Nothing

 

That's what I sold at the fair on Saturday, absolutely nothing! I did make one purchase, this cotton fabric that was made in Nigeria. And since there's no restocking of beadwork to do, I have plenty of time for sewing. 

WIP

 

I'm taking along a half finished bracelet, work in progress, to a fair today so that I can show how the beaded crochet rope is made. Assuming anyone is interested of course. I'll take along my leaf braid tatting too because it could be a long day. 

Restocking

 

I sold some child size bracelets at the last fair I went to, so I've been making some more for the next fair. Someone wanted a blue one that day, so I've made sure there's a blue one! 

Nearly Done

 

I still have to hem the frill, but the bedspread has basically come together. I'll do the other one to match, but I've discarded any idea of doing a double bed cover. I think to do the job properly I'd need the right equipment - a bigger sewing machine, a larger cutting table, a gathering foot... I should probably stick to dressmaking! 

A Seriously Large Pot

 

We don't have a pot big enough to cook the ingredients for brawn (don't ask!) so we borrowed one. It's a very large pot! The lid is as big as my dustbin lid. It wouldn't fit on my stove top, so we put it on the braai (barbecue) outside and kept it stoked with wood for over three hours. This morning I duly made the brawn. The trusty butter containers came into play again as moulds. I've put four of them in the freezer and one in the fridge to eat this evening. It should be set by then. 

Of Chewing

 You've heard the expression, 'She's bitten off more than she can chew'. I hope that's not the case with my latest sewing  project. Weeks and weeks ago I bought 17 metres/yards of calico to make curtains and simple bed covers for a spare bedroom. But I made a plan B and altered some curtains I was given to make them fit that room. Which meant I had 17 metres for bed covers. How about making bedspreads with frills instead of simple rectangles? I drew a diagram and cut the pieces I need, using up almost all the 17 metres. Hmmm. It soon became clear that my plan to gather the frills wasn't going to work. I started with the smallest side and my thread broke! Plan B was to make pleats instead. I like gathering because you can just pull the longer bit up to fit. Pleats have to be more exact. I thought I'd worked out the formula, but really in the end I resorted to trial and error. I now have the frills for one cover done and have to put the whole thing together. It looks like an awful lot of fabric, so I hope I can chew sufficiently to get it all assembled! 

And Onions

 

A few months ago, a friend came to lunch and brought a bottle of curried onions. Hmm, I thought, that would be a good way to make use of Jack's onion crop. I couldn't find a recipe that sounded anything like Jenni's curry, so I adapted a recipe for Curried Green Beans. The first batch went down very well, so I've made some more. 

On a side note, I lost my recipe for curried green beans in one or other house move. Luckily I had shared it with friends and was able to get it back from one of them. Which goes to show the advantage of sharing recipes! So... I'm going to share my recipe for curried onions here, for anyone who wants to use it, and to act as a back up for me. 

Curried Onions

Makes 8 jam jars full

Ingredients

2 kg onions

1 Tablespoon oil

1 Tablespoon butter or margarine

50g hot curry powder

4 chillies (optional)

1 cup sugar

1 Tablespoon salt

1 Dessert spoon turmeric

750 ml vinegar

750 ml water

3 heaped Tablespoons cornflour

1. First sterilize the jars and lids. I use baby bottle sterilizer or bleach, one teaspoon to one litre water.

2.Peel the onions, cut them in half and then in slices, not too thin or they'll go to mush.

3. Heat the oil and butter, add the onions and cook them over a low heat until they are soft but not brown.

4. Add to the pot the curry powder, chillies, sugar, salt, and turmeric, mix well and continue frying for a few minutes.

5. Add the vinegar and water. Bring to the boil and then simmer while heating up the jars and lids.

6. I put jars in the oven to heat, at 110 degrees celcius, putting them in a cold oven and then switching on and leaving them until the  temperature is reached. I use boiling water to heat the lids. 

7. Mix the cornflour to a paste with water, add to the pot and stir until the mixture thickens. Pour into hot jars. I use a funnel made from the top of a 2 litre bottle to aid bottling, it helps keeps the jars clean. Wipe mouth of jar and put on lid. 

8. Keep for three weeks to mature before eating.