.... Cooking with Bramley Apples

Bramley Apples and Blackberries

We are lucky enough to have a large old Bramley Apple tree in our garden which at this time of year is bountiful with fruit.  We get a lot of "windfall" apples that drop from the tree and I do my best to make use of them, however, as they can only be eaten once they are cooked this means I have to put in a little effort to try and keep up with what is available. 

One of my usual tactics is to take carrier bags full in to work to share with my colleagues, however, I recently accepted voluntary redundancy so that is not an option. This has not been without some laughs as I tried to explain to my Moldovan and Polish colleagues that they must be cooked before eating, it turns out that cooking apples are peculiar to the UK.  

There was nothing for it but to roll my sleeves up and spend Saturday in the kitchen.  Hubby was working a 12 hour shift so I knew I could get stuck in without any interruptions.  I scavenged the last of the blackberries from behind the garden shed and set to.  First up was an apple and blackberry crumble for Hubby to take into work the next day to share with his co-workers.

This is all based around Delia Smith's basic crumble recipe

225g plain flour

75g butter (at room temperature)

100g sugar (I use what ever kind I have to hand)

Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until it is evenly distributed and resembles cake crumbs, add the sugar and mix through.  This is ready to be used now or it can be frozen to be used as and when required or it will keep in the fridge.

For the filling I peeled and sliced about 900g of Bramleys put them in a pan with enough water to cover the bottom and about 40g of sugar, cook until the apple starts to collapse and go fluffy. Place the apple mix in baking or Pyrex dish about 9 or 10 inches long. Add the blackberries they will make the apple go pink.  Cover with the topping, fork it  down, dont press.  Bake at Gas mark 4, 350 F 180C for about 30-40 minutes.  Serve with custard, cream or ice cream and don't think about what is happening to your waistline!!

I also made a couple of smaller ones where I added some mincemeat to the apple mix instead of the blackberries, absolutely delicious with vanilla ice cream.  The reason for using the mincemeat is that I brought quite a lot when it was reduced to 25p a jar in the supermarket after Christmas last year, Some have expiry dates as late as 2017, however, there are a couple that go out of date in October so any excuse as I love those festive flavours. 

This link will take you to the delia on line website, although I couldn't spot this basic recipe on there.

Bramley apple and Blackberry crumble

My other makes were both chutneys so I won't be able to feed back on these until they have matured a little.

First up was this classic apple chutney from the BBC good food website, I found the recipe easy to follow, it didn't require me to purchase a lot of extra items and didn't have to be cooked for hours.  I made a bit of a mess up and put in more ginger and mustard seed than the recipe asks for (wrong sized spoon), I tried to take some back out but know that there is more in there than there should be, oops.  Hopefully it will still taste fine and you and I will be the only ones who know about this misdemeanor.

Classic Apple Chutney

My second chutney make was also from the BBC good food website autumn tomato chutney  I only made half the quantity suggested as I was using tomatoes from the garden and wanted to save some to eat fresh.

Autumn chutney bubbling away

It yielded 3 jars and I can't wait for it to be ready to try, there is something so satisfying about making things with your home grown produce and this contains both tomatoes and apples from the garden.

Autumn chutney

There are plenty more apples left on the tree so I am in the market for recipe suggestions.

... paper play with autumn leaves

The weather here has taken a distinctly autumnal turn, cardigans have been in daily use and the big debate about is it cold enough to put the heating on has begun ( we have resisted so far).  My Pinterest feed has been popping up with images showing that I am not the only one to have noticed the change in the season and my Leaf me alone board has been getting regular pins fed into it.

Autumnal dispaly

I enjoyed my  adventures with recycled paper play and still have plenty of pages of the book left along with some brown paper that had been on a parcel delivered earlier in the week so I decided it was time for a new mobile.

paper leaf mobile

I toyed with creating different textures by screwing the paper up or by folding it in half to give it a sharp line.  The leaf shapes are a combination of free hand cutting and drawing round some small cookie cutters that I had, it has resulted in a variety of shapes and textures that I am very happy with.  I love the shadows that are cast, it gives the whole thing another dimension.

Brown paper leaves

Once the mobile was up I had to carry on and dress the rest of the mantle, my vintage Sylvac pottery is perfect for an Autumnal display.

Sylvac Squirrel

Sylvac mouse

Sylvac deer

I jumped on the idea of using some of my vintage button cards to complete the display, this is in the room where I do my sewing so I can look up and  see these little lovelies while I am working. It seemed to be lacking a little punch of colour and I hit on the idea of using some of my sewing threads which seem to do the trick.

The old mobile has now been consigned to the log burner to have one final useful role in helping to start the fire.  Who says recycling can't be fun.

How are you marking the change in the season or are you hanging on to Summer a little longer?

...National Sewing month

The USA have declared September as National sewing month

I like the idea of having a month dedicated  to sewing not only does it encourage you to take up your needle it also is an acknowledgement of the many sewers that are out there, it is generally a solitary pursuit which is why so many of us keep our blogs to communicate with the wider sewing community

 This  30 minute sewing challenge was brought to my attention on a Facebook group as a way of celebrating this. I like the idea of committing to just 30 minutes of sewing a day for the month and it would be interesting to see what could be achieved by adding all these little pieces of time together,  but I also know that this is not going to happen for me every day in September as we are on holiday plus I haven’t done anything in the past 3 days.

It did raise a few questions  though 

• Will I be able to stop at the 30 minute mark?
• Will I need to set an alarm?
•  Would it be like when the factory whistle blows and tools are downed mid seam only to be picked up the following day? 
• Does the 30 minutes include time for gathering your bits and bobs together?
• Does reading/writing sewing blogs, browsing fabric websites and talking on Facebook groups count after all it is sewing related?

I think I might give it a bash in October, I have already earmarked a couple of projects that needed finishing off and a 30 minute hit might be just what is needed,, after all they are unfinished for a reason. 

If you are taking part please  leave a comment and share your plans

... Christmas Crafting

I know it's still only August and the C word should be banned until December but I realised that in order to get anything made between now and the big day I at least need to start putting a plan together now or nothing will get done.

I will confess that I am a full on Christmas lover, I try and have a different theme each year, poor old hubby just sits back with a bemused look on his face while I get myself in a tizzy over whatever is this years big idea.  Last year drying orange slices featured quite heavily with varying results but beautiful smells around the house and I might have to have another go this year because I didn't feel like I quite nailed it.

We rented a cottage last year and spent the 23rd of December going round all the charity shops in the area to try and find a Christmas tree and ended up with this beauty for a fiver, it was returned to another charity shop on our departure, that to me is proper recycling.  The " magnificent"star was made from a few twigs collected from the back garden of the cottage.  I sewed a few decorations from kits which I brought with us, I tried to keep it simple using things like wooden star shaped gift tags instead of baubles and used ribbon and raffia to fill some of the gaps.


So all in all I like Christmas and I like making things so I was looking for a Facebook group to join that combined the two and couldn't find one so I created my own Christmas crafting  the aim is for it to be a place where crafters can share their makes, ideas, get inspiration, ask for help, give support or take it to wherever the group want to go. If this sounds like something that you would like to be part of come and join us.

Do you know of any similar Christmas crafting groups?

..Betty Grables pin curls

With the Goodwood Revival only two weeks away I have been seeking inspiration for my hair and makeup.  I follow  Va Voom Vintage blog and Brittany has been supplying me with  a constant stream of hairstyles to feed my imagination.

This post clicked with me and this morning I had a little go at my own version, i don't know if this is a little more Hilda Ogden than Betty Grable, but I have a little time to improve on it

Jean Alexander as Hilda Ogden

Betty Grable looking stunning

Yep a lot of practice or a team of hair dressers is required! 

 I have been collecting my ideas on Pinterest and it is interesting for me to look through at the different things that have caught my eye and have warranted them being pinned on to my 40s and fabulous/ board, the purchase of the jeans below lead to a flurry of activity yesterday!

I picked up these wide legged jeans from Next, even in the petite size I need to add a turn up, which works in my favour as it gives them a nice 40's/50's rockabilly style. 

Wide Legged Jeans From Next

I haven't sorted out my my walkaway dress yet, I feel my enthusiasm for it waning, I think if it were a sunny day it might have helped, but this dreary weather just makes me want to drink tea and snuggle on the sofa.

If you have any great vintage hair tutorials on your blog please leave me a comment and I will pop over and have a look.

Now tine for more tea

... my walkaway dress

I finally finished my walkaway dress, but I am rather disappointed with the end result.

Walking away from my walkaway dress

Once again I don't think I cut the right size, as I started assembling the dress it became apparent that the waist line was far too low so I took an inch or so out at the shoulders to lift it up and it seemed to have worked.  However, when I attached the bias binding the already wide neck it  has moved out and is both wide and baggy.

Baggy neckline in need of help

The under arm area gapes and is exposing quite a bit of bra, I was experimenting with the use of safety pins as a means of holding things in place and that sorted out the underarm issue to an acceptable degree, but the neckline has me flummoxed and I would be grateful for any suggestions on a remedy, quick fix or alternative ideas.  I don't think the fit issues are helped by the design of the dress, the back has the full weight of the circle skirt so it has a natural tendency to pull towards the back which kind of disturbs the balance of the overall garment.

side view of the gaping arm area

I do love the floaty full skirt and I am so please that the fabric drapes exactly as I had imagined when I chose it . The other thing I loved about this project was making the bias binding, but because it was my first attempt and a bit uneven I chose to hand sew it and I don't know if that added to the problems around the neckline?

 So ultimately I have mixed feelings at the end of this, I don't know if I should try and convert it to a walkaway skirt or brave it out and wear it as it is, I do have a nice cardigan I could put over the top!


I have to turn this around pretty quickly as we are on count down for the Goodwood Revival, its only a couple of weeks away now!


Sadly this was my first vintage make for 2015 vintage sewing pattern pledge I don't think that the pattern being vintage has anything to do with my woes, however the instructions were rather brief compared to what I am used to.






Whatever your ideas and thoughts are on this please leave me a comment I need help and inspiration in the bucket load.

.. Dottie Angel's Simplicity 1080 at a bargain price

One for the UK sewers Simplicity Patterns Uk are having a one week sale plus there is free P&P for this limited period.


It includes the greatly anticipated Dottie Angel's dress which I am kicking myself for jumping in and buying last week,  I have fabric in mind and just need to finish about 3 other projects before I can get cracking on this one.








For those of us participating in the Vintage Sewing Pattern Challenge 2015  there are plenty of reproduction vintage patterns to choose from.  This one caught my eye and made me smile at the thought of my hubby face if I wore view D with extra frills!






If like me you are fairly new to this sewing malarky there are plenty of easy makes to select from.







For those friends outside of the UK have a look at your local site you might be in for a treat too.




DISCLAIMER - this post is not sponsored by Simplicity, I just wanted to share what I thought was a good bargain.




 Try not to buy too many and if you do make a purchase (or 2) share the pattern number so we can all see what your plans are.