Author Archives: maryjane

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is Debbie Klann!

Debbie Klann (debbieklann #770) has received a certificate of achievement in Farm Kitchen for earning an Expert Level Carpe Cocoa Merit Badge!

“I already knew how to make ganache, so I found 2 different ganache recipes to make my truffles, one dark and one white chocolate. The 4 flavors I decided on were White Chocolate Cranberry Orange (my favorite); White Chocolate Peppermint, dipped in Dark Chocolate (reminiscent of a York peppermint patty); a Bailey’s truffle dipped in dark chocolate’ and a Crown Maple truffle, also dipped in dark chocolate.

I had heard that Starbucks offered chocolate drinks during the holidays. I think I will watch for them and try their version if they are offered again. I tried to make a Mexican version of hot chocolate, not overly sweet but had hints of cinnamon. I really liked it! I don’t think I will try the Aztec chocolate drink (chocolate mixed with grown maize) anytime in the near future!”

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Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is Joanna Vaughan!

Joanna Vaughan (JojoNH #566) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching & Crafting for earning a Beginner Level of the Quilting Merit Badge!

“Learned how to sew the quilting squares together by hand. Using 2 1/2″ squares, I assembled the top to a table runner. The runner measures 31″ long by 15″ wide finished.

Learned an easy technique to add the batting and backing to the top. Learned which stitches would be best for the binding edge, and then decided on a tied top for finishing the quilting.

Since this was all done by hand, it took between 24-28 hours from start to finish.

I’m now obsessed!! I have always loved hand-sewing. Now, knowing how easy this was to do, I’m ready to tackle a larger project by hand as well. I could not be happier with the end result of my table runner!”

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Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is Erin McBride!

Erin McBride (notathreatinsight, #3762) has received a certificate of achievement in Outpost for earning the Beginner Level of the Geography Merit Badge!

“I have a couple globes, and many maps of the world, and the United States.

Having worked as a trainer for an airline for 8 years, I have what I would consider more than a basic level of knowledge of national and world geography. One of the nice things about homeschooling is that when your kids learn something new, you have to learn it too. We are currently studying the United States, and have learned all of the capitals (I did know these already) along with their locations on the map of the U.S. Now we are learning geographical features, including mountain ranges, lakes, bays, rivers, trails, canals, deserts, and other prominent features, along with their locations.

YouTube is full of resources for learning more about geography in fun ways. We are using maps and songs to learn these features, which I would recommend to anyone of any age! It’s fun to learn and you gain valuable knowledge about the world you live in.

We also used this book to study cartography and map out the U.S. We all enjoy drawing, and this was a fun project to help us learn more about the geography of our country.”

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