I have not done a quilt in a MONTH!

Wow I can not believe that I have not done a quilt in an entire month, but that is because I have been sooo busy in the garden. Be sure and check out my other blog, Living Simple Again

Applique butterfly quilt

I was given this topper by my husbands 86 year old grandmother as a Christmas gift. After taking my time deciding on the backing, the binding and how I wanted to quilt it, I now have finished this piece of work. I am so excited, and this one is staying right here with US!

Another one done in Feb 09

This beautiful star quilt is shown on my king bed, however was made for a queen bed.
It took a little while to do this one. The thread I ordered for this kept breaking on me and frustration set in. When it was done though, it turned into a beauty!






I love the colors in this quilt.
I have been busy drafting a plan for your garden, canning some jelly and orange marmelade from some fruit that was about to go bad as well as making home make jerky.

Food Dehydrator

Yes I know, another non quilting post! And yes I am still quilting, I will post up some new pictures in a couple of days when I get my latest quilt binded. It took me a week on the frame, and not without a ton of frustration with the thread I chose, but I have a REALLY nice star quilt in King Size ready to be binded and laid to rest so I can start another quilt.

As you know from my previous post were planning a really nice garden this year. To add to it we have decided to try to dehydrate food this year. Canning is a lot of work, and well worth the time, but the jars are so bulky and storage is a premium here. So to save on some space as well as add some new recipes to our choices we decided to give drying foods a try.

Off to Wal Mart I went and purcahsed an inexpnsive dehydrator to make sure I would like drying things before I took a leap and invested in a more expensive machine. I not do not think I will invest in a more expensive machine, I think this cheap unit from Wal Mart is GREAT!

Our first try at deahydrating food was to make jerky. We all know how expensive jerly is and how much it is loved. Let me just say, we used ground sirloin and it is GREAT! I have requested some deer tenderloin from a friend becuase we all love deer jerky around here but unfortunatly, we were out of deer tenderloin (someone did not kill a deer this year, what a shame)

Over the next few days we will be drying some fruits, I will let you know how that goes. If the fruits and veggies come out as nice as the jerky, I will be on cloud nine!

Off Topic--- Lets talk Gardening

Yes this post is not about quilting… Yes something that is just around the corner. This weekend we took the time to make sure that our tiller was in proper working order. We started this early just in case that it was not so we would have a few weeks to get whatever repairs may be needed done.
Luckily for us just a little air in the tires, a new filter, and cleaning out the fuel lines was all we really needed to do. With that being done we decided to go ahead and give our ground the first round of breaking. Why do this so early? Because it will take several rounds of tilling to get the ground looking like it should, and we need to add some fertilizer to the ground as well. A lot of people use either too much or they plant too soon after adding the fertilizer to the ground and they end up burning up their plants.
By starting early and working the ground a little at a time, folding in some fertilizer, and working a little at a time will make planting season run much smoother.
Here in the Deep South we have more growing time than other parts of the country. Its kind of funny really, while we were starting our new garden spot some parts of the country were still getting snow. I am in now way making fun of anyone still having snow, it just seems odd that were starting to think about gardening and while were planning out what to plant this year the news is talking about snow in other parts of the country.
On a quilting note, I do have another quilt on the frame. I officially loaded it up on Sunday and started it this morning. This one is really pretty. I did not sew this topper myself, this one come from e-bay. It is some kind of star pattern and in burgundy colors. I can not wait to get it quilted and show it here. I am really excited about this one. It is a queen size quilt so this may take a bit longer than it has been taking me to quilt. I know it will be so worth the time though.
What are you working on? Let me know, leave a comment here.

1970's Vintage Quilt

I found this topper in a sale, and could not wait to quilt it. I had a hard time deciding on the binding but in the end I went with a pale green with tiny white flowers on it. Whoever gets this one I know they will LOVE it! I know I do.

Feb 2009 Quilts

I have done 3 quilts this week. Each of these were hand pieced and were estate pieces. Enjoy!