A New Iron and a Garden Update

The garden is taking up most of my non-work time lately, so there hasn't been much sewing going on. Not to mention the fact that our ancient thrift-store iron finally gave up the ghost.

Ugh, excuses, right?

But! The good news is that I bought a new iron -- a Silver Star gravity feed iron. Can I just say? Amazing. It stays hot and creates steam like nobody's business. I made my own bias tape for the first time a couple days ago and it came out perfectly. Heaven. And it was only $90, which is about the same price as a nice Rowenta.

I'm so in love. To test it out, I made a Colette Sorbetto blouse (pictures to come.) That's what the bias tape was for. Since I'd never made bias tape before, I used a white sheet from the thrift shop and had a couple of false starts, but in the end, it came out just as I wanted. And so much softer than the store-bought stuff!

Finished bias tape

While the new iron has been amazing, the garden is what's taking up most of my time.

Baby tomatoes!

Baby bell pepper!

Baby cucumbers!

... and not-so-baby cucumbers. Those things get huge in a hurry!

And then they become pickles! I've made four pints of pickle slices so far and I envision more in my future. We've been eating lots of salad and I just took four cucumbers out to my parents and we still have two and a half in the refrigerator.

The basil is also growing gangbusters. I've also made pesto twice; we've got three cups of it in the freezer already.

Summer's the best, isn't it? And it's only July! 

Spring Is Here -- Along With Lots To Do!

If it's been awhile since my last post, it's because I've been a busy little bee around the house! Over the winter, we managed to obtain a ton of free lumber. I saw an ad for free lumber on Craigslist and drove out to  the boonies to borrow Greg's parents' truck and, when he got home from work, we went off to pick it up. Turns out there was a lot of good stuff... 4x4s, 2x6s and miscellaneous other stuff. 

I'd like to state here and now that my experience of driving that truck, which is on the old side and, of course, stick shift, through rush hour in the D.C. suburbs was not my finest moment. 

But I did it and it was so worth it.

Some of that stuff was 14 feet long! I think the people who gave it away were house-flippers. So while I worked one Saturday, Greg set to working. 

With spring here, it was time to create some more garden boxes. I already have a 6x12 one out back. These two are out front and they contain root vegetables (beets, carrots and potatoes -- on the left) and strawberries (on the right). 

And then, of course, Greg built me this monstrosity for tomatoes in the side yard. It's 7x14.

Let us not forget that I'm growing squash around the tree out front. It's a lot of garden space to fill, ya'll. 

So with that in mind, I started some seedlings. (And I direct-planted some other things.)

 Yes. Get excited for lots of canning this summer.

We're growing (or experimenting with):

Several types of tomatoes

Several types of sweet peppers

Several types of cucumbers

Peas

Strawberries

Lettuce

Kale

Scallions

Red onions

Carrots

Beets

Potatoes

Broccoli

Basil

Spaghetti Squash

Butternut Squash

Brussels Sprouts

... and probably several other things I've forgotten about. And one of my coworkers promised me an acorn squash seedling.

I may need my head examined come fall... 

A Few Tidbits From the Land of the Sick

Several short things to share today:

1. I've decided to make a pair of panties and attempt to banish my fear of sewing from PDF patterns (i.e. ones you print online instead of ones you buy.) The Amerson Undie, shown below, is a new free pattern from Madalynne, a blog I enjoy very much.

I fully realize I've probably crossed further into crazy territory by attempting to sew my own underwear, but there you go. I like to live dangerously.

www.madalynne.com

2. I'm sick again for the second time this winter and I wish my immune system would get its act together. Greg's getting over being sick and I'm getting worse by the hour. We went out to get takeout pho and bubble tea today, which had me feeling better for all of thirty minutes -- hey, I'll take what I can get! Pho is the absolute best food when you're sick. And, as a bonus, you don't have to make it yourself. Don't tell, but I may have it for dinner again tomorrow if I still feel crappy. It's just that good.

3. Greg and I are in the process of applying to a rescue organization for a dog of our very own -- yay! I'd been lobbying for a dog for months. I'm trying really hard not to fall in love with this dog just in case we don't get her. We dragged our sick selves out to the adoption fair for an interview today. I'm sure we were absolutely charming. We both grew up with dogs, but my experience is mostly limited to picking a puppy from a litter and we want to adopt a grown dog. It's so difficult to choose just one. They're all so different! I want to take them all home, but Greg says I can only have one. Killjoy.

4. I've just had a panicked realization that I should have bought seeds for my garden already. It's almost time to start the seeds! I've got a huge list of things I want to grow. I better get on that.

5. I'm going to a sewing blogger meetup in two weeks! Yay! Lauren from Lladybird posted a few weeks ago that she was headed out there. I've been just dying to get to Mood and I can't wait! I just need to get healthy before then -- and then make sure I don't get sick again.

That's all for now. Off for tea and ibuprofen and sleep. If I can figure out why my camera refuses to focus, I'll be back soon with pictures of my fabric and pattern haul from Seattle.