My Christmas Quilt

 “If Christmas is a universally comprehensive and keenly clandestine rescue mission strategically crafted by God Himself eons before the rescue was necessary, it would naturally follow that if it is doomed to anything, it is doomed to incontestable success.” 
― Craig D. Lounsbrough, An Intimate Collision

 MY CHRISTMAS QUILT

 Couple of years ago I wanted to make a new Christmas Quilt, but not one with elves and santas and candy canes driving across  it. Something a bit more.Something that would be more timeless....

 I had in a drawer, long forgotten, a piece of crocheted lace.  Actually a large panel of lace that I had never finished. For years it wandered from drawer to box, and back again. 

 At one point I almost threw it out. And then one day I got this idea. The idea of making a quilt panel, wall quilt,  where I could attach all sorts of things. Including the lace panel.

 The lace had been crocheted my myself and my mother, when I was a teenager. We spent  many summer days in the garden, crocheting lace into motifs. I had great expectations that it would be  tablecloth at some point.  But it never did. It ended up in a drawer.

 I sewed that panel of lace to the quilt. But it still seemed empty.Kind of reminded me of that story of the stone soup........

 So I attached a couple of pairs of my mothers old earrings. Old earrings. One set of dark blue Lapis Lazuli. Lazuli stands for wisdom and truth.  And I had another pair of earrings of brass love birds,  which my dad gave to my mother. Jewelry from the 40's. Both stuffed  in a drawer. She used to wear them when my dad was alive. When I was little I would attach the brass doves to my ears , put on her high heeled shoes and  wrap myself in netting and pretend I was a movie star. Or maybe it was Cinderella....

 “Christmas isn't a parade or concert but a piece of home you keep in your heart wherever you go.” ― Donna VanLiere, The Christmas Town

 But the quilt seemed to be empty still...... 

 I found ancient lace hankies, bits of pearl neckalaces,  a Cairngorm kilt pin that belonged to my grandfather...a clawed foot of a grouse with a huge orange stone in the centre.  A necklace of square amber , a twisted fork pendant with jewels , no longer worn, just hiding in a drawer, waiting to see the light of day again.

 And then I found  a strip of old pale net.  From my mother's bridal bouquet from Nov 21 1936. The last strip that had wound around her flowers. She had kept it in a trunk in the basement, with the last pieces of her wedding dress, gathering rust and mould over the years.  Only one strip was perfect..

I strung it  across the middle of the quilt, fastening it with a purple kilt pin  she had given me  for a Robbie Burns Night long ago.That was a magical night. Scores of people dancing in white dresses and kilts.....bagpipes blaring.My mother tapping her feet  and loving it.

 “She dug into one of the boxes, finding clay angels she’d made in art class when she was seven years old. She found plastic swans on strings and red crystal cardinals. She found that she couldn’t figure out where the  time had gone.” 
― Rebecca McNutt, Mandy and Alecto: The Collected Smog City Book Series

 When others saw my quilt in progress I got  surprising responses. People stopping by with bits and pieces, odds and ends that could be part of the  fabric, part of the era. Small hankerchiefs, pieces of gold leaf from dresses in the fifties, pearl collars worn with sweaters in the 40's, that I stitched on painstakingly . Their memories added to mine.

 A faded garter belt, saved from a wedding,  a baby's rattle , dented plastic, I tied into the lace and linen. Then in a shell jewel box I came across my mother's cross, hung on a huge chain. 

 I had bought that for her one Christmas. It cost $25 back then. She wore it sometimes. But mostly it hung on the old radio in her room where she could see it.Her favourite Christmas gift.

The quilt is a product  of Christmas, and ongoing project, that I am constantly adding to.

 And I am still surprised by people who want to see it and add to it. The latest  is a group of pearl earrings that were given by a friend. She even attached  them to the panel of lace and then stood back to see the effect.

 I'm not sure if my mother would approve. I wonder if she would enjoy it.

 And now my eyes can see it every day.....and wonder where the quilt will grow and change with  more memories added to it.  Just like a pot of stone soup.....it gets better with time. 

 “This is the wonder of Christmas, that in the solitary form of an impoverished infant God has handed me everything that I could never create so that I can be everything that I could never be.” ― Craig D. Lounsbrough

 Photographs 2017

SALTINE TOFFEE

 "Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart." -Washington Irving.

  My mother was always so generous to my friends when they came over at Christmas. She would make a wonderful meal, with the house all decorated, and  send each person home with treats, or xmas card boxes filled with shortbread.

1978

The fire would be roaring,  Christmas music playing, and everyone dressed to the nines. She lived on a pension , so things were tight, but every year she would budget for a party. She loved having my friends over. It was a happy , young  time , and it felt good. It felt like Christmas.

 This year, Smokey sits in the window once more. A gift from some dear , wonderful friends.  We were missing him, looking at the window or the door all the time,expecting to see him there. But all I ever saw was a shadow of him that once was. He was hung up in the window the day I made  the  TOFFEE.  I could imagine him pressing his face against the glass, washing his paws as he used to.

 SALTINE TOFFEE is easy peasy. Makes a great gift.  Kind of addictive, so try to have some restraint........or not!

 1 ½ packets of salted soda crackers

½ cup butter ( not margarine)

1 cup brown sugar

Lots  of chocolate chips 

Line cookie sheet with foil. Spray foil with Pam. Lay crackers over foil, filling the entire space. 

 By the way: I wrote "LOTS of chocolate chips" cause it's  kind of hard to figure out how many.  Enough to cover the sheet of cracker toffee should do it.

 Combine butter and brown sugar in saucepan. Boil 3 mins. Careful not to have the heat to high, or it will scorch. Stir continuously till bubbling all over.

 "Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients  of a truly Merry Christmas."-Peg Bracken

 That reminds me the the Christmases my mother would keep  shortbread in a huge glass antique cookie jar. She would count them methodically. Lay them in icing sugar. I was often told not to touch. They were for company. But in the wee hours of the morning I could not resist and would sneak a couple from the middle layers.  One early morning, I found my mother  with icing sugar on her fingers, as she was raiding that jar, and a cup of tea  beside her. Seems like we both had the same idea....

 Back to the recipe: Pour mixture , thinly, over all the crackers and spread evenly. 

 Bake at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes. 

 Crackers will most likely  float. 

 That's okay. The whole pan will bubble up and become very  , very hot. Handle with care.

 Remove from oven and while warm, sprinkle LOTS of chocolate chips over toffee. Cover the entire surface. 

 Place back into warm oven. Chips will soften

 Be careful of the hot toffee. It will not harden, but soften into a Brown Sugar paste, almost.

 Then spread with flat spatula, till all melted and even.

 Put into fridge to set.When set, break into pieces.  Be sure to hide this……it is irrestistible……I have tried to freeze it, and as long as it is not frozen for longer than three weeks will be okay. Be sure to keep in a sturdy ziploc bag.

 "At Christmas, all roads lead home." -Marjorie Holmes

 Photographs 2017

Christmas Jam Jams

        "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....." -Bing Crosby

                                   CHRISTMAS COMPANY JAM JAMS
            ( I always DOUBLE recipe, otherwise it doesn't make very many.  They will disappear in a flash…..zoom)

 PREHEAT oven to 450 degrees.

 My old recipe book is written on, marked scribbled with notes. First time I made these was when we lived in St. Albert. One summer we went to Fort Edmonton with friends and I brought Jam Jams.Was a wonderful day. My mother would make these at Christmas  for morning company that stopped in. She'd serve them hot with butter, tea or coffee and her fruitcake on the side.

 2 cups flour, 2 tbsp sugar,  1 tbsp baking powder, Pinch salt,½ cup margarine

 In large bowl combine dry ingredients. Cut in margarine. Make a well in the centre. 

 WET INGREDIENTS: 1 egg, beaten, ½ cup ( and a tad more) milk

 Beat together wet ingredients. ( I did a triple batch so that's why you see three eggs)

                         "Christmas now surrounds us...." -Shirley Sallay

 Then plop all together into bowl of dry ingredients and stir lightly to form a soft dough. If the dough is rather dry, and if might be, then add a tad more milk. Must be a soft unworked dough.

 It should not be overmixed or the Jam Jams will be stiff.The less you mix the light the biscuits will become tough.

 The dough should look like you haven't brought it together too well. See pic above.  It is basically scone dough. It you make it like smooth like bread dough it will be awful.

 "Blessed is the season that engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love." -H. W. Mabie

 Pat or roll out to ¾ inches. Cut with cookie cutter.

 I use a fairly wide one...about 2 inches. If you make them too small the jam jams are hard and yukky.

 Place on silpat liners or greased cookie sheet. Stick thumb in centre of each. Place a dollop of jam in the hole.

 You can use any sort of jam, or marmalade for the centres. It needs to bake with the scone, rather than apply to the baking  later on. 

 Bake at 450 for about 10 minutes

 Watch carefully, as they tend to burn if left too long in oven.  

 Should just be brown and the biscuit starting to separate into layers.

 Serve to company. The pastry should be flaky and separate. If they do not separate that means you over kneaded. Yum yum those Jam Jams!

 "Christmas is most truly Christmas when we celebrate it  by giving the light of love to those who need it most." -Ruth Carter Stapleton

 Photographs 2017