Pickles and Pickle Dish

This month, my cooking and quilting have something in common, they both are related to pickles. A while back I saw this book at a book store, and fell in love with the quilt on the cover. 




It looked vaguely familiar to me, which is should because I already had the book on my shelf at home. I decided that I wanted to make it, but not the entire thing. It is the motif that I love, and thought that there must be a way to  make it more modern although compared to traditional Pickle Dish quilts, this one is already very simplified. Here is a photo that I found to give you a better idea. I decided that I would only do four of the blocks, which is 32 of the striped sections. It is foundation paper pieced, which means that the striped sections are sewn onto a paper that I printed out, sewing on the lines. 

Here is a photo of the back of one of my completed sections.



Here are a bunch of them finished and ready to be sewn together.



I've finished most of them, and have started sewing the edges on, which a bit tricky as its all pieced on a curve.



Here we are paired up and ready to go. I'll keep you posted as work progresses. 

Now, on to actual pickles...

This season I decided that rather than buying my veggies at the supermarket, that I would subscribe to a CSA, basically a farm box that I pick up every week. We've been getting lots of cucumbers, especially the small variety. I love pickles, and decided as usual that I could make them myself. Its super easy, so heres what you need if you want to try it. 



From the top left and moving to the right.

1. Small pickling cucumbers
2. Garlic, Pickling salt (this salt is free of additives, and will keep your pickling liquid clear), Dill seed, Mustard seed, garlic cloves, white vinegar (not pictured).
3. Ball Jars, I got the wide mouth quart variety available at the hardware store.
4. Large pot of boiling water.


First you need to sterilize the jars, lids, and rings. You can do this in the dishwasher, and use them immediately. I decided to boil them for 10 minutes in the pot of boiling water. Meanwhile in another pot, put 2 cups of white vinegar, 2 cups of water, and 2 tablespoons of salt. Bring this to a boil and then turn off the heat. 

In each jar place a couple of garlic cloves depending on how garlicky you want it, or not, 1 tsp each of dill seed and mustard seed. Cut a little off the top of each cucumber, and if you like, cut them in spears, I left mine whole. Put as many cucumbers as you can in each jar.

Pour the salt/water/vinegar into the jars to within an inch of the top. Close the jars, but don't screw the bands too tight, you can adjust that later. 

Gently place the jars into the boiling water, making sure that the water covers the tops of the jars, and boil for 15 minutes for this size. When you take them out, the lids may not be sucked in yet, it sometimes takes a while. Check them after a while, the lids should be flat, and you can tighten the bands. If they are not flat, they are not sealed, and you should store in the fridge after cooling. Hopefully this should not be a problem. Mark the top of each jar with the date so that you know when you made them. Put them in your cupboard for up to a year. I opened a jar after 2 weeks and they were delish! Just like a deli. 

I pick my next box up today and am going to try making sweet pickles. I'll keep you posted!