food

Christmas Embroideries, 3 Ingredient Fruit Cake, Knitting Too from Canadian Needle Nana

Hello all and thank you for stopping by so close to Christmas Day.

It's been busy. I've set up things that light up...the wreath, two small trees, several candles. I've been shopping and wrapping gifts with the usual seasonal feelings of panic about getting it all right.

I've been keeping the feeders full and watched this little tableau one morning.

The three of them were calmly eating together after one of the squirrels had climbed up and jumped on the pan feeder, conveniently tipping the seeds down for them.

I baked a fruit cake. I ...

added by Jocelyn is Canadian Needle Nana 4 weeks, 1 day ago. under birds , embroidery , food , knitting

Baking first, sewing last...................... from Exuberant Color

I started the day yesterday baking the other Kringlas, different than the ones I baked last week. The dough was refrigerated overnight.

Next I baked the pink Spritz. It was a relief to have my oven fixed to bake these. I did the previous batch that were for my son's customers last week in the little countertop electric oven and it was tricky getting them out before they got too dark.

A little later in the day I baked the chocolate spritz. After that I made one more batch of fudge. Now I have enough of everything to mail ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 month, 1 week ago. under baby quilts , flannel quilts , food , machine quilting

Great mail....................... from Exuberant Color

In my mail preview I saw a card from Vicki Welsh. This was my favorite of the three she made this year. It is so exciting to receive one of her cards.

I did a little rearranging of the cards from the previous 14 years plus the new one. They are up on my bulletin board year round and I look in that direction while I'm sewing so I'm enjoying them all of the time.

Also in the mail was a new book. The author contacted me a while ago and asked if she could use the image ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 month, 1 week ago. under food , nature , postcards

Miscellaneous.................. from Exuberant Color

Yesterday's food projects were fudge and pink Spritz cookies. I forgot to take a photo of the cookies.

I chose the backing (the light print) and the binding (red print) to finish the Christmas table runner. I also found a piece of batting the exact size I needed. Maybe I'll get it layered and quilted today.

In the box with the squares (that were used for the table runner) was a group of 1.5" strips. I don't remember cutting them so maybe they were cut to use up the ends of some of the Christmas fabrics ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 month, 2 weeks ago. under christmas , food , strip piecing

Special Shares, Peppermint Trees, Quilting "Christmas Presents", Raisin Tea Buns from Canadian Needle Nana

I read that the last full moon of the year, called the Cold Moon, is tonight and it is going to be very special by how high in the sky it will rise. Such a height won't be seen again till 2043. It's dark here now at 5 o'clock. Yesterday I took this photo of the back yard bathed in moonlight at that time. Unfortunately, the clouds kept sailing past hiding the moon. Sometimes, clouds add much beautiful moodiness to a December winter sky but my photo didn't capture that sadly.

To celebrate December 2025, I ...

added by Jocelyn is Canadian Needle Nana 1 month, 2 weeks ago. under applique , books , food , free patterns , quilting

Baking again......... from Exuberant Color

I baked Kringlas in the morning and should have left the oven on and baked something else. When I turned the oven on later in the afternoon....nothing....no heat.

Since I already had chocolate spritz dough made, I had to go to plan B. My main oven is gas, but I have a countertop electric oven. I know things bake differently in the 2 kinds because my mother had electric and her cookies always turned out different than mine. It took many trays to bake since the oven is small but I got the job done.

After I figured ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 month, 2 weeks ago. under food , nature

Busy day.................. from Exuberant Color

I decided to do two loads of laundry yesterday so while I was in the basement I was looking through all of my flannel fabric. I had something specific in mind which I haven't found yet. When I saw the leftover pink with bears I decided to pull all of the others that would go with it for a baby girl quilt. I think I'll use the diagonal plaid on the back but there might be a little of it that I can use on the front, depending on the size quilt I make. If I keep it ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 month, 3 weeks ago. under flannel quilts , food

Nifty November Stitching, Cooking and Playing from Canadian Needle Nana

A November sky if ever I saw one...Milder and wet, then a big freeze overnight turned the morning landscape into an ice covered fairyland. I thought it was hoar frost but I've read since it was rime frost, a dangerous frost for ships at sea. This kind of ice is thick and grows in the direction of the wind.

Whatever the name, it was especially beautiful down by the pond where the tall grasses grow. By noon, it had all disappeared so I felt lucky to have witnessed such fleeting beauty. And my photos don't do it ...

added by Jocelyn is Canadian Needle Nana 1 month, 3 weeks ago. under dogs , embroidery , food , quilting

Flannel............. from Exuberant Color

Standing at the design wall didn't sound appealing to me yesterday so I got 2 boxes of flannel pieces off a shelf in my studio.

I decided bullseye blocks was a nice mindless project. They will probably be made into a baby quilt.

They haven't had their final press yet so they look a little crooked. Some of them used a variety of short pieces and others were just 3 fabrics for the whole block.

I still have tomatoes ripening in the garage. A lot of them are golf ball size or smaller but they taste great, better ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 months ago. under flannel quilts , food

Starting a new one................ from Exuberant Color

There are 2 blocks of each combination except one so this is half of the blocks. Getting them up on the wall helps me see what colors and values need more representation. After I make about 5 more combinations I'll continue with the design. I ran the blocks crosswise on the last one of these and thought I would do a vertical setting on this one. I'm just playing with some ideas here for a quick small quilt.

I need to make a list of all of my started quilts and see which one I want to work ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 months ago. under food , kaffe fabric

A wonderful birthday............... from Exuberant Color

Just one photo today of my delicious cake before we cut into it. I have out of state family here and there will be a party today with all of the family.

I have 3 bouquets of flowers and a box of my favorite candy.

All of the outside decorations are up now and we were successful in getting all of the timers to work.

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 months, 1 week ago. under food

Baking and knitting.................. from Exuberant Color

It was time to bake some more scones, this time, very berry box mix. My pan has 16 sections and I like that better than my ceramic dish that has 8 sections. I also mixed chocolate chip cookie dough and put it in the refrigerator. I might bake one tray of them this morning.

I started my third of three dishcloths last night. They are all at 35 stitches now and I need to increase them all to 44 stitches before I start decreases.

A few people asked how many do I have right now. There are 26 in this ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 months, 2 weeks ago. under food , knitting

Finish # 3 for October 2025...................... from Exuberant Color

It only took 8 years to get this quilt to the finish line. I made the top in 2017 and considered ditch quilting it but ended up having it longarmed this month. It is all batik fabrics and there are 3 sizes of 16 patch blocks in it: 4", 8" and 16". I paper pieced the star before 2017.

It has Hobbs 80/20 batting in it and it measures 38.5" x 51". Most of my batiks are a half yard to a yard so I was happy to find one that was a larger cut to use for ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 3 months ago. under batik , food , nature , star quilts

Thrifting, Autumn Tablemat Finish, Found Forlorn Pumpkin Blocks from Canadian Needle Nana

Below is Brian Stauffer's "Winds of Change", a marvelous painting for The New Yorker cover on October 13. I wondered if this could be worked into a design for a quilt or embroidered piece. I do like curlicues. And I also wondered about what he meant by featuring these two things together. The noisy leaf blower and the beautiful design of nature. What do you think he's telling us?

LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color's conversation starter this week was how we deal with fallen leaves. I don't use a leaf blower but Tony does as ...

added by Jocelyn is Canadian Needle Nana 3 months ago. under applique , books , food , quilting , thrift shopping

Feelings, Pumpkins Flimsy, Cabbage Casserole from Canadian Needle Nana

The Red Squirrels are very busy these days. I can get this shot standing by my sink as this tree is in the front garden and has grown from a little bush to a much bigger bush putting the squirrel pretty much right in front of me. I've had the pleasure of capturing many photos of these little animals in just this pose eating spruce buds.

And I took this photo of a young deer from the sewing room window. I wonder if it is the same one I've seen from time to time over the summer. I ...

added by Jocelyn is Canadian Needle Nana 3 months ago. under feelings , flowers , food , quilting , wildlife

Colours of Fall, Embroidery, Old Hangings and Gingerbread in the White House from Canadian Needle Nana

The light is changing just as I know the transitioning to another season is happening all around me. And it's become one of the warmest Octobers on record so the days have been pleasantly warm with lots of sunshine. There was a noticeable absence of rain till yesterday when it poured steadily all day. Oh my, the colours though, are so wonderful. I brought in these leaves to show Tony who is not walking the back woods like he used to. But he has started to take a brief walk with the dogs late afternoon and so far it ...

added by Jocelyn is Canadian Needle Nana 3 months, 2 weeks ago. under embroidery , flowers , food , free patterns , quilting

Scrappy Pumpkins, Cross Stitching Crows, Homemade Bread Stuffing, Talking Temu from Canadian Needle Nana

This is the Smoke Tree in September. I like the mulberry and lavender colours the leaves have this time of year.

And of course, the wild New England Asters are also purples and so pretty.

Thank you for lamenting with me about the loss of our little pond. It is sad, especially for all the critters and birds that lived, drank and bathed there. And though its been raining off and on the last two days, most of September continued the rainless streak. We've had frost warnings and I covered my pots on the veranda twice now but didn ...

added by Jocelyn is Canadian Needle Nana 4 months ago. under applique , cross stitch , flowers , food , shopping , youtube videos

Time for a fall quilt........................ from Exuberant Color

I'm not into seasonal decor most of the time. One thing I do change is the quilt on the bench in front of the fireplace. This quilt has all of the colors of the fall leaves: yellow, gold, orange, burgundy/purple and some golden brown. I'm only missing red. The back has leaves of all the same colors. A tree 2 houses south has the deep burgundy/purple leaves. I first showed this quilt in August 2007 and it was already finished then so I'm not sure what year it was completed.

I baked the chocolate chip ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 4 months ago. under food

Some more 1990s fabric................ from Exuberant Color

There were lots of Nancy Crow fabrics that didn't make it into the 16 patch selection on yesterday's post. The one on the right is folded so you can see the whole gradation across the 44". The sunset in the middle doesn't show the other half which fades to pale apricot. This is 22" showing from top to bottom.

Again this is 22" from top to bottom in the photo. It's pretty obvious why they wouldn't work in 2" finished squares.

This photo shows about 11" from top to bottom. There are more..... I have ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 4 months ago. under food , stash

September Sewing, Sites To Visit, Tasty Stew Too from Canadian Needle Nana

From CoziNest Vintage Collective who enjoys whimsy as much as I do and Michele at 3P&N. I must admit I can't get my head around the fact that it is past the middle of September. The days are flying now and there doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to get all the things done that I want to.

This is the first rabbit I've seen in quite a while here and it is also the biggest.

This pretty flower below is a wild Allium, perhaps Wild Leek. If you can confirm, I'd ...

added by Jocelyn is Canadian Needle Nana 4 months ago. under flowers , food , quilting , wildlife , youtube videos

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