Just Sew Quilter: December 2021

Sunday, December 12, 2021

Let It Snow with Crafter's Edge

My Crafter's Edge Design Team project for December is called Let It Snow.

This little wall hanging is about 30 x 30".

I made a companion piece too.

These 2 pieces use several dies from Crafter's Edge--a few are pictured below.

In addition, I used the 1 1/2 inch strip die, and all those letters you see in "Let it Snow." :)

All these shapes are easy-peasy to cut with this wonderful Crossover II machine:

Here's another look at the individual blocks:

I used one of the blanket stitches on my Janome 9400 to applique the pieces--all but the little black dots on the snowman and the little stars in the middle of the snowflakes--I left those alone.

It's pretty cool that the same dies for the snowman can be used for Santa. Santa's beard is Santa's and the snowman's hat! Some designer was pretty clever!

I was actually hoping the "Let it Snow" would be attached to the bottom of the first wall hanging, but that would have made the hanging a lot bigger than I wanted it to be, so I kept it as a separate banner, if you will. I'm not sure if I'll ever hang them side-by-side, but here's what that might look like:

Thanks, Crafter's Edge, for letting me on the 2021 design team!

It has been a wonderful experience that I hope will continue next year!

Thursday, December 9, 2021

Virtual Cookie Exchange--Fudge???

I am sharing about making fudge for this Virtual Cookie Exchange blog hop hosted by Carol of Just Let Me Quilt.

Fudge, you say? I know, fudge and cookies are not the same, but our church women make lots of candy for the Christmas season, and this year, I needed to make the fudge. Now, I am not a fudge-eater, but anything for the cause, right?

And it was simple enough.

Here are the ingredients:

sugar, marshmallow creme, evaporated milk, vanilla, chocolate chips, and butter.

(Recipe to follow)

First, line a 9x9" pan with foil--saves cleanup and also helps with cutting the fudge.

Put the sugar, milk, and butter in a pan and cook, stirring constantly.

After it has cooked enough, up to soft ball stage, remove from heat, add chocolate chips and

marshmallow creme, stirring until all is melted and mixed well. If it were up to me, I would add nuts at this point too, but when we sell to the public, we do not add the nuts.

Then add the vanilla and stir until it is mixed in.

Pour into the pan and let it set up well.

Then you can pull the entire block of fudge out of the pan, using the foil and cut into the size pieces you want. (I should have taken a photo of that part, but I did not.)

I cut mine into one inch pieces.

My all time favorite candy to make is peanut clusters, and even though this a not a "pretty" picture of them, here are some I made, just Ghirardelli dark chocolate melting wafers and peanuts. YUM!!!

Fantasy Fudge

3 cups sugar

¾ cup butter or margarine

2/3 cup evaporated milk

12 oz Baker’s semi sweet chocolate, chopped (12 oz chocolate chips)

1-7 oz jar marshmallow crème

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 teaspoon vanilla

Line 9-inch square pan with Reynolds Wrap® Aluminum Foil, with ends of foil extending over sides. Bring sugar, butter and evaporated milk to full rolling boil in 3-qt. saucepan on medium heat, stirring constantly. Cook 4 min. or until candy thermometer reaches 234°F, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Add chocolate and marshmallow creme; stir until melted. Add nuts and vanilla; mix well.

Pour into prepared pan; spread to cover bottom of pan. Cool completely. Use foil handles to lift fudge from pan before cutting into 1-inch squares.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

Here is my Christmas wall hanging from Shabby Fabrics Year in Words: