Day: November 2, 2024

Fruit Cakes 2024 – Done

Posted by

2

All Set To Bake

This was my kitchen counter last Saturday as I was getting ready to make this year’s batch of Fruit Cake to give as gifts. The candied fruit, raisins, dried cranberries, and orange marmalade had all been soaking in dark rum in the large white Tupperware bowl (with secure lid) for a week. It was well marinated and ready to be turned into fruit cake.

Here’s the recipe: https://jmncreativeendeavours.ca/2019/10/21/christmas-fruit-cake/

This is what it looks like after it’s been cooled for several weeks in the fridge:

Aged Fruit Cake

The point of making the cakes this early in the season is to allow the rum that has been incorporated into the fruit to slowly release into the cake – which it does by Christmas.

I end up with a very flavourful, rich cake with the fruit nicely distributed. I don’t brush the tops with more rum – that does’t seem to be necessary. The rum in the fruit softens the outsides so the whole cake is dense and dark and delicious.

I just had a friend in for coffee – she wants to make fruitcake for a few gifts. So I shared a wee taste with her so she could know what it comes out like. The cake got her stamp of approval.

We’ll be making those cakes together in the very near future, I have no doubt!

Art Labs 2024

Posted by

5

I was in Parrsboro hanging the first show today. It turned out the third woman who was supposed to be in the show with Colleen and me couldn’t make it, so Colleen and I shared the space between us.

Here’s what I hung (plus one more Bargello piece):

Bargello #2
Cathedral Windows
On Point
Diamonds
Mad Tesla
Escher
Tumbling Blocks
Skyline #1

Material Matters! Quilts and Fibre Art


These pieces are by Colleen Davidson – she calls them “Moving Through Water”

Colleen Davidson
Moving Through Water


You couldn’t have imagined two such different kinds of fibre work! Yet they hang together very well.

I work with traditional quilting materials using traditional quilting techniques. I play with colour and pattern/texture.

Colleen’s works here are on silk organza which she paints and cuts out and appliqués and stitches. The effects are very interesting and ephemeral! Her pieces all have the translucence and movement of water as the silk ripples with the slight air currents in the room.

I’ve never thought about creating anything like that – but as I work on new things this coming year, I must think about how to move toward more abstract creations!

The show is at Art Lab Studios and Gallery – 121 Main Street, Parrsboro. The show hangs until late Friday afternoon, Nov. 22. Do drop in if you’re in the vicinity!

Monday, I hang the show at the Craig Gallery.