BLACKBERRY JAM

  We went early to Sunset Park in SeaTac , just north of the airport and in the path of incoming flights.  It was a pleasant morning, Jelly went too.  We picked two small buckets of blackberries and were home by 9:30am, a bit scratched up although I wore long sleeves.

Jelly got to sniff around a bit, but wouldn't help with the picking.

Lots and lots of blackberry bushes in this big park that used to be a housing development.  The county bought them all and tore down the houses because they are in the flight path to SeaTac Airport.  There is somewhat of a grid of asphalt roads left.  There is a  Community Center and a nice arboretum in one corner of the park with parking.

After lunch, I processed the berries.  They are now 8 half pint jars of Blackberry Jam.  

FINISH #16

I trimmed the excess from the newly quilted "Seven Plus" quilt and sewed it's binding on today.

It is done!  This is Finish #16 for the year.

The quilt is 54" x 72".

And it took 7 years and 6 days from start to finish. 

SEVEN PLUS QUILTED

 The Black and White quilt I've been working on has been named "Seven Plus" because it took a few days more than seven years from start to finish.  I used some red and black fabrics from my stash of old fabrics and made the backing yesterday.

Then this morning I loaded it onto the longarm, programmed a pantograph and got busy quilting it.

I finished up by the end of the day.  It's off the machine.  And while it was quilting, I made some binding.  Maybe I can do that tomorrow.

FINISH #15

 Here's another little quilt made from a Charm pack and white squares.  This is Enchanted.  It is 36" by 45".  And it's the 15th finish of the year.

RHUBARB STRAWBERRY JAM

I cut up some rhubarb and cored and chopped some strawberries in the morning.  Then, after lunch I turned them into jam.  I did it that way in an attempt to not overtax my arm/shoulder by breaking up the activities.

 

 

BLACK AND WHITE AND A LITTLE RED

 I started making this quilt on August 11, 2019.  I made six blocks and decided it was done.  I put it away and a few years later got it out and thought it should be bigger.  I made one more block, got bored with all those precious seams needing matching and put it away.

I ran across it again a few days ago and went back to work on it.  I made more blocks and now I think it really is done.  It's a quilt top, 54" x 72", and it only took one day short of seven years.  Maybe that should be it's name.  The Seven Year Quilt.  But then, really, it's still not a quilt.  It may be an Eight Year Quilt before I get it quilted.  We'll have to wait and see.

TOMATO JAM

 Darrell gives a lot of his sawdust to a gardener friend who sometimes brings us eggs from his hens.  Today he gave us some beautiful tomatoes, ripe and lucious.  I wanted to make some Tomato Jam, but needed a few more Romas to make a batch.  So, this morning we went to the West Seattle Farmers Market.  I bought some Romas, some Dill flower heads (for pickles later)  and some Rhubarb.

When we got home I started making the jam.  I peeled, chopped and cooked the tomatoes,  Then, along with some garlic and herbs, sugar and balsamic vinegar, cooked everything into jam. 

Then processed the half pint jars in a water bath.  Yield: 5

WINNOWING THE SCRAPS

 My scrap buckets, but only 10 out of the 12, are overflowing.  So, I decided yesterday to do something about that.  I sorted them into pieces that are strips, pieces that are small and can be cut into 2-1/2" squares, 3-1/2" squares and 5" squares.  The strips will be sorted by width and joined together, someday.  Today I finished them up.  

Yesterday, after sorting most of it.  It still needs to be pressed and cut to size.

Trimmings

After everything was sorted and cut to size, this is what is left.

This bucket is now under control.  Success!

ENCHANTED QUILTED

 This quilt was made with a charm pack of 42 5" squares called Enchanted.  So, this quilt has been named Enchanted.  Me and Erik quilted it today.  Erik was making problems for me again.  But, that was okay,  I'm getting pretty good and finding ways around his problems.  So, the quilt got quilted and it looks good.

FINISH #14

 I made some bias binding and got it sewn onto the Patricia quilt I quilted yesterday.

It is 36-1/2" by 45-1/2"

It's done.  It's Finish #14 for the year.

I really like it.  I might not donate it for a while.

NOTHING BUT PROBLEMS

I had nothing but problems quilting this quilt top.  The top was made in a Patricia Belyea Workshop years ago and has some Yukata cotton prints in it.  I ran across it in my UFO bucket a couple of days ago and thought it deserved to be a quilt.

I started out with a quilting pattern of a geometric type pattern.  I set it up on the longarm and started it.  It made the first part then went around the first part again, and then started on it again.  I stopped it.  What the heck.  It had went over the same lines repeatedly for no apparent reason.  And I didn't want it to do that across the whole quilt.  So,  stopped it and picked all that stitching out - which took a while.

I erased that program and picked another and set it up.  Then got the machine working.  This one was stitching out right, one time around to make the pattern.  But, when it got to the next section of the panto the program would stop and want me to pull up the threads so it could go on.  Those of you who longarm will know what I mean.  For the rest of you, that meant I had to stand there and push the button to get it to do each section.  So, I did.  It's a small quilt.

,

And I got it done.

GRAPEFRUIT MARMALADE

 I made some Red Grapefruit Marmalade today.  

Peel the rind off, leaving any pith (white parts) behind

Peel, peel, peel.

Chop, chop, chop.

Then (no photo) I extracted the inside fruit and juice, omitting anything white which will cause bitterness (this is a little difficult).  Added it to the cooking rind, added pectin and sugar and then boiled.

Boil, boil, boil.

Pour into jars, seal and put in waterbath to process.

Wait for it to cool.  5 half pints.

I can hardly wait to give it a try!

STRAWBERRY JAM

 Darrell and I went to the West Seattle Farmers Market this morning.  We were looking for some dill for making pickles.  But, we spotted some beautiful organic strawberries and bought a box ($28).   We continued wandering looking in every booth and did find some dill fronds but no flower heads.  

When we got home I got busy making jam.  Darrell helped with the mashing once I cleaned and chopped them.

And after a lot of cooking and stirring and more stirring, we ended up with nine half pints.  

FINISH #13

 I found this little quilt in my bucket of UFOs.  I'm not sure who made it.  I know I didn't.  So, I'm going to assume that my sister Sue did.   It was quilted already, all it needed was binding.  So, I made some black bias binding and sewed it on.  So it's done.  That was easy!

It is finish #13 of the year.  It is called Pinwheels and is 35" by 35".  It will get donated.

FIRST BATCH OF PICKLES

 I made 5 quarts of pickles this morning.  It's the first batch of the year.

LONG LINE OF NAMES

 I've been working on putting a black border around the name labels that the members of the Monday Sewcial Collab quilt made for the back of the quilt.

ROSES AND ARROWS QUILT DONE

 Here is July's quilt for the UFO Challenge with Quilting Mayhem.

It is called Roses and Arrows after the charm pack of 42 5" squares it was made from, along with some light grey to make half square triangle blocks.

I made the bias binding from the same grey and got it sewed onto the little 32" by 40" quilt today.

It is FINISH #12 for the year!

COLLAB QUILT TOP TOGETHER

 I put the last seam in on the BP-Monday Sewcial Collab quilt top.  It went together very easily.  I had checked each block for size when they arrived and almost all were right on.  I did make some minor adjustments to a few, which made the final sewing together a breeze.  

QUILTED NEXT UFO

 I got the July UFO Challenge quilted today.

The longarm had a  glitch after the first run and froze up.  I had to close the app, which lost the program.  But, after a bit of fiddling I was able to reprogram it and get it lined up accurately and going again.  I used an allover pantograph.

This is not the first time the app has done that.  It is very annoying.  But I am getting better at restoring a lost program and lining it up.  But, I should probably look into why this is happening and make my life easier.

FINISH NUMBER 11

 I finished sewing down the binding on this quilt from the Maria Shell Workshop Round and Round.  So it is done!

It's name is "Not Enough Zucchini", it's 64" by 81".

It is  finish number 11 for the year.

JULY'S BOM

 Here is July's blocks made for the Seatte Modern Quilt guild's Block of the Month, also known as SeaMQGBOM2026.

ROUND AND ROUND QUILTED

After a few setbacks with Erik the longarm and help from Katrina at Bernina of Renton, in Washington, I got Erik up and running smoothly with a new pantograph.  He stitched out a vine pattern on the Round and Round quilt top, now named 'Not Enough Zucchini'.

It took most of the day, and it looks great.

MAKING A BACKING

 I started making the backing for the Round and Round quilt yesterday.  This morning I made a label and then finished the back.

SEWING SCRAPS

 There are a lot of scraps from the Round and Round project.  And a lot of them are strips.  So I started making Log Cabin type blocks, more round and round.

I've been making blocks for a couple of days now.  The scrap pile is much smaller.  I'm holding some back to use as filler when I put all of the blocks together.

LAST BORDER AUDITION

 After meeting with Maria on Monday, I've decided to use all three of the fabrics for the final borders. I made more triangle pieces and sewed them into the border fabrics.

But, I trashed the loud corner blocks.  I had the idea to replicate the rectanges from the center block.  I made them as far as I could.  But, the only Kona Zucchini fabric I have left is in small pieces.  So, I'm going to think about what to do about that for now.

NOT HAPPY WITH THAT FABRIC

 I am not thrilled with that substitute fabric I made the border with yesterday.  So, using more of the triangles I made, I set them on top of some other fabrics I thought might work.  Now I'm going to let be and think about it for a while before I make a decision.  At one point I was thinking of using some leftover Log Cabin blocks as a border, too.

I made those corner blocks thinking they would tie into some of the other borders.  But, I think they are drawing too much attention.  I probably won't use them.

ANOTHER BORDER

 I wish I had more of the e bond fabric I used in the center of the Feathered Star block, but I don't.  So, I found another of her fabrics that are very similar in color.  So, I made the next border using it instead.

I made one side then auditioned them, first with the triangles pointing in then with them point out.

NEXT ROUND

 I'm trying out different things for the next round.