Scuff's Year of Gifting Homemade

Chris25

mum2one wrote: »

Done fruit pastilles (thou that went wrong and ended up as jelly!!). xx

the same thing happened to me (except I used cherry & pomegranite jellied sweets) thought I might try & use it as a hot toddy with boiling water

Katiehound

mum2one wrote: »

fruit pastilles (thou that went wrong and ended up as jelly!!). xx

Yes, I did American hard gums- a disaster. They never dissolved (even a year on!!!) but only coloured the alcohol! I think the red one (luckily in small bottles) went into the sloe gin/vodka!
The yellow one is still in my fridge awaiting inspiration. I am loathe to spoil my limoncello by adding this strange concoction!

Katiehound

Anyone making a tea bag wreath? Found wooden pegs in Wilkinson's today- 40 in pack for 77 pence which seemed a good buy- unless you know better!!

rufusdog52

Hi Scuff and everyone else, what a fab thread. I have been making handmade gifts for people for the last 4 or 5 years.

This year the Grandchildren were getting DS's so I made them cases for them which had little pockets for the games etc. Found this tut on the web http://www.momfetti.com/2010/01/sew-along-dsi-carrying-case.html but I changed it slightly, didnt put so many pockets for the games.

I have to older nephews both teenagers, they got cushions with something to do with their football teams on them. Used that bondaweb stuff to fix the bits on the front of the cushion before sewing it up then zigzagged around the outside of each piece to secure it.

The women all had shopping/tote bags this year. There are photos on my home page of bits I have made in the past for gifts.

I need to go through my list and see what I am going to make for this year as I havent decided yet what to make each of them. I mainly only do it for Christmas so will have the year to get it all done.

[Deleted User]

Hi All
Love this thread, can I join in? I have decided to go homemade for Christmas this year too. I am going to do HM Food Hampers for everyone apart from my 2 young nieces. So far I am planning:

Marmalade (practiced this at the weekend as never made it before).
Jam, Jellies. chutneys.
I bought a couple of cheese boards in the sale after Christmas so will add some cheese onto these (prob not HM cheese but locally sourced).
HM tomato ketchup - never made before so need to practice this too.
HM Blackcurrant and ginger wine (my granny used to make this every year so I know everyone will like this - nothing fancy, just using the yuleade from the co-op).
Sweet treats like truffles, choc muffins, fruit loaf, cookies etc


Would like to have a go at making Elderflower cordial this year but not sure it will keep until Christmas to use in the hampers.

Loving some of the ideas on this thread. I wish I was a better sewer!!

Katiehound

[Deleted User] wrote:

HM Blackcurrant and ginger wine (my granny used to make this every year so I know everyone will like this - nothing fancy, just using the yuleade from the co-op).
QUOTE]

That sounds interesting. Do you have the recipe please?

If you aren't good at sewing for your nieces what about knitting or crotchet?

I am sure you've seen that there are lots of different extras you can add to your marmalade like ginger,whisky , drambuie or cointreau. Interesting recipe here:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1167/dark-muscovado-and-whisky-marmalade
In fact you can probably add anything!!! I fancy amaretto

Katiehound

Hi Rufusdog.
Loved your bags on the homepage- the beach & dog ones. Have they got a flat bottom, or is it the way they are 'posed'?? I don't suppose you have the pattern that we might have...please?

rufusdog52

Katiehound wrote: »

Hi Rufusdog.
Loved your bags on the homepage- the beach & dog ones. Have they got a flat bottom, or is it the way they are 'posed'?? I don't suppose you have the pattern that we might have...please?

Hi Katiehound,

Yes they have a flat bottom and I dont have a pattern as I made them up myself. They are just boxed bottom, I saw how to do them by googling, watched a few videos on Youtube and read some tutorials for other kinds of things xx

mum2one

for my marmalade I used the prepared tins, just added water and sugar, - thou I added 250ml of brandy - its lush,

Just brought the strawberry one to try - going to add cava to that - have to do a trial batch before xmas! xx

[Deleted User]

Katiehound wrote: »

[Deleted User] wrote:

HM Blackcurrant and ginger wine (my granny used to make this every year so I know everyone will like this - nothing fancy, just using the yuleade from the co-op).
QUOTE]

That sounds interesting. Do you have the recipe please?[URL="http://"][/URL]

Hi Katiehound, it is really easy. You buy a bottle of Yule-ade ginger concentrate and a bottle of Yule-ade blackcurrant concentrate and then follow the guidelines on the bottles except I mix a full bottle of blackcurrant and add the ginger to taste as it is quite strong. The Yule-ade concentrate is sold in the Co-op or online. It comes in small bottles like cough mixture bottles. Usually found in the home baking section.