Santa's Work Shoppe

Friday I spent almost all day getting Jesse's Christmas In A Box put together and in the mail. I can't tell you what all is in the box because he might read the blog before launch. Jesse will be out to sea for a couple of months over Christmas. He and Gabs were making plans to be home with us for Christmas but Gabs will have to come back to Delaware by herself. As of now we hope to meet up with both of them in May for a family wedding in San Diego.
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Also I will have to wait to blog about some Christmas Preparations so as not to spoil any surprises.

Christmas Quilts

This is a my Christmas Quilt featuring Minnie & Mickey Mouse. The poetry & graphics came from a Christmas card: You're the sprinkles on the cookies, the sparkle on the snow, the twinkle in the starlit sky, the fires cozy glow, you're the whipped cream on the cocoa, the tinsel on the tree, You're everything that's wonderful at Christmas time to me. I thought it was charming.




This little quilt is a miniature Baltimore Album Quilt. The pattern I used was compiled by the woman who taught me to quilt 31 years ago. Her name is Anna Holland and the pattern was called Mini Madness. The individual blocks are about five inches square.
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My first attempt at quilting was in high school for a history project. At the time I could only find one book with quilt patterns in black and white graphics. And there were no quilt shops. And I learned to type on a manual typewriter too. And I studied Latin. I never walked to school in a snowstorm or otherwise but a good bit of my life was spent living upstairs of the old school house. My parents rented a large Victorian Mansion in Leesburg, VA known as Waverly to start a small private Christian School. Some day I'll blog on that in more detail.
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But my teacher Anna lived in a nearby town called Waterford in a small log cabin with a fireplace in the kitchen that was once used for cooking. It was at her home that she introduced a special class to advertise her new pattern and teach the applique method using freezer paper. I was pregnant with my first child, Joshua when I took the class and also made my first baby quilt. Since then I have made quilt for all my babies and grandbabies.

Fall Quilts

Autumn Quilts






This is a blended quilt and one of my favorites. It is called a blended quilt because the fabrics diffuse into each other without much sharp distinction. The pattern is called Northwind. It is a twin size quilt. I don't make queen or king size bedding much anymore. I like the twin size folded at the foot of the bed to pull up on a chilly night.





This is a small quilt that I usually have in the living room during the autumn months. It's simply The Pumpkin Patch.

Wedding Quilt

This is the Wedding Celebration Quilt that I made for Josh & Amanda nearly 10 years ago. It is a Double Irish Chain. In the beginning they selected a favorite fabric and I coordinated it from there. The quilt has been very well used and is still in very good shape except that the binding had frayed. So I brought it home after my recent visit for repairs.

Apples .99 A Bag

Last year I had a Stoppe & Shoppe for my Longaberger customers. The homemade invites went out with a picture of a patchwork turkey and visitors received a jar of homemade apple butter for their Thanksgiving table.
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Making apple butter the old fashioned way was an adventure except that I did use a pot on my stove instead of a kettle over a camp fire. Still it takes 3 hours of standing over the stove and stirring constantly and usually a ruined pot. Since my pots and pans come from the flea market this isn't a big deal but in the interest of time a crock pot recipe sounded like genius.
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Finding apples on sale (.99 per 3 lb. bag) afforded me the opportunity to try my new crock pot recipe and it is a keeper.
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Crock Pot Apple Butter

Fill crock pot with thinly sliced Golden Delicious Apples and cook on high about 7 hours. Add 1 lg. cinnamon stick, 1 t. ground ginger, 1/2 t. ground cardamom, 1/2 t. ground nutmeg, 1/4 t. ground mace, small pinch of ground cloves, 2 T. brown sugar, 2 T fresh lemon juice.
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Continue cooking another 5 hours or so. If the butter is too thick you can add some apple cider, applesauce or even some water. When finished, transfer apple butter to a pot on the stove top and heat thru. Spoon into jelly jars that have been sterilized on the stove top as well.
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If refrigerated it will keep for up to 1 month ... in the freezer for 6 months. Ours is never around for that long.

Home Again

Happy to be home. Molly and the pups are happy too.





Silly Scout.

Not All Busyness

I take care of Asher while Mommy sleeps.



Lauren comes home from pre-school then James comes home from his school. Day two Amanda is feeling well enough to watch the kids and catch up on computer time while I help catch up with the housework and cooking.



James has cub scouts then gets silly with Grammie.





Josh shows Phillie pride for the big game. James splits his time between the computer and the game. Asher and Grammie go to bed at half time.