Around Here...

Happy Monday friends! I hope you are having a great start of the week. Around here things have been very busy and chaotic. So sewing has been scarce. My work has kept me very busy and away from my sewing machine. But on the plus side, the weather has been glorious. The wisteria vines in my little garden are laden with gorgeous purple blossoms and I just can't stop looking at them every chance I get. 

I hope things slow down soon and I can go back to creating and playing with fabric, but in the meantime I will enjoy the view.

Wishing you a beautiful week.

XO

Martha

A Picture... A Moment

My favorite part of winter... having these beauties on my table. Cymbidium orchids from my little garden.
I hope you are having a lovely week.

XO
Martha.

Summer Moments

There are many things that I love about summer but my favorite part is the time we spend in the garden. Our doggies love exploring each corner of the garden and even "help" pick the vegetables. 

How about you, are you enjoying you summer?

Happy weekend!

XX

Martha

A Picture... A Moment

Picking tomatoes from our little garden.

XX

Martha.

Iced Tea Days

Happy Sunday! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. Summer has arrived in full force around here. Days have been hot and dry; so to keep cool I have been making lots of iced tea. My favorite is hibiscus iced tea known in spanish as "agua fresca de jamaica." It is absolutely delicious and its characteristic tangy flavor makes is super refreshing.  Also, I love the pretty ruby color.

Ingredients:

8 cups of water

1/2 cup dried hibiscus flowers (you can find it at hispanic supermarkets as "flor de jamaica")

Sugar to taste
Ice to serve

In a saucepan put the dried hibiscus flowers and 2 cups of water and bring to boil. Remove from heat, cover and let if cool for about 15 minutes. Transfer concentrate to a pitcher , you can strain it to remove the flowers or leave them. I prefer to leave them as they look beautiful at the bottom of the pitcher. Add remaining water and sweeten to taste. Chill for at least one hour before serving. Serve over ice.

Enjoy!

XX

Martha.

Color Inspiration

I have a new color crush. I'm always inspired by nature and the flowers in my garden are a constant source of inspiration. Lately I have discovered that I'm drawn to the color purple, which happens to be abundant in my garden. Whether I'm choosing colors for my projects or my wardrobe purple seems to always be in my mind.  And my recent yarn purchase was no exception. It had to be purple! It is such a happy color don't you think?  The light purple or lavender yarn will become a shawl (a birthday present for someone special) and the darker one will become a cowl for me :) I can't wait to get started but in the meantime I'm getting lots of inspiration for even more future projects from this book.
I hope you have a happy weekend.

XX
Martha

Friday Link Up: A Picture... A Moment

On my table: freshly cut Meyer lemons from the garden. So thankful for my little garden.

How about you? Did you capture any special moments this week?

Join me at sharing your special moments from your week. Link up a recent post and visit others that link up. And please promote the link up with a text link or the button.

XX

Martha

Color Inspiration

The weather is starting to change around here. The air feels crisp and some trees are starting to show the colors of fall; the summer flowers are slowly fading away. I took this photo of one of my favorite roses in the garden a couple of weeks ago. I absolutely love how the  bright pink rose looks against the different shades of green I thought this was the perfect color palette for my next project.... I finished it last weekend and I can't wait to share it with you.

Linking  up to Plum and June: Quilt Photography Workshop

XX

Martha

A Mini Quilt for Home

A few days ago Kristy @ Quiet Play was looking for pattern testers for her latest design. I've been so busy, but I couldn't help myself  and jumped at the opportunity. Kristy's designs are fantastic and this one is not the exception. The pattern is called Teeny Houses and consists of  9 different 6" blocks. Every little house is a bit different from the other and they are adorable. I had the pleasure of testing one the blocks. My experience with paper piecing is still limited, but the pattern is very well written and easy to follow. It comes together very quickly.  

Anyway, after I finished testing the pattern I decided to make my little block into a wall hanging to decorate my sewing room.  The words on the mini quilt are embroidered with DMC embroidery floss on natural linen (linen is my absolute favorite fabric).  The quilting is free motion quilting  with single loops all over. Yes you heard it right, free motion quilting! I finally tried free motion quilting for the first time and I am so pleased with the results. I still need to practice a lot more, but thank goodness the linen is very forgiving and it doesn't show much my mistakes.

XX
Martha.

Pieces of Summer

Happy Tuesday! I hope you are having a lovely week. A few days ago I took these photos of the sunflowers growing in my garden, and I have been meaning to share them with you ever since. They are gigantic! The tallest ones reached the roof of the house. I was totally blown away. As they were growing they made me think of Jack and the Beanstalk. I thought maybe I had been giving magic beans as they kept growing and growing (lol). But no magic beans, just sunflowers. 

I think sunflowers are such happy flowers, don't you agree?

Also, if yo have not entered my giveway you sitll have time. It closes this Friday.

XX

Martha

 

Peach Jam

And the peach madness continues around here... there is such a bounty and a bit of a race to preserve the fruit at the peak of its ripeness. So today I devoted the day to make jam. Lots of jam; I have to say I couldn't have done it without my husband's help. We made about 30 pounds of peaches into jam. So there was a lot of washing, peeling, cutting and of course lots of dirty pots and pans to wash. But it was all worth it. There is so much satisfaction  from growing our own food and sharing with the people we love. It is such a blessing.

I wish I could share with you some jam, but  that will be a bit complicated. So I thought I'd share the recipe with you instead. This is a reduced or low sugar freezer jam.I don't like things that are overly sweet and my father-in-law is diabetic, so I'm always trying to find ways to cook with less sugar. This is my go to recipe for jam. It is a very easy to make and the best part is that you can store it in the freezer. Thus, you can skip the water bath processing. 

 Peach Jam

Adapted from Everyday Food Magazine

Ingredients

5 cups peeled and crushed peaches

1/3 cup lemon juice

1-1/2 cups sugar

1/3 cup low or no-sugar pectin
Freezer safe jars* (plastic or glass) thoroughly rinsed and dry.

* I like to use Ball Canning Jars, they work really well for storing food in the freezer*

Method:
1. In a pot over medium-high heat combine the peaches and lemon juice and bring to boil.
2. In a bowl combine sugar and pectin ans whisk to combine. Add sugar mixture to fruit and stir to combine. Allow to return to boil for 1 minute and remove from heat.
3. Fill jars leaving 1/2 inch of head space. Put lids on the jars and let jam cool and set at room temperature for about 3 hours. Label jars and store in the freezer.

-Jam can be stored for up to a year in the freezer. When ready to use thaw in the refrigerator overnight.

Enjoy!

Martha. 

Lately...

It looks like summer has arrived: and with that peaches from our tree. Yesterday we picked the first ones! I have been literally stalking the peach tree for the past two months: waiting eagerly for the fruit to ripen. -Is it wrong to be this excited about fruit? - I know it is just fruit, but I can't help it. I love the flavor of fresh fruit just picked from the tree. There is nothing like it... warm from the sun yet it tastes fresh.

The trees from the garden have been very generous this year. We are still picking lemons. Thus, I couldn't help myself and baked a lemon cake. I adapted it from this recipe from Bon Appetit Magazine. The only changes that I made was to bake it in a 9"X9" square pan and added the glaze. I used this recipe for the glaze (the one from my double lemon cookies). It makes an excellent snack or tea cake. Totally recommend it.

Well,  now I'm off to eat some more peaches and maybe sew for a little bit. I've missed my sewing machine. I feel like we have been apart for a long time.

Have a wonderful week!

Martha.

Sunday

Today we enjoyed of a lovely day of spring. The weather was warm and for some reason it felt like the sun was shining brighter. We spent some time in the garden watering the plants and enjoying how the garden is changing. The wisteria blossoms are slowly fading away and the vines are filling up with lush green foliage. My succulents are blooming, which makes me very happy.  For a moment this past winter I was deciding against growing them anymore. The winter hit them pretty hard and I thought maybe the weather around here was not suited for them. But now, that I see they are setting very well in the garden I'm thinking about increasing my collection. Also, the peach tree is looking healthy and it looks like we are going to have a good crop this year. I'm looking forward to making peach jams and preserves.

I also spent some time in my sewing room. It was a good sewing day. I finished quilting  my Star Quilt, now I just need to add the binding... almost there, almost there!

Have a wonderful week!

Martha

Purple

Spring has definitely sprung around here.  Everywhere I look the grass is  lush green and many plants are  in full bloom. Though everyone in the Weekend Doings household has to deal with the pesky seasonal allergies, spring continues to be my favorite season. My dog Mona has been having the hardest time (poor thing she is allergic to so many things), so we have to limit the time she spends outside. Luckily, my allergies are a bit more under control and I can still spend a lot of time outdoors enjoying the warm and sunny weather. Right now, the wisteria vine, one of my favorite plants in the garden is laden with petty blossoms. When standing under the trellises that support the vines there is a soft purple glow from the sun shining through the purple flowers. I just wish that the lovely purple display lasted longer or even all year. 

XX

Martha

Sunday At Home

Today we enjoyed the most amazing weather around here. Most of the day we spent it in the garden preparing the planting beds for the vegetable garden and soaking in the sun. Everywhere we look there are sings that spring has arrived. Plants are turning greener, the peach tree started blooming and very soon other plants will follow. It is just a happy time. The garden feels so full of life with the sounds of birds chirping, bees buzzing and the the sight of new growth.

I hope you had a lovely weekend as well.

xx

Martha