Free Patterns, Storm Watch, Quilt Finish, Christmas Tradition, Chocolate Snowballs

Christmas is kind of taking a back seat here to the weather forecast. About which we can't say we haven't been warned!  It's everywhere; warnings even turned up on my phone which I didn't know could happen (I have the simplest of plans on a 6 year old phone).  Some folks have just gotten their power back from the last snow event and now we are told to stock up and be prepared for more possible outages. 

We have our oil lamps ready, plenty of wood for the stove insert in the fireplace, the bath tubs filled and a case of water in the house.  As it happens, when asked this year what we wanted for Christmas, we spoke of emergency supplies such as LED lamps and wind up radios as possible gifts. 

I have to run an errand for a family member and then I will turn on some Christmas music and settle in for a Christmas gift wrapping session, something I love to do. 

LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color's prompt this week was a favourite Christmas tradition. I'll share one that I used to do while my girls were growing up. Part of Newfoundland Christmas tradition is to have salt cod and potatoes on Christmas Eve. Because fishing was the main livelihood, it was a way to give thanks for it and I grew up with my parents carrying on that tradition even though no longer dependent on the sea for a living.   I always made seafood crepes for a special meal on Christmas Eve, just a little nod to that old custom.  I would make the crepes the day before- they keep well, and also have the mixture all made and ready to pop it all in the oven. My older daughter reminded me of this meal just the other day.  I'm glad she remembers it fondly. 

 Thursday things to share with you all. 

First up is Robbie's Quilt. It is 48 in x 50 in. which I found out was a perfect size for me to manage the hand quilting of but more importantly is a good lap size for a 9 year old.  It has just enough batting and quilting lines to make it a bit soft and squishy. And it definitely does not have a wave in the binding there on the right!

And the message on the back-

Hubby wasn't impressed with it while I thought it said everything. Now I'm second guessing it. 😦

Thursday's Three Free

From Susies- Scraps.Com comes the tutorial to make these string pot holders/trivets. They can be fashioned for any season of course. Susie has an abundance of patterns and tutorials on her site. I'm so happy she continues to share her talent and inspiration with us.

Kind Michelle at Michelle Palmer Art offers the free applique designs for these three lovely stockings.  

 Here is a link to Michelle's punch needle shop designs and Here to her lovely watercolor designs.

From Jo Avery, yet another sweet free pattern for A Mini Boris the Bear Portrait.

Do check out Jo's beautiful quilts too. Jo is part of the trio of talent behind The Thread House, another great site for quilters to check out.

And for my cross stitching friends, from the talented Liz Matthews' bank of freebies is this one I chose to share.  It's called Winter Celebration and there's that cardinal again. What a clever border too!  Hello From Liz Matthews is her web page and I enjoy her videos on YouTube too. 

Btw, Liz is the daughter of Kathy Barrick, the creator of Carriage House Samplings so talent obviously runs in that family.

My last and one of very few stitchy purchases of 2022 (I look back and realize I purchased very little sewing supplies this year not like I did during the Pandemic).  From Madame La Fee, Jour de Neige- Snow Day and oh how I loved those wintry days growing up and still do really (but not power outages!).  A little bit of nostalgia for me. 

I've got a hankering for Chocolate Snowballs.  I'll use the recipe here from Saltwater Daughters; being no bake they will be a great choice even if there is a power outage. And being mainly oat based rather than flour, are a good choice for us. 

Still on my own schedule it seems with the postings. All good just a bit busier than usual for me.

Hope you are all well, snug as bugs, or cool and collected where ever you live in this great world of ours. 

Also enjoying linking this post with Alycia Quilts and Kathy's Quilts.