A fun day!

For it is in giving that we receive
― St. Francis of Assisi

Yesterday we had an errand in Madison, Wisconsin, so we decided to also drop by American Family Children's Hospital (aka UW Children's Hospital).

I had 21 quilts to drop off.

As we came in the door, the one valet parking guy asked if we needed a wagon - we'll have to do that next time.

The lady at the desk where we donated the quilts was excited to see us. Another lady passed by and had to admire and touch a few.

I always enjoy stopping by and leaving quilts off at the hospital - it high on my list of fun things to do!

The Harry Potter quilts are coming along. The Gryffindor one is pinned!

And I decided to try drying honey. It's been in the dehydrator for 3 1/2 days and is drying but very slowly. Patience!

Our youngest son is a beekeeper and has LOTS of honey this year. A little bit of it had a high moisture content so it won't keep like regular honey. I took a couple of pounds and am attempting to dry it and make it into honey powder.

At least dehydrating things don't require much of my attention so I still have time to quilt!

No Problem Staying Busy

I'm keeping busy. 

Of course I've been in the kitchen some. The preserving of produce is slowing down. The dehydrator isn't even running right now. I think the tomatoes are all done along with some pasta sauce and some tomato basil soup. I did make a lot of  Twice-Baked Potatoes for the freezer since we got a couple bushels of potatoes from our people. 

I love getting to know the people that grow my food. The couple that supplied us the last few years had to give up their large garden this year due to medical issues. So we found new people - we have a CSA with a young man and we get most of our bulk food from an Amish family about a half hour away. Both use chemical free methods although neither is certified organic. The prices are very reasonable and all of the food has been wonderful. We also frequent farmer's markets mostly because I love them!

I still want to make Freezer Coleslaw when the cabbage is ready and applesauce when we get some apples.

Of course all of this rain has to stop if anything is going to continue to grow. We are well over 9" since Saturday and we  still have days of rain forecast.

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My Cricut learning is still ongoing. I tried my scoring wheel - it makes folding so easy. I made these 3D stars

and I tried the iron-on vinyl on a t-shirt.

I'm learning a lot and getting a better handle on the design software. By the time we visit our oldest son and his family in late October, I hope I know what I'm doing because the Cricut  Maker is going with us.

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One of our youngest son's hobbies is keeping bees. A couple of weeks ago we were able to watch the process of gathering honey. After moving the boxes off of the hives, the frames are removed and the cells are opened with a device that looks like a paint roller with prongs. My seat for viewing was not in a prime position for photos.

opening the cells in a frame

Then the frames are spun and the honey is collected in the bottom of a large barrel. I loved watching the barrel emptying into a strainer above a 5-gallon bucket. Each 5-gallon bucket held over 50 pounds of honey!

When our son puts the boxes with the frames on the hives, he sometimes uses spacers between them so the bees can create more honeycomb there. It's not as neat as the honeycomb in the frames - it's more freeform. It tastes the same and the honey can be spun out of these or the whole thing can be eaten. We all enjoyed eating the honeycomb.

The raw honey is soooo good! We brought a few jars home but you can see that one is almost half gone already. 

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I am doing some quilting. I'll have a finished quilt to show you very soon - it's in the washing machine. Another one just needs binding. I am busy quilting another one. I decided to do the free-motion quilting over several days because I definitely need some daily practice. 

I have at least 9 quilts begun so I really don't need anything new right now. But this just happened anyway

Stay tuned...