So how is life treating you in your corner of the world? I’m happy because we’re having a lovely warm Sunday, a departure from the premature Fall we’ve been having here over the past two weeks. Today we are picking apples. Odd how this was not a chore when I was a kid -we had an orchard then too- I called a family member who had some extra kids so we should be done today. The adults will supervise and drink New Mexico varietals. We collect those. At present, we have a large supply of apples suitable for horses (which I’ll give to the neighbors), a supply of cooking apples and also, nice sized un-bug or bird bitten ones for eating too.
As ever, there are more entries listed on the archives page. Hope your weekend is as lovely and carefree as ours.
August 24, through September 6, 2005
Lean Laundry
10 signs of a problem designer
My dirty laundry
Matisse the Master
Current line planning
Kewpie doll patent & pattern
Sleeve Drafting Tutorial
Hazards of selling close to delivery dates
August 24, through September 6, 2006
Analyzing business plans pt.5
What is a bridge line?
What are Look Books?
What does “self” mean?
Who sets delivery dates?
Net 30 and getting deposits for orders
Interview with an inventor
Buttocks bras, caffeine lingerie and sizing surveys
Knock yourself off
Timing of seasons
How many collections to produce the first year?
Getting into your first trade show
August 24, through September 6, 2007
Designer’s advice on starting a clothing line
Muslin never looked so good
Pattern Puzzle: Bog shoes
Pop quiz #467
Obesity and prognosticating scarcity
Pop quiz #467 pt.2
How to become a sales rep?
#1 mistake of new designers
Made in L.A.
Open letter to POOL Tradeshow
News from you 8/31/2007
Sourcing at Magic
It all starts here 7
Children’s wear design
Trade show success and expectations
Returns policies
Saks: Excessive chargebacks
August 24, through September 6, 2008
Top misconceptions of lay people you wish you could correct
Fashion ads: art or pornography?
Exibitor trade show report: Outdoor Retailer 8/2008
Freelance Fabric Design Question pt.2
The accidental freelance fashion designer
A retailer’s question on order cancellation dates
Are you a victim of a hanger fix?
Trade show review: Lingerie Americas Magic 8/2008
How to know your patterns have been corrected
Trade show review 1: POOL 8/2008
August 24, through September 6, 2009
Prototype bag Style# 4216 pt.2
Museum Notes: Toledo, Textiles & Vionnet
What are SKUs?
What are UPC codes?
How to assign SKUs and UPCs
Inglourious costumes
Do you need your own bar codes?
Kamali has moved production to the US
August 24, through September 6, 2010
Who sells the most at market -and why
Who sells the most at market -and why pt.2
How to be sustainable, protect your IP and still make loads of money
Fit used to be so much better?
August 24, through September 6, 2011
Tip for checking your patterns
Email marketing espionage
The top rated city for luxury goods
Paying your dues: Men of the Cloth
I miss apple picking. We used to go across the river to an orchard in Missouri when we were at Ft Leavenworth, KS. Terrif pie apples that were good for eating out of hand as well. Here we have to travel to Willcox which is quite a bit further and the season has not really begun there yet. Enjoy your endeavors.
Theresa in Tucson
I thought I would be industriously taking pictures to post with my listings, but instead I spent a lazy day with my 7-year-old granddaughter while my picture taker (her mother) took care of a sick husband. I read, she played an unknown game involving the Narnia castle and figures and the Lego figures from the Superhero set. The set for this “game” spread over half the living room. With miscellaneous pieces, a helicopter for one, added in. I love watching her spread her wings like this. She is like a fledgling on the edge of the nest.
My weekend was an embarrassment of riches. On Friday, the sewing machine my mother had mailed arrived, along with some OMGbeautiful coral-and-gold batik cotton which didn’t match any of her current quilting projects. On Saturday morning, biked with my husband on my very recently purchased folding bike and I cannot overstate the joy of finally riding a light, short, casual bike that fits a light, short, casual bod. On Saturday afternoon, pootled around alone at a community yard sale, biking from garage to garage and patching all those little holes in the household left by the move. On Sunday morning, picked a kumquat from the bush in the backyard*–it’s too short to be called a tree–and steeped it in my tea to make an imitation Earl Grey out of some supermarket tea-dust teabags.
*Needless to say, I am not in Ireland these days.
I needed applesauce for a recipe a few days ago and my order of 24 jars hadn’t arrived yet, so I decided to try and make some. I haven’t made any in a million years because it never was very good. And I haven’t had any homemade applesauce that I though was good either. But I still needed it, so searched and found a recipe that sounded good. Wow!! It was the best applesauce EVER!!
When my order of 24 jars arrived, one of the kids popped open the jar and I had some. EW!! I will NEVER buy applesauce again!! And this was the sauce we have used for years. Thanks, granny smith!!
I was so caught up in the apple sauce (is it one or two words!?!?) that I forgot to say anything about your apple picking.
How many apples trees do you have? What kind? Do you have to spray them? How fun!! I love going to the orchard to pick apples and it’s great when they say that you can eat as many as you want when your picking. But it’s funny how, even thought I get so excited, by the time I’m almost finished eating one, I can’t eat any more. The apples make me feel sooooo stuffed so quickly. I wonder if other people are like that.
Anyway, what are you going to make with all your apples? A picture would be fun!! Oh, happy day!!
Quinn: I’m so glad you’re back. Maybe now we’ll have an opportunity to meet.
Sandy: We made applesauce all the time when I was a kid, just cook some apples on the stove, add a tiny bit of sugar and you’re done. The taste can vary a lot depending on the apple crop. Last year, the crop here was disastrous, none in the whole state due to a late spring freeze. Maybe that’s why your order was cruddy.
We only have four apple trees (I first reported it was five but one turns out to be a dud). There was another one off by itself but it was ailing so we chopped it down. We don’t spray them. We don’t have many apples left. We gave some to our BIL, the neighbor etc. I will cook what is left and make an apple crisp. There are also a couple of boxes in the basement from an earlier picking so maybe I’ll make applesauce.
TIME magazine ran an article not too long ago about how this year’s drought has been enhancing the flavor of the crops which survived. Best possible year to get even tastier results when canning your own. :) Now I’m curious though, what sort of recipe requires an entire box of jars of applesauce?