Pin Cushions


I'm on a pin cushion jag again, I've been making some for my aunt for christmas!!! This one is in progress still. I need to work on my closing stitching I think I will reopen the stuffing side and restitch it shut. Afterwards I'll put some beads along the sides and a button in the middle. I decided to go with a simple tuxedo look with this particular piece. The fabric was a gift from my A. Sondra - I believe it's upholstry fabric.

Christmas Tree

View from a different angle, the tree is a little pathetic looking at the moment ;-)

It's halfway decorated, I need to go to the attic and get more ornamets etc., this will have to wait until John gets home from work as there's a squirrel that lives up there and she thinks it's her territory! We name the squirrel trouble and NO she's not a pet!!!

Somewhere in this house is a large damask table cloth when I find it I'll put it under the quilt - Grandmother's Flower Garden pattern, it's probably 50 years or more old, all hand stitched and hand quilted. As you can see we did get my mother's china cabinet in the house, yeah, now John needs to fix the shelves so I can put my mother's china into the cabinet.

To Frame or not to Frame

I’ve noticed a rush to stretch quilts around stretcher bars/frames of late and am seeing a good many of these go up for sale on etsy.com. Not all pieces are meant to be stretched, maybe it needs to be matted and framed, maybe the piece needs a shadow box, or MAYBE it actually needs a sleeve sewn to the back and hung on the wall like a traditional wall quilt.

What I am noticing is a bunch of quilts that have been stretched and it does more to detract from the piece than it does to help it. I remember my screenprinting professor, Tim McIllrath, coming unhinged at one student who stretched what “was” a lovely hand stitched screen printed piece, unfortunately it distorted the stitching – which is something I’m seeing in a lot of pieces, and when the student removed it from the frame the damage had been done and was fairly permanent.

When deciding how to finish a piece one must really step back from their baby and ask themselves does this piece stand on it’s own merits with or without a border/matt? How will stretching this piece affect/effect the stitching, pattern, piecing, embellishments, etc?

There is no easy answer to this dilemma expect to experiment with scraps, stitching techniques etc. this will give you your answer. It is, however, very disconcerting to see what would otherwise be a gorgeous piece stretched around stretcher bars and I suspect the artist doing so believes that the pieces will sell better in doing so – and this couldn’t be further from the truth especially if you are looking for collectors for your works.

Also sometimes a piece simply needs a large plexi frame, this would include the sides, expensive yes but your beloved creation may find a home much sooner in doing so.

Cranberry Apple Sauce or Saucy Apples

I used six rome apples, cutting them up into small chunks. I leave the peels on the apples this adds fiber to the sauce. If you want a smoother sauce blend it in a mixer when the sauce is done.

Add Cranberries to the apples.

Add one cup of sugar.

Add an inch and a half of water to the pot - I used a 3 quart pot.

Cook on medium heat until the apples are soft and the cranberries are cooked, about 20 minutes.

Stir frequently so as to not scorch the sauce.

I start with the sauce covered but to keep it from being too liquidy I take it off in the last 7 minutes or so.




Cook the sauce down until very tender and slightly thickened.

6 - 8 tart apples, I used Rome Apples for this batch of sauce and 1 bag of cranberries fresh or frozen do NOT used canned. I use one cup of sugar for sweetener. Dh want me to add a bag of cinnamon red hots next time instead. This can be canned up as is in a Boiling Water Bath, I used quart jars and processed it for 20 minutes - adjust for your altitude.

Black Bean Soup - canned

Soaked black beans that have been drained and rinsed. Partially cooked pork butt roast - it's ok to partially cook as it will be pressure canned for 90 plus minutes under 10 +/- pounds of pressure which yeilds a very tender meat.

I love this old jar it unfortunately had a chip in the rip and I didn't catch that so the jar didn't seal. I guess I have no choice but to take it to my studio and store buttons and beads in it now!

Fill the jars half way with black beans. I soaked the beans for two days, draining and rinsing them once a day.

Add cubed pork to the jars, about a half cups worth more or less.

Got pork?

Top off with pork broth, I had broth left over from roasting the meat, or just warm water.

Black Bean Soup ready to be pressure canned.

We had left over pork so we canned it up in quart jars (made two quarts) and canned it along side the Black Bean Soup. In retrospect I should have put the meat into pint jars. Oh well it'll make excellent bbq pork!

Black bean soup with pork - canned at 10 pounds of pressure for 110 minutes (I forgot to shut it off in time). Canned pork (from a pork butt roast) NOTE: It is better to store your jars with the rings off, one removing them ensures that the jars are indeed sealed properly and two the rings cannot rust to the jars which is a common problem esp. in humid areas.

Making Potato Leek Soup

The remainder of the the leeks and my potatoes ready to be sliced thin.

Leeks and onions ready to be sauted with a little butter.

Some russett potatoes, I used six for this batch of soup.

Slice your potatoes thin.
Saute leeks and onions with three tablespoons of butter for three minutes - I actually saute them for about six minutes.

Take a taste and see if it needs more salt and pepper, I added more because we like it peppery.

Onions and leeks have been sauting for about three minutes and I've added more salt and pepper.
Chicken broth left over from last nights chicken canning session, I didn't strain the stuff out but no one will know it's in the soup when all is said and done.

Add potatoes to the onions and leeks.

Add salt and pepper to the potato broth mixture.

Cover in chicken broth and cook until potatoes are fork tender, about 20 minutes.

When potatoes are fork tender blend everything using blender or food processor, I used my kitchenaid stick blender.

Add 2 cups cream or milk slowly to the potato stock.

The cream being blended with the blender stick, the heat is off so the cream doesn't curdle.

Blend cream/milk thoroughly and your ready to serve.

If you like bacon in your soup then see the previous post, this is my bowl without bacon. The recipe is from The Joy of Cooking cookbook. This made three quarts of soup, two of which I gave to the neighbor otherwise we'd be eating it for four days! The soup is very rich and is excellent on a freezing cold evening, currently the wind chill here is -28F so it's chilly here right now.

More Chicken

I canned up some more chicken last night - this makes the most excellent chicken salad sandwiches! I'm really getting into canning my own convience foods I haven't been able to really eat any for years now due to food allergies - apparently after dozens of allergy tests I'm allergic to the vitamins that most foods are fortified with, so here's to a tasty sandwich!!!

Macaroni and Cheese with Tuna and Peas

Bring your macaroni noodles to a boil - as per directions on the box.

About two minutes before the noodles are fully cooked I added about a cups worth of frozen peas to the noodles. Yes I know this slows the cooking time down but I do it anyway - my bad. NOTE: If you are going to use canned peas add them to the noodles when you add the tuna otherwise they will be way mushy. ALSO if you are using canned peas you will want to drain them and rinse them well before adding to the noodles to reduce the salt content and that oh so special can flavor.

Drain noodles and peas, I use a collander to do this part so I don't burn myself.

Add drained tuna to the noodles and peas.

Add cheese and butter to the noodles, peas and tuna. Mix until butter is melted over low heat try not to scorch/burn you macaroni.

Add milk and stir well over low heat.

Add black pepper to taste and stir well.

All mixed up and cheese thoroughly blended with everything.

Ready to eat!

Lunch for two adults for less than a $1.50!!!

Bean Soup and Hot Corn Bread



Well I misread the directions and used only 1/3rd cup beans when in fact I was supposed to fill the jars 1/3rd full with beans.


So today we had bean soup and it was very juicey. To counter act the juiceyness John made corn bread with fresh ground wheat and fresh ground cornmeal - see Fannie Farmer cookbook for recipe. A canning buddy told me to add veggies to the bean soup and to use it as a soup base in the future - which is a totally brilliant idea - Thank you David!!!

Bean Soup

Dh and I made Bean Soup tonight, canned up 14 quarts to be exact. I'm anxious for it to be done as I hear something cracking inside of the canner and I'm worried one of the jars has broke, this could be interesting.
One third cup of beans in the bottom of the jars.

A mix of red beans and kidney beans - I mixed together one pound of each type in a large bowl.

I chopped up two larger onions, they were the size of a large orange.

Place a handful of chopped onion on top of the beans - about a half cups worth.

Looking good!
Cubed pork butt roast and juice.

One half cup of cubed pork plus a little bit extra to make a hearty soup.

Pork, onions, beans , now the jars are ready for the broth.

Plenty of pork juice/broth left over to top off the pork and beans - added flavor.


Jars topped off with broth water mixture the yellowis color is from the ham broth concentrate we added to the jars.

The jars are filled, cleaned, and the lids put in place and are ready to be pressured canned - 10 pounds of pressure for 90 minutes.