Strawberry Fields Forever

When I was little, my grandmother used to take me strawberry picking at Turner’s Farm, and then she would make freezer jam. I remember kind of hating the strawberry picking part, because inevitably it would always be hot and humid and buggy and I was a little kid who wasn’t real outdoorsy and got bored easily. It’s been a long time since those days, a long time since I’ve stepped foot in a strawberry field, but I was getting the urge this year.

I think it might just be more fun as an adult. We went out to the farm, Carandale Farm in Oregon, and it was a mild summer day with quite a hefty breeze. Not the hot and humid of my past. And it was super fun, Nate and I crouched over a row of berries, exclaiming here and there about this berry or that. We were like little kids, only instead of getting bored, we kind of couldn’t stop.

So we got home with a ton of strawberries. And then I opened the package of fruit pectin and realized that freezer jam uses about half the strawberries that real jam does, which of course was what I was gauging my volume on at first. Oh well. So I made two batches that are sitting on my counter right now, getting ready to go in the freezer, and froze a tray of berries for smoothies later. I picked up more pectin at the store for more jam, and I’m kind of thinking Pink Lady cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, because hey! My birthday is coming up! And what’s better than supplying everyone you know with pink cupcakes (and freezer jam) on your Independence Day birthday? Festive!

Actually, these jars of jam are looking pretty darn festive to my eyes. I called my grandma up before we went picking to ask her if she had some special jam recipe, which it turns out she does not, just so that I could be as informed as possible, and she was so excited that I was doing this. She’s not doing jam this year, but she’ll be getting a couple of jars of mine.

Six.

I’m glad breakfasts are back.

Film

I’ve been wanting to put film in the old nikon for awhile now, but for some reason fear (?) has been holding me back. I don’t know where that fear comes from with me, but anxiety tends to make me procrastinate on things. Afraid that I don’t know enough about photography to really get decent shots from film. Afraid that without that immediate ability to check the shot, that I’ll get it wrong.

But this week I did it. Put the film in, took a crash course on getting it set as close to what I’m used to shooting at on the digital so that I’m comfortable, since it’s an older camera, some of the settings are in different places, and just started shooting. I can’t wait to see what I get, and try some funky stuff.

Five.

Peonies are in season. The air feels heavy, as if there is a soaked washcloth draped over my mouth, hard to breathe. But there is still the need to porch sit, to stay slow. And strawberry ice cream.

Heat Effects

Oof. I think I’m having a weather related identity crisis. Something in me had the brilliant idea to make corn chowder with the corn that we stowed in the freezer last summer, since in a few weeks there will likely be more corn to be had at the farmer’s market. But then it got ungodly hot and humid this weekend, and soup isn’t really the most craved food item when it’s hot, now is it? But make it, I did, and it toasted up the kitchen something fierce and then we put it in the fridge for leftovers and made pasta and sugar snap peas instead because it seemed so much more appropriate for a warm summer night.

In addition, I got way too excited about some wool at the fabric store a couple of weeks ago, and am on my way toward making a simple wool blanket out of some of it. I remember seeing somewhere a year or two ago blankets made of squares of wool pieced together and used as one layer, with the raw edges on one side as a design element, and I’ve wanted one ever since. But again. It’s summer. Who makes wool blankets in the summer?

Cinnamon ice cream is the only thing that makes sense in times like these.

A study at my kitchen window

I brought home some ranunculus from the farmer’s market last weekend. Flowers always perk up the house a little bit extra. And, man, do I love ranunculus. Even the purple ones.

It’s a quiet week around here. Slowness has been the name of the game, and it feels so good. We have been making time for a porch sit every day as I’d hoped, at least a little bit. Keeping the foot up, enjoying the weather, easing out of a phase of my design life, and into some more work on another design project that’s been asleep for awhile. I’m looking forward to having a Friday at home for the first time in awhile.

Porch sitting and sewing

I spent alot of quality time porch sitting this weekend. And it was divine. Nate was out of town, camping in the Boundary Waters with his dad, so the house was quiet. Just me and the cats and dog. I went in for a few hours of tattooing on Saturday, adding the first splash of color to this foot and leg thing that I’ve started, and as a result I’ve been laid up with a swollen foot and ankle for the following days. That’s as good a reason as any to porch sit, I guess. I finished a book that I started only at the beginning of the week (I tore through that book! Ate it alive!), and made it halfway through a new one. I’m thinking of trying to implement a daily porch sit into my routine. It’s good for the soul out there, so much better than couch sitting.

I did get some sewing accomplished though, as well. I got Sarah’s quilting bee fabrics for May a few days ago, and had an idea right away for her block. She said any kind of block goes, but if I added my own fabric, that she wanted it to be yellow or white. I’ve got alot of yellow options kicking around in my stash, so I chose some wee play and some solids to tone down the prints. I hope that’s ok with her. I’ve had this type of block on my mind for a week or so, but hadn’t started anything big with it yet, so decided to test it out on Sarah.

The easist way that I felt to construct this ended up to be making two blocks. I can’t decide which one I like better, so if she wants both, she can have them. Do you, Sarah?

I also finally tackled Kathryn’s 9 patch block for April. I know, I’ve been holding on to this one for awhile, and I have no idea why. The fabrics she sent are beautiful, and a 9 patch is pretty simple to construct, except maybe for getting those corners to match up right, but it’s been idling away. It’s finished now, though, and I like it so much. For a long time I wasn’t a big fan of 9 patch quilts, but lately I’ve seen some really great ones, and I’m actually starting to think maybe I’d like to make one of my own.

In the street

Jane said to her friend across the street as she was describing me, “Tracy likes to laugh alot.” I don’t ever want to forget hearing her say that.

Inappropriate footwear

Caroline and Erin and I went on a field trip on Saturday, first to a fabric store, of course, and then to an old farm in the country. When we got there, we realized that we all were wearing really inappropriate footwear for tramping through fields and barns, but no matter. Tramp through fields and barns we did.

Caroline rented a fish eye lens, and lucky me, I have the same camera, so we shared. It was like musical lenses. So stinking fun to use, though. It took some getting used to, though, and I realized today that I didn’t get too many shots that I was happy with. I guess that just means I’ll have to find one to rent myself to get a little more practice.

Caroline dared one of us to go up in a hayloft in one of the barns, and I’m a wienie, but Erin is most decidedly not. Up she went, in her Dr. Scholls sandals.

There was swearing and so much laughing and silliness as we wandered around snapping way more pictures of barns than is probably good for anyone. On the way back we got a flat tire on the highway, sat under a tree a ways away for awhile – for safety – waiting for the speedy and super nice AAA guy to come change the tire for us gals who don’t much want to change a tire with speeding traffic whizzing by. The experience actually made the afternoon even more fun. I think friends that you can get stranded by the highway with, yet giggle and take pictures, are some of the best kind.

A Green Quilt

When I asked for advice on the next color scheme for a quilt, I didn’t yet have this in mind. But when some of you said green, even though Erin wasn’t even among the green suggesters, I thought of her anyway. I couldn’t help it. You say green, I think Erin. It’s just the way it is.

I knew I wanted to find some way to express my enormous gratitude for letting me come and crash her life for a few days, and I had a few weeks before I was planning the drive to visit her. I could make a small lap quilt in that time. So I did.

I got a bunch of different green shades of kona cotton, and added bits of prints from my stash, some classic ones that I knew she would like, even a few that she’d gifted to me, some Japanese prints from Leslie, and some scraps from Blair.

The backing is a big chunk of charcoal kona, with two shades of green of which I still had bigger pieces, with a strip of patchwork. I quilted it all zigzaggy, and sewed the binding on while sitting at a campsite two weekends ago. The binding is solid gray, but I wanted to add a little surprise to it, so I included a bit of the leftover orange binding from the white quilt, and a little patch of green.

Green, made especially for Erin. She likes it. And I’m so glad.