Seasonal bits

 Well, hello out there.  Even I am tired of looking at the horse blanket but there is just so much jollying  going on but not much to document so I've not been good about changing your view.

Baking. That's what 's been going on. Cookies, candy, bread, it's been like Disney's Fantasia in the kitchen and the freezer is on its way to being open-at-your-own-risk full.  But I put an audiobook in my ear and the time and chores just disappear.  So far I made 500 normal sized peppermint patties and when I realized I was going to run out and yet had a few parties to go to I made another batch but made the patties mini party sized.  That gave me another 200.  That worked very well. But I'm down to 24  normal sized mints and in my mind that means I've run out. Honestly, there just wasn't room in the refrigerator for anything once I had the patties in tins and stored.  Where do they all go? Well, it's my dish to pass at parties - three so far and one more to go - and gifting friends. It is so nice to be able to get together with our friends and be at gatherings again!

I had Elizabeth make a batch of seafoam (honeycomb) and it worked well for her.  She used a slightly bigger pan so the pieces weren't as deep as the ones I made. Australia Judy said there is an Australian candy made with bits of honeycomb and chocolate.  So when Elizabeth finished with the big pieces we put the broken bits and honey dust into the remaining chocolate and put them into a mold.  Yes, Judy, we should go into production!! Delicious.

I was just beginning to have a free shelf in the refrigerator till yesterday when I made peanut butter balls (buckeyes) and two batches of almond toffee. You don't want to know how much chocolate, butter, sugar and eggs I go through in these two months!!  

This year 've decided, too, to make the cookies mini in size because really, who needs the big size? There are two more to go, regular sugar cookies and the chocolate teddy bears which are formed not  cut out.  There was also some stollen made the other day.  I'm playing with what I put in it and this year did dates and the candied lemon and orange peel I made myself.  

About 2 months ago I dropped a cast iron doorstop on my foot and after the pretty colors went away I was left with a lump just about where the nail would go if I were to be crucified.  The whole thing didn't impede any walking in any way except the lump was exactly where the shoes hit the top of my foot.  After a couple of months I decided there was something going on in there because it wasn't going away itself and went to the doctor.  Sure enough there is a bone chipped.  He thinks if I don't aggravate it with shoes it might heal itself so for a few weeks this donut patch lifts the shoe just enough.  Artist Friend Barb couldn't resist adding the artwork.

I think she was modelling my foot patch after this guy.  He was maybe 10 feet away on the other side of the dining room window.  You can see to the right the branches of the felt tree I keep in the window.  This gentleman has 8 points. That's a puddle of corn at his feet and he found it.  We have a deer out back that has a broken back leg so I throw out a couple of cups of corn and hope she finds it.  Sometimes she does.  

PH once asked me if I wanted him to teach me how to sleep sitting up.  If I see he's out I put a blanket  over him.  This Santa was one of those sew it and stuff it pillow things we've had since the kids were tiny.  Stuffed up Santa eventually was a lost soul at Christmas.  We always brought him out but he kind of languished in a corner forgotten till it was time to pack it all up again.   A few years ago I split his seams, took the stuffing out and made this blanket front and back matched up reversible.  Forgotten no more, he is used every day during  the season. 

So, other than that?  No stitching whatsoever.  I packed it all away in the spare bedroom when the girls were going to be here before Thanksgiving and left it packed up.  I did take the butterflies out of the to-do basket because this is what I'll start on soon as I feel like it.  It's the only thing layered and ready and so won't make a mess till I'm feeling like piecing again come January. Oh! And I did finish a baby quilt  before mid-November but can't find a photo.  I can't believe I didn't take a  picture! 

So that's it in a nut basket.  Hope your holiday preps are going smoothly and you even choose to let something go.