Finding Treasures - HA

I'm in my official holiday quilting slump. I have 2 projects on the table, 1 a  very late Christmas present and 1 a baby gift for a baby born last month.

When this happens I generally switch to knitting or crocheting.  Christmas afternoon found me crocheting hats for pediatric cancer patients in RWJ hospital in NJ and a couple for Operation Shoebox.

By this afternoon I was up to 7 hats and out of small amounts of yarn.  I have a large yarn stash buried under boxes in my garage that I really didn't want to tackle.  Stashed away in the spare bedroom closet I knew I had a large tote of misc yarns.  Didn't know exactly what was in it but I figured I'd be able to find something to work on.  

This is the tote,  It's the largest one that Lands end makes.  It was chock full of treasures, some dating back 4 - 5 -maybe 6 years. Some from earlier this year ( the ones on top ) 

These pictures have been taken after I dumped the bag and sorted its contents.

I found missing needles of various sizes.

This bag contains many skeins of cotton yarn and several started wash cloths and pot holders.

The blue bag contains started projects and small balls of left over yarn. the green bag is a sock and a half, the yellow bag is half a knitted drawstring bag. The purple piece is one of 3 pieces I was going to felt and make into purses for a friend for a Christmas long past.

These 2 bags contain yarns that will be given to a local charity that does yarn related projects.

I even found this vest that I barely remember making that only needs to have the ends woven in. 

Then there was some yarn for socks.

I'm not really sure how all that stuff came out of that one bag.  I'm thinking I don't need that Joanns coupon that is lying on the floor on the right. It's for the big yarn sale that they were having yesterday and today.

I think I should be able to keep myself busy until my quilting mojo comes back.

Christmas Gifts almost done

While I was back in NJ I was able to hand deliver my first Christmas  gift to an old friend.

I haven't crocheted an afghan in several years.  I quite enjoyed it.

I got a little carried away with the size.

I got home and finished this table runner from a free pattern by Lee Heinrich

A Holiday Forest Pillow

Yes it was a pillow pattern that I made into a runner. It's the second one I made, the last one had Purple trees.  I kept that one for myself.

This one is in the mail, another gift down.

I also made a fleece throw for friends.  I own one but I had never made one.

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Very easy to work up.  I'm actually working on 2 more to hopefully be seen in my next posting.

They are so cuddly. Wonderful to snuggle up in.

They received it today and they love it. 

When I headed up to Jersey I neglected to take a hand work project. I lasted 2 days before I hit the local Michael's

I picked up needles yarn and a basic sock book to keep me company.

I managed to break a land speed  record and finished them before I got home.  1 week.  I think they will be a good stocking stuffer  for my sister.

And today I finished my Temecula Quilts - Wish You a Mini Christmas  piece.

They supplied the patterns for the 12 blocks and suggested 3 different settings.  Heaven forbid I use one of their settings when I could go crazy coming up with my own. 

And this photo just makes me smile.  This is how they deliver Christmas packages in The Villages.

A Very Sad Week

It's been a very long sad week for our family.  Last Saturday our mother passed away after many years of battling Alzheimer / Dementia. I know she is at peace and am thankful that she passed painlessly in her sleep.

Mom was an avid reader. Pretty much a book a day type.  About 4 years ago she lost the ability to follow a story. There have been lots of sad moments over the course of this disease but finding several of her books with multiple book marks was the saddest.

My belief is that she has found a fluffy cloud in heaven and is now seated comfortably reading a book from a never ending pile of books.

She never wanted a funeral, but did want a party, so party we did. We had a lovely repast luncheon for friends and family. I'm sure we made her happy.  I'm sorry I didn't get pictures but my sister in law decorated a small Christmas tree with pictures celebrating moms life hanging from plaid ribbons. It was just perfect.

Virtual Cookie Exchange Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop on the Virtual Cookie Exchange.  When Carol put out feelers to see who would like to participate in this exchange I raised my hand.  Only one problem I really don't bake.

So as long as she was OK with my cookie actually being a piece of fudge we were good.

Several years ago (10 -15) someone at work gave me this wonderful recipe.  It is perfect for people like me who want to participate but baking isn't our thing.

This is pretty much it.  You dump a can of icing (16 oz) and a bag of chips ( 12 oz ) in a pan and stir until melted together.

This pan is chocolate icing and peanut butter chips.  That's all.

Totally melt the chips and turn into a cake pan lined with parchment paper.

Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Throw out the packaging and wash the knife.

I made 3 pans for this exchange. 

1) chocolate and peanut butter chips

2) chocolate and chocolate chips with almond slivers tossed in after melting and before putting in the cake pan

3) chocolate and chocolate chips with raspberry jelly tossed in after melting and before putting in the cake pan

After sitting in the fridge for 2 hours you take it out of the pan and cut into small, bite size pieces. This is a very sweet mouthful.  I cut my pieces into 1 inch squares.

This is where being a quilter comes in handy.

I scrubbed down my slotted ruler and used a pizza cutter instead of a rotary cutter to cut my pieces.

pretty neat huh, squares and diamonds

The first 2 pans were picture perfect and then there was the pan with the raspberry jelly

The recipe sheet suggested adding things like raspberry jelly, marshmallow, nuts, coconut etc.

I had never tried the jelly before, the recipe didn't include measurements on the add ins. I apparently got carried away with the jelly.  The fudge never hardened up.  The sad part is that the raspberry is the tastiest of the 3.

Because I was taking some of the fudge to friends for part of the Thanksgiving dessert, I placed the pieces in tiny cupcake papers.  The blobs in the middle are the raspberry, we used spoons to eat them.

I also took some of the pieces of fudge and boxed them for take home after holiday dinner and some went in a tin to be mailed to friends across the state.

Thanks for stopping by and please follow along and visit the other members of the exchange listed below.  Thanks to Carol at Just Let Me Quilt who coordinated this wonderful event.

December 1

Kris at Kris Loves Fabric

Selina at Selina Quilts (you are here)

Karen at KaHolly

Deonn at 3^rd Degree Bakery

December 2

Colette at What About Rheema?

Carla at Creatin’ In The Sticks

Velda at Granny Can Quilt

Mary Ellen at That’s My Home

Karen at Sugar Free Quilted Designs

December 3

Beth at One Old Goat and Her Little Farm

Carol at Just Sew Quilter

Theresa at Bumbleberry Stitches

Brenda at Brenda’s Quilt Blog

Pat at Quilting Quietly

December 4

Linda at Food Storage Moms

Susan at Super Mom – No Cape!

Kathy at Just Quilt it

Lindsay at Lin's Kitchen

Carol at Just Let Me Quilt

Happy Holidays and thanks for stopping by.