Thursday 2 September 2010

A display box for Seaside Tags


Lesley, Cathy and I have now all made special 'containers' to house and display all the wonderful Seaside Tags we sent each other during the summer.  

This is mine - a Dorset Cereals muesli box, cunningly disguised with calico, silk and deck-chair striped fabric, an old photo, a few bits of driftwood, a shell or two and some free-machine stitching.
I wanted to put the tags in something that could be left out for people to have a rootle around in and not worry about keeping them in any particular order.
Don't the girls' tags look lovely housed in here?


You must go and see what the other two have done (click on their names at the top)- you'll love them!

Here's some little brooches I made last week, using some gorgeous ceramic buttons I bought when I went to the quilt exhibition at the V & A Museum earlier in the year.   The buttons remind me so much of the little broken bits of blue-and-white domestic pottery I'm always digging up in the veggie patch.   I hand-felted some blue merino to make a sturdy backing, appliqued some vintage lace snippets on and made a few delicate brooches to put in my Etsy shop.  


And this is a bloomin' great hairy-chested moth which landed on my workroom window one night.   The picture's not brilliant, because it was taken with flash through a rather dirty window pane.    Anyway, Googled it, and discovered that it's a Red Underwing.  So now you know.
And like most of the rest of the British Isles, we have a glut of plums this year, so besides giving them away to unsuspecting friends and relations, sharing them with the hens and wasps, I have actually made some plum cakes (Nigel Slater) and a couple of frangipane and plum tarts.    And Autumn Plum Chutney.   Oh and stewed some to put in the freezer to remind me of summer during the long winter months.   And, Anne, PLEASE come and pick some more and take them away!

Got fed up waiting for any sunshine and warmth to ripen my tomatoes, which when they did turn red and yellow, weren't all that tasty for some reason.   So picked them and made them into Green Tomato Chutney to a recipe my mum used to make, which might have belonged to my paternal grandmother.   Whatever - it's gorgeous and we've got pounds of the stuff now.   Am I alone in loving a sup of sweetened vinegar stolen from the preserving pan while the chutney's reducing...?   OK, maybe it's an acquired taste!
The ones that 'ripened' went in a slow oven to dry out and intensify the flavours.   They've been great scattered on baby leaf salads.   Yum.

So that's about it for today.   Except to apologise to some lovely bloggers that I try to follow.   I'm having mysterious problems trying to sign into my blog every now and again and therefore can't leave comments on other people's, but I am as always enjoying reading all my faves.  

Tomorrow we're taking some visiting Aussie rellies to Cambridge for the day, so we're hoping for sunshine.   Hope it shines on you too!

Love from

10 comments:

LAC EMP 2020 said...

I can't believe I've been working with a woman that doesn't clean her windows..... great, a woman after my own heart! Shall have to look up that Nigel Slater recipe to use up our plum surplus. It looks delicious. You make everything look so wonderful... and as for those brooches... I have ceramic buttons like that but those ideas just don't come to me. I bet they sell out as soon as they go into your shop! Have a great week. Lesley xx

menopausalmusing said...

I have jars full of broken pieces of ceramic from the garden and am still undecided as to what to make/do with them. Great box Missus! Looking forward to the next project. This weekend's project for me is ............. the surplus of plums! Have also got the "Village Show"............ love it, love it, love it....

Gina said...

Your box is fabulous Chrissie and your brooches are a lovely way to use those beautifil buttons. Have a fun day in Cambridge... weather's going to be good!

Marigold Jam said...

Love all the containers you 3 have made - so creative. Those brooches are stunning - what a lovely idea. And the food pics make my mouth water.

Jane

menopausalmusing said...

Chrissie, this is beautiful!!!! Here's to the next project. This weekend will see me also dealing with the glut of plums! Village show tomorrow.......... I always look forward to it (but never enter....).

Jill said...

Your seaside box is wonderful - I want to rootle in it! Pretty brooches. Delicious plums - we've just made plum/apple chutney - hours of preparation but very tasty results.

Things Hand Made said...

We had hardly any plums from our tree this year nor have our tomatoes ripened so its a poor harvest for us. The box is great.

Anonymous said...

You've been very busy Chrissie! Your box is wonderful, your brooches are beautiful, very classy and oooh you've made me hungry with all those lovely photos of plum cakes, tomatoes and chutney! We went to Cambridge last month and had a glorious day there, hope you have a super day too.

Anonymous said...

Your box is beautiful Chrissie - what a lovely way to finish off your project. I'd love to see it. Your brooches are beautiful too. I know exactly what you mean about bits of broken pottery in the garden - I have a collection of little pieces that I just can't resist bringing indoors. They'll find a home soooon, promise. Your foodie photos make my mouth water and plum cake sounds wonderful - I'll be along to pick some plums tomorrow!!
Anne

BadPenny said...

Have been following these at Cathy's great fun & lovely.
Your brooches are beautiful.