Beans and Fabric — Janet Szabo

Back to our regularly scheduled blog posts . . .

One of our local grocery stores has a twice-yearly case lot sale, in March and September. The sale started yesterday, so I popped in to pick up a few things. Many of the items are processed foods, which I don’t use, but I take advantage of the opportunity to get things like evaporated milk, apple cider vinegar, canned tuna, rice, and other foods I can’t/don’t grow or make here. I also picked up a few items to send to the girls. DD#2 asked for salsa. She is another one who needs to have it delivered in 55-gallon drums. I think I am going to can some in pint jars to take over the next time I go to Seattle.

I followed the case lot sale with a trip to Costco, and by the time I left town, the car was loaded down with supplies. Marcie had asked me to pick up some ground beef for her, and when I dropped it off on my way home, she gifted me with a 12-quart bucket of green beans she and Tom had just brought in from the garden.

I rigged up a slightly better system for my green bean cutter and got about half of them done yesterday afternoon. (Yes, the floor needs a good sweeping and mopping.)

I’ll do the rest this morning and run them through the canner. We are set for green beans for the winter, yay!

We had our garden tour debriefing meeting last night. It was a lot of fun to hear about everyone’s experiences and we all agreed that it is something we want to continue doing. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that we had attendees from all over the valley—not just from our immediate area—thanks to information that appeared in the newspaper. We brainstormed lots of ideas for next year’s event.

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I did not buy much in Spokane; I was searching for things that I can’t get here and the stores in Spokane are having supply chain issues, too, not surprisingly. I found a length of teal rayon/spandex at one of the Joann stores. I bought two different chunks of Moda Grunge in light pink and dark pink at The Quilting Bee. At Regal Fabric and Gifts, which is the smaller of the two quilt stores—the owner would like to expand but she’s paying a small fortune in rent as it is—I picked up some Kaufman Mammoth Flannel that is destined to become a winter scarf:

I made myself an infinity scarf a few years ago that consisted of one layer of flannel and one layer of knit fabric. I wore that thing to death. In really cold weather, I wrapped it twice around my neck, but if I didn’t need that much warmth, I crossed it over my chest underneath my coat. Being an infinity scarf, I didn’t have to worry about it slipping off. I need a new one to match the coat I am wearing now. I’ve got some cotton knit in that pink color that should coordinate nicely.

I’ve also seen some cool flatlock serging projects for scarves and blankets using this flannel, so I bought enough extra to play around with that technique.

Walking around quilt stores makes me realize that I am a Robert Kaufman Fabrics fangirl, for sure. I love everything they put out, from Kona to Essex Linen to Mammoth Flannel to Laguna Cotton.

I also picked up another piece of Tula Pink fabric:

I know there are lots of Tula PInk fangirls out there. I salute you. I like some of her stuff, but most of it just makes me say, “Eh.” This sewing-themed fabric will become some kind of bag—maybe one of the large Poppins bags.

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Tomato harvesting continues. I need to keep a close eye on the weather forecast just in case it dips below 40 at night again. We typically get tomatoes until the end of September, even if we have to cover them every so often, so the tomato tsunami could go on for another month yet.

The co-op sale is in three weeks. I’ve got to get stuff out and start tagging it. I’d like to make a few more items, but that might not happen with all the canning that needs to get done yet. And it’s time to start cleaning up the garden. Lots to do in the next couple of weeks.