Over the Kitchen Counter: Angie's Place for Cooking and Crafts

Fabric Storage

Once I became interested in quilting I began hearing a lot about people's fabric stashes!  I didn't really understand how these crafters could accumulate so many scraps, let alone full yards of fabric.  Now that I've got a few quilts under my belt...I totally get it!  Not only are there always leftover bits and pieces from each project, but the impulse to purchase gorgeous, soft, lovely patterned cottons is a challenge to control every time I visit the quilt shop!  There is an endless array of luxurious textiles to choose from and a few fat quarters or yards always invariably end up at home.

So the next problem is how to store all those treasures.  I only have a small stash so far so I picked up this plastic, rolling drawer set.  I have flannels in the bottom level, heavier cottons and batting in the middle and quilting cottons and fat quarters in the top.  I'm sure this size will be outgrown before long and I admit that I have several bags of scraps and batting tucked away in the back of a cupboard.  My plan is to one day have a bank of built-ins, in the same design, material, and finish as I have already, along the far wall.  I'll keep that unit for all things quilting - rulers, fabric, iron, threads, etc....I just have to wait for my daughter to get her piano outta there first!

Quilt Label

I finally gave away a quilt!  The purple flower quilt was inspired by my mother and the fabrics were chosen because her favourite colour is purple.  Even though it was the first quilt I completed, and there are many areas which could stand some improvement, I decided to give it to my mom for Christmas.  All I needed to do before wrapping it up was add a quilt label and this is what I came up with.  I used my Storybook Creator software (Creative Memories) to add a photo of her and me as the background.  Then I chose to superimpose an Alex Haley quote which worked beautifully - for both of us!  I saved the file as a .jpeg and then printed it out using my ink jet onto printable fabric.  I used my newly learned binding stitch to hand-sew the label to the quilt.  I'm sure one day the quilt will find its way home to me and this personalized quilt label is appropriate now...and in the future.

Quilted Cup Wrap

I thought this was a really cute idea: a quilted cup wrap to protect your hands from hot take-out paper cups.  It was very easy to sew, just two lengths of fabric stitched together and then turned right-side-out, top-stitched, quilted, a pocket added and a square of velcro to hold it closed!  I used cute coffee bean print cotton and brown fabric left over from my crazy quilt.

The pocket holds a coffee shop gift card so you always have your card...and hand protection...in one place!

Remembering with great love...

Today is my big brother's birthday.  He died fourteen years ago and I miss him all the time.  He (obviously) was much older and I idolized him.  With an incredibly generous personality and tender spirit, he left behind a charitable legacy in the poorest part of the world and I admire all that he did in life...and death.  He would almost be a senior citizen today but I will remember him forever as he was...

Spiced Pear Coffee Cake (Re-Visited)

When I went to make my Fruitcake this year I opened up the file folder where I keep the recipe and found my laminated recipe for Spiced Pear Coffee Cake.  I was so elated, excited, and relieved because that particular recipe card had been missing for a couple of years!  Somehow it got mis-filed into the Fruitcakes folder rather than the Cakes folder...and since I still had leftover fruitcake last year and didn't need to make a new batch, I never found it!  When I initially lost the recipe I leafed through all the relevant folders where I thought it could be - desserts, cakes, cookies, Martha Stewart cakes, etc. and just couldn't locate it.  I'd given up finding it ever again and (thankfully) had to rely on my own YouTube video for the recipe!  So, happy to be reunited with one of my all-time favourite, easy cake recipes I quickly made one - this time using beautiful bartlett pears.  It was sooo good!  Once again, here is the video showing this great cake.

Eggnog Cookies

You might not feel like eating cookies today but if you do happen to have some leftover eggnog you can mix up this cookie dough and freeze it for later.

I hate wasting luscious eggnog that is only available at this time of year so baking is a great way to use it up.  These cookies are very subtle in their flavour - a sugar/shortbread cookie with a hint of eggnog and nutmeg.  The eggnog icing is a nice topper and adds a touch more sweetness.  The recipe yields a massive batch so you could even bake up one batch today (for New Year's Eve maybe?) and keep the other 3 blocks well-wrapped and frozen for Valentine's Day.  Just change the shape of the cookie cutter and you have a super treat for another occasion!  The only thing I would change about the recipe is to add a teaspoon of vanilla extract (of course!) and about 1/2 tsp of salt.  I found they just needed a wee bit more oomph!

Eggnog Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups sugar
1 cup eggnog
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
5 1/2 cups unsifted flour

With mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl until fluffy. Add eggnog, baking soda and nutmeg, mix well.
Gradually add flour; mix well.
Divide dough into fourths; chill overnight in refrigerator or 2 hours in freezer.
Preheat oven to 375*F. Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 at a time to 1/4 inch thickness; cut with floured cookie cutters. Re-roll as necessary to use all the dough.
Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes. Cool.
Store covered at room temperature or freeze.

Ice and decorate as desired

Eggnog icing

Beat 3 cups sifted powdered sugar and 1/4 cup softened butter in medium bowl until well mixed. Gradually beat in 1/3 cup eggnog until smooth

Merry Christmas!

Crazy Shortcut Quilt Done!

I enjoyed the experience of making my Crazy Shortcut Quilt using the quilt-as-you-go method.  It was very easy to cut the fabric because no exact measurements were needed and there were no seams to match when piecing the cuts back together.  By quilting each block with decorative stitches individually, there was no wrestling with a full-size quilt in the throat space of the machine.

I certainly got to know every decorative stitch on my machine and what the 3160 QDC could do.  I worked with slippery rayon thread for the first time and learned that using the spool cap doesn't work with it (the thread gets caught and breaks), but once I figured that out I ended up with beautiful, colourful, exquisite embroidery-like seams!

I never got bored or overly frustrated with the process because, although there are many steps involved, I only had to do each thing 9 times since I was working with big, 15" squares.  This was the first time I made large quilt blocks and it was fun to work on such a large scale.  I purchased a big 20-1/2" square ruler to make squaring up the blocks easier and, although pricey, it's a great addition to my quilting ruler collection.  The more cuts you have in your blocks the crazier the edges get as you re-piece them.  Once I was all finished with the quilting and could square them up to 15", they looked beautiful!  So neat and tidy once again!  The big ruler made that task a breeze!

The next steps on the quilt were adding the vertical and horizontal sashing.  This part was quite complicated and I had to ask the author of the Crazy Shortcut Quilts book, Marguerita, several questions along the way.  It all worked out perfectly in the end...after I had to pick out several seams and re-do them!  Man, I HATE picking out stitches!  But I'm also a perfectionist (within my own limits) and I was much happier when the seams lined up.

Machine binding finished up the quilt and because the decorative stitching is carried through to the binding, I used a zig-zag stitch and one of the soft brown threads...I wanted it to co-ordinate but not stand out and I used the simple stitch so the process went more quickly.  I had a few hiccoughs with the binding for some reason - I guess I'm now used to hand-sewing the binding.  I hit the back seam most of the time but there are a few places where I went off-track.  Oh well!

The finished quilt is only 45" square but it looks just lovely.  The regal fabric and richly coloured threads make it look quite elegant.  I can't say this quilt-as-you-go process was any easier than the traditional method but it was fun to learn and did allow me to use all those stitches on my machine.

The last three quilts I've completed have used machine-guided quilting and that's made me long for some free-motion quiltng!  Next up (after Christmas!) will be practicing my feathers and a new experience and challenge: hyperquilting!  But more on that later...

Christmas Table Place Cards

This year's Christmas table place cards are small cello bags filled with Christmas Smarties (like M&ms candies).  I needed to make a lot of them and didn't have much time to do it so I kept things really simple.  I stamped the message using the Sweet Season stamp set from Stampin' Up and Riding Hood Red ink on white card stock.  I then punched it out with the Decorative Label punch.  To make the matching Riding Hood Red mat, I just punched another Decorative Label and then cut it in half, removing the points.  I layered the two and used it to cover the staple holding down the topper base.  The snowflake was punched using the Creative Memories Pocket Punch and silver paper.  I'll write the names on small tags punched using the Jewelry Tag punch and adhere them on an angle under the snowflake.  Cute, festive, and tasty!

Candy Cane Chocolate Whoopie Pies

My daughter requested I make these fantastic Candy Cane Chocolate Whoopie Pies and since I had little else to do three days before Christmas (yeah, right) I whipped them up for her.  They actually were pretty easy to prepare and man, are they yummy!  If you have any extra candy canes now...or you want to use up some from the tree after the holidays, I recommend this minty recipe.  The hardest part?  Since I couldn't find regular sized candy canes anywhere this late in the season, I had to use mini candy canes and it took forever to unwrap them!

You can get the recipe HERE.