COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS

In the picture below is a goose feather tree I made several years back.  The round white base is from one of the columns from my paternal grandfather's front porch.   It was salvaged by my father when the front porch was removed and then recovered by me.  The fencing was a found piece in a thrift shop.

Decades ago I was an avid baker; from scratch I made my own donuts, yeast breads, pies, cakes and even Maryland Beaten Biscuits.  When I turned past the 60 year old mark my baking was reduced to only holiday banana nut or zucchini bread, a more healthy option.  But the last few years I've not even baked those; until this week when I decided to make a banana nut bread.  

Retrieved my stained recipe and it had too much sugar and too much fat.  So went on line and found a Skinny Banana Bread recipe.

Now I'm NOT skinny by any means but do want to reduce my fat and sugar intake and this recipe fit the bill.  To say this was a 'make do' baking event is an understatement.  

First of all I used Egg Beaters instead of a real egg.  Next I had 3 bananas which I'd frozen in March.  I'd learned bananas can be frozen and used in baking but won't look pretty when thawed.  And they weren't pretty!

Well, I was one-third cup short...but I had some fresh blueberries so washed enough to make the 1 1/3 cup and made do.  Plus I wanted to add some walnut pieces in mine.  If that weren't enough 'making do'  I didn't add my ingredients in the proper order, which sometimes ruins some recipes.  Thankfully the bread tastes great and to ensure I don't eat it all in one sitting I cut it in thirds and froze two of them.  There's one more slice left in the first third ~ already had a slice today but I'm feeling indulgent so might fail and eat that last piece.

Yesterday when walking to pick up my mail I carried two bully sticks with me to give to a neighbor's dogs ~ that kind neighbor who sent me the video of Santa visiting our neighborhood.  By the time I got home and checked my email I'd received a photo of Captain and Morgan enjoying their Christmas gift.  Both dogs are recues and are well behaved and affectionate dogs.

Happy hooking.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com  for rug patterns

www.facebook.com/WoodlandJunctionHookedRugs  for finished rugs

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It's Beginning to Look Like.....

.... Christmas?  Well it's getting closer anyway.  This is a dyed goose feather tree I made over 6 years ago and had the goose feathers with instructions a couple years prior to that.    There were instructions to make a short feathered tree with limbs going in each and every direction or the design I chose. 

Sometimes I wish I'd chosen the shorter and multi directional limb design offered but this is what I chose then.  Were I younger I'd search for the person's name from whom I purchased this to make the other design to have as an alternate for my decoration on the sofa table. 

There are some dollar store purchased ornaments on the tree BUT, there are some very special ornaments.  The cloth painted star at the top was made by me.  The heart below that with the Inscriptions "Jesus is the Heart of Christmas" was a gift.  And those two larger embroidered ornaments below were made by a hooker friend Yahna who gifted them to me. 

Now.... that circular base the tree is plugged into was the base of a column from my grandfather's front porch.  Before the house was torn down I just had to capture whatever I could salvage to remember pop pop.  This has not been painted over and is a chipped white paint and it will remain like that. 

Okay, so on the left at the base of the tree is a small Rubber Ducky.  That was something that our Woolley Fox attendees decided to do as a gift to each other one year when we went to a class with Barb and celebrate Barb.  Oh, we also all had yellow rubber ducky dyed socks thanks to our gal pal Char.

And, on the right is a rubbery sheep which was given to me the very first rug camp I ever attended after teaching myself how to hook.  That rug camp was in Ocean City, MD.

Thanks for visiting and I know this is a very busy time of year so drive carefully.  AND, be kind to one another.

Saundra