COLOUR THEORY DEMONSTRATION

This Monday, Rhonda will be giving a demonstration on how to use liquid food colouring to create a 12-hue colour wheel using only the primary colours.  Anyone interested in having a better understanding of how to create various colours or wishing to come up with their own dye formulas will find this demonstration useful.  If you plan to participate, please bring a pen and paper for taking notes and a colour wheel if you have one.

DARK FRUITCAKE

A few weeks ago, Claire brought some dark fruitcake to our Monday gathering.  She received a lot of requests for the recipe so here it is.  Anyone who was interested in making this cake, can print a copy.  It comes from the Better Homes & Garden All-Time Favorite Cake & Cookie Recipes cookbook.  The ingredients and quantities in brackets are the directions that she followed for the cakes that she made.

 

Here is the recipe:

 

DARK FRUITCAKE

 

3/4 cup butter or margarine (butter)

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. each ground nutmeg, allspice, and cloves

1 tsp. salt

16 oz. diced mixed candied fruits and peels (2 1/2 cups)

1 15-oz pkg. raisins (3 cups)

1 8-oz pkg. chopped dates (1 1/3 cup)

8 oz. whole red or green candied cherries (1 1/3 cup)

1 cup slivered almonds (walnuts)

1 cup pecan halves

1/2 cup chopped candied pineapple

4 eggs

1 3/4 cups packed brown sugar

1 cup orange juice (1/2 cup each orange juice and brandy)

1/4 cup light molasses (honey)

 

Grease three 8X4X2-inch loaf pans.  Line bottom and sides of pans with brown paper  (parchment) to prevent overbrowning; grease paper.  In saucepan, melt butter or margarine; cool.  Stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and salt.  Add mixed fruits and peels, raisins, dates, cherries, nuts and pineapple; mix till well coated.  Beat eggs till foamy.  Add brown sugar, orange juice, molasses, and butter or margarine; beat till blended.  Stir into fruit mixture.

 

Turn batter into prepared pans, filling each about 3/4 full.  Bake in a 300 degree F oven about 2 hours or till cakes test done.  Cover all pans loosely with foil after 1 hour of baking to prevent overbrowning.  Place cakes on wire racks; cool thoroughly.  Remove from plans.  Wrap in wine-, (brandy)- or fruit juice-moistened cheesecloth.  Overwrap with foil.  Store in refrigerator for 3 to 4 weeks before serving.  Remoisten the cheesecloth once a week.

 

Enjoy!

 

Thanks for sharing this Claire.  Much appreciated.

PERTH RUG HOOKING WORKSHOP - CANCELLED

Jane C. advises that the Perth Rug Hooking Workshop has been cancelled due to a lack of response.  For next year, she and Carol plan to get the info out sooner and to have two separate subjects rather than two wide cut classes. This sounds exciting.  Let's encourage such an initiative in our area.

PEN'S DIRECTIONS FOR MARBLING WOOL

Pen, who is now our Women Matters' icon of marbling, has provided us with the following directions.

"Take three 1/4 yd pieces of dry wool, one dark, one light and one medium in value in a variety of colours. ( you can use smaller pieces if you choose, but you must be able to roll them in with your larger pieces).

Layer the pieces so that the light is in the centre and the medium and dark are on the outside. (the wool should not have  been previously dyed ).

Roll the pieces lengthwise so that you have a long tight sausage shape. Then twist the sausage as tightly as you can and tie it in a knot if you can.

Then take the whole thing and put in a pot large enough to hold the wool and some water. Pour some water over the sausage until it is about 1/3rd of the way up the wool. Add a tablespoon of laundry detergent (usually Tide without bleach) and bring the heat under the pan to a gentle boil/simmer.

Gently simmer the whole mess, keeping an eye on it so that it doesn't run dry. You will notice that the water begins to look muddy, coloured with the dye running out of the wool. You can gently turn it over every once in a while. This will take about a half hour.

 When you see that the water is quite murky, throw in a couple of glugs of vinegar and watch to see the water gradually clear, about a half hour. Again keep an eye on it so that it doesn't run dry. When the dye appears to have been reabsorbed, let it all sit on the heat or about another 15 minutes, then let it cool, rinse the vinegar out in the sink and have a look. It aught to be marvellously marbleized!,

Good luck, have fun and let me know how it turns out"