Although the weekend was busy with preparing neighbor Christmas gifts, dinner with special friends, church and Sunday School party, I managed to get a few more appliqué blocks stitched.  Prepping the blocks in advance, helps to always have something at hand to stitch.

I finished these blocks a while back.  The Oak Leaf (like) block was the first time I did reverse appliqué.  I really like that method for making circles because you get even and continuous lines that match up.

Below is the one I completed this weekend.  I chose to keep the imperfection of the original quilt block where the leaf on the  left side does not come out of the stem centered.  There are quite a few blocks like this and while they look a little off kilter I enjoy the character it gives.  If I decide it bothers me later on, I will add another leaf to balance it, but for now it is………

Christmas Trivia

Frankincense is a sweet smelling gum resin derived from certain Boswellia trees which, at the time of Christ, grew in Arabia, India, and Ethopia.  Tradition says that it was presented to the Christ Child by Balthasar, the black king from Ethiopia or Saba.  The Frankincense trade was at its height during the days of the Roman Empire.  At that time this resin was considered as valuable as gems or precious metals.  The Romans burned frankincense on their altars and at cremations.

“Hot Cockles” was a popular game at Christmas in medieval times. It was a game in which the other other players took turns striking the blindfolded player, who had to guess the name of the person delivering the blow.  “Hot Cockles” was still a Christmas pastime until the Victorian era.

George Washington spent Christmas 1776 crossing the Delaware River in dreadful conditions.  Christmas 1777 fared little better ~ at Valley Forge, Washington and his men had a miserable Christmas dinner of fowl cooked in a broth of turnips, cabbage and potatoes.

The first charity Christmas card was produced by UNICEF in 1949.  The picture chosen for the card was painted not by a professional artist but by a seven year old girl.  The girl was Jitka Samkova of Rudolfo, a small town in the former nation of Czechoslovakia.  The town received UNICEF assistance after World War II, inspiring Jitka to paint some children dancing around a maypole.  She said her picture represented “joy going round and round.”

Charlsey