An Easter Bunny Tote Bag

A friend sent my daughter and me really cute wall hangings made from a towel and washcloth.

We wanted to make something for her and collaborated on a large tote bag.  My daughter did her great embroidery on an 8 inch center panel …

…and I used my favorite quilt block to frame a picture – 4-½ inch log cabin blocks (1-½ inch center and 1 inch strips).

I used the same pretty pink calico in the blocks and for the backing and lining.

Pale green check seems to go with pink so well and serves as an accent on the bag.

This is a roomy 16 x 20 inch tote and I hope will be used to transport a lot of good stuff.

Click on pictures to enlarge.

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Christmas Shopping at the Five and Ten

At Christmas time, my little sister and I loved to go to Neisner’s 5 and 10 (“the dime store”, we called it), a treasure trove of gifts for children, or adults for that matter, with small coins in their pockets.  We circled around and around the counters, picking up cards with beautiful jeweled earrings or flowered boxes of dusting powder or the ever popular Midnight in Paris perfume in small cobalt blue bottles.  These would be wonderful surprises for Mother, the Grandmas, the aunts – if we pooled our money.  There were small bottles of shaving lotion, glistening emerald green on the counters, which were standard fare for the men in the family.  For small cousins there were jack sets, paddle balls, tiny dolls – such an array!

Now, that 5 and 10 stores are a thing of the past, I remember all those dear people opening our dime store gifts, clumsily wrapped and labeled, and exclaiming with wonder – the same as my sister and I did as we entered the marvelous world of Neisner’s.

HAPPY MEMORIES OF THE WONDERS OF CHRISTMAS

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A Cincinnati Christmas in the 1960s

In 1989 my oldest daughter made up a little booklet for family members with her memories of Christmas in the 1960s.  Since then, I get it out every year and read it – and cry.  It’s a very accurate depiction of our family’s Christmas and this year she put it on her blog in PDF form.  For those who grew up in the 1960s or who raised children in that era, it might be a fun read.

http://www.nudged2write.com/archives/3219

Happy Christmas Eve.

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Quick Fabric Christmas Cards

Every year, I try to come up with a handmade original Christmas card for my two daughters and two youngest grandchildren.  These have been in many forms in past years and this time, I decided on fabric cards.  I started by choosing the four envelopes and cut the fabrics so they would fit.

For the two daughters, I made small Dresden plates from Christmas fabrics, sewed non-woven fusible interfacing to them, trimmed, turned and appliquéd the plates onto a piece of 4×5 fabric which would fit my envelopes well.  I cut a backing the same size, sewed right sides together with an opening for turning, then top stitched.  I included a panel on the backing with my handwritten “to-from” information.  A button or other embellishments can be added.

I always include a dollar bill with the grandchildren’s cards, so in this case I made a pocket big enough to hold a bill or check or gift card and appliquéd it to a 4×5 piece of fabric.  Then I added the backing as I did for the Dresden plate cards.  It made a nice little holder for their dollar and is something their mother will save for them as a keepsake.

The most time I spent was in doing the piecing, but a cute piece of fabric would work just as well.  A quick, easy project.

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Grandma Moses Canister

One of my favorite collectibles to get out at Christmas time is a canister that we found in an antique shop about 25 years ago.  It’s a large metal canister with a Grandma Moses scene on the outside.

A few years ago, I found a copy of an ad which offered a Free Grandma Moses Canister with the purchase of a 3-pound can of Spry.  The ad is dated February 15, 1959.

I was a former P&G employee, loyal to Crisco, so I know I would have grabbed this tin with a painting by one of my favorites, Grandma Moses.  I always get the canister out at Christmas time, insert a can of coffee in it, and keep it on my stove close to the percolator.

Tags:  Grandma Moses,Spry,canister,collectible,Christmas

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Christmas Markets

In 1990, my oldest daughter and I took a Christmas Market Tour in Austria and Germany.  The picture above is captioned, “Our favorite booth at Innsbruck”.  It was an amazing bus tour through Austria and Bavaria and it snowed heavily for the entire trip.  There was some white-knuckle bus riding on alpine roads like this one….

…and my daughter got this shot of me walking back to the pier at Herrenchiemsee.

This was typical of our daily walks through famous landmarks and tourist areas ….

My daughter in Salzburg

….and, of course, the wonderful Christmas markets.

Since that trip, my daughter has collected items for me that are reminiscent of our time there.  I have one shelf of Department 56 German houses and Christmas market booths.  There’s even a Krampus by the Biergarten.

Another shelf holds an array of small collectibles – an advent calendar, a music box, small cardboard foldouts, tins, boxes…

My favorite is this tiny market my daughter made that has one-inch figures.

I love to look at the little collection and remember a week in 1990 with blustery mountain roads, snow-packed sidewalks, Gluewein and huge pretzels at colorful crowded booths and a storybook Christmas on all sides.

Fröhliche Weihnachten

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It’s Christmas Time in my December Kitchen

In 1990, my youngest daughter gave me a Hallmark ornament showing Santa as the caller at a hoedown for his reindeer.  It was especially appropriate because my husband and I were ardent square dancers at the time.

The ornament became the centerpiece of the windowsill over the sink with a few small tins and figures added.  I’ve used the same display ever since.

The shelves on either side of the window hold snowmen made by my oldest daughter, Christmas mugs from grandchildren who are in their mid-20s now, and little S’Mores figures.

In the bay window area, I have a vintage paper bell, two favorite Rockwell Christmas plates and red plastic cookie cutters I bought at the dime store in 1953.

The top of my primitive shelf holds items handmade by my daughter

And the rest of the shelves hold vintage bottles, a fragment of a fancy apron I made for my mother over 50 years ago, grandma/grandpa salt and pepper shakers from a favorite restaurant of long ago, Christmas spoons, a St. Nicholas tile and my favorite Mary Engelbreit figures – “I Love Christmas”.

I have two wall hangings I made – one, a primitive based on my Christmas china…

(This is my post on how I designed and made the wall hanging.)

…and a countdown calendar in which felt cookies are removed from the big mixing bowl and placed into a pocket.

A Department 56 lady reigns over everything as my kitchen muse.

The newest addition this year has been a 1940s era doll table and chair set.  The set now has a hostess, a 1960s Penny Brite doll.  She’s graciously serving from a bountiful table with punchbowl, cupcakes, gingerbread house and candy canes.

My favorite is a tiered fudge dish fashioned from small bolts by my daughter.

Luckily, I was able to get most of my decorations up this year before I had some medical problems, so everything is ready for Christmas.

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A Shoebox Gift Exchange

This past year I participated in a secret Santa gift exchange hosted by Susan at Desert Sky Quilts.  The idea was to fill a shoebox with two fat quarters per month (two color choices of the recipient) and a homemade ornament.  It was up to the sender to include any other goodies.

My box arrived yesterday from Candi at Quilts N Things.  What a wonderful box of treasures it is.  First of all, there are the 24 beautiful fat quarters.  How did she know my favorite shades of red and green?

The handmade ornament is simply exquisite with tiny embroidery stitches and little jewels.

Also in the box was a Roma Scentsy Warmer with a beautiful base.  I couldn’t wait to plug it in and try out some of the Huckleberry Sage wax.  There’s a heavenly aroma in my living room right now.

But, wait – there’s more.  There are two containers of wax for the Scentsy, Huckleberry Sage and Mandarin Moon, a very cool pair of holiday socks, a cute gingerbread girl ornament and two little gold boxes of See’s Candies.  I’ve heard of See’s chocolate but have never seen it in the Cincinnati area.  Confession:  These are two empty boxes – my daughter and I sampled the chocolates right away.

Thank you to Susan for hosting this fun exchange and thank you, Candi, for such a wonderful shoebox – I’ll never see a shoebox again that I won’t think of you.

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Chocolate Almond Roca Cookies

I made these rich candy-like cookies last year on a sunny Sunday before Christmas.  My daughters and grandchildren were here for lunch and I was looking for something to serve that would be “holly jolly”.   This delicious confection adapted from a recipe on Mennonite Girls Can Cook was perfect.

CHOCOLATE ALMOND ROCA COOKIES

•     12 long graham crackers
•     1-1/2 cups sliced almonds
•     1 cup butter (not margarine)
•     1 cup dark brown sugar
•     1-1/2 cups milk chocolate chips (Ghirardelli)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Line an 11×16 inch jelly roll pan (with lips to catch spills) with parchment paper.  Lay the graham crackers in the pan to fit snugly.  Sprinkle with almonds and set aside.

Place the butter and brown sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

Bring to a full rolling boil – bubbles across the top surface of the mixture.  Pour hot mixture carefully over the almond/graham cracker base, spreading to cover all of the crackers and nuts.

Place in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or until bubbly all over.  Remove from oven and sprinkle even with chocolate chips. Let cookies stand for a minute to melt the chocolate, then use a spatula to spread the chocolate in a thin layer.

Cool in the pan on a rack to room temperature.  Place in the freezer for 10-15 minutes to harden chocolate topping.

Using the spatula, lift and break the cookies in random size pieces.

This makes a large batch of delicious, rich cookies.

 

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New Curtains for Christmas

Last summer, I took down the venetian blinds in the kitchen to give it a more open, airy look and repurposed some old lace panels to make curtains.

When fall came, I didn’t want to put the blinds up again but wanted a little more covering for the windows.  I found some wonderful reproduction feedsack fabric while in Ohio Amish Country and made some curtains that looked great with the autumn, Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations.

I really liked the curtains but I thought they might clash with all the bright reds and greens that go up at Christmas time, so once I again I made a set of curtains using white and red gingham.  They were the first things to go up in the kitchen before I began my holiday decorating.

They’re so bright and cheerful that they might be up until Valentine’s Day and into spring.

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