Mulled Wine Mug Mat: Celebrate!

In honor of my 61st birthday (today on Christmas Eve) I decided a little 'just for me' project was in order.

As always, I Follow My Heart when choosing a celebratory project, so I thought of Clare and her comment on my little liberated quilts that my fabrics reminded her of 'mulled wine.'

Oh, how I loved the sound of those words. Mulled sounds like "lulled" as in "lullaby and goodnight." And wine sounds like the rituals of celebration and the anointing of a holy season, which this mostly certainly, is.

It's lovely to celebrate, lovely to feel soft and lullabyed, and lovely fun to create a little pieced mug mat in honor of my day, and of the holiday season.

And then...I rushed off to find a simple recipe for British Mulled Wine;)


I discovered this wonderful little recipe in Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management
published in its revised version in 1869.

TO MULL WINE.

INGREDIENTS.- To every pint of wine allow 1 large cupful of water, sugar and spice to taste.

Mode.-In making preparations like the above, it is very difficult to give the exact proportions of ingredients like sugar and spice, as what quantity might suit one person would be to another quite distasteful.

Boil the spice in the water until the flavour is extracted, then add the wine and sugar, and bring the whole to the boiling-point, when serve with strips of crisp dry toast, or with biscuits. The spices usually used for mulled wine are cloves, grated nutmeg, and cinnamon or mace.

Any kind of wine may be mulled, but port and claret are those usually selected for the purpose; and the latter requires a very large proportion of sugar. The vessel that the wine is boiled in must be delicately cleaned, and should be kept exclusively for the purpose. Small tin warmers may be purchased for a trifle, which are more suitable than saucepans, as, if the latter are not scrupulously clean, they spoil the wine, by imparting to it a very disagreeable flavour. These warmers should be used for no other purpose.

And if you are a teetotaler, or perhaps its too early in the morning for a cup of mulled wine....substitute mulled 'cranberry juice cocktail', as I did here...ahhh, thank you Mrs. Beeton.
It's almost time for an appearance by Father Christmas!

Blessings to all!

Finn's New Year's Eve Small Projects Challenge:
Small Project #14: Mulled Wine Mug Mat

Finn's New Year's Eve Quilt Challenge:
Quilt #11: Twilight Dreams
Quilt #10:Far, Far, Away
Quilt #9:Green and Scrappy Love
Quilt #7 and #8: Follow Your Heart 1 and 2
Quilt #6: Stringing Along
Quilt #5: Within the Depths
Quilt #4: Irish Eyes
Quilt #3: Under the Pines
Quilt #2: Hope and Remembrance
Quilt #1 Hop to It!

Finn's New Year's Eve Small Projects Challenge:
Small Project #14: Mulled Wine Mug Mat
Small Project #11-13: Two pillowcases and a senior bib
Small Project #10:Follow Your Heart Potholder
Small Projects #2-9: sr bib, potholders and a bag
Small Project #1: Get Well Postcard