Hi, I am your guest host for this week. WAYWO, What Are You Working On, is a community diary series for all things crafty, in a variety of mediums and techniques.
You may volunteer to guest host by signing up at this yahoo group ( http://groups.yahoo.com/...), which is checked from time to time. Also by joining this group, you will receive one email a week when the diary is posted.
If you wish to write a WAYWO and would like directions go here: (http://www.dailykos.com/...)
Looks like the old tags don't work like they used to....Oh well.
Personally, I have always preferred homemade gifts. It is like giving a piece of yourself. I have always enjoyed handmade items and love to receive them as they are more unique and less commercialized.
Unfortunately, not everyone feels the same...so now I am selective in who receives my handmade items and who gets the ubiquitous "gift certificate".
My sisters and my friends seem to enjoy my handmade items, so that is what they receive.
My in-laws and my one daughter-in-law have explicitly told me that they don't want the handmade "junk".
Oh well.....gift certificates then.
So, for my friends and my sisters and their families...homemade jelly and jam!
Some will receive my handmade pottery teapots and cups this year.
A couple will even get doilies.
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This year I made a lot of Elderberry Jelly! Too much, I am afraid.
I got carried away. It was a good year in the little wetlands near our home and the berries were so plentiful and large....well, the clusters were large, the berries are always small. I also had taken a short trip into Missouri and Kansas and discovered bottles of Elderberry juice for sale! Only $24.00 for an 8 oz bottle! I had gallons! I was rich! And all the advertising about it's healthful benefits! It would even cure cancer! It was good for fighting colds and flu and did wonders for your bowels! I couldn't ask for more! Just what I needed!
Then the news...Elderberry juice was being seized by the FDA! Unsubstantiated claims for untested health benefits! I guess I am not rich after all....It was thrilling while it lasted.
So I have 4 dozen half pint jars of Elderberry jelly that won't cure cancer or improve your bowel function or even help you resist colds and flu....but it still tastes great!
Everybody is receiving jelly this year whether he or she wants it or not!
I also made Hot pepper jam, Red, green and pineapple for the hot, sweet crowd. I even used fancy 1/2 pint jars!
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There have been several recent diaries about canning and making jelly/jam...including one of mine from a year ago. Here:( http://www.dailykos.com/... )
Beside Jelly in the gift packages and boxes, I will put a teapot and some cups.
I did have a scare, my kiln stopped working before my last firing, fortunately, it was only a kiln sitter that needed replacing, so my teapots were saved! I may replace the coils next year....it is an old kiln.
I am finally improving enough to have completed teapots successfully and was so pleased with my results. However, I did discover that my thrown teapots need a longer spout! My spouts are too short, so I have to add the caveat to either not fill to the top or to tip carefully while pouring! And my future cups need to be larger/wider. My friends are heavy drinkers! My niece who will be graduating from College this year, like turtles and the color pink so she will receive a pink teapot with a turtle handle and two pink cups! She is such a great kid! I hope she gets a job when she graduates.
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Last year I gave cups with Mucha-style designs and 2-handles vases with a "Green man" design. They turned out pretty good, but the wedgewood blue glaze I used did not turn out as expected on the cups. But I am learning.
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I had a problem with my thumb when crocheting and had to buy a new hook, one with a flattened and shaped handle. I guess I was gripping too hard. I did make a couple of angel doilies...I had a terrible time translating the directions with this pattern. I expect a problem with a "free" pattern, but this pattern had several vague directions...one stretch of which I finally just made something up because none of my attempts looked satisfactory.
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So how are your projects going and what are you working on this season? Or what are your plans?
