Free to a good home--

Anyone need a handy husband? I have one and I love him dearly but, darn it, he is too good at some things.  For example, he is a great gardener.  He can fix up just about any thing that can break. He's mechanically inclined, pays the bills, can do math, and knows how to clean, wash clothes, do dishes. In other words, I'm giving away a pretty good guy.  You probably won't find another as good.  Nope, not even his sons.

I bet you're thinking, "Me, me, I'll take him."  You'll change your mind.  I did.

Here's the problem: he's too good at some things.  Want a few tomatoes...he grows only a hundred pounds of tomatoes at one time.  No kidding.  And he can do that with about anything he puts his mind to.  Like corn?  Oh, here you are more corn than you can count or cut.  Want to do something fun?  Sure thing...let's go away for hours and hours and hours.

See the problem here?  He's cutting into my sewing time with everything he does well.  Everything.  And since he does everything well, well, everything becomes a problem.  I'm done.  

Done.  D-O-N-E.  Done.  With tomatoes and corn.  There's only okra, squash, and peas left.  By the time I'm done with those I'll be back in school.  

I am just tired of all this canning and putting up veggies.  Sure, I like them all. Lots. But I do not want to be spending my time doing that when I could be sewing or quilting.  I mean, last week alone I canned 50 pints of tomatoes.  50!  



Therefore, I'm giving away the cause of the problem--a pretty good husband.  He's both: pretty and good.  Now you know why I expect you to return him around August or when the veggies are finished. 

He'll come back.  You'll want him to.  So this should work out really well.  Let me know when and where I should send him.

Happy Quilting,

Recycling Tees

I have some old tee shirt freebies that are too big, not my style, or just finished tees.  Plus there are other tees left over from tee shirt quilts that I've made for others.  In that case only part of the shirt is used, but I hate the idea of tossing out the rest.  Knit is not cheap.  So, I've been hoarding the left overs for a while, wondering what to do with it all.  Yes, I agree, it's just a matter of time till I'm shame-faced on a popular tv show.

But!  I had an aha moment!  I've begun making shorts for the little granddaughters with the leftover knit.  Since the girls are still small, it doesn't take much in the way of fabric to make a pair of shorts.

Then I remembered that we have a couple of tees from Adam's home improvement business.  It was really easy to turn one tee into a couple pairs of shorts for his little girl.  I can barely wait til she sees them.

The whole process takes very little time.  I cut out and sew the shorts exactly as I would were I using regular knit fabric. Well, I did make one change: I tried to get the whole MHI advertisement on the shorts.  This means that the pattern for the front and back had to be altered just a little, I taped them together along the side seams so that they become one piece.  This, of course, means that there are only two pieces: a right and a left side.

Some of the other tees were left over from an LSU student's quilt. I think Caki and Soph will like their purple and gold shorts.  I decided today that I will add a little girly pocket to the solid color shorts.  I decided to use a color-block design but they are rather boyish looking and that won't do.  So tomorrow I'll get back to these little shorts and add some girly embellishments then finish the others that are waiting.  All together I have nine pairs, giving the girls each three.  Half are done, so it won't take long to finish the other half.

Of course, this is assuming that my tomato interruption is also over--18 pints of canned tomatoes takes an entire afternoon, so I didn't even go into the studio today.  Ripe tomatoes will not wait long, you know.  It's really disappointing to come home ready to sew and find pounds of some veggie sitting on the counter needing attention.  

Last week, corn.  This week, tomatoes.  Next week, okra.  I mean, really?  No wonder I never make as many quilts as I have plans for.  I'm spending an average of two days per week canning or freezing vegetables.  My husband's green thumb is getting in the way of quilting.

Happy Quilting?

Okra and Embroidery?

Yesterday was an interesting day, which you may have gotten based on the title of this post.  First I did my three hours at summer school, which put me getting home just in time for a quick lunch then wiping down some okra to cut and cook.  

I've put the okra in the freezer before, but we always end up tossing out some that gets old.  Now most people will figure that means that we tend to put up too much.  Not this chickie--I just think there has to be a better way.  So if I don't put it in the freezer what are the other options?  Canning in jars, of course.  

Mom canned some okra that way a couple of times, and I canned okra in jars one summer but that didn't work so well.  I just figured the problem was MY problem.  That said, I didn't look up any info, read any recipes, or even call for advice.   Surely I'd figure it out. 

Perhaps I did.  Just look at these pretty pints.  Twelve in all.  Ready for a mix of family and  gumbo.

The other interesting thing is that I got supper cooked, played in the studio and worked a bit on the Victorian bolster.  I mean, when does it happen that we get to everything on the list?  

The bolster is the topic, though. I dropped in some ribbon stitches, added a red embroidered ship's wheel, and stitched down some pretty grey flowers.  How's that for advancement?

Here's the plan: add in anything that I can get my hands on by finding a place for it as I make the discovery.  It's that simple.  I found the ship wheel, or helm, while looking for some ribbon trim.  This is a way of using up some of the stuff I've stashed over the years.  

This is a crazy quilt, not an organized quilt.

Tomatoes and onion and peppers and.......corn?

Yes, indeed!  Corn!  Our garden is going insane.  Well, really it's supposed to be producing way too much for us.....Richard is selling it at the local farmer's market.  But goodness, we can't eat all the extras.  After he picks the produce, he culls out the items with blemishes.  Those are mine!  

I'm okay with it because I know the blemishes are not harmful and, because I hate for any food to go to waste, I've been trying to use up the culls.  I can't eat cook it up fast enough!

I can put it up though.  I've canned 25 pints of salsa.  There are two batches: one is kind of plain, the other has corn added.  I had that idea when Rich came in and said that he would pull corn to take to his parents.    

Isn't he wonderful?  He pulled and shucked the corn for us.  Cleaning didn't take long and then it was quick work to cut it into the tomato recipe.  

 I must be getting better at this chore: every one of the lids sealed.

I love the sound of that little pop!  If the cooked salsa tastes anything like the raw version, I'll love it as well!

Since corn is one of my favorite veggies, I'm excited to try the corn version, but they both tasted pretty good!

What are you up to during these hot summer days?

Hot, hot, oh, so hot!

Temperatures are reaching the high 90's and the heat index reaches 110 degrees almost daily.  It's simply miserable out-of-doors, so I've been trying to avoid it.  Of course, sometimes it's impossible. 

Yesterday I decided to help Richard with his gardening: I made him a couple of canvas sacks to use while picking vegetables.  They both have shoulder straps to  free up his hands while picking cucumbers, okra, peas, squash--just about anything except tomatoes. 

Everyone asks if I help him OUTSIDE....well, not much.  I go but this heat triggers my migraines.   Besides, he's a fast picker and doesn't really want my whining assistance.  I mostly stay indoors.

Today I not only stayed indoors, I did a little quilting.  I've managed to finish quilting Angie's string quilt.  That means just binding left.

 I dragged it outside to snap a couple of pictures after the sun had dropped below the trees. I waited for the outdoors to cool off a bit, so it was almost too dark!  The mosquitoes were out, so I had to hurry anyway.  There's really no winning at this time of year.

I decided that since this quilt has so many straight lines, I'd have to do something with curves.  Using a khaki colored thread, I started with the green lines and quilted in long free-form wavy lines from one side to the other, crisscrossing them so that the seams locked together because the spaces are too far otherwise.  I also didn't want to have to work at keeping them even or exact.  Instead I wanted an organic feel to the quilting.

After I completed a section, I looked under the quilt to see if whether I needed additional lines to fill in areas that were lacking. 

Over the blue lines, I practiced a simple diamond grid but forgot to get a photo.   The squiggles are easy and fast, and the quilt is soft and squishy.  

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

Can you imagine how many times a girl named Mary can hear that nursery rhyme?  A few times, for certain.  Although most of my weekend was spent making a few little things for the grandchildren, some of which I wrote about here, there was a little time for gardening.
Richard and I picked up a few zinnias and rooster comb, cock's comb, when we went shopping at a local nursery for some more tomato plants.  On Sunday I convinced Rich to help me clean out an area in the very overgrown, weedy flower bed near the patio. 

It's a bit shady but not badly for our Louisiana heat.  We added mulch and planted the zinnias and the rooster comb in this corner.  

The photo above is the view from the patio and the one on the right is from the back of the studio looking toward the patio.

The plants are still pretty small, but there are quite a few flowers already.  I tried finding some plants with only small, tight buds, but that wasn't happening.  I planted the rooster comb on the outside edges of the bed and in front of the crepe myrtle tree. 



Google.com photo of rooster comb

 I'm hoping that the plants eventually fill the space, so I planted them a little tight.  I like my plants to cover the ground.  Of course, I don't like the look I have now...chaos and weeds.

While we were at the nursery, I also picked up this beautiful mandevilla.  I have an old trellis that fit over this pot at one time.  It's been knocked down a few times and is warped, but I love the shape and design and can't bear to get rid of it.  Once the vines fill it in, it looks the same as it did new. 


I have yet to figure out what plant will survive the winters, so every year I end up getting a new vine.  I've tried mandevilla before and it's pretty hardy.  Anything that will sit on my patio must be hardy because it may well take a football to the head, uhm, limb.
I've found G.I. Joe, Matchbox tractors, croquet balls, and this weekend a pair of glasses in my flowers.

Richard choose the mandevilla color but I love it.  It's a deep pink--magenta, I would say.  I chose carefully, but I was surprised that already the vine reaches the top of the trellis. 

In the collage photo above, I have a bougainvillea, which is a plant that a friend gave me last year just before school got out.  It's greening up and has a few flowers, so I'd say it may have survived.  Yay!  It's difficult to keep anything alive here, but to do that through the winter with a tropical plant is pretty celebratory.

 And for a reason to celebrate, here's one: freshly dug Irish potatoes from the garden.  They are perfect when boiled with just a bit of salt and pepper.  I don't even add butter.  Richard has given a few away to friends and family, but I think he's planning to dig them this week to begin selling.  If the rain stops for a few days, I may end up getting dirt under my nails, again.

How does your garden grow?  Any flowers or veggies yet?  Need a few Irish potatoes?  lol

Summer Goodies and Guild Quilting

These pretty jars are likely the last ones of this summer.  I canned them this week and am quite happy to say that I won't be going in the okra again very soon.  Not that the okra are  finished, of course, they would keep producing until the first frost if I continued to pick them two or three times weekly.  But I have no plans to continue.  We have enough in the freezer and pickled in jars for this year at least.

 I have to admit, however, that they sure look nice.  I was able to put up some more tomatoes, this time they are canned with Italian seasonings so that when I put them in spaghetti sauce or use them for pizza, they will already have some of the seasonings I would normally add. Also the tomatoes will taste better if we choose to eat them from the jar.  These were canned whole or cut into large chunks because I have the feeling that we'll eat most of them this way.

Two pints have pickled sweet peppers in them.  I don't eat banana peppers unless they are cooked into something like a gravy, but some of my boys love them.  So I decided to try a few pints.  They look good, and hopefully they'll taste as good.

At a guild meeting of the Louisiana Cotton Quilters Guild a few months ago, we voted to make a Christmas themed quilt to raffle as a fundraiser.  Guild members met a few times to paper piece the quilt blocks, then one or two members worked on sewing the blocks together.  It's a beautiful quilt top.  Because I knew I'd be unable to met to either piece the blocks or put them together, I decided to offer to quilt it.

 At our June meeting, we voted again to allow me to quilt it.  There was quite a lively discussion about whether we should hand quilt it, but there's already a quilt planned for hand quilting.  That one is to raise money for the Cottonport Museum.  In the end, the quilt found it's way to my studio.  I loaded it onto the Innova before I realized that I hadn't taken a photo.  So here's a photo of a section of the top.  It's more difficult to see, of course, but you can see that the colors are very Christmasy in shades of red and green and a golden yellow.  I promise more photos later.  I actually took several photos but they are even worse than this one!  I'm such a horrid photographer!

 In the darkest green and in the yellow there's a scroll or vine motif, which I like to do, so I'm pretty sure I'll use that somewhere in the quilting.  I've already decided to quilt a wreath design in the red square.  I'm just not sure what I want to do with that green.  It's an odd shape and I need to fill the quilt with as much quilting as I can.  Because so many different people worked on the piecing, there are some sections that are a bit loose and I think that dense quilting will resolve some of the issues that come with loose stitches.  Any suggestions for a good, dense quilting motif that is maybe just a little Christmas?  I sure could use some help with this!

Tomatoed

This morning my in-laws did a wonderful thing for us.  They came really early, really really early and picked vegetables for us.  Peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers the whole bit.  I had picked the okra yesterday afternoon late, so that's the only thing they didn't do.  Then, get this, wonderful folks that they are they took the peas home and shelled them.  Then, they delivered the peas to us, and mom-in-law helped me to clean and cut the okra.  We bagged the okra and peas and put them in the freezer, but that still left peppers and tomatoes.  No, I mean TOMATOES.   A bushel maybe.  Lots.  No really, lots and lots.


What to do with lots and lots of tomatoes?  Here's my deal: I canned them.  Well, I canned what I could.  First I had to peel them because the peelings are definitely not something I care for after cooking.  To do that I boiled water in a medium sized pan and dropped 'maters in.  A few seconds later they come out and the peelings slide off.  Core and quarter them and drop into a bowl for later when everything's peeled.  After that I chopped them using a cutter that my parents used to cut okra and green onions back when they were still truck farming.

The photo here shows a side view of the cutter.  There's a handle in the upper left corner that, when pulled down, moves the "fingers" down and forward.  The veggies are put right on top the blades (the dark lines in the center of the picture) and the fingers force the veggies through the blades, effectively slicing them into one-quarter inch pieces.  Tomatoes zip through in nothing flat.  So cutting a big bowl of peeled tomatoes doesn't take long.  Then I add onions, peppers and garlic and stirred it all together.  Stuff into hot pints add 1/2 teaspoon of margarita salt (I happen to have that already) and fill with the juice from the sliced tomatoes.  Put hot lids and rings on and drop into a hot water bath.  They need to be in the boiling water for about 10 minutes.  Then remove to a towel on the counter to cool and look at what beautiful seasoning we have.

Twelve pints of seasoning tomatoes, ready for gravies, stews, spaghetti sauce, okra gumbo, soups, and so much more.  There's just enough salt to help preserve them and add to the flavoring without having to worry about high blood pressure.  The onions, peppers and garlic will certainly enhance anything that the tomatoes will go into.  We could eat them as they are, sort of like salsa, but I really canned these to use in my cooking.  It's a wonderful secret ingredient and because they are in jars, I can use any amount and store the rest in the fridge.  In the past I have frozen the seasoning in ice trays then popped them into zipper bags to use, but there's no space in the freezer for them and I really like the fresh flavor of canned veggies.

How about this: all twelve jars sealed!  Yea!  When I canned the pickles and relish, two pints didn't seal.  So this is an improvement.

Check out this great pot that my dad gave me a while back.  It's my mom's old pressure cooker. I bet it's filled with stories.  My mom canned for a family of ten using this pot.  It's so old that it uses the old system of nuts and bolts to hold the lid down.  To open it when the lid is closed tight, I have to pry the lid off with a hammer.  Tapping lightly on the part that the bolts fit into also works but either system takes time and muscle.  Oh, let's not forget the muscle required to lift that heavy pot.  I will not attempt to move it unless it's completely empty.  That means hauling water in pitchers to fill it.  But, it's perfectly okay.  Using it reminds me of how hard my mom was willing to work to help provide for us.



How about you?  Have you canned any fruits or veggies?  Tell us about it.  Don't forget that leaving a comment will also give you an extra chance to win the  anniversary giveaway!  Read about it here.  The winner gets both giveaway gifts: the fleur de lis appliques and the $44 Etsy shop giveaway.  The winner will be chosen on June 22.

Green Groceries and Fried Salad

Our garden is really starting to come up.  The corn is getting as tall as I am and today we noticed a few tassels.  That means it's just a matter of a few weeks before there will be small ears ready for picking.  We like the baby ears raw right off the stalk--cob included.  My father-in-law used to call us the possums because we ate the ears before they're ready.  Then a few years later a company started pickling the baby ears and selling them.  I enjoy telling my father-in-law that I was (and still am) on to something.

Richard planted some pole snap beans in the hopes that he wouldn't have to bend down to pick the beans. His back and neck give him trouble, so he figures standing to pick the beans will be easier.  Either way, these beans are really growing.  They haven't put on any buds yet, but I imagine that they will soon.  There are a few hills in this small raised bed and another row in another garden.  The hills in the raised bed look much prettier than the others, but they are about two weeks ahead.

Our tomatoes are doing well, also.  They have lots of blooms and a few tomatoes.  It will be a few weeks before they're big enough to consider picking.  I can't wait to have enough green tomatoes, yellow squash, zucchini, okra, and bell peppers for picking.  We make something called Fried Salad that is just awesome and is part of our summer treat.  We don't have it too often because, well, it is fried which sort of negates the value of eating veggies.  I use whatever is in season or I happen to have available at the time. I've included the recipe below in case you're interested in eating some not-so-healthy vegetables that are really the best tasting veggies ever!

Fried Salad
1 med onion sliced into thick rings
2 med bell peppers, sliced into thick slivers
1 lg zucchini, sliced into thick slices
3-4 yellow squash, sliced into thick slices
8-10 okra, cut into large pieces
2 med green tomatoes, sliced into thick slices
1 lg egg
1/4 cup milk
Tony's seasoning
1 cup flour
1 cup fish fry
4-6 cups cooking oil

Mix cut up vegetables in a large bowl.  Scramble egg and milk in small bowl and pour over veggies.  Sprinkle Tony's on veggies, mix well and allow to marinate for 30 minutes.

In heavy skillet or deep pan, heat cooking oil until hot.  Mix flour and fish fry in a large bowl, and dredge vegetables in flour mixture, then drop into hot oil.  Fry for a few minutes, and turn over.  Remove to platter covered with several paper towels.   Serve while hot and crispy.

Variations: mix and match vegetables to serve the ones you prefer.  Other vegetables that can be used include Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, scallions, califlower, carrots, and mushrooms.

Enjoy and let us know how your dish turns out.