Almond Cookies ... A retirement treat!

 I recently made a batch of Almond Cookies for a colleague retiring from my present work place. She loves Almond Cookies and I thought I'd bake a batch just for her. They were a hit!

Almond Cookies - The Ingredients

2 sticks unsalted butter room temperature

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

1 teaspoon Almond extract

2 cups unbleached flour (I use King Arthur Flour)

1 cup almond flour

Sugar coating

1/2 cup powdered sugar sifted

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Pre-heat the oven 350F. Combine butter, sugar, extract and salt and beat till light/fluffy. Slowly add the flour. After a bit the dough should come together. 

I use the orange Zeroll Universal EZ disher scoop, (purchased mine from King Arthur) which is a a bit larger than a teaspoon. I turn all of my dough into little balls.

I will then roll the ball into a log.

Turn the logs into crescent shapes and flatten them out. Of course you can shape them as you wish.

They are not perfect but once coated with the powdered sugar, no one will notice ;) ... I think! lol 

VERY IMPORTANT: Refrigerate the shaped cookies for at least 30 minutes prior to baking. This will help prevent spreading during baking.

BAKE at 350F for approximately 11 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack. Once cooled coat them with the powdered sugar.

Enjoy!

Insane or creative ... It's a fine line!

 Well, I managed to clean up the cutting table of the 1/2 inch hexagon project mess ... only to find myself distracted by the left over scrap strips from that nine (9) patch project on my cutting table... Squirrel!

Hum .... what did I want to make with the left over 1.25 inch muslin strips? A thought popped in my head ... that 1.25" bag of scraps that I was thinking of throwing out .... you know the one that found me on the edge of insanity?! lol

I grabbed that bag and messed up the clean cutting table ... so excited to think about starting a new project using 3/8" hexagons. 

I quickly went to work and pieced this little block for a grandmother flower garden pattern ... wall hanging size!

Not stopping there ... SQUIRREL! Hum .... I'd really like a grandmother flower garden in feedsack fabrics! 

Off I went into my sewing studio and pulled out the bins of feedback scraps and grabbed some bags of 5/8" hexagons templates.

Now, hold on a minute ... the idea was to use the 1.25 inch muslin strips ... they would look nice with the feedsack! 

Off I went to create this little block using 3/8 inch hexagons.

It's just so adorable and so happy .... the only problem is that I do not have a lot of small feedsack scraps to use. I have to cute them from the bigger scrap fabrics. In good conscience I should use up the 19th century reproduction scraps. I could make the 5/8" hexagons grandmother's flower garden quilt and use the scraps to make the smaller version. That's the future plan! I think!

Then, no sooner had I calmed my project enthusiasm did I come across a bag of one (1) inch strips of fabrics from the nine (9) patch quilt project .... Much too small for the 3/8" hexagon ... Oh wait a minute ...

There's that edge again .... or have I actually fallen into the abyss of insanity?! LOL

Thanks for stopping by! Catch you all later! 

Snow, lovely snow!

 We had a snow storm .... I love snow.

Looking forward to spring too!

Cheers!

Still a mess ....

 I've been putting way too many hours at work ... all work and no play makes Carole a dull girl! Time for a change. I've taken a couple of weekends off to spend time with myself. 

The first thing I scheduled was cleaning out the sewing studio. It had become a dumping ground. I've been quite the scattered brain since Covid started and as you can imagine, there wasn't one surface in that room that wasn't covered with something. I also took the time to purge, but obviously, not enough. Sigh!

I have some kits left over from Fibre Junction days that I have no intention of piecing and thought I'd post them on Facebook market place. So far no bites ... the bite I did get (which makes me wonder why I even posted that in the first place) were 2 small Artbin boxes. Not sure it's worth my time to coordinate the exchange of goods. Oh well!

After the cleaning, I actually sat down in front of my sewing machine and started piecing a nine (9) patch quilt I had started cutting last year. I had cut up all of my reproduction charm packs (another attempt at de-stashing). Some were acquired at Market; new 19 Century reproductions fabric lines coming out etc. It will make a nice memory quilt. I'm using muslin for the nine patch block with 19 Century shirting as the alternate block.

Sadly, I did not have enough fabric to make another similar block, but I can make one that is different. I'm thinking of using those blocks to make a smaller quilt using prints in between the nine (9) patch blocks.

Seriously, what else could I do with that bin of scraps?

The pattern is from the book Preserving History by Julie Hendricksen. I love that book!  I also have another flying geese feedsack quilt project going from that same book. I did blog about it here and here.

I first saw the nine (9) patch quilt at Market and fell in love with it.

The original size of the block is 1.5" finished. NO way was I going to turn that into a queen size quilt. So I've increased the block size. It makes it much more manageable!

I haven't continued on that project because ... well my cutting table is still a mess from the hexe project.

I really do need to clean that up. I mean, I do have a fair amount of bags made up of hexe blocks to keep me busy for some time.

Well, that's pretty much it for now. Hope you are keeping busy! Catch you later! Cheers!