Sister's Choice Quilts

Where We Got It All Put Away and Ate Chocolate Cake

I have shared with you before how my husband is an absolute nut about Christmas. He starts buying his gifts way early and always gives the best presents. He is known for his generosity. But what he loves most about the holiday season are his special decorations. Of course, he puts lights up everywhere he can hang them, and insists on more than one Christmas tree. This year we had three and they were gorgeous. He is definitely a "more is more" kind of guy.

Every year I say "Oh gosh, maybe we won't put it ALL out this year..." But the look of disappointment on his face makes me immediately retract my statement and suggest we do even more. Putting out all the decorations is a three-day process at least. Taking it down and putting it all way is a bit quicker and we each are responsible for certain items. My husband has an extensive collection of glass ornaments that he has acquired over the decades and he won't hear of anyone putting them away but himself.

First, he spreads towels out on our countertops and arranges the ornaments all by size. One by one, he wraps them in individual plastic bubble wrap bags and carefully places them in large plastic tubs. I am not sure anyone else in the family is quite as smitten with the collection as he is, but hopefully, someday they can be parcelled out to interested family members when we have no more use for them. Or maybe Sara can sell them on eBay and use the money to send Eva to college.  lol

Well, that was hard work, so we celebrated getting the project done by making the best chocolate cake. I highly recommend it, because after all the cookies, fudge, and fruitcake from the holidays, we had to keep up the momentum and keep the pantry stocked with something sweet. The recipe is called Top Secret Chocolate Cake. But it isn't a secret, because here is the recipe. You should make one for yourself.
You know you want a piece.

Sweets for the Sweet?

It is the final countdown of days before Christmas.  This month has just flown by. It feels like we only just got the place decorated. I may have to leave things up longer this year. I never do though. It gets to be New Year's Day and I want to clear away all the clutter. We shall have to see if this year is different. I sure have enjoyed my lights and candles and other decorations this year.

Yesterday I made two kinds of cookies. The ones above are called Monster Cookies and are from Sally's Baking Addiction. The recipes I try from her site always seem to turn out so well.  I think she tests everything a gazillion times before she decides the recipe is perfect. The secret to these is not to overbake them. You take them out of the oven when they have just a touch of color and are still really soft. After ten minutes or so they set up and are perfect.

Check out this gift from my nephew. Killer Brownies. Oh my. I am going to need to find more people to share these with.

And here is the last batch of cookies. These are Chocolate Crinkle Kiss Cookies with peppermint Hershey's Kisses on top. They melt in your mouth. This is another cookie you don't want to overbake.  They don't really look done when you take them out of the oven, but once they set up they are wonderful. There are a thousand recipes for these on the internet, but I use the one by Betty Crocker.

I sure do hope you all have a wonderful holiday. I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for your support and friendship. You have definitely added a big plus to a difficult year! I have so enjoyed all of your comments. And even if you read this blog, but don't comment, I thank you for checking in with me. Best wishes for a healthy and prosperous new year, filled with lots of love.  I'll be taking a brief break, but will be back on January 4.  Happy New Year!

 

 

 

This and That

I know I've shown this a million times, but the latest update is that I have completed all 42 blocks and have begun to sew them together! The intersections where the cream sections have to fit together isn't absolutely consistent, which is driving me a bit bonkers. If it is really off, I have had to re-do the places where the seams need to meet, so it is slow going. I sure would love to finish this dinosaur up before New Year's.

What I've been spending my time on is wrapping Christmas presents. I worked on that for most of yesterday and finished, except for a few gifts that have not yet been delivered. And oh my gosh, is USPS ever overwhelmed. I'll be surprised if everything I am waiting for even gets here by Christmas Eve. I have one package that has been sitting on the bottom of a pile at the post office of a town only an hour away from me since Dec. 11.

Oh and here is a funny story. One of my neighbors sent out an email to everyone on the street saying he had gotten a notice saying that a package had been delivered to his front door that day.  No package. He asked us all if it could have been delivered to one of our front doors by mistake.  Nope. A week went by and we all got another email from him. It was trash day, so he went to the area under his house where he keeps his garbage cans, and there was the package. USPS had delivered it to the door to the crawl space under his house.  I am not kidding.

Here is a little fabric bundle I treated myself to recently. It is Bess' Flower Garden by Pam Buda. I thought it would be fun to sew something up for the summer/4th of July. I am toying with the idea of decorating my front porch in all red, white, and blue quilts for summer.

Well, that's all I've got for today. I am going to go reward myself with a cup of hot cocoa. With marshmallows. Hope you are all having a great week!

Christmas Candles and Sew Along Blocks Catch Up

I am really enjoying my house and my holiday decorations this year. Next week there won't be any homeschooling and I plan to spend every day just soaking it up and loving every minute of the lights, music, and holiday cheer.

The lack of time spent in the sewing room is catching up with me.  It's time to make up for lost time and get some of my various sew along blocks done.  The two blocks above are from the Moda Blockheads 3 sew along.  47 and 49 I believe. I wasn't sure I really liked either one of them, but went ahead and made them anyway. It turns out I do like them. 

I wanted to share three different holiday candles that I am especially loving. This one is Tree Farm by Bath and Body Works. It really smells like fresh-cut trees and other Christmassy smells. I love Bath and Body Works candles, but get impatient with their gimmicky sales.  You would never want to pay full price ($25) for their candles because they reliably go on sale for half price every few weeks. There is so much hype around their various releases, which is annoying too.  They play on the "buy it NOW or you will lose out" mentality. Obviously, I fell for it, but am enjoying this one anyway. I did get it for half off!

This one is by HomeWorx, and I got it on QVC last summer and have been saving it for Christmas.  It has all the good smells of holiday baking and is very warm and cozy. I have enjoyed many HomeWorx candles from QVC, but do find they burn fast.  Maybe those four wicks have something to do with that.

Talk about candles that last forever, I have such good luck with Yankee Candles.  They honestly burn for hours and hours and hours. I can use them for a couple of years if I just take them out around Christmas time. This one is Snow Dusted Bayberry Leaf. When I was younger, bayberry candles were about the only scented candle you could find during the holiday season.  That is what my mother used to buy anyway. Smelling bayberry really takes me back to my childhood.

Hope you are enjoying the sights and smells of the holidays wherever you are!  Have a great weekend.

My Treat for Myself

How fun is this?  I bought myself an Advent calendar! In the past, I have bought very pricey David's Tea Advent Calendars, which are gorgeously packaged and have two servings of various teas for each of the 24 days before Christmas.  I have thoroughly enjoyed them the two years I got them. The David's tea calendars cost $50, and for some reason, this year, it slipped my mind to order one.  Maybe I was hoping they would have a sale? Anyway, I was missing having an Advent calendar, and David's was all sold out of theirs.

We were already three or four days into December, and I was searching for something online and found this K-cup coffee pod Advent calendar on Amazon.  It was $25 and contains 12 K-cups.  Still kind of pricey for what you get, but I am going to have fun with it. Look at those flavors! Merry Mocha, Cinnamon Bun, Spiced Eggnog, Spiced Rum Butter... This is going to be fun.

The only criticism I have so far is that they are impossible to get out of the package.  My husband says he thinks he knows how to do it. I told him to surprise me every morning with a Holiday K-cup of the day.

Are you doing anything special for yourself this holiday season? I think we all need a reward, considering.

Sunsets and Quilt Blocks

Goodness, did we ever have a spectacular sunset last night! My husband took this picture and captured all the glory of it. Amazing.

So how is your Christmas shopping going?  I am finding it really hard to shop for a few people on my gift list because I can't physically go to a shop and be inspired by displays and suggestions. For most of the folks on my list, I have a specific item in mind and it's a no-brainer to shop for it online. Black Sketchers, size 12, check. Oxo cutting board, size large, check. American Girl doll, check. But for some family members, I don't have a gift list and want to do something creative and interesting. Under $100. Honestly, I have been having such a time. I may have solved it today, but what a struggle. I sure miss being able to shop in an actual store.

I've made three 6-inch blocks for my Moda BlockHeads 3 this week. I have to say that the last two block offerings have not been to my taste at all. I think the BlockHeads designers are running out of steam. Arrows? And a super primitive flower applique. They didn't seem to go with anything in the quilt so far. So I didn't use them. Luckily, I have several sources for 6-inch block patterns that did not let me down. Actually, I just used the Lori Holt book "Farm Girl Vintage".

Hope you all have an excellent weekend! 

Full on Decorating

Thanksgiving was lovely. My daughter and her husband came with a smoked turkey and we feasted all afternoon. It was just the four of us, so I'm telling you, even after splitting the leftovers, we are not going to have to actually cook anything for days and days.

We got our main tree up before Thanksgiving and have been adding little vignettes and other decorations ever since. Honestly, it has been non-stop.  I cannot believe how much stuff we have collected over the years. I swear, I only put half of it out, and it's still a lot.

So much cooking, so much decorating, so much time on my feet. I am beat, I tell you. Hopefully, we will be able to get back to our homeschool schedule, at least for the first two weeks of December. I am looking forward to sneaking upstairs to my sewing room when the school day is over and doing a bit of stitching.

Hope you all had a lovely long weekend and a Happy Thanksgiving.

Butternut Squash Soup

I am trying to replicate my son in law's recipe for Butternut Squash Soup. Which is the most delicious soup on the planet. Of course, he doesn't have a recipe. Basically, he told me to roast a halved butternut squash in the oven at 400 until it is soft. First, brush it liberally with butter and sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Saute one chopped onion, one chopped apple, and some garlic in a Dutch oven. Add some broth to deglaze the pan. Add the cooked squash that you have scooped out of the skin. Salt, pepper. Add the rest of a carton of broth. Cook a half hour or so. Add a cup of half and half. Use an immersion blender and puree until smooth.  Then, add the secret ingredient.

Any sort of maple syrup will do, it just has to be the real thing. None of that Mrs. Butterworths or Log Cabin stuff. I don't even have an amount to tell you. I probably put in a couple of tablespoons. It gives the soup the most amazing flavor. You sure wouldn't know you were eating a vegetable, and that's fine with me.

Isn't that a fun photo above? You can see my husband laying out all his precious Christopher Radko glass ornaments on towels. He likes to look at them all before he decides where to put them on the tree. He gets so much enjoyment out of those decorations.

It is pretty domestic and cozy around my house these days. Hope the days leading up to Thanksgiving are good for you too.

One Little Red House

One little red house was all I got done yesterday, but with luck, more will be coming this week! The barn block was fun to make. I do not think I have ever made a block like this before. It was pieced on the diagonal and came out pretty well. For anyone reading my blog for the first time, this block is part of a sew-along hosted by designer Jessica Dayon. Click HERE for more information.

Work is progressing nicely, and the light is at the end of the tunnel. I need to start focusing on Christmas, especially since gifts will have to be mailed this year as the family can't get together in person. Would you believe both my children have finished their shopping already? I have broached the subject of at least discussing what gifts we will give to people this year with my husband, and he went running from the room both times. Sigh.

In other news, we have mold on the cheese.

So, for those of you who have a science background, can you answer a question? Will each item on the plate create its own colony of mold, or will the mold on the cheese spread to the other items? Will there just be one kind of mold on the plate or more than one variety?

Some teacher I am. 

That Crazy Tree

Here was my tree a week ago Nov. 2.  Glorious, right? It was so beautiful.  This tree gives me so much joy every November. Almost overnight its leaves turn this amazing red color. But I shouldn't get too used to it.

Unfortunately, the color show is extremely short-lived!

And here we are six days later! I took this photo on Saturday morning Nov. 7.

Sometimes the best things just don't last!