Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Garden Huckleberries...some jam and a dessert

I have a nice plot up in the community garden about a block from my house. Last year someone started growing bushes of Garden Huckleberries. I watched as they grew into a beautiful dark almost black berries. I wanted so much to pick the berries as I have a fascination with berries that you don't see regularly in the stores. I had heard that Wild Huckleberries are delicious but difficult to find. So when I saw that someone was growing Huckleberries in the garden I was envious. 

Well lucky for me...last week I was up covering my small space with leaves for the winter and walked past the plot that had the Huckleberries. The plants had been pulled from the ground and stacked to the side with other discarded shrubbery from the plot. Why would someone spend the summer growing something only to toss it out? The berries were on top and they looked fresh. So I went home and got a large bowl, I went back and picked all the discarded berries I could. 

I was a little afraid of how to use these precious berries. I had bought some local made huckleberry jam this summer to see what it tasted like and though I like it...it was a little tart. So I was not sure what to make with the berries...Did I really need more jam? After some research I found that Garden Huckleberries are a little sweeter than the Wild Huckleberries. 
 
I looked at a couple of recipes to use the berries in. Everything I found said that Garden Huckleberries have to be cooked before you can eat them and I wanted to make a pie or other dessert of some kind. I found this recipe for Double Ginger Huckleberry Cobbler. It was on a hiking web site and called for one cup of Huckleberries. You put a Bisquick mixture on top and let it cook in the pot with the lid on for about 12 minutes. I of course added some whipping cream and had a wonderful dessert. It was sweet but not too sweet, the flavor had a soft almost floral taste. I fell in love with this dessert.  Since it had a wonderful soft sweet taste I decided to make some jam. 

I was able to get 3-8oz jars and 3-4oz jars of jam. One jar broke when I put it in the water bath. That is only the second time I have had a jar break in the water bath in 30 years I have been canning. Though I was a little upset it had to happen to my Huckleberry Jam. I can't wait to try this on an english muffin or maybe a sauce on some salmon. Either way...I think next year I will try to grow my own Garden Huckleberries in my community garden plot. 

Sunday, November 26, 2017

Pants, Shirts and a Tin Ceiling


My husband has been asking me for another pair of wool pants for a couple of months. So last September when Pendleton Wool was having their annual sale I picked up some nice grey wool to make a pair of winter pants for my husband. I used Vogue 8719 again as I have come to perfect this pattern for him over the last couple of years. Each time the pattern gets easier and easier. 
Again he wanted welt pockets in back instead of the patch pockets that are on the pattern. I'm getting a little batter as the welt pockets, the last couple of times I had cut the hole too large and had to do some funky repair so they didn't get any larger. That included adding some interfacing the the sides to bond the fabric back together. This time I really took my time and paid attention to how far I was cutting and where I was cutting. I also used a light weight material for the pockets which I think helped make the pockets lay flatter and not bunch up like the cotton material did on the last pair of pants. 



After the pants I was able to get the Hawaii Shirt made. I cut this pattern out back in June and it sat on my sewing table for several months. I was able to get the shirt done on one afternoon. It's an easy pattern, Butterick 6015 from about 1980. I have made this shirt several times before for my husband and he really likes this pattern as it's slightly snug but not tight, it has 2 breast pockets and small slits on the sides. He picked out some nice ivory buttons and now he is wearing the shirt with his new pants. If you don't remember this is the fabric that we bought back in January of 2017 in Hawaii. I let my husband pick out material for a shirt or pants when we travel. That way I get to shop for fabric while we are on vacation and it makes the piece of clothing a little more special because it reminds us  of our vacation. 

Last month we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. Since Tin was the traditional gift for 10 years I bought a tin ceiling for my husband. The funny thing is we have been looking at 3 different patterns for about 3 years, we just could not come to an agreement on which one we wanted. I wasted a softer more organic look, husband wanted a more square art deco type of pattern. We put up 3 different tiles and had all of our friends tell us which one they liked. It was always a toss up on who got the most votes. So when I saw that Tin was the gift for our 10th anniversary I decided to give in and buy the tin tile that my husband wanted. The good thing about this ceiling is now I will get a hood for my stove. Which has to go in before we complete the kitchen. SO...now my husband has a project to complete this winter and that means I will have more time to sew.



A friend gave me an old shirt that he was going to toss out. I cut up the shirt using a Jallie pattern 2805 making it a more feminine shirt. Once I made it over I realized how grungy the white material had become...so I dyed it. I did a string wrap of the shirt and set it in some dark blue dye for 24 hours. It came out a little darker than I wanted but it's still a cool shirt & really comfortable. 
A friend recently asked me if I could do a small upholstery job for him. He had an old Telephone Table that the seat had ripped and the stuffing was coming out. With a lot of these older vinyl chairs the vinyl gets dry and brittle, I for one have cut my legs on older vinyl chairs where the material has become ripped and is sharp. I had a head liner from a 82 Volvo that a friend gave me, I had made a couple of bags with that material and it looked perfect for the seat of the table. I took it over and left it on is porch. He called me later as he was happy to see the seat repaired and thought it looked great. 

And last but not least...I want to say Thank You to my mother..who would have been 81 yesterday. She sent me to sewing lessons when I was about 12 years old. She encouraged me to sew as she came from a family of women that sewed. My great Grandmother made quilts and my grandmother made clothes for her and my mother. My mother in turn made clothes for my sister's and myself. When I turned 18 my parents gave me a sewing machine. I used the Montgomery Wards sewing machine till about 6 years ago when I finally bought a new more up-to-date machine. I still have the Montgomery Wards machine to this day. I miss my mother and every day think of things I did not get to ask her, she was a wealth of knowledge when it came to sewing and gardening.