Friday Finish

"Sweet Pickins" is bound and ready to hang.  Such a cutie!  And Sweet!

The name...well it's those cute little cherries in the border fabric.  This time of year it seems like everyday there's something needing to be picked and preserved.  Except for my flowers.  We usually have a good picking selection but I'm one of those funny people who would rather not cut my flowers. (or the weeds by the looks of it....LOL)

This year I've been trying to expand the bed around my mailbox.  I've transplanted a few things from around the yard.  It looks kinda shabby this year, hopefully next year I won't need any annuals out here.  The  Blue Morning Glories should start blooming on the mailbox soon.

 The ultimate flower garden goal for me is to have things in bloom all year and need no annuals anywhere.  We're getting close, only Zinnias and Morning Glory annuals this year.

Our little Obelisk isn't doing so well.  Next year maybe.

 After years of ME saying we should put a fence around the garden my dear sweet Ross came up with a wonderful idea...putting a fence around the garden!  He thought it would be a good idea to keep the deer from stomping around.  Brilliant!  I don't know where he comes up with such great ideas! 

Behind the garden gate is a jungle of veggies.  We need a new plan in here also.  My idea is to double the size of the garden, giving plants room to grow and breathe.  Maybe by next year Ross will come up with an idea to expand....LOL!

The fruits of my labor below.

 Zucchini Marmalade, as every gardener knows there's always plenty of Zukes.  Its a rather bland veggie so you can add anything to it for flavor.  This was the first time for making marmalade with it.  I found this recipe here.  

                                          Zucchini Marmalade
6 Cups zucchini remove seeds but leave skin, grated finely (Squeeze out the water, using cheese cloth or a tea towel then measure)
6 Cups sugar(I used 5 cps, it made the jelly a little thinner)
1/2 Cup lemon juice(I used 2 fresh juiced lemons)
1 large can crushed pineapple, 20 oz (don't drain)
1-  6 oz package Strawberry Jello, (any flavor)

Boil zucchini and sugar for 20 minutes. Add lemon juice and crushed pineapple. Boil for 5 minutes.  Add gelatin and stir until dissolved.  Remove from heat, pour into hot jars and seal.  Process in water bath for 5 minutes. 

Until next time "Quilt out of Your Comfort Zone!" 

Lea

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Sweet Pickins

 Sweet Pickins!  That will be her name.  At this stage she measures in at 18.75 x 23.25.  A three inch border should finish her off nicely.  Now to decide on that border.  I put way to much thought into the borders as you all know.  Someday I may quit complaining about my border issue.  But for now WAH, WAH, WAH!

 Each little basket block including red border is 4 inch finished.

 Working with scraps is always fun and quick.  Each HST was left over trimmings from my cherry quilt(previous post) that's still on the frame waiting for one more pass.  

Now comes the dreaded borders.  I like this combo, but I used the same border on my barn quilt.  Might use the same combo with the gingham binding, scalloped border. 

 All I can say is YUK!  More cherries, really upset my tummy.

 The large gingham made me dizzy on such a small quilt.

 So far the one below is what pleases my eye the most.  Whatcha think about a scalloped border, with the gingham as the binding?!  Yes I love gingham, I want it in every quilt for some reason.  I'd really like some ric-rac on this quilt but my stash of ric-rac had every color but the color I wanted, can't justify going into town for $3 of ric-rac.   And you know this quilt is so small that quilting it on the DSM with a walking foot and straight lines might just do the trick.

Until next time"Quilt out of Your Comfort Zone!"

Lea

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Baskets and Berries

Yesterday evening I finished cutting down the scraps from the Cherry quilt.  Today I'll sit in front of the fan and put them together.  A great project for a HOT, HOT, HOT day.  Normally the heat wouldn't bother me that much but I've been Wild Blackberry picking the last few days.  

 Just at the sound of that the country gals out there just got a very sympathetic look on their faces. They know!  The city girls smiled a childish grin and pictured a youthful gal with a big smile skipping along with her bountiful basketful of blackberries.  WRONG!  Wild blackberry picking is anything but fun.  I've tried many techniques.  The early morning technique of dressing in jeans tucked my knee high socks with a long sleeve shirt tucked in the jeans, shirt sleeves tucked in the leather gloves with bug spray dripping from head to toe.  The middle of the afternoon technique when tender bugs don't like the sun, wearing the typical summer attire drenched in bug spray and of course leather gloves.  And then there's the early evening technique that's a combo of both, jeans, t-shirt, and gloves with bug spray.  (Oh I forgot to mention that I always take a garden hoe with me to bring the vines closer and to kill any snakes I might see.  No I've not run into any yet this year in the berries but I did see a large black snake in the wildflower patch that's close to the berries.) With all my preparations I'm still covered with CHIGGER BITES!  Chiggers are tiny little red bugs that feed on humans!  Okay that's exaggerated a bit.  But they are tiny, very hard to see, and the bite itches worse than a mosquito bite especially when you get hot.  To get to the wild Blackberries you must go to the places that these little creatures thrive, in the bush with the snakes, spiders, and tons of thorns.  

So why do we do this?!  Stupidity? Crazy?  Its because we know the Wild Blackberries qualities.  Unlike the hybrid that is  as big as your thumb, the wild berries have a richer flavor although they are twice as small.  The plateful of berries below isn't even enough for a cobbler and that's three pickins.  You see out here in Podunk if you don't pick them as they ripen the critters will beat you to them.  So everyday for about two weeks(of course its always the hottest two weeks of the year) for about 30 minutes a day I'll fight the critters and bugs and maybe if I'm lucky I might get enough this year for homemade blackberry Jam.

Until next time "Quilt out of your Comfort Zone!"

Lea

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It feels so good!

To be back in my happy place after over a week of no sewing feels like heaven!  Before we move along -  its DWM!  So that means Judy is our host, be sure to hop over and browse all the yummy Design walls.

Sunday was spent jumping from one project to another.  That's my normal...Creativity in chaos.  The cherry quilt is almost quilted, hopefully it'll be done by the end of the week.  

Not much actual work was done on this one below, I did manage to do the quilt stare when I needed a break from sweating in this heat wave we're having.  No AC!

 The flying geese border for Connie's shirt quilt will be attached soon.  Possibly a lighter border added between the geese and the dark blue.  The plan is to slow down the busyness of the quilt.

 Digging through the stash is always a favorite past time when a gal needs a to move around a little.  So I pulled out a few pieces and then quickly went to EQ7 to help me with an idea.

 I'll be testing out the bleaching of the aqua fabric today, its just a shade or two to dark.  Not so sure about the yellow posies below, it means  more applique.  Maybe a yellow cornerstone could replace them?

Until next time "Quilt out of Your Comfort Zone!"

Lea

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