Tag Archives: crafts

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas Cookies…and Quilts!

Posted on December 2, 2025 | 16 comments

The virtual cookie exchange is one I look forward to. I like the opportunity to push myself into trying to convert another holiday recipe to a gluten-free version. This time, I decided to try making my younger daughter’s favorite…snickerdoodles! When I started looking at gluten-free recipes, I was surprised to see they didn’t call for cream of tarter. In my opinion, half the charm of a snickerdoodle is that slightly tart taste that lingers on your tongue. So, I went back to my 1980’s Betty Crocker Cookbook and I just subbed in the Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 flour for the regular…just to see what happened. The first tray was slightly underbaked resulting in a very pancake-looking cookie. The second tray was much better. I’ll definitely try these again but maybe with a little chilling of the dough to see if I can increase the rise on the cookie.

You can see the difference between the first and second tray.

Now, I will be very honest and share that I’ve been a little lackluster in the sew-jo department lately. But in early November, I started working on some Christmas quilts. First, I pieced together this quick little quilt top using a couple of charm packs from a quilter’s garage sale and a free pattern from the Fat Quarter Shop. I added an extra border so it came out just a bit bigger. I can hardly wait to get this one on the frame and add from fun quilting!

Next up, I finished this quilt top from blocks I purchased at an estate sale. Both of these finish about 60×60, perfect for curling up under and watching a favorite movie.

The next one was a little too big for a good photo but this one finishes about 74×74. The red fabric was part of a dress I made for my now-grown daughter when we took her to her first nutcracker when she was 3. The lattice squares were leftovers and small pieces. There are lots more leftover squares and I’m already planning the next quilt to use them up.

It’s been a goal of mine for years to have a Christmas quit for each bed in the house. Generally, on the first of December, I get the Christmas china out and use it for the whole month. I want to do the same with the quilts on the beds. This one is for me! In the meantime, I’ve got another project on the design wall and can’t wait to see how it comes out!

Many thanks to Carol over at Just Let Me Quilt and all the talented quilters in this hop. Be sure to stop by and see all the holiday wonderfulness.

Whatever holiday you celebrate, I wish you the very best and hope that you will embrace the light during the dark of the winter and that joy will find you every day!

Happy quilting,

Beth

DECEMBER 1^st

DECEMBER 2^nd

DECEMBER 3^rd

Quilting Between The Rails

DECEMBER 4^TH

Happy Cottage Quilter

Days Filled With Joy

That Fabric Feeling

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Tagged crafts, quilt, Quilting, quilts, sewing

On the Road Again

Posted on May 20, 2024 | 10 comments

It’s that time! Summer is coming, camping season is starting and we’re all dreaming of travel…and quilts, and fabric and…OK, you should know by now that you can start anywhere and it always comes back to quilts for me! I had a plan as soon as I heard that Carol was putting us on the road this month! I’ve had this lovely piece of train fabric hanging out in the sewing room and I’ve been wanting to use it.

Doesn’t that look fun? So, I was planning to use my favorite sawtooth stars but the print is just too big to put into 6.5 squares. These trains need a little more open space than that. I started rooting through some things and came up with some block pieces left over from three car quilts I made in the past. I was thinking of “Planes, trains and automobiles” but that didn’t seem to fit either. So I started making more car blocks. I’m still not sure if I am stopping at six to do a lap quilt or if this is headed for larger. (Well, who am I kidding, it will be larger.)

The finished quilt will look like this one. This was the first of what will be at least four of these quilts. This one was my husband’s and it was one of his favorites.

Then my younger brother saw it so I made one for him. (He’s older than I am but I have two older brothers so I shorten ‘the younger of my older brothers’ to just ‘younger’.) Then last winter I called my brother up to ask how he was doing in the super cold weather in Montana. He said his three quilts I made him were keeping him warm. “Three?” I asked. “Three. The bow tie and the two car quilts.” Seriously? Have you ever made someone a quilt and forgotten you did it? And then made it again? It’s lucky for me that he really liked that quilt! And, no, I’m not sending him this one!

It’s been busy around here since getting back from Hawaii. It’s the end of the school year and we’re all scrambling. Tomorrow, I have two meetings so I spent tonight doing some serious baking. A spice cake, two types of scones (cranberry orange and chocolate chip) and a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. They are all gluten-free and the best compliment I ever receive is when people don’t even notice the lack of gluten.

In other household news, the foundation was poured for my shed and Gizmo thinks he got a new pat-a-meow. He’ll be sad when the shed is moved back into place. Now that we have some nice weather, he and Milo go on guided expeditions to the back yard when I get home from work.

We had quite the adventure the other day when I looked up and a mama duck and her nine ducklings where making their way through my backyard. The nearest water is a short block away and I have no idea where this little family was going but my yard was the shortcut.

Luckily, neither cat recognized them as something to chase and I opened the side gate in time for the harrassed mama duck to get all of her little family safely on the other side. The cats have grown used to seeing the squirrels and the crows that come to the feeder but this was a new one for all of us!

Please make sure you hop down the road to all the other wonderful bloggers on the hop and especially show some love to Carol for keeping us in a row…I’m sure we’re tougher than ducklings!

Happy quilting!

Beth

MAY 20

MAY 21

Kathy’s Kwilts and More

MAY 22

MAY 23

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Tagged crafts, quilt, quilts, sewing

Project Quilting 15.2

Posted on January 28, 2024 | 3 comments

This week’s challenge was to sky colors but not less than 10% sky blue. I had a million ideas but was very short on time. (I’ve got a t-shirt quilt that’s way overdue.) I had an idea I would have loved to do based on the title “Purp”le Rain” but it would have required a ton of time.

Instead, I used inspireation from our recent ice storm. While we were frozen in place, we were treated to some lovely sunsets over the ice so I tried to capture that in raw edge applique.

You can’t see the details very well but there are three different colors of fairy frost in the bottom

Here’s a picture of our neighborhood looking like a skating rink.

I decided I didn’t want another small wall hanging so I decided to make this one into a pillow. After I had finished it, I was reminded of a story my mom used to tell. She grew up on a variety of small rented farms in Montana. She told me how very still and quiet things were in the depth of winter and how lonely the sound of the train whistle was in the stillness. I wish I had remembered sooner, I could have quilted in a tiny curl of train smoke.