-y rose border. I had no idea one could find tea-dyed fabric by the yard, but I found this (the solid) right in Walmart. The rose print came from there too, from their clearance fabric. The ribbon came around a box of chocolates and was a perfect match!

And then there are these! I love this snowy village print!

I am longing to make several sets of these for myself -- maybe even a set for every season. Perhaps this will be the year I manage to do that!

Turkey Tetrazzini

2012-01-03T14:38:00.000-05:00

(Photo by Taste of Home)

I've been meaning to post about this for a good month, but I had plenty of other things to post about in December so decided to wait on sharing the recipe.

We had a small group (and a large turkey) for Thanksgiving, so we had lots of leftover turkey. I wanted to make something different, in addition to turkey sandwiches, turkey salad, and of course turkey soup. I can't believe I've never tried making Turkey Tetrazzini before this year, but apparently I hadn't, as I had to google a recipe for it. I found a very good one here: Turkey Tetrazzini at Taste of Home. We thought this casserole was absolutely delicious, and it is a light recipe as well, though it certainly tastes rich enough. I used whole wheat spaghetti and it was great.

If you happen to have leftover turkey frozen from the holidays, you might like to try this too!

A blessed New Year to all!

2012-01-01T07:42:00.000-05:00

God bless thy year!

Thy coming in, thy going out,

Thy rest,

Thy traveling about,

The rough, the smooth,

The bright, the drear,

God bless thy year!

~ Old English Blessing

Mr. T and I would like to wish all of my readers and friends a happy, healthy 2012. Every new year holds challenges, opportunities, blessings, and even heartaches for each one of us. May this year be one of spiritual growth and encouragement for all of us!

Delights of December Day 31 ~ A Christmas card "kissing ball" project

2011-12-31T09:15:00.000-05:00

Wow, it is hard to believe we have gotten through 31 days of December. I hope that you've all enjoyed this little series of posts as much as I have. For the final one, I want to share another project from the archives ~ a colorful Christmas card ball. Many of my readers have seen this, but I imagine there are also many who have not. Years ago when I was a young mom, a friend of my mother's shared this craft idea with me. I have made many of these in the forty years or so since then. If you like, you could even make a non-Christmas decoration out of it -- just use wintry scenes and perhaps just silver and blue Christmas balls for trim along with glitter.

It's true that a kissing ball usually incorporates mistletoe or greens of some sort. However, in our family we hang this colorful decoration made from old Christmas cards in a doorway and we call it a "kissing ball". One of the kids started calling it that, and the name stuck. My husband persists in treating it as if it were mistletoe.

This project is a tiny bit time-consuming in waiting for glue to dry, etc. but it is very easy and a lot of fun to do.

You will need:

Old Christmas cards

A compass or a 3-inch jar lid (for tracing circles)

A pencil or pen

Ruler

Scissors

Mucilage-type glue (the kind with the spreader top)

Paper clips

Glue stick

Glitter

Miniature glass Christmas balls

Tacky glue

Heavy gold (or other) cord for hanging ball

To begin, draw a three-inch circle or two on the back of a Christmas card, and cut these out. These will be your templates. It's a good idea to have more than one, because they get a bit worn down and out of shape if you keep using the same template over and over. You need to also draw an equilateral triangle that just fits inside a 3-inch circle, and cut that out. This triangle will be your template for folding the circles later.

Next, using your circle templates, draw 20 three-inch circles on Christmas card fronts. Try and center the card's picture (or the part of the picture you are using) in the circle. You may be able to get more than one circle per card, depending upon the design. Cut out the circles.

The next part sounds tricky, but it really isn't that difficult. Once you begin, you will understand how it works.

First, make the top of the ball. This takes 5 circles. Using your triangle template, trace a triangle on the back of each circle, with the point uppermost. You will want to make sure that your design is right side up, with the triangle's point at the top. Now, fold along the lines you just made. Crease them well. What you will have is a triangular design framed by half-circle flaps on all three sides.

Now it's time to glue. Take the first two circles and place them side by side with the points of triangles next to each other at the top. Apply the mucilage-type glue to the back of two adjacent side flaps and glue them together. Secure with paper clips which will hold the flaps together until they dry. Continue until all 5 pieces are glued together. Then glue the two remaining side flaps together. You will see that this forms a cap-like piece, or maybe an upside down bowl. Paper-clip the last two glued flaps and set the piece aside to dry.

Next, make the bottom of the ball with 5 more circles. This time, trace your triangle so that the point is at the bottom of your design. Again, be sure the design is right side up, but with the triangle's point at the bottom. Fold and crease as before.

Glue as for top, but this time you glue them side by side with the points of triangles next to each other at the bottom. Paper-clip the flaps together as you glue. Finished bottom piece will resemble a bowl. Set aside to dry.

Now make the middle section, using the remaining 10 circles. This time you will trace 5 triangles with the points up (design right side up) and 5 triangles with the points down (again, with the design right side up). Fold and crease as before.

As you have probably guessed, the positioning and gluing of the middle section is different from the top and bottom. Place a point-up triangle next to a point-down one, and so on, alternating between the two. Glue and clip adjacent flaps as you go. At the end, glue and clip the remaining flap of the last piece to the unglued side flap of the first piece. Set aside to dry.

(Are you thinking this is a lot of work? It's simple work, though, and I promise the finished product will be very pretty.)

When all three pieces are dry, remove all of the paper clips. Don't put them away, though -- you'll need them again.

Now, glue the bottom flaps of your top piece to the top flaps of the middle section, paper-clipping as you go. And then glue the top flaps of the bottom piece to the bottom flaps of the middle section, again paper-clipping as you go along. Set the completed ball aside to dry.

When it's dry, now is the time to add glitter. (Remove all of the paper clips before proceeding with this step.) You can use whatever color glitter you like. I usually use gold or silver, but one time, for an elderly aunt who collected Santas, I used all Santa cards for the ball and used red glitter. Anyway, to add glitter, hold the ball over a disposable pie pan or other throwaway container. Use the glue stick to add glue to each flap of the completed ball, and then sprinkle the gluey surface with glitter. Shake off excess.

Now, for the finishing touch. You've probably noticed that there are openings where the folded circles don't quite meet. You are about to fix that! For each of these openings, dip the hanger end of a miniature Christmas ball in tacky glue. Carefully insert these glued ends into each opening except for the opening at the top of the ball.

Make a loop of cord to use as a hanging loop. Tie the cord ends in a sturdy knot. Dip the knot in tacky glue and carefully insert the knot into the opening at the top of the ball.

Set the ball aside until all the glue is dry.

Hang your new decoration in a hallway, window, or from a ceiling fixture -- and enjoy its festive sparkle!

Although the ball doesn't show up really well in this picture, you can see how nice it looks in a doorway.

* I should add that you can also make these smaller, by using 1 1/2-inch circles, and hang them on the Christmas tree. You wouldn't add the miniature ornaments to these, but probably just glitter. If you wanted to put something in the tiny spaces where the flaps meet, you could easily use beads. *

Sam's snowflakes

2011-12-30T16:35:00.000-05:00

My grandson Sam learned how to make snowflakes this year. One day he and his brother and sister came to visit us for a few hours and brought along plastic bags full of construction paper snowflakes to show us, all made by Sam except for a few made by his mom. Later, they went home and hung them all up. I borrowed this photo from his mom's blog to show you how nice they all look.

(Photo from Life on a Back Road)

But Sam really wanted us to see how he made the snowflakes, so his mom reminded him of how to fold a couple of sheets of construction paper while they were here, and Sam proceeded to make us two red construction paper snowflakes. They resided on the round oak table in the living room for days. Finally, I got around to hanging them up, one from each wagon wheel light fixture.

This picture didn't come out too well, but you get the idea.

A much better look at one of Sam's snowflakes. Isn't it interesting?

Thank you, Sam! They are some of the most creative snowflakes I have ever seen!

Delights of December Day 30 ~ 2 pretty projects using recycled cards and/or gift wrap

2011-12-30T10:53:00.000-05:00

Here are two more Christmas-card projects that are quick and easy! One is a pin, the other an ornament.

For either project, start by finding a small Victorian motif on an old Christmas card, a gift tag, or a scrap of wrapping paper. (I have seen several wrapping papers that are basically a collage of Victorian motifs.)

Glue the motif to posterboard or thin cardboard and let dry.

Carefully cut around the edges of the motif through both paper and the board it is glued to.

To make a pin, hot-glue a pin back to the back side of the cardboard, centering it near the top.

Coat the front of the motif with mod podge at least three times, letting it dry between coats. If desired, sprinkle glitter on the motif before the last coat of mod podge dries.

When the mod podge is completely dry, glue metallic cord, braid, or other trim around the outside edge of the glued piece to frame your motif. Home-Sew is a wonderful source for this sort of trim, and typically sell assortments of it by the bagful. If you join their Sample Club (which is free to join) they will send you samples to look at every few months, which are available at very good prices indeed.

I made my pin round and ran a thin metallic cord around the outer edge. I was quite pleased with the way it came out, but my son persisted in referring to it as my "panic button" so I didn't wear it too often!

I cut the design for this pin from a gift tag.

For an ornament, you would follow the same steps, only instead of a pin-back, hot-glue a loop of gold cord to the center back of the cardboard near the top. Take a clump of tinsel or garland and hot-glue it to the center of the ornament at the bottom. This is a great way to recycle tinsel or garland that has become too worn to use on your tree anymore.

I made my ornaments rectangular or oval, trimmed the edge with decorative cord, and glued a tassel made from tinsel to the bottom center of one ornament. I want to make more of these. The photo shows two of the oval ornaments.

Oval Victorian ornament on the tree

Rectangular ornament on the tree

A second oval ornament on the tree

Obviously, you need not stick with a Victorian theme for these. I can see them in a lodge/woodsy effect too, trimmed with twigs, little pine cones, greenery, etc. Hope someone else has fun with these ideas!

Delights of December Day 29 ~ Hot Pizza Dip

2011-12-29T10:01:00.001-05:00

With New Year's Eve coming up, I thought it would be the perfect time to share a recipe for an easy hot dip that uses basic ingredients and can be simply heated in the microwave.We sometimes celebrate New Year's Eve at church or with friends with a simple time of fellowship, food and board games. I have often brought this dip, along with breadsticks, and a large tray of Christmas cookies from the freezer. It doesn't get much easier!

HOT PIZZA DIP

One 8-ounce package cream cheese
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup pizza sauce OR spaghetti sauce
2 Tblsp. chopped green and/or red pepper*
2 Tblsp. thinly sliced green onions*
Breadsticks or tortilla chips for dipping

In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and Italian seasoning together. Spread the mixture in an ungreased microwave-safe 9-inch pie plate.

In a bowl, combine the mozzarella and the parmesan. Sprinkle half of this mixture over the cream cheese in the pie plate. Spread the sauce over the top and then sprinkle all of the remaining cheese mixture over the sauce. Top with the chopped peppers and the green onions.

Microwave the dip uncovered on High for 3 to 4 minutes, rotating the plate a half turn several times if your microwave does not have a turntable, until the cheese is almost melted. Let stand for 1 to 2 minutes before serving with breadsticks or tortilla chips.

(Photo by Taste of Home)

* You can top this dip with almost anything -- I have used finely chopped pepperoni, peppers or green onions only, a combination of the three -- or I have just simply topped it with a sprinkle of pizza spice. It doesn’t seem to matter what you use -- the dip is going to get gobbled up regardless. I very often bring this to potlucks because people enjoy it so much. I usually make two of these, and there is still never any left to bring home.

Delights of December Day 28 ~ Making little boxes from Christmas cards

2011-12-28T09:14:00.001-05:00

Most people have probably seen those little boxes made from Christmas cards. These are the easiest directions I have ever found. Most of the instructions I've seen involve a lot of folding and drawing of complicated lines, etc. These are actually easy!

The boxes can obviously be made from any greeting card, not just Christmas ones. These make great little gift boxes or can be used to hold office or craft supplies like paper clips, tacks, push pins, beads, etc. Christmas ones can be hung on the tree or piled beneath a miniature tree, where they look adorable. One creative person used them to decorate a wreath, as I saw in an old magazine, but obviously this would need to be an indoor wreath to protect the boxes from dampness.

As you look over your stash of old cards, it will quickly become clear to you that not every card will work for this. It needs to be either an allover design or perhaps something floral, like the poinsettia and mistletoe cards I chose. (If you don't have any suitable cards and want to try this anyway, then simply use any cards you like and then wrap the finished boxes in wrapping paper.)

Here's what you do:

1. Cut apart a greeting card along the fold, separating the front from the back.

2. Start with the back part of the card. Using a ruler, draw lines from corner to corner on the unprinted side of the card to form an X. The center is where the two lines of the X meet.

3. Fold up each of the four sides of the card to meet the center of the X. Crease the folds well.

4. Open the card back up to reveal the creases you've made. Now, holding the card vertically, carefully cut on the two vertical crease lines at the top and bottom of the card, just to the point where they intersect with the nearest horizontal crease.

5. Fold in the tabs you just created by following step 4. You can now see how this is going to form a box. Tape the tabs inside the box. (You may find that each end of the box -- the part between the tabs -- stands up a bit higher than the rest of the box. If this happens, it is not a problem. You can simply fold the excess down inside, over the tabs, and tape it in place. Or, if you prefer, you can simply trim off the excess card before taping.) You have just made the bottom of the box!

6. Now, repeat steps 2 through 5 with the front part of the card, which will make the top of your box.

7. Obviously, this produces a box top and bottom which are exactly the same size, which sometimes means that the cover doesn't go on too easily. Usually, if you just squeeze the sides of the box gently, the cover will go on just fine.

These directions look far more complicated than the process actually is. I've made loads of these boxes with kids over the years, and it really is easy enough for even a 5-year-old to do with some guidance and maybe a bit of help with the creasing. So have fun with these cute little boxes!

Delights of December Day 27 ~ Making gift tags out of used Christmas cards

2011-12-27T09:17:00.000-05:00

One of the most obvious and easy ways to use your old Christmas cards is to make gift tags from them. There are a couple of ways to do this.

Sometimes you can use the entire front of a card as a tag, if it has enough blank space to write the to/from information. These are especially nice for family members -- for example, you might have a card front that says "Merry Christmas to a Dear Granddaughter." This is a natural to paste to the top of your granddaughter's Christmas present. These can add a real decorative element to a package wrapped in a solid color like red, green, blue, silver, etc.

The other way is to cut shapes from your old cards to make tags. You can make simple shapes like rectangles, squares or circles. Current, Inc. sells a set of tag templates which work very nicely and has quite an assortment of shapes. A book of children's Christmas stencils would also work well. Once you have cut your shapes you can punch a hole in each one and add some red, green or metallic string to make a hanging tag.

What if your family doesn't receive a lot of cards but you'd still like to do this project? Easy -- just let friends or relatives know you would be happy to take used cards off their hands. I promise you will have all the cards you will ever need!

Some of my favorite tags from last year

This simple project is a fun way to keep your kids busy during Christmas break -- and I personally find that doing a project like this, even all by myself, is very relaxing and a great stress reliever.

Have fun with this idea!

Delights of December Day 26 ~ Some ideas for using Christmas cards

2011-12-26T10:57:00.000-05:00

Each year I like to display the cards we receive in our front hallway as they arrive. Once I've sent a card in return, I roll up masking tape and tape the cards around the frame of the doorway to the living room. I also tape them to the adjacent wall of the hallway. They pretty much take up the space available and make a very festive display. I keep them up until a couple of weeks after Christmas.

A festive doorway

When the cards come down, they go into a pretty wooden basket. They will reside there until the next year's cards take their place. We like to pull out a card a day and pray for the family or person who sent the card. Ideally, we keep rotating through them. We don't always stick with this, but every year we aim at it!

I should hasten to add that this year, for the first time in a very long time, the card display didn't happen. The cards never got taped up. I was so consumed with some handcrafted gifts I was making that I just didn't find time. I sort of liked the less cluttered look, just for a change, but I'm sure next year I will be back to taping them up. But for this year, the cards will be going directly into the prayer basket.

So what do we do with the previous year's cards when the present year's cards replace them? Well, we don't throw them all away! Some are so beautiful that I save them to display at future Christmases. For the others, I have several projects for which I like to use old Christmas cards -- gift tags, little boxes, and even what we call in our family a "kissing ball". In the next few days, I'll be sharing instructions for these projects, so stay tuned!

Delights of December Day 25 ~ Red Satin Ribbon

2011-12-26T10:35:00.001-05:00

I grew up in the 1950s, and I find myself growing ever more nostalgic for the Christmases of those days gone by. One thing that just seems to say "old-fashioned Christmas" to me is red satin ribbon. It seemed to be used so often in those days to lend a festive holiday touch. I inherited many of my grandmother's Christmas wrappings, so I've been able to use some of her old ribbon.

Some of the vintage cards in my collection are embellished with real satin ribbon!

Imagine my delight when I discovered that this beautiful ribbon is still available, for a reasonable price. (I purchase mine through Home-Sew, a mail-order and online sewing supply catalog.) The one-half inch or three-quarter inch sizes are most versatile. I use them to wrap packages, to tie bows on the handles of gift bags, to trim crafts, tie up bunches of greenery, and for decorating in many other ways. Using luxurious, vintage-looking satin ribbons to decorate my home and gifts is one way of helping to re-create those happy Christmases of my childhood.


On my Gram's tree, these white reindeer were hung by red satin ribbons. I used red string on this one.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T21:43:00.002-05:00

Mr. T and I hope that all of you have had a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful time of celebrating our Savior's birth!

"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." ~ John 1:14

Our day has been busy but good, and I hope that you have all had a nice day with family, friends and church family too!

Delights of December Day 24 ~ an icicle and snowflake garland

2011-12-24T15:14:00.004-05:00

I have a gorgeous evergreen garland (which I got for free) with attached pinecones and berries. I have woven a string of white lights into the garland. I keep it above my multi-paned picture window and change its decor with the seasons. For Christmas, I trim it with glittery iridescent snowflakes and icicles, both plastic. The snowflakes are glitter-coated as well. The lights glimmering against the snowflakes and icicles give a truly magical effect. The nicest thing is that I can keep these trims in place all winter!

Delights of December Day 23 ~ Mulled Cider Mixes

2011-12-23T12:05:00.001-05:00

Mulled Cider Mix

It's fun and easy to make little packets of mulling spices for gifts. They produce some very yummy cider and make wonderful small gifts. I often include them in gift baskets for our neighbors or in care packages to faraway family and friends. Here's what you'll need to make these:

* Cinnamon sticks

* Whole cloves

* Allspice berries

* Coffee filters

* Plain white string

Break the cinnamon sticks in 1-inch pieces. For each packet of spices, place 1 tsp. of cinnamon sticks, 1 tsp. of whole cloves and 1 tsp. of allspice berries in the center of a coffee filter. Gather the filter up into a little bundle and tie securely with string.

To package these, I use an idea I found in a Gooseberry Patch book -- Place each bundle of spices in a small brown paper bag. Fold the top of the bag down securely. Make a tag on card stock or half of a file card with these instructions: "Mulled Cider Mix. Place spice bag in large saucepan with 1 quart to 1 gallon of cider. Heat through and enjoy." Then position the tag at the top of the bag and use your sewing machine, threaded with red thread, to sew the tag to the bag, sewing the bag closed in the process. These look so cute and festive!

Delights of December Day 22 ~ Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix

2011-12-22T12:27:00.001-05:00

Homemade hot chocolate mix was something my grandmother would always stir up for Christmas gifts for her children, grandkids, and their families. I have also found that it makes a wonderful gift. Here's a gift idea for that hard-to-buy for older person : A jar of hot chocolate mix, a container of refrigerator muffin batter, and a box of clementines. We've done this for the past few years for my mother-in-law (the first year we also included a six-cup silicone muffin pan) and she looks forward to it. We have the agreement that I will refill the muffin batter and the hot chocolate as many times as she wants me to.

My hot chocolate mix is one I developed myself by combining my grandmother's recipe with another one and adding in some ideas of my own. I really like the touch of malted milk flavor in this. Here's the recipe:

HOT CHOCOLATE MIX
5 cups instant nonfat dry milk
2 cups powdered sugar
2 cups instant chocolate drink powder (like Quik)
1 cup malted milk powder, chocolate flavor
1 cup malted milk powder, malt flavor
1 cup non-dairy powdered creamer
1/2 cup unsweetened baking cocoa

Mix all ingredients together thoroughly and store in an airtight container. Include these directions with mix:
* Place 1/3 cup of mix in a large mug. Fill mug with hot water and stir to dissolve. *

Delights of December Day 21 ~ Old-Timey Tin Icicles

2011-12-21T08:29:00.000-05:00

Old-Timey Tin Icicles

Years ago, my sister-in-law told me about an easy, fun tree decoration. You can actually make these all year whenever you finish a roll of foil, wax paper, etc. Basically, they are icicles which you make from the metal cutting strip on the boxes of these wraps. (As you might guess, this is not a craft small children should help with.)

Nowadays not all wraps come with these metal cutting strips; some are now plastic. But I've noticed that a surprising number of them still have the metal edges.

Here's what you do: When you finish up a roll of foil or whatever, very carefully remove the metal cutting strip from the box. Once you get the end started, it will come off quite easily. Then take a pencil and, again working very carefully, wrap the metal strip around the pencil in a spiral pattern. Once the icicle looks the way you want it to, slip it off the pencil. There is your tin icicle! These metal strips often have holes spaced along them, and you can slip an ornament hook through the topmost hole. If your metal strip has no holes, you can simply bend the top of the icicle a bit to stay on a tree branch.

These icicles look charmingly old-fashioned on your tree, and they catch the glimmer of the tree lights beautifully. Have fun with this idea!

From a favorite Christmas card by Kathy Lawrence

Delights of December Day 20 ~ ideas for Christmas breakfast

2011-12-20T10:10:00.002-05:00

Even though Christmas is a few days away, I thought this might be a good time to share our Christmas breakfast traditions with you. If you decide to try this recipe, you will want to be shopping for ingredients soon. So here are my thoughts on

CHRISTMAS BREAKFAST

For Christmas breakfast when the kids were growing up, I always liked to have something easy but hearty. I knew they would be having a lot of sweets and excitement that day, not to mention a lack of sleep. So it made sense to me to be sure that breakfast included some good food, especially protein and fruit. I would plan some sort of egg dish -- usually one that could be made the night before and refrigerated, then baked in the morning. Along with this, we would have muffins or coffeecake, and either leftover ambrosia, fruit salad, or the oranges from the stockings. Here is my favorite egg dish.

EGG BRUNCH BAKE
2 cups seasoned croutons
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
4 eggs
2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
Pepper to taste
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

Place the croutons and cheese in a lightly greased 9-inch square pan. combine milk, salt, mustard, onion powder and pepper. Pour this over the croutons and cheese in the pan. Sprinkle bacon on top. Cover and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, bake at 350°, uncovered, for l hour. Recipe may be doubled for a 13X9-inch pan.

Yield: 4 servings

This is my standby breakfast recipe when we have overnight guests. I also served it to the wedding party at 2 pre-wedding brunches. So easy, but delicious!

If you click the label for "muffins" in the label cloud to the right, you will bring up some of my favorite muffin recipes. Enjoy!

Almond Joy Muffins -- photo by Taste of Home

Delights of December Day 19 ~ Christmas Eve Soup

2011-12-19T14:01:00.003-05:00

I've been making this soup for probably 30 years or more. It all started years ago when I decided we needed some simple traditions for our own family -- not just going to Grandma's on the big day, but something especially our own. We decided to have a simple meal on Christmas Eve -- when we started, we invited grandparents and other close family, but now it is down to just us, sometimes my dad, and any available children and grandchildren. The menu I chose that first year was this soup, muffins or biscuits, and, for dessert, ambrosia with Christmas cookies. Over the years, many things have changed -- the past couple of years I've eliminated the ambrosia in favor of ice cream, and some years we have cheese pizza instead of bread -- but this soup is a constant. I thought I would share the recipe a few days early in case anyone else would like to try this for Christmas Eve. So here it is:

CHRISTMAS EVE SOUP
6 cups sliced potatoes
1 cup sliced carrots
6 slices bacon
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup sliced celery
1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cups milk
2 cups half & half cream
Finely shredded cheddar cheese
Parsley sprigs

Cook potatoes and carrots in boiling water until tender; drain. Saute bacon until crisp in skillet. Drain on paper towels; crumble. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of bacon fat. Saute the onion and celery in the reserved bacon fat until tender but not brown.
Combine potatoes, carrots, onion mixture, salt, pepper, and cream in a large kettle or Dutch oven. Simmer for 30 minutes; do not boil.

Garnish with shredded cheddar , parsley sprigs and the crumbled bacon.

Serves 4 to 6.

(Note: Sometimes I just saute the onion and celery in canola oil, butter, or bacon fat, then add the potatoes, carrots and water and cook till the vegetables are done. Then I add the cream ~ fat-free half & half works fine ~ and just sprinkle purchased bacon bits over the soup when serving. The taste is pretty much the same, and it's quite a bit easier.)

Delights of December Day 18 ~ Christmas Heirlooms

2011-12-19T13:46:00.000-05:00

Sorry I am a day late in posting this! Yesterday was a very busy day.

CHRISTMAS HEIRLOOMS

I was extremely fortunate to have some special Christmas things handed down to me. Oh, they weren’t big, expensive, valuable items. Some would probably call them “trinkets” or even “junk”. But to me they are very precious -- part of my heritage.

I have 2 of these vintage felt snowmen. See how they resemble snowflakes? Love the "holly berry" hands & feet, too.

Many years ago my great-aunt gave me some old glass ornaments that had belonged to her and her late husband. Even though the ornaments are faded now and some are chipped, I continue to put them on the tree each year, along with some antique felt snowmen and elves. There were also some of those colored heavy foil reflectors for use with the old-time Christmas lights. On years when we put colored lights on our tree, I still use the reflectors even though our modern lights are much smaller and they have to be put on just so to make them fit.

Here you can see several vintage glass ornaments, plus a felt elf lady and one of the heavy foil reflectors in blue.

The same great-aunt also gave me some wonderful vintage Christmas fabric and a box full of Christmas candles. There were carolers and a lamp post, angels, and other things. I always loved seeing such candles around when I was a child, but it’s hard to imagine actually lighting one of them. (Incidentally, the Vermont Country Store carries such candles, so they’re still available if you know where to look.)

One of my favorites from childhood

My grandmother was a real lover of Christmas, and she kept a good stock of whatever was needed to make the holiday special. She gave me a whole box once of things she was getting rid of -- mostly paper goods -- and in it were some real treasures. I had always marveled that there were actually such things as paper doilies done in Christmas prints. Gram had lots of them -- with holly, poinsettias, and so on. I felt extremely fortunate to find some of those -- several different sizes and prints -- in that box, and for years I used them very sparingly. In the past few years I have found some lovely Christmas paper doilies in the dollar stores and at Target, so they’re still out there.
Gram also gave me a box full of wrapping paper, ribbon, and tags. I have had a wonderful time using these things over the years. I still have some of the ribbon and tags, and included some of the tags and a few snippets of ribbon in the Christmas memory books I’ve made for family members.

What about you? What are your Christmas heirlooms? If you don’t have any, you might like to consider making some special things to hand down to your family.

The plastic reindeer is from my childhood. Bottle brush tree and glittery house are newer treasures from Gooseberry Patch.

Delights of December Day 17 ~ Two nutty confections

2011-12-17T09:14:00.004-05:00

At Christmastime, all types of snack mixes are popular as gifts and just to have around the house for family and friends to nibble on. These two nutty treats have been particular favorites with us and with those we've shared them with.

The first is a treat for coffee lovers.

COFFEE WALNUTS
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon instant coffee powder

Combine ingredients in a saucepan and cook to the soft-ball stage.
Remove from heat and toss in: 3 cups broken walnuts. Spread on wax-paper-lined cookie sheets to dry. The nuts should be fairly separate, not in large clumps.

Next, we have

ORANGE SUGARED PECANS
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
3 tablespoons evaporated milk
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon freshly grated orange peel
2 cups pecan halves

In small heavy saucepan, combine the sugar and evaporated milk. Cook over medium heat to 234° (soft-ball stage), stirring occasionally. Add butter and orange peel; stir to blend. Add pecan halves; stir until all are coated. Spread the pecans on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper or parchment paper. When candy coating is firm, gently break pecans apart. Store in covered containers.

The first nut recipe is from Cook & Tell. The second is from a Taste of the Country cookbook. Both of these nut recipes make wonderful gifts. You can buy tins or jars to put them in, or, for a vintage look, save cans through the year from peanuts, mixed nuts or cashews and cover them with Christmas wrapping paper. That’s the old-timey way!

Christmas 1950

Delights of December Day 16 ~ My simple Christmas-card system

2011-12-16T08:20:00.000-05:00

My simple Christmas-Card system...

So many people struggle with trying to get their Christmas cards sent out. For years I watched my mother labor with a list, checking off cards received, listing cards sent out... and when I started sending my own Christmas cards, I did the same. Then came a couple of very busy years when cards just didn't get sent. Finally I decided to try a different way of handling this... something that would make it a blessing rather that a chore, that would keep the enjoyment in this special way of keeping in touch with friends and family.

I decided that when we received a card from someone, then I would send that person a card. It keeps the task very manageable. Writing only a few cards a day keeps it enjoyable and gives me time to add a little note to the card if I like. This system is almost foolproof. The only thing that keeps it from being ideal is that invariably we receive some cards from people at the very last minute, like the day before or the day after Christmas. I noticed this the first year, so the next year I bought a couple of nice New Year's cards to use for those people. (If you are trying this for the first time, I suggest buying a couple of New Year's cards right now, to have on hand for this inevitable happening.) By now, I have it pretty much figured out who is going to be late with their cards -- in our case, it's only two people -- and I just send their cards now before we receive one from them.

This system works beautifully for us. Is it perfect? Of course not. But it sure beats struggling to get your cards sent out or just giving up on sending cards entirely, as many people have done. Give it a try and see what you think!

Delights of December Day 15 ~ Peanut Butter Balls

2011-12-15T16:45:00.000-05:00

One of our family's favorite Christmas candies -- to eat and to give away -- is peanut butter balls. I have tried different recipes over the years and have narrowed it down to 2 recipes that I really like. The first one is my kids' favorite, and I really prefer the flavor of these too. The second one is much easier to make and more professional-looking. You might want to try them both and see which one your family prefers!

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER BALLS

1 cup butter or margarine
1 1/4 cups peanut butter
3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
3 1/2 cups rice krispies cereal
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 of an 8-ounce milk chocolate candy bar
A 2-inch square of paraffin wax, cut up

Melt butter in 2-quart heavy saucepan over low heat. Add peanut butter; stir until blended. Remove from heat.

Combine confectioners sugar and rice krispies in mixing bowl. Pour hot peanut butter mixture over all; mix thoroughly, using hands. Shape mixture into 1-inch balls. Place on wax paper-lined cookie sheet. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.

In top of double boiler, combine remaining ingredients. Place over simmering hot water until melted. Dip chilled peanut butter balls in chocolate mixture to coat. Return to wax paper-lined cookie sheets.

Chill until set. Store in covered tin in refrigerator. Makes about 6 dozen candies.

Now, I have what I think is the world’s best peanut butter ball recipe, and it’s not this one. This is the one I always used to make before finding my favorite. I think, however, that all of my kids prefer the
ones with the rice krispies. Below, though, is what I consider

THE BEST PEANUT BUTTER BALLS

2 c. confectioners sugar
2 Tblsp. butter, room temperature
1 Tblsp. milk
2 tsp. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
1 c. chocolate OR vanilla chips
1 Tblsp. crisco
For decoration: colored sugar or candy sprinkles

In a medium bowl, mix the first 5 ingredients, using your hands or a mixer until blended. Mix in peanut butter.

Line a jelly-roll pan or cookie sheet with wax paper. Roll sugar mixture (about 1 heaping teaspoon each) into 3/4” balls. Place these on the lined pan. Chill at least 2 hours until firm.

Melt the chocolate and shortening together on the stovetop or in the microwave (my preference). One at a time, spear the peanut butter balls with a toothpick. Dip in melted chocolate; lift out and let the excess chocolate drip off. Return each dipped ball to the lined pan. Remove toothpick. Before chocolate sets up, sprinkle each ball with colored sugar or candy sprinkles.

Chill candy for 10-15 minutes to firm up chocolate. Remove from pan. Store airtight in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Makes 40.

These are to my mind the best and easiest peanut butter balls. I sent many of these in college care packages over the years!

Delights of December Day 14 ~ Easy ornaments to make

2011-12-14T07:29:00.000-05:00

Two Easy Ornaments

Here are a couple of fun projects to do with children -- although I must admit I often have had fun making these and other ornaments all by myself! First, we have:

Juice-Can Lid Ornaments

The supplies you will need are simple:

* Lids saved from cans of frozen juice/lemonade/iced tea (Lids should be washed and completely dry)

* Scraps of Christmas wrapping paper

* Pen or pencil

* Decorative holiday cords and trims (Walmart craft department is a great source for these)

* White glue

* Paintbrush

* Clear glitter (optional)

* Ribbon (optional)

* Thin gold cord, hot glue gun/sticks (to make hanging loop)

Place your lid on the wrapping paper and trace around it. Depending upon the pattern of the wrapping paper, you may want to center a motif in the circle you're making. Cut out the circle and glue it to the lid -- the outside of the lid, the side with a nice rim around it. Then use a paintbrush (I like to get the foam type for this) to paint a coat of glue over the picture as well. If you want your ornament to sparkle, this is the time to sprinkle on some glitter. Allow the glue to dry.

Take a piece of decorative cord or trim and glue it around the inside of the lid's rim. If you start at the top or bottom of your motif, you can very easily cover the spot where the ends of the cord meet with a small bow, ribbon rose, or whatever. (As mentioned, Walmart has many different such cords or trims available this time of the year. I have shiny red/gold cord, red/green, blue/silver, etc. I always buy these after Christmas when they are very inexpensive... but the full price is really quite reasonable. Another good source for such cord and trims is Home-Sew or Newark Dressmaker Supply.) Allow the glue to dry.

For the hanging loop, make a loop from the thin gold cord and knot the ends together. Use hot glue to glue the knot to the center top on the back of the juice can lid. Let dry and hang on your Christmas tree!

Second, you could try:

Foam Ball Ornaments

You need:

Foam balls -- either styrofoam or a smooth foam (my pick) -- 2-inch diameter or less

Scraps of Christmas wrapping paper

Mod Podge

Foam paint brush

Glitter (optional)

Straight pins

Glue

Gold (or another color) cord for hanging

Narrow ribbon (optional) in colors that coordinate with your wrapping paper

I saw some balls similar to these years ago at a Christmas shop. I decided to figure out how to make them.

Make a hanging loop with gold or another color of cord. Knot the loop. Dip a straight pin in glue and push the pin through the knot and then into the foam ball.

Next, cut or tear your wrapping paper scraps to a size that will fit around the ball you are using. (Each ball should be made with only one design of wrapping paper.) Coat the ball with Mod Podge. Adhere the wrapping paper to the ball until it looks the way you want it to. Paint the entire ball with a coat of Mod Podge.

Now, you will need to find a way to hang your ornaments until the Mod Podge dries. I used a wooden spoon with the spoon part weighted down on a table and the handle extending out to hang the ornaments from. It might also work to pin them to a clothesline, if you have one in a protected place.

When the Mod Podge is dry, add another coat. Repeat until the ball looks the way you want it to. If you like, sprinkle glitter over the final coat of Mod Podge. You may also like to make a coordinating small bow out of narrow ribbon and glue it to the top of the ball when the Mod Podge dries.

When the ornaments are completely dry, hang them on your Christmas tree!

(I don't know if there are other people out there who love Christmas wrapping paper as much as I do, but we tend to save even our smallest scraps and wrap the stocking presents in them. Some papers I just hate to say goodbye to, they are so pretty. These ornaments provide an opportunity to keep some of your favorite papers indefinitely.)

Have fun with these ideas!

Gooseberry Patch cookbook giveaway at Faithfulness Farm!

2011-12-13T07:55:00.000-05:00

Here's a fun giveaway from Gail at Faithfulness Farm! She is giving away a new Gooseberry Patch cookbook, Rush Hour Recipes, along with a Faithfulness Farm apron and tea towel combo with a cute chicken motif. She also shares several yummy-sounding recipes from the book and shows mouth-watering photos of the same. These recipes would make a wonderful meal for guests this Christmas season. To get in on the giveaway, head over to Rush Hour Recipes Giveaway and find out how to enter!

Delights of December Day 13 ~ more festive fudge!

2011-12-13T07:33:00.000-05:00

Here is one more fudge recipe for your enjoyment.

SPECIAL HOLIDAY FUDGE

1 1/3 cups sugar
1 1/3 cups miniature marshmallows
1/4 cup butter or margarine (1/2 stick)
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. orange extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped pecans

In large heavy saucepan, combine first 5 ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Boil 5 minutes, stirring with a wire whisk. Remove from heat, stir in chips until melted. Stir in the extracts and
then the nuts and raisins. Replace your whisk with a spoon and beat by hand until glossy, 30 to 60 seconds. If needed, you may add up to 2 Tblsp. water to make it glossy, but you probably won't need to. Turn into a buttered 11 x 7” or 9 x 12” pan. Cool completely, then cut in squares.

This fudge is absolutely wonderful! It really tastes like Christmas! I found the recipe many years ago in my favorite cooking newsletter, Cook & Tell , and have made it nearly every Christmas since then.

If you have a nostalgic fondness for Chunky® candy bars or chocolate-covered raisins, you are sure to enjoy this fudge.

Delights of December Day 12 ~ Festive Fudge!

2011-12-12T09:27:00.000-05:00

At our house, it wouldn't be Christmas without a couple of kinds of fudge. This one is our all-time favorite.

HEAVENLY DELIGHT
1 cup peanut butter chips
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 1/2 cups sugar
7-ounce jar marshmallow fluff
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
1 tsp. vanilla

Line an 8-inch square pan with foil, extending the foil over the edges of the pan. Measure the peanut butter chips into a small bowl, and measure the chocolate chips into a second small bowl. Set aside.

In a heavy 3-quart saucepan, combine the sugar, fluff, evaporated milk, and butter. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture boils. Boil and stir 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

Immediately pour half of the hot mixture into the peanut butter chips. Stir until the chips are completely melted and incorporated into the hot mixture. Quickly pour the peanut butter mixture into the prepared pan.

Stir the remaining hot mixture into the chocolate chips until they melt and are completely blended in. Quickly spread this mixture over the peanut butter layer.

Cool the fudge completely before removing it from the pan. Lift the fudge out of the pan by the foil, put it face down on a plastic cutting board and peel off the foil. Cut the fudge into 1” pieces.

This terrific recipe is from Cook & Tell. Its actual name is “Double-Decker Peanut Butter Fudge”. But when Esther, my daughters’ college roommate and friend, tasted this, she promptly named it “Heavenly Delight”. And so it has been, ever since.

Delights of December Day 11 ~ a lovely decorating idea!

2011-12-11T18:06:00.001-05:00

Here's one of my favorite decorating ideas -- a candlelit stairway. It's a really lovely way to make your home extra welcoming for guests on a cold winter evening. It's especially nice if (like us) you aren't blessed with having a fireplace in your home. It conveys the same welcome flickering warmth.

Here's what I do: I place a votive candle in a glass holder on every other step of my staircase. I may set each one on a paper doily -- or, in autumn, a leaf; at Valentine's Day, a heart-shaped red doily, etc. It doesn't matter if the votive holders match one another -- I use a whole assortment of clear glass holders -- but they should be glass and not opaque to get the best effect. (Red or green glass holders would also be pretty.) For candles, sometimes I use all white or ivory ones. Other times I alternate red and green. For autumn, I would use fall colors, and for Valentine's I either use red or alternate red and white.

When your guests are due to arrive, quickly light each candle. Fireplace matches work very well for this, since you can light several candles with the same long match.

This is such a simple, easy thing to do, but guests enjoy it so much! I have had many people comment on how pretty and welcoming the lighted staircase looks.

Delights of December Day 10 ~ Macaroon Kiss Cookies

2011-12-10T07:12:00.001-05:00

Here's another of my favorite Christmas cookies. I don't make these every year, but they are so pretty and unusual that they add a lovely note to a cookie tray.

MACAROON KISS COOKIES

1/3 cup butter, softened
1 pkg. (3 oz.) cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg yolk

2 tsp. almond extract

2 tsp. orange juice

1 1/4 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt
5 cups flaked coconut, divided

9 oz. Hershey milk chocolate kisses, unwrapped (about 54)

Cream butter, cream cheese and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add egg yolk, extract, and orange juice; beat well. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture until well blended. Stir in 3 cups coconut. Cover dough and chill it for about 1 hour.

Shape the dough in 1” balls. Roll balls in remaining coconut; place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350° for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned on bottom. Remove from oven and press a chocolate kiss into the center of each cookie. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet, then carefully remove to racks to cool until chocolate is firm. Makes 4 1/2 dozen.

I found this recipe many years ago in an old Early American Life magazine being discarded by the library. These cookies are delicious and very festive-looking.

Delights of December Day 9 ~ How to Make a Simple Ribbon Board

2011-12-09T10:56:00.001-05:00

Today's special feature is a simple ribbon board to display Christmas cards and other paper treasures.

As I've mentioned, I have a nice collection of vintage and antique Christmas cards, all given to me over the years -- oddly enough, by people who knew I used old Christmas cards in art projects with children in school and Sunday School. Many of these cards probably have no real value -- some of them have the backs removed, and many have had the signatures cut out. But they are valuable to me because they are so beautiful. For years I wanted to display them, but couldn't think how -- I didn't want to damage them further with tape or tacks or staples. I inherited a nice glass-topped desk, and displayed some of the cards under the glass. But I still wished I could display more of them -- to me, no matter how lovely a collection may be, if its beauty can't be shared with others, it's really not worth having. I know people who have treasures like this squirreled away in shoeboxes, and it's absolutely ridiculous because no one -- including the owner of the collection -- can enjoy them there.

So I came up with the idea of using a large ribbon board to display my vintage card collection. I made a very, very simple one, and it has worked well for quite a few holiday seasons now. I took a full sheet of foam core board and covered it with fabric. (You could use a holiday fabric, but I felt that a solid color would be the best background for the colorful variety of my cards, so I chose a plain dark green fabric.) Very simply, I cut the fabric a couple of inches larger than the board all around, placed the board face down on the fabric, neatly wrapped the excess fabric to the back of the board, and hot-glued it in place. To hang the board, I made a loop of festive red/green holiday cord, and hot-glued that to the back as well.

Next, I took lengths of red satin ribbon and tacked them diagonally across the board one way and then the other, gluing the ends of the ribbon to the back of the board. At the places on the front where the ribbons intersected, I used shiny brass tacks to hold the ribbons in place. All those ribbons made nice secure spaces in which to tuck my cards. I hung the board in my front entryway and it holds a great many of the cards in my collection -- the vintage cards are much smaller than the cards we send today. This card-filled ribbon board makes me happy every time I walk by it!

In fact, the idea worked so well for me that I made a second ribbon board in neutral colors -- using unbleached muslin for the fabric and ivory ribbon -- to hold the paper treasures I've collected for other seasons as well.

Easter ribbon board

ribbon board for fall

I know that ribbon boards are not a new idea, but I haven't seen any just like mine. I hope someone else will try this idea for a special collection of treasured paper items!

Delights of December Day 8 ~ Eggnog Log Cookies

2011-12-08T07:10:00.001-05:00

Here is a recipe for another of our very favorite Christmas cookies. Some family members enjoy these so much that I will give them Eggnog Logs for Christmas on a special Christmas plate or in a pretty tin. They get to keep the container, but the cookies never last long!

EGGNOG LOGS

1 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 egg

2 tsp. vanilla

3 cups flour
FROSTING:

1/4 cup butter, softened 3 cups confectioners sugar, divided

1 tsp. vanilla

2 Tblsp. light cream (or use evaporated milk)

Ground nutmeg (freshly ground is wonderful!)

For dough, cream butter and sugar in a large mixer bowl. Add nutmeg, sugar, and vanilla; mix thoroughly. Stir in flour to mix well. If necessary, chill dough for easier handling. Shape dough into logs about 3 inches long and 1/2 inch in diameter. Place logs 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake at 350º for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks and cool completely.

For frosting, cream butter until light and fluffy. Add 2 cups of the confectioners sugar and the vanilla; mix well. Beat in cream and remaining sugar. Frost cookies. With the tines of a small fork, make lines down the frosting to simulate bark. Sprinkle with nutmeg.

Makes 4 1/2 dozen cookies.

Delights of December Day 7 ~ Whipped Shortbread Cookies

2011-12-07T08:14:00.001-05:00

Whipped Shortbread has been one of our very favorite Christmas cookies for years and years. The cookies require very few ingredients and are super easy to make.

WHIPPED SHORTBREAD

3 cups butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted if very lumpy
4 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups cornstarch
Colored candy sprinkles and/or halved candied cherries and/or red and green colored sugar

Using a heavy-duty mixer, beat butter on medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually add dry ingredients, beating constantly until well blended. Roll dough into 1-inch balls (dust hands with additional cornstarch if necessary); dip balls in either colored candy sprinkles or colored sugar. Place balls, decorated side up, on ungreased cookie sheets. Press each ball lightly with a fork. (If you wish to decorate cookies with cherries, do this: Do not dip balls in colored sprinkles or sugar. Instead, place plain balls on cookie sheet and press lightly with fork. Then top each cookie with a cherry half.) You may wish to do an assortment and trim some cookies with candy sprinkles, some with colored sugar, and some with cherries. Bake cookies at 300º for 20 to 22 minutes, or until cookies are set but not browned.

Yield: 16 dozen cookies

This is a very big recipe, but it is very easily divided in half (or even in thirds) if you wish to make a smaller batch. It is so easy, but produces many beautiful cookies quite quickly.

Delights of December Day 6 ~ velvet ribbon garlands

2011-12-06T07:52:00.001-05:00

Here's an easy idea to trim that hard-to-decorate area -- make these ribbon garlands to drape across your window tops.

Years ago, I wanted to make something special to help decorate our living room for Christmas. The problem was that the colors in this room -- gold, green, rust, etc. didn't look all that great with what I could find for trims.

However, I had been given some spools of stiff velvety craft ribbon about 3/4-inch wide. Among the usual reds and Christmas greens there were also some spools of gold and moss green ribbon. I cut pieces of ribbon perhaps 4 inches long, formed one into a loop and stapled the ends together. Then I slipped the next piece of ribbon through the loop and stapled its ends... and so on, and so on, exactly as one would do to make a paper chain. I alternated the gold and moss green colors in the chains, and made each chain long enough to drape across the top of a window, with part of the chain hanging down straight at each end. I simply pinned them in place with straight pins. They really dressed up the room while not clashing with its colors.

Of course you can use any type of craft ribbon you like. I would not recommend using ribbon any wider than one inch, however, and I wouldn't use any sort of ribbon that frays easily. But use your imagination when it comes to colors and ribbons. I can picture a garland of red plaid ribbon looking very nice indeed, for example.

These garlands may be used anywhere you'd like, of course -- mantels, hutches, corner cupboards -- even on the Christmas tree.

Have fun with this idea!

Delights of December Day 5 ~ Sacher Torte Cookies

2011-12-05T07:36:00.001-05:00

For today's special feature, here is one of our favorite Christmas cookies. I have made these each Christmas for at least 25 years and it would just not seem like Christmas without them. One of my daughters likes these so much that I give her some for Christmas each year on a special new holiday plate or in a special holiday tin.

SACHER TORTE COOKIES
1 cup butter, softened
1 (4 1/2 oz.) pkg. instant chocolate pudding mix
1 egg
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup apricot (or raspberry) jam
1/2 cup chocolate chips
3 tablespoons melted butter

Heat oven to 325°.

In a large mixing bowl, combine butter and pudding mix; cream together until fluffy. Beat in egg and extract.

Gradually add flour, beating at low speed with mixer until dough forms. Shape dough into 1” balls. Dip balls in sugar. Place 2” apart on ungreased cookie sheets. With your thumb, make an imprint in center of each ball.

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until cookies are firm; remove from sheets immediately to wire racks to cool. When cookies are cool, fill each indentation with about 1/2 teaspoon jam. In a small saucepan, or in microwave, blend chips and butter over low heat until chocolate melts, stirring constantly. Drizzle about 1/2 teaspoon chocolate over each cookie.

Yield: About 4 dozen cookies.

This is one of our very favorite Christmas cookie recipes. They look pretty and fancy but are very easy to make. I believe I found the recipe in a Yankee magazine article about the Wellesley Cookie Exchange.

Delights of December Day 4 ~ A small but thoughtful care package

2011-12-04T19:23:00.001-05:00

Do you have faraway friends you'd like to remember with a little something at Christmas time? Here's what I did one year. The friends I sent this to were so surprised and pleased. I wanted to send them just a taste of Christmas in our home, and they said they really felt a part of our Christmas.

I lined a small (recycled) box with red and green tissue paper, then filled the box with a few things that would give them a taste of our Christmas. Things like:

* A small foil package of holiday fudge

* A small tin of some favorite Christmas cookies

* A homemade packet of spices for hot cider

* Some handmade sparkly heart ornaments -- the ones with bells sewed on, so our friends would hear a festive jingle as they opened the package

* Shreds of red & green paper (the type sold as filler for gift baskets)

* A few little hemlock cones from our woods

* A sprinkle of metallic Christmas confetti

You could include many different things, keeping the emphasis on "small" and "lightweight". Be imaginative and send your friends something that will really help them to feel they are sharing in your Christmas joy. (I buy things like the confetti and the red & green paper shreds when they are on sale at season's end and just store them until the next Christmas.)

A package like this doesn't cost much at all to send, but it is such a nice surprise for your friends to receive!

Delights of December Day 3 ~ Simple but fancy cookies for your cookie trays!

2011-12-03T08:58:00.001-05:00

These cookies are easy but very pretty and fancy looking. The first one starts with a baked pan of brownies. My mother (who invented these as far as I know) always used the brownie recipe from the Betty Crocker Cookbook, but certainly it will work with any brownie recipe or even a brownie mix.

The second idea is one I heard on Gus Saunders' Yankee Kitchen radio program, which I often listened to years ago. Someone called in this idea, which uses purchased fig bars, and I tried it. Delicious, pretty, and almost no work.

Here are two ideas that will make your cookie plates look fancy with very little work on your part:

1) Poinsettia Brownies

My mother always made these to add to her gift trays of cookies at Christmas. Bake brownies as usual and let them cool. Before cutting, frost the brownies with a simple white butter frosting and mark them into squares. Using slices of candied cherries (note: NOT maraschino cherries, which could make quite a mess), form poinsettias on the top of each square. Cut the brownies along the marked lines. You can make this even simpler by using brownie mix and canned frosting.

2) Fancy Fig Cookies

These start with purchased fig bars (like Fig Newtons®). Cut the bars in half lengthwise to make sticks, or in half diagonally to make triangles. Dip the pieces in melted chocolate, then in chopped nuts. Place on foil-lined baking sheets and chill until chocolate is set.

Enjoy!

Delights of December Day 2 ~ Sparkly Heart Ornaments

2011-12-02T09:51:00.001-05:00

Today's feature is a simple and fun craft project. Even children who can safely handle a needle and thread could make these! The photo really doesn't do them justice, as this is an older ornament I have had for awhile and the jingle bells are no longer as bright and shiny as they once were.

For today's feature, I thought I would share how to make some very pretty ornaments from simple supplies most crafters might have on hand. I have made many of these for gifts and for decorating my own home. I like to use them on my front-door wreath, but they are also nice for hanging on the tree or anywhere else you like. Some folks I have given them to like to hang these sparkly hearts from the kitchen cupboard doorknobs, to spiff up the kitchen with a holiday air. They would make nice package tie-ons, too. Years ago, I saw some similar ornaments for sale in a catalog and figured out an easy way to make them. Here's how:

SPARKLY HEART ORNAMENTS

You will need:

Red felt
Polyester fiberfill
Needle and red sewing thread
Gold star sequins
Gold glass seed beads
Red rocaille beads
Small shiny brass jingle bells, optional

For each ornament you wish to make, cut 2 heart shapes -- I trace around a a heart cookie cutter to make them uniform -- out of red felt. Add beads to one heart from each pair as follows: Thread a needle with red thread, then bring the needle up through the back side of the heart to the right side. Thread on a gold star sequin, then either a gold seed bead or a red rocaille bead. Insert the needle back into the star sequin and through to the back side again, so that the thread holds the bead tightly in place. Repeat this process to add as many sequins/beads as desired. (I used about 7 beads/stars on most of my ornaments.)

Now, using small neat stitches, sew the 2 heart shapes together about 1/4 inch from the edges, leaving an opening for stuffing the ornament. Stuff the heart ornament tightly with fiberfill (it won't take very much) and sew up the opening. If desired, sew a jingle bell to the bottom point of each heart. Now use the needle to pull a length of thread through the center top of each heart; knot to form a hanger.

The sparkly beads and sequins on these ornaments catch the light beautifully, and if you use the jingle bells, they add the sound of Christmas as well. Another really nice thing about these ornaments is that you can leave them up right through Valentine's Day!

Delights of December Day 1 ~ Pepparkakor Cookies

2011-12-02T09:26:00.001-05:00

I've been thinking for weeks that I would like to post something special for my readers each day of December, but thinking about it is as far as I got. And now I'm already a day late! What I decided to do, after much thought, is to re-post the ideas and recipes I shared in December 2006. It has been 5 years, and many of my readers are more recent than that, so these things will be new to many of you. Hope you enjoy!

Well, as promised, here is the first of a month's worth of Christmas ideas. Pepparkakor are Swedish spice cookies. They will add such a Christmasy aroma to your house! Don't be scared off by the fact that you have to roll and cut them. This is a very easy dough to work with. Here's the recipe:

PEPPARKAKOR

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 Tblsp. dark molasses
1 egg 3 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 Tblsp. cinnamon
1 Tblsp. ginger
1 Tblsp. cloves
Juice and grated rind of 1 orange Cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy; add molasses and egg. Mix until blended. Sift flour, soda and spices into creamed mixture. Add orange juice and rind; mix until well blended. Roll dough on lightly floured surface to 1/8” thickness. Cut into heart or reindeer shapes. Transfer to cookie sheets.

Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes, until brown. Cool on rack and store in a covered tin. Makes at least 3 to 4 dozen cookies.

I found this recipe in an old Country Woman magazine. The lady who submitted it said that these were the first cookies she baked each year to make her house really smell like Christmas. It works! Of course, you need not limit yourself to hearts and reindeer; that’s just what I usually do. Sometimes I cut some pine trees and moose as well. These are yummy whatever shape you choose to make them!

Another superhero in the family

2011-11-28T07:37:00.001-05:00

Back last spring, I showed photos of superhero capes I had made for Darrin and Emily. While we were in Nevada, their younger brother Elliott celebrated his 2nd birthday. Darrin thought that a fine gift for Elliott would be his very own superhero cape, as he and Emily call their little brother Super Elliott-Mouse.

I got busy before we left and made a cape. This pattern -- Clever Little Cape
-- is the best. So easy and comes out so cute. I used vintage fabric from my mother's stash for this one. Here's the cape:

With a mouse embroidered on the inside:

A closer (if blurry) look at the mouse:

A closer look at the emblem on the back.

Interestingly, Elliott's birthday cake, made by his mom, ended up matching the cape! She just used up icing colors she had on hand, but isn't it neat how the colors are the same as the cape?

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of Elliott wearing the cape, but here he is piloting a boat at the playground:

Super fun!

Fiesta Sweet Potato Soup

2011-11-26T10:37:00.001-05:00

(Photo from Taste of Home)

I received a free advance copy of the December/January Country Woman magazine because they published my recipe for hot chocolate mix. I took the issue along on our trip as a special treat to read on the plane. A recipe that caught my eye was for Fiesta Sweet Potato Soup.

I tried the recipe earlier this week and it is very delicious indeed. I could only find 12-ounce packages of the chicken sausage (I used the garlic herb flavor of the Al Fresco brand) so I used only 3 of the sausages, reasoning that this would be the 9 ounces called for in the recipe. This soup is a little bit spicy, but I have a cold right now and so that appeals to me. I would definitely make this soup again. Hope your family enjoys the recipe if you try it!

A blessed Thanksgiving to all!

2011-11-24T10:10:00.001-05:00

I would like to take a moment to wish all of my readers a very blessed Thanksgiving Day! I hope that you will have a wonderful day with family, friends, or just by yourselves. An encouraging thing to do for your devotions sometime this weekend would be to get a concordance and look up the references to the word "thanksgiving" in the Bible. The following is not one of them, but is one of my favorite Bible verses:

"By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name." (Hebrews 13:15)

Thanksgiving should be a part of our every day!

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

Sunday Chicken Supper ~ a wonderful slow cooker meal!

2011-11-22T09:06:00.001-05:00

(Photo by Taste of Home)

While out in Nevada, I helped my daughter a lot in the kitchen. We tried this recipe Sunday Chicken Supper, from one of her Quick Cooking cookbooks, when we were getting together with another family. We actually borrowed a second slow cooker so we could make a double recipe.

It was absolutely delicious. We used white sweet potatoes (which I had never heard of or tried before) rather than regular potatoes, and we used some boneless chicken breasts and thighs rather than the cut-up fryer. Both families really enjoyed this flavorful but simple dish and it was wonderful to come in from our afternoon activities to a supper that was all ready and waiting for us.

I made this recipe again at home this past Sunday, and Mr. T and I enjoyed it just as much here as we did in Nevada. I used russet potatoes this time, and used some bone-in chicken thighs and some chicken tenders. I also used frozen pearl onions rather than the chopped onion, and frozen green beans rather than the fresh ones. It seems to be a very adaptable recipe, which I really appreciate. I think it would also be good with chunks of winter squash instead of carrots.

I thought I would share so others can try this yummy recipe!

Sunset from the plane

2011-11-19T12:15:00.001-05:00

On our way out to Nevada, we were blessed to see a beautiful sunset as our flight approached Salt Lake City. My hubby snapped many pictures of it, but these are probably the best.

Pretty

Even prettier

And I love this one, that includes the light on the wing of the plane.

We saw a nice sunset on the way back as well, but decided we already had enough sunset pictures. I thought you would enjoy seeing these.

Fun treats from a favorite country shop!

2011-11-18T12:58:00.001-05:00

On our recent trip out West, my daughter and I visited one of our favorite shops, The Two Olde Crows.

(Photo by The Two Olde Crows)

During the time Mr. T and I were in Elko, this shop was holding its annual Christmas Gathering. Joanna and I made time to go visit, sip hot cider, sample Christmas goodies, and do a bit of shopping. I wish I had brought along my camera so I could get a photo of the way the front of the shop was decorated for Christmas, with white lights, berry garlands, and so on. But I forgot to bring my camera to the shop! So this photo of Christmas items, from their website, will have to do.

(Photo by The Two Olde Crows)

Before leaving for our visit to Nevada, I had crafted an item as a favor for a friend. She had insisted upon giving me a monetary gift, so I brought it along for shopping on our trip. Here's what I bought:

A harvest themed dishtowel:

A closer look at the design:

And a second dishtowel with a Christmas theme.

What a fun way to remember our visit!

Back home again!

2011-11-17T12:14:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to check in with a quick hello. We are back from our travels to Nevada and back! We are thankful for safety in traveling thousands of miles by air. We had a wonderful time, but it's good to be home. Now to adjust back to our regular routine, schedules and time zone!

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles!

2011-11-01T10:45:00.000-04:00

(Photo by Annie's Eats)

On Sunday, I needed to take some goodies to church for a fellowship time honoring friends who are leaving for their annual mission trip to South Africa. (I have been in a pumpkin mood lately, as anyone who may have seen my Recipes to Try board on Pinterest will have noticed. I think I even pinned some pumpkin recipes to my I Love Fall board as well.) Anyway, all that to say that with the opportunity to bake, it shouldn't be surprising that I chose a pumpkin recipe.

I had seen this recipe for Pumpkin Snickerdoodles and was eager to try it. Yes, the recipe actually contains pumpkin -- 3/4 cup of it. I had previously seen a recipe where the cookie part was a traditional snickerdoodle, but the topping was sugar mixed with pumpkin pie spice. I was more interested in this one because there was actually pumpkin in the recipe.

This recipe isn't exactly like a traditional snickerdoodle in texture. I think the recipe would need to include cream of tartar for that to happen. I was tempted to add some, but didn't know how it would interact with the pumpkin. But the cookies are not soft ones, either. Sort of crisp on the outside and maybe sort of cakelike within. They do have a great flavor and are a pretty light orange color on the inside.

I did find that it's important (to make the outside crunchy) to actually roll the dough in the sugar-spice topping. My usual way with such recipes is just to dip the tops of the cookies rather than rolling them, but it definitely is better to roll the cookies in the sugar mixture in this case. And about that topping -- I was out of cinnamon, so I substituted pumpkin pie spice for the total amount of spice in both cookie dough and topping.

We thought these cookies were very good. Hope your family enjoys them if you try the recipe!

An easy and fun recipe ~ Sloppy Joe Pizza

2011-10-31T14:32:00.001-04:00

(Photo by Taste of Home)

Here's a fun recipe we tried on Friday night when we had several grandchildren around our kitchen table: Sloppy Joe Pizza. This recipe, which makes 2 pizzas, was easy and fun to make, and a delicious variation on traditional pizza. The older two grandchildren, ages 7 and 8, liked this a lot and had seconds. The younger two, ages 3 and 5, did try it but preferred pepperoni pizza instead.

We will definitely make this yummy pizza again!

2-Ingredient Pumpkin Muffins

2011-10-25T17:36:00.001-04:00

(Photo from Diary of a Working Mom)

Just had to share this recipe link: 2-Ingredient Pumpkin Muffins. Hard to believe, but yes, there are only two ingredients -- a can of pumpkin and a spice cake mix! Nothing else. If you grow and cook your own pureed pumpkin, use 2 cups of it, as that's about how much is in a can of pumpkin. I did sprinkle some cinnamon chips on top of my muffins, as I had a few of those to use up. They would also be good with chocolate chips, chopped nuts, or cinnamon-sugar on top. I was only able to make a dozen muffins from the recipe, which stated it would yield 15. We liked these a lot. They are flavorful and nice and moist. Not quite as good as a from-scratch pumpkin muffin, but very tasty!

The giveaways are ... ON their way!

2011-10-25T15:09:00.001-04:00

I just wanted to pop in and let Nikki and Erika know that their giveaways are in the mail as of this afternoon. You should have the packages sometime this week, Lord willing. Hope you will have fun with the contents!

A fun sewing project using vintage hankies

2011-10-24T11:53:00.000-04:00

For months I have been meaning to share photos of this "teatime table runner" I made from vintage hankies this summer. I have quite a collection of vintage hankies, and had thought I might make a quilt with them. I decided to scale back and make a table runner instead. I used a white-on-white print for the backing, then cut the hankies in half and hand-sewed them on to look like a folded napkin or doily. Then I found or tweaked applique patterns of tea-themed items and placed one or several items on each "napkin or doily". I chose to use some children's cartoon-type hankies that had been mine as a child. This meant that my appliques had to be in rather bright, crayon-type colors to complement the hankies.

One half of the runner

The second half of the runner

A teapot and teacup motif on a 3 Little Kittens hankie ~ I found inspiration for this motif on a child's vintage metal tea set.

A simple cup and saucer motif on a Donald Duck hankie

A cupcake on a small plate motif atop the second half of the Donald Duck hankie.

A stack-of-teacups motif on a Daisy Duck hankie ~ I found inspiration for this motif on a greeting card.

A steaming-teakettle motif on a Daisy Duck hankie

A simple teapot motif on the 3 Little Kittens hankie ~ the knob on top is a button!

Hope you have enjoyed this look at my teatime table runner! It was encouraging to me that I could figure out a project on my own like this and have it come out quite nice. I know some people would frown on cutting up vintage hankies, but I found this a nice way to display and use them, especially these with the juvenile motifs that are not quite as pretty as the usual vintage hankies one sees.

Winners of the giveaway!

2011-10-21T08:18:00.000-04:00

Graphic by Prairie Flower Farm -- love this!

Yes, we have 2 winners of the giveaway to celebrate my 1200th post! I want to thank everyone who entered and who left such sweet, encouraging comments. It was a blessing to me to hear from some of my readers (even some I didn't know were reading!) and to learn some of the things you enjoy most about Across My Kitchen Table. Thank you all so much!

Since we had only 15 entries, I wrote each name on a little slip of paper, folded it twice and put the names in my new strawberry crock (which I'll be posting about soon, I hope). Then I had my handsome assistant, Mr. T, pull out 2 names. And the winners are ...

Nikki, of Our Little Haven on the Hill

and

Erika, who does not have a blog that I 'm aware of.

Nikki will receive giveaway #1, since Mr. T pulled her name out first.

And Erika will receive giveaway #2.

I will try and contact both of you ladies later today, but if you read this first, please send me your regular mailing address so I can get your gifts into the mail, okay?

Thanks again to all of you who commented and entered the giveaway! I had so much fun reading your comments and thoughts!

A yummy fall recipe ~ Pumpkin Spice Amish Friendship Bread!

2011-10-20T17:01:00.000-04:00

Photo from Susie QT pies Scraps of Life

Who would ever have thought such a recipe existed? Certainly not me! But I found the recipe here at Susie QT pies Scraps of Life: Pumpkin Spice Amish Friendship Bread and just had to try it. I happened to have some friendship bread starter in the freezer ( freezing the starter in one-cup amounts is a great way to use it up when people give you starter and you can't keep up with it all).

Our review: It's delicious! Somehow my hubby, 8-year-old granddaughter and myself have gone through half a loaf in the past couple of hours. Good thing the recipe makes 2 loaves!

Timberline Jack's

2011-10-17T16:47:00.002-04:00

Recently, a crewel embroidery project I did for a family member many years ago came back into my possession. It is a bit the worse for wear, but not bad. I thought it might be fun to share this project with you all. It's a detailed picture of a frontier trading post called Timberline Jack's, a Charles Wysocki design.

A closer look at the false front and signs on the trading post

I love the fur, done in turkey work, and notice the old men playing checkers!

Furs are being traded for blankets here while the pony stands patiently by. Love the detail in the blankets!

More signage...

The entire picture. I love how Charles Wyscocki's art tells a story ... maybe more than one!

Simple fall crafting ... and a celebration

2011-10-14T14:28:00.001-04:00

Today I would like to share (literally) some of my recent fall crafting.

This first one is not recent. I made this fall-themed tote bag years ago with the idea of selling some. Never did it. Still love the bag. Made two of them and gave one away.

2 fabric trimmed bistro towels -- black fabric is vintage!

Fall fabric trimming microfiber towel

Made this cute pumpkin patch table topper from a panel. The reverse side is a print of brown leaves, and it is reversible.

Made some other goodies too; pie spices, cider mix, and some recipe cards with my favorite fall pie recipes on them

What's the occasion? My 1200th blog post! To celebrate, I decided to do two giveaways.

Giveaway #1 -- the tote bag, autumn tea wallet, one autumn tea towel and a fall note pad.


Giveaway #2 -- the two bistro towels, recipe cards, table topper, hot cider mulling spices, and pumpkin and apple pie spices.

The time period to enter for the giveaway will be from now until 10 pm eastern daylight time on Thursday, October 27. To enter, you need to be a reader in the U.S. and you need to leave a comment telling me what you enjoy most about Across my Kitchen Table, or an idea for a post. If you don't have a blog, be sure to leave me an address where I can contact you via email.

Looking forward to the celebration!

A little more fall decorating

2011-10-13T14:47:00.002-04:00

Here are just a few more pictures of my fall decorating. I still hope to make a fall garland (although it may turn out to be a Thanksgiving garland) and will be sure and post a picture of that when I do.

I failed to take a picture of the entire hutch before, but have done so now, and here it is. Now you can get the full effect.

My fall ribbon board in the front hallway!

Simple grapevine wreath on the front door. I usually keep the ivy but add other elements seasonally.

Fall slate on the front porch. This is the first time I have displayed this. I wasn't sure about the pink barn, but I love the effect on the rustic porch.

A clay pocket filled with faux leaves, goldenrod and vines

Happy fall, everyone!

A taste of Heaven

2011-10-12T09:53:00.001-04:00

It is past time that I write an account of my weekend at the ladies' retreat held at The Wilds of New England, back in September. With the couples' retreat coming up this weekend, I thought I'd better write about the ladies' retreat before the two get mixed up in my mind. (Realistically, there should be quite a number of differences between the two, however.)

I was really blessed to be able to attend this retreat with six good friends from church, plus my daughter Carrie. (If you would like to read Carrie's account of the weekend, you'll find it here: Ladies Retreat 2011. Here's a look at the inside of the cabin where we stayed.

I love how the campsite was so beautifully decorated for fall. So welcoming and warming. Here's one outside vignette:

And another:

One of my favorite places!

Here's the fireplace in the coffee shop.

Here's a look at some of the buildings:

And a closer look at the flagpole decorations:

One moment simply blessed my heart and felt like a true taste of heaven. Many of us got up quite early and there was a good bit of time before breakfast. I left the cabin to walk to the coffee shop where I intended to meet up with Carrie and some of the others. As I walked down the path from the cabin and stepped into the open area nearing the main buildings, there was a pretty sunrise lighting the sky. Not colorful, but just bright light. And at the same time I was aware of music. Lovely instrumental praise music was being played over the sound system and wafted over the campsite. I just stopped for a moment to take it all in. I thought to myself that this must be a tiny taste of what heaven will be like -- just surrounded by beauty and praising our God together.

The teaching for the weekend was by Mardi Collier and her theme was "My 100% God." We were also blessed by a wonderful handout she shared concerning how to get to know God better through His Word and by means of a simple notebook where we record what we learn about Him. This is a simplified version of material presented in her book, What Do I Know About My God? which may be found here: .

Many of us bought the book -- although, as I said, a simple notebook will suffice. I can say that if one will truly follow this method of learning about God, true spiritual growth and a changed life will result. The basic idea is that you read your Bible, you start a page in your notebook for each fact you learn about God. Mrs. Collier suggests starting in Psalms. I'll just give a simple example. In Psalm 23:1, for example, we read "The Lord is my Shepherd." So in your notebook you start a page titled "My God is my Shepherd", and you copy down Psalm 23:1. Later on, in your reading, you will come across other verses that say the same thing about God, for example, John 10:10, where Jesus says He is the good Shepherd who gives His life for the sheep. So you copy those verses into your notebook on that particular page, and so on. It all adds up to a very practical and effective way of getting to know God well.

The music was wonderful and edifying as well, and there was plenty of laughter throughout the weekend.

The spiritual food was unequalled, and the food in the dining room was pretty good too. One of the nicest things was that none of us ladies had a hand in cooking it! In addition, our appetite for pretty things was satisfied as the dining room was so beautifully decorated. Here's one of the tables;

And here's how the windowsills were decorated:

In the afternoon on Saturday, we had some free time. I went on a hike and saw lots of nice scenery:

In addition to this picturesque old shed:

Coming back from the hike, we passed the rustic cross which reminds us of our salvation and all that Christ has done for us. From this hill there is a good overview of the campsite.

My friend Sandy and I had promised ourselves an Italian cream soda in the coffee shop, so when I got back from the hike we did just that. Hers was strawberry:

And mine was coconut. Whipped cream? Of course!

It was truly a wonderful weekend! A taste of heaven!

The view from my balcony

2011-10-11T10:54:00.001-04:00

Orange leaves in the background; our wild apple tree is in the foreground.

Late yesterday afternoon I found myself with some free time. Leftovers were planned for supper and the laundry was all dry and off the clothesline, so I set up one of our camping chairs on our balcony and enjoyed the late afternoon fall sunshine while doing some work on my Sunday School lesson.

The beauty of God's creation surrounded me up there. Here's one of my favorite little trees out back:

Love the contrast of yellow and gray!

And here's another. Love that this has red, green, and yellow leaves all on the same tree.

Coffee flavored with pumpkin spice creamer, in an autumn mug, added to the atmosphere.

And here are some more looks at our foliage. It's not as pretty yet as it will be, but nice anyway.

Looking out toward the road


More red and orange, plus some green and yellow

A bit of fall decorating

2011-10-10T15:53:00.000-04:00

Here are just a few pictures of some of my fall decorating. Some of it doesn't differ much from year to year, but this year I did a few different things. I neglected to take a picture of the hutch in its entire fall glory, but will plan to do that before I forget!

The bottom shelf of the hutch. There is my little "Give Thanks" embroidery project on the left, and a printable fall subway art design on the right. The tiny painted saw in the front was a gift from my hubby.

This photo pretty much shows the other two shelves. Many of the things are the same as usual, but I couldn't resist adding some; a favorite book on the left (a thoughtful gift from my daughter), a [faux] carnival glass chicken I've had for years, my old brown teapot and a nutcracker shaped like a pickup truck.

This shows the table with place mats, a runner, and my glass cake dome full of faux squash atop a homemade fall hot mat. I had an orange plaid tablecloth on the table first (with the same mats) but it needed washing so I swapped the runner for it temporarily.

This year I tried dressing up my corner cupboard a little bit too.

A mini grapevine wreath hanging from a knob of the corner cupboard. I trimmed it quickly and easily with a tiny wooden house and a scrap of fall fabric.

Hope you have enjoyed this peek at some of our fall decorating around here!

Getting the winter's wood in

2011-10-07T19:53:00.000-04:00

The wood going in the cellar window

Every spare minute Mr. T has these days he is occupied getting the winter's wood into the cellar. We have a wood furnace which, with ductwork, vents and forced hot air, heats our entire house. He cuts and splits wood a couple of years in advance so it has time to get good and dry. And in the fall, he moves the winter's supply into the cellar.

Granddaughter #2 driving the tractor

When the grandkids are around, he has plenty of help, especially since he devised the system of hauling the wood to the house using a lawn tractor and little trailer. The photos are from last year, but they tell the same story. You can see that these photos were taken on a hot day though, in the summer since the garden is still in place and the girls are wearing shorts. Not so with today's wood adventure; jackets are the order of the day, and the garden has been harvested due to impending frost.


Granddaughter #1 driving the tractor

Cheeseburger Macaroni

2011-10-07T10:11:00.001-04:00

Photo by Kevin & Amanda

I have very little extra time today, but wanted to quickly post this recipe link: Cheeseburger Macaroni. I tried this recipe, from Kevin & Amanda, on Monday and we really enjoyed it.

I've made cheeseburger macaroni recipes before, but this is the best of the lot. The homemade cheese sauce that's stirred in, and the use of taco seasoning and diced tomatoes with chilies, sets it apart from any others I've tried. I thought mine turned out just a tad too salty (I was using homemade taco seasoning) or too spicy, I couldn't decide which, but my hubby and granddaughters insisted it was just right.

Hope you enjoy this recipe if you try it. I would say that almost any child would enjoy this dish, but adults will enjoy it too. It is true comfort food!

More vintage treasure

2011-10-04T10:06:00.000-04:00

Some time ago I posted about this fabulous vintage cookbook which a friend gifted me with, and I promised to share some photos of the inside of the book. This is the 1963 edition of Betty Crocker's New Boys and Girls Cookbook.

I already owned the 1957 edition of this cookbook:

But this newer one is larger and my granddaughters and I are all enchanted by it. Here's the back:

The book includes wonderful instruction concerning table setting, mealtime manners, etc.:

And here's a sweet depiction of all the utensils a junior cook might use:

And also some good measuring rules for cooks to follow:

Now, here are the gorgeous photos that divide the various recipe categories of the book:

Special Occasions

Breads and Sandwiches

Cookies, Cakes and Desserts

Meats and Main Dishes

Salads and Vegetables


Beverages

Aren't they wonderful? I hope you enjoyed this peek into this vintage treasure!