Monday, December 4, 2023

Cookies and Quilts - what could get any better?

 The Virtual Cookie Exchange is here. I will start off with the cookies, Yum! I love the Sugar Cookies recipe that a friend from work gave to me. I made one batch. They are a soft cookie with cream cheese icing. 

Christmas Cookie Cutter Sugar Cookies

1 1/2 cups confection sugar                                2 1/ C flour
1 C butter, softened                                            1 tsp baking soda
1 egg                                                                    1 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond flavoring
Cream sugar and butter. Mix in egg and flavorings. Blend in dry ingredients. Refrigerate 2-3 hours. Divide dough in half and roll out on floured surface to desired thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut into shapes and place on lightly-greased baking sheet. Bake until delicately golden - baking time depends on thickness of cookie. Approximately 8 minutes. Can sprinkle sugar on before baking. Or let cool and ice with cream cheese icing. 


I have had this tea towel with a Sugar Cookie recipe on it for quite a while. It has not been used and needed some prettying up. The tea towel started out like this. Just rather large and not so fun or delicious-looking. 


I trimmed it down to a smaller size and added some 2 1/2" squares - well, just because... It now looks like this.  I probably won't use this too often to dry the dishes because once it gets used, it will quickly become not-so-pretty. This should brighten up my kitchen a little just by hanging it over my oven handle.


On to my quilt project. I received the fabric and pattern from The Sweetwater Company for this table topper. I really just loved how the pattern had all of these Christmas trees on it. The rectangles are from a charm pack, plus some are cut from yardage. I made a plastic template from the tree pattern and cut them all out.

Christmas tree table topper

The Christmas trees are appliqued onto the rectangles. I used the blanket stitch on my sewing machine. The white fabric has little dots of snow on it, which I liked. It's hard to see in the photos, but some of the fabric in the charm packs, like this black-colored one, have snow, also.



The back is some Christmas fabric that I had purchased as a bolt end. It was good to be able to just cut a piece off and use it. It's a little time-saving when you don't have to piece a quilt back. This quilt is approximately 35" x 35" so it worked out good using the width of fabric.


In addition to my quilt, I made some Lined drawstring bags to use for wrapping gifts. I wanted to use these panels for the bags so they are a larger-sized bag. I had framed the panels and then followed the directions.  





Thanks for joining along on my Virtual Cookie Exchange. Please visit all of the bloggers shown below. I'm sure there are many wonderful cookie recipes and Christmas quilts!


Thanks to Carol at Just Let Me Quilt for hosting this great Blog Hop.   

15 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, I love your Christmas tree table topper. It's so festive! Great makeover on tea dishtowel too. I have some huge ones with nothing on them, but now you have me thinking ... Thanks for the inspiration!

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    1. Thank you! I am slowly getting ready for Christmas and will use my Christmas tree table topper to brighten things up.

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  2. Your Christmas tree quilt is lovely! Good work! The sugar cookies look great, and your other creations (gift bags--clever to use panels) and dish towel are cute! Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Thank you so much! Thanks for your sweet comments and visiting my blog.

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  3. Your table topper is beautiful, as are the gift bags. The cookies look delicious. Thanks so much for sharing!

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  4. Love all your projects, the updating to the recipe towel is gorgeous.

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  5. I love a good sugar cookie and frosting it with a cream cheese recipe sound delicious! What a cute idea to include a recipe on a towel. You definitely gave it a beautiful makeover. The cute quilt and bags are so festive...love them! Thanks for sharing all this sweetness, Danette!

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  6. The t-towel certainly looks much better with your alterations!
    Thanks for sharing all the goodness!

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  7. The Sugar Cookie recipe is marvelous but the tea towel is amazing. You did a grand job of sprucing it up; love it. Thanks for sharing the gifts bags and the tree quilt. Such fun for us.

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  8. The tree quilt is beautiful!! Thanks for the recipe.

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  9. Love the Christmas tree quilt. The way you decorated the towel is great. Looks so much better than just plain! Thanks for sharing.

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  10. Oh my goodness, you have been busy! Your sugar cookies look delicious! Will be adding that recipe to my collection. What a clever way to pretty-up a plain dish towel! It really makes a difference! Your quilt is beautiful, and those gift bags are sew cute! Perfect way to gift cookies!

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  11. Wow I love your quilt and the bags - so pretty! Your cookies look yummy too :) xx

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  12. So pretty quilt and those bags with the recipe are wonderful. Your food also looks tasty. Thanks for your comment on my project also.

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