What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 You have probably noticed I am posting fewer blog posts.  It's gardening season!  :)  When it's gardening season, the only quilting I am doing is usually for customers.  (I do have a sewing project to do that I will post pics of, but it's not your usual project....)

Keeping up with all the social media platforms is time-consuming.  So, I have decided the blog will be for quilting posts mostly.  Gardening posts will be posted on our YouTube channel.  Being able to watch a video is so much more informative for the gardening than just the pics.  You ...

Hubs asked me what I wanted for our anniversary.  I'm not a 'present' kind of gal.  I know we are in the middle of the remodel and I hate to ask him to do anything, but.....

I enjoy our back patio.  There is a huge tree for shade.  I have my porch swing out there.  We have all kinds of furniture out there, and I love having my morning coffee, listening to the birds and having my devotions....all out there.  There is an area I just stare at.  I can't stop thinking about what a mess it ...

When I was younger, I remember strolling through craft fairs and admiring the painted gourds.  I loved how something so simple could be made so beautiful.  The talent that some of those artists could exhibit on something so simple as a birdhouse gourd was awe-inspiring.  Having young kids, it was never really 'in the budget' to be able to buy one.  I've always wanted one, though.  I've seen everything from all natural to painted to artists who have burned patterns into the outside of them.  (Google some pics - you will definitely end up in a rabbit hole!)

While ...

I love Saturdays!  Saturdays are work until you drop days for us.  We try to get a weekend worth of work done in one day since we don't work on Sundays.  Morning chatter/planning this weekend started with Hubs telling me that we need to plant a lot more corn this year.  Prodigal Son and Army Son have also said they want us to plant more corn.  As Hubs was telling me what his plans were for the day and I was telling him what my plans were for the day, he brought up the whole 'where can we ...

Spring around a homestead is an exciting time.  As you watch the bulbs start to bloom and the seeds you started peek through the soil, hope and excitement fill your soul.  While trees start to bud out and grass starts to green, birds start building nests and breeding season brings even more life.  

Our first attempt at breeding the rabbits didn't "take".  Olaf had never been in that position before and really didn't know what he was doing.  Sadly we have no baby bunnies, but everything happens for a reason.  As we scrambled to make sure we had ...

I've spent over *ahem* 40 years in the corporate foodservice industry.  Admittedly I know way too much about food, where it comes from and how it is processed.  Being a part of the industry has, however, helped me in making decisions regarding our food and where it comes from.  I've seen more than my share of recalls and have seen what they can do to a company as well as the consumer.  I've seen entire restaurant chains put out of business because of one bad decision an employee on a produce line made.  Recalls come more frequently ...

Every year I pick my 'word for the year'.  A lot of people participate in this.  As a wise pastor has said, "you will move in the direction of your focus".  Think about it - if you are driving down the road and start to look at something in your peripheral, all of a sudden you are driving toward it.

My word for 2020 was Embrace.  I wanted to focus on embracing the circumstances and people surrounding me rather than hoping for something else.  Given the current atmosphere, you can only guess how hard that could have been.  Surprisingly, it wasn ...

Remember Larry Luffa?  He outdid himself this year.  We ended up getting a lot of luffas this year.  A lot of people don't realize that luffas are actually a variation of squash plant you can grow yourself.  Luffas make a great exfoliator for your skin, but did you know they are awesome to use on your pots and pans?  I can't even tell you the last time I have had to buy a scrubby for my pots and pans.  I made a batch of soap once that I really wasn't happy with (had a luffa in it ...

I love Saturdays - Hubs and I usually find a project together.  He has worked so very hard this week.  I honestly figured he would be too tired to work on anything.  He (and one of our daughters) moved ALL of the asparagus from the 3 raised beds in the chicken run to the garden.  He de-constructed those raised beds AND the compost bins out there.  He made new compost bins closer to the garden, but still close enough to the chicken barn to make that task easier.  He mowed and weed whipped everything for one last time AND he moved ...

No matter how much you know it's coming, it seems like you are never ready.  There was a freeze warning.  Most of the garden is usually done for the year.  Usually, you have been working so hard at harvesting and preserving that you are more than ready.  But still....you hear that meteorologist and it stops you in your tracks.  Panic steps in.  You race out to the garden to do a quick 'tour' to see if you have missed anything.

Tomatoes - check.  Pumpkins - check.  Sunflowers - check.  Cabbage - check.  Birdhouse gourds - oh noooooo!  I have only harvested a couple ...

I thought it was a 'genius' idea.  When I was canning pumpkin, I was saving a LOT of seed!  I had them drying on a sheet pan.  Wait - I have my dehydrator trays.  I even bought extra dehydrator trays....AND extra liners for the trays.  (The pics are awful, but you get the point.)

 ...but I couldn't be more excited!

Cracker Barrel is re-decorating and getting rid of their wood cookstoves that they use for display.  I saw it on FB, so it has to be true!  LOL

Remember the Pioneer Princess I wanted???  Well, they aren't as big (or as nice, frankly), but I have scored!

I told Hubs about the FB post and that all the Cracker Barrels were selling off the display units.  While I was on a call this morning, he went to the nearby CB to check it out.  I count on him to check out fireboxes ...

Hubs goes to the grocery once a month.  For the last couple months he has noticed that the cleaning section is all but bare.  This month when he came home, he tells me 'it's time for you to make a post about your toilet bowl cleaner'.  So, I guess it's time for another "green cleaning" post.  

For normal day-to-day cleaning in the toilet, I use this cleaner.  This is also great as a glass cleaner!

1 c. distilled white vinegar

1 c. water

1/2 tsp liquid dish soap (or liquid castile soap, which is what I use ...

 A fond memory I have is making apple cider with Pops.  We had a farm market for a few years and made apple cider to sell.  After a week or so with a hand press, Pops 'modified' it and put a motor on it.  Is is so completely unsafe.  It is not grounded and Hubs really needs to re-work it.  But, he has strict marching orders - he is not allowed to replace it.  He can fix what needs fixed, but Pops did it.  I have the press.  It needs to continue to fulfill my need for nostalgia.  It is full ...

Today I was going to start canning pumpkin.  I have all those sugar pie pumpkins in Puddin Pop's Pumpkin Patch....

I went out for my morning garden stroll with the Hubs.  There was an ear of corn on the ground.  I asked Hubs if he had shucked one of the ears there the night before when he was harvesting for dinner and he said 'no'.  *sigh*  I'm not going to be that gardener who loses all their corn to deer and raccoons.  Hubs changed out plans.  He got the four-wheeler and trailer and we started harvesting.  We planted ...

Saturday morning I got up to do all the things - the things that give me joy.  I grabbed my coffee and my harvesting bowls and went out to the garden to see how I was going to spend my day.  It was overwhelming.  I worked at it for a while and finally had to call in reinforcements.  I haven't been feeling well for a few days (fever and angry stomach), so the heat and humidity got to me and I needed help.  Hubs came out and we started harvesting.

Starting at 12:00 there are cayenne peppers, purple beauty ...

I have always been frugal.  My Momma was frugal.  As a single parent (remember, my 'real' father committed suicide a month before I turned 3 and my brother was 6 months old), she scrimped and save where she could.  I'm a member of a couple groups online that are for us frugal friends.  I don't garden to be frugal.  I garden to give me joy.....I need to start with that disclaimer.

I have been in the foodservice industry since 1987.  I have been a broker, sales rep, credit manager, buyer....I have seen all facets.  This is ...

There's more gardening, preserving, etc. going on here right now than quilting, so that's what you are going to see for a bit.

When you were little, did you sing the little ditty "beans, beans, musical fruit - the more you eat, the more you toot"?  That's what I've been singing all day.  Your welcome....again.

This year was new for me in that I tried some new beans.  I tried the Chinese Noodle Beans.  The finally came in like mad.  They are over a foot long and red in color.  We stir fried some with olive ...

 Do I have you singing that song in your head?  Your welcome....LOL

Having been in the food business for so long, I have been blessed to be exposed to some foods and spices that others have not.  There is also the curse about knowing too much about food production, but that isn't what this post is about.

You make deviled eggs.  You sprinkle the top with Paprika.  It's just for looks, right?  Well, there are those, my son in-law included, who are convinced it adds flavor.  Did you know there is such a thing as Smoked Paprika ...

Hubs has finally kicked it up a notch with his whoop-de-doo smoker.  His favorite thing to smoke is pork tenderloin and he is getting really good at it!  He was smoking a tenderloin the other day and had to run out for a bit with Welder Son.  As he is pulling out, he calls over to me and says something about a side dish.  Say what??  I thought he was on dinner duty.  I had been out harvesting tomatoes that morning, so I made my favorite salad....

All winter long I dream about a fresh Caprese Salad.  You know the ...