Saturday, December 10, 2011

Canadian Christmas Blog Hop--The End

Well, here it is, the last day of our first Canadian designers' blog hop!  I hope you've enjoyed meeting this amazing group of talented women and making their free patterns and recipes as much as I have.  So today it's my turn and I've designed a quick and easy project to use some of those extra pine needles you have after trimming your tree.  It's a little sachet called "Christmas at the Cabin" and measures 6 1/2" x 6 1/2".
 For my recipe, I had to share these Peanut Butter Balls.  I found the recipe in a newspaper about 35 years ago and have made them pretty much every year since.  A warning--they are highly addictive!
And as a little Christmas gift to you, I'm having a give-away--your choice of up to 2 yards of free fabric (sorry, not wool) from my website, www.countryquilts.ca.  This can be in any combination--2 yards of one fabric, fat quarters of 8 different fabrics, or anything in between, as long as I have the amount in stock.  All you need to do is be a follower of this blog (you can sign up today if you want) and leave a comment about the blog hop before noon Pacific Standard Time on Saturday, December 17th.  The winner will be selected at random and notified Saturday afternoon and I'll post the winner's name on Sunday, December 18th.  Good luck!

Have a wonderful Christmas and don't forget to go to the next page for the free pattern and the recipe!


Christmas at the Cabin Sachet

What You’ll Need
6” x 12” piece of light fabric cut in 1” wide strips (I used Primitive Muslin by Moda for a tea-dyed look.)
Scraps of dark fabric (green, rust, black) cut in 1” wide strips
Scraps of brown and green wool cut in ¼” wide strips
2” square of gold wool
Brown, green, gold thread
5/8” wide black rick-rack
7” square of osnaburg or other backing fabric
Pine needles or potpourri

Finished size: 6 ½” x 6 ½”
Please read through all directions before beginning.
All seams are ¼”.  Fabrics are sewn right sides together, unless otherwise indicated.

Log Cabin Blocks (finished size: 3 ½”; make 4)
From light fabric cut:
            (1) 1” x 5” strip
From green fabric cut:
            (1) 1” x 5” strip
Stitch together lengthwise.  Press seam toward the dark strip.
Cut crosswise every 1”, making 4 center pieces.  Discard excess.
Sew a dark strip to the center squares like this:
Trim even.  Press towards the dark strip.
Sew a light strip to the right and then to the top of the squares, trimming and pressing after each.
Continue counter-clockwise around the square, sewing 2 dark strips, then 2 light strips, and finally 2 dark strips to the square.  You should have 4 log cabin squares, each measuring 3 ½”.

Sew together in pairs like this:
Sew the pairs together like this:
Wool Appliqué
Cut the strip of brown wool to 4 ½” long and center it vertically on the block.
Make a running stitch with brown thread up the middle.
Cut the strips of green wool to the following lengths: ¾”, 1 ¼”, 1 ¾”, 2 ¼”, 2 ¾”.
Center the strips from shortest to longest across the brown strip. 
(Use the seams as a guide for placement.)
Make a running stitch with green thread across the middle of each strip.
Use the template to cut a star from the gold wool.
Use a simple up and down stitch with gold thread to stitch it to the top of the tree.

Finishing
Pin the rack rack to the right side of the block, having the outside curves just touching the edges.
Make little pleats at the corners.
Center the block right side down on the 7” osnaburg square and pin in place.
(I’ve made the backing square a bit bigger than the log cabin square to allow for shifting.) 
The rick rack should be sandwiched in the middle of the layers.
Stitch around the log cabin block, ¼” in from the edge, leaving about 2” open at the bottom.
Turn right side out through the opening. 
If the trim looks okay, trim the excess rick rack.
Fill with needles from your tree or your favourite Christmas potpourri.
Hand stitch the opening closed.

ENJOY!

Peanut Butter Balls
Makes about 150

1 cup margarine (softened)
4 oz cream cheese (softened)
4 cups icing sugar
1 pound smooth peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
6 cups milk chocolate coating wafers (I find these in the bulk foods section of my supermarket)

Cream margarine and cream cheese together until smooth.
Add peanut butter and vanilla; mix until well blended.
Add icing sugar 1 cup at a time and stir until not sticky.
Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours.
Take a teaspoonful of the mixture and warm in your fist.
Roll into a 1” ball and place on wax paper. 
(I like to make batches of about 2 dozen at a time—these things are just too tempting to have a fridge full of them!)

Recover the remaining filling and put back in fridge.
Melt 1 cup of the chocolate wafers in a small bowl in the microwave for about 2 minutes at medium power.  Stir until smooth.  Drop a ball into the chocolate and swirl with a teaspoon until covered.
Lift out the ball with the spoon and set it down on a wax paper lined cookie sheet, finishing with a swirl.  When the chocolate has hardened, place the cookie sheet in the fridge.
Enjoy as needed!














24 comments:

  1. that recipe looks yummy and easy.enjoyed you blog hop.hope you do it again. please put my name in the pot. denise[cheermom1954@aol.com] wouldn't it be nice to win a giveaway on your birthday!

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  2. Oh yum - I love peanut butter balls, but never make them, because I know I would just want to eat them all! Love your sachet pattern - very cute!

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  3. Hi Cheryl!
    What a lovely project and a great recipe!
    I make something similar, but add rice crispies or Special K cereal to give some crunch! And a little less sugar per mouthful!
    Thanks for the giveaway, sounds wonderful to me!
    Take care, Leslie

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  4. It's like Christmas here today. Thanks so much for the great hop. I really enjoyed getting to know all the Canadian bloggers. Thank you for the wonderful pattern and recipe AND for a chance in your giveaway.
    Happy Holidays to you and yours.

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  5. I've really enjoyed your blog hop! And thanks so much for the cute pattern and the yummy recipe! Merry Christmas! :0)

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  6. Wow Cheryl your little tree is so adorable. You always make the cutest stuff. Oh my those peanut balls, I looked at the recipe, they will be eaten around my house that's for sure.
    I'm pretty sure I'm a follower but I'll check right now just in case. Thanks for sharing.

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  7. I have enjoyed the hop and seeing all the wonderful projects. I just wish I had another month to make things for others, lol. I guess I have to start earlier this year;)

    Debbie

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  8. What a cute pattern - I can make a few for Christmas! and those Peanut Balls sound/look so scrumptious....
    Thanks for sharing! I look forward to returning again soon...
    hugs
    arlene f

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  9. That little Christmas Cabins is just too cute!! :) And I love how you have it displayed. You know, I really could use some 'new' fabric for my stash---I'm sure what I have is starting to dry rot... ROFL

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  10. I like your blog, especially your background...I want the free fabric...Merry Christmas! Is that good?

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  11. These look soooo yummy I'm going to try them this afternoon!!! If you have another Canadian Shop Hop please consider me for a contribution. www.chickenfeedquilts.com

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  12. Thank you for posting the recipe!! I'll be surprised if they last more than a day after I make them - DH is a Reese fanatic!

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  13. Your tree looks so clever and reminds me of one that I recently stitched up from Joined at the Hip, one of their button ups. A friend and I have taken to calling it a Charley Brown tree, LOL.

    And how delicious do your peanut butter balls look? Yummo and will try them!

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  14. What a lovely project to finish off the Canadian bloggers hop. Thank you so much for sharing your ideas with us all.

    Sandi in New Westminster B.C.

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  15. What a great looking project. Thank you.
    OH those peeanut butter balls are SO addicting, you are right. I've also been making them and a ton of other candy recipes for probably 20 yrs or more, although my recipe does not call for cream cheese. Mine is peanut butter, butter, and powdered sugar and the original one had cocoa krispies but I stopped adding those years ago. These are always the first to go.

    I know my boys miss me making all those candies as do all the people where hubby works. I used to make hundreds of candies that filled my entire front porch to the point there wasn't one square inch of area to put another pieece. It was perfect because the porch was not heated so it was like one huge refrigerator but, then we got a huge hot tub and that went onto my porch making it impossible now to store candies out there.
    My boys at Thanksgiving admitted they missed all the candy because they used to go out and sneak them at night when I was sleeping. Of course, there was SO much there they knew I'd never miss one piece much less an entire plateful. LOL They also told me they miss me making them all but I've got nowhere to store all that anymore now. I sent hubby in to work one year with at least 40 lbs of candy. He was everyone's friend that day and every year they'd ask when his wife was making candy again. LOL

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  16. Pattern is perfect for a small gift. And of course, the recipe is awesome. What I liked the most about the blog hop is that is CANADIAN. Thank you to all our Cdn designers and quiltmakers.

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  17. Thank you for the lovely project and great recipe, I'm looking forward to trying both!
    I've enjoyed the blog, and I only just found it tonight! I'm really excited to find all of you Canadian designers.

    from New Brunswick

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  18. OMYGOSH, those peanut butter balls look so delish!! Love Reese's PB cups, and these look like a good substitute.

    would love to win our give-away - I am a follower and enjoy your blog.

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  19. can't wait to start this, it's so cute !! I'll have to glove up for the pine needles ( allergic), but I adore the smell :)

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  20. The blog hop was great! Thank You for your
    sweet little pattern.

    Have a wonderful Christmas!

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  21. Wonderful to have been able to follow our Canadian designers! Love your blog, Cheryl ... and your little pattern and recipe are, like everything else you do ... exquisite!
    Hugs,
    Carol

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  22. So much talent displayed in the blog hop - I'd love to win your wonderful fabric giveaway! It's so much fun following your blog and reading about all the great stuff you do!

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  23. Love all the Tutorials for this blog hop. Thanks for a chance to win.I am a new GFC follower and I have your blog in my google reader.
    esterling1923 at gmail dot com

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  24. Great blog hop. I am sure I will be trying out that recipe for Mint Snowballs from Quilted Escapes. It was a good group of blogs. Thanks again. Happy to be a follower.

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