Craft Monkey

pieced

I've almost completely missed the boat on  Qulit Month, but here's another quiltcentric entry just in time!

This pic is old, but I misplaced the camera again.  All of these pieces have been stitched up into an Anna Banana table runner. We don't even have a table to put it on (yet), but it's been more of a learn-to-quilt project for me. So now I've pieced my first (mini)quilt top!

Several months back I won a couple of placemats and other lovelies.  I really like the matroyshka and mushrooms fabric, and began scouring the internet for it. Found one last 1/2 yard on Etsy, snatched it up, and started making a pretty pile of things that might go with it. Wound up using some old Flea Market Fancy prints (left over from the bag-making frenzy last year) and tiny polka dots, inspired by the binding on the placemats she sent.  Probably going to use the red dots to bind this also.  There are lots of scraps leftover, so maybe I'll try placemats eventually... I like the idea of coordinating but not matching...

This project is not actually finished or quilted yet.  I plan to use it to learn how to machine-quilt, but not anytime soon. Still kind of more interested in the piecing aspect. Already have all the pieces for a bed quilt for Logan cut out. And another one stewing in my head for our bed... A friend has been out of town, and while she's gone I get to use her studio space, hence the sewing frenzy... It's also been a little bit of nesting for the house we're building, making things to be used when there's more space.

6 more hourse until BackTack4 signups!

house!

results from the building intensive thus far...

state fair

We went to the state fair in Nashville a couple of weeks ago. Quick pic recap:

There were lots of pretty quilts

and a room full of hams...

pretty chickens-- i think this was called a golden phoenix?

turkeys

this mule was really sweet... i didn't really go through any kind of a horse phase when i was little, and now i'm always stunned at how massive they are...

Logan had a blast on the rides, although there were tears every time it turned out he wasn;t tall eough for something...

kushari

For Tracy, who posted about eating this.

~There is another sauceless version of this dish, called kushari asfur (yellow kushari) that I make more frequently as a quick dinner type thing. All you do is throw yellow lentils and white rice together in a pot with twice as much water, and cook. It turns into a yellow creamy rice dish that is pretty blandly comforting on its own, but can be dressed up any way you want. I like it with boiled eggs, caramelized onions, and garlic salt.

The recipe below is for the traditonal street food, a layered dish with sauce that is a bit more time-consuming and generates more dirty pots and pans, but it's my favorite

Serves 4

1/2 cup white rice
1 cup brown lentils
1 cup elbow macaroni, uncooked
3 cups water
1 tblsp veg oil
1 small onion: chop half, slice the other half
1 clove garlic, minced (you can up the garlic if you're into it)
6 oz can tomato paste, diluted in 1 cup water
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp white vinegar
hot sauce

combine rice, lentils, and water and bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until rice is done (about 25 min). Meanwhile, in separate pot, cook pasta.

Heat oil in small frying pan and add chopped onion and garlic. Saute until tender, but not brown. Add tomato paste, salt, pepper, vinegar, and hot sauce. Stir until heated through.

Saute sliced onions in small pan without oil until they get brown and crispy.

Layer in bowl in this order: macaroni, then rice/lentils, then tomato sauce, then fried onions.
You can either do this in one big bowl family style or in individual bowls, your choice.

The word for the tomato sauce is da'maa, which translates to tears, so it's meant to burn your mouth. Of course add as little or as much hot sauce to your tomato sauce as you feel comfortable.

hullo, september

+the last entry was posted by bradley, who kept saying i should blog about camping on Mattole Beach with some friends and our combined pack of children, and then did it when i continued to be lazy. Only one of those is mine. They built a hut out of driftwood and harvested seaweed. It was awesome. Crazy windy, but awesome.

+a few of y'all have asked for house updates; if you want to know more about progress on the house, check alternate theory. It's going to be an earthbag cylinder with a timber-frame loft/2nd story wedge resting on top  of it. And that, folks, is probably the extent to which I can speak intelligently about the construction process. At least for today.

+We've been flyering for the month-long building intensive we're hosting throughout september...

- now we basically wait and see if people show up to help/learn/eat yummy food. more bodies = more progress.

+pretty soon we need to decide exactly how big of a gap to leave for each of the windows and doors. Which means architectural salvage shopping!

+I finished knitting all the pieces for the Sunrise Circle Jacket. the back is not in the picture, but is done.

-the jacket has 1189764 miles of seaming and stitching down the hem before it's wearable

- i have nothing to knit, unless i start something new. which i don't want to do until i get some of this finishing done. thus far, not knitting has not been enough motivation to do the finishing. instead, i'm daydreaming about quilts

+so it was nice to see this today :)