More festive fabric -- Christmas in the Cabin

 

The photo above was not taken at Christmas, but in September 2012.  Much of our family, including six adults and nine children, had gone up north for a getaway to a log cabin on a lake.  Since most of us are not together at Christmas, we had a mini Christmas while we were together.  Prior to our trip, we drew names and bought dollar store gifts, which we exchanged on one of the nights.  This photo, taken from outside the Loon's Nest cabin,  seems the perfect one for Christmas in the Cabin. 

It's a really fun Christmas fabric line!  I love the retro colors on this one.  Christmas in the Cabin is by AGF for Art Gallery Fabrics.  

This is the description of the collection:

"Transport yourself to a winter wonderland reminiscent of the 1940s, where holiday charm meets retro flair. Christmas in the Cabin by AGF Studio invites you to stitch together nostalgic memories weaving warmth and cheer into every project. With patterns as timeless as a cup of cocoa by the fireplace, your creations will be wrapped in the festive magic of yesteryears!"

Here are some of my favorites:

The one above is called Yuletide Blossoms.  I love that it includes orange slices!

This one is Mugfuls of Joy.  Love this one!

Above is my favorite of the bunch!  Such a perfect retro look!

Above is Jingle All the Way!  Love this one too!

Above is Holiday Bound.  Cute design!

What would you make with this fabric?  I would love to make some place mats, cloth napkins, and/or mug rugs!

A fun paper crafting project!

 

One of my favorite resources for graphics is The Graphics Fairy.  The lovely Christmas graphic above is from their site, in fact.  I haven't tried any of their tutorials yet, but that is going to change.  I thought I would share these beautiful faux Christmas stamps with my readers.

Of course, you can't use these to mail a letter or Christmas cards.  They are not real postage stamps, but faux ones with a vintage look.  

Photo from The Graphics Fairy

 
They are, however, a lovely project that would add a sweet vintage touch to many a Christmasy project.  The full instructions are available, and there's a free downloadable Christmas stamp printable with many gorgeous designs.  It can be printed out on card stock or, if you prefer, sticker paper.  Thinning shears, like those used on hair, are used to create a pretty "perforated" edge. and touches of gold are then added with a calligraphy pen and gold ink, or with a metallic gold marker.  Then the stamps are ready to use on your gifts and paper crafting projects!

Photo from The Graphics Fairy

Aren't they beautiful?  I really hope to make some of these!

Another recipe to try -- Orange Creme Brownies

 

 As I mentioned in a previous post, some time ago I winnowed out the hundreds of scribbled down or clipped out recipes I had stashed here and there in my kitchen and cookbooks.  I found places to file them, sorted some to sell on Etsy, and ended up with a large envelope of them that I didn't quite know what to do with.  I couldn't seem to make up my mind whether to keep them or throw them away.

While planning for Christmas in July, I decided to pull out a recipe from this envelope -- I would pick the first one I came to that sounded the least bit Christmasy!  Living dangerously.  That worked out so well I decided to try it a second time.  And up came this newspaper clipping for Orange Creme Brownies.

Regular readers know I'm pretty partial to the festive flavor combination of orange and chocolate.  

So it seems as if these brownies would make a wonderful addition to Christmas cookie trays or as a kitchen gift on their own.  And hey, wouldn't a selection of orange/chocolate goodies be fun -- the chocolate dipped orange slices, some chocolate orange cookies, some chocolate orange muffins and these brownies -- or any combination thereof?  You can find all of the recipes here: Christmas recipes featuring oranges.

The clipping is hard to read, I know, so I'll type out the recipe.  I have no idea who to credit for this, but I've had the clipping for a very long time.

ORANGE CREME BROWNIES

3/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut in small pieces
1/3 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325º.  Line the bottom and sides of a 9-inch square pan with foil, allowing it to overhang the edge of the pan slightly.  Butter the foil and set the pan aside. 

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt onto a square of waxed paper.  

In a small saucepan, combine chocolate morsels, butter, sugar, and orange juice; cook and stir over very low heat until chocolate and butter are melted; remove from heat.  Stir in orange peel and vanilla.    Let cool 10 minutes.  Using a wire whisk, beat in eggs one at a time.  Add reserved flour mixture, beating until smooth; stir in nuts.  

Spread in prepared pan.  Bake until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean, 23 to 25 minutes.  Cool completely on a wire rack.

When cool, spread with Orange Creme (recipe follows) and refrigerate until firm -- about 15 minutes in the fridge or 5 minutes in the freezer.  Spread warm Chocolate Icing over the Orange Creme.  

Using a knife, mark chocolate layer in about 36 squares (1 1/2 inches square).  Refrigerate until chocolate icing layer is firm, about 25 minutes, or place in the freezer for a shorter time.  Lift the foil edges to remove the brownies to a cutting board; cut in squares along marked lines.  Makes 36 brownies.  Refrigerate up to 4 days, or freeze up to 1 month.

    ORANGE CREME

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1 teaspoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

In the small bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter until creamy.  Gradually add sugar, beating until fluffy.  Beat in orange peel, milk, and vanilla.

CHOCOLATE ICING

1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
1 Tablespoon butter
1 Tablespoon vegetable shortening

In small saucepan, combine chocolate morsels, butter and vegetable shortening.  Stir over very low heat until melted.

These sound delicious!  They do sound like quite a bit of work, as well.  I would most likely double the recipe to make it worth my while.

I'll definitely be trying these with an eye to Christmas gifting.  How about you?

Glorious garlands part 3

 

 Here are a couple more ideas from the Glorious Garlands booklet I found in a Family Circle magazine from 1999.  As mentioned previously, it's so hard to think of this as vintage ... but it is!  25 years ago is vintage by any standard.

Today I'll share ideas from page 3.  These can easily be made using a faux garland rather than the real thing, which you would obviously want to do if you are making these now, in summer.

One is an angel wings garland ...

This is made by attaching a string of lights to a white pine garland and then attaching purchased pairs of gossamer wings, and halos made of chenille stems, to the garland in such a way that the lights glow through the filmy wings.  

I think I would just buy a pre-lighted faux pine garland and I think for halos, if I chose to use them, I might get some gold or white rings like the type used for cafe curtains.

The other is a seashell garland.

How perfect for summer, really.  If you pick up shells on your vacation you could use them for this.  (Although, if you do this, I highly recommend soaking them in water with some bleach added, then letting them dry in the sun, just to kill any odors.)  Or you could just buy a bag or basket of shells which would be all ready to use.  It's suggested to use a boxwood garland for this one.  I've seen some nice looking faux ones on Amazon for under $14.

Hope one of these garlands sparks some Christmas inspiration for you!

A sweet vintage Christmas card -- "A Happy Christmas Wish"

 

I recently came upon this card front as I was going through items to list on Etsy.  This is only a card front, so I won't try to sell it.  In fact, it has already found its way into a package winging its way to a buyer, as a fun little extra she is sure to enjoy.  But first I had to scan it for my own use, because I love this scene so much.

The aqua color is stunning!  I've noticed that Christmas cards in this color often sell quite well in the shop.  I guess other people must be drawn to them too.  The snowy scene on this aqua background is just gorgeous, with snow-covered evergreens, a few darker trees, and a lighted house and church.  Behind the buildings is just the suggestion of a snow-covered hill or small mountain.

Up in the corner is a pretty pair of bells in red, gold, and magenta.  I wouldn't have necessarily thought to put those colors together, but they absolutely work!  They are topped with pink and red berries, holly in shades of green and gray, and some frosty white pine sprigs.  

A suggestion of softly falling snow completes this beautiful scene.  I love vintage Christmas!

Repurposing some simple sewing projects

 

Years ago I won a giveaway at Sew4Home, one of my very favorite sites to find tutorials for things to sew for the home, and for personal use as well.  The giveaway was for a $125 gift certificate from Fabric.com.  You can read the story here.

One of the things that I chose was this fun Christmas panel from Moda, In From the Cold.  It's designed by Kate Spain.  I looked on line a bit, thinking that I might find one of these available on Etsy or eBay.  And they may well be out there.   But I got sidetracked when I found a treasure trove of free patterns to use with In From the Cold.  You may want to check these out.  I plan to take a closer look at them once Christmas in July is over.  But back to the panel.

I think that the rectangular pieces (which are the only parts of the panel I have used so far) were intended to be turned into little pillows. 

However, I looked at them and saw mug rugs.

 

And so,  that's what I did with four of them -- used one rectangle each for top and bottom, with batting between, to make two mug rugs.   I am sure I took photos of these, but a search has not turned them up.  But one of them is shown above.  The second one was made from the red rectangle at top left of the panel and the teacup one just below it.

But I seldom have a need to use a mug rug, yet I liked them too much to give them away.  So I had just tucked them into my hutch with similar items.  

Fast-forward to this humid summer, where anything that is cold will sweat and get surfaces wet.  We were finding it an issue with the quart of cream and the small jug of maple syrup on the coffee bar at our little camp.  We had been solving the problem by keeping a paper napkin underneath these commodities, but I wanted something prettier, and something thicker, so I thought of the mug mats.  I'm using one and will swap it out for the other if it gets too damp.

What a perfect solution!  We are loving how well this repurpose is working on our coffee bar.

For more Christmas fabric inspiration, visit my virtual Christmas fabric stash on Pinterest.  There is so much glorious fabric out there!!

Cranberry Cream Pie

 

Some time ago I winnowed out the hundreds of scribbled down or clipped out recipes I had stashed here and there in my kitchen and cookbooks.  I found places to file them, sorted some to sell on Etsy, and ended up with a large envelope of them that I didn't quite know what to do with.  I couldn't seem to make up my mind whether to keep them or throw them away.

While planning for Christmas in July, I decided to pull out a recipe from this envelope -- I would pick the first one I came to that sounded the least bit Christmasy!  Living dangerously.  Well, this one actually sounds like a pretty good pick, and somewhat unusual.  I don't think I have seen a recipe for a cranberry cream pie before.  I'll definitely be trying this one.

 

I'll type the recipe out here in case it's not too readable. 

CRANBERRY CREAM PIE

12 ounces fresh cranberries
1 1/4 cup sugar, divided use
1 cup water
2 egg yolks, room temperature
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup sour cream, room temperature
1 baked 9-inch pie shell
8 ounces whipped topping like Cool Whip®

In a heavy large saucepan, combine the cranberries, 1 cup sugar, and the water.  Cook over medium high heat until very thick, about 10 minutes.

Mix together the egg yolks, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and cornstarch.  Add to berries, stir in sour cream, and cook until thick, about 4 minutes.

Pour filling into pie crust.  

Chill for at least 8 hours or overnight before serving.  Just before serving, spread the whipped topping over the pie.

A couple of notes: my mother taught me that when a recipe calls for 2 egg yolks, and there is no use for the whites, to just substitute 1 egg.  That's probably what I'll do.  And also, I think real whipped cream is much tastier and healthier than Cool Whip, so I will likely whip up a pint of heavy cream with a couple tablespoons of confectioners sugar (or maple syrup) and a tablespoon of vanilla.

What do you think?  Would you try this recipe?  I definitely will.