Sunday, August 5, 2012

Coming out from Under my Rock ;)

Hello!!!  I am still here and well;)  I've tried to sit and blog several times over the last few months, but couldn't get anything accomplished. 

Here goes another try......

Life...been busy in some sort of way, but can't quite put my finger on exactly what.  Here are some photos of what I have been up to.  Hopefully it will shed some light on the subject;)


Berry season.....can we say "YUM!!!!!"  OMG!!!!  This is soooo awesome!!  I thought chili season in New Mexico was something to savor, but this is by far a more complex sort of awesomeness from mother nature;)  I knew that Oregon has a wild berry season....the roadsides are covered with wild blackberry bushes that will bear fruit very soon, if not already on the start.  Marion berries, raspberries, logan berries, blackberries, and blue berries!!  Oh, my;)  I have 50+ jars of jam and jelly of assorted kinds in my pantry.  We aren't going to eat all of that ourselves...I am thinking gifts for Christmas and such.  Canning season is such an event up here, there are times when there aren't any supplies left on the shelves.  I took my son with me out to the picking fields a few times.  He had a blast.  One for the bucket, one for his mouth;)  The hubby did the same thing;)  Oh, did I mention the price of berries at the place we are going to???  Get ready.....$1.10 per pound!!!  For organic even!!  One afternoon we picked 26 pounds of berries.  At market price at the stores for organic, it was a haul worth $226!! How awesome is that?????


Speaking of produce....with all the farms out here, combined with the climate, you have a cornucopia of variety and goodness at your fingertips.  I will say however, that unless you do your research, you aren't going to find these gems knocking on your front door.  I didn't know what was going on out there until I started doing some research on the internet.  It makes sense, though, that these modern day small family farms are using electronic media to get the word out.  It's practically free to advertise on the web, no cost for resources (or waste of said resources that go with traditional advertising), and content can updated as it ripens.  The haul pictured above plus the berry pickings came to less than $30.  And the flavor....even organic produce in the stores doesn't taste this good;)

On to other things....


It looks kind of bleak maybe in this photo...I can never get a good angle with the camera to really show off what is going on up here...and down there below us.  I think I mentioned in a previous post that the Urban Garden Project had expanded to include three apartment units.  One next to us upstairs and one down below us.  Here are a few pictures of what we have managed to accomplish...



The harvest is small, but tasty;)  We have spent many a time visiting on the deck or downstairs sharing the goods 50/50 with the cooperatives.  It is also a learning process of what will work and what needs to be re-thought in our little space.

On to quilting...yes, I actually got something done!!;)



I actually got this finished shortly after my last post in May.  I like it even if I changed the original design plan to something simpler, and creatively confined.  I was (and still am) on a limited budget when I purchased the main fabrics for this project and had to think up the best way to use every square inch of what fabric I had.  Jelly rolls have the bain of a quiter's creative existance since they came into effect.  What to make with something you love while staying in the perameters of your purchasing abitilty.  Hence why I think we see so many simple, graphic, and "easy" designs have proliferated the quilting market nowadays.  It works when what you are after is a taste, but indulgence in design is limited. 



Then there is this little gem;)  I forget who did it first, but I took there idea of a strip top in uber short work for a charity quilt.  I had the jelly strips (once again, something lurking in the stash with limited ideas on what to with them) and the tone on tone muslin sitting around taking up (creative) space in my quilting cycle.  So in an effort to clear the inventory for greater projects, I threw this one together in less than an evening plus the time to hand sew the binding on.

Anywho....I think that about does it for this entry.  It's late and I am tired.  I will try to post more often in the near future, but only if I have something positive to say;)

As always, Happy Quilting!!







7 comments:

Lynette said...

Your quilt is super pretty! I lovesquares-in-squares. Such a clean design and fabrics look great in it. and Wow! Nice garden haul there!

Ruth said...

Raspberries are my all time favorite fruit! I am so jealous! One time when we were in OR we went berry picking near or on Mt. Hood and picked a lot of huckleberries and then baked them into a pie. That was delis!! We are definitely going to OR next year. I hate it that we didn't go this year. The quilt is great too!

Beth said...

Your patio garden looks great. Sounds like you have been really busy canning.
I like you quilts. Always good to work from your stash and end up with such cute quilts.

Marsha B said...

I'm jealous of all the wonderful goodies that can grow up there! Way different than NM! I love Marion berries and we bring back jars of jam when we visit the kids in OR and WA. Home grown, field rippened verries beat any store bought ones hands down. I would eat lots more fruits and veggies if they tasted so good. I think the ones available in the grocery stores have to be picked green and they don't develop the wonderful flavor of field rippened produce. Your quilts look great, using what you have is a great way to go. Everything is so cute!

---"Love" said...

Wish I had a bowl of those berries right now! Those veggies are gorgeous and no doubt delicious! Hope you get a little more quilting time soon; those look great! ---"Love"

Liriopia said...

Oh, I do hope you are canning all that bounty! What a wonderful taste of summer in mid-winter! Having limited funds may be a blessing in disguise. Look how creative you have been! Looking forward to hearing from you again!

Liri

Katie said...

You sure have been busy - a good reason for not blogging with all those goodies to munch on and preserve for later. Growing up in an area as bountiful as you've found, it's strange to hear you rave over the goodness of produce, but it's also good for me to realize that not everyone has a cornfield across the street from them. The quilts look great and I believe you're doing it the "old-fashioned" way - using what you have instead of buying more. I hope you find more time and positive things to say more frequently - I miss your posts. :)