Goodies

Santa (a.k.a. The Official Cookie Tester) and friends were very generous to me this year, delivering lots of great quilting and baking trinkets for me to enjoy. The biggest surprise was two gorgeous books from Quiltmania, but I also got a couple of wonderful cookbooks - my favourite reading, after quilt books.

Let's start with the sweets. This one, Butter Baked Good, was a gift from Stephanie, and besides absolutely beautiful and leaving me wanting to bake everything in it, is so perfectly named. We always joke about how many pounds of butter are offered up to the cookie gods during our Christmas baking.

The second cookbook is one of Mary Engelbreit's from my sister Betty and her family. The recipes look delicious (I think that the Barley & Mushroom Pilaf might be on the menu this evening) but it also speaks to my long held dream to illustrate. Mary's style and attention to detail are wonderful so it will be double fun using this one.

Two beautiful Quiltmania books will keep me drooling and dreaming for a good long while - Promenade in a Dutch Garden, which is just loaded with wonderful projects...

and Di Ford's Primarily Quilts. So gorgeous, and it contained a surprise too.

I have long admired the pattern Phebe and didn't realize that it was in this book. Think it's a sign?

There are so many beautiful quilts in this book it is hard to put it down. This one - Antique Wedding Sampler - is stunning. Not sure that I would ever make it but you have to admire the talent that designed and crafted it. Spectacular.

Anne dropped this little pocket calendar into my stocking and I'm thinking that I might use it as a diary of sorts to keep track of my quilt TO DO list.

The last goodie is a set of 3 Bloc Loc rulers for trimming Flying Geese blocks. I probably should have taken them out of the wrapper so that you could get a better look at them but will show them again when I get to using them.

So, lots and lots of quilt and baking goodness under the tree this year. How fun!...M