Thinking About Pear Jelly

We’ve been reading Mr. Putter & Tabby Pick the Pears in our house and I’ve been looking for pear jelly in stores but oddly it is so far proving hard to find. So while like Mr. Putter I would like a kindly neighbor to bring me pies, tarts, cider, and jelly I may just have to make my own. Here are a bunch of recipe links I’ve found for when the day comes.

After some creative searching it seems that the method to make pear jelly is much the same as making any kind of jelly but since I’ve never made jelly or canned anything it’s all new to me. Essentially per Cooks.com: “Slice fruit fine. Use 4 cups fruit to 2 cups sugar. Bring to a boil and time for approximately 20 minutes. I test it from time to time by putting a small amount on a saucer and placing it in the freezer. When done, fill jars and let set for a day. Then melt wax and pour over top.”

This recipe walks you through all of it and it is the one I hope to use if a kindly neighbor doesn’t magically bring it over.  My hunch is that this is a solid basic recipe based on the fact that they want to encourage people to use the baskets of fruit they pick. It is a good intro to making fruit jelly.

Chutney is a big favorite of mine and here is a great looking recipe. It is slightly more complicated than just boiling down fruit with sugar but worth the effort.

Catalog Jigsaw Puzzles

We’ve been getting a lot of back-to-school catalogs in our house and came up with a quick project for a few minutes of fun that is simple to do. Simply cut a page of a catalog into a paper jigsaw puzzle. No worries about pieces gone missing, totally recyclable.

No real tips other than to make curvy puzzle-like cuts that interlock. You can’t make any mistakes with this one.

Appliqués aren’t just to cover holes

So I’m here to talk to you about appliqué. And when I say appliqué, I’m talking about iron-ons. And when I say iron-ons, I don’t mean those denim squares with round corners that you or your mom may or may not have used to patch the knees of your jeans. If you’re even that old. But anyway. What I’m going for is not that, but a totally new, now, updated, customized version of the iron-on of yore, which far cooler while sacrificing little in simplicity.

The basic concept is this:

• Identify an item you would like to adorn, patch, cover a stain on, or otherwise modify.

• Pick some fabric that would complement it.

• Cut a shape out of the fabric.

• Use Fray-Check to seal the edges. This stuff is great –as the name would suggest, it keeps stuff from fraying.

• Cut iron-on stuff in the same exact shape.

• Follow instructions to iron the fabric on to your item.

Some thoughts about fabric and patterns:

You can find a pattern with large and interesting shapes and let the pattern define the shape you will cut. This circle pattern on the t-shirt for Willa at the top of the page, is from an old Ikea apron

You can cut whatever shape you like from a smaller, more overall pattern. For the bag, I picked a fairly simple lozenge shape, but I know you can do better.

You can use a solid fabric, so it’s really all about the shape. I’m thinking about trying a pillow cover with something like a damask cut-out.

A few technical pointers:

The iron on stuff you use makes a difference.

• Pellon Wonder Under (really!) is lightweight but needs high heat to set properly. Not good for synthetics.

• Heat n Bond is super heavyweight and durable, and can be done at lower heat, but it gets stiff. You also can’t sew on it after you fuse it.

• Steam a Seam Lite seems to have it all: lightweight, fairly durable, and doesn’t need high heat. You can sew on it too, if you’re not lazy like me!

And a bonus question:

What should I iron on to my olive green coat to cover up the hideous North Face logos on front and back? Criteria: subtle, durable, unlikely to show dirt easily. Any suggested fabrics, shapes, or general style concepts are welcome.