
I tossed and turned last night, fretting about my botched block from yesterday. Honestly, I was going to throw it out, but instead just left it on the table in the sewing room and walked away. I got up at 6 in the morning and went right upstairs to the sewing room to have a look at it. Do you see how those half-square triangle units actually form flying geese? Ah ha. I took the block apart, but left the flying geese units, which were easily trimmed down to 1 1/2 x 2 1/2". Trimming 10 flying geese is better than trimming 20 hsts.
I had to toss the red triangle inserts because they were kind of stretched out. I think I like the block done in all blues better anyway. So, all was not lost, and I managed to salvage my work from the previous day.

I had some time to make another block, so I decided to add to my 6-inch blocks and make this one. It is a pattern from the Moda Bakeshop. I don't recommend the pattern because I found it to be hard to follow and poorly written. With some patience and perseverance, I did complete it and I really do like the way it turned out in spite of the inferior instructions.
Here is an update on my pie crust fiasco from yesterday. It turns out if you accidentally put cornstarch into your dough instead of baking powder, it turns the dough into cement and it is not even possible to roll it out. So, I ended up making THREE batches of pie dough. The third one was my tried and true regular pie crust recipe that turns out every time without fail. Should have started with that one in the first place.

What was I attempting to make? My son in Ireland has been making Cornish Pasties and my husband and I decided we wanted to do it too and send him photos of our effort. The Cornish are pretty rigid about their pasties and if you vary even a bit from how they say it should be done, then you aren't authentic. One of the ingredients is supposed to be rutabaga, so I was doomed from the get-go.
Anyway, the Cornish use a certain crust recipe, which is super flaky and pretty impossible to work with, at least for me. Hence, I was reduced to using my regular pie crust recipe on the third try. The filling is steak, potatoes, onion, a bit of carrot, and a bit of celery. And lots of salt and pepper and a dash of cayenne. My husband may have tossed some steak seasoning in there as well when my back was turned. My ingredients were not strictly traditional either, but it's what I wanted to do. Everything is diced pretty small and mixed together. You roll out the dough in 8-inch circles and fill them as I show in the photo above.

My double crust recipe was enough for five pasties. I had some filling leftover. You bake them for 50 minutes at 350 and this is what we got.

My first effort may not win any beauty prizes, but I can tell you, it tasted delicious!
Have a great weekend everyone!