And Now For Something Completely Different

Most of my posts are about quilting, but today I thought I'd share a recipe.



Spice Cookies (with surprising spices)

1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sweet curry powder
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour

Cream butter and sugars. Mix in everything except the vanilla and flour. When thoroughly mixed, add vanilla. Stir in the flour until incorporated completely. Shape into walnut-sized balls and roll the balls in sugar. Place on a baking sheet and flatten slightly. Bake 12-15 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

You can add chopped nuts or mini-chocolate chips, if you wish. The recipe makes between 2-3 dozen, depending upon the size you make the balls of dough.

Enjoy!

Christmas Strings Part III

A Green Day

Since I don't have enough of the red fabric I've been using in my triangles to make the whole quilt I have planned, I have decided to use green for half the blocks. The green has a bit of glitter in it which doesn't show up in the photos.

I like the green, but the triangles today seem a bit darker overall, so I think I'll pick up some lighter fabrics to use next time (white or cream backgrounds--still Christmas prints).


Some of today's details:

Doesn't everyone have fabric with flamingos wearing Santa hats?

Nutcracker Men

I'm not sure what berries have to do with Christmas, but they are pretty.

Another beautiful fabric

I haven't decided on a layout yet; I could simply alternate the green and red stars, or I could do an around-the-world arrangement. I'll have to try it out when I have enough to arrange.

Linking up with Creative Goodness and Ella and Nesta's Little Room.

Random Ohio Stars: Part 2

I'm still working to finish up this quilt!


This week I chose and applied borders to my quilt top:

First Border

Second Border

I had a hard time choosing borders. There is so much going on in the quilt top that I didn't want anything too busy, but there are also a lot of neutrals, so I didn't want anything too bland. I didn't want the borders so loud they looked out of place either. I finally went with the combination above, but I'm still not really sure about it!

I had some extra blocks and some trial blocks, so I put them together in these panels which I sewed into the backing--now to keep them straight when I layer this up and baste it.


Speaking of layering and basting, that will be my next step--little by little I'm moving forward.

I'm linking with Jo's Country Junction for the Bonnie Hunter Pre-Mystery UFO Challenge.

Christmas Strings Part II

Part II: In which I do a bit of fussy cutting/piecing


I put together some more string triangles today. I love looking at string quilts, and I am always thrilled to see a little surprise that the quiltmaker put in. In some of my triangles, I include fussy-cut strings to give that surprise to anyone looking at the quilt.


Here are four triangles--they won't be put together into one block in the quilt, I will spread them out.

Here are some closeup photos of what these blocks contain:

Napping Santa and Cat

Cat Playing a Bass Fiddle

Poinsettia, Cat, and Santa

Santa and His Reindeer

Of course, a string quilt would be beautiful without this added element, but I find it fun to do--I'm just a kid at heart.

 I'm linking with Freshly Pieced and Sew Fresh Quilts

Christmas Strings

I'm playing with more string quilt blocks. 

I'm using Christmas fabrics, so I think I'll call this one "Wreaths and Stars"--seems more appropriate for the holiday than "Christmas Spiderweb."

I'm not sure I have enough of the red for the stars, so I may make half of the blocks with a green star.

Sorry about the lighting--I wasn't about to carry all of these outside! :)


More to come...

Random Ohio Stars

I put together my Random Ohio Star blocks today.

I like the way they look, but I do plan to use a couple of borders to make it look really finished. Not sure of the colors, yet; I'll audition several. The top in the picture isn't hanging very straight, but you get the idea. :)

This has been a fun project--I'm looking forward to the next step! 

I'm linking with Jo's Country Junction for the Bonnie Hunter UFO finish up, with Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday, and with Creative Goodness .

Mystery Solved!

I finished the mystery quilt I wrote about in my last post: It's A Mystery


I'm having a hard time getting a good photo of these fabrics, but here are a couple of tries. The darkest color is maroon--not purple.

The more I look at it, the more I think I should have continued some of the diagonals into the border to create a more finished look--if I do this pattern again, I'll try that.

It is 70" x 82" with the borders and binding. The pattern is pretty simple, and it goes together well.


One fewer unsolved mystery in the world!