Sister's Choice Quilts

It's a Quilt Shop and Christmas Reading

It's a Quilt Shop! How cute is that? The Designer Mystery 2015 Block 6 is a quilt shop. What a perfect addition to our village.

It's coming along, my little village. My tiny star blocks are progressing too, but gosh, they are slow going. Very fussy to make those little 2 1/2" center stars.

My friend Sue and I always like to buddy-read a book or two during the holiday season. This time we chose a cozy mystery called "Gingerdead Man" by Maya Corrigan. It is a light read, not too intense or gory. Cozy mysteries tend to rely on poison or other not-too-bloody means of offing the victims. This book has a lot of characters to keep track of (that's my only complaint so far). I am about three-quarters of the way through it, and I sure don't have a clue who done it. Have any of you read this? It is part of a series evidently, but you don't need to have read any of the previous books. 

Do you enjoy reading holiday-themed books during Christmas? What do you recommend?

Long Weekend Afterglow

Did you have a chance to sew this weekend? Nothing like Thanksgiving weekend for family activities, decorating, shopping, and relaxing. The family gathering was a small one, the shopping was done online, the decorating has definitely begun, and the relaxing included some sewing. I whipped up this runner in a few hours on Saturday. It won't be quilted in time to use this year, but it sure turned out cute. Extra points if you can spot the camouflaged Ozzie in the picture.

I had a honey bun and some yardage from a Bonnie and Camille collection from a few years ago (At Home). I have wanted to use it forever but never had the right idea. Isn't that black accent just right? I ended up using my Creative Grids log cabin trim tool and did the Courthouse Steps variation. Those blocks took no time at all. If you have that ruler, dig it out and make something fast with your scraps.

Are you sick of eating turkey leftovers yet? We are, so on Saturday night I made my favorite ham and potato soup. I think it is the best thing I ever ate. Seriously. Make this soup. I've made it many times and would take it to my dad's, and he enjoyed it too. I made it exactly as shown, except I may have added more potatoes than the recipe called for and then had to add more broth. It is very forgiving. And delicious. 

Lots to share with you all this week! Hope you all had a great weekend.

Jan's Famous Cherry Jello Salad

This dish of yummy fabulousness is Jan's Famous Jello Salad. Yes, I made it for Thanksgiving. What a hit. It has a base of cherry pie filling and a cream cheese/whipped cream crushed pineapple topping. Gelatin salads are so retro, and really get a bad rap these days. I used to love them with just about any meal, especially on holidays or hot summer days. I am going to copy Jan's story below so you can all enjoy it and get a good laugh. Who knows, if you make it, you might get famous for it too! It may be too late to make it for this Thanksgiving, but it sure would be great as part of your Christmas dinner.

Jan's Story

The Cherry Jello Supreme story is…we live across the country from family so celebrate holidays with our friends’ family here.  Everyone is related except us & we love being included in their holidays.  There will be 20 of us at our house on Thursday with lots of laughter & teasing.

These are always meals where the host provides the meat & a side dish or two & everyone else brings a side dish, rolls or dessert.  Our first year as a guest I took the Jello salad that is from a recipe in a Methodist Church cookbook from South Florida.  For some reason I’ve been expected to take/serve that salad at every holiday meal for the last 25 years.  

 

I didn’t think much about it & one year asked the grandmother (90+ years at that time) of the family to bring a salad to our house for Thanksgiving.  “WHERE’S THE CHERRY SALAD???” was blurted out at the dinner table. " Really?  This strawberry Jello salad your grandma made is pretty tasty with pretzels on the bottom.”  Back to my boring salad, then after a couple more years passed I asked our friend to bring the salad.  He knew about reaction the last time we diverted from Cherry Jello Supreme & made a beautiful red salad.  Again, “WHERE’S THE CHERRY SALAD????” was heard at the table despite a delicious fresh cranberry & Jello salad.  He was embarrassed & I felt awful for having asked him to fix the salad.  

 

I’ve given up.  I’ll be making 2 pans of Cherry Jello Supreme so there’s plenty for 20 at dinner on Thursday plus enough to send home with leftovers.  Here’s the recipe in case anyone wants to give it a try.  Be warned that you’re on your own if you have to make it for every holiday for years to come!

 

 

 

Cherry Jello Supreme

 

‘The Burnt Offering’ cookbook (circa 1972), Christ Church, United Methodist, Ft. Lauderdale, FL

 

Use a 9”x13” pan.

 

Dissolve 1-3 oz. package of raspberry Jello in 1 Cup of boiling water.

Stir in 1-21 oz. can of cherry pie filling.

Allow to set up in the refrigerator.

 

Dissolve 1-3 oz. package of lemon Jello in 1 Cup of boiling water.

Beat 1-8 oz. cream cheese & ⅓ Cup mayonnaise until smooth.

Gradually add lemon Jello to the cream cheese & mayonnaise.

Stir in ⅓ Cup crushed pineapple & 1 Cup Cool Whip (or real whipped cream).

Add 1 Cup mini marshmallows.

 

Pour on top of set up raspberry/cherry layer.  Allow to set up in the refrigerator.

 

Serves 12.

Resurrecting a UFO from 2018

I was digging around in my sewing room, looking for something to do this week. Which is of course what one does on Thanksgiving week, when one has work deadlines, cranberry relish and pies to make, and a house to clean. And did I ever find a project. Back in the summer of 2018, I signed up for a weekly block kit from Primitive Gatherings. They called it "Star Studded Event". Of course it features teeny tiny pieces, which Lisa Bongean of Primitive Gatherings is known for. 

At the end of the project, you were to end up with 240 six-inch quilt blocks. Super scrappy of course. And each block has a 2 1/2 inch center star.

Here is one 2 1/2" center star. It is tiny all right. The flying geese units are 1" x 1 1/2". Good grief, my yellow rotating mat is a mess. My friend Thelma sent it to me eleven or twelve years ago and it has gotten good use, obviously. I can't bear to replace it though for some reason.

I had already finished 120 blocks, so yay, half way through. As I started going through the weekly fabric kits, I felt (as I often do with scrappy kits) that many of the fabrics were (to put it kindly) not to my taste. So that led to much rummaging around in scrap bins and me cutting more strips to make blocks more to my liking. You should see my sewing room. To say it's a mess doesn't quite sum up the complete chaos. 

This is how you assemble the blocks. You get four blocks out of a fabric strip assortment for one color story. Five color stories per weekly kit, so 20 blocks a week. Evidently I forgot the instructions not to combine duplicate fabrics within a block. No problem I have about a hundred more blocks to make.

The blocks really are awesome. I need to finish this project. I think it will be an heirloom. I will keep you all posted.

In other news, if Jan gives me the ok, I will share her Thanksgiving Jello Salad story tomorrow. I think you all will get a kick out of it and be able to totally relate to it! 

Hope you all are getting more done this week than I am. I still have all the cooking and house cleaning to do today. How smart of me to have procrastinated and left everything for the last minute.

I Needed Another Christmas Table Runner....Not

Sometimes the creative urge cannot be denied. I have had this sweet pattern for a Buffalo Check Christmas table runner for a year or two, and have been meaning to make it. I used scraps from my stash and yardage of a white, taupe, and darker tan. The pattern is by Carried Away Quilting and was easy to follow. I did have to press all the seams open, and let me tell you, I was very tired of doing that by the time I finished the project. I don't know what it is about pressing seams open. I know things turn out better and lie flatter but I just resist it for some reason. 

Here is a close up of the two units that make up the top. The trees were easy peasy. So was the star for that matter. The only caution I have is that you have to have your wits about you or it is easy to put the wrong color neutral in a place where it doesn't belong. And if that happens, you lose the checkerboard pattern. My seam ripper and I got reacquainted while I made this little project. 

Busy week for me, how about you? I am meeting up with a friend this morning, then I need to go home, work on a writing assignment, and then make cranberry relish. My husband has been so excited about having pumpkin pie, and came home from Walmart with two jumbo cans of Libby's pumpkin. Each can makes two pies. I guess I will make those on Wednesday, along with prepping my dressing. I am going to try something different this year. I will make my dressing as usual, then put it in the crock pot to finish cooking. It will free up the oven, which is a plus.  Have any of you ever done that? One Thanksgiving I made my mashed potatoes in the morning, and put them in the crock pot to stay warm. It worked great! I only have one oven, which is a problem when you need to cook sweet potato casserole, keep the turkey warm, and cook dressing. How do you all manage all the dishes on Thanksgiving? 

Sewcialites Week 5 and a Fun Notion

I've been having fun with the 2022 Sewcialites Sew Along sponsored by the Fatquarter Shop. This was week 5, and the block was pretty difficult. I am making two different block sizes (in two different fabric collections) for this sew-along. The blocks above are my "extras". I had tons of leftover Christmas Morning fabric (Lella Boutique) from a previous sew-along and thought it would be a good idea to try to use it up if I could. So I am making the six-inch blocks with it for the Sewcialites sew-along. And they are quickly becoming my favorites, over my main blocks!

This is the actual fifth block in the sew-along, designed by Carrie Nelson. This is the nine-inch size in Flower Pot fabrics (Lella Boutique again). This was a challenging block, but if you go slowly, starch your fabric, cut accurately, and trim to size things will turn out pretty great.  I would not, however, want to make this block in a smaller size. 

Kimberly suggested that if you wanted a simpler block with a similar look, that you use a basket block from Sewcialites 1, which I did for my six-inch Christmas Morning block.

Here are all my nine-inch blocks. I am really enjoying this sew-along. On Fridays, Kimberly does a live tutorial where she makes the week's block on YouTube's Behind the Seams channel. I put Kimberly on in the background on my laptop and stitch along with her. 

And this is a fun new notion I got recently. It is called a Slap and Wrap Peel, but I call it a "slapper". Eva has had bracelets that curl up like this when you slap them, and a ruler too. In this case, it is used as a holder for the triangle papers Fatquartershop sells. You could use it to hold any bundle of papers in a roll. It comes as a straight flat strip. When you slap it against something it curls up and holds it tight. 

Hope you all had a great weekend. We put our Christmas trees up but didn't decorate them yet. We are hosting Thanksgiving for Sara and her husband Jeff, and Eva, and I don't want to rush the day too much. There will only be the five of us and we are looking forward to a feast. Jeff is a former restaurant owner and Culinary Academy graduate and his specialty is grilling. You know our turkey will be something special. 

On Black Friday however, we will be hitting the road full tilt boogie and getting those Christmas decorations up! This is a first, I am nearly finished with my holiday gift shopping!

Have a great start to your week!

 

Winter Village

These are all the blocks I have made so far for the 2015 Designer Mystery BOM. Five buildings and four snowmen blocks. Several people have asked about the pattern and where they can get it. It is available on the Fatquartershop for $59.98 for the twelve building blocks and the finishing layout/blocks pattern. 

This is the layout I am doing. Except, I am making the quilt wider and putting the top and bottom borders on the sides. I'll do the top as well if I have enough fabric. I prefer my quilts to drape over the sides of the bed.

These are the four alternate snowman blocks. I will probably embroider eyes and mouths. The pattern calls for button faces, but I am not sure that's a good idea.

This is how I wasted spent the morning yesterday. I just had to have a new holiday mug rug. No pattern, I just kind of made it up. The tree section does measure 6" finished.

I drive past these trees several times a day and decided to stop and take a picture before the leaves all fall off. Isn't that the most gorgeous juxtaposition of colors? It makes me so happy to see it.

Friday, yay! Hope your weekend is splendid.

Snowman Village Coming To Life

My snowman village is coming alive! I only finished two of the four snowman blocks yesterday, but the remaining two are ready to assemble. I think I will do little French knots for their eyes and mouths. Each block has two strips of trees and a snowman in a hat, scarf, or sweater. They are so darn cute.

I cannot recall when I have had so much fun working on a quilt! 

Several of you asked what fabric I showed yesterday in my post about wanting to make a Christmas quilt. The background and red fabrics are mostly from Primitive Gatherings latest collection "Garden Gatherings". They are a beautiful clear Christmas red. The dark greens are from that group also, and the lighter greens are from Jan Patek's latest collection for Moda. 

Oh my gosh friends, if you like to bake but can't ever finish (or don't want to eat it all) a whole cake, this book will be perfect. Each recipe makes an 8-inch round, an 8-inch square, or a loaf cake. Eva and I made the Pumpkin Spice Cake with a Maple Glaze, and it was truly outstanding. If you aren't big on pumpkin pie, this could be an easy and delicious Thanksgiving dessert. Flavorful, moist, and that maple glaze was brilliant. My husband said, "This is the best cake I've ever had". I put a green post-it flag on some of the recipes we want to try and practically ran out of flags. 

Snowman Village Quilt

My fifth building in the Snowman Village quilt is the library. This one was pretty easy, although it did have a ton of pieces. Those little Alphabities labels are a big help in keeping them organized.

Here's the entire village so far. Someone was asking me if there will be a quilt shop and there will be!

Today I am going to switch things up a little. My navy border and alternate block fabric arrived and I starched a yard or so of it yesterday. Today I think I will make my four snowman blocks, which fill out the setting layout. They promise to be super cute and I can't wait to get them done. Compared to these buildings, they will be a cinch. 

My head is so full of ideas for projects I want to make! I mentioned that I have been buying fabric, and this is some of it. Look at those beautiful reds and greens! The pattern is called Christmas Kaleidoscope and is available as a pdf download from Gigi's Thimble. The darker greens form a strong diagonal line, with the. lighter greens forming kind of a shadow effect. The reds are the star blocks, which are so fun made in different prints. I am looking forward to plunging into this project during the holidays. 

Hope your week got off to a good start. Eva and I usually bake on Tuesday, and this week we made a recipe from a new book I bought "Snacking Cakes" by Yossi Arefi. All the recipes can be made using just one big mixing bowl. You can bake the cakes in a round pan, a square pan, and even in a loaf pan (some of them). Our first effort is a Pumpkin Olive Oil cake with a Maple Glaze. We threw in a handful of chocolate chips because that's how we roll. I took the photo before we put the glaze on.

It sure smells good!

Snowman Houses and a Blast From the Past

To say I am enjoying making these houses from the Designer Mystery 2015 BOM sew-along is an understatement. Each one of these blocks is a little work of love. Top row: Grandma's Cottage and an Apartment Complex. Bottom row: Post Office and Sweet Shop. If they look scroogey, it is because I did not lay them straight on the design wall, they really came out pretty good. Anyway, so much fun! I am really pleased with how well the mail box turned out. That scalloped edging on the Sweet Shop block was so hard!

Here is a bit of fun. My sisters were going through our dad's bedside drawer and discovered an undeveloped roll of film. Kate took it to be developed and found a bunch of photos from 1999 that my dad had never had printed out. The picture above is of my mom at her kitchen sink washing lemons she had harvested from the lemon tree on the sideyard. We have no idea what she was planning to do with them, and even Sara, who was pictured in some accompanying pictures where she was assisting my mom, had no recollection of what the plan was. What a blast from the past this was. At the time, Sara and Ahren and I lived less than a mile away and were hanging out at my parents' house all the time. This picture is a perfect example of what life was like back then. There was always some project or other going on at their house that we all pitched in on. It makes me miss them so much.

Hope you all had a great weekend. I spent part of it with my sisters and it was so nice to be together.