Posted on by agilejack

Lazy Rainy Day and Some Quick Crumby Gift Tags

I almost always take the day after Thanksgiving off of work. And I made sure of it this year because today is my birthday! I’m going to dinner at a friend’s house later this evening. Here’s some pretty flowers a friend of mine sent me.

She sends me flowers every year and they’re always beautiful and last forever!

I had hoped to take the boys out for a nice long forest walk today, but it’s been raining all day. So I ran a bunch of errands first (dropped a package at the P.O., picked up some dog food, went to the bank, filled up with gas, and ran to JoAnn’s to pick up a purchase) and found myself with some free time to play with some crumb pieces that I’ve had in a bin in my sewing room.

I needed the product I picked up at JoAnn’s for my afternoon project.

Is it odd that I’ve been sewing as long as I have and have never had a pair of pinking shears? You would think that I would have had a use for them before now.

Well, today’s project called for them. Here’s today’s project. Read on to see how I landed on this.

I ran across this tutorial for some fabric tree ornaments a week or so ago. I thought they were cute so I printed out the template and dug in. Well, It was a little too fiddly for me. Hand quilting, although I love the look of it, is not something I’m going to do. It also turned out really small.

It was a bit of a mess and I didn’t enjoy making it. Definite indications that I won’t be making another one!

So I started thinking about how I could accomplish the same basic thing but make it easier and less fiddly. Here’s what I landed on.

I pulled out my bin of left over crumb pieces. I picked out the smallest and oddest shaped ones.

Then I used the template from the tutorial I linked to above and cut these crumb pieces into tree shapes.

I used a ruler to cut the long sides of the tree and used some small scissors to cut the bottom and trunk.

Then I took the little trees I cut out and lined them up on a scrap of fusible fleece (glue side up).

Using my teflon sheet over the top, I hit this with the iron to adhere the crumb trees to the fleece.

Then I cut the fleece to be the same size as the trees.

Next, I lined up all the trees with the fleece facing up and hit it with some spray basting.

Then I arranged this sticky little trees on some scraps of fabric, wrong side to wrong side. I cut 7 inch pieces of thin red ribbon and tucked the ends between the backing and the crumb tree making sure that the ends were about 1/2 inch below the top of the tree — I wanted to be sure I would catch both sides of the ribbon with the topstitching to come.

Then I used my walking foot to topstitch around each tree, leaving enough beyond the topstitching that I could pink the edges. I made sure that I was catching both ends of the ribbon at the top in my topstitching.

Once the top stitching was done I used my new pinking shears to trim away the edges of the fabric and fleece.

I pushed the ribbons to the side as I trimmed each side of the top point of the tree. I was very careful to not cut the ribbon. I was successful almost every time.

Just to prove I’m human, here’s a picture of one I messed up. I cut through the ribbon on one side and almost completely pinked through the trunk!

Oops.

Here’s a few close up photos.

They turned out much better than the one I made from the tutorial. But rather than ornaments, I think they’d make great little gift tags! If you use a backing that is lighter and not too busy, you could easily use a sharpie to write someone’s name on the back.

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. I found that my plans changed at the last minute and I ended up having Thanksgiving by myself. And I actually enjoyed it! I played pickleball for four hours in the morning in the fog! I was a little surprised there were so many people there! I had a blast. I took the dogs with me and tossed the ball in the park for them before we headed home.

When we got home I rested with a few icepacks for a while then started cooking. I bought a 13 lb turkey and spatchcocked it to cook it. Basically, you remove the back bone and press the down on the turkey to flatten it (have to break some bones) and you cook it flat. I cooked it at 450 degrees for about 1.5 hours, and that was it! The dark and light meat cook evenly so your don’t dry out your breast meat trying to get your thighs and legs up to temperature.

Here’s a terrible picture of the turkey when it came out of the oven. There’s a reason I don’t write a food blog!

One of the things that had me most excited about cooking a turkey is the giblet gravy.

My mom always made giblet gravy. I’ve made the gravy for my potluck thanksgiving with friends for years, but I’ve never made giblet gravy because most people don’t like giblets. This giblet gravy made me so happy.

I made a limited meal… only the things there are the most important to me on Thanksgiving: Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and giblet gravy.

It was a very brown meal but it was very good!

Happy day after Thanksgiving! It’s time to get ready to head off to dinner with friends to celebrate my birthday!

70 Replies to “Lazy Rainy Day and Some Quick Crumby Gift Tags”

  6. Happy Birthday Anne. I love your Thanksgiving dinner it is all about what you like. Perfect. The trees are cute. not the original one though. too fussy. Yours are much better.

    Reply

  8. Happy belated Thanksgiving. I’m sorry you spent the day alone but it sounds like you made it a great day any. I also love giblet gravy.

    Reply

    1. I actually enjoyed my day half alone. I did play pickleball for four hours with lots of other people. It felt really peaceful and relaxing to come home and not have any expectations for presenting a dinner! It was a great day!
      Anne

      Reply

  9. Happy birthday 🥂🎉🎊
    Wishing you many years of health, happiness, an abundance of creativity and a sharp eye and reflexes for pickle ball 💕. That might win the ugliest roasted turkey contest – but I am sure it tastes perfectly delicious 😋.
    Very cute tree ornaments! Thanks for the tutorial.

    Reply

    1. I’m very happy that my ugly turkey tasted fantastic and I’m enjoying the leftovers!

      And thanks for the wishes for a sharp eye and good reflexes! Those come in handy in so many ways!

      Anne

      Reply

  10. Happy Birthday
    Be been following you for a while now here and I see your posts on the FB KFC. Site. Truly inspirational.
    You are the Ever Ready bunny- you keep on going.

    Reply

  11. Really enjoyed reading your Thanksgiving Day report … thank you! I’m still into making your Frankenbags but your Christmas tree instructions were exactly perfect for my plans of making pennants for mailing to out-of-town relatives!!

    Reply

  13. Oh, Happy Birthday Anne!!!! Hope it was a great one and your weekend lasts a long time for you and the boys 🥰!

    Reply

  16. I make little drink coasters with trees. raw edge appliqué on a square of fabric. Cut 2 x 5 inch squares of Xmas fabric iron on some heat and bond sew around the edges leave a gap turn inside out. Press, edge stitch and raw edge appliqué of tree through all layers. Stack 4 together tie with string makes a easy little gift.
    Ps Happy Birthday

    Reply

  17. A very happy birthday! giblet gravy is a must, the more the better. One Christmas I had the giblets simmering for hours. I strained it and left it to the side to add to the turkey juices when the turkey was cooked. My husband decides to help by doing some cleaning up and throws the stock out thinking it was cooking water.

    Reply

  18. Happy Birthday Anne! Thank you for your wonderful blog. I love to see what you create. My mother made goblet gravy too and I make it as well. My daughter has never made gravy!

    Reply

  19. The little trees are so cute. You are the best at coming up with different ways to “build a better mousetrap!” Happy Birthday!!!

    Reply

  24. I’ll sing you our traditional happy birthday song!
    Hippo birdie two ewes
    Hippo birdie two ewes
    Hippo birdie dear Annie
    Hippo birdie, two ewes!
    I’m sure you know the tune.

    Reply

  26. Many many happy returns of the day, Anne! Your flowers look gorgeous. I love getting flowers as a present, there’s something really special about getting them in the post or by delivery…
    I passed on your last Christmas tree Dec tutorial to a sewing buddy and she LOVED it. I’m definitely going to have a go at this latest one too, definitely beginning to feel Christmassy here and I like to make something new every year.
    I’ve just got home from a mega store cupboard and wine rack Christmas shop so am going to browse through your tutorials and plan some makes while I recover.
    The Frankenbag is starting to take shape! Hope to get a pic to you soon.
    Meanwhile have a beautiful precious celebratory day.
    Lindy x

    Reply

  27. I love crumb quilting and your little trees are perfect. I’m making fabric Christmas cards and am using the same technique with the pinked edges only I’m using a pinking blade rotary cutter. Happy birthday from one November birthday person to another. I want to be you when I grow up but I just turned 80 so it may be too late. But I love everything you do.

    Reply

  28. Hi Ann, I’ve also used a pinking blade in my rotary cutter. I like it better than scissors because when it gets dull I just buy another blade – see link. https://tinyurl.com/n2e4d698l I enjoy your emails. Jan

    *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

    Be a lamp or a lifeboat or a ladder.

    Help someone’s soul heal.

    Walk out of your house like a shepherd.

    RUMI

    Reply

  29. Loved your Thanksgiving! So you…..even though you are usually doing things with friends, you’re able to enjoy being on your own for a change. Good for you. I’ve spatchcocked chickens, but never a turkey. Great idea to try next year.

    Reply

  30. Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY! My long-arm quilter, very creative quilt-maker and good friend’s birthday is today also! Your sign must be creative, LOL.

    Reply

  31. Very Happy Birthday to you Anne. Love the pinked edge tree ornaments! So cute! I should remember this fun project when our grand daughters visit next time from MN. Thank you for sharing your creative ideas.

    Reply

  32. It is so kind of you to always post your projects and the process. I’m always interested as we think similarly.

    Reply

  34. Really like your gift tags. Will finally give crumb piecing a try! Your Thanksgiving dinner looks delicious. Did you that according to celebrity chef Anne Burrell, “brown food tastes good.” ?

    Reply

    1. I’m not familiar with her saying, but I agree. You wouldn’t believe how much time I spend browning the turkey drippings for my gravy. but it’s worth it!!!

      Anne

      Reply

  36. Anne, your project will be amazing and I can’t wait to see it. The boys as always are looking good, and that soup is just the best part of Thanksgiving to me. Have a wonderful holiday season and before I forget…HAPPPPPPY BIRTHDAYYYYYY TO YOUUUUU!

    Reply

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