making things

One of the most relaxing things I've ever made. Very therapeutic.

I've been going to a new craft group on a Thursday afternoon. It's walking distance from the house, although I did get a bus the day that I took an enormous watermelon to a bring and share lunch (Yes, I carried a watermelon). It's a small gathering of women, with a very laid back feel and we mostly work on the same project. We've made pincushions, had a go at watercolour painting, knitted squares for a communal blanket that we haven't got a use for yet! and a very kind and extremely patient woman is teaching me to use a sewing machine, very brave of her. I really enjoy it.

I've been doing cross stitch for years, but on aida, with smaller and closer-together holes than this. This is more like the fabric we used in primary school, I think it was called binca, I don't know if it still is. I say we used, but everyone else seems to have made a mat for their Mum except me. My brother made one, it sat under our living room waste paper basket for years. Have you still got it Mum? (I know she's lurking). Anyway, I never made one, I must have been off that day.

This project was delightfully simple, and easy to finish at home in front of the TV without having to use much concentration. We decided on our own designs, I chose hearts. I found it so relaxing! The bookmark itself is enormous though, and hangs out a lot at the top and bottom of a novel, I don't know why it didn't occur to me to cut the piece of fabric I was given smaller before I started. It will have to be a bookmark to use in especially big books.

Fortuitously enough, I am currently working my way through an especially big book, River Cottage Veg Every Day. I'm pescetarian (no meat, only fish) but not really a fan of Quorn type fake meat, with a few exceptions such as veggieballs and veggie hot dog sausages, of course. I do a mean Ikea meatball sauce! I use veggie hot dogs for a kind of trailer trash version of spaghetti carbonara. I've dug out a few vegetarian and vegan cookbooks for inspiration. A couple of weeks ago I was given a pattypan squash, and it ended up in this recipe. I was pleased to also be able to use the french beans that we bought at the allotment open day.

Much more attractive than mine.

I tweaked it as always, being incapable of following a recipe. I didn't use garlic - I think the night I made it we were going out and I didn't want us to smell! I also used a tin of sweetcorn because well, buying corn on the cob and having the hassle of cutting it all off? Nah. I think I might have thrown a sad and neglected potato or two and a lonely red pepper in there too. I made enough for a several servings and then basically lived off it for three days. Who wants to cook every day? Answer: not me.

I was given another pattypan squash this week, I might try a different recipe from the big cookbook. Any excuse to use the enormous bookmark.