Hi there and a very Merry Christmas! Give yourself a pat on the back, sit down with some stitching, a glass of something and congratulate yourself on making it this far through the year!

Thank you very much for all your support, encouragement, emails and friendly chats throughout the year. We will be closed for just the statutory days, and will look forward to seeing you over the holidays no matter if you just need a reel of thread or if your car automatically comes to a halt outside the gate on the way through Tinwald so that you can get your fabric fix!

Rather than a recipe, this week is a tribute to the humble lemon that I found among my mother’s treasury of cook books.

A Lemon for Everything!

What a wonderful fruit is the lemon, its uses really are diverse.

A spoonful of juice with some honey, will quickly, the worst cold disperse.

The pips in cold water clear bottles, and to separate rice grains when boiling, add juice before lighting the gas.

Grated rind in the sponge adds flavour. It will also sweet sauce improve. The skin rubbed on hands after washing will whiten and stains remove.

If you heat well the fruit before you use it, it yields near double the juices.

And lastly, when only the dried peel remains, as a firelighter use.

Happy Christmas!

Rachel, Robbie and the team at

Annie’s Country Quilt Store