Pumpkins a Plenty!

The squash plants at the allotment are all dying off now.  I cant decide whether the colder weather has caused them to become wizened and the leaves to shrivel and die, or whether I just planted the seeds a little too early to be able to keep the plants growing healthy and strong all the way to Halloween.  This has been my first year of trying squash with any sort of conviction (I previously grew one small pumpkin a couple of years ago in our garden vegetable beds) so this year was to be the year that I gave over a whole bed on the allotment to pumpkins and squash.

There have been some successes and some disappointments.  The butternut squash didnt perform particularly well, but as you can see from the photograph below we did manage to grow two small fruits.

I'm storint the larger pumpkins in the greenhouse for now to hopefully harden the skin and complete the ripening process before storing in the house ready for carving at the end of the month!

The allotment is certainly needing a little Autumn TLC but we're still picking decnt crops of Runner beans and French beans- plus we've got loads of red salad bowl lettuce and lollo Rosso and a handful of bulbs of fennel.  The Brussels sprouts are also growing nicely- I'm hoping there'll still be some maturing later in the season for our Christmas Meal!

Garden vegetable patch haul!

Two posts in one day...........have I taken leave of my senses!! No, but I just couldnt resist as I have just unearthed a couple of lovely surprises in the garden.......

With all the rainy cold days of this August, family holidays, and with our allotment to look after, I'm ashamed to say that our garden vegetable patch has become just a little bit neglected of late.  This afternoon as the sun was shining I decided to clear away some of the plants that had gone to seed or had become old and straggly.  As I started the task of tidying up just one of the beds I discovered carrots, Kohl Rabi and flat leaved parsley all waiting to be harvested.  Then I picked the cherry tomatoes that are ripeneing beautifully on some plants that I just popped in the patch as an experiment and added those to today's tomatoes from the greenhouse, and of course this week's cucumber!  Altogether it looks like quite a haul, especially considering the fact that I thought I would just be clearing one of the patches, I never would have thought there was produce to be harvested too!
I have been particularly pleased with some of the tomato varieties I planted this year as they have been good heavy croppers.  In the greenhouse a plum variety called 'Shirley' has done really well, as has old cherry favourite 'sungold', however in the garden veg patch I planted a cherry variety called red cherry which has produced prolific fruits of pink/red colour in long trusses.  I think this variety is probably more suited to a container, where the fruits can trail over the sides, but I was nevertheless impressed with it's performance in the soil.  I wonder what delights vegetable bed number 2 will reveal when I tackle clearing it tomorrow?

New Fabric Purchases

On a slight detour from mine and little p's opticians appointments this morning we ventured into a small department store in Farnham.  It doesn't have a very extensive fabric collection and it is mostly geared for the quilting market, but I did catch sight of these two lovely fabrics from Clothworks.  They immediately conjured up an idea for a simple autumnal a line pinafore for Little P complete with contrasting fabric ruffle at the hem.  So I bought a metre of each on the spot! 
I also stocked up on some small haberdashery items as I am keep to make some little fabric bags to store Polly Pocket paraphernalia in. Little P received her first set of Polly Pocket for her recent birthday and the pieces are very small so I'm worried about losing them unless we can devise a suitable storage option!

Reversible Tote Bag Tutorial

This is my first tutorial so please excuse any formatting issues etc.

You will need:-

2 x pieces of fabric 36cm x 27 cm (outer)

2 x pieces of fabric 36cm x27cm (lining)

2 pieces of fabric 5cm x 60cm (outer)

2 pieces of fabric 5cm x 60cm (lining)

Step 1- make handles

With right sides together pin one lining handle piece of fabric to one outer handle piece. Using a 0.5cm seam allowance sew handle together along long edges. Turn so that right sides are outermost and press. If desired or if time allows top stitch 0.5mm from long edges.

Repeat for 2nd handle.

Step 2- Sew main body of bag

Using outer fabric and with right sides facing, pin and sew around 3 sides (2 short and one long side) leaving top side open. Still keeping right sides together place your hands inside the bag and push out the bottom corners to create a triangular shape at each corner.

Pin, perpendicular to the bottom seam 2.5cm from the corner to keep the triangle shape in place.

Then sew a seam along this line perpendicular to the corner (see photograph)

Cut excess fabric off

Leaving a 0.5cm seam allowance.
Repeat from beginning of step 2 for lining fabric.



Step 3- attaching the handles to bag

Take the outer bag piece and turn right side out. Take one handle piece and face the outer fabric of handle onto the outer fabric of bag (so reverse side of handle is uppermost). Lay the handle so that the loop is resting at the bottom of the bag and pit the two open ends to the top of the bag about 11cm apart. Using your machine attach handles to bag using a 1cm seam allowance. Turn bag over and repeat to attach handle to the opposite side of the bag, making sure the two places where you attach the tops of the handles match up on either side.

Step 4- making up the bag

Well done, you’re almost there! Keeping the bag outer just as you’ve had it for attaching the handles, take the lining section and with the right side of the lining facing the right side of the outer fabric, pop the outer fabric bag into the lining fabric bag. Line up side seams and pin the open section at the top of the bag together. (making sure the bag handles are safely tucked inside)

Sew around the top of the bag leaving a gap between the handles on one side of the bag open for turning.

Turn bag out like so:-

Next, pop the lining bag inside the outer to create your (almost) finished bag!

Pin and stitch the opening where you turned the bag 0.5 cm from the top.

Then continue to stitch 0.5cm from the top all around the bag to give it a neat top stitch.

Congratulations you now have a new, finished reversible bag!

This technique can be used to create a variety of different sized bags. You can embellish it with appliqué or pockets and if you don’t want to make it reversible you could easily secure the top of the bag with a strip of sew on Velcro or attach a button and loop closure. The possibilities are endless!

September sewing in the garden!

Phew, where did August go? A month of holidays, birthdays, rain, wind and a lot of busy times, the month seemed to disappear in the blink of an eye! Well, now it's a new month, September is often a time of new beginnings with children starting a new school year or perhaps even starting school or Nursery for the first time.  Well, today I had a first, it was the first time i have been able to sew in the garden in the sunshine for ages!!  Not once in August could I have achieved what I have done today...

To celebrate I have written my first tutorial which i shall try and upload in my next post.  Long may the September sunshine continue!