Making Sauerkraut

Let's make some sauerkraut...

You'll need some equipment - which my neighbors Mr. & Mrs. B have.  This is a crock and a stomper...  

I think the 10 on the side of this crock means it's a 10 gallon.

 

Mrs. B picked up 9 heads of cabbage... they are huge!  That's my Big knife and those are quart size jars.

Mrs. B had already cleaned off the bad leaves and then peeled off some of the outer leaves to use when we are finished... she was all business with her knife.

This is a wonderful old 3 blade mandolin to shred the cabbage.

Mrs. B and I got started but we were sure glad to see Mr. B come home.  I don't think either of us could have shredded those last 3 heads.

Shred the cabbage - put it in the crock...

 

Add salt and mix around the first layer

 

Then you 'stomp' with the stomper... which breaks down the fiber of the cabbage - releases juice which mixes with the salt... which helps draw more liquid from the cabbage... and on it goes.... shred, fill, salt, stomp...

 

You can see the puddle of juice...

 

When you are finished filling the crock and stomping it's time to top it off with the cabbage leaves you saved.

 

 

I layered the leaves around - tucking them in around the edges and pushing the cabbage down into the juice as I go.

 

This is a big flat stone that they use on top - yes everything has been well sanitized (they've used these rocks for years)

And then a big heavy stone to keep the cabbage under the liquid.

Then we tied two layers of cheese cloth around the top to keep bugs out...

 

This will sit for 6 weeks fermenting...

There was about a 1/4 of a head left that we didn't shred - so that came home with me.

It got chopped up and cooked down with some onion and Smoked Sausage and we called it dinner!  Yum!

 

In six weeks... we'll have sauerkraut!

Who'd a Thunk?

Just a few snippets of rambling thoughts here this morning... I'll see if I can be brief... <not easy for me>

Anyhoo... Who'd a Thunk that 'mid-morning' would mean 8:30 AM?  Until this morning it wouldn't have been me.  But as I stood in the kitchen cutting up an apple to go with some peanut butter for my 'mid-morning snack' I had to laugh.  I had a breakfast of 2 slices of french toast at 5:00 AM and I'm starving already.  Yesterday I didn't stop for a snack and then managed to graze my way through the rest of the day... unable to satisfy that rumbly in my tumbly.

In addition to feeding The Engineer before he left - I've cleaned the kitchen, washed 3 loads of laundry, dried 2 to far, folded 3 (don't go doing the math now - some was left from yesterday) and am pondering a couple more... as I type this it's not yet 9:00 AM.  I have also piddled away some time reading blogs, checking email... and I wondered why some of these folks hadn't posted yet??  Yeah it was a duh moment for me... hello it's only 6:00 AM.

A funny visual from the other day - another one of those times I wished I'd had a camera.  As I'm driving home from the quilt shop I usually pass this small herd of dairy cows.  I don't usually pay them much mind - they are just there - although as cows go I'm sure they are 'outstanding in their field'... LOL sorry... couldn't help myself.  Anyway - as I approach this field the other day I notice one single cow running across the field toward the farm.  Have you seen a dairy cow run?  Ain't nothing funnier than a DAIRY COW RUNNING!  Really - cows just don't run gracefully anyway... and with a FULL udder... well... I'm just saying! 

Today... I'm sewing for a few hours... then headed over to Mrs. B's house (my neighbor) after lunch to make sauerkraut.  I didn't get pictures of the 'making sauerkraut' last time - so I'll take my camera today.  I did blog about my first experience in homemade sauerkraut last December.

I can't tell you how much I've been looking forward to today.  I finished off my last jar of kraut a couple weeks ago - now I know I've only got to wait another 6 weeks for more!  Mmmm Yummy!

Design Wall Monday... 11-9

Finally - I've made up the vine for the other Serendipity blocks.  Here is the single wall unit with Block #2 in the works... all the freezer paper pattern pieces are cut out.  Now to select the fabric to go with them and get the vine stitched in place.

 

The double wall unit has the vines for the other blocks... this is just a holding area for now.

No other progress on the other items. But I do have a stack of block pairs to sew together and hopefully make a quilt out of over the next couple days.  I'll post pictures later when I have some together.

Check out what other quilters have on their design walls by visiting over at Judy L's Patchwork Times...

Souper Weekend in Color...

A couple weeks ago I used orange cauliflower to make soup... this past Friday I picked up some of the purple cauliflower at The Green Dragon Farmers Market.

I love going there for the produce - I always visit an Amish farmer that has wonderful stuff.  This week I got 3 large heads of cauliflower (2 white and 1 purple) for $3.00.  I blanched most of the white and froze it... some I cooked longer to mash and froze 2 pint containers of mashed cauliflower.

The purple I cut up and put into a pot of chicken stock... the stock turned purple!!  So we had Purple Cauliflower Chicken soup last night...

I did add light cream to it before serving... made a soft purple broth... sure was yummy!

I'd like to get some more orange and purple to freeze... I think my granddaugher Miss K will enjoy that when she comes to visit in December.  Just a few short weeks and they'll be here!

So is the soup on at your house?

Stash Report... Week 45

Waaa Hoooo!   I can finally report some usage... 4 yards out of my stash for the Christmas Tree Napkins!  I have 16 napkins - 8 from each pair of fabrics.  Here's the forest...

The bottom right 2 have just 3 folds and are therefore chubby and short - the others all have 4 folds and are taller and not as wide.  If you had a fabric with a bigger design element on it - the 3 folds would show off the fabric more...  always nice to have options.

I didn't do anything else quilty this week at home... I've been too tired to be motivated.  This getting up at 4:30 AM has kicked my butt.  I need 7.5 hours of sleep... so it looks like I'm going to have to head to bed for 9 PM for that to work.  Aaauuuuggghhh!  But I'm gonna get my big girl panties on and get over it... hopefully... soon...

So 4 yards out... all from stash!  Nothing in.

Maybe one of these early mornings after The Engineer heads off for the day I'll pull up the spreadsheet and get it caught up.  Maybe...

The Forest

The trees are done... at least this set.

I managed to fold a few with the cardinals at the top not sitting upside down.  It's kinda funny the first time you try to fold it backwards - you feel all discombobulated.  I think I'd probably try and avoid using anything with a directional design in the future.

I have one more set to make out of the other fabrics and that will be it for this year. 

It's interesting that all the trees are just a bit different... some are taller and slender and other are short and a bit chubby.  Kinda like real life huh?

Christmas Tree Napkins

I went back up to the studio later on Monday to look at my fabric choices again - then pronounced them Good Enough!

Although I don't usually wash fabric before I used it... I figured since I would be sewing these together for a 2 sided napkin it would be prudent.

I know a couple of you have mentioned that you bought patterns at a show or shop.  I only saw Free patterns when I Googled Christmas Tree Napkins - those were pretty much just half circles.  The freezer paper pattern the ladies from the church were using was a little like a crescent shape in that it was about 20 degrees more than a half circle.

The video I referenced intrigued me.  As I said before - I wasn't inclined to use full double sided circles - but the way she folded it - not quite in half... just about an inch off center gave her a little deeper half circle to work with - I liked that.

Being an FoP by nature (Finagler of Patterns)... I decided I'd work out something myself combining the ideas from what I'd learned.

I want to make an 18" napkin - so on my freezer paper pattern I drew two lines - 18" long and 1" apart.  I used a 9" setting on a compass and drew from the center of the inner line... connecting around to the outer line... just a little more than a half circle. 

I have trees...

soon to be a forest...

Well the forest would be done except that I ran into an odd bump in the road last night while I was edge stitching.  The red in the bobbin turned to blue... really... I started sewing in red and when I stopped and cut the thread it was blue... BLUE.  I must have put some red on a blue bobbin and when the red ran out the blue must have been in just the right place to follow along and continue sewing.  I hate the idea of having to pick that out...

Monday Design Wall - Nov 2

Well... the double design wall unit looks just like it did last week when I posted.  Nothing has changed on any of those projects this week...

My single wall unit is holding up some fabrics I'm looking at for Christmas Tree Napkins and some paper patterns I was playing with along with a larger freezer paper pattern.  I am trying real hard to not go and buy anything new - so I've been digging through my stash... I might just be happy with these combinations the more I look at them.  Maybe I should just go clip the corners and throw them in the wash and be done with it...

Yesterdays Stash post has a couple links to patterns or ideas for the napkins... so I won't repeat them today.

Geesh... it's only 8:00 am and I feel like I've been up for hours... oh - wait - I have been up for hours!  You know 4:45 AM comes around very early in the morning pretty much in the middle of the night!  The Engineer now leaves at 5:45 AM for a long drive in to work - so the least I can do is get up and make breakfast and coffee for him. 

My other option is to go and get a real job.  Naaah - I don't want a real job!  I like working 12 hours a week at the quilt shop... so I can do this Domestic Diva thing... yawn ---- big s t r e t c h.  The hard part is heading to bed at 9:30 PM but I'll get use to it in time.  Well mostly because I'll be exhausted by then I'm sure.

Check out what's on other design walls at Judy L's blog.

Stash Report - of the Fabric Variety...

I accumulated nothing this week... I may or may not be able to resist Christmas fabric next week though.  Just being honest here...

A few customers have been in to the quilt shop the past couple weeks buying fabric for Christmas Tree napkins.  They are pretty much a 1/2 circle of 2 fabrics sewn together and turned - when you fold it - it looks like a Christmas Tree. 

Here is a PDF pattern I found via Google... 4 napkins out of 2 half yard cuts of contrasting fabric.

Or here is a You Tube video - looks like she's using a 2 sided full circle... but I'm still liking the idea of using a half circle - which would be half the fabric of these.

I have a yard or so of a couple things I like in my stash - but not sure that I like them together... so we shall see.

After the post about My Other Stash I've decided to try and spend a little time each week identifying what's in the boxes and getting the boxes organized by type and marked better.  Hopefully I can locate some of the other machine heads I'd like to get out for use or display.

I did finish something this week... the PortaPocket Purse Insert is done.  It's a pattern by Studio Kat Designs.  I had made the larger one last spring but I don't carry a purse that big - this smaller one will be something I can use.  Sorry the picture is dark - the web site above has better pictures.  It was easier to make the second time around... see you can teach an old dog new tricks!

The idea is that you put all your stuff in this and then you can move this from purse to purse.  Which would resolve the problem I have of leaving all kinds of stuff in purses I stop using... does anyone else do that or am I just strange that way?

So nothing in and nothing out... still no spreadsheet...

My Other Stash...

It was almost exactly 2 years ago that I blogged about another Excess of mine.  I was finishing up the packing at the house in MA... and was down to packing the shed that contained the rest of my vintage sewing machines - I had already packed the ones I used and those stored in the basement.  I remember how cold it was and those machines just seemed heavier when they were cold.

I recently brought out my Tiffany... and put her back to work.  It's so relaxing sewing on a treadle - I've missed her and have enjoyed using her these past couple weeks.

Earlier this week I swapped a couple emails with another blogger Lori in South Dakota - who also has an affection for vintage sewing machines.

Those emails got me to thinking about my machines.  I had only unpacked a couple treadle cabinets when we moved in - this one is for a Davis 'Manhattan' 3/4 size machine. 

When we moved - I removed all the machine heads from the cabinets and packed those in a separate box from the cabinets...

 

Yes this cabinet needs a little TLC... but for now let's go look for the little Manhattan head shall we.  The basement has a room that is about 10 x 11 feet.  There is an oil tank in that room... and sewing machines in boxes.  And in the rest of the basement there is pretty much more sewing machines in boxes.  Here are some of the stacks.  See the box below with the numbers on it?  Just a rough count give or take a few - 123...

Oh then there are the treadles and other cabinets in boxes.  They are over in this other area.  It was much easier to stack the cabinets in the PODS if everything was in a box.  I didn't even try and count what's over here.  But hey - Look - it's not all machine stuff... I see a box of office supplies and a box that belongs to The Engineer with woodworking templates and jigs.  Oh I feel so much better now... see they aren't all mine!

Here is what we are looking for...

OK now I'm down to 122 boxes in the basement... give or take.