Taking A Break

 From the bag.
Just for a day or so.
 Just because I'm having a bit of bother with the zip.
The bag is coming on nicely. All the bits that needed piping have said piping, so it really is just popping the panels together.

Oh - and the zip.

Zips do not normally pose a problem, but this one has, so I can only put it down to the thickness of the panels.

I have changed from my normal 100% cotton thread that I sew everything with, to a Polyester thread.
As I am stitching the piping down with the cotton thread, I can hear the stitches popping and I fear that my "smalls" would be scattered around the airport on my next trip. Changing to the Poly solved the problem straight away.

front panel with piping

 Zipper panel

 I stitched the zipper in with the polyester thread, and it all fits nicely but the actual stitches look rubbish!  Its as though the machine is struggling to form a "proper" stitch.  Is it because of the thickness that I am working on?

OK.  So unpick and change the thread to a cotton quilting thread that is considerably thicker than either the cotton or the polyester sewing thread. That looks a bit better but the bobbin thread (the poly one) is pulling up.

quilting thread on top and poly on the bobbin.

 Unpick - fill up bobbin to re sew with the quilting thread top and bottom.
Broken needle!  Time to switch off and do something else as I was getting a bit fed up with this.

I will tackle the little beast tomorrow and hopefully that will be that.

Instead, I nipped into the kitchen and baked a cake (no pics of that as it was demolished almost before it had cooled)

Then I made a batch of Marmalade.  (Go me!) 

 I have only made this once before after a friend ("A") brought me a rather large bag of Seville oranges, just because she is like that.

This was a couple of years ago I think. I took her instructions and cooked the whole batch ready for the sugar to be added. Trouble was, my pan is large, but no way large enough to cope with the boiling of this fruit and a huge amount of sugar, so I split it into two batches, cooked the first batch off and gleefully filled my jars.
All of them.
What to do with the rest of the jollop? 
Call to "A" and was told to pop the rest into the freezer to finish off when I have more jars, or have used the batch just made.

Into the freezer it went.

Two years ago


Last week I finished the last jar (didn't realise it was the last, until I opened what I thought was Marmalade, and it turned out to be an unlabelled jar of chutney!) Not the best breakfast tipple!

It was then that I remembered the batch of cooked fruit in the freezer.
Would it still be any good?

Anyone who has met me, knows that (as far as food is concerned) I will slap it in - or on - and hope for the best. So that is what I did.


So Hubble Bubble  went the pan

so glossy!

 I don't add as much sugar as some recipes say, I did as "A" told me  and did a 1:1 ratio (nearly!)

 And now I have enough Marmalade to last me .... well ages!

 The cut is quite chunky, and the taste is quite sharp, which is how I like MY Marmalade.

It has set nicely, and now I just have to remember to label this lot so I don't get caught out again!

The success of this has given me fresh resolve to get the zip in the bag once and for all.