My Latest Quilt

For the past week and a half I have been sewing a fall themed quilt.  I enjoy quilting and have done many quilts over the years.  Some I keep for myself, some I give away.   All my quilts are usually of the "scrappy" variety, simple, and tied or hand quilted with simple designs.  Machine quilting is not for me, nor do I ever send a quilt to a longarmer.   Sometimes I think contemporary quilts have so much quilting and stippling that they are stiff and thin and not very warm.   I like a quilt that has some air space in it, is warm, and uses a variety of fabrics.   Quilting was originally a way to use up old clothing and fabric scraps and be thrifty.   But modern quilters will often go out and purchase all new fabric (yes, I have done that for a few of my quilts), and then spend upwards of $150 to send a quilt out to be machine quilted elsewhere at a longarmer.   They may be beautiful quilts, but just not for me.   To each his own, you know?  I'm sort of a fabric junkie anyway, and hate to throw out even small pieces of fabric.  So my quilts usually have a folksy feel and look to them.  I also like to use old blankets as batting.   It is so much warmer than a typical quilt batting, and much cheaper.   You can usually get old blankets for a dollar or less at garage sales, whereas a typical quilt batting can cost from $10 to $50 depending on the type and size.  So, here is a photo of the latest creation and a couple close ups of some of the details of fabric.  

This quilt is 56 x 72

Another view

Some of the fall fabrics

Here are just a few of the quilts I have made in the past.   Each quilt is sort of like a blank canvas, I think - a way to express (what little?) artistic ability I have!

Here's one I made for my niece

A Christmas quilt I made for my son and his wife

A 'train quilt' I made for my great nephew

A summer quilt I made for my sister

Here's one I made in plaid flannel for my husband

It Has Started........

This morning we woke up to this:

We got not quite an inch of snow, the trees are completely bare of leaves.  Winter is here.  Ugh.
In this next photo, the horses seem to be wondering where the good grass is to eat.   This will be their 24th winter - they KNOW what winter is.  Poor things. Now they will be eating dry hay until next May.

      I couldn't get a photo of the cats, but the new kittens have never seen snow.   They walked around all hunkered down, afraid of what they were stepping in.
     Yep - I guess 'winter is here'.

I Have a Request

The process of cleaning up the garden and the yard for winter has begun.  Gradually we are ripping out old plants, taking down wires, and putting garden tools away.   I gathered up all the cd's I could find that I hang from wires around the garden to keep the deer away (See blog post from June called Deer Be Gone).   Many were cracked, worn, or lost.  Those brittle plastic cd's don't weather well at all.  The constant sun and wind wears off the shiny part that scares away the deer.  I could only recover 32 of them, and that will barely go around the garden next year.   If any of you who read my blog come across old cd's of any kind, could you save them for me?  I don't care what's on them - I won't read them or listen to them or watch them - I just want some  to hang around the garden and scare deer with!  So if you are cleaning out boxes or you get some in the mail that you don't want or you have some old software cd's you don't use for your computer, could you save them for me?  Next time you see me I could get them, or you could give them to one of my family members.  If you send them to me I will reimburse you for postage costs.  I would certainly appreciate it!  And they really work to keep the deer away!!
     It's a little sad to tear apart the garden, but I had a really successful year.  The garden produced plenty to sell, can up, eat, give away (and feed to animals!) I always learn something new with each garden, and every year I make a note of what worked and what didn't.   When things dry up, Harold and I will till everything up and gather and burn off brush.
     Last weekend I took Mom back home.  She enjoyed her time up here and was a great help to me.  As usual, the trip through Wisconsin was especially enjoyable.  What a beautiful state!  I always like to take those back roads that have letters instead of highway numbers (like highway K or HH or P).  Those roads are paved, scenic, go through cute little towns, and are always interesting.   It is my annual "mini vacation" to drive around Wisconsin.
     Snow flurries are predicted for the weekend, so 'winter is coming' up here in the north country!  Our colorful leaves are already gone and we are looking at sticks again until next May.   Sigh.

You grow WHAT???????

This year I decided to try growing rutabagas.  This is a vegetable that I only recently began to enjoy.  Several years ago I tried a vegetable pie recipe that used rutabagas and it was so delicious that I always make this pie at Thanksgiving time.  Since I am a vegetarian, folks always ask me "What do you eat at Thanksgiving?"  I always answer "Good seasonal food, well prepared", but that never satisfies as an answer.   When I tell them I prepare an elegant vegetable pie with 6 kinds of shredded veggies, and rice, and cheese, in a sour cream lattice crust, I get an equally blank stare!  (If you decide you would like the recipe for this, email me)
     So today I harvested the rest of the rutabagas because the weatherman is predicting another hard freeze.  Plus I see that the deer are beginning to eat my rutabagas!  They have already eaten the green tops, and now they are working on the tender flesh.  I will put some rutabagas diced up, in the freezer today, some I will send home with my Mom, and some I will give away and some I will keep for Thanksgiving pie!  I sold many at market this fall.   They are very popular with the Norwegians around here.  A favorite dish they enjoy is called "Mashed Swedes", which is mashed potatoes and rutabagas mashed together and seasoned well with salt and pepper and plenty of cream and butter.
Rutabagas are also great in vegetable soup and stews.

A wagon load of rutabagas, and curious cats

Check out these giants!  A green pepper is added for a size reference!

The deer have started to eat them straight out of the garden

The garden looks pretty sad now after several freezes

My garden buddy Rosemary is wondering what happened to her world

One of several piles of winter squash waiting for a home

The only thing left to harvest is about 30 pumpkins.

Canning season 2013 is finished!

Yesterday I did the last of my canning for the year.  Remember that article on sauerkraut?   It was ready to can up yesterday and so I did 11 quarts and 16 pints from what was in the crock.  All in all, I canned up 390 jars of various things with Mom's help.  I only had 2 seal failures and no jar breakages.   That's pretty good, I think!  We were very blessed this year with a productive garden.  In spite of the heat and lack of rain (we had to water like crazy), everything grew nicely.   We did well at the farm market with selling things, and we were able to give away a lot of produce to others, too.   We are ready for winter with a full pantry and a full freezer.  The Lord has been so good to us!

Standing in my pantry

That crock of sauerkraut turned into this!