Weekend Doings

I had a great weekend with some shopping, some cooking, and some quality time with my baby boy. I have yet to take pictures of anything I've been working on, but hopefully I'll get around to it soon.

I had some strawberries from my mother-in-law's garden that I needed to do something with so I made some preserves. Those strawberries are just so tasty! You can't get that kind of flavor from a store-bought berry. I tried making jam/jelly one other time and I guess I thought it would turn out really thick and jelly-ish. But it was thinner and runnier. I thought I had done something wrong so I got rid of the jars. :( I actually think I just didn't realize the recipe was for jam, not jelly. But it tastes great, so who can complain about that!? Next time I'll use more pectin or another recipe if I decide I want different results. (My husband thinks it might slide off his toast. Hmph.)

I got to spend some time shopping with my best friend in Des Moines, which was time well spent as usual. I went to church on Sunday to say goodbye to our pastor who is retiring at the end of this month. He baptized my son and welcomed us in as new members, so it was kind of sad to see him go. Hopefully the "new guy" will be just as good!

I have made some progress on this play tent and I can't wait to get some pictures of the finished product. It is turning out really cute! Just a little more work to get the fabric to stay on the structure and then some girly accessorizing is probably in order. Ribbons! Glitter! PINK PINK PINK!!

I'm also halfway done with the applique for my Christmas quilt. It's going well, although I'm not good at the sharp points on the stars. but I'm learning and I've already decided it doesn't have to be perfect to be something I really enjoy.

Lastly, I finally got a new darning foot for my sewing machine. I currently use a Singer 212-2 and I love it. I thought the quilt was pulling too much so I lowered the feed dogs. That didn't help, so I figured it must be the foot. I think something with the tension was messed up after a tiny part fell off. I originally thought it was inconsequential, but I guess it made a difference because now that I have the new foot on, it works incredibly well. In fact, too well. I have to slow down so my stitches aren't an inch long!

Well, looking forward to a 3-day weekend. Maybe I'll get some more things done. My goal for this week is to get some pictures uploaded here! Wish me luck!