Aprons

Another one of my projects this summer and hopefully wrapped up soon are the aprons I am making for my children.  I've been wanting to make them for a long time now and so the opportunity presented itself and here I am.  All the older Walmarts with a fabric section are getting rid of all their fabrics.  I missed the beginning of the 50% off by a day or two so all the quilting fabrics were gone, but I picked up a few other fabrics that will be part of future projects.  I found canvas/duck fabric and it was exactly what I was looking for to be used as aprons.  It will hold up to a lot of wear and tear so I am really, really happy with the $2.50/yd. pricetag!!!!  It is excellent material.  I've completed one and almost done with another.  I've got two more to go and this is how they will look.

This is my youngest and hers is more "fru-fru."  The daisy buttons along the top match the daisies on the edging of her pocket...too cute!!!!!  The apron I'm almost finished with is my son's.  His has black and white accents.  He can wear his when he helps Dad barbeque and with me in the kitchen.  My two older girls have their accents picked out.  It's a lot of fun and will probably go with them when they grow up.  {sigh}

Another great deal I found at Walmart was denim.  In an earlier post I showed all my jeans cut into squares ready to be sewn into a quilt.  I found the backing denim for cheap!!!  I can get moving on that once I'm done with the aprons!!!  Be warned, though.  The fabric is thick.  One or two layers are fine, but when you're dealing with seams and putting on the ties, MERCY!  I already broke two thick needles.  I think I've figured out how to negotiate it all, but as with anything, it takes a little bit of time!

What are you sewing up this summer???  I'll keep you posted with the aprons and the quilt as I finish them.

Happy sewing and blessings!!!

Canning Jar Jubilation!!!

On the morning of Fourth of July, I went to the thrift store to find a little jacket since we would be spending the day in the mountains and I've lost weight that I needed to get one.  I figured since I was there, I should also look for some canning jars since I need to gear up for more canning this summer and you can get a great deal if you can find them.  The thrift store was running a weekend promotion of 50% off most items for the holiday weekend.  LET THE HUNT BEGIN was my attitude!!!  Lo and behold, I found three boxes of various sized canning jars and all three boxes were half-off.  There were 38 jars total.  A quick scan of the jars inside led my eyes to an old blue Ball jar and one with the wire-type canning lid.  I knew my $7.00 would be well worth the cost.  I took them home and didn't touch them until we got back later that night.  Upon opening the boxes, I found canning jar treasure!!!  You will not believe the jars I got and after much research, I am completely amazed at the history that I found!!!  What started me on my old canning jar journey is the four jars I found at our church garage sale.  I paid $15 for all four of them without really knowing how much the value of old jars were and what would be a good price.  I've put them on my windowsill in the kitchen.

Now after finding my treasures in the box, I have found out all kinds of fascinating little facts!  You can date your Ball jars by the writing style on them.  Here is a great website if you're interested at all about figuring out the date of your jars:  here!  It's a great site to give you info on your jars.  So, without further ado, here are some of the jars I found.

These are Ball Ideal jars manufactured in 1908.  They have the wire-type closure and use a glass lid.  The one on the left is the only jar I got with a lid so I am thrilled with it.  It amazes me to think that this glass is over 100 years old and was used for canning during WWI.  Remarkable!!!

 

 I actually got two blue Ball jars in my boxes.  The one on the left is much older than the one on the right.  Can you see the difference in how Ball is embossed on the glass (see the last L)?  This is how you date the jars.

I got three of these Ball Perfect Masons.  What are so different about these?   It's a bit hard to see in the picture, but these jars are not clear.  They are gray.  They are worth a lot more.  In the manufacturing of these glasses, a chemical was used and once the jars are exposed to sunlight, they change color.  That's why you have blue jars, but you can also find amber, green, and amethyst colored jars.  WHO KNEW??!!  I had no idea! 

These are Kerr jars manufactured in 1915.  Kerr is actually the company who invented the two-piece system for canning lids that we now enjoy today.  I KNOW!!!!  Fascinating!!!

This is a square Atlas mason jar.  It was made in 1920.  Square jars are also worth more!  I didn't know this!  After finding all these great gems in my boxes, I had two more boxes downstairs full of quart jars I had gotten at the thrift store a while back for pickles so I started investigating.  Three of them are Longlife mason jars and are going for $10.00 a piece on ebay.  I also found some vintage quart jars that were made in the 1970's.  Since I was born in the 70's and I'm still working, I'm going to use the jars so they should still work, HA!  I also have a jar that is a Midland Mason jar.  It was only manufactured for one year--1975.  It's worth $8-$10.  I had no idea there were so many different canning jar companies!  It is absolutely mind-blowing that these jars have survived so long!!!  Again, I am inspired by these ladies from our past who diligently put up food from their gardens, not only to survive and have food for their families, but they also supported the war efforts.  By WWII, most canning jars were standard mouth jars (not wide mouth jars) because they were conserving as much metal as they could!  I am amazed!!!

I hope this enlightens you a little about canning jars.  I was trying to get some jars to can with and now I've got my own collection of antique jars.  What should I do with them???  Hmmmm......sounds like another post down the road!

Happy canning and happy treasure hunting!!!

Love the new gadgets here...

As mentioned in an earlier post, I have another blog on another site.  However, I am really loving the new setup here at blogger and I think I'm going to start posting here from now on!  It's awesome and I finally have a blog that looks the way I want it to...my other blog changed servers, sites, browsers or whatever the technical term is, and I'm really not that happy with it.  So, I guess this will be my blog home now!!!  Lots of posts to come...can't wait!  I used to have problems posting more than one picture here, but it seems the kinks are all worked out of the system and everything is sooooo user friendly!  I'm really pleased and look forward to blogging more!  I have to figure out how to import from my other blog...I know there's a way; I just have to figure it out!  Stay tuned!

Breathtaking!!!

While we were on vacation in Florida, we did all the typical things like Disney and Universal.  We also visited some not so typical places.  They were absolutely breathtaking and considered local gems!  One such place was called Blue Spring State Park.  This place is a natural manatee refuge in the winter months.  In the summer, it is paradise!  I have never seen water such a color in my life.  The wildlife was amazing.  There were six foot gars (a type of long fish) everywhere, not to mention all kinds of other fish.  I saw two massive catfish.  It was spectacular!  The water stays a constant 72 degrees year-round.  The family swam around in it, but even for Florida, it was chilly!!!  One look at this picture and you will see what I mean!

You can also see the trees with all the spanish moss hanging from them.  It was amazing!  What was strange for us coming from Colorado was all the palm trees interspersed with the regular trees...weird!!!  It was a gorgeous place and we were so happy to take this little excursion!

If you look at the above picture and see the dark shadows in the water, those are the gar.  Amazing!  It was a biological hodgepodge of everything and so fascinating and mesmerizing!  You can totally understand why the manatee hang out here!!! 

Vacation is almost here...garden is in!

We are full speed ahead here on our suburban homestead!!!  Everything is pretty much planted and coming up!  This year I've planted a ton of cucumbers as I am going to can pickles this summer!!!  I'm very excited about the prospect of it! I also have a lot more squash planted as well.  Last year was not a good zucchini year and we are praying for a good harvest this year!!!  I've got some tomatoes growing...I've had to fight the weather so we'll see how they fare.  All the lettuces look amazing and the peas are coming around nicely.  I was going to plant my beans, but every year I've wanted to coat them with inoculant to get a better harvest and I can never get my hands on any.  I've finally ordered it online so in a week or so I can get started on that.

We are almost ready for vacation!  It is going to be crazy fun and I can't wait.  The kids are so excited!!!  We are doing the whole Florida/beach/theme park vacation.  I love blogging, but this isn't my main blog.  If you are interested, my other site is www.homesteadblogger.com/zucchinimom.  I've got all kinds of stuff there, including recipes, all this fun vacation stuff, gardening, homesteading in the suburbs, etc.  I'd love to get to know more of you!  I hope you have a great weekend!!!

Gardening and kitchen revelations

We have had gale force winds around here and I didn't get much done over the weekend.  Finally, around dinner, the winds stopped, the sun shone, and I put in all my seeds into the ground.  Ahhhh.  I feel much better now. I'm particularly excited about my French pumpkins, affectionately called the Cinderella pumpkin.  They are an heirloom variety that the carriage in Cinderella was made from.  It's a large, flatter shaped pumpkin and looks just beautiful.  I'm crossing my fingers and praying for just one beauty this summer!!!

I also decided something...instead of pining away for an expensive Bosch mixer, an expensive grain mill, and a horde of hard grain, I decided to break out my bread machine and make dough so I can bake it in the oven. I think we often times get in a rut of "I have to have..." something in order to accomplish something.  Why not make dough and then bake it in the oven???  I finally dug the machine out of the small appliance cemetery in the garage and put it to work!!! It's been in the garage because with my family of six, one little bitty loaf of bread equates to one slice per person...not exactly worth my time and effort.

So I decided I was making rolls for my family and you know what, they turned out gorgeous and delicious!  No more feeling sorry for myself because I don't have the newest, most efficient fandangled gadgets out there.  I think back to the prairie women who did it all by hand and cared and nurtured for their families amazingly well with what little they had.  They are truly inspiring and help me when I'm not feeling like I'm homesteading very well.

I hope your homestead is running smoothly!  Dust off some of those small appliances and put them to work! You just may be surprised with what you turn out!!!

Recycle your jeans into a quilt

Hi all. I am revamping my little blog here. I hope I spark a little interest. A project I will be working on is a massive picnic quilt made from recycled jeans. These are all the squares I have cut. They are 6 1/2" x 6 1/2". I have been collecting our jeans for years specifically for this project! I can't wait until I have it all finished! This is only the first stage so I will keep you posted on my progress. It's a great way to reuse and recycle something that we all have! Wait until I show you what I have planned for some of the pockets that weren't used!!! But that's for another post!!!

As you can see, I have many different colors and I have included seams and some decorative features, too. I've watched some youtube instructions and some people don't feel seams should be used or stretchy denim--hello, I've had four babies, you better believe my jeans stretch!!! It wouldn't be recycling if I didn't use them!!!!!! I've also included stained jeans. My husband works very hard for us so it will be included. With my family of six, we all have contributions and it will be a quilt for the family!!! What are some clever uses of old jeans that you have???