Greek Cross Block

Yep, I'm hooked on the Summer Sampler Series...  I had to make the Greek Cross blue, since my father-in-law is Greek, and would give me a hard time if I didn't!

I forgot how much fun sampler quilts are.  It's neat to focus entirely on one single block, instead of one block made many times.  I started my second paper-pieced block today, and honestly that's another biggie that finally drew me in.  I love to learn new skills each time I make a quilt, and certainly my ripper has been busy ;-).

The floor looks pretty too!

Luckily, my husband is looking out for our garden!  He pulled all of the garlic and tied them up to dry over the week-end!  NICE!!

WIP Wed: Looney Tunes Vintage Sheet Curtains

For the last few weeks, I've been working on these curtains for my son's room, after we removed the bi-fold doors on his bedroom closet.  I'm almost done with them, just need to mark and sew a hem line! 

I LOVE the way they turned out, and the funny thing is that I originally was just going to make them plain, but the sheets weren't wide enough for the closet, so I had to add a border.  Now I'm so glad that my original plan didn't work out!!  I'm tempted to make a quilt using the same theme, and even saw these same vintage sheets on eBay yesterday. Hmmm...

It's my first vintage sheet project, and it really wasn't bad working with the poly / cotton blend.  The fact that they were thin from wear made them cooler to deal with too!

"Our" baby quail are growing fast!  I took this pictures over the week-end, and already they're flying!!  It's been incredibly fun to watch this "WIP"!

Finally, our garden is progressing very nicely!  We're eating zucchini now, and have tons of green tomatoes, baby corn, and peppers.  The cucumbers and beans have flowers and the winter squash and okra continue to grow!  Onions and garlic are turning brown, so it won't be long before we can dig these too!

As usual, I'm linking up with Lee's WIP Wed.  Come join the fun over there!

Preserving the last of summer's harvest...

Last week, we started getting little "kisses" of frost in the garden... a sure sign that the end was near. Luckily, we spent several hours harvesting and pulling up most of our veggies and plants before the hard frost came this morning. I think there's still a bit of chard and parsley left, but that's pretty much it!

Much of the vegetables we harvested will be fine for weeks or months to come, if properly stored... many varieties of winter squash, potatoes, onions and carrots. But the tomatoes and peppers were starting to attract my urgent attention after a few days in the fridge and on the counter. I've been canning produce for years. Maybe because of this, I've grown more and more fond of freezing! It's just so much easier! This year we've tried blanching and freezing everything from beans to zucchini, with quite a bit of success. Today I decided to try a few methods recommended to me by friends and folks out in the blog-land. I also wanted to test out the wood pellet grill that we bought at the beginning of the summer.

First, I roasted some Anaheim peppers on high heat, then covered them up to "steam". Instead of peeling them and seeding them right away, as I usually do, I threw them whole into the freezer. I plan to put them in bags, and use them as I need them. Word has it that they peel quite easily when taken out of the freezer and put under running water.
Next I turned the heat down, and smoked and slow-roasted almost all of the tomatoes we had left. I bought some garlic-infused wood pellets just for this occasion. After they'd roasted for 3-4 hours, I took them all off, and ran them through the food processor and into jars to be frozen. I'm really excited about this technique! No peeling, seeding, food mills, or water baths! The consistency of the sauce was incredible! Far better than any I've previously made. I'll try to let you know how it holds up to the freezer, but I suspect they won't last long! In fact, now I'm almost wishing I had more tomatoes.
To cap things off, I made a batch of zucchini bread after supper to eat for breakfast tomorrow!
All in all, we've grown a LOT of vegetables in our garden this year, saved a lot of money, and eaten healthier. As usual, I'm a bit relieved to put the garden to bed this time of year, and focus on a different season and different activities. But it's good to know that summer's bounty will be enjoyed for a long time to come!

Shameless self-promotion....

It's totally against my nature to ask a favor like this, but I decided to enter a national sewing contest, sponsored by Better Homes and Gardens, "All People Quilt", to try to win a very nice ($2000-3000) sewing machine. I think a work station also comes with it. There are 4 quarterly contests, and the winner of each competes at the end for the final prize.

Well, the bag I made for the 3rd quarter made it to the top 10, and the winner is selected by public vote. So if you feel comfortable registering and revealing your info, please vote for my bag at this link: http://my.allpeoplequilt.com/app/voting/index.jsp?id=/templatedata/apq/voting/data/1282588730058.xml&mediaItemID=/sharemy/08162010/23128073

It's called "Becky's Bag", and it's blue and yellow. It's the only one shown sideways (not the picture I would have picked), but there's 5 more pictures in the "gallery section" that you can look at: http://my.allpeoplequilt.com/photos/quilts-and-more-quarterly-challenge-10/3/2145700019/?photoId=2142100045

You can vote one time per day until Aug 31st (tomorrow). Sorry for such late notice. I was on vacation and just found out over the week-end. I was frankly shocked that it was selected for the top 10, but also very excited!

Thanks for your help!!!