in the kitchen, Seasons

What to do with even more cherries?

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So, the cherry tree has out-done itself this year. I’ve gotten all kinds of comments from neighbors this year. There were so many cherries that if the tree wore a blinking neon sign, it couldn’t have drawn anymore attention to itself. What does one do with about 20 pound of homegrown cherries? Well, I put a bunch in the freezer for crisps and such. I made a batch of brandied cherries, since they sounded good. (They are!) And I made a batch of “Holiday Cherries”, which are basically an alcohol-free version of the brandied cherries, with warm spices instead. Prepping …

quilts

Even More Siggies!

I’ve finished the 65 blocks for the Crafty Blackbird’s Siggy Block Swap. Assuming we don’t have any drop-outs in Round 2, I’ll have a bit more than 120 blocks to play with when the blocks come back to me. And then I’m done. Really. No Round 3 for me. I’ve got to focus on getting some of those WIPs in the sidebar done! There are some fun things popping up in the Flickr group as people start playing with the blocks from Round 1. I’m seriously impressed by the folks who have turned a pile of randomly colored blocks into …

in the kitchen, Seasons

Summer Journal: Cherry Preserving

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A few years back, I put some Bing cherries in our dehydrator – you know, for science – and I’ve been drying cherries ever since. Uber-yumminess! They make great snacks, easy to grab on the way through the kitchen. I put them in granola and gorp, too. This is the first year that Caitlyn has gotten involved in the madness that is prepping 20 pounds of cherries for the dehydrator. That may have a lot to do with this being the first year that the box of cherries arrived at the house before dinner-time. Using the cherry pitter, naturally, was …

quilts

Catching up with the Craftsy BOM

 

Just when I thought I’d manage to get all caught up on all my Block of the Month projects, it had to go and become July. I’m now behind in all three BOMs, again, and likely to stay there for the rest of the summer. Quilting is a cold-weather hobby, right? Summer is time for garden projects and food preserving projects and doing-things-with-Caitlyn projects. Back at the Craftsy BOM, in April, the blocks were all about English paper piecing. I don’t think I’ll take this up an a regular thing (best wishes to all those doing FatQuarterly’s English paper piecing …

homesteading, in the kitchen, Seasons

Summer Journal: Strawberries

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Some people (I’m looking at you, elsie marley) can take a camera when they go strawberry picking and somehow get fun pictures of their kids picking/eating strawberries without (I assume) making a mess of the camera with their own strawberry-covered fingers. I know this is a skill I don’t have, so I didn’t bother with the camera. You’ll just have to imagine: A day that was forecast for rain and then didn’t… A field of strawberry plants, just to the right of the teeny tiny Christmas trees… Caitlyn and her friend actually filling their buckets, instead of bringing us 4 …

quilts

Mailbox Goodies!

I got fun mail! Want to know what made it extra fun? I won it! I never win things! Back in early June, Jackie at Canton Village Quiltworks showed off a newly finished quilt and requested name suggestions. I commented with the first thing that popped to mind (“Salt Water Taffy”) and Jackie chose me as the runner up. Squee! Seven fat quarters in batiks (my fave!), in colors from the palette Jackie used in her quilt, now officially named “Berries Jubilee”. I’m keeping these beauties in their bundle for now… it seems appropriate that I use them for some …