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First published 2025 by: Bustle & Sew Station House West Cranmore Shepton Mallet BA4 4QP
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WelcometotheJulyMagazine
July brings high, high summer - and for us stitchers the first of the Christmas projects! I did manage to combine this month’s seaside theme with Christmas though with a little seagull in a Santa hat ornament. He’s a very quick make and would be great for fund raising events in the run up to the festive season.
The only non-coastal themed project in this month’s issue is the Summer Sunsets hoop. There aren’t very many designs that I don’t want to come to the end of, but this was definitely one of them. I’m hoping to find time to embroider a similar design onto what is currently a very ordinary cotton jacket hanging in my wardrobe. I love adding to basic items with a little embroidery - and the shellfish napkins are a good example of this - turning quite ordinary items into something on trend and a little bit special for those summer events!
I do hope you’ll enjoy this month’s magazine and the August edition will be published on Thursday 31 July, in five weeks time. Until then…
Very best wishes
July
Most of the world now marks the passage of time by the Gregorian calendar, introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, but the ancient Roman calendar remains the source for many of the months’ names and July, named in honour of Julius Caesar, is no exception. During the time of the Roman occupation of Britain, almost two thousand years ago the summers became much hotter as the world’s climate generally warmed.
The legions stationed here for around four centuries, whilst most likely homesick for their Mediterranean homes, must have at least been cheered by the fact that their imported red grapevines now flourished on the chalk downland of southern England.
July has that feeling of an “inbetween” time of year. Trees darken to a deep green colour and in the towns the common lime tree is festooned with drooping heads of blossoms. So intoxicating is their nectar that bumblebees can fall helpless to the ground.
The landscape is transformed once more this month as crops begin to ripen and fields turn from green to gold. Soft fruits such as strawberries, raspberries and blackcurrants, become available in abundance - on garden bushes, in shops and supermarkets, and at “pick your own” fruit farms, while jam-makers often find themselves stirring their hot preserving pans well into the night!
July is also the month in which the most crop circles appear - that is to
say stems of wheat, barley or other cereal crops trampled or bent into beautiful geometric patterns within golden fields. Amazingly the earliest known report of a crop circle was in 1678 in Hertfordshire, but it was during the 1970s that they began to appear more frequently with up to fifty appearing every year.
It’s usually this month that crop circles appear in the southern English county of Wiltshire - which as well as large flat arable fieldshas a plethora of mysterious prehistoric monuments. The circles are often found in the vicinity of Stonehenge and Avebury and the smaller prehistoric sites around them. Although many circles are without doubt the work of hoaxers, still a small kernel of doubt and awe
July 1 is Canada Day, celebrating the Canadian Confederation of 1867; the union of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in the Dominion of Canada. The day is celebrated across the country with parades, fireworks and much more.
Then, just a few days later comes Independence Day, celebrated in the USA on the fourth. This day commemorates the formal adoption by the Continental Congress of the Declaration of Independence on 4 July 1776.
Less well-known is Tynwald Day, celebrated in the Isle of Man on 5 July in accordance with a legal requirement established more than a thousand years ago. On this day a ceremonial meeting of the Manx Parliament (or Tynwald) is held. It claims to be the world’s oldest continuous parliament.
July sees the beginning of the holiday season and many of us will be visiting coastal areas, and of course the beach over the coming weeks. Beach combing is a lovely way to spend an afternoon, and you may end up with a bucket full of treasures too. Shells, sea glass and even fossils can be found along the coast, whilst rock pooling is a fascinating pastime for adults and children alike. Rock pools form in the intertidal zonethat part of the beach between high and low tides, that’s covered by the sea twice a day. You will also discover sand, mud and areas of rock without pools. It’s a very different world to our own, a stepping stone to the wider ocean.
Continuing the maritime theme, July 19 brings Armada Day. The defeat of the Spanish Armada in July and August 1588 is seen as one of the most important events in English history. The huge Spanish fleet sailed from Lisbon on 29 May 1588 planning to liaise with an army raised in Flanders by the Duke of Parma to invade and occupy England. Both sides claimed that God was on their side, and when an unseasonable storm struck the decisive stroke against the Spanish, the victory was hailed in England and other Protestant countries as divine vindication of the Protestant religion.
July is hollyhocks and hammocks, fireworks and vacations, hot and steamy weather, cool and refreshing swims, beach picnics, and vegetables all out of the gardenfirst sweet corn on the cob dripping with butter, first tomatoes dead ripe and sun-warm, string beans, squash, crisp cucumbers. s.
No trip to the beach is complete without a delicious ice cream - but how much do you know about the history of this delicious treat? Read on to find out more….
There are all sorts of entertaining stories about Marco Polo bringing ice cream from China, Catherine de’ Medici introducing it to France and King Charles I having his own personal ice cream maker but sadly there isn’t any historic evidence to back up any of these legends. Marco Polo didn’t introduce either ice cream or pasta to Europe and worse still, he probably never even went to China. Most of these myths seem to have been introduced by the Victorians.
The earliest evidence of anything approaching ice cream being made was in China in the Tang period (A.D. 618907). Buffalo, cows’ and goats’ milk was heated and allowed to ferment. This ‘yoghurt’ was then mixed with flour for thickening, camphor (yes camphor!) for flavour and ‘refrigerated’ before being served. King Tang of Shang had a staff of 2,271 people which included 94 ice-men.
But before the advent of electric refrigerators, how on earth did people freeze their ice cream I hear you ask. With a little ice and ingenuity is the answer!
Freezing of foods was achieved by mixing salt with ice. Mixing salt with ice reduces the freezing point and it is quite easy to achieve temperatures lower than -14C. Just who discovered how to do this isn’t known, but it was probably invented by the Chinese. It was written about in India in the 4th century, and the first technical description of ice making using various salts was by an Arab medical historian Ibn Abu Usaybi (A.D. 1230-1270).
The technology for keeping ice originated in the Middle East and was developed in ancient Mesopotamia as far
back as 2000 BC. There's a fantastic image of an ancient Iranian ice-house in the British Museum collection, which shows the predominantly subterranean building that enabled the ancients to keep water frozen throughout the sweltering seasons. Beyond the thick walls and tiny entrance of the building was a funnelshaped room, dug far down below ground level. This stabilised the temperature within, like a thermos flask, while allowing for melted ice to drain away and new ice to be added every year.
The freezing process using ice and salt didn’t arrive in Europe until 1503, in Italy where it was considered a chemists’ party trick, using various acids, water and salts. It wasn’t used for food until water ices (sorbets) appeared in the 1660’s in Naples, Florence, Paris and Spain. Later in 1664 ices made with sweetened milk first appeared in Naples.
The first printed ice cream recipe in Europe was in the handwritten receipts of Lady Anne Fanshawe (1625–1680) in 1665 – whose husband Sir Richard was Charles II's ambassador to Spain. Her recipe titled 'To make Icy Cream' suggests the addition of ambergris or orange-flower water, which were both fashionable ingredients at the time. Indeed, all the early flavours for ice cream in the West had an Eastern influence, with rosewater, orange-flower blossom and fragrant citrus flavours dominating. However Lady Anne’s recipe would never have worked, as she forgot to mention that you needed to add salt to the ice around the ice cream mixture.
Ice cream was served at a banquet for the Feast of St. George at Windsor Castle in 1671. It was such a rare and exotic dish that only the guests on King Charles II’s table had
All the other guests had to watch and marvel at what the Royal table were eating.
Such was the interest and demand for ice cream that wealthy people built ice houses on their estates. Ice, ‘farmed’ in winter from lakes, ponds and rivers was stored under straw and bark, until the summer when it was used for cooling drinks, making water ices and ‘iced creams’. The ice was of such a poor quality that it was never actually put in food, it was only ever used to chill and freeze food and drinks.
The technique of making a custard based ice cream using egg yolks started in France around the middle of the eighteenth century and this is the origin of custard based ice cream. Ice cream didn’t reach America until 1800,
● 225g unsalted butter softened, plus extra for the tins
● 225g golden caster sugar
● 4 large eggs at room temperature
● 225g self-raising flour
● ½ tsp baking powder
● ½ tsp fine sea salt
● 2 tbsp milk
● 200g apricot conserve
● 3-4 canned apricot halves, drained and chopped
● 6 lemon or regular thyme sprigs, leaves picked from 1, the rest left whole
● 300ml double cream
● 2 tbsp icing sugar plus extra for dusting
● 1 vanilla pod split and seeds scraped, or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
● Method
● Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Butter and line the base and sides of two 20cm sandwich tins.
● Beat the butter and sugar together in a large bowl with an electric whisk for 8-10 mins, or until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt, and fold in using a large metal spoon. Add just enough of the milk to create a dropping consistency.
● Divide the batter between the prepared tins and smooth the tops with a spatula. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 25-30 mins, or until golden and firm to the touch. Leave to cool slightly in the tins, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
● Meanwhile, make the filling. Spoon the conserve into a small pan and stir in the apricots and whole thyme sprigs. Warm over a low heat for 2 mins until loosened, then transfer to a heatproof bowl and leave to cool and infuse for 1-2 hrs.
● Whip the cream with the icing sugar and vanilla until the mixture just holds its shape
● Remove and discard the whole thyme from the conserve mixture and stir in the thyme leaves. Spread the mixture over one of the sponges, then top with the vanilla whipped cream and sandwich with the remaining sponge. Dust the cake with some icing sugar. Will keep in the fridge for up to three days.
The simplest and easiest thing you can do to help keep your sewing machine in good shape is to make sure you cover it when it’s not in use. This will stop dust, lint and (especially in my home) pet hair from penetrating into the mechanics of your machine. Most machines come with a cover, though these are usually less than inspiring and it’s fun to make your own to suit your personal tastes.
Ideally you should clean your machine every so often, especially if you’ve been using textured fabrics as the main problem is lint - the short threads that are shed from the fabric you’re working with. Lint can easily build up and will attract dust
too, clogging up the workings of your machine so it won’t work as efficiently and may even, if not brushed away regularly, contribute to long term damage.
Along with regularly brushing away any build up of lint, you should also change your needle regularly. It’s a fact that most sewing machine stitching issues are caused by the needle. Continuing with a bent or blunt needle is very likely to result in skipped stitches, broken thread, or large loops in the stitches. It may also damage your fabric and even your machine. My mum always told me to change my needle after every project - this is a bit excessive I think and I usually aim for every
eight hours of sewing. Be sure to choose a needle that’s right for the fabric you’re using. You should also change your needle if you change to a different kind of thread. This is because thread wears a groove in the needle eye and different brands will affect the needle in different ways.
It’s also important to use the bobbin type recommended by your sewing machine manufacturer so that it runs smoothly in the case. Don’t be tempted to wind a new thread onto an already partially filled bobbin as this will create extra thread tails that can jam your machine. Sadly (I say sadly as I really winding bobbins), it’s best not to use pre-
July brings the long hot days of high summer when it’s fun to sit and stitch outdoors soaking up the rays as work progresses. It’s not all fun for the garden though, and our plants are grateful for any extra moisture to supplement natural rainfall. Watering your garden is hard work, and to make sure you don’t waste your effort there are a few rules to follow ….
If possible, avoid watering in full sunshine on a hot day. Any water droplets that splash onto your plant’s leaves will act like tiny magnifying glasses that will focus the sun’s rays and scorch the plant’s leaves. Watering at the hottest time of day also increases humidity in the area immediately around the plant, producing ideal conditions for fungal spores such as powdery mildew and grey mould to spread and multiply.
The cool of the evening has always been the traditional time to water plants, whether planted directly into the soil or in pots, as water is less likely to evaporate and is much more likely to be taken up by the plants’ roots. But sadly recent studies have shown that these cool damp conditions also encourage slugs and snails to come and feast, while plants watered at the beginning of the day suffer less damage. It’s certainly worth
experimenting with early morning watering, even if only when your plants are small and less able to withstand the onslaught of slugs and snails.
When you’re watering your plants it’s very easy to accidentally wash away the surface soil or compost and leave delicate roots exposed, especially if you’re using a hose or full watering can. When planting out prepare in advance and minimise the risk of this happening by firming the soil at the base of the plant into a shallow depression. When you water this hollow will hold the water close to the plant, letting it gradually percolate down to the roots and stopping the soil from being washed away.
It’s better to give your plants a through soaking just once a week rather than a quick splash more often. If the water doesn’t soak well down into the soil, the plant’s roots will grow nearer the surface to try and reach it. This causes it more stress as the roots will then be likely to be exposed or even uprooted in strong wins. To direct water down to the roots of thirsty plants such as tomatoes, bury a plant pot up to its rim in the soil next to each plant. Pouring water into the pot rather than the soil means it will go through the pot’s drainage holes straight to where it’s needed and won’t wash the soil away.
