My Kitchen morning

The ant party was relocated this morning!  Seems like they are enjoying the new location---probably not as much as me, though.  Knock on wood that we don't have any carpenter ants around;  these are just tiny little buggars that don't do much harm, but are extremely annoying.

Despite waking up a bit later than normal (6:08AM instead of 5:30), the floors and counters were clean before taking the girls to summer school.

I'm getting into a routine of picking the produce as soon as the carpooling is complete.  I didn't have the camera with me this morning, but the goats were talking, talking, talking DETERMINED to let me know they were there, begging for some weeds.  I caved.  I weeded a bit between each row of picking, so the bean picking took a bit longer this morning than usual.  

Cassie helped me pick raspberries yesterday.  And newly added to the goodies:  Blackberries!  Last night, Paul needed to do an errand at a house he built a few years ago. The owner is gifting us his outdoor hot tub.  GIFTING!  This is a NIIIIIIICE hottub!  Once I gave it a mere glance and asked and double-asked if my husband was SURE he said the owner was "giving" it to us {{and Paul saying for the umpteenth time YES}}, my mind was set.  They MUST receive a thank you throw quilt!  A new deadline quilt to work on. :)

Anyway---back to the loot.  When leaving the property and relocking the driveway gate, Paul glanced over and said..."Hmm!  Wild blackberries!"  He picked a couple and ate them.  Well....**I** wasn't going to be left out, so I went to another small patch and picked a handful.  Next thing we knew---the car was turned off, the ice cream cups (that we just bought before going to the house) were emptied,  and we picked a few cups full of berries.  They were just starting to ripen;  and the branches are LOADED with BUKU-TONS more!  And they have so MANY patches!  I want Paul to give them a call (they live in MN; this place in WI is their cabin) to see if they have plans for them.  If not, we would LOVE to take some of them off their hands :)

I haven't tried Blackberry jam before;  to be completely truthful, I needed to add 1/2 cup of raspberry to the bowl cuz I was just a smidge short of blackberry, but..... it's MOSTLY blackberry.  Yum!   And check out our "butter dish."  LOL.  My sister had a good chuckle when she saw it.  I guess we like our butter!  (Mostly DH)  It's actually a vegetable cooking dish of some sort;  but we just buy the pound of butter packages (not quartered) and plop it in there.

The beans were taken care of before the jam;  only 5 pints today; probably not worth starting up the pressure cooker, but I figured I might as well since I needed to be in the kitchen anyway.  

For those of you who preserve gardening goods or even bake/cook.... the "kitchen dance" is a nice zone to get into sometimes.  This morning, the dance involved cutting beans, washing dishes, prepping berries, blanching beans, mixing berries/sugar, washing more dishes.... And four hours later, I'm done!  A bit pooped out too;  I think I think I'm Andee--staying up so late at night.  Gah.... it's hard to keep going when you play BOTH parts:  being a late-night girl AND a morning girl!  

And as I was enjoying my piece of toast with fresh jam, I spied Lil' Mama with her chicks out at the playground tires (umm.....just ignore the weeds! :p)

I have my feet up right now with plans to look around for a throw quilt pattern for the homeowner.  Happy Friday....

Friday!??!!?  OMGoodness!!!  It completely spaced me.    Well, THAT changes my plans.  FIRST, I'm off to see if the QOV Mystery 28 clue #3 has been posted.

Ever make jam???

If you haven't made jam before, you may not realize how EASY is really can be!!!  Last summer when Nikki visited, I demonstrated to her how to make a batch of jam, and when we were finished, her statement was, "Wow!  That really is a lot easier than I had imagined."

I recall spending time with my Grandma as a child (the same Grandma from whom I inherited all the quilting fabric in 2007).  I don't remember how she made her jam; whether she used the same Sure-Jell recipe, but I DO remember picking berries and berries and more berries.

This is the SURE-JELL "quick & easy" method, and it's the ONLY way I have ever made, and probably every will make jam.

Today, it's raspberry jam.  The GREAT thing about this----you ONLY need a relatively small amount of berries!  Three cups crushed (about 5 cups of actual berries).  The strawberry recipe only calls for TWO CUPS of crushed berries!  Now come on!  Who CAN'T go out and buy two cups worth of crushed berries?!?!?!   And "homemade" jam tastes sooooooooo much better than ANYTHING you can buy in the store!

Probably the reason the jam tastes SOOOO good is all the SUGAR that is used!

Here are my 3 cups of crushed berries and 5 1/4 cups of sugar, ready. ({WOW!  Quite the berry:sugar ratio!})

 And mixed together...

While the berries and sugar sit for 10 minutes, I use that time to prepare/wash my containers.  

Containers of choice:  9.5 oz "snack" containers.  This is a generic brand by us (Our Family) and they come 6 to a pack; JUST enough for most of the recipes. 

Once the 10 minutes expire (with a few stirrings of the berries/sugar during that time), the package of SURE-JELL (pectin) gets mixed with 3/4 cup water and brought to a hard boil for 1 minute.

Then.....pour the pectin solution into the berries/sugar and MIX.  

Pour into containers....

and V'iola!  "Homemade" jam!!!!!! 

It REALLY is that simple!  No boiling of the fruit and all that nonsense.  

There are other recipes included in the package; "the Traditional" cooked method, but a) it's too much work and b) I DO NOT care for the flavor!

Once the jam has sat out overnight, it's ready to be put in the fridge and/or freezer.  With only 6 containers to one batch, even freezer space shouldn't be that hard to find.  (Right?)  We have a chest freezer in the garage, so freezer space isn't all that limited (until it's pig butchering time, which usually comes during deer hunting time, which also means fresh venison too.  THEN freezer space gets kinda tight). :D

Jamestown Landing has called me long enough...

I fell in love with Bonnie's Jamestown Landing quilt the instant I saw it!!! I searched and searched online for a place to find the Austrailian Homespun edition that had Bonnie's pattern, and FINALLLLLY (with some help from QuiltvilleChat yahoo group), I was able to find it at Ericas Craft & Sewing.

The SAD news-----it was on back order, and STILL is on back order, expected within the next 2 weeks! :(

However, with a slight hint from Judi at QuiltvilleSwap, I was able to get started on the string blocks while awaiting the magazine.

I had HOPED to spend most of the day quilting away today, however I had some errands to do, and didn't find myself back at home until 10:00. And then....I was visited by my neighbor with a pail of cherries, so we visited for a bit. She actually is the lady who took over my Volleyball coaching position, so we found ourselves talking "business" for a bit since the season is nearing. By the time she left, it was 11:00, and the dishes were calling my name so that I could have some room to make up yet ANOTHER couple batches of JAM! I haven't counted all the jam we have, but it's a good thing we have family and friends who enjoy the homemade jam as much as we do. Three more batches, which means 18 more containers.

Then....a quick bite to eat....

and FINALLY at 1:00, I was able to head downstairs.

Thirty-nine string blocks sewn and await trimming. I HAD organized the papers in stacks of 10, however when I was sewing my 2nd set, I realize (too late) that two of the papers were stuck together. 8-) Only 129 left to do :0) Hey Andee-----I'm stringin' away with you!!!

By 4:00, I needed to pack up shop to get dinner rolling for a couple of friends I invited over for egg rolls and chinese stir fry. And then we headed to..........

The Deathly Hallows - Part 2
I'm not a critic, so I won't critique the movie. As a viewer, I was pleased. As a reader of the books, I was pleased. {{However, I AM interested in re-reading the final book again....just to see how close the movie/book was, because I can't remember all the details. For the most part, I didn't think there were any surprises, had you read the book}}

I certainly hope to get some more quilting in tomorrow.
Angela posted today that she heads back next Wednesday-------OMGoodness! I feel like this summer just started! I'm thankful I have almost another full month before I head back. I'm not ready yet.

Transitions quilted & more jam

Transitions (73"x98")
Days like this, of no particular schedule, are lovely :0) I headed downstairs this morning around 9:00 with full intentions of working on Splendidly Marching Along, and as I walked by the quilting frame, I figured I should AT LEAST take a pass or two on Transitions since I had yet to actually start the quilting, despite having had it loaded for nearly a month.

A couple of passes later, I was back in the quilting-frame-groove.


The backing is mostly the cream flowered pattern shown here, but I needed to put a lil' bit of green along the top/bottom in order to have it fit. It was centered very nicely :0) I don't even recall much of a fuss centering it when loading it onto the frame.

By 12:30, I was wrapping up; trimming off the sides. Binding has yet to be cut/sewn; not putting a goal time on this quilt.....whenever the mood strikes :0)

After some lunch, Caitlyn and I marched over to the raspberry bushes in the 95 degree heat to pick some berries with intentions of making jam. (Yeah---the heat has finally reached Wisconsin! UGH! I don't pity ANY of you in the south where the heat is EXPECTED; why LIVE there??? ;0) Well, 'xept for over the November-March months when the temperatures in the south by FAR beat Wisconsin temperatures :0) Why can't there be a place where the temps are ALWAYS regulated around 70-75 degrees; low humidity; sunny for at least 16 hours of the day--the other 8 are for sleeping--and no severe weather or natural disasters happen?? **sigh** Okay, and then we wake up from THAT dream!)

Anyway.... we ended up with 6 cups of crushed berries; enough for two batches of Raspberry Jam. HOWEVER, I stretched the life of our berries by thawing out and simmering up some Rhubarb from a few weeks back. This allowed us to make three batches (6 containers each) with a 2-1 Raspberry/Rhubarb ratio. Eighteen more containers of jam. YUMMMM! We're set for the year (and then some???)

SO....Sister Jen, if you read this and are interested in some Raspberry/Rhubarb Jam, let me know; I'll be sure to put your name on a few containers :0)