September/October

  This fall has been beautiful. The days have been remarkably warm and summer like. We have been enjoying spending as much time outside as we can, hence my absence from my blog. : ) 

The month of September was lovely! We enjoyed the bounty of our garden, which was our best harvest since living here. Adam's berry bushes really took off this year. In the picture above is just some of the elderberries he collected this fall! We have frozen the berries and look forward to making elderberry pies in the near future. Adam's blackberries, red raspberries and red currants did equally well. We have been enjoying delicious pies and jams with even greater pleasure since the fruit came from our own garden.

 This is just one day of my canning efforts. Like previous years I canned tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, soups, zucchini, pickles and several jams. If interested in any of the recipes I used, I included links in this post. In addition to canning I froze some baked goods this year. We had such an abundance of zucchini I decided to make a variety of zucchini breads and our favorite zucchini cookies to freeze. Already we have enjoyed baking a few cookies or a mini loaf of zucchini bread on a rainy weekend.

 Last month we celebrated Jemimah's fourth birthday! She is such a sweet little girl and a wonderful friend. We officially began homeschooling last month. Last year we did some Pre-K work with work books I picked up at the store. This year we are using a complete Pre-K curriculum. We are enjoying the curriculum and Jemimah looks forward to school time each morning.

 With the return of cooler weather I have resumed my habit of making a weekly batch of soup. Some may remember one of my favorite recipes that I shared quite a while back, stuffed pepper soup. Recently my mom had the brilliant idea of making cabbage roll soup, in much the same way we made our stuffed pepper soup. It is delicious, and I may like it even better than the stuffed pepper soup!

 For those who may like to try to make some themselves, here is the recipe.

Cabbage Roll Soup

• 1 cup rice (prepare with water amount recommended)* 
• 1 pound ground beef
• 4-5 cups of shredded cabbage
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce
• 1 can diced tomatoes, undrained 
• 1 can (14 ounces) beef broth

Directions:
Prepare rice according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, cook the beef and onion until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the shredded cabbage, spaghetti sauce, tomatoes and broth. Simmer until cabbage is fully cooked and tender. Add prepared rice; heat through.
*In my last batch I omitted the rice and added extra cabbage, it was still delicious! 

 Throughout the summer months I did very little knitting or crocheting due to the heat, but I did manage to finally complete my socks in time for the cooler weather. : ) I am so pleased with the finished results! I have begun to knit a pair of socks for Jemimah, and I suspect that they will take a lot less time, considering the size difference.

This week I have enjoyed collecting some of my scrap fabric to create a Dresden plate design for a pillow cover. I made a similar pillow cover last year, and I have wanted to make another for the other rocking chair in our living room.

 Here is a picture of the pillow I made last year, to give you an idea of how the pillow will look when finished. The design is fairly simple to sew together and I love to see so many beloved calico scraps being put to a good use.

 Speaking of fabric.... when we were out the other weekend I discovered that one of my favorite fabric shops was having a sale. I couldn't resist purchasing a couple of my favorites with aprons in mind.

Recently I added a few "autumnal themed" items to my Etsy shop.

 And of course a few new aprons!

 And to close this post I'd like to introduce our kitten Miranda. We adopted Miranda back in June and she is truly a joy! Jemimah loves her dearly, as do Adam and I. We named Miranda after one of my favorite Grace Livingston Hill characters, and she certainly is living up to her namesake's reputation for being mischievous but loving!

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding; 

 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths."

Proverbs 3:5-6