Rose Prairie Quilts and Farm

It is unbelievable to me that I have only written 3 times this month.  I have been wanting to sew but just haven't had the time because of working in the veggie garden maintaining, harvesting and planting the fall crops. It has been a very good year in the garden and I have been harvesting a tremendous amount produce.  This is from last Saturday's harvest and I have picking like this 3 or 4 times a week this past month. Except for the acorn squash it varies in what I pick. The green beans are done producing which was a good year, a little over a 100 lbs. That also means I have been very busy getting it put up.  The major part is over for now so I hope to get busy working on one of the many projects I have started. So today I went into my sewing room to see what I could work on.  I haven't been in that room for nearly a month now and this is what I walked into What a mess!!! At least the plants are still alive.  I have pre...

To Autumn John Keats Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run; To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees, And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core; To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells With a sweet kernel; to set budding more, And still more, later flowers for the bees, Until they think warm days will never cease, For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells. Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store? Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find Thee sitting careless on a granary floor, Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind; Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep, Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook Spares the next swath and all its twinéd flowers: And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep Steady thy laden head across a brook; Or by a cyder-...

I can't believe I actually finish something. Here lately all I've been able to do is garden work and canning. I know it isn't much but I'll take it. As you can see it is just a garter stitch the width of the bag I made. This bag is a sample bag for what I want to make. I have some vintage linen that I want to use as the outer bag.  I like my sample bag though. The book is a new one I found on Amazon when trying to find something else. I haven't started it yet but hope to this week. I did finished "The Kitchen House". Really enjoyed the book, would've wanted to hear more. Here is what the book is about Tears of frustration and loneliness more than once filled the eyes of Marjorie Myers Douglas as she valiantly coped with her new status as a farmwife. Life on a western Minnesota stock ranch in the years during and after World War II was, after all, a far cry from growing up in her parents' Minneapolis h...

I had made sauerkraut last week and have meant to post this for a friend of mine, Linda G. This recipe is an  adaptation from one on About.com Here is some of the info they gave gave that I thought was pretty interesting. Sauerkraut came to Europe via Asia, where people have been pickling cabbage for thousands of years. Because of its high vitamin C content, it was very useful in preventing scurvy and keeping people healthy throughout the winter months when no fresh food was available. To make your own sauerkraut you will rely on the bacteria found on the cabbage leaves. The salt draws out the water and kills off the spoilage bacteria. You will need between a 0.6% and 2% salt concentration, which equals 3/4 to 2 teaspoons of table salt per pound of prepared cabbage. Makes 1 quart Ingredients: 8-10 cups shredded cabbage, loosely packed (about 2 lbs), about 1 cabbage 1-2 tsp. un-iodized or pickling salt 1 c. filtered water mixed with 1 tsp. salt Pre...