Orange Marmalade

 A few weeks ago we got given a box of Organic Oranges from a friend.  I was very happy with them and made lots of fresh orange juice for the girls.  I thought about making chocolate orange sticks with the peel but then I had a better idea to  make Orange Marmalade.  I have made it before with a friend but it turned out slightly too sour and didn’t really stiffen. So the aim this time was to make it a bit sweeter and to try and get it to set.  
It takes time and patience to make marmalade because the orange peel needs to cook for a while to soften and it also takes a lot of time to cut the peel into small strips. But it is well worth the work.

I used about 6 big oranges, I didn't weigh them but when making marmalade its good to use equal parts sugar to fruit. 

1 kilo of good quality oranges

1 kilo sugar 

1 lemon 

1 tsp of Agar agar (or any other thickener) 

First juice the oranges and save the liquid for later then scoop out the pulp, this can be cooked with the oranges for flavour.  

 Place the pulp in a muslin cloth and tie it into a bag with some cotton string.  Put the halved peels into a big pan with the pulp bag, and add 1 litre of water.  Bring it to the boil and let it simmer for 1 hour until the peels are soft but not too mushy. 

  Save the liquid by straining the oranges and lemon through a colander into a bowl and squeeze all the remaining water out by hand. With a spoon scoop out as much of the white pulp as possible and slice the peel into thin strips. 

   

   Once all the oranges are cut, add them to a big pan together with the juice and the liquid the peel was cooked in.  Then add the sugar and heat gently.  When the sugar has dissolved turn up the heat and boil for about 10-15 minutes.  It is important to do a set test; take the pan off the heat and place a spoonful of marmalade on a cold plate and wait to see if it sets, but if it hasn't, return it to the heat and test again until it does.  Let the marmalade sit in the pan for 5 -10 minutes before filling the jars. 

    

 It definitely turned out better than last time, it was sweet enough yet still had a that tangy citrus taste.  We have nearly eaten a whole pot and it tastes very good on toast.  
I also use this marmalade to make a very nice chocolate orange cake.

Big and small

 In the last few months I have had a lot of commissions to make slippers, big and small.  Here are some photo's of the smallest and the biggest ones I have made.  The smallest were for little babies and the biggest pair was for a man (size 43). They were the third pair of man slippers I have made and I always forget how hard they are to make.  It is much more difficult to get the right shape and colour combinations, because they are so big I need to use 3 balls of wool.    I was asked to make them blue and green,  this is how they turned out.  

Baby girl slippers

Little boys slippers 

Fabric and Pillows

 Just before Christmas I went to a big fabric fair, I knew it was going to be big but when I walked in to the hall I was overwhelmed by the size, noise and the amount of people. I didn't know where to begin, so I just walked around a few times looking at all the different colours and textures. In the end I found a stand that sold  nice retro kids fabric and tried to take a look.  I say tried because there was so many people standing around I couldn't ever get close enough to touch or feel anything. When I  walked around again in the hope of find something else, I came across a little stand that was selling lovely, good quality fabric and other sewing accessories.  It was also busy but I managed to get close and have a good look around.  They had so many nice things I found it hard to resist buying everything. The lady working there told me they had a web-shop, (click here)  so I was happy to know I didn't need to buy so much there and then.  
I bought two pieces of fabric, one has retro telephones and flowers and the other has everything from hearts, birds, flowers  to windmills and hot air balloons. But I really fell in love with this fabric because it has a little horse on it that looks just like a Scandinavian wooden toy horse the girls have.   

This fabric I used to make a lavender pillow for a friends baby, (yes a lot of my friends are having babies). I cut out a small square, sewed it up and stuffed it with wool and dried lavender.  

  I then sewed on some nice red edging I found in my sewing box, it worked perfectly and gave it a nice neat finish.  

  With the telephone fabric I decided to make a cushion for my sister for her Christmas present.  I made the inner cushion just with white fabric and stuffed it with wool, then I made the cover with an opening at the back so it can be taken off for washing, if need be. 

 I used some green edging for around the opening and then sewed on little button to keep it closed. 

I am very happy with how the telephone coushin turned out and I will definitely be making more of them for us.  

Crochet Baby Rattles

I got the idea for making these little rattles from some I saw in a shop.  I really liked them and was about to buy one for a gift but, then I looked at the price tag and decided not to.  I thought to myself, they can't be too difficult to make. So I took a good look at them and went home to make not just one, but three. 

I made them in 3 sections starting with the stem. I then crocheted the red hat, sewed on the white dots and put a bell in it.  After that I stuffed it with wool and sewed it together.  

They make a very lovely gift and don't even take long to make.

  

Happy New Year

Happy 2014 everyone. I hope it will be a year filled with inspiration, creativity, love and laughter.  

And of course CAKE! 

Bears need clothes too!

 These little teddy bears belong to my girls, (big bear belongs to big girl and little bear to little girl).   The girls asked me a while ago if I could buy some clothes for the bears,  but I decided instead to make them a little outfit for Christmas. I used the left over fabric from the skirts I made in the summer, so big bear got the purple floral liberty fabric and little bear got the pink and red roses.    

I measured the bears up and made a little pattern, then cut out the fabric, sewed up the side and legs. After that I sewed around the waist with a lose stitch so that I could pull it together to make pleating.  

 I cut out a bit of purple fabric to make straps and edging, I made the edging piece longer then the waist so it can be tied in bow at the back.

The last thing I did was sew some pipers onto the straps and it was done.  
I made the same for little bear, only smaller and I bought some edging as I didn't have any red fabric.  Little girl can't tie bows yet so her bear got a button instead.  




I made them both a matching head band by sewing up a long peace of fabric to tie in a bow around the head.   

Happy smiley bears….. 

and happy smily girls in their matching skirts.  

Being Busy

 It's that time of year again when there is an abundance of fruit, berries and vegetables. I have been very busy making jams and preserves with everything and anything I can find.  

We went berry picking in the forest the other day and came back with a kilo of blueberries and a kilo of blackberries. It is a joy to be able to go for a walk and come back with such delights.  I made more blueberry jam, and I picked some raspberries to go with blackberries and made a very delicious mixed berry jam.     

This year I have made all the favourite vegetable preserves from pickled gherkins, tomato chutney, sweet courgette relish, plum chutney and a special request from my big girl, piccalilli. All the recipes can be found under Preserves.  

Girls and Skirts

My girls love skirts and I was inspired to make them both a new one.  I thought it would be good to follow a pattern  and try something new. There are so many different patterns for different shapes and styles, I found it hard to choose. Finally I found a good one and ask my little girl if she liked it, and it was a winner.  After starting, I realised that it is not easy to follow a pattern in Dutch.  I asked for help with translating it, but it was just too difficult to understand what to do. So I abandoned the pattern and tried to work it out on my own.  
I got there in the end but it was not what I really wanted.  The waistband was too big and the skirt kept falling down.  I decided to take it apart and started again.  This time I used  big red elastic for the waistband and just sewed on the fabric.  It was very easy and it looks really nice.   

My big girl wanted to have the same but I couldn't find the right colour elastic. Instead, I copied a skirt she already has. It has an elastic in the waistband and it also has a petticoat with a bit of lace sawn on.  She loves it so much and they are both very happy to have a nice new summer skirt for this lovely hot weather.