Make your own Drinks too!

Oh Yes.... you heard it right!

Hiya folks! I hope you're all keeping well? It's been all go here at Casa Wollaston, juggling lots of different projects at the moment... I gotta say though I absolutely LOVE being busy busy busy... 

It keeps me way from the shops!

So, while I'm developing some more ideas and getting some stuff customised, I thought rather than leave it for ages, I'd do a little piece about some other things I love to make...... starting off with some delicious home made drinks!

I did a lot of different home made liqueurs last year, using some stuff I grew on the allotment and some shop bought stuff, and I intend to have a go again this year. I thought you might like to give it a go!

I tell you what started me thinking about it..... the Damson tree at the bottom of our garden exploded into blossom and I started to get really excited at the prospect of all those beautiful Damsons we can expect later in the summer.

Beautiful Spring Blossom!

Now I've seen all the little bees busily pollenating the blossom and I gave the tree a much needed prune last year, cutting away all the dead branches and letting some much needed light through, so I'm expecting a bumper crop this year! Soft fruit such as Damsons, Plums, Raspberries, Black currants etc make absolutely delicious home made drinks. Blackberries can be picked wild in August so you don't even need to spend any money on it and by Christmas, you could have a drinks cabinet bursting with home made goodies! (If you can stay away from them that long!)

Raspberries on the allotment

Just a few of the Damsons from last year's crop

So...where to start? The first one I had a go at was Limoncello... a firm favourite in our house for that after dinner digestive when you're having a special meal. It's extremely easy and the good thing about it is you don't have to wait for all the fruit to come into season as Lemons are available all year round!

What you'll need:

5 Ripe Lemons (Good quality for a better taste if you can)

1 Litre (1 3/4 Pints) Vodka (try and get over 40% volume as then you can keep it in the freezer)

750g ( 1lb 10oz) Sugar

700ml ( 1 1/4 Pints) Boiling Water

Stage 1:

1. Pare the rind carefully, avoiding the pith. Divide the rind between 2, 1 litre kilner jars

2. Pour the vodka over the lemon rind in the two jars, seal and give them a turn to mix.

3. Leave for 1 week, shaking the jars from time to time.

Stage 1: Lemon rind soaking in jar 

Stage 2:

4. After a week, place the sugar in a large heatproof bowl and pour the boiling water over it, stir well to dissolve.

5. While the sugar syrup is still hot, add the vodka and lemon rind mix to it. Stir, cover with cling film and leave for 1 week.

Stage 3: 

Strain and divide between clean bottles/ jars. Add a few strips of rind from a new lemon to decorate. Seal and keep forever! (Or as long as you can keep your hands off it!)

Make great Christmas Pressies!

Wild Damson Gin Recipe:

• 1lb/454gm of washed wild damsons (or shop bought is fine!)
• 6 ozs/168gm of white granulated sugar
• 75cl bottle of medium quality gin
• Sterilised 1 litre (at least) Le Parfait jar or wide necked bottle with stopper/cork

Method:

Wash damsons well and discard any bad or bruised fruit. Prick fruit several times with a fork and place damsons in either a large Kilner/Le Parfait jar or a wide necked 1 litre bottle.

• Using a funnel, add the sugar and top up with gin to the rim.
• Shake every day until the sugar is dissolved and then store in a cool, dark place until you can resist it no longer (leave for at least three months, we usually let it mature for at least 6 months). If you are planning to drink this after 3 months, have a nip after a month, and top up with sugar to taste.
• Some people strain the grog (through muslin/jelly bag) after 3 months and bottle it, leaving it mature for six months. Don’t leave the straining process any longer than a year; leaving the fruit in too long can spoil the liqueur. If you manage to make more than one bottle, tuck one away for a year and watch the flavour mature. This is a simply gorgeous drink .. a real winner at any Christmas party!

 Once you have strained your fruit and bottled your drinks, don't be tempted to discard the soaked fruit... I bottled my Gin around Christmas time and the juicy Damsons were chopped up, put into a pan with a little sugar and stewed. As I'm not a massive fan of mince pies, I used the stewed fruit to make some little alternatives, just using a ready made shortcrust pastry and a dollop of the fruit mixture. Served with home made custard and a shot glass of the Damson Gin ...Oh boy ...delicious is not the word!

A shot of pure heaven!

You can freestyle too here, I used the glut of raspberries from the allotment and added them to both Vodka and Gin using the same technique, I bought own brand varieties - no need to spend a fortune as the fruit will add a touch of class for you. We ended up with all kinds of different flavours and I gotta say, that's me hooked now. I'm going to make a lot more this year after this successful start and I'll be experimenting with some new recipes too. There are loads of websites out there where you can buy beautiful presentation bottles, these drinks make beautiful Christmas gifts. I guarantee, you'll be more than a welcome houseguest too if you get a reputation for turning up armed with a bottle of home made loveliness for your hosts!

I hope you like my post and I would love to hear from you if you have a go at making your own drinks, these kinds of liqueurs cost a packet in the shops to buy but theres no need to go spending loads of money on them when you could make your own! It's all part of the whole Make it yourself vibe. I gave some away as Christmas Pressies and they really went down a treat.

I'll be back very soon with more home-made loveliness.

Bye for now!

Leona X

..........hic!

P.S.

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/Homepage.action

http://www.jamjarshop.com


for Jars and bottles

Have You Ever Had It Blue

Hiya folks!

Finally, I'm back! I hadn't planned on being away from you for so long, apologies for the hiatus..... There's been a lot going on here at Casa Wollaston - more on that later - it's hard to believe this is the first chance I've had to get back to my "Make Do & Mend" project.

You'll be happy to hear that, true to my pledge, I haven't bought a single new item to wear so far this year! Now, as it's already April, that means I'm already a quarter of the way through my quest. It hasn't been easy though. I mean, have you seen the collections and trends for Spring/summer 2012? They might as well have looked into my brain and seen every bit of gorgeousness I'd love to have, waited till I wasn't buying anything and then gone "HA HA! ...right lets roll this lot out now then!"....... Hhhhrrrrumph!
It's enough to drive you to the cake shop!
Speaking of cakes ..........

A bit of sweet inspiration!

One of the trends that I picked out as a 'must have' (or more like a 'must do') was the pretty pastel trend and at last I've got something to show you! I really wanted a 50's style, cupcake coloured prom dress and it took me a while but by jove I think I've cracked it.....

I wanted something that looks a bit like this.....

A vision in Blue!

Betty Draper eat your heart out!

So, where to start then? Let me show you what I did.....

I trawled through my summer wardrobe and pulled out a likely candidate or two for an imaginative makeover. First I found this Broderie Anglaise dress I picked up for £5.00 in a charity shop about 4 years ago, it's cotton, a nice fit and hardly ever gets worn. (I don't know about you but I find a white dress a tough one to wear unless I've got a bit of a tan...which I never have since I'm always looking after the old hide!)

Cute but a bit plain...

I also found a little white cotton card that had been languishing in the knitwear drawer for a couple of years, not quite worn out but somewhat past it's best.

Slightly underwhelming!

Firstly, some much needed colour....I don't know if you're familiar with 'Dylon' fabric dyes or not but I've been using these little packets of magic for many many years now to revamp and revitalise tired looking but still wearable clothes. I've done dresses for myself and even some of the Hubster's white shirts which have lost their gleam. You'd be amazed with the kind of results that you can achieve for the princely sum of £2.99 and an hour of your time! There are machine dyes available too, but the last time I used one of these, it stained the rubber inside my washer so I just stick to the hand ones now..... and we all know anyway.... anything you put a bit of love into always works out better in the end!

So here's the one I've picked for this project.

oooooh.... Bahama Blue!

As well as a packet of Dye ...you'll also need these.....

Weighing Scales, Fabric Dye & Plain old Salt!

Following the instructions on the packet, weigh the fabric (dry) and use the appropriate amount of salt. These packs do 250g weight of fabric but don't worry if yours weighs bit more, It just means you'll get a slightly lighter shade. Half of the fun of home-dying is never quite knowing what shade your project will turn out! These dyes only work on natural fabrics such as cotton and linen and wool so do check the contents label on your clothes before dying, it won't take on Nylon/Polyester etc.....Do wear rubber gloves, and don't wear a pair with a hole in the finger like I did last time ...unless you want to walk around like E.T phone home for a week.

Stand over it and keep it moving for an even colour

When it's done, just let it drip dry somewhere away for direct sunlight and then if you like it as it is, great. If not you can repeat the process for a stronger colour.

Cardi I dyed just once

Dress I decided to do twice to get a stronger colour

So, they look quite nice now don't they? The colour on the dress wasn't as strong as I wanted because the combined weight of the cardi & dress was more than the 250g on the packet, so I decided to over-dye it and get a much stronger colour. 

I could have left it at that as the colour looks lovely but I just thought they needed a little extra something to make them stand out a bit more and to make them look a bit more special. So it's back to my little box of trims & trinkets to see what I can find!

Some cute vintage blue trims

I thought one of these might be nice for the cardi, the light blue lace was the closest in colour so I plumped for that one.

Cute lace from the 60's

And as it's Spring ...gotta be daisies  for the dress!!

Now I've got some cute trims to add into the mix, I think these will put the finishing touches to the outfit. I started by very carefully pinning the lace around the collar of the cardi, creating little folds as I went along to give it that frilly 'ruffled' look. Then I stitched it down using very small stitches so you don't see the thread so much.

Pin down creating little folds as you go.

I was going to change the buttons on the cardi but as they stayed white when I used the dye, the contrast looked really lovely so I left them as they were. You of course could change the buttons too on your project if you want to.

Then I very delicately sewed the daisies around the neck of the dress, again using tiny stitches for a clean finish.

I sewed them all the way around the neck.

After a very good press and taking care to trim off any loose threads, my dress and cardi were ready! And WHAT a transformation!!!!

What was a tired looking plain white cardi is now a cute girly pastel cover up! 

A whole new garment!

So cute!

And what was a £5.00 nice but plain bargain dress from a charity shop has been transformed into just the kind of knockout 50's cupcake colour dress I have been coveting from every vintage site known to man!

I'm so pleased with the way this turned out, I think this is going to be one of my favourite dresses for the Summer.... I liked it so much I had to wear it straight away! I wore it out to our new Soul Night in Islington "Masters Of Soul" last Thursday as the sun was shining (more on that little distraction in a later blog!)

It looked absolutely stunning and drew lots of compliments.... all in all a great success.

Whaddya reckon?????

Ta Daaaaaa!

I've really enjoyed doing this project and I'll be back very soon with more customised stuff from my wardrobe. Watch out any boring old white stuff!!!

 I'm also going to be spending a lot of time down at the allotment too now it's Spring so expect some updates on that ... my Make Do and Mend skills cross over into the horticultural world very nicely ..... and the allotment is the perfect place for transforming what seems like junk into something wonderful.

Maybe this whole idea won't be quite so painful after all!

Lots of Love

Leona XX