Thursday 12 January 2012

A Beaut New Seam Ripper/Quick Unpick

Look what Santa brought ... a beaut new seam ripper (or more typically called a "Quick Unpick" in Australia). These are made by quilter, Amy Friend's, husband and are available now and again in her Etsy shop but they sell out fast. Amy has the blog "During Quiet Time".


It is bigger than the usual ripper and fits nicely in my hand ... should I ever need to use it!

Sunday 8 January 2012

Fruit Gleaning and Other Activities

Yesterday we had a little working bee at our retreat house - Vickery Quilt and Craft Retreat - putting up a full length mirror, a useful coat and hat rack inside the front door, and a new front light which has two spots to shine on the paths to guide home quilters after night excursions to the town's eateries.





While we were installing the front light we noticed the white cockatoos paying  a lot of attention to a large tree in the park across the road.

Closer inspection revealed it was loaded with yellow plums! This is a variety which is commonly "gleaned" in Europe so we followed suit. The internet revealed they are OK to eat (after the death cap mushroom poisonings in Canberra you can't be too careful) and a few ways to cook them - jam, cobbler, stewed. I stewed ours.



 They are sweet to eat as is but get a bit sourer stewed so I added a little sugar. They have  a very high water content so you don't need to add any to the pot.

Sunday 1 January 2012