Day 138 - the satchel!!

It is complete. I encountered a few issues with the inside but in the end I won! The inside has been specifically designed to hold an a4 and a5 pad plus pens pencils and highlighters. If I was to do it again there are a lot of things I would do differently, as leather gets difficult to work with when there are corners and multiple layers. The inside is attached to the main bag with poppers so I can take it for adjustments or easy access.  Ready for student life, I am!

Day 137 - Satchel progress

I posted the plan for this over a week ago, between work and socializing I have managed to get it to a semblance of complete, I just have some tough hand stitching to do before I start on the inside. I have to say, I'm pretty proud of the outcome, it is pretty much what I had in my head, and have coveted for quite some time. Anyway it is by no means finished, but it has certainly progressed since the cut out panels I posted last week. The short sides have zip fastenings so the whole thing opens a bit like a briefcase and the studs are all poppers. More pictures to come one its finished.

Day 136 - More patio

This is a slow job, but it is worth it. Just have to pray there is little rain over the next few days so I can get out there and carry on. Thanks to Tam for all her help yesterday, I'm going to need to collect some more stones soon too. Its growing!

Day 135 - Buttery swede soup

I'm sharing this because it was such a successful invention, I went shopping with the intention of buying something interesting to make soup with. I found a swede and decided some form of butter and swede concoction was the plan.
First I cooked onions and leeks in butter, let them sweat until they were soft and translucent. I added in cubes of swede and about five cloves of garlic, and even more butter. I let this cook down in the butter for a while before adding a couple of potatoes. I let it stew until all the vegetables were soft and a little sticky before I added two pints of vegetable stock and brought it all to a boil. I seasoned it with salt, pepper, parsley and rosemary and left it to simmer for about an hour (or an epic game of Magic!)
When everything was cooked and soft I pureed it to a nice silky consistency, this was about the point when I realised this was going to work, it went really smooth and was basically the colour of butter. I added another chunk of butter to glaze my soup and stirred in a splash of cream just before serving. It went down pretty well, and I now know exactly what to do with suede!

Unfortunately, everytime I ate this I was too preoccupied to take a photo. So you'll have to make it yourself to see how it turns out :(

Day 134 - pine nut and spinach pasta salad

This is a particularly easy but tasty recipe. We made a large batch to store, practice for lunches once I start college.  Anyway it's so easy the ingredients are spinach, pine nuts and hard cheese with a dressing made of oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper and garlic salt.  That's it, wilt your spinach and cook your pasta then chuck the rest of it together.  Yum!

Day 133 - Deconstructing a suitcase, soon to be a satchel

I haven't made anything yet for this, but I thought I'd share my plan and where I am so far. I deconstructed a tatty old suitcase that has just been taking up room for years. After a little play with the panels I decided to go for a classic satchel look, now I have to see if this leather will go through my machine of if I'm going to have to go all cave-man stylee on this and use an awl and a sewing needle.

Day 132- diy garden patio

Seen as the sun was shining today I got outside and started laying stones for a little path/patio. Its only a small section bur I'm already in love.