Little Penguin Quilts Through the Year

Little Penguin Quilts Through the Year

Wednesday, October 5, 2022

I Like Thursday #304

Good morning!  

It's getting to be that time of year when I can 
see some pretty sunrises from the front window. 
I don't know if you can tell, but the neighbor's work truck 
matches the leaves on the tree that's right there!

I love apples!  They've always been one of my favorite fruits.  There was an interesting article in the New York Times recently about apples,  and I learned a lot from it about the amazing number of varieties there are (evidently some 7500 of them!)  and how researchers are continuously combining them for more and tastier apples.

In our backyard there is an apple tree, one we planted when we were young and naive homeowners many years ago.  Many of the apples fall on the ground, but it also provides food for the birds, squirrels, and insects, and sometimes for us!


I believe these are Jonathan apples, although don't hold me to that!  
This tree has been here at least 40 years.


One of my favorite things to do with these apples is make applesauce.  I located my mom's old (possibly antique now?!) Foley Food Mill, which makes it a lot easier to make applesauce out of these small apples.


I made enough to give some away and put a few containers in the freezer.  It turned out pretty good - no sugar needed and a great flavor.  Makes the house smell good while you're cooking the apples, too!


I'm really wanting to make this little apple mini quilt from Sassafras Lane Designs, but instead this week, I made a heart mini quilt to give to a special person at my mom's place.  I shared the in-progress photo in my Tuesday post, and here it is all finished and ready to give to her today.


I suppose a heart might remind you of a Red Delicious apple, though, right?


Have a great day!
Thanks for visiting on "I Like Thursday," 
hosted by LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color

















 

12 comments:

Vicki in MN said...

We noticed this week that some trees are showing glorious colors around town. Wouldn't it be fun to make all the fruit mini quilts to hang in the kitchen and dining room...if only I had a wall to do that with!

Libby in TN said...

I can smell the apples from here. Oh, I wish I had my mother's Foley food mill! My favorite apples are Courtland which are nigh impossible to find around here, followed closely by Honeycrisp which I can now get at Kroger. When I first found Honeycrisp in the store I exclaimed out loud and the produce manager said, "yes, that's what a Delicious wants to be when it grows up"!

grammajudyb said...

I wonder who inherited my mom’s food mill?I think my sister, now I’ll bet my brother and SIL! I’m not a canning person. My friend cans hurt garden carrots! But I’d freeze applesauce or make an apple crisp or even apple jelly. I love the photo of your apples with the leaves. Very artistic!. I checked out the link to the apply mini quilt! Cute! Your heart mini turned out great!

Linda said...

Those are good looking apples! I like Jonathan for pies but normally use Braeburn if I can find them. I always add brown sugar to my applesauce whether it needs it or not - lol! Your heart mini turned out great, I bet your Mom's special person will love it. The little apple mini pattern is darling.

Siouxzq64@gmail.com said...

I think those are the same apples growing in my mom's back yard. They make awesome applesauce. But then most apples are just yummy as long as they aren't pithy. I read articles about heirloom apples, there actual people who go looking out in the mountains for old farmsteads and their apple trees. Cute heart. I use a foley food mill, but I also have an old victorio food mill which can do tomatoes, etc, which I use more often now.

Angela said...

Love the heart quilt!

chrisknits said...

My thing this time of year is caramel dip and apples!! Tart with just a little sweet. And I am amazed at the varieties! The apple pick makes me think of Snow White, LOL! Lovely heart piece, she will love it.

PaintedThread said...

Those apples and that apple sauce look great. It's amazing how many more varieties there are available now than there used to be. We used to have a little crab apple in our back yard that made pink apple sauce. :-)

Ivani said...

Wow gorgeous sunrise and what a privilege. I think, but may be wrong, that here there are only 4 or 5 apple kind. Your harvest display looks beautiful. And your heart mug rug is very cute.

Rosemary Dickinson said...

It's so nice that you can eat your own apples. I like your heart quilt but also love that apple quilt from Sassafras Lane. Thanks for the link!

piecefulwendy said...

We just pulled out our Foley Food Mill, too, and used it for tomatoes. Your little heart block is lovely. I'm sorry to be so late with comments - none of my favorite blogs are showing up in my inbox any longer, and forget to check Feedly :-(

MissPat said...

I was away for the weekend, so I'm late to the game. I had to throw out my food mill. Hadn't used it in a while and when I pulled it out, it was rusted. I used it mostly for tomato sauce. I like my applesauce chunky style. I also read that NYT article on apple varieties and it was interesting to see that the Geneva Experiment Station was highlighted. It's about an hour east of here.
Pat