Tipsy bakers and other Christmas gifts!

I collect cookbooks.  I especially like cookbooks where the recipes are for scratch cooking things most folks buy.  Scott and Bri, I think, like to by me books off my list with odd names.  Last year it was The Human Powered Home,   this year it was Make the Bread, Buy the Butter by Jennifer Reese.  Jennifer's blog is on the sidebar as The Tipsy Baker!  She's amusing and evidently fearless in her cooking endeavors-as well as being a fellow cookbook collector.  I'll be trying some of these recipes-the only downside I've seen so far is that she's from California and they tend to add bizarre ingredients and twists to things which should be left alone-in my opinion.  Also from Scott and Bri I received a tome called The Principals of Knitting, every question I could ever ask about knitting should be answered in this book!  I used to knit quite a bit, got out of the habit when the children were small and I had neither time nor money, but I'd like to take it back up and this should help fill in the gap from my Great Aunt Daisy teaching me how to cast on, knit, purl and bind off when I was 12 until now!  They spoil me (all the children do) and also got me a lovely silver and blue bracelet--blue being my favorite color, I might have mentioned that a time or two.

More stitching done by me--Braxton's Travel memories quilt, a simple brick pattern in brown and orange flannel backed in fleece (forgot to get a picture!) with his first 5 patches sewn on.  Those patches collected on my trips last summer.  I also dressed a bear for him, as I have all the grandchildren.  That I did take a picture of!