Threadbare

We had a warm and productive Father's Day yesterday. Erik and Mae came up for a breakfast of Eggs Benedict. I made the Hollandaise, and Mae poached the eggs. Erik helped serve it up when it was time. I got a bee in my bonnet to use some vintage cut glass juice glasses I inherited from my grandmother. When we visited them, I'd always drink my milk from these glasses. They're about 6 ounce size, and they fit my child's hands perfectly. When my mother inherited them, she knew I was fond of them and gave me the whole set. It was fun to get them out and use them for our orange juice.

Matthew's Unpresidented Brass Band was marching in a parade in downtown Portland, and so we missed him. (My kids have very busy lives.) He called later in the day to tell us about the parade and to wish Mike a Happy Father's Day.

After breakfast, I got to work making the Lavender Blossom Jelly. You might recall that I was a little worried about the color this would turn out to be. The lavender blossom infusion faded to a kind of drab brownish-purple, and I worried this would be some ugly jelly.

When I added in the remaining ingredients, cooked it, and then ladled it into jars, it turned a pretty rosy pink again, and the jelly turned out very pretty. My yield was 4 half-pints, plus a bonus half-filled jar.

It has an interesting flavor with the slightest hint of bitterness, but in a good way. The fragrance of the lavender comes through, and it tastes good to me. I'll definitely do this again.

Here's the recipe I'm using. It's the same one I used for the Chive Blossom Jelly. My next try will be with mint leaves, and I'm going to pair it with apple juice to see what I get.

Herb Jelly

Adapted from learn2grow.com
Yield: 4 half-pint jars

2 cups fresh herb leaves or herb flowers (see note)
2 cups clear water, clear juice, or wine
1/4 cup lemon juice or white vinegar
1-2 drops of food coloring -- optional
4 cups sugar or honey
pinch salt
3 ounces liquid fruit pectin

Wash the herbs or flowers and chop coarsely, if necessary, and put in a medium saucepan. Add water (or clear juice or wine) and bring to a consistent boil for 10 seconds. Remove from heat, cover and let stand until completely cooled. Strain 1 1/2 cups of liquid through a coffee filter or layered cheesecloth, pressing the flavor from the leaves with a wooden spoon or vegetable masher.

Pour the liquid (now an "herbal infusion") into a large pot or Dutch oven and stir in the vinegar (or lemon juice), salt and sugar. Heat the mixture to a hard boil ()a boil that can't be stirred down), then add the liquid pectin and continue to boil for exactly 1 minute.

Remove from heat, then skim off any foam and discard it.

Pour the hot jelly immediately into clean half-pint jelly jars, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace. Wipe the rims of the jars and seal with the two-piece canning lids. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes (add 5 minutes or processing time for each 1,000 feet of elevation).

Suggestions for changing up the recipe:

Add 2 tablespoons cloves to a sweet basil infusion.
Use red grape juice in lemon balm jelly
Use white grape juice in lemon thyme jelly
Try lemonade in lemon verbena jelly
Use grapefruit juice in marjoram jelly.
Use apple juice in mint jelly
Use water or dry white wine in parsley jelly
Incorporate some balsamic vinegar into rosemary jelly.
Cider or apple juice is great in sage jelly.
Try cranberry juice in savory jelly.
Water or apple juice is good in scented geranium jelly.
White wine or water with vinegar is great in tarragon jelly.
Add purple grape juice in thyme jelly.
For a tangy twist, use cherry juice with 1/4 cup cinnamon or tangerine juice and 1/4 cup crushed cloves to any herb jelly.

NOTES: The following herbs or their flowers can be used in this recipe: scented basils, beebalm, chamomile, chive blossom, fennel, garlic, ginger, lavender, lemon thyme, lemon verbena, marjoram, mint, parsley, rosemary, rose petals (white heel removed), savory, scented geranium, sweet woodruff, tarragon, or thyme.

White or balsamic vinegar can be substituted for all or part of the lemon juice for a tangy, sweet flavor that is complimentary to meat and cheese dishes.

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With that finished, I was ready to get back to work on Todd. When I left him on Saturday, he looked like this:

It was time to give him some ears. First, the right ear...

Then, the left...

Well, hello there, Todd!

After that I finished up the right side of his neck and gave him a body. For this, I decided to add one large piece of fabric,

and then add color over the top. I spent most of the afternoon making all those intricate cuts, but by day's end, he was finished.

Here's the original image I was working from for comparison:

From there, I peeled him up off the pressing sheet. For that, I use tweezers to tweeze up a little corner, and then slide them farther under the piece, spatula style. Then, I hold them up to the light to find any little gaps in the design. There were a few above the eyes. It's easy to just put a scrap of fabric behind, and then fuse it to the back.

After I had all the little holes patched, I gave him a background...this green seemed like a good choice.

Then I went pawing through my scraps to find a piece for his border. I liked this one as a border, binding, and back, but I thought it needed something to separate Todd from the border.

This rich brown stop border should do the trick.

Today I'll sew on the borders, and then back it with batting. Then, I'll be using monofilament thread to stitch down all the little pieces, and then I'll used some colored threads to bring out the details. I like to do all of that stitching through the batting, but before adding the quilt back. I'll do a little bit of quilting when all the thread work is done, but the thread work really serves the function of holding the batting in place. There's still a lot more to do on this, but I should have it finished for June's OMG without any trouble.

This morning when I got up, I spied this rufous hummingbird sitting on the tomato cage where the half eaten cherry tomato resides.

He was shy, and so I had to stand way back and take this picture through the window. You don't suppose he's the culprit who ate the cherry tomato, do you?