The day

I didn't want to go to bed- my last day of 39
It's now  ten past midnight.
Shit I am 40
The day has come

A little hello from a blogging rank amateur

So this is my first post. I had a go at blogging a few years ago, but I fizzled and burned..
And I wrote that last sentence in 2013 so I am going to try again on the eve of my big 4 0.

But, now with two children, I have come to realise how much being practically creative is the core to my make up- whether its day to day stuff at home, learning about creative arts, or just meeting creative types.. I am doing the blog to remember the stuff I've done, and, to mark those small achievements that make me feel creative and happy, in a very busy life...and maybe at the least it will be a nice project for me, at best, I could meet a few likeminded people!

I've always been creative to the core, I loved cooking and crafts from an early age, and was never happier as a kid, than when making models out of old cereal boxes, toilet roll tubes and the like!

I adore cooking, making bread, foraging for brambles and sloes in the autumn, preserving pears from our tree in the garden, and making food for people (hopefully!) to enjoy.

I am a very practical, make and do kind of person, I love having projects on the go in sewing, gardening, cooking, home improvement. I love up-cycling and thinking of new ways of using old things.

I plan to share what I've been up to with my various projects, daft or otherwise!
I'm also learning crochet as my new thing, so watch this space...

So thats me..

Hannah x

Depipping the jam - am I mad?

raspberries are marvellous. Love raspberry and apple pie, love raspberry jam, just love these little taste powered zingy berries.

Raspberry jam is special. Always loved the stuff. My Scottish Granny made the best raspberry jam with a taste so evocative, I can close my eyes, and I am transported to her house, aged about 7, having Danish toaster white toast with butter and her homemade jam for breakfast with 'grown up' tea.

I want my children to love raspberry jam and relish that moment of bliss.  So it's with some shock they won't touch some amazing raspberry jam I've bought. It's got pips in- are they seeds or pips. Anyway I call them pips.

In a 'too much time on my hands-not' moment, I de-seeded. I emptied the jam into a Pyrex jug, melted the jam in the microwave, sieved it, boiled it to resterilise it, and re potted it in the newly sterilised jar.

And huzzah!

Seedless raspberry jam. Whether my little darlings eat it is another matter, but I give myself a pat on the back for at least trying.