Sweet & Savory

Where has the month gone?????

I can't believe we are midway through November, Thanksgiving is on our doorstep, and Christmas will be here before we know it.  Fall is my favorite time of year because it is all about chillier temps (I'm still waiting for those), fall colors and leaves falling (still waiting for the leaves to fall), comfort foods, and making Christmas gifts!

Here is a basket I recently finished.........

This will be a Christmas gift.  The pattern has instructions for a set of 4 nested baskets. This is the largest.  I have everything ready to do the others, if I can find the time.  It has a round wood base and a rolled Gretchen rim.  It had been awhile since I did this rim treatment.  Here is what it looks like at the beginning of weaving the rim.....

Kind of messy looking..........so much fun to bring order into chaos!  Hard to believe it's the same basket.

I made Chex mix over the weekend.  I was able to price match the cereal and use coupons at Walmart, so saving money made this even more fun!

The mix on the left is the traditional chex mix (savory) and the one on the right is a sweet mix.  One for the Hubs and one for me!  Can you figure out who is who?  I'll include the recipe for the sweet mix below.

At our recent guild meeting, we were supposed to bring our big UFO projects for the year (finished!).  This is my lattice quilt made from Through the Winter Woods Fabrics by Holly Taylor.  I am glad it is DONE!  It will go on the bed in my spare room this winter and then probably be gifted to someone next year.  I must like Holly Taylor because I have used several of her fabrics and can usually tell them before I know she is the designer.  I just picked up a layer cake that was the daily deal at Missouri Star that was Holly Taylor.  It was fall colors.  

My Happily Scrappily Irish quilt that I made with the 4 patches is all pieced with borders and waiting to be quilted in January.  I don't have a good photo of it yet.  This pattern came from a Bonnie Hunter Leader and Ender book.

I can't wait to get the little 9-patch blocks we are exchanging in guild to start working on those.  I did some of each color choice, so will have at least 2 quilts from them.  I have also been collecting fabrics for the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt.  I am actually going to use her colors even though they are not my colors at all.  I figure this will challenge me and make me think about color differently.  And, I can probably turn it into a charity quilt.  I'll get a photo of my fabrics soon.  Can't wait for the first clue next Friday!

Here is another quilt from guild meeting.  Marsha is showing her Halloween blocks that she embroidered.  I had done some of the blocks (not this many) to make a wall hanging, and I really like Marsha's quilt.

And how is Cici doing?

Well, she is growing!  The Hubs thinks she will soon outgrown this basket!  She loves to spend time in the sewing room.  She can unthread all the machines (makes me more careful about putting the covers on them), she can remove pins from the pincushions and litter the floor with them, and she loves to hide under a quilt top when it's laid out on the floor!  Yes, she is definitely a BIG HELP in the sewing room!

ttfn,

Christi

Sweet Chex Mix

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup butter (it's better with real butter!)

1/4 t. burnt sugar flavoring

Bring to a boil and boil 2 minutes.  Pour over:

9 cups rice chex (yes, that's the whole box)

2 cups pecan halves

Spread on cookie sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 8 minutes.  Stir and bake 7 minutes more.  Cool on brown paper bag.