Take your time tuesday

Whoops, I nearly got caught out and forgot about Take Your Time Tuesday. I'm getting in by the skin of my teeth here but that's OK because Tuesday is just starting on the other side of the world.

Kristen over at So Happy set this idea up to celebrate all that is handmade with needle and thread and so that we can encourage and motivate each other.

This cute pincushion (or tree decoration) is made from a free tutorial over here. Once I got started, I went off on a tangent with my own changes. I haven't finished yet, I think I'll undo the bottom and put something inside to weigh it down a bit. It does stand up nicely but it topples easily being so light.

Instead of the felt circles on the top, I stitched french knots with different weights of Perle thread. It's a great size too, it's just a little smaller than my hand.

 I spent some time today making some Pomegranate jelly, also inspired by Kristen. Actually, I'd made some yesterday but it was a big fat fail. Not to be beaten and knowing that homemade and handmade is the best, I had another go with a different recipe.  Success people!

I'm not a big jam eater myself but I do like plum jam and this is a little like that, a bit tart. Besides, I couldn't resist the beautiful clear glow and colour of it plus the thought it would make a nice gift.

Pomegranates aren't in season and given that they would cost around four or more dollars each anyway, I found a recipe using Pom's 100% pure juice. If you make it, follow the recipe exactly. I did warm my sugar before adding it and I sterilised my jars so that I don't need to freeze it. I got the thumbs up from DH who is the jam lover in this house.

Today is the 15th of the month which means the next panel of the Trailing Vines quilt is available for download. Just click on the Trailing Vines page underneath my header. I'll try and get some more photos on Flickr in the next few days of this panel.