Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Doll done "Feather" and Canning, Freezing and Drying!


Well I can't believe its been almost 2 months since I have been back to blog. I 've worked on dolls but spent a lot of time in my garden and canning all I could. Our blackberries produced about about a 150 pounds. Absolutely incredible! I made lots of juice, jelly, syrup, pie filling and a lot went into the freezer. I decided since groceries are getting higher in the store that I would can and freeze all I could. Our apricot tree produced a bumper crop so they made jam and pie filling. Our little garden plums made about 5 pints of yummy jam. I was able to buy local corn and it went in the freezer too. My daughter and son inlaw bought a Ball Canning book for my birthday. Thank You! Since I was retired I bought a large pressure cooker, a nice ball canner, and a steam juicer, only to kill myself canning everything in site. Because of that new canning book I found all sorts of goodies to can. Pickled Pumpkin anyone? Yum! I want to can some more! Sweet Heart sliced apples-oh boy, my husband loves them so I made about 18 pints. Oh, I almost forgot, bought some Italian prune plums in Redding and canned some with Brandy. My friend has an apple orchard and since worms and birds ate ours she gave me Romes and Wolf apples. Canned and dried all of those. Since we had so much squash I made about 40 pints of Zucchini Christmas Relish. The last thing on my list is to make wine jelly. My mother used to make it when I was a kid and made it just for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The Internet found a recipe for me and I have Morgan David blackberry wine, so thats next! Which makes me remember that my friend Besty had elderberry's which she helped me pick and about 2 days later after making 3 gallons of juice. The out come is jelly and juice.

That's not all but guess I will tell you a little bit about the doll. The below photo shows his unpainted head. His name is Feather, he is 17" tall. His costume is fleece with faux fur trims at his head, wrists, hips, legs and tail. Vintage orange leather makes his top, belt, leg and wrist ties. He carries a brown leather bag holding small flowers and grass. Small stones decorate his legs, wrists and tail bands. He was fun to make. He would also like to tell you how happy he is and hello!

And while I'm at it. Doll Collector Magazine put my other time traveler doll in the October issue. It was a big thrill as well as a big surprise especially when its your birthday and reading the new issue you come upon your own doll. Thank You to Doll Collector Magazine.