new scrappy quilt & BLUEBERRIES!!!

July 19, 2012

what an unbelievably busy week i've had. the blueberries are out early this year and they are wonderful! i love, love, love the high bush blueberries. they are large and sweet and easy to pick. chip and i picked 6 quarts in an hour. i froze those and went back the next day and froze the next batch. yesterday i went by myself and picked 3 more quarts to have fresh. it was too hot to cook but i did make my blueberry sauce. this is so easy and soooooooo delicious! it is best on pancakes or ice cream but my friends put it on their cereal and over sweet biscuits with whipped cream on top. i also like to put it on my toast. it is a jam consistancy when it is cold. here's the recipe:
GRANDMA'S BLUEBERRY SAUCE:
2 cups blueberries
3 TBSP honey
1/2 c orange juice
1 TBSP cornstarch
mix 1.5 cups blueberries, honey & 1/4 cup oj in saucepan. cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. mix the remaining 1/4 cup oj with the cornstarch and slowly stir it into the boiling mixture stirring constantly until the sauce is thickened (about 2-3 minutes). add remaining 1/2 cup blueberries and serve warm. refrigerate remaining sauce.....it reheats in microwave well.
i have canned this recipe and given it out as gifts throughout the year with great reviews.

now for the quilting news! i don't think i've told you that i really love making scrap quilts. i can't seem to help it. i try to follow a pattern and start throwing in more colors or different prints of the same colorway. this is what i've been working on: this quilt will be large so that it completely covers our bed. the top photo is the 16 blocks i've made up. they are finishing up at 12.5". i can't decide whether to put sashing in it or not. i think i won't but haven't committed to that yet. i'm also thinking of not adding a border......just keeping it all over scrappy. any opinions out there? the kitty is leftover from another project but i may applique some throughout the quilt top in honor of our wonderful nora jean. it dresses it up a bit i think. i've had this material quite a while but can't seem to remember where i bought it. since i had so much of the same line of fabric it was probably at a quilt show. i've cut this whole quilt out on my accuquilt. it really saves you so much time and wear and tear on the hands and elbows. i'm glad i like it so much but i really think the dies are way too expensive.

it has been very hot up here in northern nh. where we are, we get some wonderful cool breezes every evening from the woods in our backyard. it is so comfortable and feels better than airconditioning. its easy on the electric bill too!

this week i love: blueberries, quilting & nh mountains. have a great day and i will too! nancyb

Squirrel catching and still quilting in the mountains

July 10, 2012

how is everyone this week? we have, as usual, been busy but we're loving it up here. this week we've been catching squirrels. we got that very aggressive gray squirrel in our have a heart trap and let him go 3 miles up the road in the national forest. since then we've caught 2 of our little red squirrels. they've been literally climbing up the screen of our door trying to get in the house! we are marking our mileage hoping to let them out at about the same spot so that maybe they can find each other. i don't know if that's silly but we don't like to think they've been separated from their families. does anyone know if that's important to them? our killer cat nora jean, meanwhile, has been quite amused by these antics and quietly watches them as they make noise and holes in our screens. here's a picture of nora babysitting the one i caught this morning. she loved watching him and he didn't seem too scared of her! we've had lots of bear stories up here this year. there seems to be a little more than usual. i wouldn't say there's been a whole lot of construction up here in the last few years so that their homes are being displaced. i think from all the campsites they are learning that its easy to get people food. one woman was barbequeing and brought the meat in her kitchen. when she came out of the bathroom there was a bear in the kitchen eating her dinner! another just last night got up to see what the noise was about and there was a male black bear eating her dog's food! the biggest problem we are having with all this is that our bedroom windows are on the ground floor and we've been keeping the windows open to let that beautiful cool breeze in. i don't think it would be too big a problem for me if one decided to climb through the window.........i'm sure i'd have a heart attack and drop dead right there!!!!! and of course, nora (our attack cat) would probably be calmly sitting in the corner watching the whole fiasco wondering........well if mom's dead who's going to feed me?

i've been sewing this week getting ready for my sister visit to kansas. every year i go to kansas while her husband goes on his "guy" vacation and we just have the best time. we sew and cook together. we go to a play (she has front row center seats and the musical is always amazing) and watch girly shows and talk and talk. these are some of the things we made for her granddaughter. she has my middle name and started kindergarten last year. we made her jumpers, a backpack, a jacket and i can't remember what else! we also made pocketbooks and a vest and hat for my granddaughter and hers. it was so much fun. this year i am giving her more quilt lessons. i've fussy cut 5.5" squares to make samantha jean and my sister's little neighbor christopher(he's 4) each an I Spy in a Jar quilt. i bought her a serger for her birthday and we will be using that for sewing (not for quilting). i have a very intricate serger that i haven't used even close to its ability and we will both be learning how to use it. i've bought a cool pattern through nancy's notions for a one size fits all jacket that we can use the serger on. hopefully we'll have them made so that we can go to the musical in them. it is a very fancy affair and i don't dress up very often! we dress up similar so that we jive in our clothes. its a little hokey but we don't care. we want everyone to know we're sisters. it is nice when you have a sister who is not only nice but your best friend. i wish she lived closer!

well, i'm going down to my sewing studio (i've decided to call it a fancy name....it sounds good don't you think?). i've put 19 things on my etsy shoppe and am still adding more. my son, andrew,  is going to come over some time and hook up my blog to my etsy shoppe. if he doesn't, when i get back from kansas i will work on it. i'm also thinking of doing a podcast. i have so much to say! have a great day everyone.......it is another beautiful day and i know i'm going to enjoy it. my oldest son gregory and my 2 grandchildren are coming over for lunch tomorrow. i'm making them a new vegetarian dish. i'll tell you all how it comes out. i love to experiment with recipes and since most of them come out really great they don't mind in the least. by for now! nancyb of swiftriver quilting

Happy 4th of July!

June 30, 2012
I love this country! i have always been so proud to be an american and grateful that i live here! i don't have a place to hang my statue of liberty but by next july i should! right now i have it hanging on a railing so that i can at least admire it.

nora jean is sacked out on my large quilt which is on the back of my couch for the holidays. she looks comfy doesn't she! what are you doing for the holiday? we are still working hard on the house so we'll be spending the day here. last year we were able to see the fireworks from our kitchen window (where my little fire cracker wallhanging is) and i hope we'll be lucky this year.

we took an early morning "moose" ride this week and we were not disappointed! we were gone for 45 minutes and in that time saw a huge bull moose, a fox, a turkey, ducks, a hawk, and a young deer.
we live about 2 miles from the famous kancamagus highway (or better known up here as the kanc).  here is our moose trying to hide! they are such a docile and patient animal........as long as you don't threaten them or get in their space. he was right on the side of the highway so we were no more than 10 feet from him. as long as we stay in the car and are quiet he's fine with us taking pictures. he tried to hide when another car pulled up along side of us to see what we were looking at. they got out of their car! he tried to hide behind this tree and then ambled off into the woods.

 well this week i've done quite a bit of sewing. i started a scrap quilt using my accuquilt and my "kiddie" prints. i liked the way it was turning out so well that i started working on a quilt i'll be making for our bedroom using the same pattern that i made up. i'm in no hurry to make either quilt since they are for my pleasure. it's nice to relax and just sew for the heck of it! i don't do that often enough. i'll post some pictures of my blocks when i get some together. right now i'm cutting and sewing squares together. i love doing that. i was watching a tutorial on the Missouri Star Quilt site and they had the CUTEST I Spy quilt. they are my favorite quilts to make and i've made dozens of them in all sizes. this was I Spy in a Jar. i'll be making at least one of them. check out the site. its wonderful.
today is another gorgeous day up here. there's a nice breeze wafting in from the windows.....not too hot or cold. i can tell i'm going to have a great day and i hope you do the same! nancyb

I'm a quilter and this is a quilting blog (sort of)

June 21, 2012

hi everyone! is it as hot where you are as it is here? it's 90degrees and i have NO air conditioning! i do have a new refrigerator in my house that has an ice cube maker and water tap. i have to say that it is an awesome thing to have. everyone said we'd love it and we do! this hot weather will only last for a few days and if it keeps up i'll go down to the swift river and take a swim (unfortunately i can't find my bathing suit!). we still have a lot of unpacking to do but our closets aren't done so i've got things stuffed whereever i can find a spot.

i feel like i haven't made this a proper quilt blog (mixed with mountains and animals and woods) so i'm going to put a few pictures in today that say a bit about myself. this bookcase quilt was a challenge that my guild i belonged to on the seacoast presented. we had to make a wallhanging that said something about ourselves. i was in the mood to make another bookcase quilt and so i made this. each shelf represents 20 years of my life. if you look at it closely there's quite a bit of information in there. i plan on eventually adding one more shelf to represent my retirement years, our new house and living up north. i have it on my wall in my sewing room and like to look at it. any questions? just ask!

the next picture is our maine coon cat nora jean sitting on my quilt chest that my sister gave me as a retirement present. she's laying on my  husbands amish quilt (i made him that but don't like amish colors myself). she is insistent on laying on my quilts, especially my WIPs. i think she feels she's helping me and gets quite quiet and bummed out if i don't let her lay on them. i have to keep my beautiful chest covered because she lays on it whether there's a quilt on top of it or not.  its glass and i don't want her to scratch it. i haven't been able to convince her that we didn't put it there for her to sleep on. she is a good cat tho and we love her and spoil her. we've had her 10 years already! i keep wanting to get her a little dog to keep her company but the mister isn't going for it right now. i figure i'll wear him down! nora likes dogs and little kids but HATES other cats! it's the only time we see her show any aggression.

i went to another meeting of the material girls of conway and we made out mystery quilt. they have material there that you can take for these projects but i found something in my stash that i used instead. it came out cute and some little child will love it. they have someone who machine quilts and sews the binding on the quilt tops so you just get to make the top. that's the best part! i also finished my bowtie quilt and will be putting that in my etsy shoppe. if anyone is interested in checking out my shoppe its under nancyb or sewingontheswift. i still have quite a few things to add to it but one thing at a time!
well we've had some very interesting wild animal tales to tell this week but i don't want this to be too long. i'll definitely tell you about it in the next blog! have a great week and i will too. nancyb

Emily's Mum

Emily's Mum
hi emily.....i am trying to figure out how to add you to my blogger list so that i can follow you. i need your url and don't know where that is! i'll figure it out tho. hopefully you'll get this! nancyb

i've joined a guild!

June 12, 2012

last week has been a VERY busy week! i finally got up the nerve to contact and go to the conway material girls meeting. i think they consider themselves a guild but i'm not sure. anyway, they were so welcoming and fun. they meet twice a month. the 2nd tuesday of the month they have some kind of learning class. any member can teach something. this meeting was so great! member Darlene taught us 3 different squares. she was a confident and really good teacher. she's obviously taught before. while i'm familiar with all of these blocks i've never done them totally by machine. since i can't hand quilt for any length of time (i killed my hands knitting and my work) i was excited to learn them and was not disappointed. i've taken pictures. i am making the bowtie block and it has just enough hand stitching in it that i can sit and do a few at a time in front of the tv. i think this is probably an origami that's done with material. the little pucker (bowtie) in the front has about 2 inches of hand stitches in the back to tack it down.  i've taken pictures and will take a picture of my finished quilt. i think i'm going to make it little girl size and put it in my etsy shoppe. i really can't make that decision until the quilt it done. after that i'll try the other two blocks. i love them all!

back to the meeting. this is a very easy going and loose group. they are not new tho, and have things well organized. they mainly do charity sewing and quilting. there is no pressure to join them in making quilts etc. the 2nd meeting of the month seems to be solely for charity sewing. this month they are having a mystery quilt for that. they have tons of material there so if you don't want to use your stash you can just make it from theirs. i love their attitude and i also love that they make it fun to do! i think almost all quilters love making quilts for others and this is a great way to do it. i'll fill you in more about the group as we go along and i learn more about it. so far, i really loved it.

well, i got a blogger who has read my blog. i don't know if i can reply to her or not. she is new also. if anyone writes to me and i don't answer please try again. i'm still learning the processes. hi emily's mum! i wrote you a note but there's a noreply thing on your title so i don't know if you got it. like i've said before......i will eventually figure it out! i have more to say but need to stop for now. i'll write to you in a few days and tell you about our squirrels & chipmunks and birds.......oh my!
have a great day and i will too. nancyb

Bears and Birds

June 2, 2012

can you believe the year is almost half over? what happens to the time. it just seems to fly by! well, i'm having some progress with my etsy shoppe. i still have more things to put in there and then i really need to do some advertising to get the word out that i have a shop! i have finally gotten up the nerve to contact the material girls which is a quilt group that does mainly charities in my area. they meet twice a month and i'll be going to my first meeting on tuesday. i'll tell you how it goes. the woman i contacted got right back to me and was very helpful and friendly. i think i'm going to like the group. quilters are nice people anyway!

well, we had to take our suet, hummingbird and birdfeeders down. we came back from a moose ride with some friends that had stopped by and discovered our screen on the lower window (RIGHT OUTSIDE MY QUILTING AREA!!!) ripped. we went out and saw the bear tracks. we have the "neighborhood" bear pass through our yard pretty regularly but we figured since the feeders were up so high that we were safe. guess not! the birds have plenty to eat but it was really a lot of fun to watch them. some of them are so comical! i got up the next morning and found the male and female purple finches and a goldfinch in between them staring at me through the window. it was pretty funny. i think the hummingbird feeder was dripping the sweet syrup every time they fed and that drew the bear. we only put that up a week or so ago and within half an hour we had an awesome hummingbird at it! we counted 6 different bear on our property last summer so we're not messing with them. we'll put the birdfeeders up next winter when we're sure the bears are in hibernation.
well, i just tried to put a picture i have of the bird at the window and this is what i got! the red mark at the suet (hanging from the post) is i think the head of the male woodpecker but i'm not sure! i've told you all before...........its a learning process but at least i'm going forward! this is our backyard and goes all the way down to the swift river. it's really pretty no matter what season it is.

well, if anyone is reading this, i would so appreciate a note. i can't tell! have a great day and i will too. nancyb