Hummingbirds-trying to get a picture

I have this cute little hummingbird feeder on my kitchen window and I love watching the red and green throated hummingbirds come up to eat. The other day I tried to get a picture of one eating, but all I could get was this crazy wasp. I'll keep trying. All God's creatures are pretty amazing though!

Having a Hay Day!

I just think our field looks so pretty right after they cut the hay! Those bales are huge, so you can tell how enormous that old, ugly turkey buzzard is that is sitting on top of one. There were between 60-70 bales this time around. That is a bunch of hay!

Do You Remember Butterick 2625?

Oh my goodness. It has been sitting on the corner of my makeshift sewing table for way too long! This is the pattern my youngest wanted to make and then as soon as she cut the first piece-she was done! I ended up cutting everything else out, but sad to say it has been a familiar lump on the end of the table for months. Idecided that since the garden is basically in and growing okay and graduation is over and much of my school planning is done, that I would revive this little forlorn stack of pieces and hopefully turn it into a lovely vintage dress for Katy. Well I don't know what I was thinking! I serged all the pieces-I so love that Hobbylock! The skirt went together beautifully and all the darts went in without a hitch. I have all the facings ready to go in as well. I tried it on Katy and this 32 bust pattern is NOT fitting. She had wings on the sides. I took it in about 1 1/2 inches on both sides and now the darts look a little low and funny. If I pull the shoulders up, the neck will choke her. I WISH I KNEW HOW TO ALTER PATTERNS! I am going to try to cut down into the neck and see if it looks horrible. That will mean new facings though. I think I will do a wide shoulder strap/ straight across the chest bodice from another pattern if I can't get this to work. It would be so much faster to put together these lovely garments if they fit her better. NEVER GIVE UP! That is what Winston Churchill would say. It looks really good on the dressform-it would look even better ironed.

Applique is so cool!

I haven't posted any pictures on here yet of the finished birthday gift for my baby sis, so here it is with my sweet sis in the pic.  I had so much fun working on this.  I ended up buying a quilt pattern on my retreat that has a lot of applique on it.  My mom also bought me 3 different block patterns with hearts that are applique as well.  I think it is so pretty with the blanket stitch done all around.  My sister really liked it.  She loves daisies.  Hope to post some other hand work soon.

My cute little quilt

This is my little quilt and the other one has my mom's 10 minute table runner in it.  That was the running joke while we were at the retreat.  Sweet Martha told us about this 10 minute table runner.  It took most of the ones who did one just a wee bit longer than 10 minutes.  They were all very pretty though.  Mom's looks great on her dining room table.  That trip was so fun.

Fresh Strawberry Jam!

I finally had enough strawberries from the plants we put in last year (75 plants) to make some strawberry freezer jam. My mom used to make this when I was growing up and it is just yummy good! It is also very easy. I used 4 cups of mashed strawberries, 7 cups of sugar, 1/4 cup of lemon juice and 1 packet of liquid pectin. You just combine everything but the pectin and bring to a hard boil stirring frequently over pretty high heat. Make sure you alreaady have your pectin ready to pour in. I cut the top off of mine and just sit the packet in a cup. As soon as the strawberry mix is boiling so hard you really can't stir it down, pour in the pectin and continue to boil for 1 minute. The mixture will foam while boiling, but you can add 1/2 tsp of butter to help with that. Do NOT add more than this or it can affect the jam's ability to set. Remove from heat and then place in your freezer containers. Let them sit for 24 hours and then place in the fridge for use within 3 weeks or freeze.I am looking for a recipe that doesn't use pectin. If you have one please share it. We have not had to spray our berries, so they are totally pesticide free! They are so sweet and juicy. They made great jam and I enjoyed some on toast this morning with my cheese omelet-oooo weee that was good!

Baby Scrapbook

A very sweet girl who works at the chiropractic office is pregnant and she just found out she is having a boy. She is also moving soon, so I wanted to give her a little something. I have been very busy over the last few weeks, so I didn't have a lot of time to get something made. I wanted to give her something quilted, but I am just not that good (or fast). I opted for a scrapbook. I went very simple and made layouts that she could easily add her photos of the new baby to. Hopefully when baby comes along, the layouts will work for all his sweet pics. Here are a few of the layouts. I started on this book after lunch and finished 11 8X8 pages by 3:30. I left the other 9 blank for her to do herself. It is a nice jumpstart for new mamas. So if you are looking for a simple yet thoughtful gift for a baby or wedding shower, this could be it!