Canning Applesauce

I got a hold of a big paper sack half full of Rhode Island Greening apples that came from a private farm on Sauvie Island up near Portland. If I had looked up this apple variety before tonight, my plans might have changed...  turns out they keep really well into the winter and don't cook up as soft as some.

Instead, I washed and quartered them up, and put them in a stock pot tonight to cook. My canning reference for applesauce said to add a cup of water to the pot to prevent scorching. Ha! Not nearly enough...

Rhode Island Greenings make a nice sturdy cooking apple for pies and such as they keep their shape when cooked. No matter, once they began to soften, I used the potato masher to help things along.  :)

Next they went into the food mill (thank you Sylvia, for passing it on when you no longer needed it!) to be pressed. This ended up taking me more than an hour - those apples really were resisting being squished.

The sauce was really thick... too thick actually. I thinned it down with some home pressed cider which helped sweeten it as well. A little sugar and a lot of cinnamon went in too.  Okay, so I got eight pints into the canner with one quart left to eat fresh.

Okay so it'll be 11:00 before I get to bed... but hey! I didn't get to do any canning in 2011; who knew I'd have the opportunity in January!?

Aren't they lovely?

And... they all sealed!



Felted Clogs

I can't remember exactly when I first became aware of hand-knit felted clogs, but it may have been from reading the Yarn Harlot's blog. I do remember being very impressed with them. Eventually I obtained the pattern (available here) and knitted a pair for my mother.

It was quite surprising to see how large they start out:

And... how small they end up:

The first picture is the unfelted clogs next to my foot. Although I could get the felted slipper on my foot, my mother's feet are smaller than mine so you can see that they shrunk down quite a lot. Prior to felting, they reminded me of my brother-in-law's slippers that fit on over his work boots so he can walk through the house without having to take his boots off. They just end up dirty on the insides.

On Monday I realized, " Oh! It's after Christmas now, I really ought to be thinking about my sister's birthday next week," so I cast on to make a pair for her. Don't tell her though, it's a surprise.

Luckily they knit up pretty quickly.

Pressing Apples

Sunday, Yvonne and I got together with her apples at Jake's house to do a pressing for cider. 

 




Here's Jake running the press he built. Isn't he amazing??





 We had our snacks...

And Yvonne was happy!  Well okay, we were ALL happy.  :)

And we got seven gallons of sweet cider!  Four are now in the process of hardening...

Here is a link to Yvonne's blog entry from our cider pressing day last year:  Apple Cider Mm Mm Mm
It goes into greater detail and photos of the process...


And... a link to her post about this year's event:  Year two annual apple juice pressing









Quilting Again

So I pulled out an old project tonight that I had started about four or five years ago and stopped. The pattern is called "Evening Celestials" out of the book Batik Beauties by Laurie J. Shifren. (The pattern I used is on the front cover of the book...)

I recall the reason I had set it aside: I seem to have developed an inability to follow directions and thus do things in a simple manner. Therefore, rather than cutting patches the way the book said to do, I had decided it would make more sense, for example, to cut a square instead of the two triangles that get sewn together into a square. In order to do this, I had to draw out the pattern on graph paper and figure out the patches manually. This was all well and good until I came to the "set in" seams.  Aargh!

Yes, there are patches that extend into the next area, i.e. the squares overlapping the inner border. This means that one may not sew a straight seam, but rather, sew one edge at a time up to 1/4 inch from the end of that seam, stop, shift the fabric, and sew the next one, and when the third one is done, one hopes they all lie nice and flat and even. These were not lying all nice and flat and even. I was pretty sure I would have to rip out the offending patches, and do those over again, the way the directions said to do it in the first place. This, I was dreading, hence the 4-1/2 year delay.

So... out comes the unfinished quilt top. Looking at the offending pieces... Heyyyyy... These aren't all buckled up after all... what in the world...? Once I ironed them down, I decided any offending puckers could be "quilted out". That is, once the quilting itself is done, any weird puckers will be forced into submission. What exactly was it I was worried about!?  Clearly not much.

On with the outer border. Uh, there are triangles set into these borders too. And they want me to cut the border pieces several inches longer than necessary, cut the edges at a 45 degree angle, sew the triangle into the top part and cut off the excess?? Are they nuts?

I can't bring myself to "waste" fabric like this! Okay, I know. I'll cut them straight, then sew in the triangles, then seam up that bottom bit and voila! It'll all be good!

Uh oh. I didn't realize these cut triangles would be quite so tricky... Again, I have dodgy seams that don't lie flat and they have all these weird puckers. Aargh!

Rip out the seam. Try again. Rip it out again, reassess. Why is this so hard!? And why the heck can't I just follow the directions to begin with??

Okay... got it! And, get this - I was able to figure it out MY way.  :)

So here is the quilt top before the outer border is mitered. So, just have to miter the corners, and quilt it, and then I'll have a dandy wall hanging. I think it'll look good hanging in my office at work.

And here she thought she didn't even like quilting anymore... HA!

Poetry

I attended a writing workshop one evening this week; it was on poetry of all things. My first thought was, "I don't like poetry." But, as an aspiring writer, it occurred to me that getting one's creativity flowing through other means is not a bad idea.

And as it turns out, I rather enjoyed the process!

The instructor led us through imagery and writing down words of free associations pertaining to a month (or time of year), a place, and a color. Following are the poems I came up with that night:

     Mid Winter Evening

     Smell the wine,

     deep burgundy liquid

     in a sparkling glass.

     Scents of smoky berries

     captured from hot summer days.

     See the bare trees,

     dark branches against an indigo sky

     outside the window.

     Gone are the leaves

     That will again appear.

     Feel the heat,

     the orange crackling flames

     coming from the wood.

     Fire

     bringing life.

     Listen to the wind chimes,

     forgotten

     from summer.

     Tinkles of music

     bringing a smile.

Imagery inspired by a place—

Once near Union Creek,
on a crisp autumn day
the Douglas firs
whispered in the breeze.
An eagle flew overhead,
back towards its nest
with a salmon from the river
clutched in its claws.

Go into the café,
for a sandwich and iced tea.
the rustic wood of the booth
feels smooth as you slide in.
The power is out,
order something
that doesn’t require heat.     (okay, admittedly this one could use some work!)



     Teal is…
    
     The color of secrets
     You tell your closest friend.
    
     The feeling of calm, on an autumn morning
     When you sip hot green tea
     With a drip of honey.

     A walk through the woods
     With your trusted pet
     Ambling along by your side.

     The sound of jazz, drifting over the hill
     Saxophone and bass
     And drums sounding lightly.

     Sunny days, when you’re feeling
     The courage to be you
     And the knife of anxiety
     Kindly wanders away.

     The sharp scent of rosemary
     Pressed between your fingers
     Hinting of promise
     You will be okay.

Happiness is a Habit Part Two

Okay so the retreat was very cool. It was nice to get together and have a fun day.

Here are some thoughts I am left with:

1. God has promised to be with us through our troubles. Nobody expects us to go through crap alone, so all that needs to be done is to call upon Him for support.


2. We get to refer to our own chart and compass for our own life. As a matter of fact, it is our responsibility to do so.

3. We are each responsible for finding / following our own bliss. And it can be a fun adventure!

4. When we are needy, it throws us off. Everything we need is within us.

5. Quit minding other people’s business. They need to do what they need and want to do.

6. “Enlightened selfishness” is how one finds / maintains motivation.

7. Who says we can't feel really good, ALL the time?!
 
8. Prayer is a very powerful tool - even if we don't see immediate evidence of it.

Now to implement...

Happiness is a Habit

So tonight I'm up in Woodland Washington to attend a women's retreat tomorrow called Happiness Is A Habit, put on by Pam Young who was one of the SHE sisters (Sidetracked Home Executives), the person I referred to in my very first blogpost as inspiring me to write, and is FlyLady's mentor.  I have wanted to meet Pam in person and here is my opportunity!

So, tonight I cast on a new knitting project, took a bubble bath, and got started on a new book. Luckily it's hard cover and stays open with fewer contortions than a paperback does when one's hands are busy with knitting. Also lit a couple of candles which is always nice for making an environment one's own.  :)

I am in the habit of bringing a new knitting project to start while travelling. This time I chose a shawl pattern called Floral Mesh Shawl, out of the book One Skein Wonders. I had ordered a skein of baby alpaca lace weight yarn in a teal color called Tide Pool Heather and a set of Harmony Wood needles in size 2 (yikes, they're small!) from Knit Picks. This is the first shawl I'm knitting, and the first time I'm using lace weight yarn.  Here's a picture of what the yarn looks like:

The Tide Pool color is the one right in the center. No, I didn't buy all these, I nicked the photo from Knit Picks website. Luckily I have a ball winder since the yarn comes in hanks and could wind it into a center pull ball earlier.

Here's how far I've gotten on the actual knitting:

This doesn't just look tiny, it really is. The piece so far measures right at 3 inches long.  :)

The book I'm reading is called The Hard Questions for an Authentic Life. Haven't actually gotten to any of the hard questions just yet, but the beginning is quite compelling so far. Such a dilemma... should I knit, read, or write...