It has been almost difficult to eat the jams in my pantry I made with sugar. This will be what I do all next summer. You can really taste the fruit, and I rarely ever use sugar now so it just makes sense.

I also want to try this with agave instead of honey.

peaches and honey jam.

There is a general recipe on this website, and I also used the instructions found on Pomona Pectin’s insert that is found inside the box package.

Carefully lift your jars out of the pot with a pair of tongs, empty out any water, and set onto a towel on your counter. Pour jam into each jar, leaving about 1/4-inch of space at the top. Wipe any excess from the rim using a moist clean towel. You need to make sure the rim is completely clean so you get a good, solid seal. Lift the lids from the hot water with the tongs and place onto the jars. Screw on lids. Place jars into a boiling water bath for 10 to 15 minutes OR you may invert for 10 minutes and then immediately turn right-side-up. Remove and let cool on counter. After 24 hours all lids should have sealed. They usually seal within the hour. You’ll hear a loud “pop.” Do NOT touch the lid until you are certain it has sealed, as artificially sealing the cans is not a valid seal. If you “pop” the lid manually, that jar will need to go in the fridge and be used within a few weeks.

Solution I came up with? Sew eyes and a little “boo” mouth onto one of her onesies. It ended up coming out a little off-center due to me being too lazy to pin them on before hand-stitching.

Our little ghost reader.

Making cards, especially birthday cards, is a treat.

Happy Birthday, Bryan!

I kind of agonized over how to make this. I only have the one sleep sack to use as a pattern, and this one needed to be bigger. I am not good at measuring people to get accurate measurements. My approach was to trace the smaller one on fabric, just a little taller and wider everywhere. The end result was a sleep sack that is long and wide enough, but just a little TOO wide in the shoulders. I had to do some creative gathering in the back to get the shoulder width back to something reasonable.
I adore this fabric and have enough left over that she may get pillow cases or maybe a little dress out of it, too.

For the record, I used pre-made bias tape on the neckline and arm holes. I had a very long fight with the sewing machine, trying to get the velcro to go on. The minky fabric is not very sewing machine footer friendly. There was a good amount of tangled thread and me exiting the craft room in a huff, trying to get this thing cranked out.

I thought this might be my go-to for shower gifts, until attaching the velcro part came up. Maybe I can find another liner to use around the opening.

One thing our plants did not produce was enough tomatoes for me to can. I was getting at most a pint of cherry tomatoes every other day, and we were eating through those. I didn’t want to stop eating them just for sake of putting some away. And our beautiful heirloom Cherokee Purple tomatoes were slow to grow, slow to ripen. So sadly, the canning of tomatoes was not from our yard as I had envisioned.

But wait! Not all is lost. I picked up five pounds of organic heirloom tomatoes, followed this recipe, and ended up with gorgeously delicious tomato jam. I am in love! Last year I canned some plain ol’ tomato sauce, which was wonderful to pull out of the pantry for use with pasta, but this jam? I ended up with about 1/2 pint that was not enough to can and I am reserving it for weekend treats. My goal is to let the tomato jam trickle out of the pantry and into our fridge over the winter months. I really want to savor it.

Tomato Jam. My new favorite way to can tomatoes.

Try out this recipe for tomato jam, found on foodinjars.com! She has a nice simple post in addition to the recipe. I have another glut of tomatoes in the fridge waiting to be made into more tomato jam, though this time I intend to try roasting them first, with spices and herbs. A more savory approach.

Tomato Jam Recipe
makes 4 1/2 to 5 pints
updated September 2011: When I made this same recipe this year, my yield was only 3 pints. Depending on the year, the tomatoes and how long you cook it down, the yield will vary a great deal.

5 pounds tomatoes, finely chopped
3 1/2 cups sugar
8 tablespoons lime juice
2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon red chili flakes

Combine all ingredients in a large, non-reactive pot. Bring to a boil and then reduce temperature to a simmer. Stirring regularly, simmer the jam until it reduces to a sticky, jammy mess. This will take between 1 and 1 1/2 hours, depending on how high you keep your heat.

When the jam has cooked down sufficiently, remove from heat and fill jars, leaving 1/4 inch of head space. Wipe rims, apply lids and twist on rings. Process in a boiling water canner for 20 minutes.

When time is up, remove jars from water bath and allow them to cool. When jars are cool enough to handle, test seals. Store jars in a cool, dark place for up to one year.

These could also very well turn into something you see as a first listing on my Etsy site. My only resolution for 2010 is to sell at least one thing on Etsy. One measly thing, that is all I am aiming for! We are now well into May and I haven’t listed a thing.

Front side of these knit pillows are tea towels.

Backside of knit pillows - stockinette stitch. These were knit using Malabrigo wool, one of my favorite yarns.

I still need to figure out how to make the stitching a little more professional. It isn’t sewn super professionally like, it isn’t always straight. Also, I found a filling that doesn’t lump together but I feel like I could find something even smoother. These first pillows (above) I used some leftover stuffing that’s meant for stuffed animals, which really turned out to be most lumpy. The third pillow (below) is the most smooth, even though it looks lumpy in the photo – it’s really not.

Front side of third knit pillow, tea towel facing.

Back side of third knit pillow, extra bulky yarn knit using size 13US needles.

Handwarmers are so in season

Pattern was found on the PurlBee (I REALLY need to branch out and use my books!), I have been leaning on the PurlBee for my last few projects. They are so easy to follow and I generally love the layout of stories.

The handwarmers took me about 5 hours total to make, including weaving in all ends. If I used a stockinette or garter stitch, they probably would have gone just a little faster. Shorter projects can be encouraging ways to use up that yarn stash I have been building.

I finished this in the car, so didn’t get to take proper photos of it before gifting. The yarn used was Spud & Chloë’s sweater-weight yarn and I should have used the “outer”, which is double thickness. I used two strands held together, but then – that’s what I was supposed to do with the outer. Which means it didn’t turn out as thick and cush as it was supposed to.

The border was knit in sweater, which the pattern called for, and I wasn’t thinking but should have used one strand instead of two. The result was a nice, comfy and plush border, but it was a little TOO thick, I think. It weighted down the rest of the blanket.

Knit baby blanket - seed stitch body, double-stranded worsted weight

Knitting the border was my favorite. It was time consuming but so fun to see how it came together. You knit in stockinette with one row of purl. When you have nine rows, you actually fold it over and the purl row allows for it to easily do this. Binding off is difficult to describe, check out the pattern to see how it ends. There are instructions for a garter rib and seed stitch body.

Bringing the border together with stockinette and purl

I hate wasting food, so this recipe served two purposes: using four pears AND making a delicious dessert for my husband to enjoy. Very satisfying.

Lining the pan with parchment paper and pear slices

The recipe is from Baking Illustrated and was very easy to follow. This is my go-to for baking, I’m a junkie for anything Cooks Illustrated puts out. I don’t bake many pies or cakes but the few that have come out successfully are from recipes in this book.

I didn’t have the exact pan for baking the cake in and there was a bit of overflow – it should have ended up being another inch taller than it turned out. The flavors were beautiful and texture divine.

The finished product – a bit washed out in photo but not in person