Crafting and gardening...

Last night I made a new quilt block in one of LisAnn's fun classes at Country Sewing Center. This one was from the modern block party group that meets monthly. We have 2 blocks to chose from and I made the Tula Pink City Sampler book one here:

And last week I got together with a couple of other gals from the quilt groups and we channeled our inner 60s with tie dyed tshirts!

And come outside now into the garden...

Here is the harvest from my garden just this morning:

The peppers in the pan with the tomatoes are hot (salsa and jalapenos) and the other dish has the mild ones (Italian sweet, gypsy, and bells). This squash was hiding from yesterday -- I have been getting on average a squash a day from my zucchini and yellow squash plants. And yes that is an eggplant -- the first of my Japanese ones that are supposed to be small and longish although this one is sort of fat. And the tomatoes are mostly cherry (yellow grape, currant red and black krim) and a couple of San Marzanos that I toss into the bag in the freezer until I have enough for a sauce. And a few strawberries to round out the plates. My plants are not producing as much as I had hoped but it has been really really hot and I don't think strawbs like it quite so toasty.

I have been enjoying the fruits of my garden a lot these last weeks, and apparently so has another critter:

What do you think it might be? I suspect a rat! We have started putting out bait and traps... gotta have patience with an animal who likes tomatoes and when you have around 10 tomato plants! What irks me is that those were my heirloom Brandywines! Apparently I have a gourmet rat!

And a couple of weeks ago I took up one of the potato plants because I thought it was ready to check and ended up with this motley small group of taters. It is more potatoes than I have ever grown before but really, it is barely a couple of bites! The other plant is starting to really die off now so I will check it in a few days and hope I got more!  I started them both rather late this time (in April) and I think they needed some of the cooler months before to get started. Oh well, I will try again next year after the beginning of the year and then see what happens!

Oh and I almost forgot -- this was my blueberry harvest this year:   (ok stop laughing)

What they were actually we from a couple of new plants I got this year for a crop next year and they happened to have a few berries on them. My old plants out did not fare well and so this year I got a couple more, replanted everyone into more of a boggy soil environment and will hope for the best for next year!