Jennifer Beckstrand

The Honeybee Sisters Cookbook: Behind the scenes

Jennifer May 30, 2016 14 Comments

When I started writing "The Honeybee Sisters" series, about a trio of Amish sisters who keep bees, I knew I wanted to incorporated honey recipes into my books. When I started collecting recipes for the books, I fell in love with the idea of a cookbook with additional honey recipes, written from the point of view of the Honeybee Sisters. "The Honeybee Sisters Cookbook" was born. My dear friend...

Table Runner Show and Tell

Jennifer May 23, 2016 15 Comments

I have an announcement this week before I show you beautiful quilts (and a few flowers). Jennifer and I have decided that The Quilting Bee posts on Jennifer’s blog will become once-a-month events, just like the other topics that Jennifer includes in her blogs. My new posts will be shorter, less detailed, but full of beautiful photos of quilts. For the in-depth quilt instructions that so many of...

Spring Table Runners — Week 6

Jennifer May 19, 2016 0 Comments

Are you ready to finish your table runner? Today is the day! Last week, we created beautiful mitered corners for our table runners. Today we will sew the borders and corners to the quilt. Step one: If you haven’t already done so, press your borders and corners, and add a few pins to make sure nothing shifts. Step two: Decide which of the many different techniques you are going to use to sew the...

Love and Jalapeño Banana Bread

Jennifer May 16, 2016 2 Comments

Dear Anna and Felty, I have always heard that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, but I am not a very gute cook, and I despair of ever getting a husband. What can I do? Signed, Can’t Cook in Coloma Dear Can’t Cook, Never fear. Even though I am famous for my cooking, I wasn’t always so skilled. I didn’t really become a gute cook until I met Felty and then something just...

Quilting Bee — Spring Table Runners — Week 5

Jennifer May 12, 2016 2 Comments

If you’ve been sewing with me the past few weeks, you have pieced the top of your table runner, made a quilt sandwich, and quilted everything together. Now it’s time to sew the borders and miter the corners. The photo above is a close-up of the border on the auburn table runner. The mitered corners add a nice finish to this runner, and I’m excited to show you how easy they are to create....

Tales of a Frustrated Farmer — The Pig that Flew

Jennifer May 09, 2016 4 Comments

Over fifty years ago, my older brother Lewis and I raised pigs for an FFA project. When a pig was ready to take to market, we would load it into our one-and-a-half ton truck with four-foot high sideboards and haul it to the auction in a neighboring town. One Saturday, we loaded up a big old sow and headed out. After a pleasant ten minutes of driving, we noticed that the pig had propped her front...

Quilting Bee — Spring Table Runners — Week 4

Jennifer May 05, 2016 0 Comments

We get to quilt today! And with a twin needle! Here is a beautiful example (above) which I think I’ve shown you about 50 times—it’s my favorite. Before you begin quilting your table runner, I highly recommend that you practice using your twin needle on some sample quilt sandwiches. This will allow you to see how the twin needles work and if you like the look of the stitching. Note: I always...

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Jennifer May 02, 2016 2 Comments

This recipe was passed to me through 2 generations of very capable cookie makers. I’ve tried MANY oatmeal chocolate chip recipes, but this is my favorite. These cookies are soft, chewy and so delicious. I ALWAYS double the batch (it makes approx. 5 dozen cookies), it fits just perfectly that way in my KitchenAid, and I love freezing the extra dough or cookies. So if you’d like to do a smaller...

Quilting Bee — Spring Table Runners — Week 3

Jennifer April 28, 2016 0 Comments

I love machine quilting! And I’m excited to show you a new quilting technique that I saw on WeAllSew.com by Bernina: quilting with a twin needle. A twin needle gives you twice the stitches in the same amount of time. Remember that photo above? The double quilting lines look tedious to sew, but they are super easy with a twin needle. Here’s another example. For those of you who have used a...

Author’s Corner — Save the bees

Jennifer April 25, 2016 2 Comments

My neighbor used to have the most delicious-smelling honeysuckle bush right up against her house, and the bees loved it! She eventually cut it out because it got too unruly, but I was always fascinated at how many bees hovered around that bush. I could hear them humming all summer long. When I came up with my concept for “The Honeybee Sisters” series, I thought it would be so fun if the...

The Honeybee Sisters Cookbook: Behind the scenes

Table Runner Show and Tell

Spring Table Runners — Week 6

Love and Jalapeño Banana Bread

Quilting Bee — Spring Table Runners — Week 5

Tales of a Frustrated Farmer — The Pig that Flew

Quilting Bee — Spring Table Runners — Week 4

Quilting Bee — Spring Table Runners — Week 3

Author’s Corner — Save the bees

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