August 6: The Rochester Zoo

A lesson learned from nature:  If a fence gets in your way, by all means grow right through it.

I was looking forward to hanging with my friend but not looking forward to the zoo so much.  The kids are getting a little old for it in a lot of ways.  They still like animals and such but it has lost its magical quality.  Except for my one daughter, who still kind had some of that magical thing going on but was embarrassed because the older kids did not.  But back to my original point, I decided since I have been there ten million times (yes, really that many) eh hem, that I would try to find something unique to me.  And boom that tree.  I never looked up until that moment and thought it was pretty cool.

They were feeding the seals, I really enjoyed watching them snack on their fishy meals.

 The totem pole was kind of cool.

As always, the monkeys are entertaining.  This one was picking his own bugs.

August 5th The Ups and Downs of Gardening

These hydrangea's look dried.  They look painted.  They look white washed.  They look kind of sad.  They have lost their vitality. They are pretty but in a nostalgic kind of way.

This hydrangea looks like a beautiful firework on a warm Fourth of July night.

So beautiful my bush had one bloom last year.  This year tons of hydrangea blooms!

Then here is a tomato.  Clearly some critter has found my garden.  Dang it!  I have to figure out what it is so I can plan my attack, if not for this year, then next.

August 4 Preparing A Shot

On my blog Lori's Lipsmacking Goodness you will find great shots, not so great shots and some down right crappy shots.  I don't really care about perfection of photography on my food blog.  I care about sharing recipes.  I care about sharing my enthusiasm for good, whole food, canning and whatever tricks I have learned along the way.

When there is food that I can spend my time on, setting up a shot, I like to do just that.  I like to pick colors, pick plates, pick angles, pick composition.  I play around with all that.  Must admit that I have a collection of mismatched plates that I like to use for shooting.  When I see something cool at a garage sale I buy it.  Just a side note, I recently found a dish made in Italy for 25 cents.  "How do you do Mr. Plate, you certainly are handsome."  It was quickly added to my collection.

There are a lot of great blogs out there that will tell you how to set up shots and all that information is free on the Internet.  Isn't that majorly marvelous? I think so.  You can make your own lightbox.  Very cool.  Especially useful in the winter when natural lighting is at a premium.  Of course if you want to pay money, you can take classes from people who have mastered their game.  Also pretty fabulous but unfortunately I don't have that kind of money for that or really that kind of desire for that.  I prefer to spend my money on quilting and my kids.  Maybe not in that order. 

Blueberry Sauce

So what is this post about?  Me setting up a shot and sharing it with you in pictures.  Period.

August 3rd Blueberry Processing

You can't really see it too well but the bowl goes down into a cone at the bottom.

Found this fantastic thing at a garage sale for one dollar.  I thought it would come in handy for when I can tomatoes.  I currently use a strainer type thing.  This is way bigger and I like that you can set it over pots quite easily.  I love the wooden mallet to crush it into the sides.  I saw when I was looking for my regular strainer that I use for canning tomatoes.  Thought it would be ideal for straining the blueberries.  I put it to work and it worked like a charm.

I will post the recipe for the syrup soon on my blog.

August 2 Laura Ingalls Wilder Days at Genesee Country Museum

A beautiful day today.  We spent five hours at the museum doing lots of old fashioned activities. 

Some beautiful quilts to be sure!

Oxen.  One was getting kind of ornery.

Old fashioned seeds.  (eh hem, no GMO there).

August 1 Blueberry Picking

So for the month of August I am going to post every day.  I will try and stay committed to this.

We went blueberry picking August 1st and found some amazingly huge and juicy blueberries.  Our second time picking this summer.

I am about to freeze a bunch, can some and eat some.  I will keep you posted with recipes on my blog, Lori's Lipsmacking Goodness. Here is a tart I made that we all enjoyed after picking the first time.

Pins and Trimmins Bag

I have always wanted one of these but just never took the time to make it.  This past Spring (yes, I am a little behind here), I designed a bag for the ladies to do at our guild retreat.  I will post the tutorial next post.

Don't you love this fabric.  I have a thing for notion type fabric.  I think it is incredibly cute and perfect for projects like this.  Its been in my stash for about a year and a half.  Whew, that time went fast.

This is not on the pattern.  One of the ladies suggesting putting a little rubberized backing on it.  I just hand sewed it on

Then I wanted a match set because I never have matched sets.  Like you know those ladies that have matching bags and suitcases.  Not me.  Just a conglomeration of whateve was on sale.  Ha!  But thats okay I am a thrifty kind of girl after all.  But this was a little treat for myself along with some functionality. 

I just measure my machine, figured a rectangular size, added a half an inch for each side. I added some batting as well.  I sewed my sides and one end with right sides together and then turned it inside out.  I added Velcro and the straps.  Just turn in the final side and sew closed.

Yes, below there is a little bit of a mess.  My sewing room is in a constant process of clean and then messy.