Peas, Potatoes, and Peppers

Some of the pea plants escaped being munched on and actually produced some peas. I got enough to fill a quart zip bag. I think I am going to dig up what is there and replant them in hopes of a fall crop.

The husband went over the last of the raspberries yesterday morning because he is tall and can get into the middle of the patch. While he was doing that, I checked on the rest of the garden. The Carolina Amethyst pepper plants are, indeed, producing purple peppers. I see some ripening tomatoes. I could get another five-gallon bucket of currants if I have time. The grapes are filling out nicely and I need to start tying organza bags onto the bunches to protect them from marauding turkeys. The potato plants are starting to die back, so I grabbed a fork and dug up one plant to see how they did this year:

I am delighted. The potatoes always do very well in that part of the garden, which is odd because nothing else really grows well there.

My friend Anna, who has the catering business, got me 10 pounds of beautiful green beans from one of her suppliers, so those are first on the canning schedule this week.

To look at it now, you’d never know that the garden was struggling until almost July. I will take the bounty and be grateful.

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I ran up another Laundry Day Tee yesterday afternoon. I have three of them cut out, and they don’t take long to make.

This one was made from two chunks of double-brushed poly from the remnant rack. I think I will wear it today when I teach my Serger 101 class. I don’t like the DBP as much as the rayon jersey—DPB doesn’t breathe as well—but Joanns has a lot of it. I think the rayon jersey also drapes better. I certainly wouldn’t go with a fabric much heavier than this DBP.

I reinforce the shoulders on most of my tops. I used to use clear elastic, which is soft and flexible until you cut it, at which point it becomes sharp and poky and annoying. I ditched the clear elastic in favor of 1/4” wide ribbon. Serging the ribbon into the shoulders is a breeze on my old Juki serger, so that is the one I use for that part of the construction.

I need to make sure I change up my tried-and-true patterns or I am going to end up with 15 LDTs. I like this style, but it does run the risk of looking like a maternity top. A few raglans would be nice, and a raglan would lend itself well to using up some of the small leftover chunks from other projects.

My stash of fabrics is slowly being turned into finished garments. Several of the fabrics in the stash are there because I liked the color or print, not because I had something specific in mind for them. I have a much better idea now what fabrics work well in what patterns.