Today

 Happy Thanksgiving.

These are two of four loaves I made. 

We had our big feast yesterday and the day was perfect. Family time. Lots to eat - outdoor style since my kitchen is being renovated. 

Completed items and other things

 I'm busy sewing a couple of little dresses for my granddaughters who have birthdays next month exactly two weeks apart. Once I'm finished, I will take a photo.

In the meanwhile, I took some time to finish a few things that have been hanging around.

This is called Chilly's Gift. It is a small (4" X 4") card-sized cross stitch. It was a free design years ago and I thought it wouldn't take long to make. The original colours were red and pink but I changed to colours to suit me. There is supposed to be a charm in between the penguin's hands - hence the 'gift.' I haven't found one yet but once I put it in a card, I will go hunting for the charm. It's been hanging around for quite a number of years and I am glad that I finally decided to finish it.

I bake sweet bread almost once a week for my grandchildren who usually request it. It's a braided loaf with cardamom as flavouring called pulla in Finnish. 

This is what it looked like before I baked it. As an Easter surprise, I added red food colouring and on the top, I added sprinkles instead of sugar. It was an idea my little grandchildren had. I just made two more loaves today. They weren't as big as these because I think the yeast I used was a tad old. Nevertheless, my son said it will all get eaten. He has three little girls. The other loaf went to my daughter who has a little girl and a boy. 

I also managed to finish this sweater. I started it for my little granddaughter last year and since her birthday was coming up, I decided to get it totally done. I only had to finish off the sleeves (I knitted them together) and then sew it all up. I dislike sewing up knitted parts. That's the main reason my knitted items sometimes take years to finish.

Just a close-up of the yarn. It's a cotton chunky yarn that I bought decades ago. I have it in this pink, some beige, some blue and some gray. It was on sale and so far, this is the second sweater that I have made with this yarn. Years ago I made a pullover for my then, teenaged son with the beige. I still have the sweater. I need to make more sweaters to use it all up.

This is my hyacinth that started out with only three blooms but ended up with five. They are now done and planted outside to bloom next year.

About three years ago, on Easter Sunday, we were visited by a bunny rabbit in our backyard.

This little guy has come back again. There are actually two of them that we sighted yesterday morning but they were so quick, we didn't get any photos of the duo. This one camouflaged well.

Sometimes they do visit our neighbour next door (centre of the photo, on the other side of the fence) but they prefer our backyard.

A bit of knitting and some butterflies and baking

 

I remembered to take a photo of these hats before I sent them to three little boys in England. I wasn't quite sure of the size and went with what the pattern said but I did make some a tad longer. The outer two are made with Patons Decor and there is about 20% wool content in them. They are machine washable. The middle one is acrylic.

I also managed to finish this little cowl for one of my granddaughters. It's a great pattern and the yarn is Drops Air. It's a very soft and non-itchy wool. I did tell my daughter that it was hand wash only but really, how dirty can a cowl get? I may just make a few more. This was one of my unfinished projects and I am glad it is now done. I have at least one sweater that I need to get finished and then I can move on to new things.

On one of the facebook groups I belong to, a lady in Belgium requested 15 cm (6 inch finished) butterfly blocks from around the world. Her friend passed away at the age of 38 and she left a mother and two children. The quilt will be for the mother. I will send these off today.

I also managed to get in some baking. Four loaves of Finnish pulla (cardamom  sweet braid) and some apple squares. No nuts so the little ones can bring some to school with their lunch. I bought some apples and wanted to see what other recipes there were besides apple pie. The recipe I used got great reviews but the people who made them mentioned that it had too much sugar and not enough apple so I used less sugar and more apple. They were a hit and I made a second batch later.

Now, I shall continue on with a quilt I am putting together. I am a pattern tester for a couple of designers and this top has to be finished by the 11th of November. It's 72" square and I just have to get the top done. I am using my stash of blues.

Stay safe, wear your mask and wash your hands.

A Whole Lot of Baking

I'm finished for now.

I made two batches of Chinese Almond cookies.

Two batches of Oatmeal cookies. 

Two batches of Swedish Butterballs made with finely chopped pecans and

one batch of a new cookie - Cardamom Ginger.

They were drop cookies and since not every one likes candied ginger, one batch was enough.

I bought three of these containers for my three Toronto families who all live close by. Hopefully, they last all year long so I can get them back to refill them next year. I got tired of using cookie tins. They started to show their age and were getting rusty.

What I didn't give away to my family went into these cookie jars. There are some almond cookies and cardamom ginger cookies and oatmeal cookies but only nine Swedish butterballs left. The favourites are the oatmeal. They are soft and melt in your mouth. 

A little bit busy

I have been busy but not really with sewing or knitting. I have been busy the past few weeks looking after my little grandchildren. It seems that the whole family has had the flu and passed it on. One after the other, we all got it but we're okay now.

Little Teemu got another sleep sack. 

It has two different flannel linings. I was not paying attention and cut the first piece the wrong way. I did have enough of the little sheep flannel for both the front and the back but I just wasn't thinking when I pinned and cut the pattern.

Luckily I had enough thin quilt batting for the front and the back. I really didn't want to have to buy anything if I didn't have to.

The batting just gives it a bit more stability and warmth.

Here he is with his daddy, Casey, who just became a full fledged Canadian resident.

This photo is purposely upside down to show that I also made the front of this sleep sack upside down. It's the only way that the pattern fit the fabric. This way the animals on the fabric are the right way when Teemu looks at them.

This quilt may look a little familiar.

We finished putting it together and last week Marg found time to put it and the blue one on the frames.

Marg's daughter has MS and is wheelchair bound. This one is for her.

Initially, both quilts were bigger. Marg found out that her daughter was using a large bath towel on her lap to keep her warm. The lap quilt she had was just too big and so we revised our wheelchair lap quilt sizes to make them the same size as a large bath sheet. This way, nothing gets caught in the wheels.

On a sad note, our little Pixel left us. She was 19.5 which turned out to be about 94 in human years. 

I made these today along with two loaves of multigrain bread. These are Zucchini Tater Tots and you can find the recipe here. They are gluten free. Yesterday I made vegetarian chili to go along with the multigrain bread. We brought it all over to my son's place. With all the snow we got, his vehicle was snowed in and so he invited us over. It's all gone now.

Finally...

We got the tree up and it's been decorated.

This snow lady goes up every year. It was my first applique piece in the class I took in quilting. She's not quilted, though. Her pocket always has to have at least one mini candy cane.

Last Friday my kitchen tree looked like this. I just wanted a lot of lights on it. This year I didn't put any bulbs on. My husband wrapped the little lights around it since I didn't have the time or the patience.

I have a built-in desk in the kitchen and it gets decorated every year.

This is the other half of the desk. I may have added a few more items since I took this photo.

The quilt is back up in the hall.

I have two of these door jingles and I put them there for the little ones. I don't mind if they take them off and play with them.

My plain wreath got wrapped in some red mesh this year. I have my daughter's wreath to do now. she liked mine so much and I had mesh left over so she gave me her wreath. It doesn't take long to do.

Even my Christmas kitchen curtains got hung.

Last week I managed to make 4 loaves of pulla and some apple muffins. All were given away to family. While baking I listened to Christmas music. My all time favourite is the Dolly Parton/Kenny Rogers Christmas CD. I did have the tape and the vinyl of the same but the CD is easier to pop on. Another favourite is Alan Jackson's Christmas CD with the tune "Please, daddy (don't get drunk this Christmas.)" I'm still waiting to hear "Grandma got run over by a reindeer (while walking home from our house Christmas Eve)" on the radio. We have one station that plays nothing but Christmas tunes at this time of year.

I'm off to get more cookie baking done now.
I do hope none of you are stressing out over getting things done. Be kind to yourself and prioritize. If it doesn't get done before Christmas, it can get done after. 

Busy

Today has been a full day so far.

There has been a little bit of bread making. These are whole wheat loaves and the house smells really nice.

 

I made this yesterday using Pink Penguin's tutorial. This is the bigger sized one. It's too big for it's purpose. So, today...

 

I made the smaller version, which is the original size. However, I think it's too small.

 

I may need a medium sized basket but I'm not making one right now. These are the leftover pieces of fabric from a diaper bag I had made a couple of years ago. It's uphostery fabric weight and I'm so glad I got to use it up.

 

Yesterday, I also made a trivet and ...

 

 recently, I finished sewing up the pieces to this teeny tiny little sweater for Luc's sibling who is due in a week. I'm glad that the front colour changes worked out for both sides.

 

 

I'm linking up with a whole lot of other very creative people at the Needle and Thread Network.

 

Have a great week.

Today and this month

I just finished skypeing with these two - Luc and Laila. The tree behind them is a real tree and I am told that little Luc likes to un-decorate it. They have snow - we don't and today's high is supposed to be 6C.

This was a letter (I am assuming it's a Christmas card) that came in today's mail. I like the post office cancellation stamp. Children can write letters to Santa at North Pole and his postal code is - HOH OHO. This card wasn't even for us. The sender got one number wrong in the address and so, after a little bit of searching online, I found out that it is our neighbour, just up the street.

This past month I have baked a lot. Multigrain bread and banana loaves. Most go home with my children since my husband and I cannot eat a whole lot of bread and I really don't like freezing stuff.

This really was worthy of a shot. Pixel and Digit are sisters but they are not friends. They do not normally sleep this close to each other and when it did happen, I had to capture the moment. We are so lucky that these senior girls are still so very healthy.

Well, back to finishing up my sewing - well finishing a couple of things and then there are a couple more things to make. It will all get done. No stress, at least, not yet.