—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, Dec. 11, 1976 56 Try some 6 holiday Cheryl got the idea for this edible Christmas tree from her mother-in-law. She says it’s great for Christmas because you can eat from it like it was a relish tray. By JOANNE SPAHR LEBANON, Pa. - An ex cited, happy crowd of homemakers all in the holiday spirit, eagerly converged upon St. Gregory the Great Church, here, earlier this month to par ticipate in the Lebanon County Annual Christmas meeting. As is par for the course, about 430 fortunate women who had gotten their registrations in early were able to attend, however, there were as many as 150 more at home who were turned away for lack of space. To remedy this situation, Home Economist Alletta Schadler hopes to run the program two days next year. After registration and Christmas cookie refresh ments, Cheryl Reitz, Lebanon County home economist, opened the program with a presentation she called “Holiday Magic.” These were quick .and easy ideas for holiday gifts and decorations. Admitting that she’s not really creative when it comes to dressing up a table, Cheryl began her presen tation with two centerpieces which she likes for three reasons - they are pretty, easy, and edible. The first one she displayed was a turkey centerpiece made of fresh pineapple with a handmade tail and head of felt. What Cheryl finds really nice about this one is that it can be used from Thanksgiving through to Christmas and even longer because it’s so cute. The materials needed for the pineapple turkey are a fresh pineapple, a wooden cocktail fork, a piece of orange felt (12 by 9 inches), orange thread, straw, a tray, pine cones, and nuts. The first step in making this centerpiece is t trace and cut out two heaa pieces and one tail piece from orange felt ,;1.0 < ntouts included in Ll» Then, you m'-u, a cot-'UT fork or stick in . >--en Li f head pieces. Once this is done, you sew around three sides, leaving the bottom of the neck open. Then, ycu put straw on top of a tray and turn your pineapple on its side. At this point, you insert the head piece at the large end of the pineapple and the tail at the cluster of leaves. To add the finishing turkey touches, arrange pine cones and nuts aroung the turkey. The other edible cen terpiece which Cheryl displayed was one which can only serve in the December holidays because it is a Christmas tree made from fingerfoods. To create this table decoration, you cover a 12- inch styrofoam cone with aluminum foil, and using toothpicks as fasteners, you layer the fingerfoods around the cone in one to one-and-a half inch layers. On the bottom, put cherry peppers, above that add carrot curls, on top of that layer celery sticks, then next place green olives, after that add radish roses, then midget sweet gerkins, next is ripe olives, and finally on the very top is a cherry tomato. Cheryl warns that anyone planning to make this cen terpiece should check out the sweet pickles when she purchases them, because as Cheryl puts it, “I found out when I made my centerpiece that all sweet gerkins were not created equal.” So, for a more uniform tree, check to make sure you get the most uniform pickles in the jar you buy. Cheryl aslo recommends that you purchase “good” heavy duty toothpicks that will stand the wear and tear of adhering the various relish tray items to the cone. And, if you want to make your tree a little fancier, use cocktail toothpicks with the b>'jhlly colored cellophane on the ends JIFFY SOCK BLNNY DOLL The third item Cheryl demonstrated was a gift for small children. “Even before I had my own child, I was always concerned about having nice, soft, safe toys,” said Cheryl, who is a new mother. She went on to say that even though her daughter, Tracy, has lots of stuffed toys, Cheryl wanted to make her something by hand, so she sewed her a sock bunny. “It’s the simplest, cutest little gift you can make a child,” she emphasized. The sock bunny is simply a tube sock, which is a stocking without the heel sewn into it. To make the bunny, all you need is a pair of tube socks in either white, tan, or gray; a piece of pink felt or pink socks; em broidery floss m white, pink, or black; and white yam. The directions for making' the toy are to first cut a 10- 'inch piece from one sock using the toe on the top. (Don’t cut the sock apart at the top.) Then, you stuff the tube stocking with stuffing which can be either bits of hosiery, fiberfill, or fabric, and then you gather it together at the bottom and sew it shut. To make the head of the rabbit, pull the sock in at the top and tie with a string. Then, add the ears. To form the ears, you use the remainder of the tube sock to make the outer part of the ear, and use pink felt or pink socks for the inner part of the ear. (Refer to the cutouts with article.) Once the pieces are cut out, you sew each inner ear to an outer ear, leaving one end open so you can stuff it lightly. After the ear is stuffed, gather it slightly at the bottom of each ear and sew to the head. The next part to work on is the face. It is made by embroidering the eyes, eyebrows, and teeth in black chain stitch outlines. Then, fill in the teeth and the white of the eyes with white satin stitch. The colored part of the eye is black or blue satin stitch and the nose is pink satin stitch. The mouth is made with pink chain stitch. (Refer to pattern with this article.) When the face is created, the last part of the bunny to be made is the tail. Just make a pom-pom and sew it on. After explaining how to make her stuffed toy, Cheryl offered some suggestions to all mothers and grand mothers who are going to give this bunny a try. First of all, if polyester fiberfill is used for stuffing, the toy can be thrown right into the washer and cleaned. And, since the toy is made from rather inexpensive materials, you can make a nice gift for any little person on your list for a cost of about $1.50. One of Cheryl’s final demonstrations was on how to make edible candy wreaths and tree ornaments. To do this, the materials you need are three (% pound) bags of red and green candy-coated chocolate bits, plastic wrap, a wire coat hanger, and pipecleaners. To construct the wreath, you bend the wire coat hanger in a circle. Then, you magic 9 for X-mas start to make the candy clusters, which entails cutting clear plastic wrap into six inch squares and placing 12 colored chocolate candies m the center of each square. Then, you gather the comers and twist a pipe' cleaner around the ends. When these clusters have all been formed, you attach each individual one to the wire coat hanger using the hook at the top as a hanging loop. To attach each cluster, you again employ the pipe cleaner. When the hanger is totally covered with clusters, tie a large bow at the top of the wreath at the base of the hook. The individual balls may be removed for eating without disturbing the wreath. The ball tree ornaments are made in the same way. First you cut 11-inch squares of plastic wrap. Then you fill the centers with % cup of colored chocolate candies and gather the corners and twist the platic wrap tightly, forming a ball. Nert tie the twist with a 30-inch length of curling ribbon and form a loop at the top for hanging. And fihally, tie a a-12-inch length of curling ribbon at the base of the loop, and curl all four ribbon ends. Some suggestions which Cheryl passes along for the wreath and the Christmas balls are that first of all, you should be sure to get the heavy duty cellophane, because it is less apt to tear. Also, this wreath should not be transported too many places, because the cellophane, whether it is heavy duty or not, will only take a limited amount of (Continued on Rase 57] Head INCREASE THIS PATTERN BY 140 PER CENT Outer ear Tail l> »
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