The life of a quilter who is learning the joys of country living. This site will include free patterns, how-to's, lots of photos, some recipes, and plenty of humorous comments on life in the back woods.
I took these photos with my computer camera so lots of unnecessary background stuff, however, I thought you might like to see my little elephants. I have mislaid the pattern at the moment but will try to remember and post it tomorrow. It has been a busy day and I am tired right now so am just sharing these with you and then will get a little bit of quilting done before stopping for the night.
This elephant is made from flannel and is one of my fair entries. Doesn't she have the cutest little tail?
Blessings,
My friend and I spent a busy afternoon quilting. We were both working on placemats: mine for fall fair entry and she for charity donation. I showed her my quilt as you go technique and she zipped up two mats in record time. I gave her some of my left over strips of Island Batik so both are very colourful.
I will try to find time to write it up and take some photos. It is so quick and can be used for larger items as well. I did a lap quilt using the same method.
All day the sky told us it was going to rain but it didn't happen. It was however, quite humid.
Tomorrow we are of to a friends house for our monthly quilting get together.
Blessings,
It has been a busy and tiring day. My friend, Lilliana arrived from Edmonton after a few airport problems. The connection from Toronto to the airport just north of us was missed because her flight was late. Of course, we didn't know and had made the hour and a bit drive. We were quite concerned when she wasn't there and really didn't know what was best to do. In the end, we drove back home and I called her (no, I wasn't smart enough to take the number with me) and found out what happened. She was able to get another flight a few hours later so back we went and all was well. She is now settled in and resting. I am looking forward to showing her our beautiful area and introducing her to some of my friends.
I am continuing to work away feverishly on my fair entries and will be posting photos of them shortly. In the meantime, I got this dress at a second hand store and found that it fit Ms. Bear perfectly.
Chili Sauce and Strawberry Jam.
Green Tomato Recipes.
If you have still more green tomatoes, I also have a recipe for green tomato mincemeat and green tomato jam. I haven't made the last one but the mincemeat turned out all right. Easier to just buy a jar of the regular stuff though.
I hope you are continuing to follow the Island Batik blog hop posts. A lovely charm pack was one of the prizes today and it is open to international entries. Check it out.
I have a lot of photos to share plus a recipe. Brenda has asked for my green tomato relish recipe so I will post that next week.
The first photo is my latest quilt. It is actually a table cover for a customer and is, of course, made with Island Batik. I have included a photo of the back and a close up of my freehand quilting This squares and triangle pattern was from one of the video's that my friend Deb made.
Here is my recipe for chili sauce. It is from the Purity Flour Cook Book. I have just taken a photo of the page so I hope you can see it. I substitute at least a pound of green tomatoes for the red. You can also use the minis and/or yellow kind. Chop or cut the green into small pieces (approx. 1" cubes) before adding as they take longer to cook.
Although the recipe says to boil for two hours to thicken, I let it cook much longer as it was in the crockpot. Just stir and check periodically until it gets to the consistency you want.
Now that the weather is starting to return to normal, it is a good time to start my pickles and jam for the year. I got the chili sauce into jars and made some strawberry jam today. This is only a tiny bit of what I hope to get done. More jam, another batch of chili sauce, green tomato relish and pickled beets are all on the agenda but, for now, I am focusing on the upcoming Fall fair.
I have sent in my list of entries and now I have to get them made. I started one of the crafts and cut up the fabric for a placemat set. I am also planning on submitting a jar of my chili sauce. There is something special about wining a prize in a food entry. I used to do well with my bread but since I discovered my gluten sensitivity, I don't make it anymore.
I try to add one more item each year although my biggest focus is quilting and sewing. I can resubmit items from the year before (twice is allowed) but I like to do something different each time.
When everything is done, I will share a photo. Will also be posting a photo of the quilt I just finished.
I have had a request for my chili sauce recipe. I will post that tomorrow. QuiltE mentioned that she has 4 crockpots. Now there is a woman that likes to cook. I would like to get a smaller one but haven't done it yet.
Do you enter anything in your local fairs?
Blessings,
(Had a lovely surprise comment on my blog yesterday. Our darling grandchildren's father posted that they liked the photos. )
It has been raining quite heavily here today and what do you do when it is raining? Well, I bake. I quilt too but first I bake. Our freezers are full of produce so I chopped and measured and tossed everything into my large crockpot. The result will be my first batch of chili sauce for the season.
It has been cooking all day and I will leave it on overnight so most of the liquid cooks away leaving a nice thick sauce.
I use my crock pot for a lot of things beside soups and stews. A cheaper cut of meat can be left to simmer until it is fall off the fork tender and my Christmas pudding steams to perfection.
Here is a great recipe from allrecipes.com.
Blessings,
Slow Cooker Apple Crisp.
6 servings 593 cals
Original recipe yields 6 servings
1
cup all-purpose flour
1/2
cup light brown sugar
1/2
cup white sugar
1/2
teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4
teaspoon ground nutmeg
1
pinch salt
1/2
cup butter, cut into pieces
1
cup chopped walnuts
1/3
cup white sugar, or to taste
1
tablespoon cornstarch
1/2
teaspoon ground ginger
1/2
teaspoon ground cinnamon
6
cups apples - peeled, cored and chopped
2
tablespoons lemon juice
1.Mix
flour, brown sugar, 1/2 cup of white sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, and
salt together in a bowl. Combine butter with the flour mixture using fingers or
a fork until coarse crumbs form. Stir in walnuts and set aside.
2.Whisk
together 1/3 cup sugar, cornstarch, ginger, and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Place
the apples in a slow cooker, stir in the cornstarch mixture; toss with lemon
juice. Sprinkle the walnut crumb topping on top. Cover and cook on High for 2
hours or Low for 4 hours, until apples are tender. Partially uncover the slow
cooker to allow the topping to harden, about 1 hour.
Yesterday evening, I got a chance to take some photos while helping our friends, the bison farm owners. Their hen is the surrogate mother who hatched our eggs and I wanted to get a photo of the new little ones.
I was only able to get a picture of the one little downy although another was trying to be brave and peek our from under mother. They are hardly a hand full right now but will grow quickly.
While I was there I took another photo of this much larger mom and baby. Notice that I kept on the correct side of the fence.
And, finally, before we left, I took this last picture looking across the field towards the road. I love how the sun, just starting its descent, highlighted the various shades of green.
I have a friend who is my garden inspiration. Deb seems to have a knack for taking something ungardeny and turning it into a delightful eye catcher. I have been trying to see things in a new light as well. I have done the usual this year: put out my gnomes and planted flowers but I added a twist. The gnomes were placed amongst our rock feature (huge moss covered boulders piled willy nilly in the back yard ) and flowers both real and artificial tucked around them. I like the look. It would be improved with a water fall but I don't think that is going to happen any time soon.
I have mentioned before that we collect gnomes. We have enough that they are starting to spread to other areas of the yard. I found this wall hanger in a garage sale and bought it for the grand sum of $2.00. There are shelves on the right side but I preferred the back. Add a basket of flowers and a gnome with a watering can and voila! another bit of gardening fancy.
Have a great weekend. If you are in one of the forest fire areas, I pray that we will soon get a good soaking rain.
The babies are born-three of them anyway. The lady who owns the chicken that is the surrogate parent to our hens eggs (that sounds really confusing) called today to let us know half the eggs have hatched. We are so excited. She also mentioned that another of her hen's also seems to be going broody. This often happens. If one does, the others join in. This is a new adventure for both us and our friends so we will see where it goes. In the meantime, the bantam that we bought purposely for this purpose is still bouncing around inside its coop!
I got the top finished and off the frame today so now will get the binding on. I also have to start working on my fall fair entries. The fair is on the Labor Day weekend so I have a bit of time. Most of the entries are quilts and they are already done so it is just a few other odds and ends. I usually don't get at it until the week of so I am in good time this year.
We will be visiting our new addition on Sunday and if it doesn't bother the mother, I will take a photo.
Blessings,
We have a winner. Delaine (I hope I am remembering the spelling) will receive a Fat Quarter of Island Batik fabric and a few other odds and ends.
Congratulations Delaine and thank you everyone for your comments.
I love being able to share this lovely fabrics. If you didn't win, here is the list of Canadian retailers that you can leave around the house so everyone will know where to go to buy you a special something.
Thimbles'n Things,Severn, Ontario 705-326-9357
Wilton Creek Fabrics, Harrowsmith, Ontario 613-372-1972
BiB'n Tucker, Victoria,B.C. 250-386-6512
Katja's, Kamloops. B.C. 250-851-0324
Poppin's , Penticton, B.C. 250-493-1815
Gala Fabrics, Victoria, B.C. 250-384-1312
Along Came Quilting, Calgary, Alberta 403-253-4419
Yvonnes, St. Paul, Alberta 780-645-5580 (in September)
C.G. Enterprises, Nipawin, Sask (November)
For those who live in the USA, you can get a complete list from islandbatik.com
Have I said before that it is really hot here?! It is hard not to complain but I really don't like it.
Anyway, positive thinking. We have air conditioning, a nice home, food to eat etc. I was also able to finish a couple of tops today. One needed the borders added and the other, binding. These are charity quilts from our LQG
Today is the last day to enter my draw but you still have the rest of the month to try your luck with the remaining blogs as well as Island Batik itself.
The downside of leaving my comment page open so anyone can reply is that I always get at least one spammer. So annoying.
This patriotic gnome road up to the deck today. Just passing through, he said but we persuaded him to stop and visit with the other gnomes.
Blessings,
Comment: Yes, Sheila (https://plus.google.com/105460619444805643836) tension issues seem to be one of the common quilting problems. Thank you for the comment. (Check out Sheila' blog).
Today was an important in the Backwoods Quilter household. Our little dog, Heidi, turned 10 years old. It hardly seems possible that that much time has passed since we brought our white ball of fluff home. She has been a great source of joy and delight. Her special day was celebrated with an extra bit of liver.
I've almost finished the top I have been quilting. The pattern I am using is a new one to me and it goes very quickly. These photos don't give you a really good idea of what I am doing. I will take a photo of the back when I am finished
Tomorrow, hubby and I are going to a quilt show and then to visit a friend who lives in the same area. On the way back, we will stop at a festival that is being held in another village. It will be a busy day but fun. Hubby likes going to quilt shows. I am a lucky quilter.
If you haven't entered my draw yet, you have until the 15th. Details in the Aug. 7th blog.
Thank you to all those who are entering my blog contest. I wish I could afford to give everyone a prize. I do hope you are also reading and entering the other Ambassador's blog giveaways. For my American readers, the majority of Ambassador's are in the U.S. so you will also have a chance at winning fabric.
It has been a nice temperature here today and I was even able to get some baking done. I have loaded a large quilt onto my frame and started the quilting. I spent quite a while getting the tension set and couldn't figure out why there was a problem. The thread for both top and bobbin was very close to what I had used in the last quilt and everything worked well there.
The difficulty was solved when I noticed the thread had been caught on one of the bobbin winder pieces. Argh.
I did get quite a bit done before it was time for supper and now hubby is waiting for me to watch a TV show with him so I guess that is it for today.
Blessings,
Island Batik Rocks
One of the wonderful things about living in the country is you have so much 'outdoors'. In an urban area, your outdoors can be as small as a balcony. Hubby and I are fortunate enough to count our outdoors in acres. It is filled with wild flowers, a large variety of happy animals and birds as well as our own little cultured (barely) area.
Throughout history, humans have turned land into places where they can live. Gardens range from a few potted plants to vast estates of walkways, topiary, water features, hedges and a myriad of shrubs and flowers. The challenge for Island Batik Ambassadors for this month is the great outdoors and it was these ordered gardens that gave me my inspiration for my Great Outdoors quilt. My fabric is called Birds and Bees and it is covered with those creatures in many colours as you will see from the display below.
I love, love the great Outdoors fabric line and wanted to use as much of it as possible. I also wanted keep the pattern simple so the material was the star and not the design. Formal Gardens is the result.
It was designed to look like those very ordered, everything in its own place so popular during Elizabethan times. This is so far from what my garden looks like that it made a nice (almost humorous) contrast in my mind.
This is my fabric.
The basic block.
And the quilt. The outside border is more yellow than white although the colour doesn't show up that way.
And now for the draw. If you would like to win this fat quarter (and a few other bits and pieces) of Birds and Bees, leave me a comment on my Facebook page or blog. Tell me why you like this fabric and don't forget to check out the other blogs and enter to win their draws. I am sorry but this prize is only open to Canadian addresses due to the cost of postage. If you live in another country, I will have a separate draw for a downloadable pattern.
Click on the Island Batik link above to enter their prize. Links to the other bloggers is below. Good luck
Blessings,
Tomorrow, it is my turn to share a photo of the quilt I have made for the blog hop and your chance to enter for a draw prize. Details tomorrow. I will post before noon our time which is Eastern.
Our local quilt group met today even though it is a holiday Monday. It was a good time with lots of laughter and quilting. The first Monday of the month, we work as a group making charity quilts. We are currently working on some baby quilts from fabric that was donated. We have, if my memory is correct, almost four ready to be quilted. There is a bit more to do on two of them but one more session should see the tops finished.
They are then passed onto a member who will do the quilting and another adds the binding.
We quilters get a great deal of satisfaction in doing something for others, don't we.
Blessings,
We had another downpour around supper time but it hasn't done anything to cool the air. Unfortunately, the area that has the fires didn't get a drop.
I finished my top for the blog hop but haven't done much else today because of the temperatures. The flowers are really loving the weather and seeing the lovely blooms is a joy. Even transplanting them midseason doesn't seem to be doing any harm.
We moved this lily a week or so ago while it was blooming and it didn't drop a petal. It is happily showing off its colour to the hummingbirds and bees. We have a few more of them to move but will wait until it is a bit cooler.
We are expecting a visit from my son and his wife this weekend so that will be nice. A lot of people are travelling so I hope everyone pays attention to the rules of the road and water and stays safe.
Every month, when all the Ambassador's have finished and posted their challenge, Joan compiles the photos into her blog. If you would like to see all the modern quilts from June, click on the link below. Mine is third last.
Here is a list of when each Ambassador will be posting their August challenge blogs. Remember there will be prizes offered so save the list.
Blessings,
