How Do You Like Them Apples?

Good morning, my friends. It was a busy kitchen day yesterday, but there was still some time for sewing. No actual sewing...just finishing and prepping, but it's all good.

My first stop was to finish the embroidery for Block 1 of the Quilter's Retweet. There was only a little ways to go with this.

And then I had bigger fish to fry in the form of apples. My recipe called for 7 lbs. of apples before coring, and that there is what 7 lbs. of apples looks like.

Mike helped me with this. I cored most of the apples myself. My wrist has been bothering me from all the hand-stitching I've been doing, and so Mike did some of them. He helped me run them through the food mill too. There was enough for two batches of applesauce. My yield was ten pints. 

There are still enough apples and pears to make a batch of apple-pear chutney. I'll need to make a quick trip to the grocery store before I can do that. For now, the apples and pears are separated out and weighed. That will use all of the apples. There are a few pears left, but I have some recipes that will help me use them.

While I was waiting for the applesauce to process, I tried using one of the pickling cucumbers in one of my favorite sandwiches. Usually, I use an English cucumber for this, but I wouldn't have known the difference. This sandwich is made using some "whipped" (read that, "spreadable") cream cheese. The cream cheese is spread on one side of the bread. Then I sprinkle it with fresh dill. (Dried dill works fine for this too.) Then the cucumbers are peeled and sliced, and I like a slice of Swiss cheese on mine. It's a good sandwich. Sometime I'd like to try it with one of the cream cheeses that's flavored with green onion.

Sadie started her day gazing out into the field from the wood box out front. She was considering what she might kill.

When she was ready to come back inside, she helped me make up my next embroidery project, the "Plaid Cats in the Garden." She likes the idea of stitching another cat.

Now, it's traced...

And colored...

And hooped up for stitching. I decided to start with the face so that we can chat while I stitch.

This pattern is a part of a larger quilt. There were two sizes of tracings...one could be smaller for a quilt block. I used the larger one to make a wall hanging. My background piece is cut to 19 x 14 inches. It'll be smaller when it's finished, but I'll add borders, making it a nice wall-hanging size. My stairwell Mewseum needs some new cats, and this one will be just right for that.

Also, I've been mulling over what my next actual sewing/quilting project should be. I've decided to work with the small quilts for quilting, starting with this Tulip Time quilt. It's a small quilt top I finished back in March. Working with my smaller quilts will give me some sewing time before we leave on our trip without having to (gasp) leave something unfinished.

Already, I know how I want to quilt this, and so it's just a matter of sandwiching it and then getting to it.

Just after dinner last night, we watched our neighborhood bobcat stalk and capture his prey (probably a gopher), and then sit in the grass enjoying his dinner. 

Then, he walked away, licking his chops. Mmm, mmm, mmm. Ya gotta love those greasy, grimy gopher guts.

All righty, then. Pancakes are next, and then I'll get going on the Plaid Cat. Today should feel more routine than the last several days. Except for baking some zucchini muffins this morning, I'm looking forward to doing nothing out of the ordinary. At some point, I'll need to get the rest of the ingredients for the chutney, but that can wait. Today I'm going to put my feet up and chill for the afternoon. How about you?