Artsy Crafty Fun, Fun, Fun!

quilt-a-long? i'm in!

Amanda Jean over at CrazyMomQuilts is hosting a quilt a long and I've decided to join in. I'm a little behind in starting, but I've finished two blocks this weekend and hope to get to the other two during the week. I really like working this way--each block feels like I've accomplished something, which is not how I usually feel midway through a clothing project or other crafty project. I've never actually made a quilt before, even though doing so has been on my wish list for a long time. I think it is so nice of her to break the quilt down to manageable bits and provide a photo tutorial for piecing. That makes the whole project seem so much more manageable! If you click over to her blog, you will be able to see all the amazing quilts and other projects that she has created. She's great!

The block above is block one in the  quilt-a-long. If you look closely you will see that I didn't do such a great job matching up the corners. It's not the end of the world, but I hope to improve as the project continues. I think I have a bit in block two, below, although it is very far from perfect. And the light is terrible in this photo--it was long after sunset and the light in the room is very yellow.

I love, love, love the folksy print I used in both blocks. As you can see, the palette is blue and white. I've always loved the simple, striking beauty of blue and white nine patch quilts, and that is actually what I originally had in mind when I purchased the navy fabric. But I never got around to that project and I think I like the variety that the prints add to the quilt. Or quilt to be. We'll see!

Strawberry Goodness

Yum! Strawberries are at the peak of their season down here--actually there are a couple of peaks depending on where in the state the strawberries are coming from. Anyway, they were very affordable at the grocery store this past week and so I bought LOTS with the intention of making some freezer jam. I've never made freezer jam before, but I love the stuff my grandmother always sends home with me when I visit. Which is a much rarer occurrence now that I am in Florida and she is in PA. It's really easy. I was surprised in the way you are when you finally try to make something you really enjoy but have never made for on reason or another. For me, that list includes lemon curd, yogurt, scones, real biscuits, broth/stock, and grinding my own coffee. It's not that I thought they'd be hard, exactly, it's just that I didn't really think about it at all.
Back to the jam. I used the recipe included with the SureJell package, which is pretty much what you'll find if you run a quick search for freezer jam. Although some recipes call for corn syrup, which didn't really appeal to me. Be prepared. There is a large quantity of sugar in this recipe! In  hindsight, I maybe should have tried one batch with the regular SureJell, and one designed for low or no sugar recipes. But I didn't think of it, and now I have 10 jars of jam in my freezer, so that thought will be on hold for a while.

Strawberry Freezer Jam

4 cups strawberries, washed and hulled
4 cups sugar
1 package SureJell natural pectin
3/4 c. water

Wash or otherwise prepare containers for jam.

Slice or chunk strawberries (you probably don't need to cut them at all, but mine were very big) into a large bowl and then crush down to 2 cups. Stir in sugar and let sit for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While berries are resting, stir together pectin and water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Boil for one minute. Add pectin mixture into berries and stir until all sugar is dissolved, about 3 minutes. There may still be some crystals visible.

Pour jam into freezer containers, cover, and keep out at room temperature for 24 hours. By this time, the jam should have set and you can transfer to the freezer, or if  you want to enjoy now, to the refrigerator.

Makes about 5 cups of jam.

Puppets...and Other Things I've Been Up To!

These little  buggers have been quite the time suck.  Not that there is really much excuse for taking the whole MONTH of February off! I am newly resolved to make a regular appearance on this blog, though. Documenting what I'm doing or have done is both an incentive to DO and a nice closure (especially on projects I really want to be DONE!).

More about these puppets--they're not trolls, despite Mother puppet's decidedly pointy feet. We finally got ourselves together enough to put on a puppet show at the library, and we chose Jack and the Beanstalk.  Unfortunately, we don't have many people puppets, mostly just Folkmanis animals (I love Folkmanis puppets, but they are not 100% conducive to staged  shows. The openings are sometimes on the top of the puppet, which really breaks up the suspension of disbelief; worse, the two people puppets that we do own have three openings, each of which require a whole hand/arm to manipulate. I'm still waiting for my third hand. It might be more accurate to say that the puppets aren't conducive to the kinds of shows that we can put on--they really are beautiful puppets.).

So I looked around for easy puppet patterns (a week before the show, when my other attempts, sans pattern, totally bottomed out). I found these patterns at Puppetpatterns.com; they were really a good deal, I think--6 patterns for $10. They were sent over email as pdf attachments, which was really convenient, too. But they were still kind of a bugger to put together.  The biggest stumbling block is my lack of skill--I haven't been sewing long enough to intuitively understand all the diagrams. But I also think that there were occasional gaps in instruction, nothing big, but without that intuitive understanding, I floundered a bit on the first puppet (Mother). The Jack puppet was much easier to put together. I wimped out on making the clothing myself (although not until after a very painful attempt), and just bought dolls clothing. I have to say, once they were dressed and had hair sewn on, I was really kind of proud.

The puppet show was this past Thursday and a hit. Although it was so short! We'd spent so much time practicing and setting up and getting everything together that I don't think we ever realized that the whole show was only 15 minutes long. I think our audience was surprised, too.

In other news, I haven't forgotten my soup project, although I do think that calling it soup of the week is a little misleading. Maybe I'll just call it the soup project. I made a lovely spinach soup and will have pictures and a recipe up soon. And I think I'm going to drop the 52 ways to save the world. Not that I won't be mentioning ways to reduce our footprint, I just don't want to feel like such a harpy.