Autumn, Apples, and Artdolls

The trees around town have been breathtaking this week. Any window in my house looks out on another spectacular explosion of color...

This is why I adore fall. Well that and the cooler temperatures and of course, apple butter!

Yes indeed I made apple butter this week...LOTS of apple butter...and as I talked on Twitter about the amazing way the smell of baking apples permeated my house, several folks asked me to post my recipe...so here it is!

The recipe I use does make quite a lot...about 4 quarts...but feel free to cut it in half because I've done that in the past and it works fine. It is also usually a 2 day process so give yourself plenty of time. The first stage requires about 2 hours but the second takes all day...you'll only need to be stirring the butter occasionally though so it's not as bad as it sounds.
To start you'll need about 12 pounds of good apples, ones that are crisp and more toward the tart side but not sour. I like Winesaps, Arkansas Blacks, Cortlands, or Macintosh...but use whatever is available locally...and since you won't be peeling these, you'll need to get organic or wash your apples REALLY well with some kind of veggie soap.
Okay you now take your clean apples and core and quarter them and throw them in a big pot. I usually have to use two pots for this part as it's so many apples.

Next add some water to the cut up apples...fill the pot(s) about half way...bring this to a boil and then cover and simmer gently for 1 1/2 hours. Your apples will be nice and soft and your house will start to smell wonderful. You'll need to puree the apples, either in batches in your food processor, CAREFULLY because they are very hot, or use an immersion blender...one of the most useful kitchen gadgets I own. When you're done they'll look like this...

Now you add the yummy extras, for each cup of pulp you'll add 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Stir that all in and then to the whole batch add :
the grated rind and juice of 2 large or 3 small lemons
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cardamon seed (do this fresh if you can, it makes Such a difference)
1 cup port wine (yep, this is the secret ingredient shhhh)
...I know it sounds like the spice amounts are too small but trust me on this...
Now set this aside to cool.

The next day place 3/4 of the puree in a large oven proof pot and place it in a cold oven. Set to 325F degrees and bring the puree to a simmer. You'll want the pot to simmer all day and as the butter shrinks down you'll add more puree by the cup and stir it well. You may have to adjust the temperature up or down as the day goes by, you don't want a hard boil but you do want it to be evaporating the liquid out and turning into yummy apple butter. It will take time. This batch took about 6 hours, but I did all sorts of other things while it cooked merrily away and my house smelled incredible. One thing you need to do while this is cooking is get your jars, lids, and boiling water bath ready...so do that.

Once you've used up all the puree and it's cooked down to a nice thick consistency (if you're wooden spoon will stand up unsupported it's done!) then it's time to put it into clean sterile jars. Process your jars in a boiling water bath for 10 mins....and you'll have this...

...plus probably some extra to put in the fridge. A nice stash to remember Autumn all year...and enough to give as gifts too.

And since no post of mine should be without a doll, here's my latest Fall fairy with more of those gorgeous trees!

Happy All Hallows Eve!

My newest fae, Nyx, hopes that all of you have a very 

Happy Halloween!

Witches...

 

  

Since All Hallows/ Samhain/ Halloween is right around the corner I thought it was time for a few witches. Mine are fairly unwicked, so I thought this lovely poem was apropos.

October

I OFT have met her slowly wandering

Beside a leafy stream, her locks blown wild,

Her cheeks a hectic flush, more fair than Spring,

As if on her the sumach copse had smiled.

Or I have seen her sitting, tall and brown,--

Her gentle eyes with foolish weeping dim,--

Beneath a twisted oak from whose red leaves

She wound great drowsy wreaths and cast them down;

The west-wind in her hair, that made it swim

Far out behind, deep as the rustling sheaves.




Or in the hill-lands I have often seen

The marvel of her passage; glimpses faint

Of glimmering woods that glanced the hills between,

Like Indian faces, fierce with forest paint.

Or I have met her 'twixt two beechen hills,

Within a dingled valley near a fall,

Held in her nut-brown hand one cardinal flower;

Or wading dimly where the leaf-dammed rills

Went babbling through the wildwood's arrased hall,

Where burned the beech and maples glared their power.












Or I have met her by some ruined mill,

Where trailed the crimson creeper, serpentine,

On fallen leaves that stirred and rustled chill,

And watched her swinging in the wild-grape vine.

While Beauty, sad among the vales and mountains,

More sad than death, or all that death can teach,

Dreamed of decay and stretched appealing arms,

Where splashed the murmur of the forest's fountains;

With all her loveliness did she beseech,

And all the sorrow of her wildwood charms.









Once only in a hollow, girt with trees,

A-dream amid wild asters filled with rain,

I glimpsed her cheeks red-berried by the breeze,

In her dark eyes the night's sidereal stain.

And once upon an orchard's tangled path,

Where all the golden-rod had turned to brown,

Where russets rolled and leaves were sweet of breath,

I have beheld her 'mid her aftermath

Of blossoms standing, in her gypsy gown,

Within her gaze the deeps of life and death.

Madison Cawein 

 

 

           And if you enjoy these there are witches post cards in the shop too!

 



 

Autumn at Last

“...At no other time (than autumn) does the earth let itself be inhaled in one smell, the ripe earth; in a smell that is in no way inferior to the smell of the sea, bitter where it borders on taste, and more honeysweet where you feel it touching the first sounds. Containing depth within itself, darkness, something of the grave almost.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke

Today welcomes Autumn, my favorite time of year.  I think I simply exist through Summer, as may be noted by my lack of posts here, I hibernate away from the heat and humidity waiting for the crisp, tangy air of Fall.

Not that I've been completely slack lately,  I actually did just post 10 small dolls and 2 pins to my Etsy shop.  Once again vintage lace has found it's way onto a couple of the new ones. Like this little Goldilocks...

Here's Mary with her little Lamb, only my second attempt at needlefelting.

Of course with Halloween right around the corner I have to make some witches. I have a big one on the table and here's the first of the tinies...

And in honor of our "girls", who have been hard at work making us honey this summer, I made a couple of Bee Pixies.

So now that Autumn is here I expect to be back posting more regularly once more...see you again soon!

Petticoats

Today on the table I have so many little dolls in petticoats that I just had to share a picture. Aren't they cute?

So much beautiful lace but these three are my favorites. The middle slip is one of my vintage pieces...so lovely!

Snow White

A commission that I just finished. Doesn't she look like she could burst into song at any moment? "I'm wishing... for the one I love.."

Little Red Redux

When last we met I gave you a sneak peek at the doll I was working on. It was another Little Red Riding Hood and here she is...




Red is already on her way to her new home, a fact which I have to admit makes me a tiny bit sad, I was so happy with how she turned out. But there's always a new doll on the table and I have a commission Snow White this size in the works so stay tuned to see how that turns out.