Elizabethtown Fair 2012

 409 Yo Yo's later!

A basket quilt comprised of 162 basket blocks made out of 1930's reproduction prints (I'd been working on this off and on for 5 years!).

The Snoopy T-shirt quilt I made for my sister Alison.



I also entered a quart jar of Corn Cob Stock (did you even know there was such a thing?!),

some dehydrated blueberries,

a variety of herbs,

my beloved garlic (unfortunately, the judges weren't as enamored with it as I am!),

and a Christmas ornament made out of buttons from my mother's button jar (way too much competition in this category).

My sister and Ricky also entered a few things; here's his white-ribbon gel candle.  :)

I also thoroughly enjoy looking at the other entries.  Here's a few of my favorites:

My neighbor's Christmas tree artwork made out of her family's vintage jewelry

Today's Thrift Shop Find

Love, love, love this vintage apron!

And, what a steal for $2.50!

It will be happy to join my collection of vintage aprons!  :)

Freezing Kale

I have an abundance of kale in the garden, but still haven't figured out the best way to eat it (or at least prepare it in a way I enjoy!)!

So, I figured I'd freeze it and come back to it at a later date!

I followed these directions from Spring Lake Gardens:

1.  Start by washing the kale, then remove the stem from each leaf.  The easiest way to do this is to fold the kale in half along the stem and just cut one line down the edge of it.

2.  Chop the kale into smaller pieces.

3.  Bring a large pot of water to boil, then turn it down to a simmer.

4.  Put the kale into the hot water for 1-2 minutes - no more!  The goal is to kill the enzymes without cooking the kale.

5.  Immediately transfer the kale to a large bowl of ice water to stop the cooking action.

6.  Pat the kale dry, spread it out on a cookie sheet, and put it in the freezer.  (You could just stuff it into a bag and put it into the freezer, but then you'll have a big frozen block of kale later.  Spreading them out while they freeze allows them to be bagged frozen and loose.)

7.  After it's frozen, bag it.

8.  Enjoy later!!