secret squirrel saturday

I spy with my little eye something beginning with P.
(keep it clean!)

Happy weeekend all!

sunshine..

..on a rainy day.

Thankyou Lisa.

feeling jammie..

..and jelly.

 the jewel garden

 glorious ingredients

 juicy brambles

 straining stewed fruit to make jelly.

note. 

gingham is not a necessity..muslin is fine

(if you have muslin)

 the wrinkle test and a blackberry stained finger.

 *apron debenhams clearance 

(more to follow)

So are you feeling jammie?

Raspberry jam is probably the easiest place to start as generally I have found raspberry jam easy to set.

The recipe I used is here.

Given the choice jelly will always come out tops for me.

There are four stages of jelly making.

1. stew the fruit gentle to release the juice,
with 1 pint of water for every 4lb of fruit.

2. strain the juice

(the correct method is to use a jelly bag and leave it to drip over night)

who's got time to waste doing that.

You are also not meant to squeeze the bag, 

because it makes for cloudy jelly.

Well I am a squeezer it's a good stress relief!

3. gentle dissolve 1lb of sugar/1 pint of liquid

4. boil rapidly stirring all the while.

I have found that different fruits take longer to set.

It's always an unknown, as fruit varies from day to day,

I have made runny jams and toffee jellies before.

It can be hit and miss,

but so worth it even just for the wonderful aromas filling the house.

There are a multitude of recipes online.

which is why I have River Cottages Pam Corbin

Preserves book on my wishlist.

Happy Jamday!

fade to grey

Well folks my well tuned seasonal intuition has kicked in.

Yesterday I noted a distinct difference in the air.

I'm not sure how it works, I just feel Autumn is on the way.

Which is true of course...but with the garden still in bloom,

it seems a little off!

Strange then how my latest wip has already predicted the end of summer!

Funny how freakishly hot it was in spring 

when I was sewing the 'summer of love'...

Maybe I should get out some sunnier fabrics!

I am unsure of this project.

I'm just not used to two tone patchwork.

I purposefully left the mini squares blank,

to fill in later when I decide how the quilt is working.

At the moment I am thinking dark grey for a border,

(paper pieced of course),

because I want the circles to really pop.

Finishing off with white binding with rounded corners.

Though this could change depending on the weather!!

a ghostly apparition

 I wonder if you can remember something I shared a while back?

 Maybe the 11 year old creases will give you an idea?

 My favourite detail.

 Bows that hung off my shoulders and down my back.

 Watery stitches and..

 ..sequined swirls.

 Any ideas?

 Does it have silk appeal?

 How about now?

 Of course this is my wedding dress!!

And these are the first digital photos ever taken of it.

 We were married in the year 2000.

An era when weddings were not a common event.

(apart from the 2000 surge)

I already knew I would never wear white.

I had been following the designs of a London design team

called Ghost.

Who were the only people making pretty embellished dresses.

Which seems quite odd these days what with all the

fancy stuff bounding about.

Remember the millennium was all the rage,

clothes were all plain and made of futuristic fabrics.

So with my Mum in toe tow

up to London we went, and this was the first dress I tried on.

I have over the years wondered if I should have at least tried on
a wedding dress,

but whenever I get my dress out 

I fall in love all over again...

...best wishes to anyone getting married tomorrow..

..may your day be as splendid as mine was xx

ps. no, it doesn't fit me anymore!
and yes, it is our camper x

wordless wednesday

it's a family affair

 Saturday.

The 100th Annual Horticultural Show 

held in the village I grew up in.

Not much has really changed over the years,

the society are a well greased family,

and the show always runs as smooth as clockwork.

Everyone doing their part to make for a wonderful day.

 After a major flap trying to get all his entries displayed before 10.30,

my Dad won the cup for his vegetables.

(though he had to share it with a fellow competitor, much to his dismay!)

He definitely had the biggest prize winning onions however!

 I even managed a second for my raspberries!

 More prize winning tomatoes from father.

(bottom right)

 My Mum is the secretary and spends, all year it seems 

procuring raffle prizes for the grand raffle.

My Grandma used to help fold the tickets,

but since her passing I have helped out, 

as it really is a nonstop job.

This year however my Aunt F helped out

along with my brothers girlfriend.

My Brother and Dad act as parking attendants

Not forgetting my Aunt M who dressed this huge teddy 

and asked if you could guess her birthday?

Well I didn't get a prize for my cushion

(mine is the middle one, my friends next and my Aunt E)

I was a little miffed as mine was hand sewn..

..it's the taking part!!

oh I suppose I did get commended.

commended scmended!!

 Look at this entry!

Those aren't real veggies 

they are all knitted by my Aunt F!!!

Awesome.

 In the floral section this was my Mother in laws entry,

not bad out of 12

especially as she was getting ready for her bric a brac stall

which locals have come to love,

and which I was helping on.

Well it's all over for another year.

The months of preparation all over in the blink of an eye.

I'll leave you with a last glimpse of my Dad's cabbages!

faf

 It's time to have an update on the garden.

 I have almost finished digging the new bed,

it's completely the wrong time of year to be doing this,

but needs must!

 So far I've filled it with

seedlings and plants I had growing in the wrong place.

I'm going out there right now to finish that bed.

Have a lovely weekend.

I shall be helping at my Mums horticultural show this saturday,

fingers crossed for the weather please!

feeling misty

 There are days when you can't see the woods for the trees..

 The fog...

...lifts!!!

Don't you just love new beginnings?

*sailor trousers vintage boden - these are my favourites

*patchwork inspiration - Molly Flanders my favourite

wordless wednesday

okay so not quite wordless.

My parents bought me this stack of fat quarters

on their trip to Canada.

(remember the cushion present)

I just love the way it's folded,

And it shall stay that way until I decide...