We had a very busy week last week, with the Chelan County Fair and everything else going on. My auntie Linda and I sewed frontier women costumes to wear to the fair because we had a booth for my aunt's business, Etched in Time, LLC, and I brought a bunch of soaps to sell. The whole thing was kind of a bust. Fair attendance was very low and even of the few people who attended, not many came into our barn. We thought it would be a popular barn because the wine garden and wine tasting events were in it, but we were very wrong about that. We were so bored that I crocheted soap savers until I couldn't stand it and then I saw an example of double stitch hand quilt piecing and decided to give that a go. I actually hand pieced a pretty large part of a quilt just sitting there at our booth. I used pieces left over from making my costume. It was really four days of sweltering heat and boredom. We did meet some nice people, though, especially the other vendors. The lady who owns the Attic Window Quilt Shop in Wenatchee was just across from us. That is where I got inspired to do the hand quilt piecing.
Here is the section I worked on.
This is a close up of the double stitch on the front. You put the fabrics right side together and stitch a running stitch along the edge (it is supposed to be 1/4 inch from the side, but I didn't have a measuring device with me). Then you open the fabric up and finger press the seam allowances to one side and running stitch along the seam to hold the seam allowance flat. I stitched pieces together end to end and then rows together.
This is what the back looks like. I pressed the seam allowances under the blue piece on the short seams then all in the same direction on the long seams.
Well, this is supposed to be a gardening blog, so I should get back on subject, right? You may have noticed in the above picture that there are a plethora of canned tomatoes pickles and jams under the quilt piece.
There are 14 quarts of canned tomatoes, 7 quarts of pickles 4 assorted sized jars of pickled green beans, and there used to be four batches of apricot jam and one batch of peach jam. I have been giving the jam away. We gave some to my husband's parents and grandparents when we visited them. My family all makes there own jam, so we trade flavors sometimes, but jam isn't a very good gift for them. People who don't make jam always appreciate it, though. Store bought jam just doesn't compare. All of these tomatoes came from our community garden plot and my porch and the cucumbers were from the community garden plot, before the squash bugs hit.
Here is an update on the plants on the balcony:
Here is one of the eight small pots with Thai basil. They are looking great. I will have to pick these and dry them before it frosts.
This is the poor little rescue Roma tomato. It is doing better than the other two. It hasn't gotten a chance to get root bound yet.
Here is one of the large Roma tomatoes typical from this bush.
The super hot jalapeno plant has not been having any peppers for a while. It finally has just two small ones. It is very crowded in it's pot with beans and nasturtiums.
The eggplant is still going strong. I have picked over twenty fruits already and as you can see, there are plenty more growing. Wow, I never thought that it would do this well. Especially after the aphid problem earlier in the year.
The sungold cherry tomato is not doing well at all. Its roots are so crowded. Note to self: this variety does not make a good container tomato. The plant of the same variety that I planted in the community garden is doing very well. It has produced so many delicious cherry tomatoes that I am kind of glad this one is a dud. I don't know what I would do with all of the tomatoes. I even canned a jar of them. I peeled each little guy before packing it in the jar. I gave that one to my aunt who shares the community garden space. She loves them so much.
These are the other two Romas. They are covered by pole beans, and, as you would expect, they are kind of suffering from it, that and being completely root bound in their pots. They are still making some tomatoes, though.
The rosemary plant is hanging all over the pot it is in. I really love rosemary with chicken. I will pick and dry most of this before the frost. I have been told by several people that it is very unlikely that it will make it through the winter in our climate. I am thinking about bringing it inside. That is probably a death sentence for it, too. I am the grim reaper for house plants. I forget about them. Maybe I will do better with this one because it is actually good to eat.
Here's my helper after I caught him "pruning" the beans again.
It is hard to stay mad at him. He is so cute. Look at his pupils. They have almost disappeared form the bright sun on the porch. He is a house cat, and doesn't get outside except when I am out on the balcony taking care of the plants.
The eggplant is a very pretty plant. I think I will always grow them. They make a pretty ornamental and they produce loads of delicious fruit. You can see the marigold peaking out. I always try to incorporate some into my gardens for the beneficial insects and the beauty.
I emptied this cupboard to store all of my tomatoes in. I pick and store them until I have enough ripe for a batch of sauce or at least a batch of quart jars of canned tomatoes.
Eggplants are wonderful fruit. They keep for what seems like forever in the crisper drawer in the fridge. These are about two weeks old. I finally took them out and made one of my favorite french dishes. I don't have a clue what it is called, but my friend Christelle told me how to make it after I asked her what she was eating for lunch at work one day. It is basically a stew with eggplant, zucchini, peppers, onions, tomatoes and whatever else you happen to have around. You cook it and cook it until it is a thick chili-like consistency. You season it with salt, pepper, garlic and a nice mix of french herbs. It really tastes like there is meat in there. It is so good, even my husband really likes it. My daughter wouldn't try it. Apparently it looked too scary with all the different ingredients. I still haven't gotten her to try an eggplant.
The beans are getting away from me at this point. I pick them every other day and still, lots of them escape my notice until they are too far along. I have been eating them raw, steaming them, frying them, giving them away, and pickling them. I can't can them because I don't have a pressure canner yet, but I think I will buy one before I plant this many beans again. These plants on my balcony are really impressive.
Here is where the tomato sauce I made ended up. I did my research and decided that it just wouldn't be safe to water bath process this sauce because it has too many other ingredients added to predict the acidity. I just put it in quart sized freezer bags and froze it. From now on I am just canning strait tomatoes. Then I can take those canned tomatoes and make sauce when I need it. The frozen sauce is pretty good and very convenient, but I don't have very much freezer space. I mostly like to save that space for buying meat in bulk and freezing the rest for later. Oh, and for frozen berries and fruit for smoothies. You can see frozen strawberries in the front right corner.
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