Domestic Goddess - umm yea, right ;-)

While all that spinning was going on during July I've also been busy cannning - a whole bunch of raspberry jam - 17 jars, 6 containers of freezer jam, raspberry sorbet - its yummy, and some raspberry-rhubarb crisp - it was also yummy.

What the raspberry jam looks like:


We've recently been experiencing 100+ temps in our area. Yes, we get it at least once a year where we'll have a few days of this. Everyone forgets or the transplants are shocked. Oregonians really hate extreme temps if you haven't heard. Optimum temp range is 65-75. Yes, that does seem like a small range but below 65 you hear complaints of 'how cold' it is and above 75 'that its too damn hot'. So with that in mind imagine what you hear when it gets triple digits? Lots of Oregonians also don't have A/C (after the first year in the house that was the first thing purchased with the tax refund) so it becomes a matter of trying to stay cool for many people. We really aren't a bunch of wimps after all we are also the people that will be running around in the middle of winter in baggie shorts, a couple of sweaters and socks with Birkenstocks (no I've never done this, I find these people crazy, but admit that they do exist.)

So these extreme temps caused the figs on the tree to all ripen together. Nice that a whole bunch of them all ripened at once, bad because I then had to deal with them all. They got one day in the refrigerator (picked them Tuesday night) so that I could pick up a box of canning jars, then today they were turned into jam. First there was the peeling of the outer green skin (edible but too green with the pink flesh), and then into the pot to be turned into jam. I forgot to take a picture of them all cut up before they were turned into jam. Really a pretty pink flesh with the seeds. The resulting golden brown jam really is reminiscent of fig newtons. I had enough that I filled all 12 jars.



In other areas of domesticity, and the county fair inspired, I pulled out a bundle of fat quarters I had picked up a year or so ago at JoAnn's. Nice bright primary colors. Perfect for turning them into a miniature quilt. I have three other miniature quilts that are my seasonal wall decorations. I was missing a 'summer' one. My spring has been doing double duty. ;-) I found four different block patterns to use together. I think they came out nicely and came together well:

I've always machine quilted my quilts. With hours to complete to turn into the county fair I decided it wouldn't be that difficult to hand quilt it. I went with a 'rustic' feel of doing a running stitch. If you're terribly interested I can do a close up of the blocks. I'm calling the quilt - Summer Stained Glass Window.

The county fair opened today, but I didn't rush over to find out the results of the judging. There were a lot of quilts being turned in, so I'm sure that competition was stiff. I'll find out the results when we go to check it out on Saturday (when its cooler).