Santa Must Sew

There were lots of great quilty gifts under the tree for me this year which can only mean that either Santa sews or he's married to someone who is 😄. These bloc loc flying geese arrived! Soooo happy!! It's been a couple of years now that I've had my eye on them. There are two sizes - 2 x 4" and 1 x 2" - which should make for lots and lots of perfect geese.

This June Taylor Shape Cut Plus ruler has been on my wish list for a while too - it will make short work of cutting several strips at a time, particularly when it's time to cut binding strips. I suspect that I will be able to cut several hexies at once and, given my penchant for sewing tiny squares, I think that this is quickly going to become a favourite. Thank you, Santa! (and Paulette for making me wise to its existence - Stopped Me In My Tracks might get started yet).

For my birthday this past summer I got one of Sue Spargo's books and was lamenting that, beautiful as it was, I would have liked it more if instructions for some of the stitches had been included. Ta Da! Enter Creative Stitching. Sandi put me on to it after reading my post and Santa must have been aware of it too.

It's clearly laid out and the spiral binding ensures that the pages lie nice and flat. Actually, Santa must have lost track when making his lists because two copies arrived; apparently he is open to exchanging it for something else.

He must also be a baker because these tiny autumn leaf cookie cutters were under the tree as well. I particularly like the acorn and look forward to making lots of Thanksgiving pumpkin pie embellishments (it's the little things, isn't it?).

So, I've got lots of great new toys to play with and am now busy trying to figure out what the next projects will be. Fun, fun, fun! Hope Santa filled your stockings with lots of goodies too....M

Merry Christmas!

I'm a day late in my greetings for the season but in my mind Christmas goes to January 6 so I've still got plenty of time to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. I hope that you enjoy it in the presence of those you hold dear.

It's been more that a little bit hectic here lately (I feel like the Christmas hamster, if there is such a thing), but the cream puff ring got made...

...as did the fondue and the mince tarts. And the turkey is now just the promise of delicious leftovers.

And after a couple of days of going full out in the kitchen and shuttling to and fro for family celebrations, today I started things off with a great cup of coffee from my new Christmas mug, compliments of the Official Cookie Tester. I suspect that it will come in handy when those cookie tins start emerging from the freezer too....M

Making Spirits Bright

This time of year my sewing room is always a total disaster - it seems to be the magnet for anything that needs a home as the place gets prepped for the holidays. A feeble attempt to put some sort of order to it failed miserably the other day but it did produce a nice surprise - these log cabin Christmas placemats that I had made last year.

I thought that they still needed to be bound but my memory is obviously failing me - they are all set to go. So they've been put in to action and are working their holiday magic in the kitchen.

Interestingly, the Official Cookie Tester still reaches for the store-bought floral set that we've been using for years when he gets his breakfast which makes me think that he doesn't want to soil the new set.

Much as I love the front, I really love the backing - it's the perfect red and has lots of cheery Christmas greetings on it. Maybe I can use them upside down too 😏....M

Sentimental Journey

So much of why I like to do Christmas baking is tied to sentimental thoughts of Christmases past. When the recipes come out there's a cast of supporting baking supplies that are touchstones to a flood of wonderful memories. These tiny tartlet tins have been around forever and only get used for Pecan Tassies and Lynn's Tiny Fudge Tartlets.

It's a tradition, and they just make a plate of cookies that much more interesting (like cookies need any help being interesting!). They are always laid out and baked on old, round pizza pans that have to be at least 30 years old because they came from mom's.

At the risk of repeating myself, this is my all-time favourite cookie tin because the polka dots are on the inside as well as the outside. Haven't seen another one like it.

The Official Cookie Tester likes his Tassies plain but I like to drizzle at least half of them with chocolate.

So that's the end of the cookie baking for this year. Gift tins have been packed

and one or two already delivered.

The rest have found their way to the freezer. Interesting how many of the tins have snowmen on them...

this one would make a cute quilt block/mug rug.

And who wouldn't like a snowman bucket full of cookies to dig in to?

I don't usually snack when I'm baking but I do have to admit that when they were being packaged up two of the Paradise Macaroons that I showed you the last time took one for the team. De-lish!....M