Not The State Fair But...

Two finishes for the weekend and both projects are winners here at the ranch!

I pieced the table topper in July and quilted it this week. Today the binding went on and we are ready for next July.  ChrisAnne (from The Cotton Shop) says we are always working ahead.:-) The quilt block is from Lori Holt's book, Farm Girl Vintage and I made two red and two blue to end up with a 24-inch square.  It was a block I wanted to try because to get the gingham effect, you use both sides of the fabric and some white.  I wanted to see how that worked and it did!

Pieces from the stash make up the back.

Displayed on the little quilt are three of the four jars of ketchup that I made yesterday, the fourth jar has already been opened as a quality check.  Yum!  The recipe is from Food in Jars by Marisa McClellan.  It was fun to make, not too much work because the tomatoes, onions, and peppers are chopped and cooked, then passed through a food mill.  It does take a lot of time for the pulp to cook down.  It took 9 pounds of Roma tomatoes to fill four 1/2 pint jars.  The first batch I tried I used regular out of the garden round tomatoes.  That's not what the recipe said and I should have paid attention to that.  Not enough pulp.  The second batch was made with Romas, five jars processed and I guess I was hoping it would "set up" in the jars.  Uh, that doesn't happen.  So I dumped out the jars into a large saucepan, added the ninth pound of tomatoes and simmered them down farther.  This time there were only four jars but the consistency is perfect.

The other thing I discovered from the first batch was that my usual spice bag made from a coffee filter does not work with whole cloves.  They are too sharp and poked holes right through it once it was wet.  I ended up sewing a small muslin bag.  Quite a production all in all but I am ready to try some more.  The red lids and rings were on the clearance rack at the grocery store. Too fun!

One of my quilting rulers is now designated a kitchen tool so I can measure reduction rate.