Quilted Scottie Table Cover

One of my Christmas gifts from my oldest daughter last year was a hand-appliqued red table cover.  She has been winning awards for all types of needlework – crocheting, tatting, embroidery, bobbin lace, etc. – since she was 12 years old, but she had never tried needle turn applique.  She let me admire the table cover then took it back to hand quilt it, which was also a new art for her.

This Christmas, I received the table cover back, completely bound and finished.  It’s gorgeous.

Every inch of the cover is filled with beautiful hand-stitching.

This piece has been transformed from a really nice hand-appliqued item to an heirloom and my daughter has two more areas of expertise to add to her list.

A Little Christmas Baseball Story

I can’t remember when I didn’t love baseball.  I was encouraged in my devotion by my father who took me to Crosley Field to see the Cincinnati Reds, explained the fine points of the game during radio broadcasts, and by the time I was 10, appointed me as his pitching practice catcher.  I had a great ball glove with well-oiled pocket, but what I wanted for Christmas was an official, grey flannel, pin-striped baseball uniform.

Sure enough, on that wartime Christmas Eve in 1942, under the tree was the gorgeous soft uniform with elastic-banded knickers.  I couldn’t wait to put on the uniform although I had to look a little strange wearing it with finger curls hanging halfway down my back.

I wore the uniform all evening, watching my little sister with her toys, admiring the tree and eating my favorite Christmas candy – Mother’s fudge and the old-fashioned chocolate drops with cream centers and dark chocolate coating.

Toward the end of the evening, I plunged into a big leather chair and threw my legs luxuriously over the arm, not realizing that I had sat down on a big gooey chocolate drop.  There was a dark brown stain on the seat of those grey flannel knickers that never did wash out completely.

But it didn’t matter – the thrill of the gift and the pride in the wearing had already taken place on a long-ago memorable Christmas Eve.

Christmas Carolers

Last Saturday evening at about 8:30 PM, my oldest daughter and I were watching Christmas Vacation on television when I heard my doorbell ring.  It’s very unusual for anyone to come to my door after dark, so I went cautiously to open it and before me stood my youngest daughter with her two children, singing at the top of their lungs.  First they sang a song for their aunt which consistently irritates her, I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas,  and then gave a very solemn rendition of Hark the Herald Angels Sing.   Granddaughter kept her eyes on her self-made carol book.   She knows the hippo  song all too well but has to follow her brother’s lead on the carol.

I gave each of the kids a small bag of candy and they headed back home where they planned to ring their own doorbell and give their Dad a surprise caroling party. 

1950s Spritz Cookies

For quite a few years, I’ve created personal memory-type Christmas cards for close family and friends.  In 1995, I sketched and scanned this Spritz cookie scene.  Since I didn’t have a printer with colored ink at the time, I hand water-colored each card.  This was the inside message:

In December of 1953, I took the trolley bus downtown and bought a beautiful copper and aluminum cookie press.  I could hardly wait until the next morning to try it out and kept getting up in the middle of the night to read the little recipe pamphlet that described all of the different shapes possible with this marvel.  I’ve baked hundreds of cookies of all kinds since that December, but every year I get out the old cookie press and look again with wonder at the dainty Christmas tree and wreath cookies, sparkling with green and red sugar.

Have a Christmas full of wonder.

Once again last week, I pulled out the press and the plates for the tree and wreath, making Spritz cookies from the 1950s for St. Nicholas on December 6.

Here is the recipe:

1950s SPRITZ COOKIES

• 1 cup margarine (I like Imperial)*
• 1 large egg (should measure 1/4 cup when broken)
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose fl0ur
• 1/2 tsp. salt

*Back when I first started making these cookies, I couldn’t afford butter but in later, more affluent times, I’ve found that I prefer the consistency of the Spritz made with margarine.  Certainly, butter can be used if you prefer.

Cream margarine, egg, vanilla and sugar until smooth.  Add flour and salt.  Mix until blended.  Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Put one of the plates and half of the dough in the cookie press.  Press cookies onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

Sprinkle with colored sugar and bake for 10-12 minutes until light brown.  Remove to rack to cool.

Repeat with other half of dough, changing to the star plate which I use to make long strips which can be cut and formed into wreaths.  On these cookies, I have traditionally added bits of red and green candied cherries.

I’ll make another batch of these cookies for Christmas and this year, I’ve been asked to make enough of the wreath cookies  to serve  14 of my granddaughter’s pre-school classmates at their Christmas party.   Since my granddaughter likes them so much, I hope her friends will, too.

A Tree Skirt from a Square Dance Skirt

Thirty years ago (in 1978), I was very much involved in square and round dancing.  For my Christmas gift that year, I asked my oldest daughter to work her magic with needle and thread on a skirt I could wear to all the Christmas dances.  She helped me choose a heavy cotton fabric in Christmas green and I made a 12-panel full-circle skirt.  She decorated each of the panels with a different design in embroidery and fabric paint.

My favorite designs were the little folk girl and the angel, although each image was unique and charming.

I wore the skirt for many years at dances and various Christmas parties.  Each time, I would have to stand still while other women made a circle around me, picking up the panels and admiring my daughter’s handiwork.  After my husband became too ill to dance and after the waistband became a little too snug, I hated to think of storing the skirt away and never seeing it again at Christmas time.  That’s when I decided to just cut it apart up the back and use it as a tree skirt.  It’s wonderful and makes an appearance every year encircling my Christmas tree.

I’m so glad to be able to sit and look at the skirt each year, remembering all of the happy dances and parties from so many years ago.

CHRISTMAS GREETING

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Christmas Handiwork

 

Thanks to two talented daughters, I have a lot of Christmas handiwork to enjoy.  Over the past couple of years the oldest daughter has made primitive Santas….

…an embroidered picture and a handpainted apron….

 

…a kitchen wreath with vintage cookie cutters and decorations.

The youngest daughter made some craft decorations when she was a teenager …..

…and later, an embroidered picture ….

…and just this year, an afghan that looks like rows of Christmas tinsel and snowflakes.

It’s so nice to look around the house and see all these beautiful things that the girls have spent so many hours making.

Christmas Wall Hangings

 

I have 3 Christmas wall hangings that I’ve made since I started quilting 5 years ago.  Two of the earlier ones were made incorporating colorful primitive panels.

One of the wall hangings has a primitive Santa panel along with Bear Paw blocks from the Quilter’s Cache. 

This hanging is in the guest bedroom which has a lodge motif year-around.  Two Christmas stocking panels are combined with blocks made from flannel scraps and borders made from wonderful flannel with a village motif which was purchased at one of my favorite shops in southwest Ohio, Fabric Shack in Waynesville.

The third hanging is from a pattern called “A Scottish Christmas”, Mad Dog Marketing, PO Box 5608, Evanston IL 60204-5608.  The pattern was sized for a 37-1/2×54″ piece, much bigger than I wanted, and I sized it down to 17×22 and made a few changes/additions.  Since scotties are among my favorite designs, I love this wall hanging and it also won a blue ribbon at the Warren County (Ohio) fair.

The little crow picture above the scotties was made by my oldest daughter.

Cranberry Date Bars

 

About 20 years ago, I subscribed to a small newspaper called The Blue Ribbon Gazette, a publication devoted to county and state fair cooking winners.  Sadly, it’s no longer in publication but I got some wonderful recipes while it was around.  One recipe that I include every year for St. Nick and Christmas is the one for  Cranberry Date Bars.  It was the favorite treat for my youngest daughter to take to work to share.

CRANBERRY DATE BARS

• 6 oz. fresh cranberries (frozen don’t work as well)
• 1/2 cup chopped dates
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup quick cooking oats
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• Glaze:  1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar mixed with fresh orange juice to make a drizzling consistency.

In a small saucepan, combine cranberries and dates, cook covered over very low heat for 10 minutes until the cranberries pop, stirring frequently.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

In a medium bowl, stir together the oats, brown sugar, soda, salt, and flour.  Stir in the butter with a fork.  Put half of the mixture in the bottom of an ungreased 9×9 baking pan.  Spread the cranberry/date filling over the bottom layer.  Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture on top, patting gently.

Bake for approximately 25 minutes until top is golden brown.  Cool in the pan on a wire rack.

While the cake is still warm, drizzle the Glaze over the top and cut into bars.

This wreath complete with vintage cookie cutters was made by my oldest daughter and hangs in my kitchen to inspire me while I’m baking cookies.

The Grandkids Bake Christmas Cookies

 

When my children were growing up, I don’t recall their ever being interested in helping with the cookie baking and I didn’t have the time or ingredients to waste, so I just made the cookies myself without any help from them.  When my grandchildren started arriving in the 1980s, though, I thought it would be nice to have them come to the house, starting when they were about 3 years old, to make Christmas cookies.  Granddaughter #1 loved mixing the dough, using all the different cutters, and decorating with sugar.

She is now married with two children and her husband is in Iraq this Christmas.

 

Grandson #1 joined his sister when he turned 3, and his specialty was piling lots of sugar on the cookies and cracking the eggs to mix in the batter.

Granddaughter #2 made it a threesome and her favorite cookies are still the cutout Butter Crisps.  She has two children who are too young to help her with baking, but the 2-1/2 year old likes the cookies, too.

There was a hiatus of a few years between when the older grandchildren grew up and before the youngest came along.  This year, Dolphin and Jellyfish came to do their best  and Jellyfish takes it all very seriously.

Dolphin is also serious about her baking but takes a more fun approach.

All of the kids have enjoyed the baking but most of all, enjoyed taking home plates of their own creations.

Here is a gingerbread cookie that the older grandchildren liked to make.

GINGERBREAD COOKIES

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 1/2 cup shortening (Crisco)

• 1/2 cup molasses

• 1 egg

• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1-1/2 tsp. cinnamon

• 1 tsp. baking powder

• 1 tsp. ginger

• 1/4 tsp. cloves

• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg

• 1/2 tsp. baking soda

• 1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 

Cream sugar, shortening and molasses until smooth.  Blend in egg.  Mix together dry ingredients.  Add to creamed mixture and blend well.  Form into a flat circle, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate dough at least one hour.

Roll out dough on floured board 1/4″ to 1/2″ thick.  Cut out with floured cutters.  Place cookies 1/2″ apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.