From Pickles to Patchwork

As planned, Thursday evening finished up in the kitchen with me bottling that big bowl of onions. They’d been sitting in their salt bath for about nine hours, so it was just a quick rinse and straight into the jar — yes, just one huge jar. You can’t really tell from the photo, but some of those onions are the size of golf balls.

I tucked in my usual bay leaves and chillies, a scattering of peppercorns, and a few other little bits and pieces before pouring over the vinegar and sugar/stevia solution. Now the jar is sealed and tucked away, and I’ll be making sure Tony keeps his hands off it until at least April.

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While having a tidy‑up in the freezer the other day, I came across a few packets of homegrown cauliflower that had been there a little bit too long. Time to use them up — but how? I went hunting for pickle or chutney recipes, but nothing felt quite right. Then my trusty Co‑Pilot, who was helping me search, suggested making a curry base. Hmm. Co‑Pilot even came up with a recipe.

So I got stuck right in.

In less than an hour I had four little bowls of curry base cooling on the bench, ready to pop into the slow cooker whenever I want an easy dinner. All I’ll need to add is some meat or veg, maybe a splash of coconut milk or a few tomatoes, and dinner will take care of itself.

And no, it doesn’t taste like cauliflower. It did at first, but after a generous extra hit of ginger and spices, it now tastes exactly like curry should.

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Tired of domestic duties, I cleaned up the kitchen and headed into my happy sewing room. I set about cutting up more fat quarters for Jiffy’s quilt, but of course I started worrying that I didn’t have quite enough. A quick rummage through the batik drawer turned up a few more possibilities, and after a to‑and‑fro Messenger consult with Janice, five more fabrics were added to the collection. 

(Don’t you just love the modern world and the convenience of things like Messenger and Snapchat? I sent Janice a bunch of photos and she was almost instantly able to give me her thoughts on my fabric choices. She joked that she was being picky, but that’s precisely why I ask for her opinions — she sees things I might miss, and I always value her eye).

And that was it — all the squares are now cut. Time to start sewing things together.

But by then it was lunchtime, and my body was very clearly telling me so.

I made myself a quick cheese salad for lunch before retiring to my armchair for the afternoon.

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 Confession time. I know I said no squirrels, no new starts, no getting sidetracked, but… next week we’ll be away for a few days and I need a little project to take along.

If I took my hexies, well, you know how fast I can sew those pretties together — I’d need a huge pile of them. No, I needed something small and a little more time consuming. Then I remembered the mini cross stitch skulking in the drawer beside my chair, so I pulled it out and made sure everything I needed was tucked into a project bag.

As you can see from the price tag, it’s a kit I rescued somewhere along the way. That cute bowl of strawberries look good enough to stitch, even if I can’t eat them. And since it was all there and ready to go, I made a quick start.

I’ll take this along on our mini break. If I have time to pick it up and make a little progress, great. If not, that’s perfectly fine too. This project isn’t important — it’s just something to take along.

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I sewed a couple more hexies after putting the strawberries away, then set my needle down and watched a movie while I waited for Tony to come home. He took me out for dinner, which was a lovely way to end the day.

So what’s in store for today? No kitchen duties this morning. The only chore on my list is to wrap a gift for a colleague’s 50th birthday — we’re going to her party this evening. After that, the day is mine. I might wander back to the sewing room and start joining some of those squares together…

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