WITCHES AND GHOST AND GOBLINS...OH MY!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN to everyone out there!! Hope you have fun. This is the only time of the year that adults can dress up and act like kids and get away with it....wait....I do that all year long! :)

WILD CRANBERRY SYRUP

We got our wild high bush cranberries picked and processed for the year. We didn't get the raspberries this year as they weren't very good and the tall grasses took over so bad as we have had so much rain over the last 2 years....hence...all the flooding around here. 

This year we picked wayyyyyy to many again for just jelly so we made syrup also. Hubby likes this on his pancakes. You pretty much make it the same way as jelly, but just leave out the pectin. Now these berries aren't like your store bought berries so I don't know for sure how it would work with those types of berries. 

Here is the recipe. 

Ingredients:

Wild cranberries
Sugar
Lemon Juice

Instructions:

Measure berries-4 cups of berries to 1 cup of water and put in saucepan. I use a stainless steel pan as it works best.

Bring berries and water to a boil. 

After berries are boiling cook approximately 5 minutes until the berries burst. The take a potato masher and mash all the berries in the pan. Pour the mixture into a cheesecloth bag and squeeze out the juice into a bowl. 

Then take the juice and pour it into the pan. I use 1-1 ratio of juice and sugar. I usually use 2 cups of juice to 2 cups of sugar. Stir until dissolved. Add 3 teaspoons of lemon juice and bring all this to a boil. Cook approximately 5 minutes. Pour into sterilized jars or whatever you are using and seal tight. 

There you go.................wild cranberry syrup. :) 

Now it depends on the ripeness of the berries and the growing conditions that year on how thick your syrup will be. The natural pectin in them will determine how thick the syrup is. 

Happy eating! :)

Time to Celebrate!!

Time to celebrate with the Old Farmhouse Gathering Team!! We are having our Brrrr.....It's Cold Outside Celebration. Lots of great items and great gift ideas. Get a jump start on all your holiday shopping. There is always so many wonderful goodies from this team so follow me here to see everything that is being offered. Or if you would like just type in BICOFG in the Etsy search bar and that will take you there also.

Below is a sample of what you will find during this celebration!

HAPPY SHOPPING! :)

Christmas Sign Word Blocks -... PunkinSeedProd... $22	CHRISTMAS, Elf, Elvin the El... PaintspotsnSpl... $26.95
Primitive Snowman Ornament b... happyvalleypri... $15	Primitive Black Santa with H... YorkiesPrimiti... $37.95
Christmas Fabric Sculpted Bo... MotherlodeToad $24	Primitive Folk Art Doll Whim... WitchIsWhy $24.99
BICOFG, Christmas, Snowman, ... PatchworkFrien... $8	Primitive Christmas Gingerbr... OldeAnniePrimi... $16.95
Country Holiday Christmas 14... CedarLaneFarm $15	6 Star Snowmen Christmas Orn... CottonPickingF... $24
Rick Rack Primitive Christma... shweetpotatodo... $20	Primitive Santa, Prim Santa ... RavenwoodWhimz... $42
Christmas Tree Bowl Fillers ... PaxtonValleyFo... $17.5	Shovels, cat, snowmen, snowf... loisling $24
Coiled Fabric Basket Bowl Ch... NeedlesnPinsSt... $25	Painted Snowman Sign, Painte... MsCraftyTouch $33

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CELEBRATION COMING

Looks what's coming!! A Celebration!! Just love these celebrations!! The Old Farmhouse Gathering Team on Etsy is having our Brrr.....It's Cold Outside Celebration starting Monday, October 27th. There are going to be lots of great gift ideas and so many nice things from this talented team. I will post a link as soon as we go live on Monday so stay tuned. :)

Craft Show

I did my first craft show of the season. It went fairly well. It was in the small town nearby (not that my town is so huge! LOL!) so my expectations weren't really high, but it did go better than expected. The spaces were a little smaller than I usually have so I couldn't put out all my product but we did get a lot of it out. 

I took the fabric bowls I have been making and did sell some of those which made me happy and some of my fall quilted items sold too. :)

My husband does woodworking and makes these cutting board and birch burl bowls. Both of these items do good in the summer, but during the holiday shows they do really well as people buy them for gifts and they didn't let me down. Sold several of them. :)

So....the first show is done. The next one will be in a few weeks so I am working on some new items for that one. More fabric bowls and I think I will do a couple of Christmas tablerunners and wall hangings. Well let's say I will "TRY" and get some of them made. :)

Have a great week! :)

START OF THE SEASON

Well tomorrow starts the beginning of the fall and Christmas shows I do locally. This is a new one in a town by me. Hopefully it goes ok. I have been working on lots of new items for this season. One thing I have been sewing my little fingers to the bone for is these fabric bowls or baskets as some people call them. I originally took the class on making these to make one for my daughter, but then I liked them so much I thought maybe people would like them for gifts so I made some more. I just kept making and making them! 

They just kept rolling off the sewing machine!

And then there were more!!

Hopefully they will sell well and I can make more! Hope you all have a great weekend!

Wish me luck! :)  

CARMEL APPLE BARS

Now that fall is here and Halloween is getting closer it is time to start making the traditional fall apple recipes. This one here is great for having the kids and grandchildren to help with. I use to make caramel apples all the time...hmmmm....maybe I will have to make us some of these. :)

Ingredients:

• Caramels
• Granny Smith Apples
• Marshmallows
• Mini M&M's
• Mini Chocolate Chips
• Reeses pieces
• Candy corn
• Toothpicks
• Sprinkles
• Any other desired toppings

Instructions:

1. Pour each topping into a separate bowl.

2. Core and slice the apples.

3. Push a toothpick into one o the ends of the sliced apples.

4. Melt the caramels in a separate bowl.

5. Holding the toothpick, dip each sliced apple into the melted caramel. The hotter the caramel, the better it sticks to the apples.

6. Immediately dip the apple with hot caramel on it into the desired topping.

7. Let cool and enjoy. 

Hey these look pretty good. I especially like the one's topped with the chocolate!! :) Hope you have fun making these with the kids and grandkids!

Have a great week! :)

Finished UFO'S !!

Well it took me awhile (like four years!), but I finally finished a couple of fall UFO's!! It was actually nice to have some time to just do some quilts in between getting ready for the Christmas shows. :)

The other day I was going through the sewing closet re-organizing and found this unfinished wall hanging so I told myself...self....you need to get this done!

I had the shutters and windows done for years so at least I didn't have to do those. I just needed to pick out fabric for the pumpkins, leaves, window box and house. Luckily I had the scrap fabric to do this. 

After I finished that one I remember I started this small one a few years ago so I "dug" it out too and finished it.

I had to cut out all the little leaf parts which I hadn't made those types of leaves for years so it was learning all over again! All those little ti-nee wienie squares were horrible! Now I know why this "A" brain perfectionist here does applique most of the time!!  

I think it turned out pretty nice with all the fall colors.

So, I think that is all the fall I will be doing. I made a few of the coiled baskets I have started to make for the local fall shows I am doing. I really need to get started on Christmas stuff. YIKES!!!  Falling behind already!! :)

Have a great week and happy sewing! :)