The Make and Do Studio

I love the colour in these photos....

I have been taking many photos recently and downloading them into my Picasa files (in an attempt to keep them in some semblance of order!).  It occured to me that the negative to digital images is that you don't tend to keep them anywhere where you can look at them on a daily basis - I tend to look at them. go "wow, that is lovely" and then that is it. So I decided to take a very random selection from the last six weeks and post them  - just so I can see them once in a while!

Children's felt drying alfresco.

Addison catching the last dying rays of the autumn sun.

Canning and preserving stuff - ready for show.

Quilt strips on their way to being finished.

My daughter Sydney made a gorgeous Octonaut cake for Addison's birthday. 

The beginning stages of the Canning and Preserving workshop that just passed.  What a great workshop!

I hope you are all gearing up for the holidays - I know I am but this year I have decided to pace it out a bit. I have slowed down on workshops from the beginning of December and am concentrating on some other studio stuff - putting new stuff on Folksy, sorting out a monthly "Create" night at a local business, writing a business support section called This Crafty Business on the Crafty Network and of all things - hopefully being filmed by the BBC!

All the best and for those back in the States, here is to a wonderful Thanksgiving! 

 

 

 

Think you can't learn a bit of old school food preserving?

As you may know, if you follow what we are up to with new workshops, in a few weeks time, we are doing a workshop that is a bit different from our normal workshops - we have a great workshop for those interested in the basics of preserving and canning (or as someone else pointed out, really it should be preserving and pickling!).

 

I think the idea of preserving your food is so timely, as these challenging economic times means that the emphasis is on making seasonal food last longer and at the same time, trying to reduce the amount of waste that you create. Preserving does all this as you don't have to have fancy packaging - just some glass jars that have been been prepared by sterilising them and fruit and vegetables that are in season (so hopefully, not expensive!).  In our workshop, you make three different items (cranberry and fig chutney, pickled seasonal vegetables and a fruit infused liquor) to show you the ways to incorporate preserving across different food/drinks type.

And when I opened my delicious magazine yesterday, the foodbites section editors choice was all about the "big trend in drinking.....is about added flavour".  They mention Shoots Shots Sloe Gin at £22.95 for 75cl or William Chase Elderflower Liquer is £8.99 for 20cl - by no means a cheap hobby but by learning how to do it yourself (and some of the tips like expensive alcohol is not always necessary as the fruit covers the underlying alcohol flavour!) you can certainly put it in your affordable range. 

I will make sure that we post some basic information about canning (I got a great resource list from a lovely Dutch lady...you know who you are!) so if you can't make it, or want to give it a go at home, then you have a bit of help from us!

Roll on the holidays!