Friday, September 22, 2023

Garden/Kitchen projects we have been working on! And a quilt top waiting to be quilted!

Hi everyone!

It is starting to feel like Autumn here, Happy Autumn Equinox! Only 2 or 3 Hummingbirds remain at our feeder. Lots of other birds have flown off (to migrate, I guess!). We saw a few Ravens in the area, and the Geese have returned, flying in formation over our house in the morning and evening. (We are near a river, which flows through our town.) I'm happy we survived the extra hot temperatures this year and it is feeling nice outside now.

I have been wanting to post for a while, have been very busy with a bountiful orchard this season. We have been harvesting, freezing, drying and canning fruit! I have been using the Steam Canning process with my Victoria Canner. It worked well, using the indicator on the top of the canner as an aid when processing. The process kept our kitchen from getting so hot!

Here are some photos of canning in the pantry (I apologize for the bad lighting) :

Canning - Apple Sauce and Fig Jam

Canning, Blackberries and Blackberry Jam

Canning Jars, Asian Pear Jam, Blackberry Jam and Applesauce

Caning in our pantry
















This is the most fruit we have had - so I have had to take time from creating in my studio to harvest and preserve. My husband has been helping with preparing the fruit with me and drying too. 

We had enough peaches to freeze (will make pie later), Stella cherries with extra to freeze, tons of Blackberries, for freezing, canning and I made some Blackberry jam and Blackberry fruit rollups. Also grapes - we made some rollups with Blackberries and grapes combined (if you use this combination you don't need to add sugar). Our raisins didn't turn out as well, too moist.

We even had a few nectarines and plums for eating. It wasn't a good year for apricots and almonds though (we did get a bit of hard frost). 

We harvested Asian pears and Apples (we gave away most of these to neighbors, friends and to a bakery in town). We froze some apples, then dried some and canned applesauce and Asian pear jam. I made the Asian pear jam without sugar or honey, since they were sweet, and applesauce without sugar, since they had a great flavor.

Then, have been harvesting our Chicago Hardy Figs! They do well in our area (zone 8b, Central Arizona, though this variety is hardy in colder areas, also). We dried some and I made some Fig jam (I added some honey, a bit of sugar and some molasses). I'll use the jam to make Fig Bars later on!

Today we will be making Fig roll ups and trying our hands at drying some Jujubes! (note: they both came out great!)

We also harvested Persimmons and Yali Asian Pears, here are some of the Yalis on our counter:

Yali Asian Pears on counter

Hand holding large Yali Asian Pear










We will be harvesting our large hard Pears, Utah Sweet Pomegranates and Pecans yet this year. All have been doing well! The heat seems to have kept some of the Codling moths away. Though, you still have to be careful when eating the fruits they like to eat.

It will be nice to have the fruit to use, especially since not every year is as good as this year has been! If we have more good years, we will share more food too!

I did manage to piece together a quilt top for one of my great nieces. She loves cats. I will write about that in my next post! Here is a photo of it on my design wall:


Pieced Gidget and Chloe Quilt Top



Wishing everyone a beautiful Autumn!

Blessings to you,

Denise A. Buchwalter-Losczyk







 

Thursday, June 15, 2023

Great news! I've had a project published in the Quiltmaker July/August 2023 issue!

 Hi everyone,

I have some fun news to share! My Fruit Basket Table Topper Quilt and Placemats project has been published in the Quiltmaker July/August 2023 issue. I was even surprised to find my project on the cover! Very exciting!

It was a fun process, once my design was chosen by the editors, I got to choose fabrics to use in the project. I decided to use some beautiful Benartex fabrics. I received the fabric from Benartex and made this little quilt and placemats. I had used my EQ8 design program for designing this project. Sometimes I make improvisational quilts, or draw the design from scratch, but this time I chose to use EQ8. It was made in December of 2022 - so I was busy during the season! It was a lot of fun and very gratifying to make! And with the wonderful instructions in the magazine you can make your own version too!

There are some great projects in the magazine - all about food, kitchens and cooking. It is a beautiful issue! 

Here are some photos of my project:


Fruit Basket Table Topper Quilt and Placemats




Fruit Basket Table Topper Quilt and Placemats




















Quiltmaker July/August 2023 Cover


















You can check out the digital copy at https://www.quiltingdaily.com/product/quiltmaker-july-august-2023-digital-edition/

Hope you will be inspired by this beautiful issue full of fun and inspiring projects!

Blessings to you,

Denise A. Buchwalter-Losczyk

Thursday, March 23, 2023

Great news! My project has been published in Love of Quilting May/June 2023 issue!

Hi everyone,

Happy Spring!

Excited I can finally share this! My Yo-yo pillow design has been published in the Love of Quilting May/June 2023 issue!

I worked on this project last November! It was inspired by a quilt made for one of my nieces. I envisioned this pillow for my Studio reading/hand-stitching corner. The magazine has other great projects in it also, I love the cover quilt too!

The issue is all about trying out new techniques. There are some beautiful projects and great articles in this issue! Have been loving my Love of Quilting subscription!

The digital issue is now available online at: https://www.quiltingdaily.com/product-category/magazines-ebooks/

@fonsandporter
@_quilting_daily #fonsandporter #quiltingdaily

Here are some photos:

Magenta Yo-yo pillow
























Blue and Magenta Yo-Yo pillow in chair
























Magenta Yo-yo pillow





Blue Yo-Yo pillow




















Love of Quilting May June 2023 




















Wishing everyone a good Spring! I will post some Spring photos later, lots of blossoms to enjoy in our orchard and we are getting lots of rain!

Blessings,

Denise A. Buchwalter-Losczyk

The Bernette b77 and WHY YOU NEED IT!

Hi!

I have the Sewing/Embroidery version of this machine, which I purchased at SewingMachinesPlus.com.

Mine is the Bernette B79. It is an amazing machine, check out the B77, the Sewing only version. They both have great features that you can grow with!




Saturday, March 4, 2023

Happy March and some exciting news!

 Hi!

I've been busy in my studio and haven't posted in a while, though I have shared some videos I have been watching on my blog. I like watching Sulky's Sew What? show and also Sewing Machines Plus shows on Youtube. They are a fun way to learn some new things and be connected a bit!

In November and December of last year (2022) I had 2 projects accepted by publications, so I was busy with that. The first project was for Love of Quilting magazine and the second one was for Quiltmaker magazine.

I just received the advance copy of the May/June Love of Quilting magazine, and the project I submitted looks great - I am also feeling inspired by their cover quilt on this issue! I will be writing a blog about it soon.

Here are some of my first projects of the year (I will write about the first one in this blog, and then follow up in a 2nd blog):

In January I worked on a New Year's Eve Sew Along project I participated in with Sulky.com. It is the Sally Tomato Smith Tech Organizer. I was busy New Year's eve, but was able to start and finish the project in January. There was a kit available using Faux leather, but I chose to use cork for my project and I was able to use materials I had on hand for the rest of the project. With the project you get pdf instructions, a video you can access on Sulky.com (it is kept in your account so you can access it after completing the project, if you would like to make additional organizers).  The project price also came with 5 beautiful embroidery designs, which included 2 beautiful large butterfly designs. The designs are what convinced me to sign up! You can still access the event recording on the Sulky educational site at: https://sewingonline.sulky.com/. It is listed under Special Events (scroll down!). 

Here are some photos of the project I made:

Closed organizer - I used one of the butterfly embroidery designs,
the monogram is from lettering on my Bernette B79 embroidery machine























Open organizer - The Enjoy the Journey embroidery is from the Sew Along, I added a hummingbird from designs on my machine, also some decorative stitching from my machine. I lined the inside of my organizer with purple cotton batik fabric. I also simplified the pocket on the right (in the pattern it is divided and has card slots). The right side has a sleeve for a tablet, the left has a zippered pocket.


























View of the left side






















View of the right side



Organizer without notebook inside. I used left over mask elastic for my elastic notebook holder. I braided the elastic to give it a nice look. (I had purchased a large supply, so now I am having fun repurposing it! It was on sale when I bought it!)



Closed organizer.




































I'm looking forward to using this organizer. I plan to use it to hold a tablet and some writing and drawing supplies. It was fun to make. The project has very small seams (1/8 inches). I found marking the seam lines with a disappearing ink pen made it easier to sew them. The rest of the project is fairly easy and you just have to take your time to make it turn out nice, one step at a time! I liked participating for the feeling of accomplishment you get from trying something new.

There are many great educational offerings on the Sulky.com website, check them out to see what you can learn to do! Many are free or low cost offerings. There are also kits and great supplies available for the projects.

Happy 2023, Year of the Rabbit everyone!

Blessings,

Denise A. Buchwalter-Losczyk


Sunday, September 4, 2022

Update - Quilt completed!

Hi!

Happy September! Hope you are all doing well. It is still very hot here, but we are starting to look forward to the cooler weather.

I recently finished my "Black and White and Read all over" quilt. I wrote about it in an earlier post this year - back in February! You can read my earlier blog to find out more about this AQS pattern. 

I finished quilting it on my Qnique 14+ mid arm and frame. I used my own free hand and ruler work quilt designs; it was fun to quilt. I used Superior Threads Rainbow Black and white variegated 40 wt. Trilobal Polyester on the top, and Wonderfil Invisafil IF718 100 wt. thread in the bobbin. I also added a border and some hand sewn yo-yos, with fabric inserts. I am very happy with it and excited to send it to its recipient. 

Here are some photos:

Full view - Disappearing Nine Patch - Titled: "Black and White and Read all over"






















Detail of quilt











Detail of quilt border with fabric yo-yo with insert





















Detail of quilt - typewriter block and free motion quilting










I also entered it in an online Sew Fest contest at SewingMachinesPlus. You can check it out and vote if you like! The contest has 2 categories, you can vote for a garment and a home decor project daily through September 11, 2022. 

To see the entries go to Virtual Sewing Festival | Contest Voting (sewingmachinesplus.com) 

My quilt is Black and White and Read all over, by Denise L. (There is another Denise L in the contest, but this is my only entry!) Vote for my quilt if you like and check out the other entries too!

Many Blessings to you!

Denise A. Buchwalter-Losczyk