Redcurrant Jelly and the Art of Failure

Is a failure still a failure if you don't achieve what you set out to do, but you're still happy with the results?

My vintage copy of the Edmonds Cookery book (mine is the edition at the bottom!) tells me that "A perfect jelly is clear, bright and tender, and when cut with a spoon has a clean surface." Yes well, mine is bright.... and it hasn't set at all.

I think I know where I went wrong.

I was supposed to be following this recipe. It's Delia, and nothing could go wrong with Delia, right? Well, that only applies if you actually follow the instructions. Which I did until I got to this point:

"...add the sugar, stir until absolutely dissolved, then bring the mixture up to a rapid boil, and boil for 8 minutes."

 After 5 minutes of rapid boiling the mixture was pretty think, and I got scared. "What if I over boil it? What if it gets too thick, and it won't strain? I am using a smaller quantity that it says here..." and so, with visions of a muslin cloth ball of congealed fruit weighing on my judgement, I took it off the heat and began to strain it.

So I don't have a jelly. But I do have a syrup, and a pretty delicious one, if I do say so myself. Which counts as a success as far as I'm concerned. 

And how can you possibly fail at preserving fruit when you have a dinosaur "helping?"

One Day Like This a Year...

So it hasn't been the best summer this year, but yesterday was glorious.

We went down to Cork to visit the family, and spent a good chunk of the afternoon in my Dad's back garden, where the combination of a whole lot of rain and a sunny afternoon was evident.

Usually the birds get most of the berry crop, but this year they hadn't been around (or they've all flown off somewhere dry for the summer...) and there was a bumper crop of black and red currents!

I foresee blackcurrant jam and redcurrant jelly in my immediate future. <3

Some THANGS

I love it when a misty morning turns into one of those crisp, sunny days.

Warm weather has it's charms, but there is something nice about being able to wrap up in the hats and scarves that we were so quick to eschew in the spring (despite the temperature being pretty much the same...)

 Also, here are some things from my sketchbook....

(some of these are quite old, but since they haven't been on shown off before I thought I'd share them anyway. Makes me look more productive too! <3) 

Progress - It Happens!

Believe me, I'm rather shocked and more than a little proud that I actually have been chipping away at the projects that I've set myself!

Part 1: The Rug.

We took these (old worn out Jeans kindly donated by friends and family!) and ripped them into strips....

This is a small sample here.... then we pick three and begin to braid and braid and braid....

I used my sewing machine to weigh it down, which was handy because whenever I ran out of one strand I would pick another one and sew it on. So it grew and grew until we have....

So now I have enough done to make a decent sized rug, but I still have to stitch it together - and you thought the braiding was the tedious part!

So that's the story with the rug! Almost done! <3 

Part 2: Paper Doll! 

This requires far more prototyping and experimentation that I thought it would initially. I really like the idea of dispensing with annoying paper tabs (always tearing!) and replacing them with MAGNETS - this poses a few issues with polarity and what not, so I'm playing with different ideas while I draw outfits on my doll!

There are a few design issues as well, (the hair style shown has been modified since discovering the difficulty involved in cutting out individual strands of hair!) Emily is also helping me come up with outfits for "the lady" so when it's all said and done it will be well and truly kid tested!

So that is it! I feel pretty good for getting this much done in between the school run, domestic goddessery, Roller Derby training, the occasional graphic design work and my constant battle with General Lethargy... oh no, I'm going to have to draw Lethargy in uniform now aren't I?

Love to you all, 

xx