RECIPE OF THE WEEK

This week's recipe is a little different....you can't eat it! But in the spirit of getting ready for the holidays I thought this fun project might be one you would enjoy.

CINNAMON ORNAMENTS

Ingredients:

1 c. cinnamon
1 c. applesauce
1 T. white glue

Mix together until it forms a ball and can be rolled out with a rolling pin without being sticky. Before rolling, sprinkle counter with cinnamon to keep dough from sticking to the counter. Cut with cookie cutters in the shapes you like (I like stars). Make a hole for hanging in the top of each ornament with a straw or ice pick before baking. Dry in a 150F oven for about 3 hours, turning halfway through. They will shrink as they dry. After dry and cooled, thread ribbon or gold cord through the holes for hanging. Cinnamon ornaments will keep their fragrance for several years and can be refreshed with cinnamon fragrance oil.

The ongoing saga of the "ragged" lap quilt......

At last.....the "ragged" lap quilt is finished....*big smile* ! Once all of the "X"s were sewn on the squares, sewing the squares together went rather quickly...then it was trimming the edges evenly and washing and washing and washing and drying and drying and drying the quilt to get the "ragged" effect. This was a fun project, but probably not one I'll do again. To those of you who make "ragged" quilts on a regular basis....I salute you!

Putting my plan into action.....

Okay, faithful readers, I promised you a peek at what was next on my list of creative endeavors with all of that fabric.....and here it is!

I'm making my first ever ragged quilt. If you've never seen or made one, they are pretty cool.....you take a backing fabric, polyester fiberfill, and coordinating fabric for the top of the quilt. Then you cut same-size squares of each, sandwich the fiberfill between the two fabrics and sew a big "X" across the three layers to hold everything in place. Once all of the squares are finished you start sewing them together in strips with the seam on what will be the outside top of the quilt. Once all the squares are sewn together you pop it in the washer for one or two cycles and then into the dryer and this "rags" out the edges of the seams.....pretty cool!

Well, I decided to do a variation on this theme....the backing for my ragged quilt will be the fabric with the green stripes and pink print you see in the photo. Instead of fiberfill, I am using a solid cream color flannel fabric so the quilt will be flatter and not so puffy. Then my topping fabric is the big surprise. I took some of my vintage cotton lace tablecloths and cut them into squares and they will make the top of the quilt.....doesn't that sound pretty?

So here is where I am with the quilt right now......the squares are all cut and ready to be assembled into layers with the "X" sewn across them......and THAT is tomorrow's project!

Stay tuned for the next segment of "Putting my plan into action".......and I'll post photos as I go through the stages of making this ragged lap quilt which, by the way, will be a featured item on my website www.shabbycozycottage.com once it is completed.