Baby Girl Fleenor Quilt

So here is baby girl Fleenor's quilt.  Emily received it yesterday and loved it. Once I know her name and birthdate I will make an additional little tag with that info.  The frame of triangles near the border are actually loose prairie points and similar to "taggies".  I free-motioned quilted it with meandering hearts.  The thread is variegated and if I must say so I think the overall effect is beautiful.

Blackberry Applesauce

We picked up a bushel of apples on Friday. We washed them that night so Lisa could transform them into applesauce on Sunday. So today after Mass Lisa got busy. She cooked up some frozen blackberries from this summer while the apples were cooking down. She cooked the blackberries so she could strain out the large seeds. Once the apples were cooked down she strained them in her KitchenAid mixer fruit strainer. It takes out the skin and leaves a nice applesauce puree.  Then the berries and apples were mixed together along with some sugar and a sprinkling of cinnamon.  YUM.  Total yield was 7 quarts and 4 pints. Only half the bushel was used today.  The other half bushel will be mixed 2 different ways.  One batch will get mixed as cinnamon applesauce and another batch will get mixed with some of the rhubarb we harvested this summer. 

Clothespins

Not many people enjoy using a clothesline anymore. With work schedules, weather and the conveniences of an electric or gas dryer most people just don’t see the point of a clothesline. However, there are a few of us that have returned to using a clothesline and actually enjoy it. There is nothing like the feel or smell of climbing into bed with fresh line dried crisp cotton sheets. Now, don’t get me wrong, I still use my electric dryer and have no plans of disposing of it. Lets face it, a polo shirt hung up to dry on the line just doesn’t have that nice snuggly soft feel to it. But there is one thing that really grates me about using my clothesline and that is the poor quality of the clothespins. Plastic clothespins degrade and become brittle very quickly due to the UV rays of the sun. Newer wooden clothespins are absolutely junk. They spring apart in a flash, hold virtually no weight greater than a dishcloth and are splintery. If you do happen upon some older clothespins (in your mothers stash or at a yard sale) you will notice immediately the difference in the type of wood, strength of the spring and the weight they will hold. I found out the reason for this while we were at the Mother Earth News Fair last week. As of 3 years ago there is only one company left in the United States that still manufactures wooden clothespins. All others have been outsourced to China. (Sound familiar?) The Vermont Clothespin Co still manufactures wooden clothespins and they are proud of it. They use locally harvested maple and beech wood, brass coated springs, hand-make each pin and hold a hefty price tag at $25 for 16 pins. Sixteen pins won’t even hang a half load of laundry. While at the fair there was a clothespin rep that sold Australian designed pins marketed as Hills brand clothes pegs. (Clothesline drying is the norm in Australia)  Yes they are still manufactured in China but they are sturdy, molded plastic with a stainless steel spring, have a 2 year warranty and are resistant to UV rays. A box is $25 for 50 pins (I can’t believe a good clothespin runs 50 cents each).  They have 3 notches for varying thickness of fabric and are pretty. After all, hanging laundry out in the breeze should be pretty. I am not thrilled that they are plastic but I guess I can’t have my cake and eat it too.

Mother Earth News Fair

 So it is Monday and I sit here in the car as we travel home from a great trip to Pennsylvania. Where do I start?????

We left home Thursday morning and had an uneventful yet beautiful trip.  The drive through West Virginia is breathtaking. We traveled through mountains, saw deer and bear, drove through tunnels, saw some beautiful rolling farmland and arrived at our quaint Victorian bed and breakfast just about dinner time.  The B and B is owned and operated by an elderly couple and they were full all weekend with people attending the conference like us.

The 3-day conference was held at a local ski resort and part of it was outside under tents and part was inside in the conference center. Friday was 1/2 day and the weather was beautiful.  We spend the afternoon getting oriented, seeing some vendors and attending a few workshops.  As with all conferences you can only attend so many workshops before your brain is on overload.  Glad we had three days.

We saw all sorts of stuff over the course of our three days there: how to save seeds, how to start seedlings, maximizing your gardens productivity, keeping your chickens healthy, using the right tools for your job, how to butcher chickens, how to cure bacon, gardening in the winter and improving your soil organically.

Saturday had rains of biblical proportions which prevented us from attending the keynote speakers talk, as our feet were so wet we needed to get inside for a while.  There were hundreds of vendors there, selling and promoting all sorts of cool stuff; some hokey, some legit. We bought some things and gathered some great info.  Approximately 15000 people were in attendance this year. One thing that struck us was the wide diversity of the people participating.  There were nuns, Hindus, Amish,preppers, hippies, cowboys and farmers as well as those of us who dream of having our own little homestead tucked into our little piece of land. Despite our differences, people were extremely cordial and had much to share and teach each other without rancor or disdain. We frequently saw people from really different backgrounds laughing and sharing their experiences while others listened respectfully, adding their own experiences and ideas. Sure seemed like if we could do that here around the topic of chickens, gardens, clean water and possible solutions to energy problems, we could expect our government to do the same. All I could think about was that this was a microcosm of America  when she is at her greatest.

One of the highlights was the fellowship with the other couples who stayed at the B and B with us.  We really connected with two other couples: one from Texas who was also there celebrating an anniversary and another young couple from WV.  Talking and sharing with them was really fun.  Even though we come from different background we found that we shared the same core values and stayed up late Saturday night visiting.  Too bad they live so far away as we could all be good friends.

All in all we came away tired but with a wealth of information, excited to try some new things and owners of a few new tools and of course what is a conference if you don't come home with some new books.

 Liz, the graduate student who stayed with us really spoiled us when she brought us maple syrup last year. With those memories and the empty bottles fresh in our minds we decided to get some while we could. While it's not from Vermont, it is the real deal and we'll take what we can get.  At least we won't have to make do with the fake stuff they sell at the grocery store.

 There were several vendors selling seeds so we took advantage of the opportunity to collect some without having to pay for shipping. Believe it or not, we'll get some in the ground soon for our winter garden.  Stay tuned for pictures of the garden as we prepare for colder weather.

Once we were home and had let the chickens out to stretch their legs, Lisa checked the garden and found that our carrots were doing well. of course, because they live under ground you have to pull one to see how they are doing. These particular carrots are red and tasted great in the stir fry we had for dinner.

Pennsylvania Bound

We are leaving out this Thursday morning for the Mother Earth News Fair.  We have taken a week off of work,  booked 4 nights at a bed and breakfast up there, downloaded program guides, picked out workshops, found our interstate route and have arranged someone to take care of the chickens and mail while we are gone.
We decided last January this is what we wanted to do for our 30th anniversary trip so we ordered our tickets and made reservations at the B&B on New Years day. We have been looking forward to it all year.
So the time has actually come and we are off. Off to learn about gardening, amending soil, raising meat birds, saving seeds from your garden, etc etc.  One of the key note speakers is Ed Begley who has a TV show "living with Ed".  He is really funny and it should be a packed house.
While there we plan to visit some Amish quilt shops, furniture makers and stores.  We will let you know all about our trip when we return.  See you in a week.

A Place to Sit and Ponder....

For Lisa's Birthday, I wanted to get her something nice for her sewing room. Of course, I went to our favorite furniture store, Patterson's Amish Furniture for a Morris Chair upholstered in brown leather. It was delivered today and is so much more than we ever expected. I love the idea of building furniture someday (heavy emphasis on "someday") but know it is beyond my skill and tool level at this time. So this is the next best thing.

 Quarter sawn oak, mortise and tenon

Even the back, which is covered by the leather cushion, has beautiful raised panels. It is signed and dated as built for us and delivered through Patterson's Amish Furniture. It sits beautifully and already has an accompanying quilt located on it. 

I can see lots of pondering and quilt designing going on in this chair.  I tried to talk her into trading it for one of the upholstered chairs in the living room and she was having none of it. Can't say as though I blame her.

One other beautiful gift that showed up at our house was the fabulous sweater vest Sara Gatilogo made for Patrick. It is absolutely beautiful, all the more so because it is such a gift from the heart.

The yarn is an alpaca wool tweed knitted with a cable stitch pattern. The color is gorgeous and the fit and feel of the yarn is amazing, I certainly look better wearing it.Cooler weather is just around the corner and I can hardly wait to wear it.  Thanks Sara for making this for me!

Sunday and a spoiler alert.....NOT

So Sunday was a great day.  Got a ton of stuff done in the yard, cleaned out the chicken coop, planted some garlic and then Patrick and I went our separate ways. He went off to do some deer scouting with his hunting buddy and I went off to my workshops: the kitchen and the sewing room.

This is what I got accomplished in the kitchen.

I made 2 loaves of bread along with a bowlful of pizza dough. I froze some of the dough for future meals and then turned the remainder of the dough into this awesome pizza.  It was topped with some homemade pizza sauce and pesto. Toppings included some ground pork crumbles, peppers and tomatoes from the garden and a few remaining mushrooms in the fridge. I sprinkled it with 3 cheeses; provolone, Romano and cheddar.  Why cheddar?  I thought I had mozzarella in the fridge but when I went to grab it I discovered I had none.  Oh well, cheese is cheese. We got to enjoy this meal on the porch.....the 3rd meal eaten there today.  The temperature was glorious.


This is what I got accomplished in the sewing room.

 A label for baby Fleenor's quilt.  What? You want to see the front? So sorry.....you will have to come back after the 28th to see it as that is when the baby shower is.  This is just a little tease for Emily.

Squash Vine Borers

The dreaded squash vine bores payed a visit this week.  I had my suspicions this past weekend when I noticed that a zucchini was no longer growing and that it was actually starting to shrivel on the vine.  I cut it off and inspected it but could fine no indication of a borer inside the zucchini so I left the plant alone. The only way to actually confirm that there is a borer is to split open the main stem and inspect it for debris; which then kills the plant. I was not willing to do that since the plant was still alive and growing.  Today when I went to the garden the plant was all wilted so my suspicions were sadly confirmed.

This is what I first saw when I entered the garden this evening. Yesterday it was really perky and full of life.  This plant had three baby zucchini that I could salvage that are now in the fridge.  Unfortunately there were about 5 tiny sprouts that would have ripened to nice sized zucchini over the course of the next two weeks.  There was no salvaging them.

This is what I saw when I dissected the main stem.  I searched for the caterpillar inside but could not locate it.  All I could see was the yellow debris that it had left behind indicating that it had been eating all the life out of my plant. Pesky little caterpillars.  It robbed me of my zucchini harvest this year.  I have one other plant that is not showing signs of infestation at this point.  I hope it just focused on one plant.  The still-alive plant has about 4 zucchini growing at this point.
Note to squash vine borers/moths:  
Watch out squash moths.......homeowner on the war path

Summertime dinner

Only 1 word is necessary to describe this: YUM

My Latest "Project Linus" Quilt

For those of you unfamiliar with Project Linus..............

Founded in 1995, Project Linus provides love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new, handmade blankets, quilts and afghans. Lovingly created by volunteer “blanketeers,”  blankets are collected locally and distributed to children in hospitals, shelters, social service agencies, or anywhere that a child might be in need of a big hug.

This one was a lot of fun.  

A Riot Of Color

I harvested all these colored peppers from the garden the last few nights.  The yellow ones were a surprise as I thought I had all red ones.  However, three of the plants are producing yellow peppers so  I am fine with that.  Also in that pile are 2 pitifully small carrots.  They have not done very well this year.  Last year we had nice long ones.  Not sure what is different this year.  The leafy pile in the center is celery leaves.  All this (not the carrots) headed to the dehydrator Thursday tonight.  The celery turns to crumbles in about 90 minutes and is great in salad dressing.  The peppers run all night and once re-hydrated are used in lots of dishes throughout the year. Two different kinds of red ones are pictures here; the smaller ones are thinner-walled and the larger ones are those really thick-walled sweet peppers. At a dollar or more each in the grocery store I can't even begin to calculate the money I have saved growing these peppers. Not even to mention the enjoyment I get from seeing this riot of color on the kitchen counters.

Good Chicken Eats From Lisa's Larder

For your enjoyment.............Everytime we exit the back door now the chickens come running cause they think we might have a treat. When they see what is in our hands they start jumping up and trying to get to it. They do the same thing when they see the white oatmeal bowl.  Tonight I was giving them the last of the pumpkin oatmeal bars.  I think I will have to make some more of these. Tell me they aren't smart......okay okay; about some things.

Celery

I read that you can propagate celery from the leftover stem.  So I started a stem a few weeks ago and it is growing some nice roots.  Still not ready to go in the ground but I see it doing that by cooler weather. So today I started another one. We have 2 growing in the garden that we started from seed this past winter.  Celery is a slow grower which requires about an inch of water a week. It also needs regular fertilizing. God took care of the watering this summer for us. I wasn't as good about fertilizing it but it is still looking pretty good.  I will try to get some more growing next year.  Garden sites say it is really hard to grow so time will tell if we are successful or not.

Kitchen Failures.........or NOT

With the boatload of pumpkin we harvested I started trying some new recipes.  Patrick likes to have portable granola bars when he is hunting so I thought this pumpkin oatmeal bar would be a hit.  Boy was I wrong. These things are AWFUL. Patrick took one bite and said "sorry Lisa but this is chicken food".  Now why are some things good using the same ingredients while others are terrible.  So we took 2 down to the chickens to see if they would eat them.  They LOVE them.  So I guess this kitchen failure is actually a success.  Now we will have to see how much I start cooking for the chickens.  HAHA

Labor Day

With today being Labor Day, Patrick and I figured we ought to labor some.  He went to help a Morganton businessman move his shop from near the farmers market to smack dab in the middle of downtown (A great location).  He operates the Amish furniture store where have purchased several pieces.  He is a great guy and the opportunity arose so Pat is off helping him move today.

For me, I have canned the last of the tomatoes.  I had frozen them throughout the summer as they ripened and now that the harvest is complete I decided to make the tomato soup that we love. It has fresh basil and onions from our garden in it along with some celery. I ended up with 7 jars of soup and leftover tomatoes were just canned as tomato sauce.  While the soup was boiling down I cleaned out the garage.  It is amazing how messy it can get in a short period of time.  So I swept the whole thing and reorganized it.  It looks great.

I also made a meatloaf for dinner.  I made enough that we have some for tonight and enough for another one to go in the freezer.  That will be a quick meal on a night I don't want to cook.

In between all these activities I worked on Emily's quilt.  It is sooooo cute. Sorry no pics yet.  The reveal of it will be later in the month after her baby shower.


So all-in-all it was a busy day. I think I see a wine cooler in my future.

Tomorrow....PESTO