That Rorschach Effect

Rorschach played in my head with those fabrics I dyed last week.  John kept seeing things and so did I.  We didn’t necessarily see the same thing but there were a lot of insects and bugs!  Anyway I saw these in this piece and had to play. 

I think it was the pupa stage that caught my eye more than anything but there had to be an adult stage as well, and the fabric had provided that too.  

I added some Inktense pencil to give depth to the background but the only thing I added to the pink fabric was a very slight metallic sheen from some Lumiere to the adult as a lot of beetles have that irridesence to their carapaces. 

Freemotion quilting and a jewellery headpin with silver bead for the pin and it was finished.

Someone was a slight distraction at the weekend.

And I made a Thing! No recipe as such.  I had been having a pre Christmas rummage in the larder and found a couple of bags of dried fruit and glacé cherries, you know the sort of thing that lurks.  I put all it all into a bowl and added some brandy, sherry, glug of honey, juice and zest of a lemon and a splash of water for lack of orange juice and left it while I thought of what to do with it.  I had also found a bag of premixed shortcrust pastry but I knew I didn't want to make mince pies, I wanted it to be a little more though I didn't have many ingredients really.  I made up the pastry and lined a 9inch square loose bottomed cake tin to a depth of about 2 inches.  I poured in the fruit which had now been soaking for about four hours and were much more plump and topped it off with a Bakewell topping, without the almonds, made with 5oz butter beaten to death with 5oz caster sugar, 2 eggs added and 2oz plain flour folded in.  In the oven for 35 minutes and this popped out.   

It is (was) very yum and quite rich but the sponge bit meant it wasn't overkill on the fruit.  Lovely with vanilla custard and would be worth doing again with the nuts too. 

And finally this is Oscar watching The Frozen Planet with us on Sunday.  He was facinated by the little mice under the snow but when I took the photo the owl that was after the mice appeared on the screen.

It didn't catch him, honest!

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Busy Day

We have been looking out at the beautiful red Brandt grapes hanging on the vine outside the study for a while now and thinking it was a shame not to use them.  They're a bit on the small side and pippy but very sweet and tasty.  The birds love them.  I saw a recipe for red current jelly, which I use a lot of in my winter cooking, and wondered about grape.  Sure enough there are plenty of versions of it out there and we chose two that seemed favourable.  A rummage in the garage came to the conclusion that we had sent far too many jars to the recycling and none were left of the right size for the jelly.  After a trip to Hobbycraft we came back with these ten 8oz jars which were soon filed with the most beautiful coloured grape jelly.  Just the labels to print now.

John also went a picked the apples from the trees to make apple sauce. Considdering the harsh pruning we have put the trees through over the past couple of years, we were surprised at how many there were.  All bagged up and in the freezer now.

I bought some round needles whilst we were at Hobbycraft as I've joined Debbie's Sock Club just to find some of her lovely yarn in the post box every month.  I've just finished knitting John a hat for this winters fishing and realised how much I missed it and how easy it is to watch a film etc doing it.  I used to do knitting for pin money when the children were very small for a friend of mine who had the local knit shop.  It soon all comes back though.  No more cold feet this winter! 

For absolutely ages I have wanted to buy a set of Tsukineko fabric inks.  Not just any set, the workstation.  Of course it's not for sale over here and I hummed and ahhed about having it sent over.  I found it on the Overstock site who now ship to UK with the claim that what you pay is what you pay.  No added taxes or shipping.  I thought, OK, this has to be worth a try!  No customs or Parcel Force/Royal Mail rip off??  Yeah right!!!   And here they are all the way from Newark. AANNNDDDD I ordered them a week ago on the 26th September.  No waiting, no extra charges, no problem.

Pickled onions are soaking in brine tonight for pickling tomorrow.  Roast pork with apple sauce, squash and beans from the garden for dinner and a Tsukineko DVD to watch later.  A good day.

September

September certainly has started with a heavy dew but the sun is shining and it looks lovely outside. This month we have the Autumnal equinox another mid point or quarter day. Lots of blessings and dancing with Morris men, hobby horses, fools, and if you’re in Cumbria, the World Gurning Championship!


I love September for its fruit picking and making pickles and jams. It’s usually the time I make the Christmas cake so it can mature. I’ve made so many over the past couple of years, and John has make sure they were very well tested a long way before Christmas, I’m having a break this year. Unless I can sneakily make one and hide it when he isn’t around!

We have been lighting the fires already, it has not been a nice August weather wise. John has bought in a pallet of straw logs from Fuel Britannia  and we have been amazed at how well they burn. They have to be ‘imported’ from the Isle of Wight so the delivery charge is a bit steep but if more farmers were to invest in the machinery to compress the waste straw, they would be on to a winner. One of my biggest hates is round bales in the fields left to rot. The only bigger hate is round plastic covered bales! There seems to be a move back towards rectangular ones around here now but they are huge. I can’t ever see anyone flinging one of them down from a loft to clean a stable! Perhaps bio fuel will help save us from more plastic blobs in the fields too.

Elsa and Mike leave tomorrow. We’ve had a lovely week and a bit together. Lots of sewing too. She is ready to finish her Irish Chain at her home and I have been pottering. The Jenny BOM is ready for quilting, just waiting for the wadding from Ali, I have sorted a couple of other projects that need doing soonish and I finished the little silk covered journal cover below. That is both back and front to show the beading and it takes a A6 notepad.

We are having some brickwork on the front of the house put right and a chimney removed so the scaffolding is up and there are strange noises very early in the morning. We’ve also talked about the replacing of the cat room on the side of the house with something a little more substantial that will become my workroom/studio/hideyhole!! Can’t wait!

Today is the start of the Great Dorset Steam Fair a couple of miles away. We are going along in the afternoon for something to do. I’m not a huge fan of it. It’s the largest of its kind, a vast sea of steam engines, vintage lorries, heavy horses, beer tents, bands, fairgrounds and the roads have been blocked for a week and it takes just as long afterwards for them all to go again. That and the Bank Holiday and we’ve been almost housebound.

There is a website called OPAL (Open Air Laboratories) if anyone is interested. It’s a place where you can take part in surveys that help the British Natural History Museum and several universities gather information about where we live. I think the next one is hedge sweeping this month to see what lives in them. Why not register or download the pack and join in.

Yesterday my new toy arrived, a Dremel Versitip.  I'm looking forward to finding out what I can do with it.  This morning I am going to cut the corner triangles for the Jinny Beyer quilt, something I have been putting off but feel OK with doing now. Hopefully this one will be on our bed before Christmas!  Don't watch this space though...

Box Clever

I’ve had a lovely day today down at Pauline’s Patchwork doing a workshop with Jenifer Trollope. It was embellishing boxes with loads of stuff. Real Blue Peter stuff she calls it and she was right. Nice and mucky. Of course we could only do so much as there was glue and paint involved which meant drying time but plenty to be getting on with once dry properly.


John had dropped me off and of course we had forgotten what a mess Weymouth is. In fact we were not prepared for the worse mess it is now! All in the name of the 2012 Olympics and the water sports. Still there should be left behind some great tarmac. John had a busy day in the garden and then picked me up later. What he hadn’t told me of course was the smell that hit me when I walked in the door. Garlic and roasting chicken all in the Aga and ready to come out on our return. And you would all drool over his roast potatoes! A good ¼ inch crunch with super fluff inside!!!!!!!!!! Don’t mention the diet.

Anyway the lowering sun just caught the grape vine over the pergola in the courtyard this evening and it looked so nice. I’m not sure if you can make out all the grape bunches, it’s smothered (click to enlarge). I know about the viticulture bit but we don’t eat these. They are a variety called Brant, black, quiet sweet and small, very edible and they are also a little on the pippy side but the blackbirds love them so we leave them as a pre winter feast. It also has the most beautiful Autumn colour too.