Quilt top & Fowlers jars

This morning I finally added the last border and mitred the corners. In the picture, my Winchester quilt is not pressed yet, so don't look too closely, but you can get the effect of the fabrics weaving along. This quilt was inspired by one of the parquetry floors at the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose. I don't know which room the floor was in, I had just taken a picture of a floor and thought it would make a nice quilt sometime. I will take this top to the quilt store sometime soon to help sell a selection of lovely reproduction fabrics that have come in recently.

Nines asked yesterday for a closer look at my Fowlers jars. This will probably be more information than she ever wanted to know *lol*! I've photographed one each of the different size jars I have. Along the back row from left to right are sizes 20, 31, 36 and 65. Sizes 20 and 31 are the only ones you can buy new now. Although I have heard rumours that size 14 has come back into production. Size 20 is about one pint, and size 31 is about one litre. The 36 and 65 are getting hard to find now, and are kind of huge! I'm reading from my old Fowlers book, and the 36 takes 3lbs, and the 65 takes 5lbs.

In the front are my size 10 and 27 jars. Size 10 is really cute and great for baby foods at 1/2lb. The size 27 is my particular favourite and holds 2lbs. I have sooooo many of these jars, you wouldn't believe it. You saw the picture of my shelf yesterday, well, the shelf above which you can't see is almost full too, and additionally, I have three cartons full in the attic.

The thing is, I have a lot of relatives that live in the country. So many of them in the past did preserving as a matter of their daily life, and so many of them don't do it anymore. When I first decided I'd give it a try, I talked to my Nanna about it, and she spread the word. Before I knew it people were sending me boxes of jars that they had no use for anymore. These people were friends, relatives, and people I'd never heard of before. Additionally, my Nanna's bestie runs the charity shop in the town they live in, so my Nanna would buy any that came thru the shop for me. Well, let me tell you, with my four very young fruit trees, I have more jars than I will ever need, and when I hear of anyone that can use them, I gladly give them some.

So, that is the story of my Fowlers jars ... thank you to Nines for asking!

Today Amy and I are off to quilt group. It's the last week of school holidays here, and because Amy is a budding quilter, the group are presenting her with a junior membership badge. We're going to start working together on a quilt I designed while we were away. Today we'll start tracing off the flowers onto vliesofix. Should be good fun. Have a great day everyone! x o x