Ye Gods! Who Stole Summer?!

Whaahaha! It is FER-EEZING today!

We have been on the tail end of an endless summer, which has been much enjoyed. Here we are, mid May (that's the equivalent to mid November for you Northern Hemisphere people - NH abbreviation from now on), and I have - er, had - self-sown tomato plants on the verge of flowering. Autumn was only just starting to creep in. I still hadn't lit a fire yet, and was still sleeping in the bedroom.
For those not in the know, every winter, when it gets cold enough to need to keep the coals going overnight for a morning fire, I close off the bedroom, and move into the little annex off the lounge, to conserve heat and firewood. Normally it is a slow progression - fire during the evening only at first, then starting at midday, until finally it is cold enough to need a morning fire. But not this year. Last week we were still getting temps in the high 20's (Celsius), with one day at 28C (that's 82.4F for you NH people). Then two days ago we had a massive storm, howling gales, driving rain, and today - Whaahaha! It is cold enough to see your breath INSIDE the house! 9am, and there is still a solid sheet of ice across the birdbath! We normally have to be deep, deep into winter to get that!
To give you a little perspective, I am at 39.65 S latitude, that is the equivalent to Eagle, Colorado in the US, which is at 39.65 N latitude (except we aren't in the mountains here). Oddly enough, I was actually born in Englewood, Colorado, which is at 39.57 N.
So we have gone from summer to winter in one fell swoop. As we move into the new El Nino cycle (hot and dry for the NH, cold and wet for us in the Southern hemisphere), our season of summers has come to an end, and boy, am I glad put up all those preserves! It does, however, mean a long, cold spring - which is a late start for the garden, and a cool summer, so I don't expect I will get much in the way of summer crops.

Catching Up

Several high-stress issues have come up over the last few weeks, and coupled with battling a bout of depression, my work on the CQI Round Robins has been delayed. I have gotten a lot of jelly made though! Cooking, preserving, and gardening are my refuge when depression hits. Since moving into the flat five years ago and having a proper kitchen again, and putting in the garden, it has made a huge difference to how severe the depression episodes are and how long it takes to recover.

The crab apples came ripe the first week in May, and I managed to get quite a lot of them, so I have a LOT of crab apple jelly! But I did really enjoy making it, and have given quite a number of jars away.

Meanwhile, my beloved Chrysanthemums came into flower - always sure to bring a smile. They are the most gorgeous colour I have ever seen in Mums. I originally bought the plant a couple of years ago as a straggly, on-it's-last-legs pot plant in the half price bin, and just plopped it into a spare bit of garden hoping it would flower for a few more weeks. I didn't realise it was a perennial, or that the 6 inch spindly stalked plant would grow into a humungous bush taking over a section of the garden!

On Shelly R's block for the Garden & Flowers Traditional RR, I did a variety of work.

I started with a spiral spider web in silver metallic thread, and an adorable little yellow and black spider. This is the best spider I have done yet, and I was really pleased with it.
After that, I laid down the feather stitch in a single strand of a dark olive green to match the green in the ribbon, then added lots of tiny bullion buds in two colours of pink to echo the pinks in the ribbon.
Next I did a row of herringbone along the ribbon edge, and added flowers done with tiny bronze daisy spacers and deep turquoise seed beads to pick up the colour of the turquoise silk fabrics in the block.

The next fabric had a central flower print, which I overlaid with silk ribbon flowers. The flowers in the print were a mix of cream and yellow, with a mix of red centres and yellow centres, so I followed the print in my choice of colours for the individual flowers and centres. I used a mile of ribbon and a ton of beads, to give the piece texture and volume, and extended the flowers up into the next patches (as requested by Shelly). Rope Stitch in a No.10 purl was used to do the stems. To finish it off I added a Victorian style brass bee charm.

Jelly Brained

Wheee! I have gone jelly-making mad!
Yesterday's wonderful adventure was Pear Jelly. Wonderfully clear, a beautiful amber colour. Of course, now I have run out of jam size jars - hopefully I will be able to get more before the crab apples and persimmons come ripe.

Feijoa Forays - It's Jelly, Baby.

For all my many, um, decades... (cough, cough - now I feel old!) of preserving, one area I haven't forayed into much is jelly. Loads of jam - jam up the wazoo! - but not much jelly. Mostly because trying to find a pan deep enough to hang the jelly bag in, or a place to hang it from to get a bowl underneath, was pretty much a no-go in my kitchen.
However, I have recently found someplace where I can get crab apples, which will be ready to pick in a couple of weeks, and my neighbour has a tree full of persimmons no-one else wants - both of these being premier jelly-making fruits - so I finally relented and bought a commercially made jelly bag. OMG, I wish I had relented years ago! Not that it would have done much good - things like this haven't been available here in NZ until recently, But Oh Mamma, it makes jelly-making a breeze!
It is not so much the bag itself, but the wonderful little stand it attaches to, that I'm over the moon about. A faaabulous (as the gay guy across the road says - yes he really does talk like that, but he does it on purpose - lol) sturdy little contraption, with folding legs, that has little hooky-type feet which enable it to sit perched over pretty much any bowl or pan.

It was while browsing the Mad Millie site that I saw the jelly bag. They are a wonderful little company specialising in preserving equipment and artisan food kits (cheese making and cider making particularly). It is only since they have come on the market that I have finally been able to upgrade my kitchen with all the hardware goodies to make my preserving life easier - having the right equipment really makes a difference. The jelly bag arrived yesterday afternoon by courier, so I figured I had better get some practice in, in preparation for the butt-load of jelly-making fruit that would soon overwhelm my kitchen.
Feijoa season is really short - it one of those fruits that all come ripe pretty much at the same time and goes rotten really fast - and it is coming to an end, but I figured there were probably a few stray late fruits on the driveway across the road, and on the pavement in front of the house at the end of the block, so off I toddled, in my fluffy purple socks and Heavy Metal hoodie, the urban forager.
Feijoas are quite tart, which make them great for jam, but they are very fiddly to do jam making with. The skin is high in pectin, but is quite bitter, so can't be left on for jam, which means careful peeling of a small, squishy fruit. And they really do need to be peeled rather than just cut and scooped out, to try to get as much of the fruit just under the skin as possible, for the pectin content. Did I mention  - fiddly? But for jelly they are perfect. Since no actual fruit is left after straining, the bitterness doesn't really come thru, the flavour is so much more intense - and of course the pectin content is thru the roof, so it sets beautifully. Just cut them in half, cover with water, and simmer. So easy! Then mash it with a potato masher, plop the whole mess in the jelly bag, and viola! a few hours later, a lovely bowl of syrupy-consistency juice. I am SO going to enjoy doing the persimmon and the crab apple jellies!

Feijoa Jelly

Looneylocks and the 4 "Bears"

Well, here we are again. It has been a few weeks since my last entry.
Mum came to visit from Aussie for a week, and we had a great time.
We went over to Boutique Horse Treks at Clive - a sort of suburb of Napier - to collect some horse poop for my mushroom growing endeavour planned for spring. I don't have a car, so while Mum was here I took advantage of having someone around who could drive. The place is run by a lovely woman - who's name escapes me (sorry!). While we were there shovelling poop, she told us to help ourselves to the chestnuts on the ground in the next paddock - yum! Chestnuts! I love chestnuts, but they have been quite difficult (and expensive) to source over here. And while we were collecting the chestnuts, her delightful 80 year mother brought out a bag of pears for us.
We also ran around to a few other great places that I can't normally get to. The first was Ta Mata Figs, which grows a wide variety of wonderful, tasty figs, and also does a range of fig products, where we bought two of each kind of fig to try them all, and a fantastic jar of preserved figs, done in a spiced rosewater syrup. Wow!
The second was Arataki Honey, where they produce a wide range of different honeys and other bee related products. Who knew there were so many different kinds of honey? We got to try them all, and I fell in love with the Thyme honey. Apparently it is one of those things people either love or hate, and I definitely loved it! It has the most exotic, unique flavour, that sits in your mouth for a good 20 minutes after tasting. Of course it would be the most expensive one, but I have never seen it anywhere else around here, and I can't get up there without a car, so I went ahead and bought a small jar.
We also went on a bit of a shopping spree in town - mostly various goodies for my kitchen. I do love my kitchen! One of the things we got was a Mad Millie Home Preserving Kit - a water bath canner. So cool! I have wanted one of those for such a long time!  I have never done the water bath type preserving, as I was never able to get a big enough pan, or a rack-thing (cake rack would have been fine) that would fit the big stewing pot (which would only hold 3 jars) that I got a couple of years back. I have always used the hot pack/overflow method that seems to be pretty much the standard way in Aussie and NZ. But I do remember Mum doing the water bath preserving when I was very young (I was born in the U.S. where it is all done by water bath). And the Mad Millie Kit had everything you need in it - a huge pan, proper jar rack, wide-mouth funnel (cool, now I can throw out my heat-warped top-of-a-vinegar-bottle I have been using for that), jar lifter, tongs, jar wrench, and lid wand - all stuff I haven't seen over here in NZ before.
Being able to cold pack fruit for preserving rather than hot packing which always ends up with mushy fruit, and doing some of the other things (like long term storage for lemon and passion fruit curds, which will keep up to a year if processed in a water bath, but are too dodgy to try storing otherwise) was very appealing, plus it really is the best way to do tomatoes if you want to keep them whole.
So a couple of days after Mum went back to Aussie. I wandered back up to Bin Inn with my 'granny trolley', and bought a box of 6 x 1 litre jars. Since I have all those pears, and also a big bag of feijoas that we were given, lets give this water bath preserving a try, after all, I'm a preserving master, so it should be easy. Right?
Well, my first attempt with this type of preserving was a spectacular disaster.
I did 4 jars (2 of pears and 2 of feijoas). I had a "momma bear" a "poppa bear" and 2 "baby bears" - 1 had the ring screwed on too loose, one too tight , and 2 were 'just right' (those were the pears). The one that was too loose, I lost a third of the syrup - I'm assuming it boiled out into the water. The one that was too tight... well... the seal buckled and was quite 'domed', so I thought maybe I should loosen the band a little. Yup, I did, and yup, I now know that was not such a good idea! Like something out of 'The Exorcist', or maybe a fruity Yellowstone Park, the jar spewed it contents with gusto - onto the ceiling, the walls, the fridge behind me, covering the many jars and storage containers on the benches, with large chunks of hot feijoas finally coming to rest 'plop' on the floor. And I am definitely certain that the contents were well sterilized - I have a badly scalded hand to attest to that!
After standing stock still for a few moments - like a deer in headlights, staring blankly at the now half empty jar of feijoas while mentally digesting the shock of my fruit shower, I put on my best stoic face, studiously ignored the sticky mess, scraped off the squished lump of feijoa that had stuck to the bottom of my foot when I stepped back, put the jug on, and ran my hand under cold water while I waited for the jug to boil to make myself a cup of coffee. Then, still ignoring the mess, I went into the lounge with my nice comforting coffee, called Mum on Skype, and had a good whinge.
Now the race is on to see which heals faster - my burnt hand or my wounded pride (a preserving method that has bested me is a bit of an embarrassment). Ah well, we live and learn. I definitely won't do that again! I mean unscrewing the band - the water bath preserving I will persevere with. It's all part of the learning curve.
After finally cleaning up the mess in the kitchen, I resorted to the familiar, combined the two part jars of feijoas into a pan, and hot packed them with the overflow method into smaller jars.

The pears were done with cinnamon and cardamom, and the feijoas with cloves.

Stephanie's Block - The Burgundy Mermaid

Well, this one was, without a doubt, the most complex and fiddly one I have done for a long time, but I do like the final result. Let me introduce you to the Burgundy Mermaid.

Unfortunately I just didn't seem to be able to get a really decent photo. None of them captured the vibrant colours, instead she looks rather 'washed out'.

I started this block the usual way, by doing the seam treatments - a small one in purple detached fly stitch (which ended up looking like zigzag stitch) with purple seed beads, and a long one in a rich rust chain stitch wave with dark red seed beads. This one ended up getting rather lost under the mermaid's hair.

My vision for this one was a mermaid pulling at a fisherman's net, so the first thing I did was sketch it out. 
The stitching was started with the net, done in a beige No. 10 purl, and the needlelace stitch used was knotted buttonhole stitch. Normally needlelace is started on a leader thread, but I didn't want that solid straight line across the top. Rather, I wanted to give the impression of the net extending up past the edge, so I knotted the first row directly onto the fabric, to give it that 'open net' look.

The next step was to transfer the body shape to a lovely flesh coloured piece of silk, and the tail shape to a burgundy satin. These were then cut out, and placed into position. Rather than appliquéing using a tiny turned seam, I used an outlining thread instead, for both pieces, as I liked the definition it gave better. Once this was decided, the outlining threads (both No. 10 purl) were couched into place with small stitches.

I chose some beautiful facetted 'dusky rose with gold tones' sequins from my stash, and stitched them in place with 'antiqued gold' seed beads. I have to say - wow! Who knew it took so many sequins to cover a mermaid's butt! Once all the sequins were placed, I added extra seed beads up her back and on her tail.

Finally, the hair was added, This was done in two stages. The first was carefully stitching the hair yarn in close parallel lines to cover the head, using tiny stitches, and being very careful not to catch any of the wispy bits. Second was stitching the flowing strands, again using tiny stitches, and being careful not to catch any of the wispy bits. Then, viola! The Burgundy Mermaid. I hope Stephanie is happy with her.

Maire's Block

The final stitch on the final seam of the final block of my first Round Robin is finished. I have completed my work on Maire's block.

As there were so many seams left (9 in total, although, granted, several of them were very small seams), I did 4 seams instead of the usual 2 we had been doing with the RR. Here is the completed block (except for the seams left for Maire to do, of course).
All the work I did was done in the threads Maire provided with the block.
 

The first seam I did is a row of bullion roses with ivory pearl centres, and a stem stitch border underneath with bullion rosebuds. The second seam is a row of wisteria, done in blush ivory beads, and pale pink and medium pink French knots, on stem stitch branches with detached chain leaves.
These two seam were my original ideas for this block when I first saw the naked block pic at the beginning of the RR. The first thing I thought when I saw it was "roses and wisteria". Of course, wisteria is normally purple, but when the block arrived, Maire stated in her booklet that she wanted the work to be in the colours of the block, and there was no purple in the block. Fortunately, I have seen pink wisteria.

For the third seam I did this wonderful beaded Buttonholed Cable Chain from Sharon B's TAST. The buttonholed cable chain was done in a lovely variegated fine purl thread, and  "antique gold" seed beads were added to the centres of the chain. Then straight stitch tripods (I don't know what else to call them) with the "antique gold" seed beads were done underneath, to extend and accentuate the border. The only other beads on the block are the pretty, tiny gold beads in Rose Anne's tatted lace, on the top right, so by putting this beaded seam on the bottom left, it kept the balance.

The final seam is a row of feather stitch, with each terminus topped with a beaded cast-on flower. These are terribly fiddly and time-consuming to do, but I just really love them. Normally I use a much smaller seed bead for the centre, but I used the same ivory pearls to cast the flowers onto that I used in the roses border, to give balance to the piece. That way the two seams with pearls are bottom right(ish) and top left(ish), nicely opposing the two beaded seams. I like how they turned out with the pearl centres.

 
Maire's block was a joy to work on, being all in silks, and such lovely delicate colours. It will head on home to Maire on Thursday.

I have enjoyed this - my first - RR, and learned a lot from it. Thank you to all the ladies who were a part of it.