A Christmas Carol

 

 Nope, not a song or even a book!  A Christmas Carol is a new line of Christmas fabric by 3 Sisters for Moda Fabrics.  You can see it here at the Fat Quarter Shop: A Christmas Carol.    

The fabric designs in this collection are absolutely wonderful.  I just love them and think I could have so much fun deciding how to use them.  Here are some of my favorites.

The first two here are called Christmas Carols yardage in the crimson color and the holly color.  The third one in line is Floral Flurries yardage in the parchment color.

This is the Promising Poinsettias yardage in the snowflake, crimson, and holly colors.

And then above you see the Winter Villages yardage in the holly color, and then two of the colors of Holly Berry yardage -- parchment, and ebony.    I think these just might be my favorites.  I love the Winter Villages design (which also comes in crimson and snowflake).  Such beautiful vintage looking designs!

What would you make with these beautiful fabrics?

A potential Christmas cookie recipe to try -- Eggnog Cheesecake Crumble Bars

 

I wonder if this Christmas bottle cap was originally intended for a bottle of eggnog?

This fun 1994 milk bottle did hold eggnog.

Always during Christmas in July I try to find at least one new recipe to try out for the upcoming Christmas season.  Sometimes it's a snack or beverage mix for a kitchen gift, or a new possibility for Christmas breakfast.  Probably most often though, it's a Christmas cookie recipe -- something new for the cookie trays.

I've mentioned before about the wonderful baking recipes I've often found at Inside BruCrew Life, where Jocelyn shares recipes she has created.  She has never steered me wrong.

Eggnog always says "Christmas" to me, and I have had this recipe for Eggnog Cheesecake Crumble Bars saved for quite some time.  

It looks nice and easy.  I never buy cake mixes anymore, but for this I might do so.  Or, I could make up an easy cake mix substitute which basically calls for sifting some dry ingredients together.  I would also omit the rum extract because I just don't care for it.  I would most likely substitute vanilla.

Photo from Inside BruCrew Life

 
If we get a cool day that would be conducive to baking during this summer, I think these bars would be fun to try.  They'd be good with a mug of coffee or even a glass of iced coffee.

Glorious garlands

 

 I recently came upon this little booklet which had originally come bound inside a December 1999 issue of Family Circle magazine.  It's hard to think of something from 1999 being considered "vintage", but it actually is -- that was 25 years ago!  

I am planning to use several of the ideas from this booklet this month, as some of the garlands are not made from fresh greenery.  Others of the garlands are made with fresh greens, so I'll share those for December Daily when the time comes.  I have already written and scheduled a few posts for December!

But for now, let's take a look at an idea or two, shall we?

These could obviously be made using a faux evergreen garland as well as a real one.

 
This cozy cabin garland looks like fun.  To make it, you cut cottages out of cardboard and then paint them as desired.  The ones here are white, gold, and a sort of barn red.  It's suggested that contrasting pieces of string can be glued on to outline windows and doors, but I'm pretty sure I would use paint pens instead.  

It doesn't say to make holes in the houses, but one would have to, it seems to me, to hang them.  It's suggested to secure houses on the garland with a twist of floral wire, rather than ordinary ornament hooks, which could shake loose.

Then there's this golden garland of gilded nuts.

This is something you could do even now.  Drilling the holes in the nuts, assembling and spray-painting the garland could all be done outdoors at the picnic table!

The houses for the cabin garland could be cut out, painted, holes punched in the tops, and stored away safely until December and time to add to your evergreen garland.

So, there are a couple ideas of glorious garlands to make for Christmas!  I will share more next week.

Christmas in July at my Etsy shop!

 
Yes!  Now through July 24, I'm running a sale at my Etsy shop, A New Hampshire Attic!  You can take 25% off on every listing in the Vintage Christmas category.

Most of the listings are Christmas cards both new and used, from the 1920s through the 1970s. 

 

I also have some vintage Christmas stickers listed and some handmade vintage felt ornaments,

 

 along with a holiday feltcraft booklet, a poinsettia themed pocket calendar, a vintage Christmas paper sachet and some Christmas candy boxes.  Maybe a few other goodies as well!

If I find time, I will also add a few more vintage Christmas items to this category of my shop for your browsing and shopping pleasure.  Even if you don't buy anything, you are sure to enjoy your trip down Vintage Memory Lane!

A fun paper doll to download and print

 

 Oh, how I loved paper dolls as a child!  I spent hours with them, even making my own at times.  I would trace around existing paper dolls, using colorful magazine photos for the "fabric".  A photo of carpet, for example, would provide a nice large amount of area to cut clothes out of.  When I acquired a wonderful Betsy McCall Fashion Designer Kit, I traced and cut out paper dolls from the figures provided.  I then made outfits using the vast array of components provided -- skirts, blouses, dresses, slacks, jackets, and much more, tracing, coloring, adding tabs and cutting them out.

I actually have an entire Pinterest board called Fun with Paper Dolls. A screenshot of part of it is at the top of the post.

Here is a fun free download from Poppie Cotton: Betsy's Sewing Kit.  This would be a sweet treat for a little girl in your life.  It includes an adorable doll and a few chickens, plus two dresses, overall shorts, and rubber boots. The description reads "Ready for work, play, and church after chores."

 
 It coordinates with fabric of the same name, Betsy's Sewing Kit.  This fabric is designed by Lori Woods.  The Poppie Cotton website explains, "  Betsy’s Sewing Kit is a nostalgic memory from the McCalls magazine that used to come to your home each month. There was an iconic paper doll call Betsy McCall. This collection reaches into the past to bring relevance to what Betsy would have in her sewing kit. The beautiful color palette of navy blue, bright reds, pinks, teals, mints and yellows are a glorious combination that makes you want to head to your sewing room to play all day. There are darling strawberries, quilt patterns, baby chicks, tea kettles and many floral designs."  The fabrics are indeed absolutely adorable and fun.

Have fun with this freebie paper doll set!

Christmas memories of my dad

 

 Today, July 8, is my dad's birthday.  He would be 101 years old if he was still in this life, but he passed away a few years back at 94.  In the photo above, he is the handsome gent at far right.  I have mentioned him many times in my Christmas memories, for he played a large part in all that went on in that jolly season.  But I thought I would do another short post about him, since this is his birthday.

My kids remember my dad at Christmas sitting in his recliner, and reading a newspaper, or a new book he'd received as a Christmas gift.  He didn't seem to enter into the excitement of gifts given and received, but was just a little removed from it.  

The above photo is from 1979 and he has obviously just laid aside his reading material (I think I can see a book in the chair beside him).  He wore glasses only for reading, so it's pretty clear that's what he had just been doing.

In my younger years, though, my dad took a pretty active part at Christmas.  He and my mother often worked on handmade gifts together, and one of the best-loved, and most-used gifts of my childhood was a little plywood room made especially for Barbie or Jill dolls.  They covered the walls with floral contact paper, put a carpet scrap on the floor, added trim pieces to the windows, and so on.   

I also remember how he used to cheerfully make rounds on Christmas Eve in the family station wagon, usually with one or two children in tow, to deliver homemade goodies to our neighbors.  I've shared countless times about my mother's fabulous kitchen gifts for neighbors and friends: Christmas cookies, cinnamon swirl bread, maple fudge, and more.  Of course I'm sure that my dad came into his fair share of samples of all these goodies!

For many years he patiently waited while my mother examined the Christmas trees he and my brother cut from our family's wooded property.  Often they didn't make the grade and it was back to the woods to try again!

I've written an entire post concerning my dad's red Christmas vest.   I'm sort of surprised he's not wearing it in the 1979 photo, but maybe it didn't fit at that point.  But that was always a festive touch that he usually made sure to add.  In the photo below he added another festive touch by placing a just-opened gift -- a handmade tea cozy -- on his head.  I promise he had had nothing stronger than coffee to drink when he did this!

And of course there was my dad's famed appetite for Christmas dinner at my grandmother's house.  All of my uncles (these would be my mother's brothers and brothers-in-law, most of whom shared my dad's sense of humor) teased him a good bit about how much he could eat.  It was a running joke that resulted one year in the Thanksgiving turkey being placed in front of him, not to carve, but as if it was just for him to eat.

Just a few Christmas memories of my wonderful dad.

Chocolate Graham Toffee Clusters -- a fun kitchen gift to try now

 

Photo from Inside BruCrew Life

 Here's a nifty snack that would make a wonderful kitchen gift.   I've shared so many recipes found on Jocelyn Brubaker's Inside BruCrew Life, and I've mentioned that Jocelyn has never steered me wrong.  I've never tried a recipe of hers that hasn't turned out well and been delicious.  I'm sure this Chocolate Toffee Graham Clusters recipe (which I haven't yet tried) will be no exception!

This simple recipe has only four ingredients: Golden Grahams cereal, dry roasted peanuts, Heath toffee bits, and chocolate melts.  It looks easy and so scrumptious!

You could package this in a number of ways for kitchen gifts.  Tins, either square or round, would work well, or you could use paper bags like the type coffee is packaged in, only with a cellophane window to show off the contents.  You can find tins in the dollar store, Walmart, craft stores, and even thrift stores.  

(A quick note that wherever you buy your tins, you will need to wash and dry them before packing kitchen gifts in them.   Wash it like any dish, but to dry it place both tin and cover in the oven and set the oven temp at 290º or so.  Less than 300º, anyway.  When the oven reaches temperature, turn it off.  Leave the tin, or tins, there until the oven cools down.  It is now ready to use.)

Here's one source on Amazon for the kraft coffee bags with windows: Coffee bags for kitchen gifts.  I'm sure they can be purchased in many other places as well.  Here's a screenshot:

 

Happy snacking and gifting!

Once Upon a Christmas

 

Christmas fabric is so much fun! I especially love those with a vintage look.  I always like seeing new fabrics for each Christmas, and I've been seeing quite a few in emails from the Fat Quarter Shop.   Above is a screenshot from their site of Once Upon a Christmas, by Sweetfire Road for Moda Fabrics.

I think it's not only the beautiful designs but the magical colors of this fabric that speak to me.    Below are some screenshots.

Peppermint Stick in the Evergreen colorway

Evergreens with the Snow background

Baubles on Branches in the Mistletoe color

Poinsettias in Princess Pink

The designer, Jackie MacDonald, commented in her blog that as she worked on designing this fabric line, "It was the fragrances of the season that kept sneaking in to my imagination and inspiring me.  Peppermint sticks, freshly baked sugar cookies (with sprinkles!), Evergreen boughs and the scent of snow before a storm danced in my head.  And Once Upon a Christmas was born.  I designed it in hues that remind me of happy childhood memories... Crisp evergreen, Christmas red and a delicious candy pink."  

So beautiful!  This is some of the most inspiring Christmas fabric I have seen.  I would love to make a stocking in either the Poinsettia or the Evergreen design and edge it with a cuff of the Peppermint Stick!  Wouldn't that be pretty?  What would you make with this fabric?

Mrs. Santa's Recipes

 

 I grabbed a vintage international cookbook out of my stash to share with my daughter back in June (it had some Scandinavian recipes I thought she might like to try) and found something very unexpected tucked in the front of it.

I guess it had probably been a school project of mine way, way, back in the day.  It was three index cards stapled together, with the title "Mrs. Santa's Recipes".  I'm assuming it was a project that one of my teachers had us do during December, serving the dual purpose of practicing neat printing and creating a Christmas gift for our moms.  

 
As you see,  the first recipe was for Christmas Sand Tarts, which are actually a cutout sugar cookie flavored with cinnamon and nutmeg.  My mother didn't really make very many cutout cookies that I remember, and I don't recall her ever making these.  But I might try them!

The next recipe was for Spicy Punch, made with cranberry juice, whole spices,  plus citrus juices.  It can be served either hot or cold -- and I think the hot version would be quite delicious.

Lastly,  there's a recipe for Ice Cream Flowerpots.  Ice cream is served in paper cups and decorated with gumdrop leaves and flowers on lollipop stick stems.  This sounds like a fanciful treat straight out of a North Pole kitchen, for sure!

What do you think?  Would you try one of Mrs. Santa's special recipes?

 

USA Christmas stamps I've recently unearthed

 

 Of course you know I had to find some sort of USA tie-in for a Fourth of July post!  These stamps were a recent find, mixed in with other old stamps that had been saved.  I snagged these because the designs are so much fun.

Isn't this sleighing scene so pretty?

 
I love the blue sky and the stately evergreens and all the rest of the wintry farm scene.  This is also the newest of the three stamps, as it cost 25¢!

This little stamp featuring glass Christmas baubles is beautiful too.

It's a little bit older since it cost only 22¢.

And lastly is this one featuring a Christmas tree laden with toys.

 
It's obviously the oldest of the three, since it cost only 8¢!  It has an interesting background that almost looks like cloth.  Maybe it is supposed to look as if it has been cross-stitched.  Very pretty, anyway.

I wish they made Christmas stamps with designs like this nowadays, don't you?

Twelve Treats of Christmas

 

It's so much fun to take a look back at vintage cookbooklets from Christmases past!  This is one I've recently listed in my Etsy shop.  It's by Duncan Hines and is called the 12 Treats of Christmas.  It isn't that old, probably from the 1990s, but it's a vintage one nonetheless.  

Each recipe has a red icon or emblem which relates to one of the 12 days of Christmas.  On the front, that's simply a pair of festive bells with some holly.  The little blurb on the front reads: "To help you bake your moist delicious best,  Duncan Hines is proud to offer you some of our favorite recipes for your family to enjoy.  From all of us at Duncan Hines, we wish you a very happy holiday season!"

 

Peanut Butter Sparkle Cookies are first.  Aren't they festive?

And next there is Rich Double Chocolate Cream Torte.  This is one I've made a number of times, though I didn't know it was a Duncan Hines recipe.  I found it in Taste of Home.  Absolutely delicious.

Brownie Hot Fudge Sundaes offer another festive hit of chocolate.  That's a scrumptious-sounding Fudge Sauce, made with chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk.

Lemon Blueberry Poppy Seed Bread could be made in several smaller loaf pans to make some impressive additions to a gift basket.

How pretty is this Candy Cane Cake?  The recipe shows you just how to cut a 13x9 cake to make this candy cane shape.  I think it might also be pretty using red (and/or green) M&Ms to decorate rather than the maraschino cherries.

The Gingerbread Men recipe sounds like a good one, starting with a spice cake mix.  But this is the ugliest gingerbread man I've ever seen!  I think they could have come up with a nicer looking one to make this recipe much more appealing.

 

 

  Above, the Cherry Christmas Wreaths are  beautiful cakes -- chocolate with cream cheese frosting and a topping of cherry pie filling.  Yum!  I don't use mixes much anymore, but I'd love to try duplicating this recipe with a scratch cake and frosting.

The Individual Cheesecake Cups are fun little cheesecakes made in regular muffin pans.  It makes 24.  One uses either a chocolate or yellow cake in making the crust.  Notice the milkmaid illustration here!

The Peppermint Marble Angel Cake is so pretty!  Wouldn't this be fun to serve with peppermint stick ice cream?

I think this Blueberry Sour Cream Coffeecake would be wonderful for Christmas breakfast, or for giving as a kitchen gift. 

 The above photo (which is the back cover of the booklet) shows two recipes: Chocolate Cherry Cordial Drops -- essentially chocolate chip cookies with chopped maraschino cherries, coconut, and pecans -- and the Festive Coconut Macaroon Cookies, which start with a sugar cookie mix so are not quite like a traditional macaroon.  They do look good though and I think might be nice with a dab of jam in the center in place of the candied cherry half.

And there you have the 12 treats of Christmas!  They've given me some good ideas for December.