Stories from the Sewing Room

I've still been on the struggle bus for getting things done. I'm just sort of in a slump. I've done basically no personal sewing over the past week. I did sew together the rows of a test quilt, but I'm not sure if I can show it yet or not.

Besides that, I have managed to work on a few quilts.

This one is Maria's, quilted with Arabesque. I also made and attached the binding to the front. She selected brown thread to match her backing.

Next is Sally's, quilted with Indigenous Circles. This is fabric she purchased around 20 years ago in Australia, so I found an appropriate design on an Australian designer's site.

I quilted Linda's tractor quilt with loopy meander. She wanted red thread to go with the tractors.

I'm currently working on Elaine's quilt. This one is full custom. I am so slow at custom. I had a ton of stitch in the ditch, which takes forever and doesn't really look like you've done anything. Plus three thread color changes. I'll end up using four thread colors once I'm done with everything.

I guess I've done more than I thought, all things considered. We were able to move things around in our upstairs living room and while it is far from ideal, it is 100 times better than it was before. 

I also have a bunch of cucumbers right now. I've already made freezer pickles. I made eight jars of sweet relish Monday and I have enough to make another eight, but I'm not really sure we need 16 jars of pickle relish. 

If anyone has tips for making edible fresh pack pickles, I'd sure appreciate tips. I've tried the recipes in the Ball canning guide and they do not turn out for me. They are usually overly salty and really mushy. Yuck. I am following the recipes to the letter and using the correct salt. I've also tried the pickle crisp additive Ball sells.

I took a few pictures around the yard the other day while waiting for my husband to be ready for our evening walk. These first couple are of one of my Rose of Sharon bushes. I'm excited this one is blooming because the critters usually eat all the buds. I was lucky enough to capture a bee at work.

This is a weed or a native flower growing in the yard next to the silt fence for the barn.

This one is out in a clump of trees on the side property. There were tons of baby sassafras trees all around.

Speaking of sassafras, the other night our young neighbors asked us if we could identify some trees with really odd berries that were growing in their yard. It turns out they were sassafras but the ones with fruit didn't have the typical leaf forms as shown above. They were almost entirely just elliptical leaves. The berries are really odd and the tips turn yellow before they drop. Don't eat them though; they are not edible! We learned all sorts of interesting things about sassafras. You should Google it if you have a few spare minutes.