Christmas Fun and Inspiration

Yesterday I had the girlies over for a craft day. Jen1 and Poppy were guided through making Drop Zone bags - the pattern we had seen on our road trip last summer. They arrived with their basic piece quilted and spent the next 6 hours finishing the project.

Jennifer is very methodical. We were impressed with the foam mat her machine is on. It really dampens the sound of the sewing machine.

Poppy worked diligently to complete her project.

Marilyn and Jeanette brought stitching. There was lots of conversation - plans for future projects. Ooh-ing, and ahh-ing over various items. Sharing lots of information on our phones.

After Barb arrived we took a bit of a break and exchanged our mostly 'consumable' Christmas gifts. Most of us have concluded that we already own everything so consumables (gift cards, edible items, etc.) are a good alternative to most 'stuff'.

My students posed proudly with their finished Drop Zone bags. One of the goals of 'Geri's Academy of Sewing' is that my students feel successful.

Jennifer mentioned she really liked the Dumpling Dish project she completed several years ago. It was an accompanying pattern to Sally Thompson's 'Bionic Gear Bag'. Thankfully, I had saved the pattern so had a look at it today and decided to make one this afternoon to remind myself of the process as the last time I made one was 2018.

I enlarged the original template to 140% on my printer. I took special care to fussy cut my fabric. The designer's instructions are unnecessarily verbose and I had whittled the 46 pages down to 2. I still needed to refer to the original instructions for some of the photos, though. 

I used the same William Morris fabric I used for my Drop Zone bag that I made on Saturday. It's called a Dumpling Dish because it looks like a dumpling...

and opens to a shape like a dish - a bowl, actually.

In order for it to open to a round shape, the zipper has to extend beyond the edge. I covered the end with a little piece of folded fabric and stitched it in place on the exterior.

This came out to a decent size. I use another one to hold my little sewing clips. Not sure what I'll put in this one.

So Geri's Academy of Sewing might have a session on this sometime over the holidays.

Having everyone here is so much fun. We all enjoy each others' company so much - particularly the sharing of creative ideas. 

After they headed for home I started tidying up a bit when I realized my Tuesday night group was having a get together at another Jennifer's home with take-out Chinese food. I beetled over there in time to enjoy a delicious plate of food. Again, there was lots of pleasant conversation and a good time was had by all. 

Man, was I pooped when I got home. I had worked hard last week getting everything ready for the craft day - treats, 'baking', tidying, making the house presentable, making and addressing cards, composing my Christmas newsletter, etc. etc. 

This morning was Monday morning stitching at MaryK's. Barb picked me up for the drive to Orono. We had a very nice time - lots of crafty chit chat,  exchanging of cards, and picking out many stitches done in error. 

MaryK's home was so festively decorated for the holidays. Everything was so cute! One of her Christmas trees had all ornaments she had cross-stitched over the last 4 decades. The tree by her front door had long-time family ornaments. Then there were the shelves in the living room with her Santa collection. Lots of decorations in her office and kitchen. Tasteful Rae Dunn crockery and décor items. And all so beautifully displayed. We were all so impressed. It really made for a Christmassy vibe. So fun!

Tomorrow I can sleep in. I have nothing planned for the day other than picking up some more red wine to make another batch of glögg and some more bread. I have SO MUCH FOOD in the house that I want to eat before I resume the meal kits from Chefs Plate. A recent purchase is the gizmo that sucks the air out of food grade vacuum bags. It arrived on the weekend and I can already see how useful it will be for saving my leftovers or portions of items I can't consume in one sitting. 

I am so fortunate to have found these groups of like-minded people who enjoy getting together and being creative. We all seem to derive a lot of enjoyment from these pursuits.

White Chocolate Covered Cranberries

I don’t remember who the designer was at Jingle Ball 2023 who shared their recipe for white-chocolate covered cranberries. The recipe looked very easy. I tried it and loved the result. Ever since then, i have made this treat whenever fresh cranberries have been available.

I pick only the best, Canadian cranberries - preferably from a family farm.

They are rinsed and dried by rolling them around on a terry (or other absorbent) kitchen towel. 

I don’t have a double boiler for melting the white chocolate chips so I put about an inch of water in a large pot and heat it up. Then I put a bowl with steep-ish sides in the hot water and add a bag of the white chocolate chips. A Pyrex or Corelle bowl would probably work, too.

When the chips begin to melt, I remove the pot from the heat. The hot water is enough to keep the chips melted.

Stirring things around helps melt to a smooth texture.

Then I dump handfuls of cranberries into the melted chocolate. This is a good way to feel for and discard any ‘squishy’ cranberries. There was only one squishy one in the whole bag!

Stir them around covering with the melted chocolate. Then spoon each one onto a parchment-covered cookie sheet.

I downloaded an app to count the berries (I just did a search for a ‘counting’ app. It was a three-day trial so I cancelled the subscription right after using it so I wouldn’t have to pay). It looks like it missed 2 of them on this sheet Including the 2 missed ones there were 118 on this sheet

and 67 on the next cookie sheet.

They’re in the fridge now, chocolate is cooling and hardening. Once they’re hardened up, they can be removed from the parchment paper and stored in containers in the fridge. They’ll stay loose until enjoyed.

There are other fresh cranberry treat recipes out there - some having them soak in ginger ale or orange juice for several hours then rolled in sugar and baked. This is WAY easier.

That’s another thing off my ‘to do’ list.

The result is a bit of crunch of the fresh cranberry, then sweetness of the white chocolate mixed with the tartness of the berry. Try it!

Ginger and A Pear

 I finished stitching Ginger, one of the patterns/classes I bought for the Jingle Ball.

I used Parchment for her skate laces and lazy daisy stitches that look more like bows. The blades of the skates are DMC Etoile Blanc for a bit of sparkle.

If I ever get around to fully finishing her, I'll make the base the width of her skirt so she can be a stand-up.

I also finished stitching one of the Christmas Pears from AnnieBeez.

It's on the same Aztec Red piece of fabric. I'm not sure I like the fuzziness of the silk thread. I have started the second pear but got distracted doing other stuff. 

The only pattern I bought in the Jingle Ball Shopping Hall was Hello from Liz Mathews' 'Quaker Christmas Star' from last year. 

I liked the Quaker-i-ness of it and thought it might be fun to stitch over one thread which would make it about 3 1/2" wide on 40ct fabric.

In crochet news - I have 18 octagons done for the second Persian Tiles blanket. 

I got only only two things off my 'to do' list yesterday. I'm hoping I'll be more productive today. I'm up early though so there's hope.

Getting Busy

I bought the Advent stitching box from Pastime Pieces. This year it’s divided into the 4 seasons with 6 treats each. Winter was a little zippered pouch with, pattern, floss, decals, etc.

On Sunday I thought I’d make quick work of the stitching on the 14ct Aida panel. I started in the centre and stitched towards the left. When I went to start the ‘W’ I realized there was not enough room! The pattern was 107 stitches wide and my Aida panel was only 105 sts wide. Argh! So I started frogging.

Looking at the pattern, the zipper pouch was supposed to be 10” wide and mine was only 7 1/2” wide. No wonder the design didn’t fit. I decided to omit the big snowflake to the right of ‘Winter’ and centred the word. Much better. You can see the pile of frogged threads… I had also changed the colour of the floss to DMC 930 as I felt it was a better match to the fabric colour than the WDW Blue Suede that was provided. So glad it wasn’t the hand-dyed floss that I had to frog and waste.

On Monday after stitching, I got the Christmas tree out of the basement, up, and decorated. A bunch of the lights are not working but I had an extra string that filled in the gaps, even though about a third of those lights weren’t working either. I also changed the batteries in my candles on the mantle. 

It was so hard to get motivated to get these tasks done because I hadn't put the tree up last year having spent Christmas in the Dominican Republic with family. All the ornaments on the tree are handmade mostly by me.   It is very cozy in the family room now with only the tree lights on and the candles lit.

Yesterday, Scooter ventured out to Whitby for a visit. I had a couple of errands to run after retrieving him from the GO Station: a drop-off at the Salvation Army (surplus Christmas ornaments), and a trip to Bulk Barn for some items to make my spritz cookies. I also picked up the ingredients to make a batch of glögg - a Swedish spiced wine. Our friend, Lena, shared her recipe with me several years ago and I make a batch every year to sip on through the holiday season.

I also made a batch of chocolate ‘haystacks’ or as MaryK calls them ‘poop cookies”. They’re quite chewy but yummy.

I bought enough ingredients yesterday to make a second batch of them. Maybe I’ll do that tomorrow after my last yoga class of this session.

This morning, I awoke to a thick blanket of snow outside and the water shut off. The snowplough had come by this morning so there was a big pile at the bottom of the driveway. I decided I wasn’t going to go out today at all. My next-door neighbour warned me about the possibility of a water shut-off after her was turned off yesterday and she found the note about it attached to her door handle. I didn’t receive one.  Instead of starting to make cookies, I goofed off in the morning crocheting and watching TV. 

The water got turned on at about 2pm so I got busy making cookies. I have a cookie press which makes forming the spritz cookies very easy. I did a batch and a half, cranking out about 10 dozen cookies in total.

Sometime this afternoon the snow clearing service cleared out the driveway including the big windrow at the bottom of the driveway. Hurrah! I can run my next bunch of errands tomorrow.

I somehow found some more energy and made zucchini fritters for supper. I had the zucchini in the fridge and thought I’d better use them before they went bad. The fritters were still pretty soft but very yummy. I have ordered the little handheld vacuum packing device in hopes it will help me keep leftovers from going bad. I hope it arrives soon. 

After supper I got busy working on a stealth Christmas project and got the first part completed. Tomorrow I’ll do the finishing touches. I need to hit the dollar store for some decorative bags for gifting cookies and wrapping Christmas treats. I also have to compose my Christmas newsletter and get some cards ready to send out and hand out.

Another task is to wrap the ornament I’m going to put in the guild’s ornament exchange next week.

In spite of having a lack of motivation most of the time, I’m very pleased I got so much accomplished so far this week. And it’s only Wednesday!

Affected by the Weather?

It has been so gloomy lately with only glimmers of sunshine here and there. All I want to do is veg out. It's a struggle even getting out of bed in the morning. It's so cozy and I can check my social media or listen to an audiobook whilst in a horizontal position. Fortunately I have appointments and engagements that are mostly fun and really help me get motivate to 'get a move on' on those lethargic mornings.

Last Friday, I met Scooter in The Big City. We had a late lunch at the chicken place then meandered over to the Fairmont Royal York Hotel to see the Christmas display.

It was so festive and busy. Being Friday afternoon, lots of people were checking in for the weekend.

The main tree was at least 20 feet tall. Breathtaking in person.

Of course, Scooter and I had to take a selfie.

If you're anywhere Union Station or the Royal York, I highly recommend you pop in to see the decorations. We didn't venture up to the Eaton Centre as it was Black Friday and sure to be a mob scene. I don't really do Christmas shopping any more but it might be fun to pop in there for a look-see when I'm in The Big City again on Wednesday for Afternoon Tea at the Windsor Arms Hotel - for Lorna's belated birthday celebration. 

Scooter and I did go over to Brookfield Place but the decorations weren't as breathtaking. Just the same as previous years. 

It was nice that we could access all those spots underground - without going outside.

Saturday I met Alexa and Poppy respectively at CAA to book our trips for next year and our flights to Madrid for our February yarn tour. I'm pretty excited to be lining up fun things for 2026. Other than the Iceland/Norway trip this year, I didn't take any other big trips. Of course, we'll be doing road trips here in Ontario - any excuse to get away with fun folks.

I indulged myself with a couple of online purchases last week. I previously mentioned the Peanuts jigsaw puzzle. I also had ordered the coveted Lego Gingerbread House. It was backordered and scheduled to ship on December 5 but it arrived last week! It was so fun to put together!

Battery operated tea lights would be great for night-time illumination, especially through the bow window on the left.

All their pieces are shipped in paper now. Those Danes really are ecology conscious.

There is a bedroom, bathroom and vanity, kitchen with sink, stove and eating area, and living room with fireplace.

The two sides are hinged 

so it closes up, too. 

All this fun for only $49.99 CAD plus tax (free shipping). That's only about $35 US. Compared to other Lego sets, this is the cheapest one I saw. I sure hope they made a lot of them because I'm sure they'll continue to sell out. 

Today at stitching, I continued to work on Ginger (hmm - seems to be a bit of a theme). I didn't have too much trouble counting - and completed most of the upper part of her dress.

Judy brought her little Ginger she stitched over one thread. She's so sweet - only about 3" high. It's finished as a standup - so cute!

The Jingle Ball is this weekend starting on Friday night. It will be a lot of stitcherly fun. Those of us outside the US receive any materials as downloadable and printable .pdfs so can sign up for classes right up to Friday. I'm looking forward to seeing what is in the Shopping Hall as some of the designers will have new releases. I have a bunch of charts in my stash I already want to start but I'm sure there will some new ones to tempt me. 

I have the houses done for the Hello from Liz Mathews snow globes. I have one more motif I want to stitch to include with the houses. Also need to find some styrofoam for the finishing. I'm pretty sure there's something in the basement I can use. 

I've done nothing on the Christmas Pears and have even misplaced the white silk hank of thread. Not expecting to get anything done on it. Just will watch her finishing. I'm sure it won't be much different from the ones I've already done 

- I just won't be using velvet for the back. 

I haven't been doing much stitching between Monday morning sessions. What I have been doing is cranking out octagons for the second Persian Tiles blanket. Last night I finished the 15th one so am half finished if I do another 5 x 6 blanket. I erroneously crocheted the same octagon twice but the overall design is so random It can easily go on the extra rows and columns. Here's a refresher of the one I completed previously. 

I didn't get my tree up on the weekend. I just didn't have it in me to haul it up from the basement as well as the boxes of ornaments. Hopefully sometime this week. 

I did get the wreaths on the front doors and hooked up my inflatable Snoopy. 

We used to have a big snowglobe inflatable with a blower that flung little styrofoam balls around the globe part but it sprang a leak a few years back and after the duct tape repair, only lasted a few years. I think I bought this little Snoopy one on sale at the end of the season last year as it seemed to not have been taken out of the box before. If I ever see the snow globe inflatable on sale again, I'll grab it - regardless of how much it costs.

There's Always Something To Do

I tackled a few things on my 'to do' list this week. Yesterday I began the process to book the flights to Madrid for my knitting tour next year. While there, I had the travel agent look into Christmas Market Rhine cruises for next November or December. The Christmas Market tours have such a narrow window - last week of November until the end of December. Most folks want to be home for Christmas so really there's less than a month available in any given year. They're already taking bookings for November/December 2027. Saturday I go back to the travel agent and make deposits and payments for the trips.

Aside from the Iceland/Norway trip last March/April I didn't go on any big, fancy trips this year so I have a real urge to get things lined up for next year. A week at a resort in Mexico or Costa Rica would be fun, too.

At stitching on Monday, I got most of the bottom of Ginger's dress done. I had stitched the vertical motifs on the weekend so I just needed to fill in with the green.

I haven't had a lot of motivation to do much. I really have to force myself to start a chore or task. This gloomy weather never used to bother me as much but it really weighs me down. However, when the sun breaks through it is glorious.

I indulged myself with a couple of Amazon purchases. Just for fun, I ordered a Peanuts jigsaw puzzle that I'd been eyeing for a while. My preference is puzzles with blocks of colour like this one.

I started it last night and stayed up WAY too late and finished it this morning after yoga class and bringing in provisions. I think I need a nap after this.

This week is also our penultimate yard waste collection so my task when it stopped raining yesterday was to haul the 16 bags of leaves to the curb. I'm glad to have them out of the garage. I don't think I'll need to rake any more unless a big wind deposits the neighbourhood leaves in my yard within the next two weeks.

This week I also finished another Little Buddy, Percy. I love his furry little face.

He has been welcomed to the BFFs (Best Furry Friends).

Ernest, Davis, Reginald, Percy, and Rusty

I finished my 13th octagon for the second Persian Tiles blanket. Will start another one tonight.

While watching a FlossTube video, someone mentioned Brenda Gervais might be designing some charts for the US semiquincentennial (250th) anniversary next year. It occurred to me that the exclusive design she's presenting at the Hobby House Retreat next June might be one of those patriotic charts. Ugh. I was so disappointed with the design that Paulette Stewart and Beth Twist designed for the retreat I attended last April. Although the theme was love, the depictions were motifs from the US Revolutionary War. Not a historic event of significance to Canadians.

I messaged Brenda and asked her about the design. She hasn't thought that far ahead but couldn't promise that it wouldn't be patriotic-based. So Poppy and I have decided to give up our spots at the retreat. I'm pretty sure there is a waiting list so it shouldn't be hard for them to fill our spots. I hope we can get most, if not all, of our deposit money back. We're going to do a road trip here in Ontario instead. Wheeee!!! Not that I need to buy anything...

I will be going into The Big City to have a visit with my step-son, James. Plans are to have a rotisserie chicken meal at Union Chicken (yes, a chicken restaurant at Union Station) and then take in the lights at the Royal York Hotel across the street. 

After a nap today, I plan to get my tree up and decorated. I'm hosting stitching on Monday and want to have it up for that. I'm looking forward to reacquainting myself with all my hand-made ornaments. I didn't bother putting the tree up last year as we spent Christmas in the Dominican Republic. 

Peel Stitch-In and Drawn Thread

Yesterday Sharon G and I ventured westward to the Peel Stitch-In which was held at Clarke Hall in Port Credit. The drive there was pretty easy - unlike the last time I took that route.

Being close to Christmas, there was a collection for their local food bank and outreach centre. I rounded up bunch of unused tooth brushes, soaps, shampoos, and other toiletry items that were just taking up space here and gladly made a donation. What a terrific idea!

Some local bylaw limits the number of vendors to four now. Included this time were Kimat Designs, Hand Dyed by Rolanda, Tiny Modernist, and Gamma's Treasures.

In our little swag bag, we received highlighter pen, a corner measurer, and a beautiful skein of hand-dyed floss.

I just now took a good look at the corner measurer and noted it was specially made for the event.

I don't often start my stitching in a corner but this will be handy for when I do.

One thing I like to do is walk around and see what other people are stitching. This SAL by Durene Jones was being done over one thread - possibly on 25ct lugana.  So cute! I may just download the patterns from the Facebook page and stitch it myself some day.

Tiny Modernist had her Plum Pudding Bakery on display. 

The finishing process is her class at the Jingle Ball. 

I can see her issuing different buildings in the future.

I didn't buy anything. I have so much in my stash, I'd rather use up those things than add to it.

I have a blank wall in my kitchen as a result of the renovation this summer. Since the cupboards are wider than the previous ones, I had to move the picture that was hanging there to another place. Today I put up a Command™ hook and hung up, in the now-smaller spot, one of the framed pieces by our late stitchy friend, Sharon T., 'Simply Autumn' by The Drawn Thread. She stitched it and had it framed back in 2012.

I then remembered that I had stitched 'Simply Summer' but never framed it. 

I have it all ready to make into a project bag. I'm now re-thinking that and may frame it instead. 

I really like The Drawn Thread patterns. The motifs are very cute and there are just enough specialty stitches to satisfy and break up any monotony.

I decided to order the charts for the other two seasons and after a bit of Internet exploration, ordered the .pdfs directly from the designer. 'Simply Spring':

and 'Simply Winter':

What I'll probably do is finish them the same size and mount into a frame that I can use for each season.

I also did Pastorale years ago. I was inspired by Yvonne and Edith who presented a bunch of their stitching to our guild several years ago.

I just remembered I had also knit the designer's 'Stars' in 2019. (also needs fully finishing).

Last night I finished the Arne and Carlos Christmas Stocking KAL except for the heel.

I'm not sure how I missed the instruction to put in some waste yarn where the afterthought heel will go (arrow) but I've figured out how to unravel the spot and reknit with the white before adding the contrast yarn for the heel.

I also keep plugging away on my second Persian Tiles blanket and finished the 12th octagon last night.

And finally, my friend, Judy,  that I visited in London a couple of weeks ago finished her radiation treatments on Friday. I was pleased to see Buster was right there with her when she hit the gong.

She said he's been a great support these last couple of weeks. I'm so glad he could help.