Cookies and quilts

 I posted earlier that I would be working on some unfinished (UFO's) projects.  Above I have completed 33 6" finished squares from "The Farmer's Daughter 1920's" book.  Not having touched these in several years, I am choosing to finish them before the fabric rots.  After some thought, I realized that I am never going to get all of the squares finished as I am only a few pages into the many patterns.  So I decided to make a center panel from fabrics that I think would have been used during that time period.  The exception may be the first border, but this green was one I purchased when I went to Ohio several years ago with two of my quilt buddies on a trip.  Among other things, we stopped at quite a few quilt shops and I knew I wanted to use a green in a future quilt that was similar to one used by quilters in the first part of the 20th century. I think I must have been born a few years too late as I am constantly finding myself attracted too older things, especially old wooden utensils and furniture. Oh, well.

I remember that my grandmother had several pieces of linens that had similar flowers embroidered with black floss using the buttonhole stitch and my mother inherited them. Mostly I remember that they were dresser scarves and table cloths.   I do it a lot on appliqué.  This tree of life was one I saw in a magazine and I adapted the size to suit me so it is not proportioned as I saw it in the book.  But it will suffice.

With Christmas coming this week, I have been baking cookies and made some peanut brittle.  It was a little difficult to find raw peanuts, but I did. It has been interesting dealing with the humidity.  In Wyoming, dry weather rarely affected my baking.  I like crisp, crunchy cookies, but here everything absorbs a little moisture.  So my friend, Barb, who always loved a soft cookie, would be happy.  I miss all of the Christmas bazaars with her....she always wanted to see if a cookie was soft, so I would see her pressing on the wrapped treats to see if they were soft or hard.  (She is still alive and well and probably pressing on cookies I imagine.)

"A balanced diet is a Christmas cookie in each hand."