Hello, and welcome to another edition of “Ask Jo”. I get many comments and questions from all sorts of places, the comment section here, Youtube, email, and from our Facebook group. Sometimes I think others of you might want to know the answers as well so I answer them here on the blog. Today I’m tackling a mixture of questions…
Sally said, “Jo, you freeze cheese? What kind of cheese and is it a block or shredded? I freeze butter all the time (I buy it when it’s BOGO), but had no idea you could freeze cheese. Please tell us about it. These recipes look great. I always enjoy hearing a new way to use up things.”
I freeze cheese all of the time. I’ve said before that we live a distance from town…a Walmart and a larger grocery store are half an hour away. You all also know that I feed my family very regularly and that pizza is often one of my specialties. So…how do I always have things available to make it?? I freeze cheese.
I have frozen any type of hard cheese. I’ve frozen chunks. I’ve frozen shredded and had no problem with any of that ever. Kalissa and I do quite a lot of shopping at the Amish south of our house in the Hazelton Iowa area. We can buy 5 pounds of cheese there for $10. For us, that’s a good deal. We often buy an extra for the freeze to tide up over until we go the next time.
Karen asked:
“I love reading both yours and Kalissa’s blog. On her blog today she showed several pictures. One of them is of you and Georgie & Gannon reading books. I LOVE the red quilt behind the 3 of you in the chair. Is it the Brick House Pattern? Did you share the making of it on your blog? I don’t remember seeing it before. Is it made from recycled shirts? It is beautiful. Thank you both for sharing!”
I think Karen is referring to this picture.
The quilt in the picture is my Fly the Flag quilt.
It’s featured in the June 2021 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting.
It’s folded on the chair in a way that you can’t see the blue blocks. The fun thing about the quilt is that if you are planning on displaying it folded like I have it folded, you can’t see the blue and it could easily look like a Christmas quilt…just keep it folded in December and it becomes a multipurpose quilt. HA!!
It was a fun quilt to make and was made from recycled 100% cotton shirts.
Shelia said:
“Approximately how big are your morning glory sprouts before you put them in the garden? I started some from seed too. But since this is my first time, I’m not sure how long I should wait before I put them outside. Thanks for thinking about this.”
Mine are getting big. I really wish they were outside. By the time this blog post publishes, I’m sure I will have them planted outside.
When considering when to put them outside, I want to caution you that the plants are very sensitive to cold weather. With that in mind, make sure you don’t put them out until you’re sure the threat of frost is gone. I can’t tell you when that date…for me it’s around May 15th. Mine were out sooner. I took the risk as my plants were getting too big. There are no real hard and fast rules…mainly just take into consideration the size of your plants and your own frost date.
Cheryl wrote:
“Can you please post the yardage for your Halloween quilt again? I know you have posted it before, but I can’t find it now. I am looking forward to getting my copy of the magazine to get started on it!”
I answered this before in a previous “ask Jo” but put the answer here again. It’s been a popular question.
Here is a peek at the Halloween quilt…
I talked with Kelli. She said this is what you need to know about fabric requirements:
6 1/2 of background if you don’t make any errors. She suggested 7 yards.
4 1/2 of printed fabrics
3/4 of binding. I used scrappy orange binding.
I used fabric from a new Moda line that is coming out. The line is Midnight Magic II. It will be coming out in April of 2021 so my guess is that it’s in store now. It’s a great print with mini stars in the background.
If you are wanting the fabric, I suggest hitting up the shops in April when it comes in.
I know someone will ask so this is what I used for the backing fabric. It is also from the fabric line. The quilt is 94″ x 94″ so that should help you determine what you want for the backing. If you want to splice yours together as I did and hide the slice, then you might want a little extra fabric.
I talked to Marcia at Pine Needles Quilt and Sew in Rochester, MN. They are getting this line of fabric in and will have it available. If you are looking for the exact fabric I used for the background, I highly suggest giving them a call. Who knows, they might be able to put you on a list to get it once it comes in. HERE is a link to their website which will have their contact information.
I think that covers the latest round of “Ask Jo” questions. I’ve been working really hard on getting through my email. I’m not there yet but getting closer every day. If I missed your question or comment, feel free to send it again.
For folks who have never frozen cheese, if you freeze blocks it is most likely going to crumble. Getting nice slices really doesn’t happen. I do like to buy a big block of cheese. We shred it and put in 1qt bags. It’s wonderful at melting where shredded cheese has a coating on it and it’s “melting texture” is not the same as fresh shreds.
Thanks, Jo for answering my question about morning glories. It was very helpful and I especially appreciated the picture. Since it’s still cool around here I think I’ll wait. Thanks again!
Great information as always. Thanks Jo!