Freezer Jam

It is strawberry season over here. And that means starwberry jam. Or freezer jam.

Step 1: Go to your local farm and pick strawberries.

Step 2: Revel in the freshness of sweet new strawberries that you picked yourself.

Step 3: Wash and mash the strawberries.


Step 4: Gently pulse the strawberrries until you have two cups. Mix two cups of mashed pureed strawberries with 4 cups of sugar. Let stand for 10 minutes.

Step 5: Get a box of Sure-Jell.

Step 6: Mix the Sure-Jell with 3/4 cup water in a sauce pan until it boils. When its ready mix the Sure-Jell with the strawberries and sugar. Mix it really well.

Step 7: Pour it into glass jars or tupperware. Leave room at the top for expansion. Let sit for 24 hours on your counter. Put 1 in the fridge for immiediate use and put the rest in the freezer. Or give some away.

Step 8: Enjoy

WIP

We have a saying in the quilting word - Work in Progress or WIP. This is one of my WIP's. I have it all cut out and laid out on the guest bed in my sewing room. And here it will stay until I begin to sew it together.

I like to lay my quilts out and then leave them laid out. This way I can get a sense for the color scheme or the layout. When I walk by a WIP I can see how it looks in different light, when I am tired, or when I am rushing by. Sometimes I change something but most of the time I just leave it the way I first laid it out.

This quilt will be for my niece. She picked out the fabric from my stash. I actually had a different pattern in mind but I didn't realize that I had cut it out wrong until I was done. I don't think she will mind.

The problem with WIP's that are laid out like this is that you really can't work on anything else until there done. I have no where else to cut things. I have no where else to put things. And I have no where else for any guests to sleep. This can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on the intended guest!

Labels

I love labels and things with my name on them. Especially the name of my blog. I saw a great tutorial at Sew Take a Hike about making your own labels from Fabric Sheets. Here is my first attempt. I realized only too late that I was going to be sewing over the label but no matter. It still came out cute. Almost looks like I meant to do it.

I had never worked with fabric sheets before. But now that I have they are really easy to use.

I now have plenty of labels for all my upcoming projects.

Fairy Quilt

I belong to a quilting forum. One of the members was giving away some scraps of fabric that had the sweetest pictures of fairies and castles. I used some of them to make this quilt which I am going to donate to the Quilts for Kids project.

Using my new sewing machine I bound the quilt with this tiny vine pattern. I just love the way this came out. It is so sweet and fit the girly theme so well.

Here is my stippling. While I was quilting this quilt my hands just started making loop patterns. And then hearts started to appear. And it looked really good. So I kept doing it. The results were pretty nice.

Here is a close up of the castle in the clouds.

Here are the teeny tiny baby fairies. I hope this quilt makes a little girl very happy. One of my boys actually asked if he could keep it (but I won't say who).

Missouri Star Quil Co.

I found the most amazing web site. It is a store, blog, and tutorial heaven all rolled into one. The Missouri Star Quilt Co. is (as the name says) a store in Missouri. They sell fabric, and notions, and all that good stuff. They have an amazing daily deal which usually involves something I want but don't need. Shipping is just $5 bucks. But the best part is the tutorials. I have learned some of the most amazing techniques from this site. My mom and I spent tons of time checking out all their amazing projects. Even the boys sat down to watch. Here is a list of the ones I plan to get to:

Tube Quilt

Summer in the Park

Stack and Whack

You can check them out here.

Paper Piecing

I have always wanted to try paper piecing. I first tried these hearts. They were super easy to make. I plan to turn them into a pillow or table runner. I love how clean and neat they look.

This tiny house was not as much fun. I decided that paper piecing small items is not fun. It took me an entire night to make this tiny 4" square. This goes to a pattern that requires 7 of these tiny houses. That is not going to happen. I guess that is why it is a good idea to try out new patterns before you commit to them.

Cricut Butterflies

When I got my Cricut I had heard you could cut fabric using it. But I couldn't get it to work. I finally figured it out. You need to use Heat and Bond Ultrahold and lots of blue painters tape. So I spent an entire night using my Cricut to cut out these fabric butterflies. I then ironed them to a piece of fabric and put them in this frame. This was just a prelude to what inspired this project - this amazing, gorgeous butterfly baby quilt. I don't know when but I am going to make this quit. By the way the adorable Holly Hobby doll in the picture was made by mom when I was a little girl. Every single stitch of her was hand done. And she is still as cute as a button.

Birthday

It's my birthday today. And I wanted to take this time to thank everyone who reads this blog. And especially to my 7 followers. Three of you I know personally. So that means there are 4 of you out there that are reading me because you really want to. THANK YOU! Some day I hope that this blog is big enough to host a give away and then I can really thank you. For now my humble words will have to do.

Announcing

Announcing the newest addition to the family

Singer 7470

175 Stitches

Automatic Needle Threader

Alphabet and Pattern Memory

Drop & Sew Bobbin

Needle Up/Needle Down

She is beautiful and is all mine.

More Snack Bags

On a recent trip to the Goodwill I found three large fabric napkins. I knew right away what I could turn them into. More snack bags. And some pencil cases.

I made these two snack bags and three pencil cases from two napkins and some Velcro.

At work many of the girls carry all their pens and highlighters in little bags. I thought they might enjoy these.

Also who couldn't use some cute snack bags. The pirate ones I made here have received rave reviews.

Amish Friendship Bread

Have you ever heard of this? It is like a chain letter for bread. But not just any bread - the best bread you have ever tasted. Actually it is more of a cake. Here is how it works. Someone gives you a starter bag. You mash it for 10 days, adding three ingredients on day 6. Then on Day 10 you add some more ingredients and make three new starter bags. Then you bake the bread. You keep one starter kit for yourself and give the other two away to friends.

Our bake day was on this past Friday. We baked and then we ate, and ate and ate. I had to run the starter kit and a slice of bread over to my neighbor while the bread was still pipping hot. If I hadn't there would have been nothing to bring over. If you are ever given a starter kit - take it. And then count the days until you bake.

Baseball Season = Extra Quilting Time

Baseball season begins today. We are a Red Sox Household. Every game is watched, listened to, attended (if they are in our area), or monitored. The boys were dressed in Red Sox gear when they were born. They learned which team was good (the Sox) and which was bad (the Yankees) before they could talk. We have Red Sox clothing, books, art work, and all sorts of other miscellaneous items. I have even contributed with a quilt and beer mugs.

What does baseball season mean to me? Other then the complete and total loss of my spouse - MORE FREE TIME TO QUILT. And now that my boys are older they will be engaged in the games as well. I will have endless hours of free ME time. I hope something similar is happening in your home.