Sewing day

Finally, did some sewing today.  I started collecting fabrics for this quilt last year, it is a pattern I found on someones blog.  Sorry I don't remember which one.  The name of the pattern is Nottingham Star, the quilt on the cover of the pattern is in blues, creams, and browns.  I decided to switch out the blue for red keeping the creams and the browns.  It is a huge star with lots of little star blocks and solid blocks inside.  DH even gave the stamp of approval today when he saw it on the design wall.  I am just excited to have something on the design wall. 

This is what keeps me busy

 I always have really big plans of getting a lot of sewing done in the summer but usually I get side tracked by other things.  One of those things is a garden.  I grew up with parents that had a huge garden and I do mean huge.  I always swore that I would never ever have a garden when I "grew up".  Well I was wrong!  A garden is a lot of work,  but it also saves lots of money at the grocery store.  Yesterday DH and I picked green beans, and cucumbers.  It looks like we are going to have a huge crop of both.  After working on the green beans last night, I was too tired to can them, so that was my project for today.

This is the canner that I use.  It belonged to my DH's mom at one time.  It has definitely been put to use over the years.  I canned three canners of green beans, that is 18 quarts of greens of beans, we will really enjoy them this fall and winter.  I know that is just the first of many times it will be used this summer.

My second project this week was a new one for me, Strawberry jalapeno preserves.  I have to be honest I didn't know how this one would turn out but it is really good.  I found the recipe in Mother Earth news, I did add more strawberries than the recipe called for and I still think that I could have added a few more, it is more "pepperie" than strawberryish.  

Here are the berries and peppers cooking.

The finished product

Hopefully no more gardening this week and I can do some sewing.  

Book or ereader

I always take a book on vacation especially if I am flying, face it what else is there to  do while you are on a plane, other than sleep.  Last week I took my Kindle, I had downloaded three new books so I knew that I would have plenty to read.  I boarded the plane, settled into my seat, and started reading.  About 15 minutes after the plane took off, I saw the message that my device was shutting down and it needed to be connected to the charger.  Charger?  I totally forgot to bring my charger.  I had the one for my camera, and my phone, but never once thought about the one for the kindle.  Since I couldn't read on the plane I decided to take a nap.  I knew that I would have to get a book somewhere or something to read.  The first place DH and I went was the visitor center at Colonial Williamsburg to get our tickets for the next day.  Luckily there was a huge bookstore inside the visitor's center, I found several books I wanted, but knew that I only needed one to see me through the next few evenings.  I purchased the Kitchen House, I had wanted to read this but had never managed to find it at the library.  I finished it last night, what a great book.  It is the story of Belle and Lavina.  Belle is the daughter of a slave and her master, Lavina is an Irish orphan that was given to Belle by her father.  Lavinia grows up living with Belle, her parents and brothers and sisters. Lavinia reaches the age where she is sent to Williamsburg to live with relatives of the master.  While there she is educated with Meg, the daughter of the family she is living with.  What follows is a lovely tragic story,  it is the plantation version of The Help.  I would highly recommend this book, even if you don't like historical fiction it is a great book

Great Vacation

 Last week DH had a business trip to Williamsburg, VA. (one place that I have always wanted to go to) I flew up after his business trip and so we could do some exploring, Williamsburg and the surrounding area are the perfect vacation spot for a couple of history nerds.  We spent one entire day in Colonial Williamsburg, there is so much there to see and do.  The weather was wonderful!!  We started out at the Governor's Palace, hard to imagine that people actually lived like that.  We had lunch at the Kings Arms Tavern, DH had always wanted to do there and have their peanut soup.  Not an experience that I want to repeat that had to be the worst soup ever!!

Carpet in one of the bedrooms in the Palace.  Love the colors, would be great  in a quilt

 Our second day of vacation was spent in Jamestown.  We went to Jamestown Settlement not Historic Jamestown, we didn't have time for both and decided that we would be able to see more at the Settlement.  We saw the orientation movie then went on a 90 minute tour.  Our guide was very knowledgeable, the tour ended at the recreation of the ships that brought the  first settlers to Jamestown.  I can't imagine being on one of those little ships for over 100 days with a 100 other people.

After leaving Jamestown we went to Yorktown.  There was a demonstration of how to fire a cannon.   I answered a question correctly about Molly Pitcher and was recruited to help in the  demonstration.  That was hard work.  I am on the right in the photo above.  The person who had that position had to stand there while the cannon was being fired to assist in adjusting the position of the cannon for the next fire.  This is a position that women often held.  

Three days was definitely not enough time to see everything.  Would love to go back someday.

Yeah!! It's finished

I know these aren't the best pictures, but I am so glad to have this quilt top finished that it is ok.  It looks much better in person.  I started this early last year from a kit, the pattern is from Lisa Bongene, and the fabric is from Primitive Gatherings. There are 9 appliqued blocks and they are really big, 20 inches square.  I enjoyed doing the applique and was glad that the pieces were big, made the applique much easier to do.  What I didn't like doing so much was the half square triangles that made up the inner border.  I tried really hard to  make sure that none of the points were cut off when I attached the large outer border.  I  ended up doing a lot of unsewing, but  a few points ended up getting cut off.  I finally decided nothing is perfect and once it is quilted it hopefully won't be too noticeable.

Close up of one block and inner border.

It's a miracle! Sewing at Last

For the first time in over a month I actually sat down at my sewing machine and did some sewing.  I

 try to sew some each day, but this year that just hasn't happened.  The last couple of  months of school were just exhausting, I have never been as glad as I was this year that school was out for the summer.  Hopefully this summer I can get some sewing done. My plan is to finish up some projects.  The little quilt to the right is from a kit I purchased at Sweet Home several years ago.  I thought it was bigger when I bought it!!  After finishing it and getting it quilted I sat it aside and never put the binding on it, today I put the binding on it and stitched most of it down while watching TV tonight. 

Although I haven't been sewing at the machine I still try to do hand work each night.  I have more projects started that I care to count, the latest one is Lucy Boston, Patchwork of the Crosses.  Last week I finished this pink and green block, along with the blue and gold one below.  These are my two favorites so far. 

 

Earlier this week I tried to get my yard work and some other big projects finished so I could spent the next couple of weeks sewing.  Tomorrow I hope to finish Christmas Reel, I really want to get it finished and get it quilted before Christmas.  Then I think it will be time for an easy  project that doesn't require a lot of thinking.  I have several fat quarters that I am thinking of doing a Turning Twenty, that is a really simple pattern but it goes together very easily and is a great use for fat quarters.

Two great books

As you know I absolutely love books and the last two that I read are the best, in very different ways.  Marie Bostwick's new Cobbled Court series, Apart at the Seams is  the perfect take me away book.  Gayla finds that her husband had at one time wanted a divorce and she just can't imagine that he was unhappy and would tell her this in a memo!!  The cad!!!  She moves into their cottage in New Bern and becomes a part of the Cobbled Court Quilt Circle.  Once again quilting comes to the rescue and helps Gayla reconnect with herself and with her husband.  This is a really good book, one that I would definitely recommend.

Natchez Burning is at the opposite end of the reading spectrum.  This is not a book that you can just relax and read for enjoyment.  I have waited on this book to be published for the last three years.  I love anything written by Greg Iles and had read that he was working on this book, however he was involved in a horrific car accident that interrupted his writing, he is lucky to be alive.   This book involves the 1960's, the KKK and how events from that turbulent era still can affect us today.  This book has special significance for me since I was born in Mississippi and lived there until my early 20's.  I personally didn't have any contact with people like this but I have heard stories about people like this all of my life.  This is the best book I have read this year.    What good books have you read this year?