Quilted, Bound, Labeled, and Ready for Hanging

A Gardener's Journal is completely finished and ready for the Stitches in Bloom quilt show in January.

This morning I printed and attached the quilt label. It's fused to the quilt back, but I used three strands of embroidery floss to stitch it down with a running stitch. Since it's going into a show, I wanted to be sure that label was firmly attached.

I recognize that won't prevent thievery if someone gets a mind to steal one of my quilts. On the other hand, a burglar alarm won't prevent burglary. It does make it a little harder, however.

When I wrote about how long I'd been working on this quilt, I misread my notes. This was actually started on December 6, 2012, and so I've been working on it for over two years. It's not my oldest WIP, but it's certainly close. Embroidered quilts always take a long time, but the finished quilt is so worth the effort.

While I was taking little breaks from stitching yesterday, I did indeed make the Gingerbread Biscotti I was planning. It turned out so pretty.

I linked to the recipe yesterday, but as I was making it, I realized I hadn't shared with you how to cut the half-baked biscotti without breaking it. This method works like a charm, and it works for any biscotti recipe you choose. Here's how you do it:

First, chop any nuts or other added solid particles (crystalized ginger, in this case) fairly finely.  The large hunks are difficult to cut through and cause the cookies to break. Second, when taking the logs out of the oven to cool before slicing them, cover them with a dishtowel so that they cool more slowly.  The sudden change in temperature makes them brittle and the dishtowel will help with this.

Third, cut them with a large butcher knife rather than a serrated blade, and do not saw.  Rather, lean into it with your body weight and cut straight through.

The baking gingerbread filled the house with the most heavenly aroma, and that really had us in the Christmas spirit. We decided to literally turn to spirits by making some hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps. Yum.

And, as you might guess, I've been having too much fun over the past several days, and so it's time to buckle down and do some housework today. The Laundry Beast needs taming once again, and I have a couple of other chores on my list. If I can get that done, then I'm going to start on my Let's Book It project for December, this Quilter's Helper:

from this book:

Betcha can't guess the inspiration for this project.

And if I'm gonna have any more time for sewing today, I'd better get at those other items on today's to-do list.