Greetings yall!! Its been almost 3 months since my last post. A lot has been going down at my casa that blogging didn’t fit my hectic schedule. But I am back baby! As promised, we will be showing some new finishes and some delicious muffins, and how to process strawberries for freezing and jam.
To begin, if you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you know its been crazy at my house. My husband moved to Maryland before Memorial Day for work. The kids and I are staying here because it just made sense to keep them in a stable, familiar environment. So my home workload has picked up since my sidekick is not here to help me out sometimes. However, the kids are stepping up and helping with age-appropriate tasks.
Right before the 4th of July weekend, part of an old giant tree fell on my house, rupturing a gas line in my attic and causing a lot of damage to my roof, master bedroom, and bathroom. Thankfully no one was hurt. We have been battling with the contractors to get the roof fixed and the inside repaired. The roof was finally repaired this past week. So hopefully, they will begin on the inside soon. I am missing my Tempurpedic mattress. My guest bed mattress hurts my hips.
Work at my job has picked up, so I have had to work mandatory overtime a lot over the last few weeks.
Needless to say, my quilting time has been limited to a few minutes during the week and a few hours on the weekends. I have completed a few projects and keep up with my sew-alongs. I am only behind on my A Quilting Life BOM, but I should be able to catch up on that soon.
Here are some May Finishes. I completed the Sweet Dreams Sew A Long And some patriotic dining room decor along with my Toes in the Sand BOM. I hand-quilted the panel and added a frame to make it look like a picture. I made a pinwheel on point table runner using a Charm Pack called Praire Days by Moda.
Here are my July projects. I participated in Boo Crew by Fat Quater shop. I reversed the color of the Cauldron and Cat colors in the kit because I have never seen an orange Cauldron, and I wanted to pay homage to my evil devil kitty, Mr. Smee, who is an orange tabby you have seen in my pics. I made my sister a birthday quilt. She picked out the layer cake I used called Horsing Around by Bentertex. The pattern is Night Sky by Missouri Star Quilt Company. I love the secondary pattern made by the chevrons. I love the pantograph quilting I chose with horseshoes and stars. The quilter chose the purple thread which I think is perfect.
I am also participating in the Quilted Summer Sew Along by Caliope Quilts. Last year the patterns where baby Elizabeth Hartman and I did the Koala Quilt. I am doing Kidding Around (Goats in Pajamas) this year by ArtEast Quilting. The blocks are very intricate but adorable.
I have two more gift quilts I plan on starting and a Christmas Quilt for me. I also have a Halloween panel and table placemats I plan to get together soon.
Now onto some good eats.
May in my part of Georgia is strawberry season. For the past few years the kids and I go to a local u-pick farm and load up of these delicious gems. I freeze some and make jam. I also make delicious strawberry desserts like this strawberry rhubarb crumble.
Here is a simple recipe for preserving your strawberries for the entire year. I love to pull out a bag from my freezer in the dead of winter and top a big ole slice of angel food cake.
Frozen Strawberries:
As many pints of strawberries you have
Sugar
Slice strawberries into a large bowl. Add the desired amount of sugar. I usually do 1 cup of sugar to 3-4 heaping cups of berries. Stir and let sit for 30-60 minutes until sugar is dissolved. Place in Ziploc freezer bags and freeze. Use within a year. I love how the sugar makes the strawberries have their own sauce.
I love rhubarb and was stoked the local strawberry farm had some this year. So I made this recipe with some of my berries and fresh rhubarb.
https://barefootcontessa.com/recipes/strawberry-rhubarb-crisp
And to celebrate the strawberry season, I also made this strawberry quilt. I call it Strawberry Patch.
I had planned on writing about my delicious banana muffins but can’t find my pictures of them now. But fear not, I have 4 bananas overripening on my counter for a delicious back-to-school breakfast recipe to come later this week. Have a great week yall!
Mandy Cooks and Quilts 