Blackberry and apple jam

Finished Jam

Peeled, cored and chopped apples.

Blackberries

Cook the apples to soften before adding the blackberries

Boil the fruit with the dissolved sugar

Another rather late entry

This weekend we went to another wedding this time in Oxford for the wedding of Harry to Amy. Fabulous wedding lovely people. A mixture of ages, styles and  tribes but with one thing in common a great deal of love and admiration for the two people below. There were a couple of rather splendid hats, the first although  I understand was very inexpensive, it pressed all the right sartorial buttons. The second hat was altogether more staid but a beautiful shape. 

Personalise your stationary with stamps

I wrote this piece on making your own stamps in an earlier blog. You can either make your own stamps or use shop bought ones to decorate plain stationary as we have done in the picture shown here.

Materials and techniques

CUTTING A STAMP FROM A FOAM SHEET

You will need;

2mm thick foam sheet

tracing paper

fine marker pen

pencil

sharp craft knife

cutting mat

Instructions;

1. Trace off your chosen motif, by placing the tracing paper over the image, holding the paper firm trace around the edges of the motif carefully, with a sharp pencil.

2. Place the tracing paper with the image drawn on it on to the cutting mat. Slowly and steadily cut out the image with the craft knife. Hold the knife as you would a pencil and carefully cut towards yourself, as if you were drawing over the traced lines. Remove the cut out image from the rest of the tracing paper.

3. Lay the cut out image onto the foam sheet, holding it firmly in place, use this as a template and draw around it with a fine marker pen. Remove the traced off template to reveal the motif on the foam sheet.

4. Take the sharp craft knife and very carefully cut along the marker line. Keep your hand steady and try to cut in one long smooth stroke, as stopping and starting can make the cut a little jagged. Remove the cut out image from the rest of the sheet. This is your stamp.

Because the foam sheet has an identical surface on the back it is possible to flip the stamp over and use the reverse as a mirror image.

CUTTING A STAMP FROM LINO

You will need;

lino

lino cutting tool

sharp craft knife

tracing paper

carbon paper

sharp pencil

cutting mat

Instructions;

1. Place the tracing paper on the image you wish to use , hold the paper steady and firm, then carefully trace it off with a sharp pencil. Lay the lino down, with the smooth side facing up, then place a sheet of carbon paper, carbon side down onto the lino and place the reversed traced image over that. The traced image should be reversed so that when it is cut out it will be identical to the template, otherwise it will be the wrong way round.

2. Draw heavily over the traced outline, so that the image will transfer through the carbon paper onto the lino. When you remove the tracing and carbon paper the image should be clear, if not touch it up with the pencil, copying the template.

3. Place the lino on to the cutting mat and cut around the entire outline of the motif  with the craft knife, to remove the excess lino. With the no.1 lino cutting tool begin to score along the marked lines. Hold the tool firmly, push the blade into the lino and push it away from your self, the blade will pick up the lino, remove it and score into the surface.

4. If you have larger areas of lino to remove change the blade to a no.2 or 3 and proceed to score the lino out, keeping the lino tool going away from your body.

Remember that it’s the lino that  remains which will make the impression when stamped. The lino that has been scored out will not stamp, only the lino that now stands proud of the base.

CUTTING A STAMP FROM A POTATO

You will need;

a potato

sharp knife

felt tip pen

chopping board

kitchen paper

craft knife

Instructions;

1. Place the potato on the chopping board and cut it in half with the sharp knife, do this in one smooth motion so that the surface is dead straight. Draw your motif directly onto the potato with the felt tip pen. It is best to keep the motif very simple.

2. Take the craft knife and carefully score out the excess potato. Make one cut on an angle and make the next cut at an angle to that so they meet in a V, remove the background. Stamp the potato on the kitchen towel to dry off the moisture.

A potato stamp will only last for a few hours, so begin to stamp immediately. If you keep a copy of the design you can then use a fresh potato if you need to.

APPLYING PAINT

The most even way to apply paint is to apply it with a small sponge roller, these are available from art and craft suppliers. Pour a small amount of paint onto a flat plate and roll the roller over the paint, until its evenly covered. Proceed to roll the paint over the stamp surface, a lino roller is actually made from rubber rather than sponge. When stamping with  lino use a lino roller to apply the paint.

A brush is probably the most common way of applying paint to a stamp, the advantages of this is that you are in complete control over the amount of paint you want to add. You can brush different colours onto the same stamp to create varied effects, see the bird stamp on page 00. However, the down side is that, especially on fabric, brush marks are clearly visible once you have stamped the motif down. Many of you may like this effect, but if you don’t you can always touch it up with a fine paint brush.

If you are stamping with a sponge, the simplest way to apply the paint is to dip the sponge into the paint. Pour the paint into a flat plate and spread it out into an even thin layer and then dip. Ensure that the sponge is evenly coated before you stamp with it. In fact the best advice is to have a practice run to get the feel of the stamp, before you begin stamping for real.

MAKING A PAINT PAD

An alternative method to apply paint to your stamps, other than the ways listed above, is to use a paint pad. This is used by simply pressing the stamp firmly onto the pad until it is covered with paint. You can buy ink pads especially for stamping, however, ink may not be suitable for your project. Make your own paint pad to apply paint to your stamp. The ideal container for such a pad is a plastic tub with a lid, so that the paint doesn’t dry out when you have finished using the

You will need;

plastic container with a lid, e.g., margarine tub

domestic sponge

spatula

muslin or thin cotton fabric

large spoon

paint

Instructions;

1. Cut the sponge so that it fits into the plastic container. Wrap the sponge in the muslin or cotton fabric and place it into the container.

2. Dilute the paint that you wish to have in your ink pad and then pour it directly onto the cotton covered sponge. Spread and firmly press the paint evenly around the ink pad with a spatula, until it has been absorbed by the sponge.

Mulberry and apple jelly

This Jelly is made from mulberries and Bramley apple windfalls.

We are lucky enough to have a mulberry tree in our garden it is over a 100 years old and it still bears fruit. Be warned you will look like a mad axe  man after picking mulberries, the juice runs down your arms as you pick the fruit. I am sure it would make an excellent natural dye. The finished jelly looks very similar to blackberry and apple but the flavour is much more subtle.

Mulberry hands

Makes 3lbs

Ingredients

675g/ 1 and 1/2lbs cooking apples

1.4kg/3lb mulberries

warmed sugar (the amount depends on the amount of liquor once it has been strained)

mulberries

muslin or jelly bag and something from which to suspend it

Instructiions

1.Wash the apples. cut out the bad bits and then cook them with the mulberries and 850ml/1 pint of water. Bring to the boil and then simmer for one hour until the fruit is soft.

2. Tip the contents of the saucepan into a scalded jelly bag and suspend over a non metallic bowl. I left mine overnight.

3. Pour  the strained juice into a measuring jug and put into a pan with 450g/1lb  of warmed sugar  for every pint/570ml of juice.

4. Heat gently stirring all the while until the sugar has dissolved. Boil hard for 15 minutes.

5. Remove from the heat and ladle into clean warm jars. Seal and label. Store in a cool dark dry place.

More excellent quilts

Below are  a few  examples from the Festival of Quilts.

My 20th Century by Mercia Collins

detail

‘Inspired by a Christmas  card with photographs of our daughter and family, plus the achievements of mankind over the last century. ‘

Blues by Grit Traum. Cotton and hand dyed fabric. Machine pieced and hand and machine quilted. ‘I like to consider the fabrics at hand whilst listening to music. Here it was the blues that inspired the work.’

Multi coloured Threads of Britain by Zannah Cooper

The quilt is a celebration of the richness and diversity of multicultural Britain which I believe makes it colourful and vibrant.

Elvis by Ineke Berlyn

The start was one word ‘Elvis’. the research brought lyrics and images printed on lots of fabrics. The result is a  ‘filmstrip’ themed quilt.

Optrix by Boo Comben and Chris Marriage

I love this quilt as it reminds me of the op art paintings of the late sixties. As you move further away from or closer  towards it, the  design appears to move before your eyes.

Quote from the maker is below:

The pattern was obtained from a Macalls magazine and the quilting is by Chris marriage of Father’s heart quilting.

“My  profession involves how information from eye to brain is processed. sometimes perfect sight can mislead as much as imperfect.”

Detail of Optrix

A novel way of dealing with the credit crunch

Walker Wyatt , estate agents local to me, have turned their estate agency partly into a coffee bar. a brilliant wheeze as they are right next to a tube station. In their window they have dressed a tailor’s dummy with a dress made from recylced coffee bags. Made by Ashir Oozeer  and her students from Plashet School East Ham.

And matching bag

Good, better and best quilts!

Yesterday I collected my quilt and read the judges comments.  I think they are  spot on.

“An original concept&fascinating read. the background would benefit from all-over quilting.” Was the comment of one judge. The other judge said:

“Interesting topic- In future please check the catagory guidelines re: quilt layers and stitch penetration”

The Festival of quilts had some spectacular examples of  quilts- a very unusual term for the broad range and types of work on display. I took some photo’s of the one’s I particularly liked.

Socks but they are not all that they seem.

Waltz this sway by Lola Smart from Bangor

As Times and Fashion Go By Denise Feiereisen-Schmit

A political quilt. From Ballot to Budget.

I  spent the time between the budget and the election collecting the political comments, cartoons and photographs from the newspapers.

This was with a view to making a political quilt called from ‘Budget to Ballot’ to show at the festival of quilts at the NEC in Birmingham. This is a fabulous exhibition with very beautiful and imaginative  works of art on fabric. Sadly the exhibition is only on for 4 days. I entered my quilt in the “Art” category. The quilt is meant to reflect the views of all  political persuasions. Once  the images had been collected,  I scanned them on to my lap top and then reversed them in photo shop and the printed them onto transfer paper. After which, each image was ironed onto fine cotton. I kept the pictures  purposefully quite dark , so they look like old newspapers that have been hanging around a while.  All the images were then  laid  side by side onto the backing  fabric- and they looked so dull!  I needed  a re-think and decided that I wanted to loosely  base   my creation on ‘The Golden Section’ I then had another re-think and was inspired by Matisse’s Snail. So I painted sections of canvas  in political colours and arranged  and then sewed the images onto them.

The central image is  a cartoon  by Peter Brooks called ‘under starters orders’ an image of the four horseman  of the apocalypse outside number ’10 Downing Street’.

Fruit Leather?

In Saturday’s Times newspaper I read a recipe from ‘River Cottage recipes’ for blackberry leather. It reminds me of the middle eastern flat sheets of  rolled fruit, loved by Armenians,  so I thought I’d give it a go. If you try this, bear in mind  it takes a very long time as it needs to dry in a coolish oven for hours. I made  the recipe from the Times using blackberries  and apples. Using the same principals i then made some more from plums. They both taste delicious. Unlike jelly which you mustn’t push through a sieve as it goes cloudy, with this you can push to your heart’s content as cloudiness is not an issue.

You will need

1 kilo of Fruit with a good pectin level (plums are good)

blackberries with apples are great too.

100 ml water

sieve

baking parchment

Instructions

1. If using apples chop them up.  With plums just put them in a saucepan with the water and cook for about twenty minutes or until soft.

2. Turn the oven on to  50-60 degrees. Push the cooked mixture through a sieve into another saucepan. Discard the pips and fruit skins and anything else left in the sieve.

3. Add 150g of sugar and heat the  mixture in the saucepan, stirring until the sugar dissolves.

4. Spread the puree onto baking trays lined with baking parchment. Do this very thinly or else it won’t dry out.

5. Place in the oven for 12- 18 hours. Peel away the fruit sheet and roll in fresh baking parchment. Tie with string.

If it hasn’t dried, put the fresh baking parchment on top of the fruit. Flip the whole thing over and peel off the old parchment. Put back in the oven for longer and keep checking it.

The piece in the Times says it will last for up to two years, with my family of gannets I am not so sure!

Lots of D.I.Y and a new creature at our house.

We have all been doing D.I.Y. this weekend as we are about to host a wedding at our house in September for some old friends. Part of the D.I.Y was stripping the rest of the old paint from the ceiling of the back porch. Five of us cleared the front drive. The problem with a big house is there is always loads of work to do. Over the last month my daughter Jessica has been trying to incubate eggs. She bought six over the internet and only one has turned into a chick, it is alive and well and here is a picture. The chick is called Pip.