Flour Sack Towels...

WOW! While I love my homespun and terry cloth towels my most favorite kitchen towel is the ol' flour sack towel. And while doing some holiday baking, I found more reasons why this towel will always have a place in my kitchen.
For some time now I've been making my own pie crust. Needing to make a couple of pies for a friend I was thinking back and remembering the difficulty I had rolling and transferring the crust the last time I made pies. Ugh! I thought there had to be something to make it easier and I don't know why it took me so long to think of this.....
I have a couple of flour sack towels that I use specifically for food....to cover dough while rising, cover foods just out of oven, etc...So...I thought "Hmmm.....I wonder....." now need I say more?
That had to be the easiest of crusts to roll and transfer....yes I still used flour on the cloth and rolling pin ( which the rolling pin my son got me a couple Christmases ago is another of my favorite things)
So a couple days after the pies I needed to make sugar cookies and cinnamon rolls....yes the ol' flour sack towel came through again.... Oh the simple things in life that make our day to day tasks easier!

Merry day after Christmas...

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas....spent with family and friends and making many happy memories.

And now...the busy-ness of the holiday is over so what to do? Awhile back I decided I wasn't going to buy any fabric or supplies until I use up some of my stash and finish some of the unfinished projects I have here...unless it was for a specific project to use right away. So I pulled out one of my project boxes and found this cross stitch project that was started two...maybe three years ago.... 'December Sheep' by Notforgotten Farm. A little somethin' to add to my sampler wall in my sewing room.

Wishing you all...

....a blessed and very merry Christmas!

Peanut Butter Fudge...

I think this is the best batch of peanut butter fudge I've ever made! Be it the recipe, the candy thermometer, whatever it was, I'm marking the recipe, page and cookbook as a reminder for the next time.
This recipe is actually from the same cookbook as the divinity.....and was submitted by Joy Beard.

Easy Peanut Butter Fudge

4 cups sugar
1 can evaporated milk (not sweetened)
1 stick margarine (not soft type) (I used butter)
18 ounce jar peanut butter (I had 16 oz)
1 small jar marshmallow cream

Cook first three ingredients 9 minutes or until it coats spoon or makes soft ball. (I used a thermometer and cooked to soft ball temperature then this is when I removed from heat) Add peanut butter and marshmallow cream. Mix well, pour in pan (I buttered the pan) with edges as it's soft at this stage. Surface will appear slightly greasy until it sets. Allow to set 2-3 hours then cut into squares to serve.
Enjoy!

Divinity.....

I finally made it! I don't know if I will ever make it again but I just had to see if I could do it. And I did!
I've always heard that it was a hard one....lots of beating and don't make it on a humid day. Well I found a recipe in my Countryside Favorites cookbook, a book put together by the Countryside Park in Donna, TX where my in-laws spend their winters.
I don't know about the humidity part but if it wasn't for my Kitchenaid mixer, I don't know if my arm would of survived all the beating! Whew! How did they do it back in the day before electric mixers?

Divinity
4 cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup water
3 stiffly beaten egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts
Put in good sized pan. (sugar, water and syrup only) Stir until sugar is dissolved over low heat. Cook on medium heat to 255°. Remove from heat. Pour slowly over 3 stiffly beaten egg whites. Beat until firm and loses its gloss. Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 cup nuts. Very good.
This was submitted by Mildred Nelson and Pat Taylor.

I have found over the years that using a candy
thermometer when candy making is key to how well it turns out. I never had much luck when using the old school method of obtaining the soft and hard ball stages.
And did I mention my kitchenaid mixer? Oh my...what would I do without that!

So there ya go.....tune in tomorrow for peanut butter fudge.

Meeting Santa....

It's not the first time for Rylee to meet Santa..she did last year and did fine but she was only 5 months old. Our church children's program was this past Sunday evening and Santa stopped by for a short visit. Rylee wasn't too sure about it at first then came around then back to not so sure...... Thankfully, it didn't get dramatic!

Magic Tree...

This is the 18th year and the first time we've been to see it. Fifty hours, 3.5 miles of lighted wire and more than 50,000 lights.
This is Magic Tree.
It's beautiful isn't it?

Saturday Ramblin'...

I'm sitting here in the middle of my sewing room floor basting some patches onto the back of a well-loved old quilt, a repair for a friend that I have been putting off for whatever reason. It looks to be a dreary day here in my little corner of the world. I'm not complaining...we have had some beautiful days here for it to be December. Speaking of which, where has this month gone and even more-so, where has this whole year gone? I am nowhere near ready for this Christmas. I didn't get the tree up until this past Monday and after having replaced one strand of lights before decorating, now that it is all done, the upper strand has gone out! I still have a Santa tree that needs decorating but again, the strand of lights for that tree has decided to pick this year to go out. I've always had extra strands of varying lengths on hand but wouldn't you know they've all disappeared....into other decorations or in projects for sale. I won't even mention gift shopping....very little has been done with that either.
You will see in the photo below where I've been going through all my favorite cookbooks looking for goodie recipes...there are the usual favorites but I always like to try a few new things each year. As usual, and like everything else, my list goes way beyond what I will have time for. I do hope to get a start on some of it this afternoon though. But if I don't get off this thing and finish basting these patches in place and get moving the day will be gone and I'll be wondering where it went!
Enjoy your day!

Stockings and more stockings...

More old cutter quilt stockings...large ones for the mantle and ornament size...
And more wool felt stockings. As you can see, these were made to order...personalized for new grandbabies of a long time customer.
I love Christmas stockings and they are probably the family favorite of Christmas morning here at our house. No matter how old the "kids" get. They have found some pretty good things in their stockings over the years. Everything from a new toothbrush to dollar scratch offs to $20 gift cards to new little gadgets of some sort.
Sometimes it's as much fun if not more looking for them little things to fill the stockings as it is shopping for an actual gift.
It's been such a busy couple weeks that I've not gotten out one decoration yet. So after church and a couple of errands I'll put on some Christmas music and bring out our tree and hang our stockings.
Enjoy your day!