An apple a day...

I just have to share this with you because I am just so thrilled with the green fingers I never knew I had!

A few months ago, around August I think, I was munching on an apple when one of the pips fell out. Of course, my natural curiosity spurred me on to ask the question "Can I grow an apple tree from a pip?" Come on, who hasn't asked themselves that same question?!

So I decided I would find out. I planted eight pips to be on the safe side-I figured my chances of growing anything were greatly increased if I planted lots of pips. The fact that the apple I was eating only had eight pips is neither here nor there...

They started off in little yoghurt pots and I was super excited to see, after some extreme patience, that five out of eight of my little pips had germinated and were sprouting through the earth.

Of course, they eventually got too big to remain in the yoghurt pots. They needed more space to start spreading their roots so I repotted them into large plastic plant pots which seemed to absolutely dwarf them!
Here they are in their new homes, as of the end of September.

Oh dear. This is where I have to make a confession...I named them! I know, I know, clearly I'm sad and have too much time on my hands but I was so proud that they had actually grown and, more importantly, more than one had grown!

So, with five apple plants I needed five names. I picked one of my favourite musical guilty pleasures, Il Divo, and used the four names of the members in the band: Carlos, Urs, Sebastian and David. This left me with a nameless fifth plant. Continuing in the theme of musical idols, I named the last one Michael (after Mr Buble of course!)

So there we had it, five little apple plants. I did think five might become four when poor Urs was taken down with a bug infestation but since being repotted, he's doing fantastically!

Two months on, (this is the really exciting part, for me anyway!) this is what they're looking like now: 

 I literally can't believe they've done so well! They're getting too big to keep in the kitchen much longer (excuse the dirty kitchen window!) but I'm afraid to put them outside during the winter, in case Jack Frost attacks them!
Apparently, it will be a good four or five years before I could get any fruit off them, and even then, it might not be edible, but I don't care! If they grow into trees, I will be one happy bunny!

Look out for updates on the boys in the future. You can count on my motherly excitement to bring you more news and photos!

Let's just say I'm not going to have any problem keeping the doctor away, if the old saying is true!

xxx

Festive Chutney!

So the Sunday just gone was one of my first proper days off from work in ages. I feel like I've been working non-stop, so the thought of a free day was bliss!
I spent the day making chutney since I am planning on giving jars of it as gifts for Christmas. The mixture needs a month to mature which is why I am being super organised by having it done now-by the time the big day rolls around, my chutney will be ripe for the tasting! Yum :-)

I should point out that this was the first time I've ever made chutney so it was certainly a learning experience for me. I was contemplating whether to make jam as well but decided that might be just a tad too adventurous this time around-maybe next year!

Here are my jars all ready to go. What a way to use up some of my jar hoard! I ordered my lovely red gingham jar lids from The Jam Jar Shop which came complete with wax seals.

First things first, the jars and lids have to be sterilised. This can be done by just soaking everything in warm soapy water for a while and then drying them in a low-temperature oven. However, since my step-dad makes home-brew beer, he happened to have a sterilising powder which I used to clean my jars instead. Either way works fine as long as you don't go and dry them with a cloth or towel which could transfer bacteria.

Once that's done, it's one to the fun part!

I used a pear and cranberry recipe but altered it slightly, as I often do when cooking really! I decided to go a bit further and make it apple, pear and cranberry for that extra fruity taste :-)

Here's the recipe I used. Everything else is the same except for the original recipe asked for a teaspoon of allspice berries rather than ground allspice. I couldn't get any of the berries, but the ground stuff works just as well for flavour; you just stir it into the mixture rather than hanging it in the muslin bag!

You will need:

250g apples and 250g pears

500g cranberries (fresh not dried)

1 cinnamon stick

1 heaped teaspoon of ground allspice (or allspice berries if you can get them)

225g chopped onions

250g light soft brown sugar

150ml distilled malt vinegar

Zest and juice of 1 orange

A small piece of muslin or gauze

Makes 3 350ml jars

1. First place the cinnamon (and allspice berries, if relevant) in the muslin and tie with string. Attach this to the handle of a large, deep pan.

2. Next, peel and halve the pears and apples, cut out the cores then chop them into approx. 1.5cm pieces. Pile this into the pan with the rest of the ingredients, stir well and bring everything to the boil.

Look at those gorgeous cranberries!

3. Turn the heat down to simmer gently, stirring occasionally for about 50-60 minutes until it has reduced to a thick pulp. If you can draw a wooden spoon across the surface of the chutney without it filling immediately with vinegar, then it is ready. Make sure to keep stirring every so often, otherwise the mixture will burn to the bottom of the pan! Burnt chutney will not taste good!

4. Now lift out the muslin bag and squeeze any juice out. Stir the chutney well.

5. Spoon into warm, sterilised jars and seal with wax discs (some lids come with these) and tight lids while still hot. The jars must be warm otherwise the hot chutney may cause the glass to crack.

6. Store in a cool, dark place for one month before eating.

Best eaten with pâté and cold meats-perfect for left-over Christmas turkey!

The recipe says it will make enough for 3x350ml jars but as you can see mine were three different sizes so I guess it averages out to be about right. I can't help feeling they should be in "Goldilocks and the three bears!" Daddy, mummy and baby jar :-)

I'm looking forward to tasting some when it gets sampled at Christmas!

xxx

Getting festive with felt!

'Tis the season to get crafting! I'm feeling super festive today, especially after hearing "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" on the radio this afternoon! :-D
I thought I'd share an easy tutorial with you all. I made these tree decorations last week, purely because I had a small pile of lonely felt that needed jazzing up so I waved my crafty wand and turned them into something cute to hang on my tree.

To be honest, the photos are fairly self-explanatory when it comes to making your own, but I've done a set of instructions anyway, because I'm nice like that! :-)

Et voila! You should have your very own felted friends for your tree :-)
You'll notice my gingerbread man, named George, hasn't got a mouth. I haven't yet decided how to apply one-I think it will be end up being a little smile stitched in red thread. What do you think?

I'd love to see your own felt tree decorations, all of you crazy crafters!

xxx

DIY Saturday-Christmas Edition!

Oh my goodness, I can't believe it's already less than a month until Christmas! Seriously, how did that happen? The last thing I knew, I was waiting for Summer to properly show it's sunny face!

Well, this year I'm going head-long for a handmade festive season, crafting and creating as much as I possibly can. I've made tree decorations (tutorial to come) and started several handmade gifts for family as well as having a go at making homemade chutney tomorrow! Phew!

So it's full-steam ahead on a thrifty Christmas and in the true spirit of DIY at Design and Nonsense, I have a selection of ten super simple craft ideas for making your festive season that much more personal :-) Enjoy!

This is by no means a new concept but I think it's the simplicity of it that makes it so clever. I imagine the smell must be heavenly!
Found here.

A really sweet way to personalise your gift wrap, and it won't break the bank.

Found here.

Any Harry Potter fans out there? You have to love this as much as I do! Really fun and would look really gorgeous and sparkly hanging from your tree.

Found here.

I have every intention of doing this since I have a surplus of jars (if you've read previous posts you'll know I collect them!) All you need is some sparkles or fake snow and a cute Christmas-themed figure and you're off! Found here.

I absolutely love this! It would make such a beautiful table centre-piece and you end up with some after-dinner treats!

Found here.

A really simple way of decorating your place settings with a little festive fruit.

Found here.

I love to see objects recycled and given new uses. These cookie-cutter decorations are so sweet and you can make them as personal as you like with old photos or even drawings the kids have done :-)

Found here.

A fun project to do with the kids. Drag out that button box and go mad for button-wreaths!Found here.

The return of the cookie-cutters and this time, they've been turned into a quirky Christmas wreath. Add a little colour with a bold ribbon.

Found here.

You must know by now that I love a bit of Scrabble, so any DIY projects involving Scrabble tiles always get me excited! These could be used as place-settings, gift tags or even personalised tree decorations!

Found here.

So there we have it for this month's DIY Saturday. If any of you have tried your own festive DIY projects, please get in contact and share with us all-we'd love to see them!

Keep checking back as I'm planning on posting lots of festive-themed tutorials these coming weeks. How exciting! If you'd like to learn how to make your own tree decorations or homemade chutney for the family then pop back soon :-)

xxx

"Tell Me About Yourself" Award

I woke up this morning to find I had been given a lovely award from Meghan, who blogs over at Wishful Thinking. It really made my day, especially as it's my first blogging award since I started posting so I'm feeling quite chipper about it :-D Thank you muchly Meghan!

The rules are I have to share with you all 7 things about myself and then pass the award on to 15 other bloggers. So here we are:

1. My dream holiday is a driving tour of Italy. I would love to see Tuscany and Umbria in a hire car at my own pace, with no touristy rubbish. I'm also dreaming of the day I get to visit Venice during Carnivale. Bliss :-)

2.In my personal opinion, one of the best smells on Earth is that of a candle or match just blown out. For some reason, I am always reminded of Christmas when I smell this. My other favourite scent is vanilla.

3.I'm all for technological advancement to an extent but you just CAN'T beat a real, paper, black and white book. None of this Kindle rubbish for me. You can't take a Kindle in the bath, unless you are happy to risk it taking a swim...I feel confident in saying that around a third of my books have slightly wrinkled pages from an unplanned dip in the bath!

4.My family and I lived in New Zealand for just over 3 years. What a wonderful experience that was! I'm proud to say I met some of the greatest people there but ashamed to admit I haven't kept in contact as well as I could have.

5.I have an obsession with jars! Don't ask me where it came from, it just happened. I love Kilner and Mason jars-I have lots that I use to store paintbrushes and other bits in. We all have our weird obsessions.

6. I'm not a dog person, but if I was, I would definitely have a pug dog. They are the gosh-darn cutest dogs! I will always be a cat person at heart, having grown up with them, but I have a real soft spot for the pug.

7. My favourite flower is the sunflower. They are the most beautiful plant out there and just seeing one makes me feel a little sunnier inside :-)

There we have it folks! A little random snippet of me.

Here are the 15 fabulous bloggers that I love and am passing this award onto:

Korrie at Red Hen Home.

Karen at The Graphics Fairy.

Laura at White Winters.

Cat at One Hand in My Pocket

Betsy at My Salvaged Treasures.

Miss Mustard Seed

Thrifty Decor Chick

Laura at 52 Flea

Nicole at Thrifty Decorating

DIY By Design

Miss Charming at Charming

Deborah at Upcycling My Ordinary Life

Stephanie Lynn at Under the Table and Dreaming.

Lauren at The Perfect Pear.

Courtney at French Country Cottage.

Phew!! That's a lot of names and places but they're all very much worth checking out, so hop on it if you haven't done already!

xxx

Photos:
1.Found here.
2. Found here.
3. My own
4.Found here.
5.Found here.
6.Found here.
7.Found here.