Merry Christmas (a little early) & Gooey Butter Cookie Recipe

I have been busy and I am still am...

But here is a recipe to one of my most favorite cookies!

Gooey Butter Cookies

1/2 cup Butter - Softened (1 stick)
1 (8oz) Pkg. Cream Cheese - Softened
1 Egg
1/4 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 (2 layer) Pkg. of Butter Recipe Yellow Cake Mix
1 to 2 cups of Powdered Sugar (Confectioners)

Beat the butter, cream cheese, egg, and vanilla in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy.
Stir in Cake Mix.
Chill covered for at least 30 minutes.
Drop the dough by teaspoonfuls into a bowl of powdered sugar and roll into balls.
Arrange on cookie sheet that is lightly coated with non-stick cooking spray.
Bake at 350F degrees for 12 minutes or until golden brown on bottom.
Cool on wire racks
Makes 3 dozen

I redust the cookies with more powdered sugar after they are baked.

You can also fold in Chocolate Chips or M&M's to the dough before chilling if you like.

For the chocolate version just use a Chocolate Cake Mix.

Merry Christmas !

Getting a Walking Foot to work with a Singer 301 Sewing Machine

Click on pictures so you can read the notes on them.

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

The reason I posted this is because many people have a hard time getting their slant needle walking foot to work correctly with their Singer 301 Sewing Machine. The problem is the thread cutter is in the way and it has to be removed when using a  slant needle walking foot on the Singer 301.


Note: The Singer 301 (aka 301a) is an excellent machine for Free Motion Quilting!
But I suggest you buy a more modern foot control to use with your 301 when you do free motion quilting with it. Just buy a new foot control and a new 301 cord from any online Vintage Singer Machine Part Suppliers. Here (pic below) is the foot control I use with my 301. I had a 1960 or 1970's junk Singer Machine that I pulled from a curbside clean up day. I salvaged the foot control from it and I just bought a new 301 Foot Control cord for it and wired it up. (The cord was like $7.00) (I hate the old one toe Singer Foot Controls).

So many fun projects - so little time !

Cara, who is a fellow STLMQG member is having this cool quilt-along! I have too much going on myself to join in but I thought I would announce it on my blog for my readers in the event they might want to join in on the fun!

Yummy... Variegated Thread Colors !

The best price I have found on these is at Quilting-Warehouse for $3.79 a spool.

Create For Less also carries them.

(There are better pics at the CFL website of the colors)

Each 500yd spool should allow me to machine quilt at least 1 quilt each.

Burning Trees in my yard !

Make sure you click on the pictures for a larger view

The above picture shows how the young white peach tree looks like it is burning.

The above picture is a younger Bradford Flowering Pear. It is down at the beginning of what we call our lower south 40. You can also see how high up we are on the bluff.

The Mississippi River is about 1 mile away. We own 5 acres of land (3 acres are cleared while 2 are still wooded and back up to other wooded property). The area behind our home consists of a active freight railroad track which is about 1/4 mile away and beyond that is a state nature reserve. Oh... that big oak tree on our property is one of 2 massive old oak trees we have. It is at least 100 years old and it is close to the end of it's life. I am scared to mow under it if it is a windy day.

Directly out my back door - Big Flowering Bradford Pear

Directly out my back door - Big Flowering Bradford Pear and young two white peach trees, along with part of our wooded area that backs up to the nature reserve.

I took these this morning

Black Friday Deals - Links to

A few of the ads are already out... Target etc...

http://blackfriday.com/

As far as which flat screen LCD I plan to go for. I want a LG, or maybe a Samsung, or possibly a Sony or Toshiba. (unless someone talks me out of one of these brands)

I plan to stay away from the off brands Element (aka Emerson), Apex, Vizio (Vizio because I don't like the quality of the pix on them), etc.

I may find what I want on Black Friday, but if not I am sure I will find what I want before Xmas or even after Xmas. Our country Walmart's had a ton of Black Friday deals left over last year. It was rather shocking to walk in to Walmart on Black Friday afternoon and see ton's Black Friday stuff still in the stores. That just shows how bad the economy is and I think it is worse this year.

Thread & Machine Quilting

I decided that I wanted to use variegated thread for the hand dyed charm squares quilt. I went to may thread stash and found I did not have enough variegated on the spool to quilt the top in the thread colorway I decided to do it in.

I love variegated thread. I like the Coats & Clark Star brand of variegated thread. So off I went to search Google for the best prices on the thread I like the best. Once again Quilting Warehouse had the best prices on it. They also had 500 yd spools of variegated thread by American & Efird. So I also bought a few spools of it to try out.

Quilting Warehouse has just about the same prices as Create for Less has, but at that Quilting Warehouse you don't have to in bulk. My thread should be here by Friday as I already received a shipped email from them. I really can't wait to get the straight line quilting done on the hand dyed charm squares quilt.

I also have been practicing with free motion quilting again. This time I am trying it on my Viking 500 machine. I finally have the tension set right but I just can't get past my mental block of figuring out which way to move once I get going.
I did get me a pair machingers gloves and a Supreme Free-Motion Slider a while back. I paid about $20 for my Supreme Free-Motion Slider though. I would say both are worth the money and they made quite a difference. The slider will probably last a long time and it is slick on top and it stays put on the machine bed.

I also feel the DVD's I have on machine quilting help also. I have the Skillbuilder Studio Vol. 1 "Machine Quilting" with Renae Allen (less than $20 at Connecting Threads) and the first two Fast & Free DVD's by Patsy Thompson. I also have Ricky Tims Grand Finale DVD. I just need to practice practice practice and practice!

I also need to learn how to not fall down any stairs!
I am tellin' ya... I am so lucky I did not break anything. The bruises on my body tells exactly how my body is feeling. I have been sleeping and pretty much staying seated today. I am so glad that I have a nice comfy computer chair and ottoman and a 25" TV also on my huge "L" shaped computer desk in my computer room.

My little 35# dog man "Rocky" (my rock) has been staying by my side all day and he has been giving me soft little kisses on my arms and feet all day. He is such a good boy and is just as sweet as can be. I have had a lot of dogs during my lifetime but this dog is completely in tune with me and is fully devoted to me. It is rather strange.

Do you like chicken?

(never say the word chicken around my dogs - Rocky is the barker in the video - he is also watching out for one of the cats who is just out of the camera's view)

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FYI... Cheapest price I have found on the Slider is for $24.99

http://www.sewforless.com/item/LaPierre_Studio_Supreme_Slider_Free_Motion_Slider/8600

But I bought mine for under $20 from J Hittle. You have to sign up for his email newsletters FIRST... http://jhittlesewing.com/visitor/log.php - They send out sale ads twice a week via email and the email has a link to the online ordering page. They take PayPal or you can call in your order directly to them. They still offer them for under $20.