As good as Rick Stein's!

Last month, another stall-holder at Marple Farmer's Market bought a jar of my Three Fruit Marmalade. She said she loved Rick Stein's version, but could not buy it very often because the postage made it rather expensive. She had tried many other Three Fruit Marmalades but so far none had been a patch on Rick Stein's. Well, today she gave me her verdict -- mine was "as good as Rick Stein's !!" So that is quite a feather in my cap!

The next stall to mine was Penny from The Jolly Brewer . She did very good trade, and I treated my husband to a bottle of her Taid's Garden Ale, while I had Lucinda's Lager. Both were most delicious and much enjoyed with our late lunch on my return home. I will definitely be buying more next time! Anyone from the North Wales & Cheshire area should look out for her products!

Muffin Dish

Here is my latest ebay purchase -- a muffin dish by our favourite china company Plant /Tuscan. The design is one that most antique dealers call "exotic birds" but we call "Aunty Amy's" because Peter's Great-aunt Amy gave us a tea-set of this design as a wedding present. She had been given this tea-set by her employers when she got married in the 1920's and comprised 12 place-settings of cup, saucer and two sizes of square plate, along with cake-plates and sugar bowl. The milk jug had got broken at some time in the 1930's during transit when all the family pitched in with china and other help for a family wedding. Looking for a replacement milk jug was the start of a great collection of Tuscan china as along the way we found many lovely designs by this little-known company. When we did eventually find a milk jug in this pattern it came with another 9 place settings and also a coffee pot & hot water jug ! Other additions to the set means we could (in theory anyway!) have a tea-party with matching china for over 25 guests! One day we mean to set the table for such a party and photograph the set in all its glory!

Get Folksy!

I have now signed up for the new UK-based site for hand-made craft items, Folksy. It is only a few days old as yet so there are still many bugs and glitches to be ironed out but the people who run it are quick to answer any queries that may arise. When it is up and running properly it will be great to be able to sell my items in pounds sterling - something my UK friends cannot understand about Etsy is the need for me to list in dollars.

I did cause confusion by asking them if I can sell my foodstuffs, and for the moment the answer is "no" while they consider all the legal implications and come up with a well-thought out decision. So in the meantime I am just putting some of my crafts on there. I have only got a couple up so far but will be adding more over the next few days. Check out my shop here.



I haven't got any markets this week so am taking the opportunity to get stocked up on preserves -- yesterday I made over 60 lb of marmalade ( 3 different varieties of seville). As my lavender is about ready for picking, I think today I will get some lemons to make Lemon & Lavender Marmalade -- and possibly some apples for Apple & Lavender Jelly too.









Today is St Swithen's Day --and by tradition if it rains today it will rain for the next 40 days & nights! So far it is fine and reasonably sunny so fingers crossed we have a good summer! Apparently he got to be patron saint of the weather because his burial in Winchester Cathedral was delayed by extensive rain.

Time I Blogged Again!

Am surprised to find its over a month since my last post!
What has been happening in that time?
Over on Etsy we had a secret swap --lots of lovely items have been excnanged --see here : http://www.flickr.com/groups/ukswapmay/pool/

I got these from Pippindesigns :


A lovely felt purse, a leaf brooch and a Marmalady badge. I really like the badge and have worn it at the Farmers Market.








It was Poynton Farmers Market again today. It started off slowly but in the end sales were reasonable. Once again I tried out some new items --some like my Apple & Date Tea-Loaf and Cheese & Walnut Loaf are resurrected from things I have made in the past, others like Bara Brith are totally new. I also made some Strawberry Shortcake -- looked spectacular and attracted some good comments. I sold 2 out of the 3 I made so we had one left for tea!