Retreat Bags

  

I cut into my cherished Echino Airplanes (Kokka).
They have been waiting to be used for several years. They were folded carefully and then tied off with twine.  Lovely to pet.

The blue jumped to be first up in making Retreat Bags. The Retreat Bag is a free pattern from Emmaline Bags. She has awesome bag bling too. The bag utilizes wire frames to keep the bag open wide

 Emmaline Bags carries those zipper ends. So much easier to use than sewing fabric tabs onto the ends. These look very polished. The airplane charm was traded for.

 Those wire frames really help to keep the bag open. I made a second one in the elephant fabric that i recently used in a boxy bag because it was out.

I made a New Year's resolution to use up fabrics once I took them out of stash. To keep sewing until it was used up. But I can't do it.

I was able to cut into my blue echino airplane but I can't cut anymore. I am overwhelmed with the need to save it and parsimoniously eke it out in various small projects to the end of time.

Similar sized bags with long zippers.
 
The boxy bag is  similar to a men's Dopp Bag. I really like the Retreat Bag better as it opens wide to allow you to see all the contents at once. The boxy bag can be a black hole.

Each bag has it's own version of a handle. I've added carrying handles to the Retreat bag before for my great-nieces. The Retreat Bag is easy to pick up and carry because of the wire frames.

 You can add two slip pockets. I added two in the airplane bag, one for the elephant, and none at all for the great-nieces.

You could dress it up with a zipper pocket inside and even on the outside. The bag starts out at 13 1/2" across but the available pocket room is around 6 inches (centered) x 4" deep.

For this Echino fabric - not a quilting cotton - more like a canvas - I wanted a zipper with metal teeth and I was a little frustrated that I couldn't find one in the right color. You have to understand I have at least 200+ zips in my stash. I scored a big zipper haul earlier in the summer at an estate sale. I was going to settle for an off-white one with #5 nylon teeth (big teeth) but then I found this orange which was the right orange.

There was a black zipper with humongous brass teeth that would have looked awesome but it was way too long and I would have struggled taking some of the teeth out. This one works. I can't really explain why the nylon one would not have worked  - this one worked better. The off-white was safe, the orange makes you think twice.

Thanksgiving is Thursday. I'm having 7 people here.  A bit small this year. We've never had giant gatherings - 13-15 is our average most years.

I cleaned house Saturday between work shifts so I could chisel out time to sew today.
I also wanted to make Apple Cider Caramels for my workmates and for Thanksgiving, along with Butternut Squash Soup for both dinners this week and as a starter course on Thursday.

Done.
Tired.
Working 12-hour split shifts through Christmas now.

 These are all cut up and wrapped, ready to be put into containers.
I actually made two batches this morning. My first went swimmingly until I poured it out -and realized I forgot to add the butter.



These bags were made to help me out at Christmastime and for Elm Street Quilt's BAG IT series this month. Patty has coughed up a very organized month of sewing bags with accompanying tutorials and tips and the whip (prizes!) to make you sew some fun bags.
This week was non-zippered bags  - storage box bags.

I didn't need any open storage nor could I thing of someone who would so I did my own thing. Which is normal for me and entirely fine for the BAG IT series.

Apple Cider Caramels

 Wow. These are seriously good. Totally in the autumn season.

 Small bites, wrapped in wax paper.

 See the squiggly one on the left - yeah- that's a 'sample'.

 Easy to make - but time consuming.

Forgot how I stumbled across this recipe but I found a really cool blog, The Smitten Kitchen, because of it.

These are melt in your mouth caramels that are so apple pie happy. Just a dash of salt and cinnamon.

I reduced the apple cider in the morning and after 1 1/2 hours, finished the cooking. Then the mixture had to cool for a few hours. Set aside a day or at least half a day to make these. Worth the time.


APPLE CIDER CARAMELs
By The Smitten Kitchen.

Apple cider (sometimes called sweet or “soft” cider), as I’m referring to it here, is different from both apple juice and the hard, or alcoholic, fermented apple cider. It’s a fresh, unfiltered (it has sediment), raw apple juice — the juice literally pressed from fresh apples. It’s unpasteurized, and must be refrigerated, because it’s perishable. In the Northeast, I usually find it at farm stands and some grocery stores. I occasionally find vacuum- sealed bottles called apple cider in the juice aisle, but none of the bottled varieties that I’ve tried has the same delicate apple flavor as the more perishable stuff sold in the refrigerator section.

4 cups (945 ml) apple cider
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons flaky sea salt, such as Maldon, or less of a finer one
8 tablespoons (115 grams or 1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (110 grams) packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup (80 ml) heavy cream
Neutral oil for the knife

Boil the apple cider in a 3- to- 4- quart saucepan over high heat until it is reduced to a dark, thick syrup, between 1/3 and 1/2 cup in volume. This takes about 35 to 40 minutes on my stove. Stir occasionally.
{Kathy's note: Try 1 1/2 hours. I was afraid to put the burner on High. However, when it does go thick, it can burn (almost!) fast. So- watch it carefully towards the end.}

Meanwhile, get your other ingredients in order, because you won’t have time to spare once the candy is cooking. Line the bottom and sides of an 8- inch straight- sided square metal baking pan with 2 long sheets of crisscrossed parchment. Set it aside. Stir the cinnamon and flaky salt together in a small dish.
Once you are finished reducing the apple cider, remove it from the heat and stir in the butter, sugars, and heavy cream. Return the pot to medium- high heat with a candy thermometer attached to the side, and let it boil until the thermometer reads 252 degrees, only about 5 minutes. Keep a close eye on it.
(Don’t have a candy or deep- fry thermometer? Have a bowl of very cold water ready, and cook the caramel until a tiny spoonful dropped into the water becomes firm, chewy, and able to be plied into a ball.)
Immediately remove caramel from heat, add the cinnamon- salt mixture, and give the caramel several stirs to distribute it evenly. Pour caramel into the prepared pan. Let it sit until cool and firm—about 2 hours, though it goes faster in the fridge. Once caramel is firm, use your parchment paper sling to transfer the block to a cutting board. Use a well- oiled knife, oiling it after each cut (trust me!), to cut the caramel into 1-by-1-inch squares. {Kathy's note here: Unwrap a cube of butter and constantly edge the knife on it. If the knife gets too cruddy, wash in hot water and do the butter thing again.}

Wrap each one in a 4-inch square of waxed paper, twisting the sides to close. Caramels will be somewhat on the soft side at room temperature, and chewy/firm from the fridge.
Do ahead: Caramels keep, in an airtight container at room temperature, for two weeks, but really, good luck with that.


Allergy note: does contain butter and cream. But - oh-so-good.