Lordy, The Thing One Finds When Deep Cleaning

It is almost Christmas, and I'm in a frenzy.  Magic Man's family is coming HERE for the holidays.  I'm excited to be hosting, but what were we thinking?!?!

MIL is a terrific housekeeper.  Me?  Not so much.  I maintain a little dust and chaos is healthy for a home.  But push aside my beliefs, I want MIL to be comfortable.  So along with freezer food preparations, scrubbed floors and bathrooms - and I do mean scrubbed, there's washing sheets, rearranging the guest bedroom to open trundle for Magic Man and me.  (Can't let MIL and FIL sleep in those uncomfortable beds), decorating the house AND the Magic Shop Party Room, where the festivities will be held.  Home was a cheap hotel.  Food to be served at the Party Room where the rest of the family would camp.

All of this nonsense to let you know that in cleaning out the closets, I found a quilt top my Grandmother made, who knows how long ago.  She went into a nursing home in the early 80's.  We suspected it was made long before then.

When Granny was admitted to the nursing home, many of her possessions were divided; her house placed on the market, yada yada yada.  As the only grandchild who shared her passion for "making your own," I received this quilt top.  It had the batting and the backing, she started quilting but only finished about a 4" square, leaving me to finish the project.  With a 4-year old in the house, quilting was out of the question.  So the quilt went into the back of the closet, only to be recovered a month ago, almost 30 years later (see note about a little dust and chaos above).

Quilt Top on Frame

Now, life is calmer - just a tad, so I set up my quilt frame (never used, mind you) and tackled the project.  Magic Man came if from work, rolled his eyes and politely smiled at the monstrosity sharing our living room.  Justification - it isn't any larger than the Christmas tree, so I see no need for complaints.

Granny loved details.  She crocheted and tatted with sewing thread; knitted with fine yarns; hand stitches were practically invisible.  Her work was always exquisite.  She could sew like no one I knew and my daughter, her great granddaughter, has that same natural talent (but doesn't use it often).

Cross Stitched Detail

And now I'm quilting.  By hand.  It would be so much easier to send the top to April and let her long arm do the job.  That would not be acceptable by Granny.  I am happy the quilt lines are printed on the fabric.

Quilting, Quilting and Quilting

If you don't hear from me for a while, you know where I am.

Catching Up: Toys for Tots

So!  I have been formally chastised for not posting pictures of my projects.  And not just the recent projects either.  Readers, I beg your support (and forgiveness), you know how it is - daily activities, family, and WIP often takes precedence over blogging.

Here goes Round 1...
Toys for Tots is one of my favorite Christmas charities, based on the fact that our US Marines sponsor this program.  They volunteer their lives for our freedoms and have a spare hand to help children at Christmas.  And - I love their commercial where the little girl asks the Marine if he's Santa, but haven't seen it in a couple of years.  It makes me tear-up thinking about it.

Purchasing a gift doesn't seem adequate, so I sew.  Normally I make rag edge quilts, one for a boy, one for a girl, but this year I ventured into something new:  Pillow Pets!  These little guys are so cute, so easy, so soft and cuddly.  The idea came from this site:  http://www.allfreesewing.com/Sewn-Toys/Sewing-Pattern-for-Pillow-Pet with written and video instructions. 

I followed most of their instructions making a quick mod suggested by granddaughter.  We replaced the step to sew the head to the pillow cover by sewing Velcro (loop side) to the cover and (hook side) to the back of the head.  I used two strips about 4" long, spacing them 1" apart.  Granddaughter loves that she can yank off the head, cuddle with it at nap time and still use the pillow.  Two gifts for the price of one.  I love it because I can wash the pillow cover, dry it easily, AND the loops on the Velcro don't attach to other items in the dryer.  Multi-tasking?  OK, that's a stretch.

Sigh, life is good.

Zebra

Pink Puppy - TFT

Cat - TFT

Spicy Cracker Mix

My older brother is a great cook.   He has a knack for spying a good recipe, much like the ladies in the family.  To that, he can modify a recipe that makes it even more exciting.  We make this treat a Christmas time only. 

The cracker ensemble.  I found some Texas shaped crackers, aren't they adorable?

The mixed crackers.  The tomatoes are for bowl size reference only.

Mmmmm, doesn't this look good?  But wait, there's more.

The seasonings

Baking away in the oven.

SPICY CRACKER MIX

12-14 cups of mixed crackers

1 cup of oil (I only use 1/2 cup and it works perfectly fine, less greasy mess)

1 package of Ranch DIP mix

1 teaspoon dill weed

1 teaspoon lemon pepper

1 teaspoon celery seed

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preheat the oven to 200 F.

Open the assortment of crackers (we use Cheez-Its, Wheat Thins, Ritz, Sociables, pretzel bows, potato strings, 2 packages of oyster crackers, and a local grocery's butter crackers - this doubles the seasonings and oil amounts).  Place them in a huge metal bowl and toss to combine.

Add the seasonings to the oil and whisk well.  Pour over the crackers and toss to coat.  Put the bowl in the oven and bake for 1 hour, turning the crackers every 15 minutes.  Remove, let the mixture cool, and package.

IF, and we do mean if, you are fortunate enough to have leftovers, they freeze well.  I've been known to package them in snack portions and hide through the deep freezer.

Merry Christmas!