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 variety of topics from quilts, to donuts to recipes.
Susan in Kentucky asked:
“Jo, do you happen to know the name of the pattern of the middle quilt in the picture at Country Threads? I believe you said you hadn’t made that one. Has Mary got it listed on her site? Thanks!”
I asked my daughter Kayla as she works with Mary and Connie at Country Threads to get their patterns available online. It wasn’t familiar to her. I have a feeling it might be in one of their books but I’m not sure. HERE is a link to their books on Amazon. You could click the book and scroll through the pictures to see. Also read through the comments. Sometimes Mary reads the blog and she might leave us a comment.
Donna asked:
“A great quilt! Hope it raises lots of money for the benefit! Please let us know. Do you know by any chance what the pattern is?”
Donna was referring to this charity quilt that I recently finished. You can read about it HERE.
In later comments, it was mentioned that it might be a 3-yard quilt. I looked it up. It is. Here is the pattern.
HERE is the link to it. This is really a cute pattern.
You might remember that I… posted about wanting to make this cross stitch called A Changed World by The Scarlett House. Read the post HERE.
I ended up getting an email from Liz at The Stitchery Nook. In her note, it said, “You have a $50 gift certificate from Ila. I can keep it here and subtract your purchases on it. She says “just buy it”. 😁
Oh, Ila…You made me smile big time!! You are the sweetest to me. YES, I did get the chart and I’m thrilled to be starting it on August 1st. Stitching this will bring me much joy!!
If you missed the blog post about this cross-stitch piece, you can find it HERE. Everyone is welcome to join us in stitching the piece. A few us plan to stitch it together. Included are:
Judy at Patchwork Times
Denise at Just Quiltin
Me!! Jo at Jo’s Country Junction….
We’d love for you to join us too.
THANKS, A MILLION, ILA!!
I’ve gotten several comments from readers about finding recipes on the blog and they wish I had a better index to find them. UGH. I sure wish I did too. I’m really at a loss on how to do it. I started having a landing place for all of the recipes when I first started the blog but once I started doing childcare, it fell to the wayside. It was one of those, “I can only do so much a day” type decisions.
I just dread the thought of sitting down and trying to make something more accessible. I really don’t even know how that would look. For websites that only do recipes, I can see that they have a plan…for bloggers like me, I just can’t think how I’d do that. This is one of the many things I would have a secretary do…if I had or could afford a secretary.
I do have a Recipe tab at the top of the blog. If you hover over it, you will see options for recipe categories. These are the old categories I made long ago but didn’t keep up with. You can click on any of them to find those recipes.
There is also an option of clicking the recipe tab itself and that will take you all of the recipes I have categorized as recipes.
I wish I could offer you more…that’s the best I can do.
Susan B asked:
“Hi Jo… Were your donuts no fry? Will you please share the recipe? Thank you”
These were fried donuts that started out as dough in the bread machine. I watched this Youtube video.
Donut-making is something I haven’t perfected. I really wish I had a tried and true recipe…I’ll keep searching. This one wasn’t bad but I think I can find better.
The last thing I want to talk about came in an email to me. I apologize in advance for having to talk about this all a little vaguely…but I think it’s best if I do.
I had a blog reader send a message to me. She was concerned that a blog reader of mine might have offended another blogger.
In situations like this, I try to base my personal feelings on my personal experience. The blog reader that the writer of the note was concerned about has never done anything to me that was rude or hurtful.
Rather than get sucked into the drama that isn’t mine, I walked away and went and sewed. I hope you do too. I think we’d all be happier if we did.
That’s it for this edition…As always, leave comments or questions here and I’ll try to answer them in the next “Ask Jo”.
Oh boy, I want an Ila! She sure is a blessing!
Jo after reading todays post and the question about the recipes I tried something. If one is looking for a recipe you posted a while back and can remember what the food was they can type in the search bar on your side bar. I put in zucchini and all your posts with zucchini came up. Hope this helps. I know the feeling of wanting to do it all but run out of time, steam and a lot of times know how to do stuff.
I’d also like to thank you for the More Stitchen shirt. So comfy and I ordered a how bunch for friends to commemorate and wear on our retreat day. Perfect
Suzanne! That’s a great tip! And so simple lol, yay! Jo sure has some good recipes.
It is always good to see the questions from readers and your answers. Thanks for taking the time to do this. It is smart of you not to participate in any blog readers’ remarks to one a mother. Some people just cannot remember “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything,” advice. This is what my mother drummed into us. I know I sometimes fail in this regard but try not to.
Here’s a suggestion for the recipes. Each reader can just pin it to their Pinterest. They could even make a “Jo’s Recipes” category. Makes more sense than adding to your list of things to do. I have a few of your recipes saved this way.
Jo, I think I recall your icemaker wasn’t working one time, and you fixed it by unplugging and letting the freezer defrost until the new ice could pass. Do I have that right? Hate to call a repairman if I could do this myself. My fridge is probably 3 years old and I mostly turn off the icemaker. I never use ice and turn it on only if the kids are coming over. Saves the noise but I think I may have some ice blocking the path from the icemaker. Thanks.
Some ice makers on newer refrigerators have an issue with freezing up. My son and daughter in law own an appliance store and there is a way that can be fixed ..it has to do with the control board. They can also freeze up in the summer time and unplugging it does help….but remember that it will be the whole refrigerator that is affected
I do hope someone is able to find the Country Threads pattern for the quilt pictured in the center of that photo. I did look at the images from Amazon, but didn’t see that particular one. What a great scrap project that would make!
Just ask Mary at Country Threads, she still blogs.
The middle quilt in the Country Threads picture is called “Path of Freedom”. From CT book called ‘Civil War Remembered’. The 3rd quilt pictured, “Opposition” is in this book also. The first quilt pictured is “Civil Unrest” and is CT book ‘The Blue and the Gray’. It is pictured on the cover of that book. Both of these books are worth the investment if you love Civil War reproductions. But then I love all CT’s books and patterns.
I don’t remember if you said something about having an air fryer…I just ordered one with points (love that I don’t have to pay for it!) and there are recipes for making donuts in them. I found a recipe online for yeast bread to turn into donuts, so I’ll let you know if it works!