Salsa Production

I cooked down enough tomatoes for at least one canner load of salsa—14 quarts—but I may get more than that. I do my salsa in the pressure canner. This is not gourmet salsa. This is the salsa you make when your husband eats a quart of it a week and you have to put up 50+ quarts. I will heat up the sauce again this morning and add the vinegar, garlic, onions, peppers, and spices and see where I’m at with the quantity.

While I was waiting for the tomatoes to cook down, I did some pattern work and made a wearable muslin of the Cashmerette Wexford:

The fabric is some rayon/spandex from the Walmart remnant rack. (I see that it needs to make the acquaintance of an iron.) The length is perfect after adding 3" to the pattern. I made the neckband a bit wider because I prefer them that way. This is an awfully high neckline, though. I’d still like to frankenpattern it into a cowl neck. I need to lengthen the sleeves by about an inch, too.

It looks like I am spending my time on dead simple garments—and to a certain extent, that’s true—but I am trying to cement some basic drafting principles into my brain. I am also trying to determine how different designers handle full bust adjustments. Some of them do it better than others. This approach probably only makes sense to me and that’s okay. If I didn’t experiment and sew up new patterns, I never would have found that Simplicity darted raglan pattern.

I am itching to move on to princess seams.

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Our neighbors went to Greece last month. I watch for anything odd at their property while they are gone because I have a great line of sight from our front windows. Theresa always brings me a gift from their travels—sometimes scarves, sometimes aprons, both of which she knows I love. This time, it was an apron:

The embroidery on this is just beautiful. And the apron itself is linen. This is a special dress-up apron, for sure. 🥰

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Sewing classes are still filling up, and I am working on an event for next spring. It is gratifying to see how everything is coming together. I like to be busy and this is a good kind of busy.