December Charity Cal ~ 12/15/11 - 12/20/11

[busy-bee-lmt]

I've made lots of different types of breads, but never thought of those for Christmas. I've made zuchinni bread, banana bread, pumpkin and sweet potato bread, the last one I make tons of loafs in the fall and give quite a few to 1 person who when fall arrives starts asking when I am going to bake I will share the recipe if anybody is interested.

I am intrigued by the cherry bread I am going to make one this weekend

Also the oreo truffles, I have to bring food to my church group wednesday, will have to try the oreo's and figure out a main dish. We will be wrapping up the bags to give out to the homeless. It includes hat, scarf, blankets, gloves, I don't remember the other items as I knew I was making hats

 

I haven't gotten any charity work done yet, I didn't get much crochet done yesterday and I am working on a plarn bag that someone asked me to make. I showed her the started one today and she was so excited.

 

I'll take some tea, as I'm not a coffee drinker

 

Hugs,

René

I'd love to get the recipe. Please share.

regular size? We only have one size here at our local store, just under the size of two decks of cards side by side. Make sense?

Makes sense. Thanks.

My wonderful day turned into car nightmare. I just lost 4 hours of my precious day waiting for my car and them to tell me they couldn't find anything wrong. Of course it doesn't act up when they are looking at it. I still hope to finish that scarf tonight!!!

That's so often what happens to me, but as the years have gone by I seem to be getting better at describing what I see/hear/smell and they are doing better at finding it the first try. Not always, but more often.

 

I'm about to settle down to a Christmas movie and crochet.

[PiscesCrocheter]

Susan,

Sorry you lost that time waiting on your car, I've been thru that so many times and it is so frustrating. When your car acts up only for you and not the service people.

 

Here's the bread recipe:

Southern Sweet Potato Bread

 

Makes 2 – 9x5 inch loaves

 

Prep Time: 20 Minutes

Cook Time: 2 Hours

Ready in: 2 Hours 20 Minutes

 

A hearty bread with the warm taste of sweet potatoes and the tangy taste of orange juice. This is a great way to use your leftover baked sweet potatoes but canned are fine too.

 

Ingredients

 

 

2 cups sweet potatoes

3 cups white sugar

4 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

¾ cup orange juice

3 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon ground allspice

2 cups chopped pecans (optional)

 

 

Directions

 

1. The sweet potatoes need to be boiled until soft in the center and then peeled while still hot. Let cool, and mash while still warm.

 

2. In a large mixing bowl, beat together sugar, eggs and oil. Stir in orange juice and 2 cups mashed sweet potatoes. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. Stir flour mixture into egg/sweet potato mixture until just combined. Fold in pecans if desired. Pour batter into prepared pans.

 

3. Bake in preheated oven (325-350) for 1 hour 25 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into center of a loaf comes out clean.

[busy-bee-lmt]

Rene, that recipe sounds fabulous. Will have to give it a try. Kim, the lady I care for, loves sweet potatoes and this sounds right up her alley.

 

For your snacking pleasure while crocheting, I've got an assortment of donuts, eclairs, and fritters along with hot cocoa. (All calorie free since they are being consumed while working for charity.)

 

I added another couple of rows to the round ripple afghan last night. The bigger it gets and longer each row takes. Almost 3/4 of the rows are now done. It's getting there.

[pineknott]

sipping my mint chocolate cocoa,an eclair sure sounds good,thanks

I'm glad to see the household was represented early by Rene'

I'll catch up from today,helping her with the hats and then back to my special olympics scarves

[busy-bee-lmt]

Good morning my friends. We've reached the halfway point in the weekend. It's a gorgeous sunny day here in north Georgia with blue, blue skies and temps warm enough to be out in just a sweatshirt and not freeze.

 

I've got all the drinks simmering on the stove and an assortment of scones on the counter with jams, butter, and cream cheese to go with them. I'll be starting with a nice hot mug of tea, but then I think I'll switch to cocoa.

 

I plan on hiding the tails on the third prayer shawl today and working more on the round ripple. I don't know that I can finish the RR this weekend, but I'll sure come pretty close. I am so pleased with the colors that I chose for it and hope that he likes them too.

[smith]

Thank you for all the yummy treats!! I love virtual goodies and I can alway tolerate the calories that ago with it.

 

I finished a purple scarf, 5-ish squares and started a pink and brown granny square preemie afghan. I am hoping to finish the preemie afghan and maybe work on a few squares later. I've got to get busy with holiday baking for dh work and for a few friends today also.

[cshort]

Yummy goodies! I'm weaving the ends on a scarf and hope to get a 2nd scarf started today.

[PiscesCrocheter]

Loving the virtual goodies too!!!

 

I went out to the stores today to get a few things to bad it wasn't for fun items!!! except my husband's and my 2011 couple ornament (Had to go with the knomes from Knomeo and Juliet this year), The last two years it has been mickey and minnie.

 

I will have some hot chocolate while working on my hats this evening

[babypoohsmom]

I did some crocheting this weekend but so far I just have a picture of the kennel blankets I cut. I bought two bolts of fleece after Thanksgiving and cut one last week. Each bolt makes 24 blankets. I cut the 2nd bolt yesterday. I just use a wavy ruler to cut them so they look nice. I braid the salvage edges into toys (both the dogs and cats like them). The pattern has snowmen so I figure we can use them until February or so.

[busy-bee-lmt]

Good morning, friends.

 

Just two more days to go now. I didn't get anything accomplished yesterday. I plan to do better today though. Hiding tails is high on the list, as is the round ripple. I have another preemie afghan that is close to done too.

 

For today I got out my rosette making irons and fried up a batch for you all to enjoy. Frosted them with powdered sugar frosting and added some colorful sprinkles, too. Irish coffee or tea to go with them. Enjoy. (It always feels a little strange making them at Christmas, because I grew up helping my great-aunt make them as treats right after school let out for the summer. ) Happy crocheting!

[busy-bee-lmt]

Good morning fellow crafters! The last day has arrived. I have a variety of fruit cakes for you to sample with eggnog today. One has more nuts than fruit, one is from the kitchens of the church I belonged to when I was first married (They are famous for their fruitcake and it's a major fund raiser baked every year.), another is a family fruitcake with dates, and another is one I discovered after moving down here to the South. There are several others to try as well. Hope at least one of them really tickles your taste buds.

 

When the day is done please post you totals in Large Colorful letters and I will add them up and post our totals this weekend.

It's always gratifying to see what a small group of us can accomplish when we gather together for a common cause. Thanks for being part of the group this busy holiday season.

[smith]

5 grannies (6 ")

Purple scarf

Pink/brown preemie afghan

[cshort]

This month I finished:

 

2 scarves for special olympics

15 squares (6")

[pineknott]

this time around I have

3 UBW hats for the homeless

[FrLopLady]

2 hats. helped with 2 blankets

[busy-bee-lmt]

Yay! :clap Great job everyone.

[bailey]

I didn't get to join in until yesterday. So......

 

1 dishcloth

(every little bit helps?)

bailey

[PiscesCrocheter]

4 UBW Hats for the homeless

 

Today I dropped off 30 hats for the homeless (done between me and my mom (Pineknott) And we (my church group) assembled packages for the homeless people. We are going out this weekend to distribute them.

 

Great job everybody

 

Hugs

René

[babypoohsmom]

So I did:

1 cat mat and the rest was sewing.

I tried to take a picture of the fleece beds I made and my baby, Sunshine was using one.

[babypoohsmom]

I went back later and found that my not-so-baby, Dickens, was trying to fit into it. I had to kindly explain that the beds were for homeless kittens but he wasn't hearing it. I had to wait until the next morning to grab it! I made 24 blankets, 5 toys, 2 beds and just the one crocheted item.

[busy-bee-lmt]

I went back later and found that my not-so-baby, Dickens, was trying to fit into it. I had to kindly explain that the beds were for homeless kittens but he wasn't hearing it. I had to wait until the next morning to grab it! I made 24 blankets, 5 toys, 2 beds and just the one crocheted item.

[ATTACH]49190[/ATTACH]

Sewing counts, too. It's all for charity and the homeless kitties don't care what it's made of, just that it's something special for them. Dickens is cute trying to fit on that little bed.

[babypoohsmom]

Maybe they think they are the quality control staff. They have to try everything out before I can send it to the shelter!

[Needle Arts]

Oops, missed reporting. Sorry.

 

I finished the special request afghan for Hospice patient.

 

 

1 Hospice Afghan

[tnkycrochetnut]

Sorry, I am very late in reporting my results. But I accomplished very little. I finished an Ugly But Warm cap Friday but since I am not sure I am going to donate it to charity but use it as a Christmas present I am not counting that in this month's charity crochet along. I started a chemo cap using CrochetSpot/Rachel's pattern for a slouchy beanie. I am still working on it. Life has gotten in the way of my crocheting this past weekend. I hope to do better next month.

[busy-bee-lmt]

Sorry, I am very late in reporting my results. But I accomplished very little. I finished an Ugly But Warm cap Friday but since I am not sure I am going to donate it to charity but use it as a Christmas present I am not counting that in this month's charity crochet along. I started a chemo cap using CrochetSpot/Rachel's pattern for a slouchy beanie. I am still working on it. Life has gotten in the way of my crocheting this past weekend. I hope to do better next month.

Hey, it happens. Not a problem.

 

I managed to knock myself out on Monday night and totally lose Tuesday with a headache. Decided to give myself through today to make up for the time I was out of it. Life happens. I'll get the totals up tomorrow or Saturday.

 

A huge thank you to all who gave of their time and talent this month.