Toward the end of last year, I became hopelessly behind and bogged down.  I had intended to show you an exchange gift that I gave and the one that I in turn received.  It just never happened. 

This is the darling little Quaker sampler that Judy stitched for me. 

Here is the pocket that I made for Patricia.  You probably recognize the pocket as I made it as part of the group of three and you probably recognize the Quaker motif which I showed you as I stitched. 

Finally, here is what I stitched during the weekend on my new project for the new year. 

Happy New Year

It is the beginning of a new year, the time when we want to make new beginnings.  Psychologists tell us that if we want to successfully change a habit or begin a new behavior, we should concentrate on just one thing.  That's a nice idea but I subscribe to the shotgun approach.  The more things I try to change or begin at one time, the higher the probability I will be successful with at least one.  

 Last night, I finished the second of the two ornaments.  I know that you cannot differentiate between the two but it is the second one.  It will go to its recipient tomorrow.  

My new project for the new year.  It is the Winter Box from Victoria Sampler.  I have selected a different fabric but I think it will not make much difference.  It is what I had on hand; I feel virtuous for dipping into my stash as opposed to purchasing new.  Fortunately I also had the correct size pearl cotton in the correct color.  I have marked out all of the sections for the lid but I neglected to take the bundles of threads apart.   

And, the ongoing UnFinished Project (UFO) that is receiving my attention.  Thursday I picked it up and worked some of the light pink parts. 

For the past couple weeks, I have felt that no matter how quickly and efficiently I work I am still behind.  One of the bright points was giving the three ornaments pictured in the entry below this one.  Everyone loved the ornament and said that it suited their taste.  It does not get any better than that. 

Following that, I tried to finish this pair of ornaments.  I had hoped to show you both finished ornaments side by side but that will not happen. 

The first one is finished and I continue to work on the second one. 












The squirrels continue to entertain us; I think much to the dismay of the birds.  I have tried to discourage them by tossing dried corn out for them.  They seem to like it but also like to get into the bird feeders. 

It seems to be more difficult to get pictures of the red squirrels.  But with time, we may be able to show them to you too. 

Yes, the three little ornaments are done.  Tomorrow I will begin to give them to their recipients.  In the past, these little gifts have given their recipients much pleasure.  It gives me even more pleasure to do this. 

I am now working on two more little ornaments.  With these two, I am cutting it very close.  I can only hope they are done before Christmas. 

This past week within a couple hours, both of our printers died.  It will cost us more to have them fixed than to buy serviceable printers.  This evening, I think that we will splurge by ordering a high end color printer.  For a long time, we have been wanting to do art quality printing.  We have been wishing we could print on large size paper and heavy paper.  It may soon be possible for us to do all of these things.  If we order this color printer, we will hold off on ordering a new laser printer.  In the end, it may not be necessary to have two printers. 

All three ornament fronts are done.  The backs remain untouched. 

Do you see the gorgeous Lenox plate in the Holiday pattern?  Our sons just gave me four dinner plates and four salad plates.  We will set the table tonight with them. 

More baking - The little disks are cardamom cookies and the others are Russian teacakes.  Powdered sugar was the order of the day. 

Snow Flakes and Cookie Comments

We are currently in the midst of a winter snowstorm.  Already we are close to an all-time record winter snowfall.  This storm was originally predicted to travel to the south of us but somehow headed directly for us.  It is moving slowly so we are being dumped upon.  As of bedtime yesterday, we were under a winter storm watch running through Saturday, ending Sunday.  The prediction indicated that we could get as much as a foot of snow during that time.  The snowfall began in earnest a couple hours later than predicted but it is as heavy as predicted.  This morning as we shoveled the back terrace, one little junko flew around us.  It seemed like it was asking for food.  We put a little food into both feeders because we were certain that the squirrels would be around to dump it all out.  No sooner did we hang the feeders than about a half dozen junkos and a pair of cardinals flocked to them.  I hunted out the dry corn we have and put some in a flower pot saucer for the squirrels.  My rationale was that if the squirrels had some corn on the ground they might leave the birdfeeders alone.  I think that the squirrels are staying snug in their nests because we have seen none. 

The sandbakkels and the molded cookies that resemble madeleines.  The dough is rich and rather stiff.  The molds that I use are a bit small and take about a teaspoon of dough.  You then press a thin layer of dough into the bottom and sides of the mold; it is a lot like playing with clay when you were a child.  Sandbakkels are crispy.  Tradition in Minnesota indicates that sandbakkels is a Norwegian treat and translates roughly as sand tarts.  I found a little discussion about sandbakkels in this blog.  The recipe is close to my recipe; The major difference is that I use ground or finely chopped almonds instead of almond extract.  We usually serve them outside (molded side) up.  Most people do not let the inside show on the serving plate unless they are filled.  It is not necessary to fill them.  Other popular Scandinavian treats are: 
Krumkake
Fattigmands Bakkels
Rosettes

What do these treats have in common besides Scandinavia? 
1.  The translation of the name is open to variation. 
2.  The spelling of the name is also open to variation. 
3.  They are all very popular in the Upper Midwest.  Guess where a lot of Scandinavians settled. 
4.  They are all labor intensive.  Even the fattigmands which are cut into diamonds are cut in the middle and turned inside out by hand. 

I was wondering why the Scandinavian treats are so labor intensive.  Roger suggested that it is because Scandinavia has such long, dark winters.  With the dim light during the winter, people did not need bright light to make the treats plus the fact that the nights were so long there was plenty of time to make the treats.  I am not sure that is a very good explanation.  After all, the Scots who are in the north are famous for their shortbread which is very similar to sandbakkels.  They just pat out the dough and cut it into squares. 

Tastes of Christmas

Let's see. 
1.  The three fabric pockets:  Done 
2.  The sweater back:  Done
3.  The Quaker motif:  Done 

I have been trying to keep myself busy.  I have not yet begun one of the sweater fronts but plan to sometime in the unforeseeable future. 

Baking:  Did you know that it is baking season?  Well it is and so we are baking cookies.  After working on these two batches, I suddenly remembered why I like to make bar or pan cookies.  Real cookies are extremely labor intensive.  It began with the sandbakkels.  Because that dough needed to chill over night, I decided to make dough for chocolate crinkles which also needs to chill over night.  Yesterday, I baked both batches; following that I needed to chill out.  They do look scrumptious, don't they?  They do taste as good as they look. 

Today there will be two more cookie batches.  In our Tastes of Christmas cookie plan, we now have chocolate and almond.  The next flavors will be pecan in Russian tea cakes and cardamom in cardamom cookies. 


Yes, I am stitching and here is a little peek at the current project, three ornaments which will be little gifts. 

The design is a little freebie from Thea Dueck, Victoria Sampler.  Two will be to mark the first Christmas of each of two little girls; the third is just a little gift for a friend.  I am making minor modifications in the design on each.  If you are checking on the freebie, why not explore the website a little?  Did you see the Winter Box shown on the home page?  I plan to stitch it.