Stop staring and start sewing!

Merry Christmas!! Here's your gift!

Hi! to all you visitors from Heather's place!  I figured I would post the recipe for those pretty cookies (and they're also delicious as an added bonus!) as my gift to you.  I hope you are having a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones!

When I got married, not only did I acquire a fabulous husband but he came loaded with an amazing array of family recipes.  This one just might be my favorite.

Swedish Tarts

Ingredients

½ lb. butter (room temp.)

2 egg yolks (keep the whites set aside in a bowl)

½ C. sugar

2 C. flour

1 tsp. almond extract (this makes them taste amazing)

1 pinch salt

1 cup very finely chopped almonds (keep more on hand just in case you need it.  I usually do.)

Approx 20 candied cherries, cut in half

Mix ingredients in order (I just use a wooden spoon and it works great). Shape into balls (about an inch in diameter). Dip into egg whites (roll them around so they are completely covered) then roll in chopped nuts. Firmly press candied cherry, cut side down, into cookie (press hard enough to get it down in there but not so hard it starts to crack at the edges, got it?). Place on ungreased baking sheets with at least 1 inch between each cookie (they don't grow to much but it's good to give them some elbow room).
Bake at 350º for 15 to 20 minutes.  They should be starting to turn a light golden brown(they take 20 minutes in my oven). You can take them off the baking sheet after about 5 minutes and then let them cool on a rack.
This recipe makes about 30 cookies so I always double mine because I can't stop eating them.

On another note:

Life has fewer thrills than looking through your door's peep-hole on Christmas Eve and seeing Heather Bailey standing there (Isaac and Charlotte too!) with packages in her hands.  (Santa?  Santa who?)  Oh boy!  Oh boy oh boy oh boy!

Look at what she brought:

This one nearly brought tears to my eyes.  I have adored this sweet strawberry since the first time I layed eyes on it (you will most likely see some better pictures of it in the Apr/May issue of Mary Engelbreit Home Companion,the best magazine EVER).  I know she is working on a fun pattern for it (along with the pear pincushion!).  Again: Oh boy oh boy oh boy!

And look at these beauties!  I wish I could upload an audio file so you could enjoy the tight "whoosh-click" sound they make when I open and shut them (which I should stop doing so I can get some of the mess picked up around here).  I don't have this size (well now I do) so it's the perfect addition to my collection of tools.  Or I could add them to my fun little box of shiny things.

We also received a bag loaded with sweet chocolaty things which I won't show you (No, not because I already ate it all, thank you) because I'm going to let Joey enjoy those and he doesn't want everybody looking at his food.  I'll be over here eating those cookies.

Many many Christmas Blessings (and after all, Christmas was the start to the biggest blessing of all!) to you and your's!

A little kitsch for my kitchen

I was so inspired by Beki's super fun Christmas trees I ran right over to my Super Target (it's super!) and sure enough they had a whole bunch in the dollar section.  I didn't want to be a copy-cat and I really loved this little silver tree so now it sits on my kitchen shelf spreading all sorts of Christmas cheer.

The kids worked on this last week and I caught the baby picking snacks off of it this morning.  But fortunately I took this picture before he figured out how to scoot the chair over to it.  I think it's pretty much icky but as a kid I would've been thrilled to have this around. 

And here's a cute ornament on my green sparkly tree (I got the tree last year at Michael's for 75% off the week before Christmas!) which is in my family room on a table and fortunately the baby hasn't figured out how to scoot the chair over to it.  I used the macro option for this picture.  Fun!

Christmas past

Aahhhh....The joyful memories of childhood Christmases.  I don't remember exactly but I'm sure that right after this picture was snapped Jill slugged me in the arm and Jennie ran off to tape pointy little curls to her cheeks with white tape (I'm the angelic one on the left).

And I've always wanted to ask my mom "What's with the dried white stick ornament hangy thingy on the TV?" (widescreen circa 1968).  Groovy.

Here we are this year with Daddy.  Notice how I'm staying away from Jill?  Right after my mom snapped this picture.......well you know.

Fun with Trash Ties

Here's something snazzy.

I did some fun twisty things with Peety's hair and some Trash Ties. It turned out pretty cute don't you think? She has long hair so I just kept twisting and tying and twisting and tying.

We went to a pretty raucous party (well the kids were raucous, the adults pretty much behaved themselves) and her hair was just as cute when we arrived back at the house.  Fun!

That's a wrap (oh and more free stuff)

I really love the Farbenmix patterns.  They're from Germany and they are really a lot of fun because they are simple and spunky.  The part I'm not crazy about is tracing the pattern.  All the sizes and pieces are on one big page and you really have to pay attention since everything overlaps the other pieces.  Some gals draw over the lines using a different color for each size which is a smashing idea (I just haven't done it yet, but I do have good intentions).  Another things that's unusual (compared to the typical pattern) is that you have to add your own seam allowances which is not difficult to do, it's just easy to forget.

Anyway, go to the website and check out all the finished examples people sent in (you have to click on "Galerie" which I'm guessing is German for "Gallery", just a guess though).  Those crafty Europeans get really creative with the colors and patterns and it's so much fun.

This is my favorite pattern, the Anna wrap dress.  It's fast, easy, fun and most of all extremely cute.  Once you figure it out, you can put one together in about an hour!  And yes, I mean "you" regardless of you level of sewing experience.  Really.  Try it and let me know, I could be wrong (but I seriously think I'm right on this one!).

I put together a few this week.  I made three in one afternoon just sitting here in my sewing room with my girls. 

This ones really fun and crazy and makes me happy.  If I were a little girl I would wear this to the zoo and everyone would oooh and aaah at me.

I really adore this bear paper doll fabric.  Again, if I were a little girl I would have to wear this while playing with my paper dolls (which was my favorite "my sisters won't play with me so I have to play alone" pastime when I was little).

This fabric is for wearing to Cirque de Soleil I'm sure (back view of the dress).

And this is my current favorite which would be the perfect birthday dress!

If you want to check out my ebay listings, I'm continuing my quest for that new machine (I think I shall call her my sweet Elna) and these dresses are among the things I have listed.  Oh and did I mention YOU GET A FREE SET OF HEATHER BAILEY'S TRASH TIES WHEN YOU WIN THE AUCTION???!!!  AND......With every bid (no matter how teeny tiny small and seemingly insignificant) you get entered into my drawing for a free 4 piece twirl skirt set made from the Fabulous Freshcut Fabrics????  Well, it's true.

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Oops!  I failed to mention that you CAN get these patterns here in the US!  Farbenmix has a link to English sites (click on the British flag) and you can also look at this terrific site:  Banberryplace.com.  They are not expensive either!

Pardon me ma'am, you seem to have dropped a name...

My sweet (and utterly fabulous!) friend Heather Bailey has finally got her Trash Ties up and available and I'm so excited for her and Isaac!  It's been a long road for them and we have had the privilege of sharing in a small part of their journey (did I mention she lives a mile from my house?).  So run over there (to the website, not her house) and do some Christmas shopping because, I'm telling you, these things are incredible!

Heather has also graciously offered to give FREE Trash Ties to each of the winners of all my ebay auctions listed in the month of December because she has seen my ancient sewing machine and taken great pity on me and my desperate quest to get a new one.  I'm thrilled to have the help and to have an opportunity to publicly sing the praises of these amazing hair accessories!  Oh, and EVERY bid my auctions receive in December will get entered into a drawing (on Jan 4th) for a free (yes!) outfit made from Heather's Freshcut fabric (I got it straight from her hands!).  Look at it (no drooling please):

But about those Trash Ties.....

My daughter received a bunch of Trash Ties in the spring and being the mean mom that I am, I quickly stole them.  Yes, it's true.  I do not have great hair and I couldn't believe how cute these things made my hair look!  Check out this picture of my fuzzy, unwashed, DIY dye-job hair done up in Trash Ties (sorry Heather.  I hope I don't make your company tank because of this picture):

I feel pretty, oh so pretty!!!  This took me about a minute and I was out the door on my way to the mall!  I may have to take some better pictures (like when I've actually taken a shower and put a little effort into it!)  but I'm telling you, I have 3 daughters with long thick hair (didn't get it from me obviously!) and these make it so easy and fun to do those Princess Leia cinnamon buns.  Crazy fun!

Oh, and here are some great pictures of my listed outfits taken by my friend Chanelle and her (Oh my gosh!  Isn't she cute?!) daughter Arie:

Fun!! 

Hey!  Did I mention that the winners of these auctions get FREE TRASH TIES??!!  AND did I mention that EVERY bid gets entered into a drawing for an outfit made from Freshcut fabric INCLUDING a set of Trash Ties??!!  Run, don't walk!