Little quilt

I finished hand quilting my first little quilt. Up until now I have machine quilted. I am practicing on small quilts before I start on the red work quilt. I have another that is a bit bigger I will practice on.
My stitches are a bit big but mostly uniform.Good enough for me.

I love hand stitching. j

Fun day/2nd quilt block

We had a fun Christmas day with my family at Mom's. Presents in separate piles. Men, women, kids.
Here are the great nieces patiently waiting for their turns to choose a gift.
So fun to see them open the gifts.

I finished the 2nd quilt block from this blog. http://thepaintedquilt.blogspot.com/

Hoping to do a lot more with the dolls and quilts in 2011.

The new year is so close. How did 2010 go so fast?
Happy New Year to you all.j

Our Lord's birth

It is the reason for the season.
May you have a Joyous and Merry Christmas.
j

Our Christmas

It is over.What a good time we had.Grands opening gifts.Parents watching. I love when they are here. The room is a disaster but oh we had good time .
j
wishing you all a very Merry Christmas.

Fun finds

I stopped into my favorite 2nd hand store to leave off a gift for owners/ friends Carol & John.Of course I found a few things to bring home. The lamp Is perfect for this corner don't ya think?
The wall hanging is just the thing to hang in place of the holiday banner, after Christmas.Even has the metal hanger.
A doll maker can never have to many little chairs.I have quite a collection.
The snowman center piece was a find in the store in 2009.He is perfect for the Holiday table.
Time has almost run out the families will be here this weekend.
Looking forward to their visit.I best get busy.
j

Home made gifts/the best kind

Home made chicken and noodles.Yummy breads.
j

Cloche Christmas Party

I joined the cloche party in my last post. http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/2010/11/lets-have-christmas-cloche-party.html
Here are a couple more. As I don't have a true cloche I make due.
The Wexford cake plate holds angels that I have had for many years.
The jar lamp holds vintage celluloid angels.
I added another picture of the Santa tree. I did some tweaking to that area.The small santa on the dolls lap is one of my favorites.I love his red plaid pants.j

Christmas 2010/Cloche party

Wow it has been a busy time around here. I can't believe how long since I added to my blog.


When we remodeled the kitchen in 2007 we married a set of shelves ,I bought at an antique mall,with a newly built base. We used the kitchen cupboard doors from the old sink base. The tile was a bargain and the storage is great for dishes. I wanted to display some dishes.The only problem I needed a plate rack to stand the plates.We made on Monday night.Added a wood strip to each shelf to hold the platters to keep them from slipping. Now it is a great place to display my dishes. The original plate rail is back up and looks great.
I have collected the green Christmas pottery over the years and found another piece this year. The candle holder in the top right corner.My dishes are are some I got a few years ago. The snowman dishes were a dollar store purchase.They are mix and match. The lamp base is a ball jar.I am linking to cloche party and Seasonal Sunday http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/2010/12/cookie-exchange.html
http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/
It is not exactly a cloche but fun just the same.
I will share the table pictures soon.












I got 4 table pieces done for friends. Always nice to have a new center piece.

The decorations are further along.Of course I am never done tweaking those. The entertainment center is the focal of the living room.The tree in the dining room is my santa tree.












The aluminum tree is so fun to have this year. Still needs the vintage ornaments go on it.

Time is short the kids and families will be here a week before Christmas.Maybe I will let the kids do it.















Some of the baking is done.More will be done tomorrow.
Still have so much sewing to do.
We are in a blizzard tonight.First of the season.
Could have done without it but mother natures had another idea.
Merry Christmas j

Christmas decorating

I have started with the decorations. I may not do as much as years past but time will tell.The first tree had to have the lights replaced so everything came off. Kind of nice to refresh once in a while. I store the trees in a closet so they are not taken apart each year. Except for the live tree.
This tree is one that has all hand made natural decorations. Beeswax candles, corn husk dolls, painted pine cones, nut stars,and acorns. It is a five foot tree.
The buffet, with the new shelf above, is in the computer room.I see it every morning and wanted things that remind me of Christmas Past.
There is the round candle my mom made many years ago.The neighbor ladies got together to make Christmas candles.They poured the centers then whipped the wax to frost the outside. I always loved that candle and a few years ago it was going to be thrown out. Not on my watch!
It comes out each year and reminds me of the fun Christmases of my childhood. Next is the Santa candle.Bought in 1964,-- one of the first Christmas decorations we had along with bubble lights and a tree topper.

The book brings back such great memories of the kids rubbing the fuzzy parts of the book,as I read each page, until the fuzz is almost gone.






Also on the buffet top are a few of my tree collection. I love this time of the year. Have a great weekend.j

Dry - brined turkey

2 Posts in one day.!
I wanted to share a picture of our small Thanksgiving turkey. It was just 12 pounds.
I again did the dry-brined turkey.
This is what I did.
A little less than 1/4 cup Kosher salt
Pat salt all over the outside of the thawed turkey.
Put in a sealed plastic bag for 4 days. Start with breast side down.
Rotate each day. Juices will be drawn out then reabsorbed.
Stuff cavity with celery,onions and carrots.
Bake breast side down,on a v rack, for 30 min at 400 degrees
add 1 cup water to roasting pan. Roast another 30 mins. add another cup of water.
Turn the turkey over using wads of paper towels or as we do use the gloves from the rotisserie.Tent with aluminum foil if bird is to brown.
add another 2 cups of water,cook until breast temp is 170 degrees.
The juices run when it is cut.Meat is moist, even when cold.

Here is where I got the recipe. I did not use as much salt this year. You need to go below the google adds.
http://blog.how-to-cook-gourmet.com/how-to-cook-a-turkey-and-gravy.html

Best turkeys I have ever done.j

decorating and snack for the holidays

Today is the start of all that is holiday for me. It really makes no difference if anyone else sees the decorations. I love this season and decorate and tweak right up until the day. I love the reason for the season. The music and making presents and so much more.
I brought one of the trees down, from the closet, this a.m. It is in need of new lights.The old lights have lasted for many years on this tree. It is decorated with things I have made in the past. Hand dipped candles, painted pine cones, corn husk and fabric angels. I will take everything off while watching the Duggers on TV this evening. Put on the new gold and white lights and decorate it again. It is worse for the wear from last year.
Some one put it away a little rough.

Snacken Good Snack Mix

The recipe was given to me in 2007 by my friend Judy F.
It is a bit pricey to buy everything but it is soooooooo worth it.
I burned the first batch in 2007. I learned pay attention to the temp of the oven. When it says 250 degrees that is what it means.

6 cups bugles
5 cups nacho bugles
4 cups cheese its
3 cups mini pretzels
2 cups crispix cearel
2 cups cashews or mixed nuts
1 small bag gold fish crackers
2 pkgs. ranch dressing
3/4 cup popcorn oil(I like Orville Redenbacher.)

I put all in a large enamel roaster sprinkle the dry dressing over. Stir
Pour the oil over all, stir.
Cover-- bake 40 -45 min@250 --stirring every 10 min.
store in covered container.

You can adapt.We do not like pretzels so I add more of something else. It makes a popular gift.
Happy Holidays
j

Friends feast/room redo finish getting closer

Yesterday we drove 2 1/2 hours to spend an *hour* with Cam.Then we drove the 2 1/2 hours back home. Don't get me wrong I love to visit and make those memories with the grands but I really hate riding in a car for more than an hour.
Cam's class had a program about thanksgiving. They made applesauce and pumpkin bars to share with us. We learned the pilgrums do not all wear black and white.That was for Sunday.They wore clothes that were dyed with things that gave red and brown colors too. There were only 4 women at the feast the rest had died. There were no Indian women they were not allowed at the feast.
The day was a beautiful. He is the one in a black shirt with no hat.Thanks Cam.We had a great time.










This past week I finally got the bottom of the new shelves painted. Things are looking better.
There are Fall decorations still there.As much as I want to put up Christmas things I will wait until after turkey day.
On to the curtains.
We will be celebrating on Sat.
I hope you all have a very happy thanksgiving.j

Festival of tables continued

The tables are lovely this year.Always so different and unique. I missed a couple and will take pictures when I visit today. I will take my time and enjoy each one.j

2010 festival of tables,red white and blue

Time for the festival of tables. This is one of the fund raisers we have for the Alden library.
I have done different tables through the years using antique dishes, Christmas dishes, thanksgiving dishes so this year I went with Americana. The linens and charges are new. The red pieces are vintage depression ruby glass. There are Syracuse butter pat dishes.The flate ware is bakelite circa 1930-1940. Nordic Blue dishes marked Japan. The blue glasses were my mother in laws.
It is always a fun time doing the tables.
My friend Pat has a table this year too
Her theme is strawberries. Her table is lovely.Have a good weekend.j
I am linking to Tabletop Tues.a bit late.
http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/2010/11/39th-table-top-tuesday.html

I am also linking to Show and tell Friday
http://romantichome.blogspot.com/2010/11/show-and-tell-friday_18.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:%20MyRomanticHome%20%28My%20Romantic%20Home%29