Good-bye 2013, Hello 2014

I hope you will have a "Stitches" kind of day to start the New Year.................

Merry Christmas To All !!!

Peanut Brittle

I have been on a peanut brittle rampage and I'm not done yet but taken a few days off from it. So far, I have made 6 batches.  I made the peanut brittle for one of my mini-quilting groups for an little Christmas gift. I also tied a little Christmas Tree pin (it's lights up) to the package.  It's not hard to make and really takes very little time, the hard part is the clean up to get ready to make another batch.

This bowl is the one I use, heaven forbid, if it ever would break. It's a Corning Ware 1 3/4 qt. bowl. I have tried a couple of other bowls and they just don't work as well for me. I have made my Peanut Brittle in the microwave for many years. I started with my Tappan microwave because a cookbook came with it, with the recipe in it. Now my microwave is a GE Profile-Spacemaker XL1400. It's a higher wattage so I had to tweak my recipe when I changed microwaves. Here is my current recipe if you are interested in it.                               PEANUT BRITTLE
Power Level: 100%       Total Cooking Time: about 16 minutes

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 cup dry roasted peanuts
 (or cashews, I like the smoked Almonds too!)
1 t. vanilla flavoring and 1 t. butter
1 t. baking soda
1. Stir together the sugar, water, and corn syrup in a 2 qt. casserole. Microwave on high (100%) for 11 minutes.
2. Stir in nuts, microwave on high (100%) for 2 minutes.
3. Stir in vanilla and butter. Microwave on high (100%) for another 2 minutes or until hard crack stage is reached. This is when I test it, in ice water.
4. Add baking soda, stir until light and foamy.
5. Pour mixture onto a lightly buttered cookie sheet. Spread to about 1/4 inch thickness.. You have to do this step rather quickly and be careful about spreading it out too much. I don't like to lose all the foamy because that's what makes it easy to eat.  Cool, and break into pieces.

(If you have a lower wattage microwave, this is what the original recipe called for in cooking. In Step 1, cook for 12-14 minutes. Step 2, cook for 4-6 minutes. Step 3, cook for additional 1-2 minutes. As long as you test your candy in Step 3 in ice water and it doesn't stick to your teeth, it should be fine)  Good Luck and let me know how your candy turns out...Sew until next time, I hope you have a Stitches kind of day...

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope you are enjoying your Thanksgiving with your family and friends, that's what I am doing!!!  Sew until next time, have a Stitches kind of day............

Christmas Napkins

I sure haven't been here very often lately, but I wanted to show you the Christmas napkins that I have been making..One of the groups that I belong too is participating in a craft show so this will be my contribution for the show. The money we raise will go to our projects which in the long term will help women and families. I really like all of these napkin fabrics, I think the red/green is more elegant looking and the red/white just everyday..Sure hope someone buys them!!! And I hope you like them too.

 Sew until next time...........have a Stitches kind of day.......................

Have a Good Weekend and Don't Worry!!

I Honor Veteran's Day

ARMY-Korean War, My husband, Jerry, 1935-1997

NAVY WW II, My Dad, 1913-2012

  And all the veterans, past and present, that defend our country and keep us safe and free!!!

 Sew until next time, have a Stitches kind of day....

The Give Away on Cookies Treasures, I Won!

 

I won the give away on Cookies Treasures several weeks ago and I was thrilled about it. I hadn't won anything from anyone for a long time so it was exciting. She sent a little kit for a make-up bag, a really cute bracelet and a lovely card. I will try to get the make-up bag made up soon and I know I will enjoy wearing the bracelet, especially to my quilt meetings and it came all the way from Germany..It's very unique as you can see in the picture...so many, many thanks to Kerstin for all the goodies!!!!

My Burning Bush, it's the prettiest that it has every been

My neighbor's tree, beautiful isn't it?

 Sew until the next time we meet, I hope you have a Stitches kind of day.......

A Feast for the Eyes

     I think this Fall is one of the prettiest ones we have had in a while. On Tuesday, we were on our way to a quilt guild meeting and we saw this small grove of trees, that was breath-taking. So on the way home, we stopped and tramped through the bromegrass, some of us over the barbed-wire, to get to the trees. I don't have to tell you that it was a few minutes that I will never forget when we stood among these gorgeous red/pink Maples.

I think God did a wonderful job...Sew until next time, I hope you have a Stitches kind of day that I had on Tuesday.......

Cow Stampede at AQS-Des Moines

hmmmm. I think this was a great challenge..Mary Lou Weidman challenged her students to step out of their box and boy, did they ever. This was a special exhibit at the AQS/Des Moines Quilt Show, I think it looked like a whole lot of fun...Enjoy!!

Aren't these funny???  Sew until next time, have a Stitches kind of day.................