Still Puttering...

Oh,... have I ever been having fun with new fabrics and new pincushion designs.  I just had to share this Thread Catcher that I completed moments ago.  I just posted it for sale at my Etsy Shop .

Isn't this pincushion the just the cutest!  That's a five inch Dresden Plate quilt block applied to the top of the pincushion!  I know, I know, I'm crazy, aren't I?

Fast Forward! This pattern, as well as two other Thread Catcher Patterns is now available at my Etsy shop, Curry Bungalow.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/CurryBungalow

Evolution of a Thread Catcher

Can you bear yet another post about my Thread Catchers?  I have been selling them like hotcakes over at my Etsy shop and have recently made this one that is kind of over-the-top pretty, or at least I think so.  

I used my Luna Notte scraps from my Hanging Basket quilt.  I have lots of little odd bits left over and they were perfect for the paper-pieced pincushion.  It is good sized, about four inches square and is filled with crushed walnut shells to give it a bit of heft. It is attached to the thread catcher with Velcro so that you can use it by itself if desired.

I have found little techniques and tricks along the way to make the construction of my Thread Catchers go a bit quicker.  Faster is all well and good, but I actually get a better result, as well.  I have worked up a way to insert the boning in the top of the bag that gives me a much cleaner and smoother edge at the opening on the bag.  

I am wondering just what turn these things will take next.  Can they get any better?  Maybe...  I have another pincushion idea in mind to try. 

This particular Thread Catcher now resides in Perth, Australia.  Kind of CRAZY, right?  G'day!

Chubby Chicks, Revisited - Part Deaux

It is a cold and rainy day here today in the 'Burg, the perfect kind of day to work on my Chubby Chicks quilt. I could call them "Cheery Chicks", couldn't I?  I kind of need them to be Cheery Chicks on a day like today...

Making the quilt sandwich is not my favorite thing to do.  I don't have a super large work area so it is always a little difficult getting the whole thing laid out and put together.   But I was using my new basting gun and that went pretty well, I think.  The entire quilt is now basted and ready to be quilted.

I am using the smaller print on the right for my backing and the larger print will be the binding.  I will also be adding a tiny orange piped edge to the binding.

I like to bring the backing and batting forward and pin all around the outer edge.  This helps to keep the edge of the quilt from fraying.  It will suffer through lots and lots of handling when Elizabeth (my Bernina 440QE...) and I do the quilting.  Next step is to decide on my quilting design.  I am hoping to have it under the needle tomorrow.

Chubby Chicks, Revisited

Some Wild and Crazy Chicks!

Remember that I told you all that I so loved making a Chubby Chicks quilt that I knew that I would be making another?  Here at my blog, it's been the Chubby Chicks that have been the big winner for total blog page views.  I love that so many quilters out there have viewed my Chicks and I hope that they are as captivated by the Chubby Chicks as I am.  But there was one thing about the directions in the pattern instructions from Black Mountain Quilts that I did not feel so good about.

I envision a Chubby Chicks quilt as being used, being well loved and really used, and that means being laundered.  The pattern instructions directed us to cut out the chicks, add some Wonder Under to the backside, press it down to the block fabric, then add a blanket stitch all around.  I was not so very comfortable with the raw edge thing.  It just doesn't sit right with me.

So for this next Chubby Chicks quilt, and it has been in the works in my head since I sold my first Chubby Chicks quilt, I have found a way to turn that edge under without spending tons of time at it.

I am using Moda's "Good Fortune" line, by Kate Spain.  The colors and prints are to die for!  I picked up a charm pack and a green dragonfly print from the line to make the pinwheel and border blocks.

Moda "Good Fortune", by Kate Spain

I did a "Test Chick".  I traced the chick outline onto my fabric, then stitched it to some very lightweight fusible interfacing, with the fusible part being on the inside.  I trimmed fairly close to the stitching line, then clipped the tighter curves and cut a big "X" in the interfacing for turning.  I turned my chick right side out, then pressed it onto the white block fabric. Elizabeth (my Bernina 440QE) and I added the blanket stitch all around.  I have to say that I feel much better about having the raw edges contained and turned under before stitching down my chick.  No worries about the chicks  raveling and ending up with raggedy edges.  AND, by turning these edges under with the interfacing, I feel like there was less work involved than I did with the Wonder Under used in the pattern instructions. I am all for doing things the easy way, as long as the end result is the same or  EVEN BETTER than the original instructions.



A few days ago I did all of the cutting and started sewing.  I made all of the pinwheels in one day, then moved on to the chicks.

I traced the chick outline onto my fabric, then stitched it to some very lightweight fusible interfacing, with the fusible part being on the inside.  I stitched on the line....

and trimmed all around.  I made a few clips between the point of the tail and the head.

The next step was to cut the large "X" in the interfacing and turn the chick right side out.  I did all 25 chicks in one afternoon.

Here are the "Hatchling Chicks", all leg-less, eye-less and beak-less.

CHX on BLOX!

I'll be plugging away on these guys for a bit.  I will post photos as incubation continues.

Mom's Husqvarna

I sold my Mom's sewing machine today. I inherited it when she passed, over 15 years ago. It had been sitting in my closet, unused, since I bought Elizabeth.  I kept it, well..., because it was Mom's.  It had a very productive life with me.  I made quilts, clothing for my family and countless window treatments with it.  But I am trying to streamline and simplify... There is just too much stuff in our lives.

So I listed it on Craigslist.  Within hours I had a buyer.  A woman in Eugene, an hour away, wanted it for her college age daughter who is studying Interior Design.  This woman wanted a quality, made of metal sewing machine for her girl.  She was thrilled beyond words.  We met in the local Lowe's parking lot for the hand-off.

Mr. T. and I drove off after the transaction, and I read the sweet note given to me written by this woman. I had a little moment, remembering my mother and the wonderful gift that she gave to me.  Not the machine, that wasn't the gift.  The gift was the fact that she set the example, helped me along the way and inspired me to sew.  I think that she would love that her machine is going to have a third life with this young woman.

The beat goes on...

A Little Bird Told Me...

Sometimes you just know what your next project wants and needs to be. I love birds, watch them daily from my window, have been an Audubon groupie for some time, and knew when I first saw a photo of this quilt that this would be my next project. I was itching, absolutely ITCHING to make something spectacular, using my newly learned technique, needle-turn appliqué.

So I bought the book, "In the Meadow", beautifully done...I might add, by Blackbird Designs . The quilt in the book is called "Birdsong".

Favorites, all stacked up

The Meadow Collection Swatch Card

Then I ordered the "Meadow" fat-quarter collection by Moda, which includes some of the fabrics that were used in the book.  I am on the lookout for other fabrics that will go along with these in just the right way.

I have loved prepping this quilt, copying the patterns for the bird blocks, cutting the freezer paper templates and organizing all of the pattern pieces into files. I get up early, really early, (just can't sleep late...,) and it's my favorite time time of the day, the perfect time to get this quilt ready to actually begin the hand appliqué. I do not believe that in all of my years of making quilts, and it's been 40+ years!, that I have ever needed to be quite as organized as this quilt requires.

I love hand appliqué, really, really love it!  My very first experience with it was when I made a quilt for our soon-to-be younger daughter.  It was 1975, eons ago... I purchased a Simplicity Hollie Hobbie rocking horse pattern and I was like the classic, "Lady in Waiting", hand stitching this quilt as my baby grew inside of me.  Such sweet times...  I changed the colors up a bit.  I used red and dark blue rather than pink and light blue. Butterfly has kept this quilt close to her, all through  her childhood and on into her adulthood.

I have done a bit more hand appliqué along the way. I made a quilt for our older daughter, J.T., also known as The Brainiac. I made her quilt when she was just about to graduate from High School, all hand appliquéd and hand quilted. She wanted a car for graduation, but got a hand-made quilt instead. She purchased her own car, which is the way that it is supposed to be, I think. That quilt took “Best of Show” at the Foothill Quilters Guild annual quilt show in Auburn, CA, in 1991... a lifetime ago.

So... I laid out my first block, the Meadowlark.  There are six different bird designs which are repeated throughout the quilt.  Other blocks are the Chipping Sparrow, the Blue Jay, the Magpie, the Lark Bunting, and the Carolina Wren.  Some blocks are reversed and some blocks have smaller leaf appliqué blocks added alongside.  The freezer paper template is ironed to the fabric on the right side, then you cut out around the template leaving a small seam allowance to turn under. You start stitching down the pieces that are in the background and move forward so that all of the pieces are properly layered. The freezer paper template provides a firm edge and guides you in where to turn the fabric under the template, then small stitches are taken as you move along the turned edge.  There is NO BASTING! which speeds things up in a huge way, but the best part is that the pieces are in the exact shape as the template.  It's kind of amazing just how exacting it is. So much better than basting, then sewing!






I stitched my first block. It went together remarkably well, I have to say.

I listened to an excellent audio book while I worked. Audio books
and hand appliqué go together like peanut butter and jelly!

And here is my second block, the Magpie.  Only 23 more to go and I'll have enough to make a quilt!

I have more fabrics to find, not such an easy task here in the 'Burg. But this quilt will be a work in progress for some time, I suspect.  Good things come to those who wait,... or to those who can't find the fabrics locally that are just right and must search for them far and wide.  For someone who loves instant gratification, and that's me!, it is such a lesson in love to take the time and to somehow find the patience to search out the perfect materials to make this quilt as spectacular as I envision it to be.  

Sold!

One last photo of my much loved Chicks

I just sold a quilt, my Chubby Chicks quilt, blogged about previously.  I had entered it in the local County Fair, and won a ribbon on it.  One fair goer was especially captivated by it and went to a lot of trouble to track me down in order to ask me if I would consider selling it to her.  I have never, ever sold anything that I had made previously.

I made this quilt because I completely fell in love with the pattern, and then I found the delicious fabrics. There was no intended recipient for it.  It was made just because I loved the pattern and the fabrics.  So I named my price.... and the buyer agreed to it.

I had already won a first place ribbon for it at the local quilt show, a big deal quilt show here in Oregon.  Then... I won a 3rd place ribbon for it at the County Fair. I have lots and lots of photos of this quilt.  Could I bear to let it go?

Two words were uttered by the buyer.  She said... Baby Girl, and my heart pretty much melted. She told me that her daughter-in-law had fallen in love with my quilt and she, my buyer, wanted it for her baby grand-girl, I was so very touched...

Does this make me a quilt professional by selling my work?  Nahhh... probably not.  But I loved making this quilt, and I especially love that it is going to a baby girl who will have lifelong warm and snuggly memories of Chubby Chicks!  I kind of feel like an organ donor, 'cause my whole heart loved making this quilt.

The way that I'm looking at it, I'm just spreading the love....

Extreme Makeover - Pincushion Edition

I wrote a long, LONG missive about a pincushion that my mother had when I was a child.  I lost that pincushion, by my calculations, about 56 years ago. As I wrote out the story, and wrote and wrote..., I realized that no one really wanted to read my long sad story of how I had lost my mother's pincushion.  So I decided to abbreviate it all and just give you the down and dirty details in order to set up my Extreme Makover Story. Here is the abbreviated version.

• My Mom was given a rocking chair pincushion.
• She loved it.

• I took it to school in the First Grade for Show-and-Tell and lost it.

• MOM WAS MAD !...

• I recently found another Rocking Chair Pincushion at an Estate Sale. 

• It was totally ugly.

• I bought it for $2.00.  Probably overpaid...

• Decided to give it an EXTREME  MAKEOVER.

Here is the Pincushion in it's BEFORE state.  You can see the incredibly dated fabric 

and just how dirty the thing is. Totally not my style.

 Bleccchhhhh!!!!!

But it does have a cute little drawer under the seat that held some old buttons and a measuring tape.  AND, it has a slot at the top of the back of the chair to hold a pair of scissors.  

I removed the little cushions and pulled the fabric off.  I scrubbed it clean and spray painted the wood with my new favorite color, that vintage aqua green.  One of my friends calls it "Martha Stewart Green"...  I made new little patchwork pinwheel cushions.

My newly revamped pincushion rocker now sits on my sewing table. Each and every time I look at it, I think of my mom, who passed 15 years ago.  It's a sweet little reminder of her and of our shared love of sewing.  I guess that I did not overpay for my sad old pincushion, because these memories of mine are priceless!

Just Lucky, I Guess....

As previously mentioned, Mr. T. and I hit the streets each week-end, on our way to estate and yard sales.  Our motto is... "You Have to Kiss a Lot of Frogs..." which translates to the fact that you have to go to tons and tons of estate and yard sales to find great stuff.  We had an especially good week-end recently, scoring a few really great Fabulous Vintage Finds.

We are discriminating buyers.  I have seen those shows! "Hoarders" and "Hoarding: Buried Alive" are my very worst nightmare!  I just don't want to be consumed by stuff, purchased just because it's a good deal. Don't get me wrong.  I love a bargain, but if you don't especially want or need it, what's the point?

The sweet vintage cookie jar is Shawnee, made about 1945 and is called "Puss n' Boots".  I found it at an unadvertised yard sale just a short distance from our house and our first stop of the morning.  We took a chance and followed the yard sale sign up the road along the river.  I knew immediately what this jar was when I saw it.  I don't know a lot about Shawnee Pottery, but I knew that this little cutie was worth much more than it's single-digit price tag.  And I mean LOW down in the single digits.  OK, I'll tell ya... I paid $2.00 for this thing!!! Check it out on eBay or Etsy to see what these actually sell for.  Puss may not be living here at our house for very long.  I am probably going to flip the Puss!

I collect Chinese sewing baskets and have a number of them in all shapes and sizes.  These baskets have often taken a bit of a beating and many are in poor condition.  But this little one, and it's on the tiny side, is in very good condition but for it's fragile silk tassel.  It is also unusual to find one that has the beads and coins intact.  And I have never seen just how the string tie is strung.  That feature is also often missing. Tucked inside were the pin card, needle book and a few old wooden spools of thread.  I'm in love...

Actually, this basket was first spotted by the eagle eye of Mr. T., who is always on the lookout for sewing related items for me.  I would call him "well trained", but really, there was no training necessary.  He's just a natural!  He knows that I love old sewing items and he's quite good at spotting them for me.

Case in point.  Mr. T. found the little box that contained the 24 vintage Victorian glass buttons that I have pictured here!  The detail on each of these tiny works of art is amazing! My friend, Suzie C., who knows WAY more about buttons than I do, says that this was an excellent find and she is seriously sorry that she did not find them herself.  We often run in to her while we are out at sales.  She acutally asks sellers, first thing, "Do you have any old buttons for sale?", and she often gets great buys that way.  Me... I don't feel as if I know enough about them to even know what to pay.  So I just pick up buttons that I like here and there.  I bought this little box of buttons for $1.00.  A great deal, I think. If one sews, one is likely to appreciate buttons.

My last fun find pictured in the first photo is the little ceramic baby shoe in a lovely aqua-green color.  I am thinking that I will make it into a pincushion.  You know, you can make just about make any small vessel into a pincushion.

Mr. T. bought a nearly new, very sturdy 28 ft. extension ladder, but you don't really want to know about that, do you?  Nope... totally boring, but he was happy about it. And, now I know that when he is up high on a ladder, that it is a safer sturdier one.  Not all of our great finds are antique or vintage.  But they are usually great bargains, and that's a good thing.

"Rhapsody in Bloom"

"Rhapsody in Bloom"  90" x 100"

As I have mentioned previously, numerous times...,  I am a member of the Umpqua Valley Quilters' Guild.  I call myself so very fortunate to belong to such a talented and inspiring group of women.

Each year we make a quilt to raffle off at our annual Quilt Show, which always occurs on the third week-end in April, right here in the Burg.  I have participated in the making of our yearly raffle quilt in some manner since I joined the guild in 2008.

It goes like this.  We form a committee.  I was a member this year as well as last year. The committee decides on the quilt design.  Committee members each bring photos of quilts that they like, then we somehow manage to combine elements from many inspiration photos to come up with an original design. We choose the fabrics, then set about getting the quilt made.  Kits are put together by committee members, then the kits are checked out and completed by guild members.  The returned kits are then sewn together to make a stupendous quilt! Sounds easy, right?  But really, putting a quilt together that has been sewn by many hands (with minutely different seam allowances...) is no easy feat. Each year, I am astounded and amazed that we are able to make such a beautiful quilt with so many hands involved.

                                      Detail of Center Hand Appliqué Center Panel

The central hand appliqué panel was designed by our Committee Chair, Doris K.  Honestly, I just want to be in her presence, breathe the same air that she breathes, stand as close to her as I can in hopes of absorbing just a smidge of her knowledge, design sense and talent.  Doris does not dictate what the quilt is to be, but rather, let's it, and our committee, find it's own way.  That is not to say that she does not have a vision... but the quilt is always evolving as it comes together.  The whole process is so inspiring, and has taught me to be more fluid and flexible in my own design process.  

Detail of Beading Highlights and Quilting

Oh,... and I have learned new techniques.  I have done hand appliqué since the mid '70's and it is one of my most favorite techniques to do.  But Doris showed me how to do Needle Turn Appliqué, a technique that is much, much easier than the method that I have been using all of these years.  I am SO hooked and can't wait to do something spectacular with needle turn appliqué.   

The custom machine quilting was beautifully done by Corinne W., who tailored the quilting designs to our quilt and changed thread colors MANY times. We are still working at adding the detail beading.  We will begin selling raffle tickets at the Douglas County Fair beginning next week.  Ticket sales will continue through early April, when we will award this quilt at our annual Quilt Show to whomever purchased the winning ticket.  

I'll be buying lots and lots of tickets. Fingers crossed that I am the lucky winner!

Update-

Friday, August 10th.  - I spent the afternoon at the County Fair at our Guild Table, selling raffle tickets  for this quilt.  Fair-goers loved our quilt and asked many questions about how it came to be. It was my pleasure to tell them just how we put such a quilt together.  What I dearly love is that people want to talk to us about their family quilts.  One lovely couple, who had been to our table on Tuesday, came back and brought in their photo album of quilts made by the gentleman's mother.  All were so very beautiful.  Crazily, it turns out that they were from the very same area in NW Arkansas that my father was from. He recognized my family surnames and I recognized his.  Our family members had most certainly crossed paths! How crazy is that? 

Disney had it right.  It's a small world, after all....

A Passion for Pickles!

I can not believe that I am blogging about PICKLES! I am not even especially crazy about pickles. But these are so very blog-worthy!  I can't personally take credit for this pickle recipe. I give all of the credit to the instructions that I found on a blog called It's Just Laine .  

I popped into to my favorite little country fruit stand, Kruse Farms Market, to buy pickling cucumbers. I went a little bit crazy and bought a 25 lb. bag of medium cukes. What was I thinking?  I was certainly not thinking about how many jars of pickles a 25 lb. bag of cucumbers yields.  We just might possibly have pickles for life.

It's a monster bag! Notice that it's on the floor because it was too big to heft onto the counter top.

I got a bit sidetracked and had to take a photo of the beautiful varieties of cauliflower 

available at Kruse's. Their colors were stunning!  The girls who work at Kruse's must think that I am some kind of a nutcase, continually coming in and photographing fruits and vegetables. How weird is that?

I knew that I wanted to make a nice Kosher-style dill pickle. I Googled pickle recipes and was a bit overwhelmed at all of the options out there. But Laine's recipe appealed to me most.

             

In the interest of pickle hygeine, I just want to mention here that these cucumbers come out of the field in a decidedly grubby state.  After all, they grow on or near the dirt. My directions said to trim off the blossom end of the cucumber, since there is some sort of funky enzyme located there that will make your pickles mushy. So just to be perfectly sure that I had removed the blossom ends, I trimmed BOTH ends. Problem solved. You just never want to take a chance on mushy pickles! I also lightly scrubbed them with a soft brush, just to be safe. So the dirty cucumbers are pictured above.... 

...And the clean and perfectly pretty premature pickles are pictured here.

Laine has posted lots of photos on her blog showing how to make her pickles.  I spiced my pickles up just a bit, because we're older, with semi-dead taste buds...  I added 1 teaspoon of pickling spice and a single dried red pepper to each pint jar.  

Mr. T. and I taste tested my pickles this afternoon.  I should clue you in here and tell you that Mr. T. tries to get excited about my endless projects and endeavors, but he is not always entirely on board.  

I can tell...

But I scored big here with these pickles. Mr. T. is something of a pickle connoisseur and he pronounced these to be positively DELICIOUS!  They are crispy, crunchy, tangy and have a just a bit of ZING from the red pepper.  Think CLAUSSEN'S, but way better!  And a nice, crisp pickle makes a really good little snack. I know.  I've been snackin'. 

So KRUSE on over to Laine's blog and get the recipe to make your very own killer pickles. Making them is easier than you would think and they are truly worth the effort.  Thank you, Laine, for your recipe.

Update:  Elder daughter, called "The Brainiac" took a jar of my pickles along with her when she went camping last month on the northern California coast with her long-time friend, Mimi F.  Mimi apparently fell in love with my pickles and is savoring evert last bit.  Here is the photo that she sent to Brainiac of her fridge. I see beer, yogurt and half of a pickle. The Staff of Life!

Upcycled Ironing Board Cover Made from a Vintage Tablecloth

It's hot here in the Burg, too hot to work outside in the garden, so today I decided to stay indoors and spend the afternoon sewing.  I had seen a pattern online for a really cute ironing board cover with a patchwork panel insert.  I wanted to make one of these covers for my own trusty ironing board.  Who does not want a stylin' ironing board, right? But as thrifty-frugal-cheap as I am, I was not willing to purchase a pattern.  I knew that I could make a cover without one.  The coolest thing is that I did not have to purchase anything to make my ironing board cover.  Cheapskates Unite!

There are tons of tutorials out there in Blogland that detail how to make a cover for your ironing board, but I wanted one that would add a little fun to the chore. Usually, FUN and IRONING absolutely do not go together, so any way that we can add a cool design element to the task is a good thing.

Here is the BEFORE photo of my ironing board.  It's totally old school... don't you agree?  I made this cover probably 10 years ago and it has held up remarkably well.  If it gets stiff and gakky I just pull it off and wash it.  

And here is the AFTER photo!  Lookin' SHARP! And more my style these days.

Before I get too far along in the process here, I just want to say that photographing an ironing board in an artful way is not such an easy thing to do, seriously.  No matter how you turn the thing, how well you frame it in the photo or how you stage it, it is still just an ironing board, and an ironing board is not such an attractive photographic subject. Just so you know...

So... in case you want to make a cool ironing board cover for yourself, here is how I made mine.

I had an old vintage tablecloth, picked up for next to nothing at a yard sale, and decided to use it as the actual ironing surface. The tablecloth was made of a nice weighty cotton fabric, perfect for work duty.  It had a nasty stain on it but I was able to work around that.

I wanted some sort of a pieced quilt block element in my cover but knew that I did not want the cover to be too scrappy, 'cause that makes it hard to iron stuff.  If I am going to iron, (and I firmly believe that ironing is a choice...), I do not want impressions from seams in my ironing! So I decided on a pieced patchwork panel, to the right of the board, way down at the broader end.

I found a piece of aqua blue polka dot fabric in my stash that complimented the colors in the tablecloth. I made five (that's 5) 4 1/4 inch (unfinished size) pinwheel blocks and pieced them together, side by side in a row.  Then I cut up an old dishtowel to make the red strips that separate the patchwork panel from the tablecloth fabric.  I call this my Pieced Patchwork Pinwheel Panel. Say that, three times fast!

To cut the shape for my new ironing board cover, I laid the old cover onto the tablecloth, positioning it  where I thought that the tablecloth pattern looked best, then cut out around the edge.  You could also lay your ironing board on top of your fabric, then draw around it, allowing thee or four inches extra all   around the ironing board.

The length of my tablecloth was a bit short, so I inserted my patchwork pinwheel panel well to the right on the ironing board.  But I still needed a bit of length for the cover. So I pieced together two nicely printed border portions of the tablecloth to fit the broader end and rounded the corners. I sewed the pinwheel panel to the main portion of the cover, then sewed on the pieced broad end.

The next step was to sew bias binding all around the outer edge of the cover to make the casing.  Luckily, I had a big fat roll of wide white bias binding that was just right for this project.  Some people use elastic for their ironing board cover, but I prefer to pull the cover tight with heavy cotton cord. I ran the cord through the casing and cinched the cover up snuggly around the ironing board.  It lays tight and flat!

That's all there is to it.  Isn't this better than those ugly covers that you have to buy when yours wears out or gets so funky that you can't bear to use it any longer?  Where, oh where do they find all of that leftover fabric from the '80's, all mauve and blue, to make those ready-made covers?  Those purchased covers, they're dogs, all of them! I'm just sayin'...

I Be Jammin' !

My jam, looking almost too pretty to eat!

We live within spitting distance of a great little country fruit stand, Kruse Farms .  They have delicious locally grown fruits, vegetables and even garden plants.  I have been waiting for the strawberries to come in and they are finally here.  I'm going to make up a big ol' batch of strawberry jam. 

So I walked inside and there they were, my long awaited strawberries, bathed in a heavenly light from above.  I was almost certain that I could faintly hear harp music... 

One particular flat called my name.  

I  was going to check out when I decided to just take a little cruise/Kruse, HA!, through the pie section, just to breathe in the delicious aroma of fresh baked pies! 

Kruse Farms has it covered when it comes to delicious, freshly baked pies.

Yum!

So I went home and gathered my canning supplies.  Although I am not a jammin' virgin,
 my jammin' skills were a bit rusty.  So I chose a recipe featured at 

The Pioneer Woman website.  There were detailed instructions

 along with LOTS of photos.  The recipe is super-simple.
You should give it a try.  It's not so hard.
And...
your house will smell delicious.

To make your own delicious Strawberry Jam, you will need -

5 cups crushed strawberries

4 T. lemon juice

1 box powdered pectin

1 pat of butter

7 cups granulated sugar
8 or 9 half pint (or 4 or 5 pint ) canning jars with lids and rings.

I personally prefer the smaller jars.
Makes me feel as if I get more if I have more jars.   
Simple. Makes perfect sense, doesn't it?

 So, I washed the jars and covered them with water in the canner, then heated them up
until the water was simmering, no need to boil.
I also put the jar lids and rings into a saucepan to simmer. 

I washed and hulled the berries...

... then mashed them up on a cookie sheet.  These berries were beautifully red in the center, not like those monstrous, mealy, white-in-the-middle Frankenberries that you buy at the grocery store.  

These bright berries will give my jam great color.

I put the 5 cups of mashed berries in a big pot and added the lemon juice and powdered pectin.

A pat of butter reduces foaming as the berries boil. I turned on the burner high and stirred.

When the mix came to a full rolling boil I added SEVEN, that's right, SEVEN cups of sugar!  

And that.... Dear Reader, is the reason that home made jam tastes so very good.  

After the jam reaches a BIG rolling boil, one that can not be stirred down,

I let it go for one minute, then turned off the heat.  

I skimmed off the foam, which is kind of a frothy, gakky stuff.  But it still tastes good.  

I know... I licked the spoon...

I filled the jars with the hot jam.

Then I wiped off the rims with a clean damp dish cloth 

and put on the lids and rings on the jars.  

It is important not to tighten the rings.  

 Just turn until you feel some resistance.  

The jars have to be able to expel air during the canning process 

in order to create the seal.

Next, I processed the jars in the water bath for 10 minutes.  When the time was up

I turned off the heat and let the jars sit in the bath for an additional five minutes.  

I lifted them out of the water bath and all of the jars immediately popped!, 

which is their own little percussive signal to me that they were properly sealed.  

Music to my ears!

I sat them on the windowsill to cool,

 then stepped back to gaze at just how pretty they all looked.

The next morning Mr. T. and I enjoyed some of my newly made Strawberry Jam on toast.

It was... well, ... it was beyond delicious!

The next time that I'm Jammin', I will be making RASPBERRY JAM!,
and maybe BLACKBERRY JAM !


Update - July 12

DONE! I made batches of both Raspberry and Blackberry.
Strawberry is still my most favorite, but Mr. T. is all about Raspberry.
I think that we have jam for the year!
And at nearly $4.00 per jar at the grocery store, that's like money in the bank.  

Update

 I'm Still Jammin'!  
(Sung to the tune of Elton John's "I'm Still Standing".)

Since my earlier post, I have put up two batches of Red Raspberry Jam
and a batch of Blackberry Jam.  

Mr. T. and I might just have enough jam for the year, that is, if I can refrain
from giving it all away to family and friends.

I have given jars to each of our three children are they are loving my jams.  I'm feeling like
The Bomb Mom!