Fair Time

Last weekend we all went to the Antelope Valley Fair. I had entered a quilt and we also entered Zucchini Relish and two types of squash pickles. Although my humble quilt did not win anything we won a 2nd, 3rd and Honorable Mention for the canned goods. 

Katie was mostly looking forward to seeing animals. I had planned on letting her ride the ponies but we never found them. However there were sheep that could be rode, I did not sign her up for that but we did look at them with Uncle's help

Katie also tried a taco.

And played in a corn box.

Katie was very excited about the cows and took a ton of pictures of them, I managed to get one of her.

She and papa played by the waterfall until they started getting wet.

Katie also liked the goats, they were more her size and now she tells papa she wants a goat.

It was great weather and overall a great day at the Fair!

Pink Butterflies

When I was little my Mom made a lot of my clothes. Awhile ago I got some patterns for Katie and some very pink fabric with little white butterfly's. Last weekend my Mom finished Katie's dress. I think it came out adorable.

Here she is modeling it.

This is her "are you done yet Mom?" look.

Canning Part II

The canning has continued around here. So lets take a look and catch up on what has been made.

These are Sweet Spiced Zucchini Pickles. I have not tried them yet but they are supposed to taste like spiced apples.

Next up is peach jam. I attempted making this last year but the peaches were wrong so it did not turn out. This year however it came out great. This recipe came from Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.

Also from peaches is Peach Chutney from The Complete Book of Pickles. I am excited to try this out, it smells and looks awesome.

To use massive amounts of tomatoes we have made this Tomato Basil Simmer Sauce for the past two weekends in an attempt to wipe out the piles of tomatoes on my counters.

These slimy slug looking things are eggplant pickles. They actually do not taste that bad! The recipe came from Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.

 And finally we have Southwest Salsa. I am still working on getting a salsa I really like. This one took six jalapenos so I really thought it would be spicy but it was mild. This one came from The Complete Book of Year-Round Small-Batch Preserving.

Hugs and Kisses from the Park

This set of quilts is called Hugs and Kisses from the Park and is another Moda Bake Shop pattern. I actually got this one in a kit that came with most of the fabric. The name comes from the line of fabric which is called Central Park by Kate Spain. The design is x's and o's, hugs and kisses. It stared with jelly rolls of fabric, one in white and one print. The prints are divided into citrus (orange/yellows) and berry (purple/blues). 

Strips of print and white are sewn together then cut into set of squares.

These sets are sewn into sets of four, then those fours become eight. When you put two set of eight together they make a X or an O depending on how you lay them down. This is the berry top:

And citrus:

Once the squares are made you create rows by adding a strip of white between each square. Next a strip of white goes on the top and bottom of the rows.

All of the rows are sewn together and you have a completed quilt top. One row is also completed to go on the back of the quilt. Next you sandwich the quilt and do the quilting. The binding is a scrappy binding which I had never done before. It involves connecting the extra strips of fabric to make the long binding.

The binding is then machine sewed on the front and hand sewn on the back. I have completed the citrus quilt, the berry just needs the binding sewn. I had a deadline with this project since I entered it into our local fair and the quilt had to be turned in last Sunday. I started this quilt in May and here it is completed.

The back:

The front:

Canning Part I

The garden has really kicked into high production lately which means we have been eating a lot and canning even more. Well to be honest my brother has planned and completed a lot of the canning.

One of the first things I made was Strawberry Rhubarb jam using the strawberries we picked a few months ago at Underwood Farms.

For some reason the solids of the jam rise to the top, I have read many causes for it, it has happened before but it still tastes good so I do not mind. This recipe came from the Pectin box.

Next we have Salsa Verde.

It is a tomatillo salsa from Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving it is very mild in flavor so I want to find one with a little kick next time. 

These are Dill Zucchini Pickles

This is one we are entering in the AV Fair this year. They came from Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. They are some pretty awesome looking spears, I have not tried them yet.

Zucchini Relish is one we made last year and the stuff is amazing, not to mention very pretty.

There is a lot of chopping involved here but the relish is far superior to pickle in my opinion, the flavor is not as sweet. This one came from Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving.

Next are Zucchini Pickles

The zucchini pickles which came from somewhere I can not recall. Sliced and preserved much like a regular pickle.

Now we have English Bread and Butter Pickles

A regular pickle made with cucumber and bread and butter flavored. Also unknown recipe at this time.

And finally for today Tomatillo Sauce

This is a tomatillo sauce that has several recipes it can be used for later. This one smelled great while cooking and came from Well-Preserved.