Harvest Season

I normally would have done three to five posts about all that I am doing, but I just haven't had the time to get to writing about it each day, so that is why this post is so long.  Bear with me...

Yes, I have been absent, only because it is fall and that means it is harvest season for all kinds of things.  More tomatoes being made into stewed quarts, about 12 so far this year and the tomatoes are still ripening.  I have had better seasons, but I missed about 6 weeks of spring and summer out of town, so I think this is pretty good so far.

We also roasted all of our green chili that we grew and ended up with about two quarts off of one plant.  I plan on planting more next year, as we use them a lot in our cooking.  We are originally from Albuquerque, and I have smuggled green and red chili home when I visit.  It would be so much better if I could grow enough here at home.

Then, two days ago, my neighbor called and asked if I wanted some plums.   Absolutely!  So I picked a bucket came home and put them in the dehydrator.  They came out so wonderful that I went over and asked to buy some more from her, and she said to pick all I wanted.  Should never say that to me!  So I am on my third buck, and third round of drying them in the dehydrator.  My husband and I eat lots of dried fruit and nuts while doing our trade shows, so I am getting all that I can get done for us.

This is the before picture:

 And this is the after picture:

They don't look to pretty, but they are 100% all natural and taste so much better than any boughten dried fruit.

I have done over 500 plums so far, and plan on doing another 250 or so, which is about 1500 dried pieces!  Wonderful! Awesome!

But I have been doing a little bit of sewing here and there, when I can catch a few minutes.  Here are the things I have gotten done:

John's Quilt:

I laid out the layers to John's quilt and got it pinned it together.  It is ready to go to the sewing machine for stitching.  The first picture is a pillow sham that I quilted up.  You can see that I didn't stitch in each square, I grouped together sections of blocks to give it a more random look.  The client was very happy with the way the quilting is going to be done for this and the quilt.  

This shows the quilt all pinned up ready for the stitching.  

If you look closely you can see I have used two extra loft battings to make this quilt more of a comforter.  The client wanted it really thick!

Next, I received an order for three bags to hold marbles for some homemade slingshots that my dad had made for the grandsons.  This is the first one I made, and I am sending it off to see if it will work before I make the other two.

On a personal level, I made two blocks of 20 that I need to make the next round for the Chocolat Legacy UFO BOM that I am working on currently.  You can find more information about this BOM here.

Lastly, I also received a custom order for a baby quilt.  One side needs to use fabric print of the Nebraska Cornhuskers, and the other side needs to use fabric print from the North Carolina Tar Heels.  So after ordering the fabric online and receiving it yesterday, I went out to get the alternate colors to use on each side and also started cutting out the 5" squares.  I needed to do some "fussy cutting" from the print to get the correct icons in the quilt.

Here are the two prints with the coordinating fabric:

This shows the "fussy cutting" I did on the Nebraska Cornhuskers.  There are three different logos/icons prints in the fabric.  I needed a total of 40 five inch squares, and I got all of them out of a yard of fabric.

I will be fussy cutting out the blue North Carolina Tar Heels print this evening, and the rest of the coordinating fabric, so I can get this done and out the door by the end of next week.

Warmest...