Update on Yesterday's Tomato Sauce...

The tomato sauce I started yesterday I ended up having to finish cooking it down today because it was such a large batch. I mixed the 2 types of tomatoes and the sauce is red now and not the golden yellow color I was afraid it was going to be. I ended up with 6 qts, 4 pts and 1 half pint. I will probably only end up canning a few more jars this summer because the tomatoes aren't yielding very much now. Next year I will probably plant a few more plants and increase my production. I was very fortunate that a friend of my mil was getting rid of some canning jars and gave them to me. I used my entire jar supply that I had on hand. Need to get a few smaller jars next year because I like an assortment of sizes for the tomato sauce.

Hope y'all are having a great day!  Hugs...

It's A Tomatoful Day!

Today I harvested 2 large containers of tomatoes from my garden. I had planned on making sauce out of them tomorrow.

Then, my mil came over and was telling me that where she volunteers, there were 2 boxes of tomatoes that no one was using and were starting to go bad. Of course, I said "I'll take them."

 I brought them home, sorted, cut out bad spots and many ended up in the mulch pile. After I whirled the good tomatoes around in my food processor, I ended up having to start cooking them down in the bottom to my pressure canner PLUS I filled my largest stock pot 1/2 way with more sauce. The weird thing about my freebie tomatoes is the color. The color resembles the color of Kraft macaroni and cheese. Once the 2 pots can be combined into 1 then maybe the color will be a little better. Getting all the tomatoes ready to cook took me almost 2 hours. I don't know why so long....Guess I'm getting slower in my old age. :)  I'm looking forward to using this sauce in my homemade spaghetti sauce this fall.

That's my day today.

Hope everyone is staying cool and having a great week.  Hugs...

WIP Wednesday (10 August 2011)

I'm just about finished with this afghan. This is the one I made the center from some squares that came with some yarn I picked up at a thrift store or yard sale. I only have the ends to weave in. I'm not sure why the edging is "ruffly." I made it a little different by putting 2 rounds of sc before I did the shells--I won't do that next time. All the yarn I used was leftovers from other projects.

To see some other crafty things, click on the button at the bottom of this post. Have a great week!

Monday's Link to Free Crochet Pattern (08 August 2011)

Here are some cute slippers to crochet that look like cows! Wish these were in adult sizes. I have a friend who is crazy about cows and I would love to make them for her. Enjoy!

Remember to Check Out Free Reads for Your Kindle

If you go to this page you can find many free books for your kindle. Just thought I'd post this again for those of you who'd like to find some inexpensive reads. I read the reviews before I download because some of the books aren't very good my cup-of-tea.

WIP Wednesday--Even More Tomato Sauce (03 August 2011)

I'm making tomato sauce again. I usually get 2 pints and about 5, 1/2 pints. Seems like a lot of work for such a small quantity but the taste is so much better and since no salt is used, it's low sodium too. Here's a glimpse of what I've got going this morning.

To see what other folks are up to, click on the button below. Hope everyone is staying cool and having a great week.

Monday's Link to Crochet Pattern (01 August 2011)

Here's another dishcloth pattern. This one is designed by the Crochet Dude. Enjoy!



Search Amazon.com for crochet dude

WIP Wednesday--Or What's Going on in Sharon's World

My crochet ADD has kicked in this past week and I'm working on 3 crochet projects. My polka dot 'ghan is being sewn together, very sloooowly but no pictures of it until it's done. I'm also working on a scrappy wave afghan:

I got a bit carried away with the width:

That's okay because it will be extra snuggable (is that a word????).

I had some granny squares in my stash that were included in a bag of yarn I got at either a thrift store or yard sale so I used them as the beginning of a lapghan. I think I'll just keep on going with this one until it's an afghan. The pastels are so pretty.

I'm also making some tomato sauce out of tomatoes from my garden. It smells so good! No pictures because I've already posted some pictures on my blog of tomato sauce and you may be getting tired of it.

To see what other crafty people in blogland are doing, click on the button at the bottom of this post.

Hope everyone is having a productive and enjoyable week.

Stay cool!

Free Books for Kindle

I've found a couple spots that list free books available for Kindles. I thought I'd share the sites with you because most of us are feeling the pinch of high costs now a days and look for good deals on everything. Here they are:

• eReaderIQ
• Hunt 4 Freebies

Of course, none of the best sellers are there but most of the available books have reviews available that you can read to see if the freebies are your cup o' tea.

Happy reading!

Search Amazon.com for kindle

Today I Froze Cowpeas

For some reason, I keep wanting to call these peas "cowslip" when they are actually "cowpeas," Some folks call them "purple peas" and that's what I first learned to call them.

Cowslip? I bet you're thinking I'm going weird and freezing bovine lingerie! Nope. these peas are in the black eye pea family. Looks almost the same but the coloring is more pastel with a hint of purple. I haven't eaten any of these in 33 years so growing and preserving has been a trip down memory lane for me. The 1st time I saw these was when I was pregnant with my #1 son back in 1978. I was staying with my former in-laws and my father-in-law restricted my activities because I was in the "family way." However, I was allowed to shell these and shell them I did, bushel after bushel! Anyway, here's a look at how they grow:

The finished product (picture looks kind of green but they're more cream color):

Hope everyone is staying cool. It's time for me to get started on tomato sauce again. I hope to squeeze in some crochet time as the sauce cooks down.  Hugs...

Monday's Link to Crochet Pattern (25 July 2011)

Here's a cute pattern for a ruffled dishcloth. Enjoy!

Today's Canning Adventure--Pickle Relish!

Well, I must say, that when I made my pickle relish today, I was kind of surprised to see the pale color of it. I took a gander at the store-bought stuff in my fridge and noticed that it has food coloring in it. I was wondering about it because pickle relish is largely cucumbers and unless you use mostly the peelings, it is going to be white. I ended up with 4 half-pints and 1 pint. Anyway, here's a picture of my homemade stuff.

Here's the link to the recipe I used: http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1936,151168-244193,00.html

The smell is wonderful; hope the taste matches it!

Have a great week. Hugs...

Just a Suggestion...

I just want to make a suggestion. Many of the blogs I read have music or sound effects on them. I like most of them. Sometimes, I'm listening to audio books (multi-tasking) when I'm on my computer--multitasking you know. So, I just want to suggest that you can turn off the music and let your readers manually start it. I ended up doing that with mine after a friend suggested it to me. If you were a teen in the 70s, you might like to play my music player. Thanks...

Polka Dot Afghan Status Update

I've been playing around making these "polka dot" afghan squares for a month and today, I finished the last one. Now it's time to put 'em together and make a wide border. I'm not going to speculate when it will be finished because I tend to lose interest in one project and work on another for a while; plus the garden and canning have to be top priority right now.

 Edited to add: You can find the pattern at http://signedwithanowl.blogspot.com/2011/06/squaring-big-circle-tutorial.html

 Here's the squares:

One thing about having my little cuddle-bug chihuahuas and crocheting with so much black is that there is a lot of their fur that I will have to wash off before this 'ghan goes to it's new home.

Take care everyone and if you're in the heat wave be cool!

Hugs...

Productive Friday...

Today has been a productive day. I am in the middle of processing pickles--5 quarts and 2 pints. I also made some homemade laundry soap. The best thing that I did today is related to a slightly embarrassing story. Some of you may remember that I was delighted last Christmas when I received a Kindle from dh. Well, I misplaced it in February! I knew it was in the house because I hadn't taken it out and the people who had visited were all extremely trustworthy. I had crawled under my bed, moved furniture and even looked in the bathroom for it without success. DH looked for it too. He would tease me about it every time he heard the word "Kindle." Today the word came up again and I went on a hunt that lasted only a minute or 2. There, between 2 other books was my Kindle! What a shocker--oh what a wonderful thing! So, there's my confession for the day.

I hope y'all are having a great weekend.

Edited to add:
p.s. I originally had this post titled "Productive Saturday..." and then I realized it was written about Friday! lol!

Yesterday's Canning--1st Batch of Tomato Sauce This Year

Didn't have many tomatoes on hand but I decided to make a small batch of tomato sauce. By the time I cooked down the sauce I ended up with only 2 small (half-pint) jars. That's okay, homemade tomato sauce is so much more tasty than store bought but it is extremely time consuming cooking it down(I cook it down about 1/2 way). Next year, I'm going to try a different variety of tomatoes. Ray heard that Rutgers is about the best tomato to make sauce out of but I've been searching the web and I've seen a lot of good things about Roma. Might try a little of each and see how it goes.  This year, I didn't pay attention to what type of tomatoes I bought, only the price. One thing I don't do is peel my tomatoes. I swish them around the food processor and then strain out the seeds and that saves time and maintains more of the nutritional value. Anyway, here's a look at yesterday's product:

Link to Free Crochet Pattern--I Forgot to Post on Monday 18 July 2011

Quick post because I just realized that I didn't post a link for a free pattern on Monday. Here's a cute scarf with pockets. There is a knit version and a crochet version. I hope you enjoy and I'm sorry I forgot to post on Monday. I'm getting ready to schedule a month's worth so I won't be forgetting for a while. Hugs...

New (to Me) Way to Join Granny Squares...

I've been in a phase of making afghans out of granny squares. When it comes to joining them, I like to crochet them together on the right side so that I have an interesting 3D effect. If by chance, I sew them together, I make sure that I have the final round of each square the same color as the yarn I'm sewing them with so that the seam isn't visible. Here is a great idea to sew with an "invisible" seam. Look at her example--a scarf made out of a gazillion tiny squares!

Another blog I read linked to the tutorial.

Hope your week is going well. Take care..

#1 Son's Visiting and More...

Matthew is visiting today. He comes over to use my washing machine once a week and we get a chance to visit too; I miss having my "kids" around. Anyway, I decided to take some of my green beans from the garden and freeze individual packs for him. I don't think he eats many vegetables and I thought I'd hook him up do the "mommy thing" and send him home with some green beans.

Matt and Nellie Belle goofing off

Here's the product:

I made 7 of these packs with sandwich bags--about 1 cup each bag

Then I put them all in a larger, freezer bag

Hope y'all are having a great week.

Latest Canning Adventure...

I was surfing and searching the Web from one end to another looking for recipes to can dill pickles. My goodness there are an encyclopedia set full of them! I combined a little of this and that from various recipes and came up with my own recipe. I did 4 quarts. I wanted to do more but dh said we were throwing away older pickles I had canned a couple years ago. Anyway, here's the pickles: