Make it and Mend it

Made with love...

2012-01-22T22:29:00.000Z

Recent research has shown Our good intentions can ease pain and add to our sense of pleasure…they can even make food taste better. Researchers at the Maryland Mind Perception and Morality Lab have found that physical events are influenced by the perceived contents of another person's mind. "It seems we also use the intentions of others as a guide for basic physical experience," whether this

Blue Monday - You're having a laugh!

2012-01-16T20:09:00.000Z

Today is ‘Blue Monday’, allegedly the most miserable day of the year, due to a combination of factors such as the weather, proximity to Christmas, levels of debt etc. So it’s interesting that on the supposedly the ‘worst’ day of the year a new report is launched in the press suggesting that money does indeed make us happy. According to a comprehensive think tank report, our happiness is indeed

Make 'making' your New Year resolution

2012-01-03T16:18:00.002Z

This Christmas I set out to make as many presents as possible myself. What surprised me was that I received several handmade gifts myself - as well as the means for making more - materials, equipment or instructional books. So much so, that on Christmas morning we all started yelling "Craft!" in unison every time someone opened a present that was either hand made or related to making or

When does hoarding become a bad thing?

2011-12-22T11:08:00.001Z

Hands up those of you who saw the documentary about hoarding last night? Judging by Twitter I wasn’t alone in feeling very disturbed by the lack of compassion or understanding that some of the neighbours displayed ..and a feeling of intense claustrophobia! Mental health issues aside, what particularly struck me was how fine the line is between storing and hoarding. At what point do you

2011-12-11T16:50:00.001Z

Ding ding – seconds out – round two! Seems I’m not the only one unhappy with Kirstie’s latest televisual offering. In a recent Twitter outpouring of venom, Sally Bercow has launched an attack on Kirstie’s ‘broadside’..and Kirstie being Kirstie has responded full square (why celebs think it is ok to ‘out’ their true personalities on Twitter is beyond me, but that is another piece of analysis

'The new boring is everywhere'

2011-11-27T12:56:00.000Z

Well Cheryl has hit the headlines again with yet another little knitted creation. She has hit the front page of the Daily Mail and will undoubtedly be spread across the rest tomorrow. “Cheryl Cole keeps out the chill in a furry bobble hat…” Knitwear is big business this winter and it seems that if you want to get some media mileage you

Getting in the Christmas Spirit!

2010-12-01T18:12:00.001Z

I love Clare F’s piece yesterday about renting a Christmas tree, but my vote has to go to the upcycled trees this year. I love the ingenious use of waste products at the best of times, but think of the added pleasure of gathering your stock for this tree... This one was created outside the Nanjing mall in China and is huge but, if you really like the idea, you could create a smaller version for

Rent a Christmas Tree

2010-11-30T11:13:00.000Z

A glossy flyer came through my door this week from Christmas Tree Angels: London's first sustainable Christmas tree rental service. The trees are grown from seed in pots and are delivered into your home - upstairs if required - and then collected at a convenient time after the festivities. You can even arrange to rent the same tree the following year. Once the trees get too big for use they get

The Slow Cooker Challenge

2010-11-29T20:32:00.001Z

So there we go…a week of slow cooker meals complete. How did I fare? Am I a convert? Scarily enough I have to admit that I am and I have had some definite successes that I would definitely repeat. Some recipes were better than others, but that was probably more the fault of the chef rather than the cooker! My favourite meals had to be the lamb shanks, the BBQ spare ribs and the rice pudding.

Day Three of the Slow Cooker Challenge - Rice Pudding

2010-11-21T18:40:00.001Z

Today I woke up to a thick frost and an even thicker fog, so what better way to ward of all those chills than a delicious slow cooked rice pudding…and this one was delicious. All I did was measure the ingredients out and throw them in the cooker. I have to admit that it did take a bit longer than the recipe said, but it was well worth the wait. The extra slow cooking made it really rich

Day Two of the Slow Cooker Challenge – Vegetable Soup

2010-11-18T21:50:00.000Z

Ok day two and I have decided to go for some cheap and cheerful vegetable soup. This was simplicity personified. I only had to assemble the veg, cut them up, add a bit of stock and throw them in the cooker. By the time I came home this evening my kitchen was filled with delicious aroma of Vegetable soup. So how did I rate it? With regard to the recipe, if I made it again I probably

Day one of the Slow Cooker Challenge - Apple Sauce cake

2010-11-17T18:02:00.000Z

Day one of the slow cooker challenge - Apple Sauce cake Day one and here I am alone with an alien kitchen utensil – what to do first? A quick cursory glance at the instructions and I am off and running in my bid to make an apple sauce cake Make a cake in a kitchen utensil? You must be joking I said. But that is exactly what I have done

The Slow Cooker Challenge

2010-11-16T20:53:00.002Z

As a long time AGA user I'm always sceptical of buying any seemingly ‘unnecessary’ kitchen appliances, especially ones that involve cooking. I've always been a a bit of a purist and a firm believer in cooking the old fashioned way. So when the lovely people at Morphy Richards gave us Slow Cookers for you guys to win in our competition, the team at MIAMI Towers insisted that I have a go.

Paper sculpture

2010-11-15T17:51:00.000Z

Thanks to Lis Long for telling us about these amazing paper sculptures made by husband and wife team, Allen and Patty Eckman. The couple employ a unique method which involves placing paper pulp in clay moulds and then pressurising it to remove the water. The hard, lightweight pieces are then removed from the moulds and they painstakingly add detailed finishings with a wide range of tools. A

Have a go at upholstery

2010-11-06T17:59:00.000Z

Lots of people tell me they're too scared to try upholstery - so I thought I'd share my own experience. In fact this was what got me started down the Make it and Mend it road in the first place. I had a very old scruffy red velvet nursing chair and a sprung Edwardian dining chair that I was given by my mother and was thinking of throwing out. Instead my friend Joan suggested I have a go at

Come to Devon and make your own homemade Christmas

2010-10-27T20:12:00.000+01:00

We've decided to emerge from MIAMI Towers and run a real live event - and we hope you can come along and join us! The lovely people at the beautiful Rill Estate in Devon have invited us to run a couple of one day workshops there. We 're going to do live work sessions on card-making, fabulous show-stopping Christmas table dressings, gorgeous home-made Christmas decorations as well as gift

Fred makes some chutney

2010-10-26T13:31:00.000+01:00

My nine year old nephew Fred loves cooking and wanted to try making jam or chutney. We decided to have a go at some apple chutney. It's a really easy recipe - we put chopped cooking apples, onions, sultanas, sugar and a few raisins in the pan along with some mixed spice, paprika, ground coriander and malt vinegar and then let it simmer for a long time. Fred wasn't too keen on the strong smell

Quilts glorious quilts

2010-10-16T14:00:00.000+01:00

We'll have the next quilting block up for you shortly, complete with step by step instructions. We hope you'll take the opportunity to quilt along with us and share your results on our Facebook photo page Meanwhile I thought it would be a good idea to share with you some examples of the kind of sampler quilt we 're working on. Hilary, my very skilful "Quilting Mum" made these beauties.

Abundance Fruit Day

2010-10-13T13:42:00.000+01:00

On my riverside walk this morning I spotted some posters advertising the Abundance Fruit Day this weekend here in Chiswick. When I got home I googled it and found Abundance is an movement that started out in Sheffield and now has branches here in west London, and in Brixton, Haringey, Hackney, West Ealing and Manchester. They are mapping fruit trees - in a similar way to the chaps we highlighted

Additions to my quilting stash

2010-10-10T17:01:00.003+01:00

One of our Facebook friends warned that once you get your hands on some fat quarters they become an addiction. I told myself I wouldn't let it happen but would stick to remnants. They are however strangely seductive and I felt in need of some other patterns as I build up my quilt blocks. Not sure about the owls but I think the colours will work with what I already have. We'll see... Join me in

Tomato Mania

2010-10-08T17:01:00.000+01:00

Clare O has been really besotted with her tomato crop. She's made all sorts of things with them including jam, marmalade, chutney and sottolio as well as using them in salads and sauces. She's also been brightening up her kitchen with trays of them on display, so I thought they'd make a good subject for her birthday card and got my paintbox out and did this. Least I could do after she has

My first London Grapes

2010-10-06T11:50:00.000+01:00

They may not be huge but they taste pretty sweet - my first crop - on a vine planted 2 years ago. Clare F

Preserving green tomatoes

2010-10-04T12:14:00.000+01:00

I've just experimented with green tomatoes preserved in olive oil - using some of Clare O's bounteous tomato harvest and Lina Negri's recipe. I only had a few tomatoes and as this is a first attempt I've only made one small jar - but it was very easy. You can find the recipe on our website. Here are the tomatoes after their 30 seond boil - cut into pieces and put into a bowl under a weight (I

The death of cheap clothing

2010-09-27T10:12:00.000+01:00

There! Did you hear that sound? Apparently that's the death knell of cheap clothing ringing out loud and clear across Europe. According to all the papers, the floods in Asia will mean that we are going to see a rapid rise in the price of cotton, which in turn will mean a rapid rise in the price of clothing in shops like Primark, Asda and Tesco. Whilst financially this is going to be a blow

Quilting is easy and fun

2010-09-25T11:55:00.000+01:00

Following my earlier post I thought I'd update the blog on progress so far. Hilary has helped me get off the ground and we had an enjoyable day cutting out the pieces for my first three blocks. I've posted the instructions on how to do the first one, Rail Fence, on the main website and we'll soon be following this up with step by step instructions and templates for the others. This is Rail

Recession-proof your Christmas

2010-09-23T21:16:00.000+01:00

Wow…did you realise that there are only 99 days until Christmas? (Oops! as there have been a few days since writing this and before posting it - it's now only 93...). Does that send you into headless chicken mode? Or are you already rolling your eyes and moaning about people who talk about Christmas too early? Frankly I'm in the latter camp, but if you want to beat the recession this

Foraging for jelly and syrup-making

2010-09-20T14:16:00.000+01:00

Even though we'd left it late in the season for South East England, there were still just enough elderberries and rosehips left to pick with my lovely God-daughter Florrie and her sister Martha this weekend. They love finding things and helping out, well, when not glued to CBBC of course. Here are some of the pictures and Martha's home-grown explanation of how to separate the tiny elderberries

Ready for quilting

2010-09-15T14:28:00.000+01:00

I've just bought my first set of fat quarters! If you'd asked me a few weeks ago I wouldn't have known a fat quarter from a thin cent! In fact it turns out it is a standard measure for a piece of material for quilting - based on cutting a yard of cloth into quarters - which works out as approximately 18 by 22 inches. I have bought ten of these pieces and here's my stash. I'm planning to

Anyone tried Streetbank yet?

2010-09-08T16:53:00.000+01:00

Still in the old Blitz spirit of sharing and being neighbourly, I've just come across an interesting website, Street Bank, which shows you what your neighbours are prepared to give away or lend. It claims to give you access to a whole load of stuff, is good for the environment, saves you money and builds community all in one go. It's free to join, but you have to show that a bit of community

A first time for homemade chutney

2010-09-06T19:04:00.000+01:00

Clare O kindly shared some of the bounty from her veg garden and pressed a load of tomatoes on me - some ripe and some green. My first intent was to make Lina's recipe for green tomatoes under olive oil - but then realised that half the toms were very ripe and had I put them under salt I'd be left with nothing after the liquid drained off. Hence Plan B - chutney. I mixed the chopped tomatoes

Lavender blue dilly dilly

2010-09-02T19:29:00.002+01:00

I've decided to make some lavender bags for Christmas (I'll be sharing the how on the website shortly) so I've just been out to harvest the crop. I've got a couple of different varieties and they have progressed at different levels so some flowers are already starting to dry out. Apparently they lose some of the esssential oils if you leave them outside too long - but I think across the lot I've

Hello from the Make it and Mend it team

2010-08-31T16:30:00.000+01:00

The Make it and Mend it team are having a team meeting and lunch today at Clare O's. When we arrived we were greeted by this trayful of home grown tomatoes from Clare's garden. We're now looking forward to tasting some of the chutney and tomato pickles she's bound to make soon (yum yum). Clare has really excelled herself with her urban garden this year. Here are some pics: The veg garden

The conversion of the reluctant jam maker

2010-08-01T12:37:00.000+01:00

About a year ago I wrote a piece on our main website entitled Confessions of a Reluctant Jam-maker. I thought I would need to be dragged kicking and screaming into making jam, seeing it as the preserve (sorry!) of the Women's Institute and retired people. Despite a shaky start, I quickly discovered it to be a very relaxing and enjoyable activity with the added bonus of making the kitchen smell

Beer can sculptures

2010-07-18T20:49:00.000+01:00

We've published quite a few pieces on art from recycled materials - but it's been a while! so I thought I'd remedy that today. One of our earliest blog pieces features the Buddhist monks who built a whole temple out of beer bottles - see here Today's recycled art has another beery theme but this time it's cans rather than bottles and we're amazed at the ingenuity of some of the creators. From

Recycling small electricals

2010-07-18T16:59:00.001+01:00

At Make it and mend it we've long been advocates of recycling rather than just taking stuff to the tip, but broken electrical goods present a difficult problem. If you're not an electrician or an expert you can't fix them. Charity shops won't take electrical goods and it doesn't feel right consigning them to landfill. I was therefore pleased to discover that my own local council, Hounslow, now

A Yen for cutting emissions!

2010-07-09T12:39:00.000+01:00

I loved this little snippet that I caught on the news the other day – a real Make it and Mend it approach to cutting carbon emissions. In their vast wisdom, the Japanese have come up with a way of cutting carbon emissions without spending a Yen. Apparently the Japanese government is telling the people to go to bed an hour earlier and get up and hour earlier, and this will dramatically reduce

Make and Mend your new iPhone4?

2010-06-28T15:43:00.000+01:00

We're all for spreading the art of making and mending, but it's a bit much to shell out £500-£600 for a state of the art iPhone4 and then find it only works if you follow Mr Jobs's advice to "hold it the right way". According to Apple you can avoid the problem by avoiding "gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one

Thrifty idea - get your car to make money for you!

2010-06-25T15:08:00.000+01:00

I recently came across a new website, WhipCar which you can use to rent out other people's cars by the hour, day or week - or even better rent out your own to other people. This is a really nice way to get the most of out of a vehicle and a low cost way of using a car without owning one. If like me, you have to have a car but actually use it only occasionally, you can make a bit of money on the

Don’t get your knicker elastic in a twist, but…

2010-06-10T22:28:00.001+01:00

I'm sorry guys and gals, but I'm ranting again! I know, I know…when aren’t I? But this time I'm really fired up. We've just heard that John Lewis are no longer selling ribbon by the metre, but only by the full roll. Having had a quick look at their website it seems to be that the average roll is 3 metres. 3 metres? Come on! when was the last time that you wanted 3 metres of ribbon? The

Memories of childhood

2010-05-24T11:55:00.000+01:00

We've just run a competition with The Secret Seed Society who promote growing vegetables and cooking for young children. We asked you to tell us about your early memories of growing and cooking. Here are some of the responses.Grandparents are often the people who get little ones started. Sarah told us"My earliest childhood memories of gardening were of my school summer holidays spent in

How much power do your home appliances use?

2010-05-06T10:41:00.001+01:00

I just found this really interesting page from GE (General Electric). You can find out how much electricity your home appliances are guzzling and even check out the annual costs (in US dollars). If you are from the US it's even more useful as you can compare costs by state. >> GE Home Appliance Energy Use For us Europeans it's still very helpful from a comparative point of view. The annual cost

Free gardening event at Wisley

2010-04-29T10:29:00.000+01:00

I popped into the RHS garden centre at Wisley, Surrey on Saturday and noticed a flier for a free Royal Horticultural Society event on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th June. Adrian Bloom who is an author, plantsman and many times gold medal winner at Chelsea will be giving talks and signing copies of his new book, Bloom's Best Perennials and Grasses at 1.30 pm and 3 pm on both days. The talk is Take

Not a scrap of common sense!

2010-04-09T09:40:00.000+01:00

We all hate it when somebody says I told you so, so I won’t say it, but rest assured I am doing my silent I told you so dance. Why, because the car scrappage scheme has got to be one of the worst thought-through UK government initiatives for a long time. Months ago we mentioned our concerns about the financial and sustainable credentials of this scheme and it seems we were right. These

Get off your butt and get cleaning!

2010-03-25T09:52:00.000Z

It's that time of year and while we may feel less than thrilled about the prospect of doing it, the after-effects of Spring cleaning are worth the effort. Not only do you have a shiny new home, but it also dramatically lifts the spirits. The big problem is getting started. We asked our friends on Facebook for their top tips and got some great ideas from them. Rock 'n roll your way through it!

The caffeinated car

2010-03-12T18:00:00.004Z

As part of a BBC science programme, Bang Goes the Theory, a car powered only by roasted coffee granules is being driven from London to Manchester. The idea is to show how fuels other than petrol and diesel can power vehicles. The car, a converted 1988 Volkswagen Scirocco bought for £400, has been nicknamed the Car-puccino. The coffee is heated to 700 degrees C in a charcoal fire and breaks down

In praise of old gadgets

2010-02-28T15:05:00.002Z

Do you ever think back fondly to an electrical gadget you used to have in the pre-tech age and wish you hadn't sent it to the dump? There was a period when there were electrical gadgets for all kinds of things and our parents had a houseful - then as we got all post-modern and sophisticated we started turning our collective noses up and consigning them to oblivion (or more accurately to landfill)

Cash for caulis!

2010-02-21T12:21:00.002Z

If you live in London and want to grow your own veg, you'll be interested to hear about the £75,000 that's on offer for community groups interested in growing their own food in under-used areas of the capital. This dosh comes from the Capital Growth scheme, managed by the London Food Link and supported by the Mayor of London. Groups can submit an application onlline at www.capitalgrowth.org/

The packed lunch debate: it's about food quality

2010-01-12T19:12:00.000Z

Good Lord! Once again parents are being targeted for their negligence. This time its parents who send their children to school with packed lunches which, we’re being told-off, are nutritionally inadequate. Nonsense. What’s inadequate here is the argument and the results? A complete lack of common sense from the Government agencies and reporters looking for headlines rather than delivering

Brrrr - but a warm feeling inside

2010-01-07T16:46:00.001Z

I was listening to the radio this morning when somebody reflected on how you don't have to go that far back to remember a time when people wore balaclavas in bed and used drills to get parsnips out of the ground in the really cold weather - now there's invention for you! Certainly in the UK we've got used to relatively mild winters. It came as a complete surpise to my 18 year-old daughter that

Sew far not sew good!

2010-01-05T19:16:00.003Z

There was a snippet in the Mail this weekend that caught my attention. Lauren Booth explained how she had bought a sewing machine for her daughter for Christmas. A great choice of present and a fantastic way to get our kids into sewing, but….and here is the big but, none of them could work out how to use it. As she pointed out, the new fax machine was ready and assembled and sending and

A proper homemade Christmas!

2009-12-31T16:04:00.007Z

I was given this gift for Christmas by my brother-in-law and I think it's the nicest present I received. He made it himself from an old fallen willow tree in their garden. He commutes to London everyday - a 3 hour round trip on the train with a car trip to the station and a long walk or tube hop at the other end. He also has a pretty pressured job. The fact that he took the trouble to hole up

A first crack at making salt dough decorations

2009-12-17T22:25:00.000Z

Until this year I hadn't even heard of salt dough decorations but, inspired by my Make it and Mend it colleague Hilary, I decided to have a try at making some. What a satisfying way to spend a morning it was too - and it got me right into the Christmas spirit. Hilary's step by step instructions are on our website here My efforts were not as finessed as Hilary's but I am quite proud of them. I

Kirstie's not very Homemade Christmas

2009-12-17T14:43:00.007Z

I have to admit to being fascinated by Kirstie Allsopp’s latest TV offering. I found myself multitasking: watching with awe at the amount of money she spends, Twittering about how much money she spends and all whilst knitting a hat with horns…(don’t ask). I love the way the programme, "Kirstie's Homemade Christmas" was shot, the locations and all the inspiration for homemade gifts, decorations,

Bottling some winter sunshine

2009-12-08T13:57:00.000Z

I've just enjoyed a week's holiday in glorious sunshine in Morocco so have been feeling the blues since I got back and all it seems to do is rain. The other day I made some preserved lemons - thanks for the recipe to Alice Barnsdale who lives in Fez. It is so easy and really feels like you're bottling sunshine. For those of you who haven't tried preserved lemons, they are an essential

Recycle Now Christmas Competition

2009-12-03T19:03:00.000Z

We just got this email from Paul at Recycle Now: "I'm emailing on behalf of Recycle Now, England's national recycling campaign, to let you know about the competition we've just launched as it may be of interest to you and your readers/users. The Recycle Now campaign is trying to make people aware of the waste created at Christmas and remind them that most of it can be recycled. We've built a

Council orders grandmother to dig up beloved garden to store unsightly wheelie bins

2009-12-03T08:24:00.007Z

This headline appeared in one of the papers this weekend. Admittedly it was the Daily Mail and so there's always the temptation to take it with a pinch of salt, but it seems that this story is true….or at least according to various news agencies. Why didn’t I believe it at first? Because at no point in this story does it make sense! If it does to you, can you please explain it to me? I'm all

If you want to get ahead get a hat! ... like Cheryl's

2009-11-27T00:24:00.013Z

It seems these days Cheryl Cole can do no wrong and sets the fashion wherever she goes and whatever she wears. Last week was no exception when she braved the elements wearing a bobble hat. Yes, you heard it right, the bobble hat, that bane of our childhood, when our mothers forced us to wear them, have now become big business and all thanks to Mrs Cole. Expect to see bobble hats all over the

Tips and workshops from Christmas past

2009-11-24T14:57:00.000Z

Want to pick up tips about ‘make do and mend’ Christmases? London’s Geffrye’s Museum, dedicated to the quintessential style of English middle-class living rooms from the 1600s, has a special Christmases Past exhibition focused on making everything yourself. Get down there (all links below) between 24th November and 3rd of January to see how we used to decorate our houses for Christmas how we

STOP PRESS: Christmas pudding shortage fears!

2009-11-19T12:31:00.003Z

It seems the shops are in for a bumper year for sales of Christmas puddings because of our interest in the good old days and our craving for comfort food ... or at least they would have been if there were enough shop-bought puds to go round. According to the Mirror newspaper, the UK’s biggest producer, Matthew Walker, is stepping up its production to try to meet this increased demand. But the

Hot comfort food

2009-11-17T21:03:00.007Z

The recession’s being blamed again, this time for our growing indulgence in comfort eating! And while foods like baked beans top our list of comfort tastes Simon Cowell chomps his way through Angel Delight as his way of combating stress! But Simon’s not the only one returning to his childhood taste buds. According to reports, treats like Crispy Pancakes are making a big come back and Black

Rehabilitating hobbies

2009-11-03T16:45:00.000Z

Now that the days are drawing in and everything looks so gloomy, it's a good time to think about taking up a hobby. We've had a bit of a rant before about how boozing seems to have become the hobby of choice for so many people and that the concept of hobbies has become corny and nerdish, which is a great pity. >> Has drinking replaced hobbies? So Make it and Mend it is going on the campaign

It's National Baking Week - so I had a go

2009-10-19T11:44:00.006+01:00

I was amazed at the lip-smacking descriptions of the cakes baked by members of our Facebook page and so was inspired to have a go at baking myself. I haven't creamed any butter or beaten any eggs since I was a girl - being single it always seemed to much of an indulgence and then if I have people to tea it's easy to nip out and buy a cake, so it's never seemed worthwhile going to the trouble to

Blog action day - hang your washing out!

2009-10-15T00:00:00.000+01:00

It's Blog Action Day for climate change and we're getting behind it at Make it and Mend it. Check out the main website for our piece on Climate Change and your Kitchen.We've also been lending a bit of support to our US friends at Project Laundry List, who are campaigning to encourage Americans to hang their clothes on the lines instead of always using the dryer.Our highlighting of their efforts

Tell us about your tins! - well, how you cook with them

2009-10-10T12:00:00.000+01:00

It doesn’t matter what sort of culinary whizz you may be in the kitchen you still need a few cans in the back of the cupboard for emergencies and mid-week dinner staples. However, my confidence did fail me when I was confronted with this picture in a recent copy of the UK Times. What you’re looking at is a ‘Mock crown roast’ from a 1949 edition of the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. It was