Jr's Mom's Sweet Pickle Relish

I don't even like relish and I like this..........on the left is Kelsey Style Refrigerator Pickles and on the right is Refrigerator Dill Pickles with onion and garlic. Jr's Mom's Sweet Pickle Relish

4 Cup ground cucumbers
4 Cup ground Onion
Mix together and let the juice drain off Squeeze out as much juice as you can
3 Cups sugar
2 Cups vinegar
1 tsp. celery seed
1 Tablespoons Mustard seed
1 tsp. turmeric
Mix this all together bring to a boil and let cook for about 5 mix. Put in jar and top of a 1/2 tsp salt pint or 1 tsp salt to a quart jar and seal
Can use more cucumber and less onion if want . Can add peppers also if want to
Don't hurt to double or triple this.

When you seal this use a slotted spoon when you fill jars so juice doesn't get in your jar. As you will want your relish thick.

Hot water bath 10 minutes to seal.

Chickens, Goats, Cows Oh My!

Ok so I have a herd of goats, with a cow or two thrown in. (correction-bull and calves not cows) I let the herd out in the evening so they can free range and to get them back into the pen I have to bribe them with goat snackies. Sometimes I feel like I'm going to get ran over in their haste to get to the snackies first. I am waiting for Kevin to get home right now, someone has to be around to keep them from knocking the rabbit hutches over and trying to get to the rabbit's food. Sara and I are going to pick green beans at my mom's house. I am also going to get more cucumbers from her, seems to be the best growing thing this year.

veggie still life

After cleaning up the kitchen a bit last night this is what was left on my table, I think it looks like a planned still life painting in waiting....Dawn and I did 7 quart of green beans, 10 pint of sweet pickle relish and a batch of refrigerator pickles yesterday. I have salsa, pickles and zucchini bread to do today. I love my Ball Blue Book for canning, it's the most used cookbook in my kitchen. I love this time of the year, canning is one of my favorite activities and Dawn and had a great time yesterday 'puttin up food'.

Hat Models

The boys were very enthusiastic when I said I needed hat models. I have three done and they fought over who was wearing each hat. The lavender hat will be a gift for my niece Rylee, Austin's head is just a bit bigger than hers so I wouldn't let him stretch it out to put it on. Brad and Willie each have on my first hats and they will probably go to charity. I make scarfs each year to donate to the school and I am adding hats this year. I just love how happy they look in this pic!

College

I delivered Kristin to college yesterday. It was a long day. My head hurts today.

I am excited about whats going on in Kristin's life, she has so many opportunities waiting for her, so many experiences, I hope it's all she's expecting. The campus is beautiful and everyone is really nice and helpful, I am really impressed with Northwestern.

I stopped at Hobby Lobby on my way home, bought yarn to make hats, and a new quilt magazine, there is a cute tote bag I want to make in it, and a fun eye spy quilt I am thinking about, I think I can do it in cat fabric, it's time I cut into my collection. This morning I need to do housework before going to the bar, my friend Dawn is coming tonight with her kids to see the goats and I hate for her to see the place like this. (she's a great housekeeper and it intimidates me greatly)

Oh and my old sewing machine died.........right in the middle of my Christmas Cat quilt, one minute it was humming along, then it chugged a few times and now it's locked up. I am disturbed to say the least, it's my favorite machine and I loved it. I am planning a trip to Grand Island to have it fixed if possible, this means I have no choice in using the scary machine now, (it's not scary, I'm just scared to use it)

Chip

Aiden came to visit this week, ( I call him Chip, just don't tell his parents) my nieces have the cutest babies! They say they take after me.........hehehehe!

1978 or 2008?

Rylee is my little retro baby! The hat and bowl is 70's, the quilt and high chair are 40's and the baby is 2000's. I needed a model for the first hat made on my round knitting loom, This was a practice piece so I dug up some scrap yarn and got busy. I got the looms for Sara but until I knew how to do it I couldn't teach her. My sister-in-law and I sat up last night and got the bugs worked out and this is the result. I did finish another one and I got her mom Lynnzi to model it. Now that I know what I'm doing I can make cute hats.

Midweek

Well the kids are at school and the house is quiet, I should get a lot done but I just can't seem to get "it" together. I should go do customer quilts today so I have cash to take Kristin to college Friday, maybe I will be inspired soon to get up and get moving toward that goal. I did get 7 Christmas stockings done this week, they are for US troops stationed overseas. I just need to take a camera out to the studio today and get pic's before mailing. I am thinking about making lists but I don't know where to start.......

Tablerunners

I have three table runners to the binding fairy today, she took them to work with her and the apple one's are done, I had the binding sewn on the front as I really thought at the time I might sit down and finish them but they have been laying in the studio for a month unfinished. I really don't like the binding job, good thing my mom don't mind it or I would never have a finished project. I have another star and stripe cut, just waiting for the borders to be finished, I also have the May table runner half done. (I bought the kit for that one because I don't have purple in my stash and it was cute in the colors they picked.) I enjoy making table runners and they make good gifts.

Watermelon Tablerunner

I made 3 of these with the watermelon print, this is the only one I have quilted so far. I gave the rest of the panel back to my mom and told her it was up to her to use the rest up. It is a Debby Mum print from 1995. When we did the watermelon swap on Sewgoodfriends I sent some of it with my swap, I did keep some of the little squares to make coasters to match. I'm not happy with my coasters so I'm not showing them. (ok I feel like throwing them away but I have one more edge treatment I am going to try to save them) The black border is something I found in a stray box and it was the worst fabric ever, I think it was so old I should of thrown it away! I put it in the quilt frame and it tore itself out where I pinned it in, so I re pinned and then trimmed the torn part off when I was finished quilting. I'm sure the binding fairy will hate it too.

Purse

I made this bag the other day while messing around, I didn't feel like quilting and these purses are so much fun to make. I love this coil method, I have done bowls and coasters too. Start to finish it was a 2 hour project. My butt hurt from the chair, legs started to cramp and my teeth and jaw were sore from holding the rope while I twisted the fabric but I am happy with the result so the pain was worth it.

Twins!!!!

Sadie Goat finally had her babies! (ok the pic's suck but it was getting dark and she wouldn't let me close) We have the white one and the black one, guess now it's time to come up with goofy names, Salt and Pepper, Oreo and Cream, Night and Day....etc.....I am so glad she didn't have problems, today is the first day I didn't wake up and go look for her.

end of summer?

I'm starting to feel like summer is over, the garden is doing well, the ducks are setting on more eggs and I took the kids school shopping yesterday. They start school next monday and I am so ready for them to go but in a way it's sad, I know they need to go but I will miss them and miss being able to have days where we just hang out together. I am tired of them hanging out with electronics's though, they don't seem to want to do things with me so off to school they go!!! Kristin leaves next week for college so this week she will be cleaning and doing laundry and packing. I'm not looking forward to the first bill and the phone calls asking for money, it's going to be a long school year!

Went to my favorite quilt shop today, Quilter's Candy Shoppe in O'Neill. I love that place! I needed backing for my easy baby quilts, I also bought fire truck fabric to make another one. I really am trying to use what I have in the studio but I never have anything to match or enough of anything to make a quilt work so I have to go find something to match. I am on a boy baby quilt kick at the moment so I hope the next gifts I need are for baby boys! (ok I have a hard time working with boy prints so this is really a stretch for me) I have the pattern written up for the quilt now all I have to do is type it............ughhhhhhh!

Snowball

I love cats, I have one inside/outside cat and a few farm cats, this one survived my dogs and her name is Snowball. Kelsey asked me one day while holding her in the air if I ever saw a snowball fly in July? So now she is my new favorite kitty. I usually don't care for white cats but she's feisty and her eyes are the coolest! She's a happy cat playing with her sister and her favorite place is on top of the rabbit hutches!

Sadie Goat

Heidi and Wendy decided to join Sadie Goat on the deck this morning.......

Ok I admit I don't know much about goats, but I thought I could count 5 months..hahaha! So there are still no baby goats at our house and I am tired of waiting for her to pop. No one is staying in the pen so here she is lounging on my deck. I got in the hot tub last night and Bullyboy scared the ____! right out of me, nothing like a bull sticking his nose in the tub to see whats going on. I love my animals but I am drawing the line at soaking in the tub with the bull!

new job

I am going to do a few days a week at the local bar. I know, real exciting....hahaha...I need a little social interaction to keep my people skills, I tend to hibernate if I don't have somewhere I need to go once in awhile. AND the cash will be nice!
Still no babies from the goat, I think she will just explode and be a mess!

I have been working on a small baby quilt project, I have two made, one is with mom for binding and the other is still just a top. I wrote down directions and took pic's, now all I have to do is write them up on the computer. I made the simplest baby quilt I could with a FQ and stripe fabric, I wanted something really simple but cute so they were easy to make and easy to produce a lot of them in a short amount of time. I forgot how long it takes me to write up patterns, (ok I usually can't read a pattern so writing them is tough) I love the creative part the clerical part sucks!

No babies yet....

No goat babies yet......Sadie has moved into the chicken house, not that the chickens sleep in their new house just finished this spring, they sleep under it. Well anyway Sadie Goat has figured out how to open the door of the chicken house and let herself in when she wants. I am truly impressed with this and I think it's funny she took over the chicken house. I told Kevin the goats need a building of some sort but he said they don't need a building or shed till winter. I think that dang goat is gonna have her kids in his new chicken house!

On another note, I have babies in the hog house also! I hope they are tough little buggers because we never got the mothers sorted off before they had babies in the general population. I just know we will have little piglets running the farm soon, they get thru the fences and gates and I don't have enough umph to fence everything double!

Vacation was great!