Canning Day (quilt) "Slice of Charm" - Cotton Way

Remember all the little pieces of fabric I cut up a while ago?

Here they are, all sewn together!

This is the Canning Day quilt fabric kit from Connecting Threads,

(their fabric is SO SOFT!  I love it!)

which uses the pattern, called

"Slice of Charm", from Cotton Way.

There's nothing like a quilt with a white background

to remind you of your grandmother's quilts, is there?

How sweet!

I really love the patterns from Cotton Way.

Read more about the designer here:   Cotton Way blog.

Beets- Window to My World

There's really nothing prettier than beets in jar! 

You can see part of my backyard in the jar reflection.

(For PICKLED BEET SYRUP recipe, scroll towards the

bottom of this posting.)

Here's our good 'ol canning equipment.

Water is so luscious, isn't it? 

A humble unpeeled beet, steaming in the pot.

Boiling beets are pretty/ugly- look like little monsters!

Then you peel 'dem beets!

An' stick 'em in a jar witch-yor syrup!

An' before ya know it, ya got more jars joinin' da party!!

Well, all done, so I'm hangin' up my apron for the day!

But before I go, I'm going to give you my recipe for the beet syrup.

Don't forget to follow the canning instructions from companies like Ball or Kerr to make sure your beets are safe to eat come winter time!  I do not give you complete canning instructions here because they can tell it better than I can.  Link to Ball by clicking HERE.

~

Pickled Beet Syrup

Enough to fill 6 (six) Quart Sized Jars ) with beets in them.

4 cups white vinegar (5% acidity) to 2 cups granulated white sugar

. Of course you’ll have to adjust how much you make according to how many beets/filled jars you have, but that is a pretty accurate ratio of sugar to vinegar. You need to warm this on the stove and make sure the sugar is dissolved. I like to taste it and make sure it doesn’t make me pucker up when tasting. If I do, then I add some more sugar.

~~

Another little tidbit:

This reminds me of the story of the little Red Hen- how she wanted everyone to help her with harvesting the wheat for the bread.– no one wanted to help, but she did it anyway and then they all wanted to eat the bread without doing the work. The Good Little Red Hen gave them some anyway.. There’s a lot of steps to processing your own food out of the garden, but it’s worth it. America , at one time, was an agrarian society. Just about everyone had a garden. No more...The last thing I have to say is- thank God for farmers - because without them, we wouldn’t have all the food we have to eat. So if you want to go back to your "roots," plant a garden, or a least a little pot of tomatoes.

~~

And as Forrest Gump would say:

"Have a Nice......Day!"

XXOO, BB

Catching Up.... On Quilts!

HURRAH, HURRAY!  

I've sewn the top together for the Jan Patek Miami Valley Album Quilt!

It'll look better after it's quilted, which, BTW, I have no clue how to

quilt this, but will come up with something. 

I LOVE IT!  It just warms my heart!

Another Must Have quilt kit arrived this week from Fig Tree Quilts!

I love this line of fabric!

The Fig Tree Fabric is called "California Girl".  It's so pastel

and wonderful, it makes ME feel like a California Girl!

See the Blue colorway?  It's pretty too-- looks like the beach. 

I think that's why they called it "Boardwalk"!

Look here, Honeydews, you can buy directly from

Fig Tree Quilt Company-- Click on the word HERE

to get to their website.  They are the SWEETEST

People to work with.

Now here's what I had to cut this week.  A quilt kit that was on the

backburner.  The pattern is from Cotton Way, called "Slice of Charm".

The white background squares are only 5 inches!  Oh Man!

So guess how big the pieces are???

Tiny.  And I had to cut them by hand using a template- WHEW!

Haven't done that in a LOOOOOONNNNGGGG TIME!

Actually had to use my scissors too!

Had to cut 64 of these shapes, then cut them into four pieces,

which makes:    256 small pieces (for the pies!)

This will be the final result!  I just could not

resist this kit, which was purchased about two years

ago, from Connecting Threads.  This fabric line is

called "Canning Day", which they have a few prints

left on clearance at their website.

This is American-made cotton and I really like it.

They sell it for 4.96 a yard, but it has a nice feel to it. 

It's not as high a thread count as some other quilting fabric,

but it reminds me of stuff my Granny Lil had.

I like it!  Don't be afraid to buy some.

Also at their website, you can use their "Kit Builder",

and you can plug in fabrics into a custom quilt kit,

using their fabrics.  Go and have some fun!

~

That catches me up on the quilt front for now!

XXOO,    BB