see you, summer

I can tell that the beginning of school has arrived just in time, since I had fallen into a sort of end-of-summer daze that results in things like accidentally ordering a dozen donuts, realizing partway through, & then being too embarrassed/conscious of the line behind me to ask the nice donut girl to change the order.  You're all, cha, accidental donut over-ordering, right, but listen, I really only meant to order SIX, which is not exactly a dainty number either, is it?  (Typing right like that reminds me that my children have both taken to saying niiice in a low-slung, appreciative kind of way, which cracks us up every time & is a fine testament to all the hipster twenty-somethings who populate summer camps & preschools around here.)

One nice, though slightly overwhelming, thing about the end of summer is that the Great Wall of Tomato kicked into overdrive.  The front-yard experiment paid off, & will be repeated next year. Although maybe with not quite so many plants.

Things have slowed down now, but for about a week I was picking a colander like this every other day.  I'd say that the all-around winner for both good taste + crazy numbers has been the sungold, which is a delicious orange cherry tomato & which will is very unruly & will completely take over your entire tomato wall bed, insinuating little glowing clusters of tomatoes throughout the other plants, if you let it.  In the middle of the colander there, on the stem, are a few black cherry tomatoes, which are the size of big superballs & just gorgeous, though not quite as impressively tasty as the sungold.  The big tomato winner (seen at the back) is the Black Prince plant, which -- according to the plant list at the Seattle Tilth website -- is supposed to grow 2" fruit but has been producing lots of 4-5" tomatoes for us. 

I have had to be a little inventive in dealing with the harvest, but there are worse things than eating fresh-picked tomatoes every single day.

Back to school for them means back to work for me.  Time to start getting ready for fall/winter shows.

Meanwhile, my (first-grader!) son sets up & photographs more playmobil soccer vignettes.  I let him use the big camera for these, & I love watching him find his shot with a camera he can barely keep steady.  My husband just brought home istopmotion (he's totally been waiting for an excuse), so there's no end in sight to this fad.

Tried my hand at dyeing some fabric, along with some wide twill tape.  Man, I love that chartreuse.

I'm going to be putting some cuts of this lightweight dyed twill tape (along with matching heavyweight tape) up in my etsy shop sometime later today.  I thought I might get to it this morning, but all this back-to-school freedom has me a little scattered.  I think I'd better stay out of the donut shop for a while.

Comments

[blair]

I got no good tomatoes this year on my plant, but...then again, maybe I should have watered them a bit more regularly. All the colors look so beautiful together, both in tomato form and in twill tape form. I need to email you back, I think I'm waffling around the house now that school's back in too.

[Mama Urchin]

We're having a tomato explosion too. It's totally out of control and I think for us it's only going to get worse, I mean better. Love the twill tape!

[kristin]

i'm loving that chartreuse too. all of it is eye candy.

[erin]

now i really need to order that dye....it all looks so great.

[emilyruth]

i just found your blog through posie gets cozy & i am loving it...i read back a few months & i really enjoy your voice & your super cool projects...great wedding stuff too...you are totally bookmarked now:)

[emilyruth]

oh & the twill tape is to die for...or to dye for, i suppose, if you're in that kind of mood:)

[Tara Jane]

I have been thinking about hand-dying lately. My mother-in-law made my son a beautiful cotton sweater (with tini-tiny needles). We must have unknowingly dribbled milk on it, because I pulled it out of the drawer and there are big bleached spots on the front of the baby-blue piece, ugh. Do you think I could re-dye the whole sweater a little bit darker? Any hints? Thanks.

[Anna]

Love your pile of...pouches? I have those on my list of things to do today, too. Great fabrics!

[Laura]

That bowl of tomatoes looks so appealing, The only ones that worked out for me this year were Romas. I was so hoping the grape tomatoes would do well, but alas...I don't think the plants were that hardy. I did get one Black Prince and love the heart shape.

[lafemmefollette]

law-abiding as you can be, I feel compelled to tell you, abouttomato rotation -- I never take it too seriously in my garden and in 4 years have not yet had a blight.

lasagna casserole turned into a thing the size of a honda that was slightly embarrassing to present, but apparently was delicious, thank you for yr help!

[robyn]

Hi! I am wondering what dye you use for the twill tape? I have some fabric I want to dye and am looking for a good quality dye. The colors of yours are so vibrant. I thought I'd ask you first before I went searching. Thank you!

[robyn]

Hi! I am wondering what dye you use for the twill tape? I have some fabric I want to dye and am looking for a good quality dye. The colors of yours are so vibrant. I thought I'd ask you first before I went searching. Thank you!

[pandora armband]

Thank you ,it's really useful.

[Buy Viagra]

Tomatoes have many properties and vitamin and if you eat it frequently is sure you will see more beautiful because the tomatoes contain antioxidant that help the skin to stay young longer. In fact i read a blog some days ago and i knew all the properties of the tomatoes. That is why i talk to bases.