Refashioned Bags

A review copy of this book arrived in my mailbox yesterday. For a thrifter (Op-shopper for those of you who live down under) and a bagaholic, there couldn't be a more appropriate book. Besides 24 specific bag making projects, they have " handpicked the hottest and most innovative bags made from post-consumer materials (how much better that sounds than used or re-cycled) from around the globe. The designers of these bags contribute their stories, tips on sourcing and their artistic pitfalls and triumphs for your crafty inspiration".
The intriguing bag on the cover is made mostly with zippers. There is one made of old ties, another from bath mats and glue (that would be fun for the beach, if only the temperature here were above zero and we lived less than 3000 miles from the beach), one made from a shower curtain and even one from magazine pages. Some of them are a bit far out for my taste but then I'm not a teenager any more. Some of them are more traditional looking, using jeans, leather jackets or velvet pants. One of my favorites is made from old doilies (there are always tons of them at our local thrift shop and I have dyed a few of them but then didn't know what to do with them. Now I know.) and curtain rings covered with ribbon. Another one uses a glove as a flap. Now I know what to do with that glove that is missing it's mate. Maybe my unmatched sock bag will finally be useful, althoug an old sock might not look as trendy as a nice leather glove. Who knew that a round electrical plug plate could become a trendy purse closure when covered with suede? Don't be at all surprised if you see several new bags showing up on this blog in the near future.
The authors, Faith and Justina Blakeny are sisters and the designers behind Compai, a crafty design studio and eco-clothing label. I'd say this book is well worth buying if you enjoy this sort of craft.

Tikkar

Tikkar is a savory country corn bread from Rajasthan, India. It is a non-yeast dough with chopped onion, ginger, garlic, jalapino and tomato (I had no fresh so I used sun dried) mixed into the dough. It's cooked in a frying pan and ghee is slathered on at the end to crisp it up. It was very, very tasty with Boursin cheese.

Tablecloth

I wasn't happy with any of the sashing opitions so I made another series of blocks. The big ones down the middle are 14 inches. The outside ones are 8 inches and the sashing ones are 4 inches. Those are the sizes of my square rulers. I may arrange them from largest to smallest instead of going with the small ones as sashing. I will still have an outside border to make it wide enough. It is pretty busy but it's a scrap quilt so that is allowed.

Border Questions

Here are four possible borders for the scrappy tablecloth. Of course, in the end it may be none of the above. I did have a black piece up but it looked too heavy. I may have to try more than one piece of each choice before I can decide.

Give Away

Check Corrie's blog for a great giveaway. Or maybe don't because I'd really love to win 12 fat quarters of that lovely fabric.

Scrappy Table Topper

I have a folding table that I use for crafts or extra company. Because of the crafts, it's not very presentable for company. Today I thought I'd make a table cloth the right size for it. It needs a cover about 45x80 inches. I have used lots of scraps, but there are still tons left. I might put a piano key border between the small and large blocks. Or maybe some smaller blocks. Or maybe a black and white print. The options are endless.

Curry Dinner

Here is the dinner I made yesterday. On the right is Fried Cheese and Vegetable Curry (Paneer Kari from India) with Besan Roti which is a chickpea bread on the left. The small dish has the last of the pomegranate and yogurt sauce. I also served a pear chutney that I made when our pears were ripe. For dessert we had Apricot and Almond bread (Kimochdun) from Pakistan. All of these were delicious. Every single recipe that I have tried from this book so far have been wonderful. The downside? We are getting fat from eating so much bread!

Ready to Quilt

Here is the 16 patch with 4 inch black borders (sorry they don't show up much on the bed) all ready for backing and quilting. I have to go shopping for backing because I don't have anything that big on hand and don't feel like piecing the backing. I also have to get batting. It is big enough for a queen sized bed.

Persian Food

Today I made Pebbled Persian Bread (Hushva Nan) and Pomegranate and Meatball Soup (Ash).
They were both delicious although our first comment on the soup was that the taste was totally unexpected. The broth is made with pomegranate juice. It aso has spinach, rice, parsley and green onions and is soured with lemon juice.
The Nan bread is whole wheat and was a bit tricky to make. I think the dough may have been too soft because it didn't keep the finger marks as it was supposed to but it was still delicious. It is first cooked in a frying pan and then the whole pan is put in the oven under the broiler to finish. I managed not to burn myself but it takes a lot of discipline not to grab the handle of the frying pan when it's on the stove top, forgetting that it just came out of the oven.
I will be making both of these again sometime.

16 Patch Quilt

This morning before I went of for my weekly thrift run, I sewed the 16 Patch together. It is huge. The design wall is 8x10 and it pretty well fills it up. Therefore, I think I'll only put a black border around it. I wouldn't put a border at all except that the half pinwheels all finish with bias seams so without a border it would stretch all out of shape on the frame. I spent some time re-arranging and then re-re-aranging but finally I just gave up and sewed it together.