On to Quilting

Good morning, my friends. As I mentioned yesterday, we're heading into some hot weather. We should be in triple digits by Monday, although the Three Cats Ranch is never quite as warm as the valley. Nevertheless, it's going to mean more watering and less outside time. Mike is getting ready to do some more work on the fifth wheel...never-ending, it seems...and he has strict instructions from The Boss (that would be me) to stop all work at lunch time. I don't need him succumbing to some heat-related illness. That would be terribly inconvenient.

As for yesterday's movements, all my to-do's were to-done by lunch time. My top priority was to make some pickled beets. My yield was five pints. 

Added to my previous beet canning that gives me 12 pints altogether, and that should hold us for a year.

So there's been less hoeing time in the garden. It isn't as important now that the plants are well-established. Nevertheless, I need to check the harvest at least every other day. This was yesterday's haul.

I'm sure the zucchini is amused at my efforts to control it. Even though I've been harvesting the babies, I'm still finding some I missed, and then they get larger than I wanted. Cucumbers are accumulating, but I'm still a long way from having enough for any dill pickles. Each day brings another handful of green beans. Despite our efforts to capture the mole, it is still active, chewing the vines off at ground level. I'm afraid there won't be many more beans before they've all been killed off by that pesky varmint. If it's the same one, he's enjoyed the garden to the max this year. There were a few more tomatoes, and some cherry tomatoes.

Looking at the sunflowers, a few more varieties are readying their flowers. The Starburst Panache has opened all the way now. Isn't this pretty and fun? It's fuzzy!

Also, I noted with delight that the plums are beginning to turn purple. This is very good news for our chance to harvest some ripe ones before we leave on our trip. Also, Erik and Mae are joining us for dinner in a few weeks. I'd love to be able to make a plum dessert for their visit.

At the front door, the California poppies are blooming in profusion. We were expecting a mix of colors, although we really wanted the California poppies. I'm not sure what happened to the other colors, but it seems wishes really do come true sometimes.

Okay, so it was after lunch by the time I dragged myself into the sewing room. I was procrastinating a little because I first needed to piece together a back for Counting Sheep, and then sandwich it for quilting...two of my least favorite quilting tasks.

It actually went pretty fast, and I had a piece of batting just the right size. Always a bonus.

And then I took it upstairs for quilting on my mid-arm machine. I'm doing a dot-to dot quilting pattern. It's going well. For the larger squares, I used my hera marker to draw in the mid-point lines, and then quilted them as if there was a seam. By the time I had two rows finished, it was time to quit. Here's how that's looking.

Here's a look at the back:

Now that I have a rhythm established, it should go pretty fast. There are five more rows to do to get it to binding stage. I'm hoping to finish the quilting today. Sewing on the binding would be a bonus.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, dinner was made the day before. I just added some Texas Toast, and we had a meal. This is Chilled Zucchini Soup with Lemon and Basil. We really liked this! It's something like a green gazpacho.

The recipe has some interesting ingredients. In addition to 2 lbs.(!) of zucchini and 2 cups of fresh basil, it has a cup of roasted cashews and 2 tablespoons of miso. It was my first time using miso in a recipe. (Interestingly, I'm testing a recipe for America's Test Kitchens later this week that also uses miso. I'll be using an ingredient brand new to me twice in the same week.) And there's some other stuff in the soup. It's all packed into a blender and pureed. Making it the day before gave it some time to thicken and for the flavors to meld. If you're going to try this, I recommend making it a day ahead. It was topped with some more chopped cashews. The recipe suggests topping it with more fresh basil. I used some chives instead, and we liked the added flavor.

So, I've linked to the recipe back there above the image. It's another NYTimes recipe. You might need a subscription to the newspaper. If you can't open it, email me, and I'll be happy to send it to you.

Okay, so the only thing on today's to-do list is to make some Basic Tomato Salsa. I'm excited to have accumulated enough tomatoes for salsa and for another batch of tomato jam. I'll get to the jam in a day or two. Today's goal is four pints of salsa. Also, I joked yesterday about making zucchini ice cream. Doesn't that sound delicious? No? Well, okay...so no ice cream. But I am going to make some Zucchini-Lemon Sorbet. Don't try to stop me. It will probably be a two-day process. In my experience, it freezes faster in the ice cream churn if it's given plenty of time to chill in the fridge first. I know you'll be waiting on tenterhooks for the outcome. Stay tuned.

Between kitchen duties and quilting, I have plenty to keep me busy today. There's no time like the present.