Amish Cook - A sewing party for a sweet cause

(Editor?s note: The term Iron Curtain is a bit dated, but this charity was founded by New Order Amish during the height of the Cold War to aid children and needy in Soviet bloc countries. Their mission has since expanded to aid the needy anywhere but they remain active in former countries ?behind the Iron Curtain?)

It?s cold these days. It?s windy and down-right cold.

I don?t do as well with cold weather as my husband, Daniel, does. His pullover sweatshirt is sufficient for him in all kinds of weather. I like my jackets, sweaters and blankets. What?s better than snuggling up with a blanket and a cup of hot chocolate, and reading or watching the birds?

Imagine what it would be like not to have an insulated house or a means of heating the house, not to mention the ample supplies of coats, scarves and blankets we all have. My heart goes out to those mothers and fathers who struggle to keep their children warm.

This winter we, along with another couple in our church, organized a ?comforter knotting? for our youth group. The comforter tops had been pieced and sewn together by some of the Amish ladies in our community. Most of the comforters will be sent to Iron Curtain Ministries who will distribute them to poor people throughout the world. Iron Curtain Ministries is an Amish-operated organization who gives aid to the less fortunate.

Since we were the ones planning the comforter knotting event, Julia, Austin and I went on Friday afternoon to get a head start on things. Daniel helped me load our buggy with a sewing machine, scissors, food, and other items needed for the comforter knotting that evening. Thanks to Daniel for fetching our faithful horse, Sapphire, and hitching her to the buggy. Soon the children and I were on our way.

Once more I felt so grateful and blessed to have a safe horse that I could easily drive. It didn?t take long to drive the mile to my parents? house where I tied her to the hitching post and unloaded everything.

My cousin, Eunice, and I had cut out the lining to the size of the comforter tops several days prior to the knotting. On Friday afternoon, the two of us set up two quilt frames in my parents? shop, where we pinned in the lining, batting and tops in preparation of the knotting that was held in the evening. I was a bit nervous whether we?ll be able to have all four frames filled and ready for the youth at 5 p.m. All went well, though, I was cutting large pieces of yarn and threading the needles when the first ones began arriving.

Soon there were girls swarming all around me finding their place at the comforter. Using a long needle, we followed the corners of the blocks as we poked the needles up and down, up and down. Someone else followed behind, snipping the yarn and tightly knotting them. I was amazed at how swiftly their comforter had been completed. Quickly, we removed all the pins and pinned in another comforter ready to be knotted.

In the meantime, potatoes were baking and sausage gravy was being heated in preparation for supper at 7:45. The ladies set the food onto a folding table as the men quieted down everyone for a word of thanks to God prior to eating the meal before us. Each person then mashed their own taters with a fork and spread butter and salt on it before topping with sausage gravy. Next, was a tray of vegetables, crackers, and dip that I had furnished. For dessert, we had two desserts with one being on the top of my list of favorites: fruit pizza. It was absolutely delicious.

Suppertime rejuvenated us before tackling the remaining comforters. After supper, I was kept busy at the serger and sewing machine, binding the edges. It took awhile to make an entire trip around the edges. Thankfully, we had three sewing machines and one serger (which cuts off excess material and sews all three layers of the comforter together) so several of us could be at it at once. A few of the boys even helped with the sewing. I must say I was impressed. Certainly not any boy would be willing to admit he enjoys sewing, right?

As you can hear, we did have a very enjoyable evening. All went very smoothly. By 9 p.m., we had 15 cozy, warm comforters, knotted, most of which were full-sized. I?m sure you haven?t forgotten that remark about that tasty fruit pizza. I?m passing the recipe on to you to try.

It may be interesting for you to have the story behind the crust recipe. Recently, Daniel invited a friend, who is one of the youth boys for supper. He admitted his crush on fruit pizza then added, ?with my Mom?s crust recipe!?

I chucked, delighted to ask Susan for her outstanding recipe. Be sure to give it a try, just be careful not to over bake. A few other tips if you want to make this recipe less work:

-I use my own home-canned pie filling instead of having to make my own glaze each time. You could use store-bought pie filling in a pinch.

-You may omit fresh fruit and just use pie filling. It will be easier to cut these bars, if you cut before putting any of the layers on top of the crust.

Homemade Fruit Pizza Deluxe

Crust ingredients:

-3/4 cup brown sugar

-1/2 cup butter

-1 egg, beaten

-1 teaspoon vanilla

-1 teaspoon lemon flavoring

-1 teaspoon baking powder

-1-1/4 cup flour

Crust instructions:

Press into a greased 9 X 13 pan.

Bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes. Do not over bake, it should not be brown at all.

Cream cheese mix ingredients:

-1/2 cup powdered sugar

-8 ounces cream cheese

-8 ounces whipped topping

-4 cups fruits your choice: bananas, kiwis, grapes, berries, sliced or diced

Cream cheese mix instructions:

Beat cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. If desired, add a dash of lemon juice. Spread on top of cooled crust and then pile and spread the fruit over the whole cream-cheese mixture covered crust.

Glaze ingredients:

-3/4 cup sugar

-5 heaping tablespoons cornstarch

-3 cups pineapple juice or water

-3 tablespoons lemon or pineapple jello

-1/4 teaspoon salt

Glaze instructions:

Mix together in a saucepan and boil a few minutes. Cool and spread on top of fruit.