MOUSE COOKIES REVISITED

 Back in 2008 I made mouse cookies for the first time and blogged about them here.  Click on link which will lead to another link for the recipe.  I hadn't made them since then and now I know why.  They are not really fun to make!  They are kind of cute, though.

First roll into a ball with one pointy side.

Then roll in the crumbs.

It's really messy!

Add nose and eyes (Nerd candy), ears (almond slices) and tail (licorice).

Kind of cute!

I didn't get very many.

Attack mice!

Put in refrigerator to harden up.

I hope someone will like them!  This afternoon we go to see our DGD perform in the Nutcracker Suite, and tonight a friend's choir concert.  Enjoy the season!

SOME CHRISTMAS SEWING

Here's my design wall with some blocks from Bonnie Hunter's pattern, Bow-Dacious.  I have put the scraps away for now so I can work on some Christmas projects.  

Here is one of the blocks that I sewed together wrong.  I might leave it this way!

I just finished these "play" cookies for my 5 year old DGD, Abby.  I play "dolls" with her and last time we were there in November, she couldn't find any play food to feed the dolls.

This is my favorite one.  They are made from felted wool and beads.

Here's the cookie tin I got for her to keep the cookies in (hopefully).

They fit in the tin nicely,

This is the pattern that gave me the idea for them - but I'm sure you could make up your own and wouldn't really need a pattern.

We have some extended family that will be here for Christmas.  One is a nephew in the National Guard, so I made him a military pillowcase out of this fabric.

Another is a student at Oregon State, so he gets a pillowcase out of this fabric.

These pillowcases are finished.

There wasn't much military fabric available in town so I found some US Navy fabric on line - hope she has enough of it for me.

Yesterday I made 2 batches of cookies and I have another one planned for today.  Have fun getting ready for Christmas!

FAT QUARTER BAG

A couple months ago I ordered this book "Fabulous Fat-Quarter Bags" by M'Liss Rae Hawley from C&T Publishing.  They had a "special" offer and the prices were super low, so I ordered this book and 2 others.  

I needed a gift and decided to make a bag from this book.  The name of the bag is "Fat-Quarter Carryall."  That should have been a clue that it was a large bag.

So, I had the pattern, and needed the fabric - 6 fat quarters.  Last year in May or June, I entered a giveaway for some FQs and won them.  It just so happened that the location of the blogger was real close to our son's house in Oregon where we were going, so we decided to meet at the LQS where she would give me the bundle of fabric.  The blogger was Amity Quilter who moved away shortly after we moved here.  :-(

Anyway, I used the 6 FQs to make this bag, but then I needed fabric for lining and handles, so I hunted through my stash closet and saw this polka dot that I had gotten at Good Will.  Yea!

 

The FQ Carry All is finished and it will carry a lot of stuff!

Are you making gifts?  Have fun!  I need to make a few more gifts and I'm also going to start baking this week.  Only 2 weeks until Christmas?  What?  Better get busy.

SOME DECORATING

Years ago my MIL made jewel Christmas trees from her jewelry and some little Christmas lights.  We hung it up every year and then the lights burned out.  We finally got it fixed and are able to hang it up again. 

This wall hanging is in my sewing room.  I got the little Christmas tree at a garage sale for $1.00.  Some small ornaments and scraps of cloth tied on branches for color and it's done.

This wall hanging is a panel that I hand quilted back in 2006.  It is at the entrance to my sewing room.

We don't have a fireplace any more to hang our stockings on, so DH hung them on the quilt rack!  

At first I didn't set up my nativity scene because I didn't think I had room for it, but I shifted things around a little and made room.

Our new bookcase is a great place to put decorations - even on top!

Several years ago we switched to a smaller tree, but I still fit a lot of ornaments on it.  Oh oh, Mrs. Moose fell over under the tree.

That's better.  I made her out of a panel several years ago.  I'm partial to moose.

My new snowman is hiding under the flowers next to the mini doll carriage.

Here's a newly wed Mr. & Mrs. Snowman.  She even has a lace veil.  Guess where I got them?

My DGD has been over to do some sewing with me the last few days.  It is fun to see her making gifts for her friends.  I do help her from time to time.  She gave me this tin that she decorated for me.  I guess she knows me pretty well!

I hope you show your Christmas decorations when you get them up.  I love to see them!

LOOK WHAT'S ON DESIGN WALL

Lori at Humble Quilts is having a QAL (quilt along) and I told her I would participate.  Yesterday I finished a few projects, and she posted the last episode.  It's a small quilt named "Cascadia."

I got out my little basket piled with 1 1/2" strips and squares as well as a bunch of 4-patches and 9-patches.  I used some of the 4-patches for the 2 outer strips and the 4 piece wide strip in the middle

This morning, I made the 2 on point strips and it is now on my design wall waiting to be sewn together, layered, quilted and bound.  That will probably happen after Thanksgiving.

I love it!  Oh, it looks like I will need to take off one row of the edges and middle sections to match the on point parts.  Did you join in?  At least this one is small and can fit into a busy schedule during the holidays.  I haven't decided about Bonnie's mystery quilt yet.  I rather doubt I will participate in that one.

Now, I need to go bake pies and make a salad for tomorrow.  Happy Thanksgiving!

THREE FINISHED QUILTS AND A SNOWMAN

I finally got the binding sewn on my "Over the River and Through the Woods to Grandmother's House we Go" quilt!  I hung it on the wall and should have taken a picture of it before doing that because it was kind of hard to get the right angle and lighting from where it hangs.  I think we used to sing that song around Thanksgiving time in grade school.

"Over the River and Through the Woods"

 Then I finished a Christmas rail fence quilt that will be donated.  I cheated and folded over the backing for the binding and then sewed it on top by machine.  It sure went a lot faster!

The backing fabric was given to me by a friend.

Another Christmas quilt that I will keep and this patchwork fabric was also given to me by the same friend.  All I did was back it with some flannel that I had on hand with no batting and I quilted it with straight lines on the diagonal.  I really like this fabric, which is already pieced together and sold by the yard.

My sister has a snowman like this and I had been wanting to make one from an old bed spread.

This is the program from the Houston International Quilt Show that I got when they sent my quilt back to me.  My quilt, A Civil War Remembered, is listed on page 39 under Texas Guild's Award-winning Traditional Quilts 2014.

Tomorrow will be a baking and cooking day and on Thanksgiving we will be going to DS#1/DIL's home for our Thanksgiving dinner.  Unfortunately, our DGD has to work on Thanksgiving, as the stores are all open now on Thanksgiving.  I liked it better when stores were closed.  :-)  And our DGS won't be coming home from college for Thanksgiving, but we'll see him at Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my quilting  and blogging friends!

HOUSTON QUILT FESTIVAL AND A VISIT WITH NANA GIRL

 I think I told you before about my Civil War quilt being sent to hang at the Houston Quilt Festival.  Since I wasn't able to go to it, I had a friend take a picture for me so I would have proof that it was actually there.  I feel very honored to have had my quilt hanging there.

I'm sorry that I haven't posted lately.  If you read my last post, you know we were in Virginia.  After Virginia, we traveled to Florida where I was able to visit with Karen of NanaGirlQuilts.  She graciously showed me many of her quilts and I especially enjoyed seeing her Jubilee quilt.  Her hand quilting is amazing!  I hope you'll go over to her blog and check it out if you haven't done so already. I would love to take one of her classes or visit the guild she belongs to some time.

Thanks to all who voted for my Baskets of Blue quilt in the Bloggers' Quilt Festival and for your lovely comments!  I didn't win anything, but it was fun and I visited a lot of other quilters' blogs and saw some lovely quilts.  I continue to be amazed that there are so many quilting blogs out there - and so many talented quilters!

I have been quilting on this scrappy rail fence Christmas quilt and it is about half way quilted.  It's going to be a donation quilt.

I'm gradually getting back to a routine and am especially happy to be able to spend the holidays with our oldest son, whose birthday is today, BTW.  We're going to fix supper for him and I think this is the first time in many years that we have been able to be with him on his birthday.

HISTORY LESSON

Sorry, not quilty news in this blog!  

Last week we flew to Virginia.  It's a beautiful part of the country far from Oregon where we are living now.  But, what better place to learn about history than visiting a National Historic Site - Yorktown Battlefield and Settlement.

Sunrise over a river in the east.

 I don't have pictures from our good camera available right now, so I'm limited to these pictures I took with my cell phone.  I wanted to touch base with my blogging friends.

While wandering around Yorktown Settlement, we entered an antique shop and these two samplers caught my eye.  They are very old and very expensive.

A rather depressing verse!

One of the homes, which was owned by Thomas Nelson, was open to visitors.  There wasn't much furniture inside it, but there was much history.  Thomas Nelson had a choice to make and he made it inside his house, built in 1730.  He chose to rebel against the King and fought in the American Revolution with the Marquis de Lafayette of  France.  The Marquis slept in this home.  I took this picture of a window because I liked the window seat and the shutters that close from the inside and fold back into the sides.  All the windows in the house were like this.

We walked to the Settlement from the National Historic Park Welcome Center and Museum.  Seeing places you learned about years (and decades) ago helps cement the facts in your mind after having forgotten them.

The Battle of Yorktown was the ending of the Revolutionary War, so it has a very special place in history.  Here is a picture of a cannon from the museum.

You may not be too interested, but for anyone who is, George Washington's tent was in the museum and here is some information about it.  It was amazing to realize that his actual tent was right there for us to see!

A quote by the Marquis de Lafayette.

It really got to us that we were at the place where our country became independent after patriots risked everything to secure freedom from the English.  Of course, we are now very good friends with them!

Thanks for visiting!  And thanks for everyone who voted for my quilt in the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  You can still do it if you like.  Here is the link.  It's my "Baskets of Blue" quilt.