Sewing Seeds Christmas Party

My sewing group (the Sewing Seeds Quilting Bee) had their Christmas party last evening.  Of course the first thing we did once the six of us had assembled, was to dig in to a wonderful spread of finger foods and desserts.

There was such a large selection, it was hard to decide what to put on your plate first.

 

This is a sampling of the desserts.  There was also fruit, caramel popcorn and hot spiced and Tower of London teas.  My contribution was the cranberry scones with lemon curd and a pecan cheesecake pie.

We played a couple of fun Christmas word games and then we had our “stuff a mug” and drawn name gift exchange.

Emalynn had drawn my name earlier this year and boy does she know what I like.  She sewed me a lovely table topper with four matching napkins.  She even made the napkin rings decorated with greenery and little teapots and cups.

Couldn’t wait to use this set for a cozy tea for two.

My “stuff a mug” gift was from Joyce, who happens to be the first friend I made when we moved to this town many years ago. 

She included lots of goodies in this pretty Christmas mug.  I love the Clinique “chubby stick” lip balm that I’d never tried before and all the other items, including a cute bag that she sewed with a unique snap close opening.

This is one talented group of sewers.  There were gorgeous tote bags and casserole carriers and other great items. 

Well, the holiday season is in full swing now.  I have our church party tonight and a company party on Saturday.  Hope you are all enjoying your parties too.

Southern Living Idea House

My friend Lynn and I decided to visit the Southern Living Idea House in Senoia, GA this past Wednesday and I’m so glad we did.  We both came away from this historic farmhouse renovation with lots of design and Christmas décor ideas. 

The new wrap around porch was lovely with an eating area and a cozy swing.

There were lots of different styles ranging from contemporary to rustic country. 

There were pretty Christmas table settings.  I liked the square wreaths in the windows and the very simple pine cones and candy canes decorating each plate.  The designers made good use of fresh greenery, pinecones, silk flowers and glass ornaments.

There was great use of space with lots of shelving and several storage pieces that I would really love to have in my own home.

This house would be wonderful for entertaining.  The totally screened in porch with pull down screens that can be raised when not needed and the backyard fire pit area were outstanding.

There were four bedrooms with decor ranging from modern luxury to down home country style.

There is so much to see that I can’t begin to cover it in a blog post.  You can always visit this Historic Farmhouse Renovation online – it’s well worth the time.

I know that I’ll be using some of the Christmas decorating ideas that were presented and filing away some great renovation plans for later. 

 

 

Mini Scone Pan

I’ve always made scones by patting the dough into a circle and then cutting it into wedges to be placed on the baking sheet, or in my case onto a baking stone.  I felt it might be time to try something new, so I picked up a Nordic Ware Mini Scone Pan at TJ Maxx.

It seems like 16 smaller scones would be nice for entertaining, rather than the much larger scones that I usually bake.

My first batch in the new pan was dried cranberry scones – quite plain and not too sweet.

The dough is quite sticky and it was challenging to get it divided evenly between the 16 sections and spread into the corners.  Does anyone have any tips to make this step easier?

Some of the scones were thinner than the others, but they did release from the pan very easily.

You can see how nicely browned the bottom and the sides of these scones came out.

I’d say that this baking pan is worth having and I’m looking forward to baking more scones in it and also cornbread triangles to enjoy with soup or stew.  Do any of you use one of these scone pans and  do you like it?

Happy Thanksgiving

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Keep Calm and Make Tea

This cute tea bag holder was a recent TJ Maxx find.  It came in a pack of two and unfortunately there were only two packages left.  I snapped those up - one to add to my collection and three to attach to Christmas gift bags).  These “tea bag tidy” sets are made by Creative Tops - Bright Ideas for Creative Living.  There is a lovely website here. 

The tea bag holders are a nice match for the cheerful mugs (also by Creative Tops) that I purchased at TJ Maxx a while ago.  I believe the mugs also came in white with red lettering.  

The tea bag holders are a generous size, with large, flat centers and can be used for coasters as well.

 

 

Frozen Tea Treat

On a recent grocery run to Kroger I found this So Delicious Green Tea frozen dessert.  I liked the fact that it is made with coconut milk and soy free.

A half cup serving is only 130 calories - it is sweetened with organic agave syrup and not overly sweet.  It contains green tea powder and I found that the delicious green tea flavor really stands out.

One day I may try making homemade green tea ice cream with Matcha powder, but until then this is a nice alternative.

Williamson English Breakfast Tea

Williamson tea is grown on farms in the highlands of Kenya.  These company farms are all Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance certified.

I’d never tried this brand of tea, but when I came across one of their elephant tins (containing English Breakfast tea bags) at TJ Maxx, I couldn’t resist.

You can order a limited selection of elephant tins online at Amazon for around $20.  There are many other lovely tins on the Williamson website. 

I’d like to try their Lifeboat tea.  A portion of each sale goes to RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institute) to help save lives at sea.  This sounds like a robust black, single estate tea that I’d enjoy.

The 40 English Breakfast teabags in the tin are packaged in an airtight silver bag.  The tea is “rich and refreshing” according to the package and I agree – perfect for my morning cuppa.

I hope to add more of these unique tins to my tea tin collection, starting with the Jubilee tea.