Worst blogger award

Yeah, well. I'm the worst blogger in the world. It is what it is. But I have been busy.

Last weekend the kids went out of town for a little R&R before school starts up and to celebrate the sale of a portion of their company. GMan stayed with me and O.P. went down the road to the other grandparents. We are really fortunate to all live within a few miles of each other and I have never once regretted moving back from Texas to be near this one. In addition to a little fun at the big scary mouse house, we played badminton inside and had endless hours of trains, watching movies, and peeling tons of apples to make applesauce. G was thrilled that the owner beneath me was out of town too, which meant he could run and jump without me trying to keep the rambunctiousness of a 3 y/o in check.

This was a little gift/blog win from Joanne, who moved this past week from Indiana to New Hampshire. Really cute stuff, but I'll have to let those fabrics age a bit while I decide on a pattern. Thank you, Joanne, and let me know when your machine is up and running again!

Yesterday was a PIGS day at the LQS... lots of fun, people, and food. What more could ya ask for? I knew no one but the owner, so I didn't spend as much time gabbing as others, but still felt like I didn't accomplish much. Then the power went out with an hour left to our day, so we all had to pack it in.

One of the things I worked on was this County Lines project that I bought a couple of years ago. This will most likely be a charity quilt.

Friday was the 2nd class of our Mystery and we are now making these 5-inch blocks -- twelve with the accent as the background and another 24 with the usual background. Slooooow going; here are eight done with the black/accent background shown with the 12 blocks we made from the first class. Friday's class was short and I only got one made then, and another seven yesterday. Thankfully the next class is a month away, with 28 blocks to go. I did come to appreciate the Tucker Trimmer though. It will be interesting to see how this all comes together. That stuff on the right in the picture below is the S&W I had to pull out of the way.

Here are two UFOs I took that I didn't get around to working on. The blocks in the top are pair sets for disappearing 9-patch which, when it all came together, I lost interest in when I didn't care for my choice of background. The fabric on the bottom is a Lasagna quilt that just needs the rows sewn together and decide on a border. These will both be Project Linus quilts.

More stuff I took and didn't work on!

I'm still enjoying my fruit every week, although it's starting to pile up! Yellow Shiro plums and apricots and apples out the wazoo right now, and no time to do anything with them. This fresh-from-the-oven pic was a Plum Torte I made for a birthday celebration at work last week. I figured something that (urban?) legend says gets printed in the New York Times for 20 straight years might be tasty. I threw in the blueberries so it would have a little color, and they provided a little more sweetness thankfully, as the Shiro plums were amazingly tart when cooked (tart skin, sweet flesh).

What are your favorite apricot or plum or apple recipes?

Until next time,

Sheila

Thursday is fruit day

Week 1 leftovers

Last summer was my first experience with shopping a farmers' market for fruits, veggies, meats, cheese, honey, and all sorts of other great organic food. I was in heaven. I bought all kinds of produce I'd never tried and had blast. Although my mother was not an adventurous cook, it very much reminded me of my childhood when we shopped at farm stands throughout the summer and bought our eggs from a farm early every Sunday morning before church. They had an egg refrigerator on the back porch and a little bowl for the money; it was a small town honor system.

One of the things I wanted to try this year was making jams/jellies and salsa. I asked for and received a canning set for Christmas, and committed to a 20-week fruit CSA for this summer. I signed up for a 4-person share so that I would have enough to preserve and some for me and the kids to enjoy through the week. For three weeks we received strawberries, and boy were they delicious.

The first week I followed one of the recipes for strawberry jam in the the Ball Blue Book "bible" and added 7 cups!! of sugar to two quarts of strawberries. The thought of eight 8-oz jars of jam with 7 cups of sugar divided among them made my pancreas squirm, but I did it anyhow. If nothing else, it was a good reference point for future sessions. I have a few jars left from the first batches (it's like your first quilt, you know?), but gave the rest away to the kids and my daughter-in-law's parents & sister.

I researched and found a different type of pectin that doesn't rely on sugar to gel. I bought it at Whole Foods Market, where it was about $2 less than the manufacturer if you can believe that. Each box makes 2-4 batches of jam or jelly, so it ends up being less expensive than the common varieties of pectin. And I'm much happier with the results (2 cups sugar v. 7 cups).

This week we received three different types of cherries, but I have no clue what types. Does anyone have good tips for distinguishing cherries? I'll make a pie for the weekend, and Susan told me I must try her Cherry Bounce recipe. I've never heard of it, but it sounds interesting.

Cherry Bounce

2 cups whole, unpitted sour cherries, gently washed

1/3 cup sugar

peel of one lemon

3 cups bourbon

Put the cherries in a quart jar. Add sugar and lemon peel, then fill with bourbon. Set in sun for at least two weeks, then store in a dark cupboard for two months or longer. Strain/filter to drink in small shot-type glasses, or repackage for great holiday gifts.

The process sounds a lot like limoncello and all I can think of is me imitating Carly Simon singing Anticipation.

Take care,

Sheila