life's little adventures

a sneak preview~ i have so much to be thankful for!

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:08:00 +0000

last week i had the forethought to buy my turkey, instead of waiting to the last minute. (as I'm prone to do) i bought the biggest turkey i could find, which turned out to be just a little bit bigger than my pot. but with some determined stuffing and cramming i managed to make it fit in there!

i decided to roast the gigantic bird today, to alleviate the rush and stress in the kitchen tomorrow. A and B were excited to peek in the oven to see how it was doing.

and here we have it~ roasted to perfection! yum, yum! our thanksgiving table will be groaning with bounty tomorrow~ turkey, stuffing (old family recipe), peas and corn, cranberry jello (another family tradition), buns, apple pie and pumpkin pie (G's request, rather than pumpkin whoopie pies) and mashed potatoes.

i have so much to be thankful for~ not just tommorw, but every day of the year. on the top of that list is my loving husband and houseful of children.

life is good.

spreading the love...

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:32:00 +0000

last week i finally managed to get the 5 bushels of apples on our front porch canned for the winter. usually we put up as many as 10 bushels, often trying to get that done in one crazy long day of canning.

but that was back in the days of having 4 helpers. this year it was just G and i, and i procrastinated for longer than usual, feeling rather trepiditious about tackling that many apples with just one helper.

i must be getting wimpy in my old age!

anyway...

i just wanted to share with you the recipes that we use to preserve our apples for winter- applesauce (of course), apple butter and new to this year's line up: apple pie filling.

Gramma Jean's Applesauce

(makes 13 quarts)

Add to your finished applesauce:

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup honey

1 t. salt

4 t. cinnamon

1 t. nutmeg

½ t. cloves

if very bland can add 1 T lemon juice

mix together, and hot water bath quarts 20 minutes

Apple Butter

5 quarts prepared PLAIN applesauce

10 cups sugar

1 cup vinegar

2 t. cinnamon

1 t. cloves

combine and mix well in crock pot. cook on low until thickened to desired consistency. stir regularly. ( i cooked mine for a long time; the butter reduced to 7 pints!) hot water bath pints 10 minutes.

Dave and the girls like this on their morning toast. it's the new favorite.

Apple Pie Filling

8 quarts sliced apples (do not use a soft apple!)

3 ½ cups cold water

14 T cornstarch

5 ½ cups sugar (not so much if apples are sweet)

4 t. cinnamon

7 t. lemon juice

1½ t. nutmeg

mix all but apples, and bring to a boil; gently add apples and fold together. pack into jars and hot water bath 20 minutes for quarts.

this recipe is fairly easy (it just takes forever to slice all those apples yourself!) and it makes the task of making apple pie super easy! i bought some pie crusts on sale (for shame!) and making a fresh apple pie for dessert is not a hassle at all.

crumb topping

½ cup flour

½ cup sugar

½ cup finely chopped walnuts

1 stick butter

combine and sprinkle over the pie before baking

finally, with the completion of apple preservation i can finally say that I'm done canning and preserving for this year! after i make sure that my kitchen notebook is accurate, I'll be removing the putting stuff up list from my side bar.

it's been a long and busy season, and we're thankful for the abundance of fruits and vegetables that God has provided! we'll be eating well all winter long~ and we have lots of extra to share with friends!

look both ways before crossing the street!

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:55:00 +0000

if you're one of my regular readers, you may have noticed that the traffic is a bit busier than normal today. that's because I'm "hosting" a stocking giveaway over at weareTHATfamily. Kristen has written a flattering post about my quilts and stockings, encouraging all her readers to come on over and have a look.

if you haven't stopped in at the Quilt Gallery lately, please do! i finally finished moving around the furniture and unpacking all the boxes, and the quilts are all hanging up for display. there are a few new quilts, as well as some more coming soon.

and of course, be sure to stop in at Kristen's blog for your own chance to win the set of Christmas stockings.

it's sure to be a busy and exciting day; i'm so glad you stopped by. if you're new here, consider coming back again~ it's been nice to have all of you!

if at first you don't suceed... try, try again!

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:09:00 +0000

another month has sped right by, and it's the first Friday of the month. as in First Friday celebrations and general frivolity downtown in our little town. that means that it's time for the town bake off again, and this months' theme was pumpkin.

so after obsessively licking my wounds and nursing my pride from last month's disappointing results, i gathered up my courage (and my pumpkins) and decided to try again.

and no offense to Pioneer Woman, but this month i decided to go with my new favorite foody blogger, Bridget. she makes the most awesome cookies~ absolutely incredible! most of her cookies look too wonderful to eat. but don't worry, they are the best ever roll out sugar cookies I've ever made. (even if they don't look anything like hers! but that's another post for another time...)

moving right along...

after much agonizing, pondering and far more indecision than I'm normally given to, i decided to make Bridget's pumpkin whoopie pies, which she adapted from a Martha Stewart cookbook.

and can i just say? that was probably the best decision i made all week.

meaning~ i won the town's pumpkin bake off contest.

would it be bragging if i said it again?

I won the town pumpkin bake off contest!

*insert blogger's little happy dance here*

so the moral of the story is: Martha really knows what she's doing when it comes to stuff like flour, sugar, eggs and butter. just run the other way if she starts talking about the stock market!

in which the blogger offers up yet ANOTHER lame excuse...

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:35:00 +0000

all is well here at our house.

well, mostly.

if you don't count the computer, sewing machine and digital camera.

all of which have decided to die in various degrees of severity in the last week.

that's why you haven't heard much from me.

on more than one occasion, i have found myself drifting idly around, wondering what on earth to do with myself.

no computer?

no sewing machine?

horrors!

but i have managed to find myself a new time-consuming past time.

administering medications via nebulizer.

four times daily.

times two.

BOTH little s have bronchitis.

apparently Dave was hoping that i would use some of my free time to clean.

and G was hoping that i would do some baking.

it's not looking good for either of those things, but as for snuggling on the couch and reading stories?

check.

and double check.

it's a sneak preview for all my favorite readers!

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:37:00 +0000

I've been working very hard getting some special stuff ready in preparation for a giveaway that I'll be participating in at Kristen's blog.

on November 10th, she'll be hosting her weekly giveaway, and that week it will be a set of scrappy his~n~hers Christmas stockings that i made.

how cool is that?

but if you don't want to wait until then, or if, perchance, you don't win the giveaway... you can still get yourself (and your brood) your very own stockings. you can go see them here.

another thing that i was feverishly working on all last week was: QUILTS! i had an opportunity to exhibit some quilts in a local fall festival. while i was disappointed to not sell any quilts, i was able to spend more time than usual quilting. and what can be so bad about that?

in conjunction with the giveaway, i wanted to post an on-line quilt gallery for people to see what I've made, and (hopefully) purchase some of my quilts. i anticipate an increase in bloggy traffic after the 10th, so i want to have everything spiffy and ship shape for all my visitors.

the gallery is not quite done yet, but there's lots of pictures (and inspiration), so head on over and take a looky~see!

it's so easy, i know you can do it!

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:02:00 +0000

a little while ago i promised a free quilt tutorial from my quilting class that i taught at the Ben Franklin in September. here, (at long last) it is! (and i guess it's been even longer than i thought since i posted last. after trying unsuccessfully to log into blogger, i found that i had forgotten my password! imagine that!)

anyway- this quilt, Trip Around the Scrap Basket, (and tutorial) is taken from the book "Slice 'Em and Dice 'Em Quilts"

while this quilt may look overwhelming with all the triangles, it's actually very easy once you break it down into manageable (and understandable) parts. this quilt is made entirely of squares ~ 9 patch blocks and also larger squares.

before we really get started, remember that it's always important with quilting to have an accurate 1/4" seam allowance. a sixteenth here and a sixteenth there can quickly add up, causing your quilt to not go together properly. that's really frustrating when you've spent money and time on piecing the top. so take the time to check for accuracy- you'll be glad you did later! also, i almost always use grey thread in the top and bobbin when quilting. it's a universal match, and if you wind several bobbins ahead, you can really make good time.

this quilt, as I've already said, is made up of 9 patch blocks. (it's actually very similar to the Tossed 9 i pieced last winter.) the center square of the 9 patch is always the same- in my case, the yellow. the inner 4 blocks are your lightest fabric (tan) and the outer 4 are the colors that you've chosen to make predominant in your quilt. (blue and brown). look at my square below to help make that a bit clearer.

the selection of your fabrics is actually the most difficult part of this quilt. it is very important that the center square is different in color and/or value from all the other fabrics that you choose. and the lights need to be LIGHT ~ not just sortakinda light. (and don't use muslin either, that's too 1980's!)

i chose a multitude of blues and browns for my quilt. I've laid out all the fabrics that i used in my quilt, just to give you an idea. my quilt is significantly bigger than the one in the book, so i needed lots of different fabrics. (this is where we all do a happy dance for the invention of fat quarters~ a great way to build your stash without alot of money)

since the center square is the "dark" and the inner 4 are the "light", that leaves us with "medium" for the outer 4. it's important that all your fabrics be of the same value. an easy and quick way to determine if all your fabric choices are "keepers" is to take a digital picture of them and then change it to black and white. you can see above that all my fabrics "read" with the same "value". there are no fabrics that jump out at you. again, this is very important to the design of this quilt- you want the eye to travel around the quilt, and not get stuck on any particular fabric.

if you're still with me at this point, you're home free! the rest is easy-peasy! these squares are all 3 ½". (including seam allowance) you can either strip piece them, or do it the traditional way. (which is square by square) the orientation of the outer 4 blocks (my blue and brown) makes absolutely no difference. trust me on this one. just make sure that you've used an equal amount of each color.

once you've pieced all your 9 patch units cut them up into 4 equal sized blocks.

now, here's where the really interesting and intriguing part comes. from all your blues and browns, cut squares that are 4 3/4". draw a line from corner to corner diagonally. then match this plain square to one of your quartered 9 patches. with a 1/8 seam, sew down either side of your drawn line.

make sure you orient your quarter 9 patch unit like is in the picture. trust me on this, too.

next, cut the new unit apart on the drawn line. press, with the SA towards the square.

after you've done this to each of the quarter units of the original 9 patch, you'll have 8 new blocks.

here's what happens if you're not paying attention and orient the square units the wrong way on the quarter 9 patch. since these are the only 2 that i did wrong in my whole quilt, I'm not feeling too bad about it! (and besides, i needed this example to show to all my students, right?)

for each 9 patch that you sew, you'll get 8 of the new blocks, so plan accordingly. my quilt is 14X18 units square. that means i only had to make 32 9 patch blocks. with quick and easy strip piecing, surely that's not an unmanageable number! with an inner border of 2" and the outer border at 4" my quilt finished at 67" X 83"

if you click on the picture of my completed quilt, you'll be able to see how to arrange all your squares. if you have a design wall, more power to ya! otherwise, wait until the kids are in bed and lay it out on the living room floor. you'll want to do this to make sure that you don't have 2 like fabrics next to each other.

i quilted this quilt (in a evening) using invisible thread (and a walking foot, of course), and stitch-in-the-ditch. (the backing is brown)

if you really love this quilt, but don't want to make your own, it's for sale. contact me if you're interested in buying it. soon my quilt gallery will be up and running, so you'll be able to see some of the other quilts that i've made.

this quilt was fun (and easy) to make, and since the old-fashioned 9 patch is one of my favorite blocks i really enjoyed the new challenge and look that resulted from this old standby. already I've had one of my children drop a not-so-subtle hint that this quilt would make a wonderful graduation-from-college gift.

I'll have to ponder that one for a spell.

8 women signed up for this class, and i remembered to take pictures of 3 of the quilts. you can see the great variety that is accomplished just in the different fabrics chosen.

Sondra made this quilt for her dog (!)

Carla's grand daughter will be the happy recipient of this quilt.

and (???) made this quilt for her bed. notice that she did hers differently, and it turned out just fine. all her 9 patch squares used only blue (in the outer 4), and her other square units were brown exclusively. i was worried that it would not work, but obviously this is a beautiful quilt!

if you decide to make a quilt of your own using this pattern, please feel free to ask any questions about some of the important information I'm sure I've inadvertently omitted.

and by all means, e-mail me a picture of your competed (or not) quilt! I'd love to see what you've made.

so would my 8 other faithful readers!

i would even go so far as to say that it made 26 hours in the car worth it!

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 01:12:00 +0000

when we took M and N down to Bob Jones University in August, the highlight of the trip was that Papa and Nanny drove up from Florida to spend time with us.

the girls regularly talk to nanny and papa on the phone, but it had been over a year since they saw them.

it took the little girls some time to warm up to the real people behind the loving voices on the phone, but both A and B were so happy to see their grandparents.

we didn't do anything more special together other than visit and spend time talking and catching up.

A is quite happy and secure in the knowledge of how much her papa loves her.

she loved interacting with him, and teasing him, as well as being teased right back!

baby B was a little bit more reserved and hesitant to be so exuberant, but she was full of smiles and giggles too!

i had a special quilt that i wanted to give Bud and Joyce. even though they live so far away, and we rarely see them, it's no doubt that they love our whole family. i wanted to give them a little something to let them know how much they mean to me, and how much we all love them right back.

our visit was much too short, but we were so happy to see them, and are looking forward to seeing nanny and papa again.

hopefully sooner rather than later!

but only if you're a world famous blogger...

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 02:02:00 +0000

on the first Friday of every month our downtown has a little shindig. there's discounts at all the stores, giveaways, activities for the children and just general frivolity and happiness. all in the spirit of Spend Money At A Local Buisness And Buy More Stuff.

i usually go and participate. that is, me and my faithful sewing machine, Miss Bernina.

we go and demonstrate whatever quilting class I'll be teaching that month at the Ben Franklin. it's just a time for me to sew in piece and quiet, and chat with any prospective students, encouraging them to come to my classes.

this month the Dry Goods Store had a little contest. an apple bake-off. with gift certificates being awarded to first, second and third place.

i thought that it would be fun to participate, being the domestic homemaker that i am.

*ahem*

so i signed up early in the week, paid my entry fee, bought a handful of granny smith apples and this afternoon while the girls were sleeping i made PW's Upside Down Apple Cake.

i figured that the odds were pretty good for me to win something.

not.

i got fourth place.

and that's only if you're being polite.

there were only three other entries: emergency cake (whatever that is!), apple dumplings and a spicy pie.

so really, i came in last.

what's with that, anyway?

PW got 444 comments on that post, saying how wonderful her cake is, it's so delicious, we had it for dinner last night when George Bush came over, it's my dog's favorite dessert, this cake changed my life and saved my marriage, I'm going to run out and buy a cast iron skillet... blah, blah, blah.

444!

so now we know 2 things: I'm really whiny tonight.

and I'm obviously not a world famous blogger.

(but i guess we knew that already, didn't we?)

next month the bake-off is for a pumpkin dessert.

if I'm done whining about it, i think i might try again.

and no hard feelings, PW.

really.

Thursday's Livestock and Garden Report ~ Week 27

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:39:00 +0000

although we still have just a few things going on in the gardens, i will reluctantly call this the last L&G post for 2009. it's been a busy growing season for us, but not nearly as busy as it could have been. we'll remember all the things that we've learned this year, and by doing better next year, we'll be busier~ and have more of a harvest. but all-in-all, it's been a good year.

here's a view of the upper garden from the duck puddle. you can see the buckwheat and pole bean cover crop. the soil is not that great, as evidenced by the stunted buckwheat, but we're still working on it!

we did finally pick the beans, and i got enough to freeze for 3 meals. the yield was disappointing, but I'm thankful for what we did get.

note to self: although i did plant these beans (back in July) as a cover crop, i was certainly hoping to harvest a fair amount of beans, both to eat and to sell. however, all that was available at Agway were pole beans. i wasn't able to stake all the beans, so we just let them crawl over the ground. they did their main job of shading out the weeds in an area of the garden that had just been tilled up. (we decided halfway through the summer that we wanted less yard and more garden) however, pole beans apparently really do need to climb. (go figure) consequently, the beans were in all stages of maturity- from blossoms to tiny beans to nicely edible to cigar size. i sorted them out for people consumption and animal consumption and just called it a lesson learned.

we pulled all the beans out, and tilled the green stuff under,

including the buckwheat. already we have a winter cover crop of annual rye and oats in. with the rain that we've received in the last few days, the shoots are already peeking through the soil. both of these crops are not winter hardy, so at some point we'll roll out some of our mulch hay.

last week we butchered our 2nd crop of chickens. that was the batch that we had such a miserable time with, having only 21 chickens to butcher! (out of the 50 that we started with!) 15 were sold, and the remaining 6 i put in our own freezer.

the chickens are winding down as well, with our final batch of 50 4 weeks old today, giving them another 6-8 weeks to get pleasingly plump.

the first crop of green beans that i planted is still growing! we left them on the tomato cages and just planted the rye around them. the girls love to go out and pick beans for the chickens.

the chickens are always eager for something green, and B is quite adept at poking the beans through the wire without getting pecked by a greedy hen.

we are getting almost a dozen eggs nearly every day, and it's hard to keep up with that production rate! i freely share with some friends from church~ but still...

soon the older hens will be destined for the pot. it seems such a shame (disloyal, even) but they're getting ragged looking and old. from the 5 older hens, we're only getting 2 or 3 eggs a day now, so there's definitely some slackers in there!

B is still enjoying some of our fresh peppers- what's left of them. i forgot all about them down in the lower garden, so we definitely could have had more for the freezer if i had remembered!

the big red pig was ready to butcher, and i was able to sell him at the last minute to someone we found through our butcher! Dave still wants to try our hand at butchering our own pig, and since it's still too warm to do that, i was so glad to not be stuck with this gigantic pig!

we got him all crated up and i drove him on his final journey to the butcher shop. we got a call later in the week that he hung at 223lb! that's some pig!

we found this praying mantis while working down in the lower garden

and had a fascinating time looking at him. a praying mantis is a cool looking bug~ in a freaky sort of way!

but the really big news is~ we bought a potato plow! with 5+ rows of potatoes to dig, any help we can get is appreciated!

it's actually a horse drawn walking plow (close-up pictures later, hopefully) but easily adaptable to our horses Massey and Ferguson. i was elected to drive, while Dave wrestled with the plow behind. the idea is to run the tip of the plow right down the middle of the potato hill, and all the potatoes just pop up and out, neatly laying in the row for the happy helpers to gather up.

*ahem*

there's definitely a technique for using this implement, and we're still learning. but even with several stops and starts, we were able to dig a whole row rather quickly.

we filled the wagon with Red Pontiac and kennebec, plus a few renegade pumpkins.

next year perhaps I'll grow all my veggies like we did these pumpkins- benign neglect. (and come to think of it, the whole gardening thing would be so much easier!) we did not plant one. single. pumpkin. seed. and at the beginning of the season, i was even pulling the baby pumpkin shoots like weeds! but still~ we got a respectable showing of pumpkins, did we not?

however, i can say that the philosophy of benign neglect does not work for flower beds! i really need to get out and weed before we close everything down for the winter.

i also have bulbs to plant- garlic and spring flower bulbs. i ordered some bulbs from gurney's and Dave got me tons of tulips and daffodils for my birthday so i can see another gardening day in my near future!

I've never planted garlic before, so I'm looking forward to trying it. i still haven't decided where in the garden to put them- i don't want to forget about them and accidentally till them under in the spring!

our freezing and canning is also winding to a close- just some grape jelly (today) and applesauce (next week) to do yet.

we also need to put the cover back on the high tunnel. it's getting chilly here at night (no frost) and the broccoli and cauliflower are doing well. hopefully well enough to actually produce something!

I'd also like to get a planing of lettuce and spinach in the high tunnel and cold frames. i should have done that a few weeks ago, but never got to it... i have noticed, in all my second plantings, that the plants do well, but take longer to mature and produce.

so- i guess that's it! we learned alot, and had a good time with our gardens this year. before you know it, the seed catalogs will be pourning in again, encouraging us to dream and plan for next year.

whatever happened to that sporadic blogger, anyway?

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:54:00 +0000

i figured since I'm starting to get e-mails, phone calls and other frantic inquiries from people that i know in real life, i better at least post something up here, so my ~~hundreds of faithful readers~~ MIL won't wonder if I'm sick or dead.

ever since M and N went to college and G started school again, I've lost a bunch of people to ~~boss around~~ help out, it seems as if I'm too busy to post about my exciting life.

but- i haven't forgotten about all of you, my dear and faithful readers, and i have a few posts up my sleeve that I'd like to share with you.

soon.

but until then- here's a sneak preview of coming attractions:

* the final Livestock and Garden Report for 2009

* chores and the getting of them done (happily)

* my first ever giveaway!

* a quilting tutorial

* another quilting tutorial

* more pictures from our trip to SC

* general profound ramblings about evangelical Anabaptists

* another giveaway that i'll be participating in at weareTHATfamily

* a new feature of my blog: QUILT gallery

so- since nap time is officially over, and can not be stretched out any longer (and believe me, I've tried!) i need to get off the computer.

but I'll try to be back soon.

promise!

it's got to be some kind of bloggy record!

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:51:00 +0000

can you believe it ~ we actually built another outbuilding without me giving you an agonizing blow-by-blow (with pictures) to accompany every board and nail that went into the construction!

wow. like i said ~ some kind of record!

we need a woodshed to store all our wood for the winter- Dave estimates that we burn 35 face cords of wood each heating season. (which around here can truly be from September to April!)

originally we had planned on building the shed over top of the stove, and running the chimney up through the roof of the wood shed.

that's until we heard the startling story of what happened to friends of ours from church: it seems that after the stove was fed and stoked for the afternoon, the door was not shut. this led to a massive buildup of gasses at the top of their wood shed, which in turn lead to a massive (if not impressive!) explosion which sounded like a train barreling down the tracks at full steam.

after hearing this story at the church picnic, Dave decided that he didn't want to chance the same thing happening at our house.

even if it is covered by insurance!

we bought a truck load of logs, and Dave worked at cutting that into lengths.

with the tractor, G and N, it didn't take long to get all that wood cut and stacked. the wood shed will hold only about half of what we burn, so the rest will be stored somewhere else, under tarps.

we decided to get another truck load of logs, and in addition to being fairly green, the logs were much bigger than the previous load.

so yesterday Dave brought home an early Christmas present for G: a gasoline powered wood-splitter that he borrowed from a friend at work. (as opposed to the old-fashioned way: a son-powered wood splitter. with really great muscles. named G.)

it's helpful to have 2 people working the splitter, and in just 1 hour this morning, Dave and G split the same amount of wood that would have taken nearly all day by hand!

the girls and i took out a snack for the hard-working wood crew, and admired their work.

and reflected on how true that old adage is- "he who heats with wood warms himself twice"

just a little bloggy love!

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 23:23:00 +0000

a beautiful northern PA fall day was even more delightful when i received a package in the mail from my "bloggy friend" Milah. inside was a handmade in Indiana pottery bowl:

(notice the zucchini and summer squash? my late planting is really, finally producing!)

AND... this wonderful pebble-ware-surfaced 9X9 baking dish! it's aluminum, and i can tell already that it's going to be my new favorite baking dish. (especially since my family is so much smaller now)

i got right to work making apple crisp- so much easier than apple pie, and every bit as good! (although, the topping is much darker than it normally is. i didn't have any brown sugar, and had to make a substitution involving white sugar and molasses. because, since when do i ever follow a recipe exactly?)

here's the finished yummyness- and the baking dish was great! if you ~~finally won a bloggy giveaway after entering about 87 of them~~ don't have a great baking dish like this, you can still make this apple crisp for your family. now that the weather is finally getting cooler, it's a great dessert for a autumn night!

this in an authentic, old~fashioned country recipe given to me by a dear friend, ages and ages ago. i hope your family enjoys it as much as our family has!

Apple Crisp Recipe

peel and slice apples, filling your dish to slightly mounded. drizzle with maple syrup, and dot with butter if you wish.

crumb topping:

1 cup oats (i use old~fashioned)

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup flour

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

combine in bowl, and work together like pastry until crumbly. (this will make enough topping for a 9X9 pan; but often i quadruple the recipe and freeze the rest, making it even easier to throw together at the last minute!) bake at 350 until apples are soft, and your whole kitchen starts to smell wonderful. serve with ice cream as a special treat!

it's just not the same without them

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 02:07:00 +0000

last weekend we packed up the van again and drove over 700 miles south, stopping at Bob Jones University in South Carolina. in addition to M returning to college as a sophomore, we also took N as a freshman in the class of 2013, majoring in chemistry.

it's a comfort to me to have them both there at the same place, but BJU is so far away!

parts of this year have been very difficult, especially after our oldest son left home last October. i treasured all the more the time that we had as a family, realizing that it's all too fleeting. it seems like it was just yesterday that i had my first baby girl, M, and already it's over 20 years later and my children are growing up!

this big old house seems strangely silent without M and N. i find myself glancing at the clock to see how soon either of them might be home. i find myself leaving the back porch light on for M, since she always worked 2nd shift and came home after dark. i catch myself wondering if N will bring home coffee or (and?!) donuts when he gets off work at Dunkin' Donuts.

there are still 3 children here at home with us, and a long way to go before we have an empty nest. but still, after 20+ years of mothering, i find that i wasn't quite ready to be done.

did i miss something? did i teach them all that they needed to know? did i forget something gigantic and really important?

do they know not to mix the lights and darks? not to wash something red in hot water? when to put the fabric softener in? are they organized enough? will the homework, reading and assignments all be done on time? do they know what a dangling participle is? (do i even know what a dangling participle is?) do they remember the difference between their, they're and there? will they eat right and not drink too much coffee? take their contacts out every night? wear sensible shoes? listen to the weather report before getting dressed?

i could talk myself into dashing down to South Carolina to give them that final list of Really Important Stuff That I May Have Forgotten To Mention.

But don't worry~ i won't do that. because i know that in spite of all my parental flaws and imperfections they are going to turn out just fine. along the way we may have missed a few important tidbits about prepositions or ancient Greek history, but i think that M and N have learned the Really Important Lessons Of Life.

Love God with all their soul.

Serve Him with all their might.

Seek Him with all their heart.

they had a good foundation, and now they are ready and eager to build their own house.

and i, for one, will be their greatest fan and cheerleader.

because I'm so proud of them both!

Thursday's Livestock and Garden Report ~ Week 23

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:14:00 +0000

can you believe that it's week 23 already? almost half of the year, and I've been posting these ~~weekly~~ sporadic L&G reports! are you as tired of reading them as i am of posting them? could anybody possibly still be interested in the weekly blow-by-blow of our garden? most likely not- but thanks for being polite and reading anyway! the garden is winding down, so this should be near the end.

did i hear a big internets sigh of relief from all my readers?

yesterday we got our last 50 peeps, bringing our grand total for the year to 175 chickens. (25 buff orpingtons and 150 cornish cross cockerels.) we are still on a learning curve as far as the meat birds go. our last batch of 50 had the shocking and disappointing mortality rate of 50%!!!! hopefully this batch will not be so. some of this batch is for selling, and some for us to eat.

the pigs are growing well- as of this morning the larger of the 2 weighs approximately 250 pounds. come the cooler weather, i guess we'll be butchering! we've already eaten nearly all of the pig that we had butchered last April. just a few pounds of bacon and miscellaneous roasts floating about in the freezer. with that consumption rate, we're guessing that our family will eat about 3 pigs a year. (in addition to the 100 chickens that we butcher and freeze for ourselves)

I've finally and officially given up on the tomatoes. this meager spread is all the beefsteak that G and i were able to salvage. (although there may be a few more out there that we'll find when we pull up the remaining 2 rows of tomatoes this afternoon, this is truly the end.) all in all, a very disappointing year for tomatoes. however, we cannot count the tomatoes as a total loss, since we "harvested" well over six 5 gallon buckets of tomatoes to feed the pigs. at least we got some food value out of all that work!

next year the tomatoes will be planted in the lower garden, so we don't have to worry about the spores of the blight hibernating in the soil to attack again.

the cauliflower and broccoli is doing very well in the high tunnel- perhaps I'll actually harvest some?

the beans are very lush and green, and they are all flowering, leading me to believe (hope?) that we'll get more beans for the freezer. the buckwheat cover is doing well, too, here in the upper garden.

many of the potatoes are still in the ground down in the lower garden. we've still been steadily selling them in the produce stand, as well as giving some away. we're hoping to borrow a potato digger for the tractor~ there is probably over 500 feet of potato rows, between the kennebec, red Pontiac and yukon gold. neither G or i look forward to that much manual labor, so I'll try to nail down the rumor of a potato digger for the tractor.

we bought 4 more bales of hay for mulch, and between the hay, buckwheat and annual rye, we'll make sure that both gardens have an adequate cover of mulch/green manure for the winter. additionally, we'll have soil samples from both gardens tested to make sure that we're on the right track as far as the soil nutrients go. i have no problem trying to address the deficiencies in our soil's nutrients organically with mulch and green manure cover, but i am not opposed to some synthetic fertilizer, either.

so, except for some beans, cauliflower and broccoli, and a ton of potatoes, we're done! it's hard to imagine that it's been almost 6 months that we've been working at our garden! I'm tired just thinking about it, and i look forward to those long winter days to just relax. i can read to the girls, sew and maybe even knit something.

won't that be nice!

just in time for Christmas!

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 11:14:00 +0000

Christmas is just around the corner, and before you know it many of us will be scrambling for those last minute gifts!

this set of his~n~hers scrappy Christmas stockings are 100% cotton, and measure approximately 9" x 20". crafted in muted, country colors with a machine quilting stitch that looks like it's done by hand, these delightful Christmas stockings are sure to please anybody on your list~ so order now, as i will only be able to fill a limited number of orders.

each set of stockings sells for $46, postage paid. (two sets mailed to the same address will receive a $6 discount for the second ordered, bringing the total to $86. Orders of 3 or more sets will be charged a $10 shipping fee, plus the cost of the stockings. ) contact me at djcap8@frontiernet.net to place your order. i will mail anywhere in the continental US, and you'll receive your own set of stockings in plenty of time to get them hung on YOUR mantle in anticipation of the blessed event that we celebrate on Christmas morning!

galloping just to stay behind!

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:11:00 +0000

would you be shocked if i told you that we've been a little busy around here? i know you might be, because I've never said that before!

so kidding.

it seems as if it has truly been busier than normal around here, with a plethora of things to do~ and that's just the list for the AM!

we did 350+ ears of corn on Monday, and with all of us working at it, we were done by lunch time. (which was good, considering that we still had 3 bushels of tomatoes to do up into spaghetti sauce!)
every one had corn for breakfast. and dinner.

we were able to borrow a turkey fryer, and we did the corn outside. not so starchy and sticky for the new kitchen= Happy family.

everyone helped- whether it was with husking, blanching, cutting the kernels off the cob, freezer bagging, cleaning up or washing the dishes. it's a ton of work, and we only have a little over half the corn we need, but i did want to get the bulk of the corn done before the kids left for college. (on Friday!!!)

after lunch we did the "divide and conquer" game plan, with some of us finishing up the corn, and others washing and cooking tomatoes, ready for the squeezo. in spite of the fact that the kitchen stove did its level best to either die or blow up, (or both!) we managed to churn out 40+ quarts of spaghetti sauce. and perhaps even more amazing, they were all our own tomatoes, wrested from the evil and determined clutches of the tomato blight! additionally, both the peppers and onions that we used for the spaghetti sauce were also grown in our very own garden. as were the herbs. but I'll stop bragging now.

then, as if there wasn't enough going on this week, we just butchered 11 of the buff orpington roosters. because 12 roosters is clearly too many.

clearly.

add to that freezing green peppers and the occasional mess of green beans, and i would say that everyone should just be happy with clean underwear.

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 20:47:00 +0000

babies

bowls

blueberries

Thursday's Livestock and Garden Report ~ Week 21

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:44:00 +0000

it's been a busy week, with the garden finally starting to produce. i can brag about an impressive list of veggies that we've been harvesting: onions, peppers, summer squash, zucchini, tomatoes, beans and of course the old stand by, potatoes.

we've picked green beans several times this week, being diligent to stay current on the picking. the beans are of course much better that way. when the green beans/ground cover ripens in the UG, there will be tones of beans! probably way too many~ but we'll just sell the extra, and feed the extra of the extra to the pigs.

the ducks have fallen out of favor this week. although we enjoy watching them wander through the yard and play in the puddle, they did a very naughty thing. (as A would say!) i had planted my second crop of peas, counting on the cooler weather and delayed frost to harvest my own instead of buying. they (the peas) were coming up nicely, and all 6 of the double rows were about 3" high. one afternoon soon after i let them out, the ducks were observed eating straight down the rows of tender pea shoots! they were quite happy, wiggling their tail and muttering among themselves. almost as if they were saying thank-you! thank you for planting a row for each of us. thank you for putting them in such a neat and straight line. grrrr! well, fortunately for me and my family, the local grocery store had a sale on this week: Bird's Eye peas ~ 1 pound, 1 dollar. so my freezer is stocked with peas, and since that's what i set about to do, i guess i don't have much to complain about.

it was a rough week for the meat birds, too. we lost 13 or so, which was quite a blow. it's a combination of heat, water, crowding and stupidity. (of the birds, i mean!) that just reinforces to Dave and i that we need to take a much more active role in supervising the livestock and instructing in proper care. but we can console ourselves with a pithy little nugget that a farmer friend shared with me after church on Sunday: "if you have livestock, you're going to have deadstock." how true, how true...

we are harvesting tomatoes, although the plants are quickly dying off. they look really terrible in the garden, but as long as I'm getting some tomatoes, I'll let them suffer through. we've been eating fresh garden salsa and i even made some spaghetti sauce. I'll be able to make many more quarts of sauce, just not in the big quantities that i prefer.

N, G, A and B helped me transplant, mulch and water all the cauliflower and broccoli that we put into the high tunnel. I'm holding out hope that we'll be able to harvest these veggies, too! (we will not put the new plastic on the high tunnel until it gets much cooler, as the cauliflower and broccoli prefers the cool weather.)

this week we purchased 8 of the big round bales of hay for mulch. today G and Dave were working at spreading a layer of hay over the parts of the LG that are done. the LG is pretty much done producing, but alot of the potatoes are still in the ground, so of course we can't mulch there yet. the plan with the hay is to improve the soil for next year. some portions of the LG have had 2 rounds of buckwheat, and now the hay. hopefully next year we will see an improvement in the soil fertility.

which leads me to think that maybe, just maybe, we can work our way up to being a CSA, providing food for 10-12 other families besides ourselves. somewhere between Dave's pessimism and my optimism lies the reality. as we continue to work together to improve our little spot of soil, we learn and grow together. we've been inspired by this blog this week, and keep thinking, maybe we can do this after all! (and we cant' whine about living in zone 5, because they do, too!)

I'll leave you with a few recipes, so you can enjoy your own garden's bounty!

Spaghetti Sauce

½ bushel tomatoes (roma is best)

3 lb. onions

4 red peppers

2 green peppers

1 stalk celery

1-2 T parsley

2 T sweet basil

2 T oregano

1 ½ c. sugar

process tomatoes. (wash, cut out bad spots, boil and run through the squeezo) put onions, peppers and celery through food processor. combine with tomatoes and sugar and bring to gentle boil on stove. BE CAREFUL not to over boil, or your sauce will get dark and bitter. (don't ask me how i know this, just trust me.) if you're using dried herbs, you can add them at the beginning, but wait until the end if you're using fresh.

prep your jars and lids, and have your hot water canner already boiling. into each quart jar add 1 T lemon juice. hot water bath 30 minutes.

(this sauce is thinner than the store bought that has all sorts of nasty thickening chemicals added to it, but i often add 1 can of tomato paste, especially when I'm making spaghetti)

Garden Fresh Salsa

chop up a bunch of tomatoes. (about 2 cups) if you're using beef steak toms, squeeze out some of the juicy stuff in the middle. salt semi-generously, and set aside.

now cut up equal amounts of green peppers, purple onions, cucumbers and even summer squash if you're feeling particularly brave (or healthy)

drain the tomatoes and combine all the chopped veggies. add lime juice and chopped fresh cilantro. serve immediately with tortilla chips. yummy!

Thursday's Livestock and Garden Report ~ Week 20

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:51:00 +0000

Glory Be and hallelujah! my garden is finally starting to produce something other than potatoes!

my very optimistic late planting of summer squash is flowering! and look: there's even a baby squash gestating. we're doing a little happy dance up and down the garden rows!

the onion sets from Gurney's are done growing, and this week G and the little girls helped me pull them. we got about a bushel.

some were very small; hardly bigger than when we planted them back in April. makes me wonder what they've been doing with themselves these last 4 months!

we ordered and planted 6 bunches. hopefully next year we will have better fixed the fertility issues in the lower garden. I'll still plant more onions next year, but this is a good start!

the potatoes are growing like gangbusters! these are some big ones that i pulled out to show off, but i should have put something (like a coffee mug) next to them to show how big they really are. the biggest one on the right is bigger than 2 fists!

we dig fresh potatoes pretty regularly, and pack them in bags that i make from our multitude of feed sacks. 10lb. for $5.

the produce stand is bringing in some small, but steady income. red Pontiac potatoes definitely seem to be the favorite, so next year i plan on planting more than 50 pounds of that variety.

the honour system works pretty well in our rural county, and we've not had too many issues with stolen potatoes. (with the exception of one day last week when someone took 20 pounds of potatoes and left me 29 cents!)

the peppers are doing nicely as well. dare i say that we're being inundated with fresh produce?

the 5 ducks are quite happy. (the 6th died unexpectedly a few weeks back) every afternoon we let them out to free range, and they are quite comical to watch as they waddle (all in a row) where ever they go.

the morning glories right outside the back door have finally grown taller than the cherry tomatoes (it was a neck-and-neck race for the sunlight) and are cheerily blooming every morning.

A is quite proud of these sunflowers that she planted with the nasturtiums.

the chipmunks planted all the rest of the sunflowers. all over the flower gardens there are little sunflowers randomly and eclectically coming up. the goldfinches are enjoying them, and we like to see the diversity of birds that comes for a snack.

the cherry tomatoes are almost prolific~ A and B really like to go out to see if any are ready, and beg for someone to pick them a fresh 'mater. i really like having the cherry tomatoes right outside the back door, and plan on putting them there again next year. once they start producing, it's really hard to keep up with them. having the plants in such a convenient spot makes that task almost effortless.

we're getting a few tomatoes from the upper garden as well. it's really a horrible year for tomatoes, so the yield is disappointing.

again, A and B enjoy eating a fresh tomato just like you would an apple. (all my kids have done that)

the tomato plants themselves look horrible. they are all brown and dead from the bottom up, and the Florida staking system fell over after a recent heavy rain. we were busy cooking for the roofers, and i never got out to fix it.

that being said, i really like the Florida staking system and plan on using it again next year, just implementing the things that i learned from experience this year: taller and stronger stakes.

the broccoli and cauliflower in the cold frame is doing very well, and i plan on transplanting the seedlings to the high tunnel in the next few days.

due to the tomato blight, the tomatoes in the high tunnel were a total flop this year. nevertheless, we plan on trying again next year, applying the things that we learned: only 2 rows of tomatoes, plant indeterminate and train them up string, or longer and stronger stakes for the Florida staking. I'd also like to grow some cherry tomatoes in hanging pots, to better utilize the upper space.

our second planting/cover crop of beans is growing nicely. (lots of "growing nicely" in this post! but then again, it's about time for some good news!)

these are the beans that i planted around the tomato cages. they are training themselves right up, and are even taller than i am now. i really like having them on the tomato cages, and plan on doing that again next year, as well. (i thought up that idea myself, and I'm quite proud of it!)

these are the cover crop beans, and even though they are pole beans, i don't plan on staking them. they'll just have to produce despite the benign neglect, or just be tilled under!

look closely- you'll see the baby beans! Dave "took care" of the groundhog problem in the upper garden, so these beans actually had a chance to do their beany thing!

and look~ real, live beans! from our very own garden! we'll have some for lunch, and I'll freeze some, too. there should be another picking in a few days.

we still have lettuce, too. since it's been such a cool summer, that has extended far longer than we thought it would. i have the 4th planting in the second cold frame, and this time planted spinach, too.

we planted 10 pounds of onion sets, and while most of them did not get exceedingly big, they made a respectable showing.

next year I'll definitely plant more purple onions, maybe as much as 7+ pounds. i like to use them in recipes, just for the extra color.

the beets were a disappointment, but that was for several reasons. the lower garden is not very fertile, and compound that with the fact that i could just not bring myself to thin out the beets, (it feels so wasteful!) they did not get very big.

before bringing the beets to the house, we stopped off at the pigs and gave them the too small beets, as well as the tops of the beets we were canning.

we managed to eke out 12 pints of pickled beets. not too bad, considering that i don't' even like pickled beets! (the jar that i entered in the county fair won second place!)

I'll end this lengthy post with my recipe for pickled beets- just in case you want to preserve some of your own summer bounty to dislike on a cold winters day!

Pickled Beets

harvest whatever beets you've managed to grow and that haven't been eaten by the deer, woodchucks or rabbits. top them all, and scrub clean. put beets in large pot, covering with water. boil until tender. drain, reserving beet juice. cut off tops and root tap, and slip off skins. pack hot into pint jars. cover with pickled juice.

pickled juice:

2 cups sugar

2 sticks cinnamon

1 T whole allspice

3 ½ cups vinegar

1 ½ water ( use your drained beet juice)

simmer this for 15 minutes, and then ladle over your beets in jar, leaving 1/4" head space. remove air bubbles. process pints (and quarts) 30 minutes in boiling water canner.

we enjoyed an evening at the county fair

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:58:00 +0000

we worked really hard while putting the new roof on our house, so we were especially looking forward to relaxing at the county fair for an evening.

it's fun to take the whole gang and go see all the sights: animals, quilts, people and food!

the baby goats were both curious and friendly.

looks like this one would like to sample the juice from A's cup!

baby B is so much like her daddy. she was almost mesmerized by this tractor, and was fascinated by the tire!

this is the tractor that I want! how much easier it would be to keep my garden weeded and under control! (and how much fun would it be to drive a cool little tractor like that?!)

a trip to the fair would just not be complete without the required dosage of cotton candy. B was intrigued with how it just melted away in her mouth.

we were so pleased to see that both our Yukon Gold and Red Pontiac potatoes received first place! now we can honestly advertise at our produce stand that we have the best potatoes in Bradford county!

i entered 8 things in the home arts section of the fair, and 7 of them received a ribbon. i was disappointed to not have received any blue ribbons for first place, but then there's always next year!

the best gift of all!

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:46:00 +0000

when A recently turned 3, we didn't want to lavish her with tons of presents. balance that with desiring to tangibly show your little one how much you care, and it can be a delicate harmony to achieve.

M came up with the perfect solution: a coupon book! M cleverly fashioned a coupon book out of index cards for A: 6 perforated paper promises for a trip to the playground!

(and of course, B was welcome to come along!)

the girls (all 3!) had fun at the playground each time they went. and A can look back with happy memories to remember that her big sister gave her the present that really means the most: time!

"Skwaps to Waps" ~ a day with our church family

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 18:57:00 +0000

on the 4th Wednesday of every month, we leave the guys at home to fend for themselves and the girls and i head to church for a wonderful day of fellowship and encouragement. Scraps to Wraps is our church's women's sewing circle and we work on making quilts to share with those in need: both locally and around the world.

i enjoy the time with other women from my church family, and always come away refreshed (but exhausted!)

Lorraine donated all this fabric, and after her mother cut it all into squares, M had fun helping sort out the colors.

even baby B had fun with the sorting, and A was right along side lending a hand. after we had the squares sorted by color, M and i paired them up into 4 patch squares for Lorraine to sew.

most of our quilts we tie, and it's surprising how many we can get done in one day: sometimes as many as 6!

i especially love that all the women are loving and tender with A and B. with no local family to lavish them with hugs and attention, the little girls are bonding with some of the older women in our church.

it seems so old-fashioned and wholesome to have the girls sitting under the quilt frame playing quietly. just like a scene straight out of little house on the prairie!

the girls are right alongside us all day long as we work: these are the future quilters!

no matter the housework, schooling or gardening to be done on Scraps to Wraps day, you'll find us in at church sewing. while we go to help make quilts to comfort those in need, we are really the ones who are benefiting: with love, fellowship and deeper friendships.

rest for the weary!

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:33:00 +0000

Sunday afternoon we headed off for a day of relaxation at the beach. our roofing and kitchen crew was plumb tuckered out, and we were all looking forward to just relaxing and refreshing together.

Rickett's Glen is our (semi) local state park, and with a beach, water and a pavilion to protect us from rain, it was the destination chosen for the day.

the girls loved the sand and water, and spent all afternoon contentedly playing with each other.

A was busy moving water up to the little hole she had dug in the sand by our chairs. N and M showed her how to build a drizzle sandcastle. while A did not master that impressive technique, she did very well for only being 3 years old.

the girls also spent lots of time running to and fro. running to our lawn chairs. running to the water. back to the chairs. down to the water again.

back and forth.

up and down.

what about us, you may be wondering?

well, we just lined up the lawn chairs, and spent the afternoon taking turns dozing in the sun, like lazy turtles on a log.

but it was relaxing.

and refreshing.

i'm thinking we'll have to do that again sometime soon!

quilts, Quilts and more QUILTS!

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 10:19:00 +0000

Welcome to my on-line Quilt Gallery! I'm so glad that you've taken the time to stop by!

My name is Jennifer, and I've been quilting for (what feels like) my whole life. i started quilting and sewing when i was just a teenager, and over 25 years and hundreds of quilts later, I'm still loving quilting! despite our busy family life of gardening, homeschooling and home remodeling, I'm still able to find the time to design and create quilts. I'm thankful for that blessing in my life!

all of the quilts that you will see here were designed and/or created by me, here in my own home. (mostly during nap time, or after bedtime!) i do all the work myself on my Bernina sewing machine. the quilts are all 100% cotton- the pieced top, the batting and the backing.

all my quilts are machine quilted. while some people may feel that the machine quilting is not as desirable, i feel that the machine quiting actually makes the quilts more serviceable. if you've ever been blessed to own a hand-quilted quilt, you know how delicate and fragile it can be. so much so, in fact, that they are generally stored away and only brought out for special occasions!

that's not the case with my quilts! they are very sturdy and serviceable. don't be afraid to use them; whether it's for a family picnic at the beach, a vacation in the mountains or simply snuggling up on the sofa on a cold winters day. the quilt can withstand normal day-to-day wear, and as an added bonus, they are machine washable!

now that you're here, fix yourself a cup of coffee and take your time looking at all the quilts. most of these quilts are for sale; however some are for display or example purposes only. if you see any quilt that you love, i can always make one to order- in the colors and design that YOU like the best! (and remember, too see any of the quilts better, just click on the picture for a bigger view)

feel free to contact me with any questions at djcap8@frontiernet.net I'd love to hear from you, and will reply promptly! be sure to stop back regularly, since i have several more quilts almost ready to post in the gallery.

Gardener's Delight

82 * 88

This is a Thimbleberries design, pieced using garden and flower themed fabric. it's sure to delight that special gardener in your life, or simply brighten up any room!

$475 (includes 2 matching pillowcases)

detail of Gardener's Delight

Civil War Blocks

82 * 98

The simple blocks that comprise this quilt allow you to focus on the stunning reproduction fabrics used throughout. quilted in an all-over stippling design.

$425

Civil War Pinwheels

84" square

simple pinwheels are surrounded by a border of coordinating prairie points. i designed this quilt on Electric Quilt 5. i will post the computer graphic (for comparison purposes) as soon as our camera is working again!

$425 when completed (you can choose backing and binding color)

Peppermint Pinwheels

24" square

i was having so much fun with the pinwheels that i made a doll quilt too!

$60

Pinwheels Galore!

25 * 29

$60

Chocolate and Pistachio:

86" x 94"

using a variety of warm chocolates and cool pistachios, this quilt is machine pieced and quilted in a diagonal design. interspersed throughout the quilt are "square in a square" blocks, just to keep your eye traveling around the interestingly simple design.

$425

100% cotton, machine washable

"Trip Around the Scrap Basket"

67 * 83

this quilt is pieced totally from 9 patch blocks and a few squares! the pattern is intriguing enough to keep your eye traveling around the quilt, rather than resting on one spot.

$350

the "Calendar Quilt" would be a wonderful gift for your favorite bride and groom to be!

each block represents a month of the year, with an appropriate design chosen to symbolically represent it.

this quilt is for example only. choose the color scheme that you desire~ and give a delightful surprise on that special day!

Tossed Nines

another 9 patch with a twist!

58 * 81

$350 (quilt and wall hanging: $425)

detail of "Tossed Nines"

Tossed Nines, wall hanging

a companion wall hanging to the quilt Tossed Nines. with a new quilt for the bed, and the matching wall hanging, any room will look fresh and new with these quilts to brighten up the day!

35" square

$125 (quilt and wall hanging: $425)

Pennsylvania Fieldstones

67 * 95

this quilt is pieced exclusively with Indonesian fabrics, giving it a very modern and interesting look. the quilting is done in a random, linear pattern, adding to the visual interest.

$375

Civil War Schoolhouse Blocks

one dozen schoolhouse blocks done in reproduction civil war fabric comprise the body of this interesting quilt.

Crazy Log Cabin

45" square

this bright log cabin wall hanging is created using the technique "crazy log cabin". the quilt is a random design of colorful fabrics arranged in the "barn raising" design. the quilting is done in variegated thread, and the border is colorful squares.

$200

Star Struck

32" square

another colorful quilt, sure to brighten up any room or office! the quiting is done in an overall meandering design in iridescent thread, making this quilt even more unusual. the border is quilting in a dual colors of aqua and magenta in a cable design.

$65

Happy Cats

16 * 41

these happy and relaxed cats are machine embroidered on a muslin background. each cat has her own personality and is sure to bring a smile to the face of the recipient- whether it's you, or someone that you love!

$75

detail of Happy Cats

this quilt was made for my second daughter. (that's her in the picture there) i designed it on my quiting program EQ5, and completed it just before she was born. this is an example of what the computer designing can do. i can design and sew a quilt to your specific specifications.

Pinwheels

this quilt was a gift for my oldest daughter. the yellow and blue color combination makes for a classic and cheerful quilt.

you can choose your own colors with equally as stunning results.

this baby quilt was made for our youngest daughter, using reproduction 1930's fabrics. the negative design makes this quilt visually appealing and interesting.

companion dolly quilt

Churn Dash

this is a quilt i made several years ago after seeing it in a magazine. it's my first (and only!) quilt with a flowered and appliqued border.

the mustard yellow and red color combination makes this quilt especially cheerful. i like to use in on our bed on those especially dreary winter days!

Dave's Quilt

i made this quilt as a Christmas gift for Dave several years ago. it's a scrappy quilt, made with many different blues and greens, accented with the red pinwheel corners.

it's quilted in an overall meandering design.

Christmas Log Cabin

this Thimbleberries design is one of our family's favorite quilts. all the fabrics used in this quilt are "homespun", giving it an old-fashioned and antique look.

the quilting is an overall meandering design.

detail of Christmas Log Cabin

9 in 9

this quilt is a classic design- nine patch. the possibilities are endless for this quilt- with the simple change of colors this quilt can have a whole new look.