Christmas Baking and a Found Treasure

I spent Friday night baking with my g.f. that I've known since Grade 2. Ok, that was 1969 if you want to do the math ;-) She's a gardener extraordinaire while I'm the quilter. She told me she had a needle at one time, but she can't seem to find it! Can you tell she needed to be gifted a quilt with a statement like that? Yes, she certainly did need a quilt, and she has just started to re do her living room, taking it from formal to cozy country. This worked in perfectly.

We got a good jump on some holiday baking. Shortbread cookies. It's not Christmas if you don't have shortbread cookies made from the recipe on the cornstarch box.  Honestly, they are the absolute best cookie that will ever melt in your mouth.

I've never made Ginger Snaps for the holidays, but these were so yummy.  It took 2 pans for us to get the timing and size right. Do you think that had something to do with the cocktails?? Anyways, we got into a good rhythm with these goodies and they are so delicious.

And finally, while my g.f. was rolling out the Ginger Snap dough, I was making these on the other side of her kitchen.  Oh, the smell of short bread cakes baking in the oven; there is nothing like it.  This is a recipe my Grandmother made, my mom made, now my Dad makes it, and I haven't come across anyone who hasn't liked this wonderful, melt in your mouth, short bread.  I left both cakes at her house and she took one over to her Mom and Dad's.  When my g.f. finished doing the chores, she stopped back in and her dad had eaten 1/4 of it!  I warned her that it was goooood!

On the quilting homefront, I got the last of my 9 patches done for a swap. 9 sets of 6 will go in the mail tomorrow. Once this swap is finished, I'll have 4 very scrappy civil war quilts. I'm going to put swaps on pause for 2011. I need to finish the ones I started in 2010.

I will leave you with some pictures of a quilt my g.f. had out to show me. She started off by saying, "well, you won't think this is very nice, but..." Oh my gosh. I grabbed it up and started pouring over the fabrics. I explained to her how quilters LOVE to see things made from those who stitched before us. This is from the late 1960's, it was made by "Granny". She was born in 1899 and died in 1999. My g.f. remembers having this on her bed in 1969 when she moved. There are no poly pieces in this, but in the last one you can see how the orange has faded. The back is solid orange, but it's pieced. Fabric was probably still 36" wide.

What a treasure!

Sharon