It's A Wrap

I feel like I've spent the last two weeks in a fog of flour and butter, but all for a good cause. The Christmas baking is, for all intents and purposes, finished and packed in tins for the freezer and for gifts.

Social Tea Squares are always a hit and I think this year I made four batches. Maybe five. It's all a blur. And three batches of my all-time favourite, Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread, cause you want to be certain to have enough.

The usual suspects were on my list - Toblerone Shortbread, Pecan Tassies, Chevre Sugar Cookies, Pecan Shortbread with Chocolate, and Fudgy Chocolate Tartlets - but it's always nice to try a few new recipes too and I really like everything that I tested this year (as did the Official Cookie Tester). Those little Cherry Ginger Thumbprints on the right are delicious and easy.

Cranberries are a favourite of mine and I had pinned a new recipe for these Cranberry Orange Cookies. They are fantastic. Dried cranberries and pistachios combine with orange to make a lovely little treat to have with tea, and the tiny bits of red and green are a festive touch.

 

I also had fresh cranberries in the house so I made another recipe that I had pinned - Orange Cranberry Yogurt Loaf. Actually, I had enough cranberries for two recipes and each made three small loaves, so I had six made in no time. I need to remember both of these recipes for the Holly Bazaar next year.




 

Because I have several tins to fill I just store the batches in large plastic containers in the freezer until all of the baking is done and then fill all the tins at once. It's a bit of a process but easier than sorting through all the tins every time there's a new batch to add.

So, it's a wrap for another year. Some days I feel for the soft spot in my head wondering who on earth needs to bake this many cookies, but when I see them all packaged up and ready to give and know the joy that these little morsels bring, I have my answer.....M

Christmas Cheer, Part Two

Roberta made my day last Saturday when she left a message that Nantucket was quilted, so I wasted no time in going to pick it up. I was anxious to see not only the quilting (which again, is perfection) but the toile as the backing. It turned out beautifully.

That feathered swirl is just so lovely - I think I could see myself using it on almost every quilt that I make. Just a second -- I think I have!

It's great to see it skipping across the large red stars and more subtly on the cream and white fabrics.

Someone commented recently on a post that all reds do go together, and I think that this quilt is a great example of that.

I've been feverishly working through my decorating and baking list so that I can sit down and start binding both this one and Country Charmer. The tree is now up and decorated (whew!) and there are only a few recipes left on the baking list, so I'm thinking that by the weekend I should be in the binding business.

Do You See What I See?

My visits to Roberta earlier in the week for the Nantucket backing yielded a very pleasant surprise - Country Charmer is quilted and came home with me. And it is gorgeous! It's patiently sitting in a bag behind the sofa, peeking around the corner at me until I get a bit more baking done, and then it will be bound.

Looking at it through the frosted bag is sort of like trying to peek at it through a frosted window.

I think that I've mentioned before how perfect Roberta's quilting is - she does beautiful work - and this one is no exception. I opted for the same feathered swirl that I used on Fly Away Home because I just couldn't find another pattern that I liked as much.












It is enlarged a little more this time and the loose swirls play beautifully with the precision of the pieced blocks and looks equally good with the floral border.

And, just when I thought things couldn't get any better, I found a fab paisley print for the backing in Roberta's stash of options. If I pinch myself any more I'm going to bruise.

Of course I couldn't resist putting a little piece of binding near it to see what the final result will be. If that's not incentive enough to finish up my Christmas baking so that I can work on this, I don't know what is.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - thank you Lynn at Sew'n Wild Oaks for designing this beauty. It is just so wonderful and soon to be a big part of our holiday tradition....M

A Great Start to December

Just when I thought I would never see my fabric order (placed in October) with my potential backing for Nantucket, it arrived as the calendar turned to December. And none too soon, as Roberta is now ready to quilt it. It's a great red and coffee toile from the Bon Voyage line by French General that seems to be a commentary on early hot air balloon rides.

Toiles can be an acquired taste but I really like this particular print, which is a relief because when you order online you can't always tell. And the fabric itself is beautiful.

I wasn't sure if it was going to work with the quilt top but a quick trip to Roberta's confirmed that it was ideal so I brought it home, washed it and put the backing together. It's now safely back in Roberta's hands and she will likely quilt it within the week.

Efforts to try and match the pattern were stopped in fairly short order. It was easy enough to match the pattern horizontally but in order to completely match the pattern I would have had to lose about 12" of width. Whaaaaat??? Not sure what the designers were thinking. Anyway, I still love it and am prepared to live with the half match that I've been able to achieve.

Since I had most of my cookie baking supplies still to unpack from our Bakeoff on Saturday I decided it was a good time to start the baking for our gift tins. These Raspberry Ribbons were a new recipe that we tried this year, and, in addition to working up quickly, I think they will look great on a cookie plate so I made a batch of these. The Official Cookie Tester was very happy with the results and didn't need to be convinced to finish up the trimmings from the ends....M