Garden Progress: Harvesting and Feasting

 This is a frequent evening scene in my kitchen or out in the garden: harvesting and feasting. It does not get any fresher than this. Still enjoying lots of ground cherries. Still wishing that I could accumulate enough at one time (4 cups) for an entire pie...

I made a giant bowl of fresh salsa this weekend with food grown less than 100ft from my back door (some from my neighbor's garden). The ingredient list looks like this (all finely chopped):

• 4 small onions
• 2 golden and 2 red tomatoes
• 10 tomatillos
• 2 medium size cucumbers
• 1 red pepper
• 3 jalepeno peppers
• salt to taste

It tastes so fresh and delicious. I can't get enough. It would be just heavenly if only my cilantro had not already gone to seed. Fall seedlings, including more cilantro, are making good progress though.

Sew Special: Cozy Sweater

Boy-ish Pickles Plain Cardigan

I made this sweater as a modified version of the Pickles Plain Cardigan Pattern.  Two factors spurred me to make this a boy-ish sweater: first, the fact that 2 out of 3 kiddos are boys and this way it can be worn longer and by more people - second, like most of my projects, style and colors were determined by what I already had on hand.
Daughter A loves this sweater - a very lucky happening since it turned out about a size 5-6.
Mods were minimal - I just continued in stockinette stitch while I joined the arms and then switched to garter stitch when the decreases looked about right. The wide, nordic-looking, garter stitch collar at the top of this sweater is one of my favorite features. This pattern is a quick knit since the yarn is chunky, but I would not recommend the pattern to anyone with less than intermediate level knitting experience. It spells things out in broad terms only and expects you to understand things like how to join the raglan sleeves.

Home Schooling Summary for Last Week

We returned home on Tuesday night from vacation and took it easy all week. Little brother S made some giant leaps forward though. He started cruising and climbed up two stairs while my back was turned! Time to remember to use all the baby gates again.

yes that is drool hanging off his chin - so gooey.

Recommended Reading: Matilda

Matilda is one of several classic children's books written by Roald Dahl. I enjoyed the cheeky-ness of Roald Dahl's style of writing.  I think it might be hard for kids though because they are so literal. I guess it could be funny both ways, but I will wait to read this aloud with my kiddos until they are older. Probably 7-8 would be a good age for this story.
There are some violent dialogues and scenes that pre-schoolers might find frightening rather than funny:

Reuse Recipe: Red Cabbage

I harvested about 10 medium size heads of read cabbage this year. And although I loved it in Borcht and fish tacos, I had A LOT of it - and I did not want to waste it. So here it is all canned using the Ball Blue Book of Canning recipe for spiced red cabbage.

Ways to use red cabbage

Garden Progress: Ground Cherries

I always joke with the neighbors about how my garden is very experimental. I love trying new things. The star of this year's show so far are these Ground Cherries. The kids love picking them and opening the papery coverings. They are sweet and smell wonderful. Sort of a cross between a white peach and cherry tomato. Here is a fun video about them.

Fun garden produce for kids -- ground cherries

I need to stop munching on them and try to save some so that I can make a pie! Sounds delicious.

Sew Special: White Slipcover Part B

We just came back from a 2 week vacation to Galveston and Houston, Texas. We played hard, had tons of fun with cousins and family, came home exhausted, and have been taking it easy this week.

New black and white ikea rug gives the room a western vibe, which I am loving lately

Just before we hit the road, I finished this white slipcover. I am so happy with how this turned out. I used the antique ticking that I mentioned having purchased awhile back. Here are some steps and pictures of the cushion covering part of the process.

white slipcover with denim and ticking

If you are like me and you want to do this as economically as possible - the PRE first step is to make some cording with laundry line cord, twine, or other hefty string. That could be a whole post in and of itself. Check youtube for video instructions on making cording - there are tons.

Step 1: Trace around the old cushions cushions to make an pattern for the new ones. I usually trace directly onto the new fabric - risky, but time saving.  Measure the depth (width of the strip around the cushion and cut some strips that wide plus 1 inch (for 1/2 inch seam allowances)

Step 2: Cut 1 side strip in half and insert the zipper. Cut this strip about 1/2 inch wider than the rest to allow for the insertion of the zipper plus the 2 side seams.

Step 3: Sew/Baste cording around the outer edge of your soon-to-be cushion cover. The only hard part on this step is at the end. You have to cut your cording about 2-3 inches longer than the actual circumference of your cushion. Open the cording and cut out the rope/twine so that it just meets up with the starting end. Then fold back the extra fabric to create a neat hem around the joint. Sew the two ends together. See video here (starting about 10 minutes in)

 Step 4: Sew fabric strip almost all the way around and then stop and join the strip ends together before completing the seam. Again - tons of videos on youtube about this - check it out!  Even this sturdy denim has a tendency to fray - so I trimmed all the seam allowances with pinking shears and then zigzag stitched close to the edge.

Step 5: Sew the other half of the cushion to the center strip and reinforce seam allowances. Turn right side out and insert foam cushion.