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I actually gave this present to my grandparents on Christmas day, so the only part that's belated is my posting about it. Nate and I had decided to make this a (sort of) handmade Christmas, and I wanted to make something that my grandparents could use seasonally if they didn't have room for it every day. My grandmother has a beautiful ceramic nativity set that my great-great grandmother made, so I decided to make a wall hanging that she could use as a backdrop.
You remember this quilt I posted about (since postponed due to our office/craft room being in terrible disrepair)? I actually was using the leftovers from my Christmas project for it, but I obviously could not post about the real purpose of the fabric. I chose a simple log-cabin square in a starburst pattern, to represent the nativity star:
I embellished it with embroidery, couched threads, sequins, and beads. The quilt piecing was actually very quick and easy; it was the embellishing that took a while. Here's a close-up of the work in progress:
I chose a random, completely unrelated, but cute fat quarter for the backing (it's a bit washed out in this pic):
When my grandmother opened the package, the hanging was folded up so only the back was showing, and her first reaction was "Oh, it's so pretty!" My mother had to prod her to open up the whole thing, since she was just looking at the back. I really like this fabric, and I have another fat quarter left that I want to integrate into something cute sometime soon. Sadly, I have a bad habit of not taking pictures of my finished pieces, so I can't show you what it looked like after it was quilted and bound. If my grandmother is kind enough to send me a photo of it hanging up, I'll post it.
As part of my Christmas present, Nate asked a friend at work (Steve) to teach me how to do stained glass. I've always wanted to learn, since it's so beautiful. Steve brought over his tool kit, a grinder, a big box of glass, and several copies of a simple beginner's pattern. First, you number a master pattern, and number each piece in the same way on a cut-out pattern. Next, you cut out each piece of the pattern. I used pattern shears, which have a double blade so that the black lines are cut out all at once.
In this picture, you can see some of the cut (and foiled) pieces laid out on the master pattern. In order to cut the glass, you glue your paper pattern pieces to the glass, use a glass cutter to cut out the general shape, and then use a grinder to smooth all the edges down so they match up with the pattern.
This isn't particularly difficult, just time-consuming. The trickiest part is keeping the water from the grinder from melting the glue, because then the pattern slides off. I only had to cut and re-apply one new pattern piece for this project. You can't really tell from this picture, but the grinder is actually sitting in my kitchen sink. Good motivation for washing all the dishes!
These are some of the pieces after I finished grinding them. You can see the pattern is peeling up off of a couple; once they're ground, though, you take off the pattern anyway. Next, you take copper foil and wrap the edges. The foil comes in rolls of narrow strips, and has adhesive on one side. I didn't get any pictures of the wrapping process, unfortunately. It's finicky work, but not terribly difficult.
Here, you can see all the pieces are foiled and laid out over the master pattern. Part of the foil roll is visible at the bottom of the picture. Right now the pieces are all loose, but I'll solder them all together next time Steve comes over. I promise, I'll take more (and better) pictures of that process.
Whilst browsing one of my favorite websites the other day, I came across this recipe for roasted cabbage. I haven't had cabbage much, outside of egg rolls and the slimy sheets of boiled cabbage that come with St. Patrick's day corned beef. It sounded so good (and cheap) that I thought I would give it a try. And it was worth it! Here's how I did it:1 green cabbage~4 slices baconolive oilsaltpepper
While you're prepping the cabbage, preheat the oven to 450F. First, peel the outer leaves off the cabbage, then cut into quarters. Slice off the thick core part, then cut each quarter in half. Lay the cabbage slices out on a cookie sheet or large roasting pan.
Drizzle olive oil over the cabbage, then sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Take your bacon pieces, and cut into small slices. I use my kitchen scissors for this, since it's a pain trying to use a knife on smushy fatty bacon. Drape the slices all over the cabbage. I had some leftover bacon, and I didn't want to have only a piece or two hanging out in my fridge, so I used a little more bacon than called for.
I really recommend using better-quality, thick cut bacon. The butcher at my local market sells a really delicious bulk brand, and it's usually cheaper than the crappy prepackaged stuff at the supermarket. You only need a little bit for this recipe, so even the more expensive types aren't too pricey here. Pop the tray in the oven and roast for 15 minutes. Take out the pan and close up the oven to keep the heat in, and flip over the cabbage.
This was a little tricky. I used a fork, but tongs or a spatula might work better. Put the tray back in, and bake for another 15 minutes. My cabbage chunks kind of fell apart; leaving a bigger section of the core attached might help keep everything together.I also made fried red potatoes to go with the cabbage. I used this recipe, but I wasn't that impressed. For one thing, the potatoes took almost three times longer to cook than they were supposed to. If I were to make this combination again, I would start the potatoes first, not the other way around. In any case, take as many red potatoes as youe think you'll eat, and slice them into 1/8th-inch rounds.
Heat oil (or butter, for those who can) in a skillet on medium-low or medium. Lay out the potato slices in the pan, and cover with whatever seasoning you like. I used salt, pepper, sliced onions, and fresh garlic. Rosemary or cajun seasoning would probably be good too.
Cover, and let it cook, checking and stirring every ten minutes until the potatoes are as brown/soft/crunchy as you want. This took about half an hour for 5 potatoes in my 12-inch skillet. Don't turn the heat up too high or the potatoes will be burned before they are soft. Using a lid helps everything to cook through, but it can make the potatoes kind of damp. I left the lid off for the last ten minutes or so.
Dinner was a mixed bag. The cabbage was great, but this was not the best potato recipe I've ever tried. The best part of the cabbage was the burnt-looking crispy edges- they were bacony and flavorful. I don't know how much children would like this recipe, since cabbage is very strongly flavored, and the roasting intensifies that. On the other hand, this was the best cabbage I've ever tasted. Over all, it was a great combination of cheap and delicious.
The cookies should be rounded with slight cracks running across the tops. This time I baked them on parchment paper, and it was much easier to remove them from the cookie sheet. 
