Starting tomorrow in the Christmas kitchen ...

I hope, Lord willing, to be posting here every day.  My friend Susan, over at By Grace, is beginning a feature called December Daily 2013</>.  She's planning to post daily in December -- about all sorts of things from Scripture to recipes to daily happenings -- and has asked others to join her.  Two of us have taken the challenge.  If I can, I hope to post daily in both this blog and my regular blog, Across My Kitchen Table.  (The link is in the sidebar.)  My thought is that I will post something different on each of the blogs, so please plan to visit both!

We'll see how I do, but if all goes according to plan (an uncommon experience, I'll admit), I'll see you here in the Christmas kitchen every day in the merry, magnificent month of December!

Tentative Christmas Baking List for 2013

I've been looking over my Christmas lists and have made a short tentative baking list.  I'm sure it will be subject to change, but it's a place to start!

For cookies:

Pepparkakor
Sacher Torte Cookies
Whipped Shortbread
Eggnog Logs
Date Casserole Cookies
Almond Raspberry Thumbprints
Gingersnaps
Holiday Melting Moments

For candy:

Heavenly Delight
Snowflake Fudge

Other kitchen gifts:

Cinnamon Pretzels
Pride of Iowa Cookies
Hot Cocoa Mix

Felt tea wallets -- a sweet stocking stuffer

A fall themed tea wallet

Inside of  tea wallet

 After my last post, Luludou's comment got me thinking that I really should post the link again to the tea wallet instructions.  I've shared about them before, and you can read about them, and find the link to the instructions, here: Tea Wallets</>. 

I've made a number of these for gifts since my daughter made one for me several years ago. 

The tea wallet Carrie made for me.  Mine has one side for tea bags and the other for index cards.

 They are fun, practical, and easily personalized.  You can make any design you like for an applique.  I just made one recently which had a design of colorful autumn leaves on the front.  Hopefully I can share a photo of that soon ... it's still on the camera!

A Christmas tea wallet

On the inside

If the recipient works outside the home or spends a lot of time on the go, a tea wallet is a handy way to carry a selection of tea bags along.  You can make one side large enough to hold index cards, which means you always have a place to jot down a list or an idea, someone's email address, or even Bible verses.  I always take my tea wallet when we go off on a getaway, so I have a nice choice of tea flavors.  And I like the idea of the index cards so I always have a writing surface handy if needed.  Who thinks to bring scrap paper on a getaway?

Since all of the sewing on these is done by hand, this is a nice little project to carry with you and work on when you have a spare minute.  These make a great stocking stuffer or just a fun small gift to share with friends.  Have fun with this idea!

Gearing up for Christmas crafting

Some previous Christmas crafting -- tea wallet

Inside of tea wallet

Yes, the final fall birthday gifts are made and sent to their recipients.  Now it's time to clear the decks and prepare for Christmas crafting.  I'm not making any huge gifts this year (well, one is sort of big, but I haven't bought the materials for that yet) but mostly smaller, simple things that use a yard of fabric or less.

Last Sunday we made a quick run to our nearest Jo-Ann Fabrics for felt squares in hard-to-find colors.  This morning, Mr. T had to go to Lowe's so he left me off at the Walmart in that town, which still has fabric, and I bought fabric for four of my handcrafted gifts.  Now it's all washed, dried,  and ready to go.  It feels great to be ready to start. 

I've actually completed one gift prior to this, with another one nearly finished.  And I've started on a small order of felt food which was "commissioned" as a Christmas gift for a friend's little girl.

Now that my fabrics are ready, I need to pick another project to start for when the felt food is completed.  My goal is to have completed all of the handmade gifts by early December ... and for once, it might actually happen!