Harvest Time

As mentioned in my last post I had some canning to get to, I also had some honey to extract.  I spent most of Sunday extracting honey and cleaning the sticky, sweet mess.

The extractor all ready for some frames!

A river of honey from the extractor.

This is a frame of honey before uncapping and putting into the extractor.

Some of the honey jars, there are many more..........
















Monday was spent making two batches of hot pepper jelly and making juice from grapes to be ready to make jelly today.  Grape juice is such a beautiful rich color.........

The honey is in the back, the first batch of grape jelly is to the left, the relish in the center (both made today)  and the hot pepper relish to the right, only planning on making one more batch of grape jelly then the canning is done for this year.  I still have some honey to bottle probably another 10 or more pounds, so far I have over 70 pounds, thanks to my very productive honey bees!



Hoping to get everything put away tomorrow and plan on spending a little time relaxing in my sewing room before getting some outside fall prep work done!

Catching Up

This weekend a friend came for a visit we spent the weekend in my sewing room "catching up" on our lives and sewing.  It was just the boost I needed to dig out some of the projects that were ohhhhh so close to being complete.

I got the backing for the flannel shirt quilt finished, it is now ready for quilting, I just need to work on a pieced binding.  I finished piecing the backing of another quilt that has been a UFO for several years, will make the binding for that one this week. 

I also dug out the Marcus Sew Along, I had stopped working on it because I was not happy with the second light fabric that I chose, it was a mystery quilt and I wasn't clever enough to realize it was for the setting blocks, with the help of my friend I decided to use cheddar instead.......it looks better.  I will probably tea stain this one to darken the light fabric but I am still not "in love" with this one.  I will shop my stash for a backing and make the binding soon.  This year I challenged myself to use more of my stash, this quilt is 97% from my stash!

I am also finishing up the Mastering Miniatures BOM that I started a few years ago.  I had some of the setting blocks to finish, they are now complete and there were 14 blocks that needed to be pieced, yesterday I did nine of them I am hoping to finish up the last five today.

 Off to the sewing room to work on today's goals and later I have zucchini relish, grape jelly, tomato sauce and hot pepper jelly to keep me busy for the days that follow!  

Summer Fun

The weather here the past few weeks has been beautiful, great for getting outside work done.

After putting up the greenhouse we seeded the lawn around it and in the back of the house.

Also spent some time working in the garage, we put up some sheetrock allowing us to hang quite a few things, it was great getting them up on the wall, it looks so clean and fresh on that wall, only 2 more walls to go!

Found some treasures at the transfer station aka "the dump", one 7' long 12" wide board and one water jug that is great for catching water from the greenhouse gutters! 

Finally stained and polyed two interior doors I replaced over a year ago, the house smells a little strong right now but at least the windows are open and hopefully it will get better soon. 

One of the doors was in my sewing room.....things were pushed aside to keep them from a possible spill, everything is back in place just in time for the second pattern of the Kim Diehl What Not Club #3 to arrive via email.  I will also be able to pick up the first month of a BOM offered by my local quilt shop, they have made it up using  'Farm Girl Vintage' by Lori Holt, this one should be quick since all the pieces are pre-cut!

 I have also been working on a quilt for a friend's SIL, it is made using pieces of her father's plaid shirt.  I have one more row to sew on then I will be adding two borders, I will share a photo when I complete the top.

Also need to get ready to do some canning.....the tomatoes and zucchini are going crazy, not so happy with the cukes, they didn't like the dry spell.  Corn should be ready for picking soon, a few new chickens were added to the coop and I have harvested a few more frames of honey that I look forward to extracting soon.  The flower gardens are still looking good, I guess being late starting my zinnias was a not so bad, it makes for some beautiful flowers in late Summer!

 

My husband just finished building a potting table for me using scrap wood, the frame was from leftover PT and the top and shelves were from an old shed, the old boards give it an instant "primitive" look!

 

Until next time...........

Anthem Flimsy

Finished the flimsy, from the Kim Diehl Whatnot Club Collection 3, hoping to get a backing put together from scraps and then doing some "big stitch" hand quilting to complete the project.  It will be a table topper as it is only 21 1/2" x 21 1/2". 

 

Lopped off a few points doing this one but haven't done much sewing lately and the pieces are small so every 1/8" makes a big difference!  It leaves room for improvement when I work on the next one due out in September.

Greenhouse Complete!

I can officially cross "build the greenhouse" off of my to do list!  With the help of my neighbor and of course my husband the greenhouse is up, now I can start planning the seeds I will start next Spring! 

 

The weather for the next few days is going to be beautiful, sunny, very comfortable temps and no humidity so I will probably get some outside work done, but I plan on spending a little time inside the room on the other side of the corner window in the above photo......my sewing room! 

 

Until next time..........



Some Quilting and Sweetness

Yesterday was a triple H day here in Maine, a great day to spend in my sewing room working on spider web blocks. 

I am working on more today, the only change..........placing my iron OUTSIDE of my sewing room, the house does have A/C but the iron puts out lots of heat in my cozy room! 

 

 

Even though it was very hot yesterday I had to go out and do some tweeking in a few of the hives to help with ventilation........I found three frames of honey ready for me to extract.  Extracting is a sticky job so I will wait a little longer in hopes that I will have a few more frames and make one BIG mess instead of several smaller messes.  Wish you could smell how sweet the frames smell, oh and they taste pretty good too!

 

Loved seeing the honeybees, along with many other pollinators, foraging on the Anise Hyssop this afternoon..........

 

 

Enjoy your day!



Garden Tour Sneak Peek

Been busy outside, I mentioned a garden tour for my next post......well you will have to settle for this little sneak peek.  I will post more later, but for now I need to  "make hay while the sun shines" (and while it is comfortable to work outside).

I leave you with these....................

 

Have a great day!

Getting Stuff Done

I often think that I should change the name of my blog since I haven't posted much about quilting in quite some time.  This time of the year (if it is not hot and humid) I am usually outside working in the gardens, in my apiary or on some project from the list.

The garden after it was weeded about a week and a half ago.........

Finally, with the help of my husband, the "dead" space between the house and our ramp is looking better.  I will plant a few more hostas, gather a few more rocks, and set in the post for the gate latch and cross it off the project list!

 

The next big project has officially started, the installation of a small 6x6 greenhouse.  My husband started to clear out the spot, we will have to level the soil, built a platform, place some retaining walls around the edge, then we can build the greenhouse.

 

This is a "stock" photo of the greenhouse, we found it on CraigsList, it was brand new the person that was selling it just never put it up........the best part, we paid a fraction of the price of a new one!

 

A tour of my garden for the next post................



Long Time...............

Long time since my last post, we have been through Fall, Winter, and Spring..........

I made some designs in the snow while snowshoeing.........

Celebrated a birthday.........

Made several batches of jam with the rhubarb this Spring..........

 

 

Been out working in the apiary...........

 

 

Planted the garden............ 

 

 

Picked some berries from my strawberry patch......... 

The honeysuckle in all its glory.............

 

Refreshed my memory on basic crocheting.........

Started a wall hanging...........

 

Just to name a few things that I have kept busy doing while I was "away" from blogland!  Hoping to get back into the swing of blogging on a regular basis.

 

Preparing for the big "W"

I have gotten some sewing done since I last posted but I have also been busy finishing up the firewood for Winter.

Had to saw up the long pieces to the right then split and stack.

 All finished, the pile that is not stacked is already in my basement, the stacked wood will be the last to come inside as it is the most seasoned.

 Spent one of the warm days last week in my sewing room since it was too hot to work outside!

 

These are the first five blocks of the Marcus Brothers Sew Along.

 

 Tonight my husband and I decided to make the first fire in our new wood stove, I really didn't want to wait until it was really needed, I prefer to be prepared when possible! 

 

Still have the other half of my wood to bring inside, cut and split some kindling and help my mom split the rest of her wood hoping to have that done by next week!  Leaves and a few other must do things on the list before I will be ready for colder weather, but the most important thing on the list is to take time and enjoy my favorite season of the year!! 

Special Tresure

Yesterday I went to a BBQ at my neighbors house, her husband recently passed away and she has been sorting through stuff..........she had a few things that she thought I would be able to use at my house.  A roll of screen, a grow light that will work for my seedlings and then she walked around the corner carrying a black box...........as soon as I saw it I knew exactly what it was and felt so honored to receive this beautiful treasure.................

 

She doesn't sew and as she handed it me she said that her husband knew he had it and had said that he wanted me to have it!  I am looking forward to oiling her and threading her and then giving her a try!

New Furniture

My local quilt shoppe Kathie's is doing some renovations and was selling a few pieces of furniture, I decided to purchase one of the counters to serve as my cutting station.  It took a few hours of moving things around in my 9 x 10 sewing room but I think I like the way it looks.  After I spend a few days sewing I will probably tweek it a little bit but for the most part everything is cozy feeling. 

Not sure if I am going to keep the rocking chair, depends how many times I stub my toe.  I like having a place to sit and stitch when I don't want to watch the same tv show hubby is watching.

 

The shelves on the backside of the cutting station are perfect for my project totes, they are now very visible and easy to reach.........wonder if they will get finished sooner, LOL!

 

 

Terry here is a photo I told you I would post of my stash closet..........

 ........and more spilling out onto a cute little hutch I found at a yard sale a few years ago.  Room for more on these shelves, LOL!

Hope you enjoyed my tour.  





Shopping from the Stash

Recently one of my fellow blog friends Grace posted photos of two blocks she had just completed.....they were made with Civil War fabrics, I have lots of that in my stash so I decided to find out more about the pattern.  She directed me to the Marcus Fabrics website and I was able to see the fabric requirements and went shopping in my stash!   I did well I only had to purchase the two light fabrics, the blue and one of the reds! 

 

Last night I cut the fabric for the first two blocks and was able to construct the first one........

 

Rainy here in Maine so I will be working on the next block and hope to post again soon.