Christmas Virtual Cookie Exchange Welcome Tree
It’s here, it’s here! What, you ask?? The Christmas Virtual Cookie Exchange is here.
Carol, the hostess with the mostest, from Just Let Me Quilt has changed her button this year but the fun and recipes remain unchanged. I’ll share all of the participants below – I hope you have time to check each and every one of them out. All will have a recipe or two to share plus maybe a little quilting and possibly a giveaway! Don’t worry – the blog hop runs all week long so there’s plenty of time to check them all out.
Seafoam Candy
When I was a child, we didn’t put up our Christmas tree until Christmas Eve. It was always a fresh-cut tree, and I remember my dad sawing off the bottom so it would drink up the water. I never went with to pick one out – I suspect they were found on my grandpa’s farm. One year, I went to sing in the children’s choir at church and when we got home the tree was up!! Oh my! The long strands of silver tinsel and the angel at the top and oodles of lights and everything. ~gasp~ Oh so pretty. Another yearly tradition was Seafoam candy. It was made with a candy thermometer and that’s about all I remember about it from my youth. It was stored in an air-tight canister that was off-limits to me.
I had to dig through my mom’s recipes to find this special one to share this year. I haven’t had it since my dad died in 1982, so it’s a golden oldie. Other areas of the country may know this as Divinity but there is actually a difference. Seafoam is made with both white and brown sugar, and this particular Seafoam candy recipe (click for a .pdf) does not use corn syrup either. Don’t be intimidated by the candy thermometer – it’s really not hard to make. Sue and I whipped up a batch in less than an hour – but you do have to wait for it to cool and harden – here they were cooling on wax paper.
Holiday Tree Welcome Hanging
It was time for a new hanging on the front door to replace the pumpkin we enjoyed in October and November. A little evergreen Holiday Tree Welcome hanging is now gracing our front door, and it could grace your door as well. It finishes off at approximately 15″ x 19″ and we added a multi-colored Welcome near the bottom. Quilting includes wavy lines on the tree itself to emulate strands of garland or perhaps lights, and straight-line quilting all around the tree to highlight the tree shape. The Welcome letters were buttonhole-stitched around them using a black thread. A quick and easy project that went together in one afternoon, as the hardest part was finding all the different green fabrics. Enjoy!
Christmas Virtual Cookie Exchange Participants
So many friends participating all week long:
December 2nd
- Creatin’ in the Sticks
- Ms P Designs USA
- Home Sewn By Us – you are here!
- Vroomans Quilts
- Cathie’s Craftworks
- Sew Many Yarns
- Just Because Quilts
December 3rd
- MooseStash Quilting
- Stitchin At Home
- Barb – Hosted by Just Let Me Quilt
- Hill Valley Quilter
- Little Penguin Quilts
- Everyone Deserves a Quilt
- Selina Quilts
- Count it *all* JOY!
- Purring Cottage
December 4th
- Made By Marney
- Homespun Hannah’s Blog
- Beaquilter
- Cynthia’s Creating Ark
- Life in the Scrapatch
- DesertSky Quilting
- Sunlight in Winter Quilts
December 5th
- Quilt Doodle Designs
- Ridge Top Quilt
- Pumpkin Patch Patterns & Quilting
- Websterquilt
- Bumbleberry Stitches
- Kathy’s Kwilts and More
December 6th
- Just Let Me Quilt
- Kris Loves Fabric
- Domestic Felicity
- Karrin’s Crazy World
- Songbird Designs
- Melva Loves Scraps
- Brenda’s Quilt Blog
We hope you enjoy the blog hop and check out all the participants. We thank you for your visit; if you’ve never read our blog before we do hope you come again. Each week we have a linky party called To-Do Tuesday – maybe you’d like to return tomorrow and check it out. Happy Holidays to all!
Our other Linky Parties can be found by clicking the link above or along the sidebar on our website for more quilting fun – check out what our friends are up to. Like/follow us on our Facebook page and you can share your photos of what you’re working on. We would love to see them!
Hi Roseanne — cute tree — I need a quick project for a friend and this is perfect! Mine won’t be scrappy– all one green for the tree but I’ll make the WELCOME letters in different colors. THANK YOU so much for the inspiration.
Oh Christmas Tree you are a beauty to welcome all. I love it. I agree about finding all the fabrics, it is often the hardest part of putting a scrappy project together. I would love to try your seafoam candy.
It sounds delish.
I too have always loved seafoam and it was a staple in our candy making for Xmas every year growing up on the farm.
Many wonderful things going on up there. Love the Ripples, sorry you didn’t get all your blocks! Hope you have a great first week of Dec!
I agree that sometimes the hardest part is finding all the fabrics to work in a project. The candy looks delicious and your door quilt is very welcoming indeed.
Seafoam Candy is a new one on me; my sister-in-law makes it the best of us all. Must tell her about your sweet old-fashioned recipe.
Never made seafoam or divinity. I have made that tree pattern a few times – very quick to make for a gift.
Your recipe looks yummy. Love the tree.
Nothing like a total fresh real tree, I remember them too, so loved the smell. The candy looks and sounds great. I like the door hanging idea. Is it out in the weather or do you have a porch? Can we have a photo of it hanging on your door!!?
That sea foam candy looks delicious. We are at too high of an elevation to make divinity. I assume it’d be the same with your candy. Besides I do better just getting a small amount of sweets rather than making my own and being too tempted to eat far more than I need!
Oh goodness! I remember that divinity was an extra special treat as a child. It was so temperamental with the humidity. Too much and it failed! And, yes, the candy thermometer is still somewhat intimidating to me. lol!
What a beatiful trip down Christmas Lane. I think sometimes we get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holidays and forget that we need to focus on making memories for ourselves and our families. Thanks for the reminder of what’s important. And a big thank you for the recipe for this delightful candy. Divinity is my son’s favorite candy, but I think I will slip a batch of your seafoam candy in his stocking this year.
I have never heard of seafoam candy before, that looks really interesting. I have downloaded the recipe and will give it a try. Thanks for sharing!
Cute tree!! Perfect for a front door!! Thank you for sharing a new-to-me recipe!!
So yummy looking. I like divinity but I have never made divinity. You make it look so easy. Your welcome banner looks very welcoming. Thank you for sharing in the hop, Roseanne .. 🙂 Pat
Oh – the cookies look great … almost like candy (LOL!!!) And the tree … oh the tree …oh dear … oh dear … another squirrel???? It’s so stinking cute! And the perfect size for my door … that needs a tree … 🙂
I haven’t had seafoam since I was a child, a VERY long time ago! I look forward to making this!
Beautiful tree! Nice idea. I used to make divinity at Christmas, when I was growing up in Montana. Houston seems to be to humid for it though; I’ve tried (unsuccessfully) several times, and it just doesn’t turn out well. Bummer; I like that stuff! Thanks for sharing!
Divinity reminds me of my Grandma, cute Christmas tree quilt too!
Your seafoam candy looks and sounds terrific. Your little tree is so very sweet. Thanks for sharing.
Oh the sights and smells of the holiday season, sure can bring back memories of times past. I must give seafoam a try and start a new memory! I love your scrappy Christmas tree! What fun.
My MIL always made divinity and lots of other candies and cookies throughout the month of December. It set me up to feel inadequate because I couldn’t “do” Christmas like she did. We always set the tree up (fresh cut for many years) on Christmas Eve and took it down on New Years Day. I fondly remember the many old vintage glass Christmas ornaments and putting tinsel on the tree.
I’ve never made anything like your Seafoam candy, but it sounds yummy, Roseanne! And I love your tree! Now that is calling to me… I’ll have to go dig through my green stash!
Here in the south, we call it divinity. My mom always made it but I never have. Your seafoam candy looks similar and I may have to give it a try! Your welcome tree is very cute!! Thanks for sharing!
I remember that candy. We never made it, but sometimes would buy it. Ours were squares covered in chocolate. Yum! Cute welcome Christmas tree quilt!
Great post that brought back good memories. My Mom and Granny used to make divinity. I remember them in the kitchen fussing about getting it just right and how Mom would lament if it didn’t set up right. I miss those times! I bet I would love seafoam candy with the addition of brown sugar.
I had not thought about making a Christmas hanging for our front door. We have a glass door covering it that would protect it, so I’m adding that to my “make before Christmas” list!
So many goodies!!
My mom always made divinity, white and pink. I have never heard of seafoam before. Oh for a sugar high, LOL
Yummy! I was raised with divinity and haven’t had any in ages! So I decided to make some this year too 🙂 Thanks for your recipe. Thats a cute quilt too! Merry Christmas.
Thanks for the recipe. I just might get over my fear of the candy thermometer to try these. I love the Christmas tree quilt
The Seafoam candy is a new one for me. It looks delicious. Your Holiday Tree wall hanging is also really nice.
Cute, cute tree! My grandmother always made divinity at Christmas, but I’ve never had seafoam candy. I will definitely need to try this. Thanks for your sweet and yummy post!
Thanks so much for the recipe. I love divinity!