calico and cards

Knitting

2012-01-13T12:17:00.005Z

I've been practising my knitting. It's a really slow hobby for me, usually I like to make things that are quick but I am enjoying sitting and knitting just lately, must be an age thing!

Anyway, this is what I finished today.....

They are for a friend I go walking/bird watching with. I was going to make her a pair like this...

I was pleased with how the fancy pattern turned out but didn't like how the glove fitted. The pattern was from here. So, I made up my own pattern for a more fitted glove with ribbed edges instead of garter stitch. I was amazed at myself that I'd managed to follow that bobble pattern! The only problem is I now have a left hand glove with no matching right hand, never mind, it was good practise. This is the sort of thing I really, really enjoy knitting.

A bit of good news here is that my craft room will soon be smartened up and de-cluttered. You know that I regularly whinge about the state of my craft room. Everything is on open shelving and stacked up in boxes. Well, I was telling Graham about a blog I'd seen and how the blogger had these fab cupboards to keep her stuff in. We did a search to see if we could find these cupboards in England - and we did!!! You can see here examples of the cupboards. The one I am getting is the Midi and has fold out doors with storage bins and storage bins in the main section, not the one with the table. What doesn't fit into this cupboard will go, after seeing this blog I just have to do something! Later I might get another smaller unit to match but I hope that I can just manage with the one cupboard.

I decided to add the glove pattern here, after spending ages trying to work out how to get it here as a pdf - apparently you have to join other things on websites to be able to do this, just can't be bothered to do that just now. So here's the pattern...

KNITTED FINGERLESS GLOVES

Fits an average sized hand

The finished gloves weigh 20 grams but 25 grams will be enough to be sure (that’s about 1 ounce of yarn)

I used double knitting yarn

Needle sizes 10 and 8

Cast on 40 sts

Knit 1 Purl 1 rib and stocking stitch used

Rib 7 rows using the smaller needles

St St 15 rows using bigger needles (to get a left and right glove start this section with a purl row for one glove then a knit row for the other glove)

On row 16 carry on in st st to last 7 stitches and put these stitches on a holder.

St st 2 rows

On next row cast on 7 stitches at the beginning of the row

St st 6 rows

Rib 5 rows with smaller needles

Cast off in rib

For the thumb – use bigger needles and with right side facing pick up 9 stitches plus the 7 on the holder (16 stitches in total)

Knit 5 rows st st

Rib 4 rows with smaller needles

Cast off in rib

Sew up the thumb section first then the main section

Christmas Tea Party

2011-12-16T12:17:00.000Z

Here's a picture of my three friends that come to my house on Thursday afternoons for a craft session. I decided that this Thursday we would have a tea party as it was our last meeting before Christmas...

We had a lovely time and ate too much - of course! Here's the menu...

Sandwiches

On white & brown bread

Ham

Ham & Soft Cheese

Prawn with Sweet Chili Mayonnaise

.........

Hot Sausage Rolls

........

Home Made Chutney

........

Sweets

Hot Mince Pies

served with Grand Marnier Cream

Sherry Trifle

Palmier Biscuits

Fruit Cake

......

To Drink

Sherry

Red or White Wine

Ginger & Lemon Grass Cordial (hot or cold)

Schloer

Cup of Tea

We didn't eat everything, no one had fruit cake. No one had the wine but I thought it was nice to have it to offer. I did feel too full by the end of the tea and had to go and stand at the back door to cool down!

I couldn't have done this if I had stayed on the Sertraline. I stopped taking it a week ago and feel much better - more awake. I'm still sleeping better and my mind feels a lot calmer. If I start to feel unwell in the future I would probably go back on the Sertraline but only short term. They did help me.

Just Lately

2011-12-08T10:21:00.001Z

I've been making a lot of these....

...a nice, filling, fruit crumble. To make the topping less stodgy I add some porridge oats

2 oz plain flour

2 oz sugar

2 oz porridge oats

2 oz butter

I put all the ingredients into my food processor and mix until butter is combined. Sprinkle on top of the stewed fruit of your choice, this one is apple. Sprinkle on some flaked almonds (optional) and bake for 30 minutes until golden.

Well at least I've been doing something! I'm struggling a bit with these Sertraline tablets though. My reason for going to the doctor was that I didn't understand why I was so tired yet couldn't sleep for more than four hours a night. Since I've been on these tablets I can't seem to wake up. I am sleeping much better but you know that feeling you have as you start to wake up and feel sleepy and comfy in your bed? Well I have that feeling all day. I'm tempted to stop taking the tablets.

I've been having a bit of trouble with my right hand, it has been quite painful. To give it a rest I've been using my left hand to work my mouse, it is a bit awkward and my right hand does feel a bit better. It has cut down how much I'm using my computer lately but that doesn't mean I've got more done, I just feel too dozy!

TATT Update

2011-11-08T12:31:00.000Z

I was very happy to find out from my blood tests that I'm perfectly healthy. So - it must be some other reason that I get so tired. I know my bad back can be tiring but also I'm what would have been called at one time 'nervy'. Not that being nervy ever stopped me doing anything but it does take it out of me, mainly because I hide it successfully which I suppose is part of the problem but who wants to go around whinging all the time - not me. Anyway, the doctor has put me on Sertraline. If it does the job I don't care that it is 'giving in' to my emotions. I'm sick and tired of feeling tired!!! We'll see in a few weeks if this is the solution.

TATT - Tired All The Time

2011-10-28T12:25:00.000+01:00

I hadn't been to the doctor for several years. Then a couple of weeks ago I got a letter asking me if I would like a routine health check, diabetes, cholesterol, blood pressure etc. Of course I said yes. I went for the blood tests and saw the nurse a week or so later. BP was very good 134/81; cholesterol good at 6.1; no diabetes; and weight just right for my height with a normal BMI.

I had worried that there was something wrong because I struggle to remain below 11 stone, I have terribly dry skin, my hair has got much thinner and, worse of all, I get so exhausted that I have to be careful not to over do it. Anyway, the nurse suggested I see the doctor, which I did, and she sent me for more blood tests. I just know that they are all going to come back normal, I'm sure I'm a perfectly healthy person for my age. I'll let you know for definite after I get the results.

Ok - so if I'm so fit and healthy why do I get so tired. I know that my back is quite weak and physical activity can make me tired. I'm quite an anxious person and that can be tiring. But this tiredness isn't just "Oh, I must sit down for a few minutes" type tiredness, it is more like exhaustion.

Once I know for certain that there is nothing physically wrong, I will be looking into what I can do about it myself, maybe doing something about my anxiety.

If anyone has any advice or a story to relate I'd love to hear about it.

Still Crocheting

2011-10-21T21:26:00.001+01:00

I'm getting a bit more confident with my crochet, here's what I'm doing at the moment...

I've almost finished a second one, they'll make nice little gifts for a couple of my friends too.

On the home front all the usual things have been going on as well as a bit of house maintenance. We were about to decorate our dining room when I noticed that there seemed to be a stain on the lower quarter of one wall. So we had to call in a builder to have a look and it was as we suspected - rising damp. He tested all the downstairs walls and found damp in every wall in the dining room, this included the internal walls, and the outside walls of my sitting room. He came and injected a damp proofing course and while he was here he had a look at the intermittent damp patch that appears on one of the bedroom chimney breasts every time it rains. Not that long ago, maybe three or four years ago, we had all the tiles replaced on our roof. This problem only appeared after we'd had this work done. The roofer did come and supposedly fix the problem but it still kept happening. Anyway, this builder said that he could see daylight coming in around where the chimney enters the roof. To cut a long story short the builder will be fixing this problem for us properly at great expense because it will need scaffolding putting up. I can't believe how expensive it is to have scaffolding! When the problem is fixed, and the builder said he will test the work by spraying water on the chimney and coming back to check the work, I will be sending the original roofer a bill for this expense. I doubt very much that we will get any satisfaction from him though. But I will be blogging about him if I don't.

Crochet Blanket

2011-09-14T12:29:00.000+01:00

This little doll blanket looks very lacy I think. The corners are terrible though, not one matches...

I can follow the patterns a lot better but I'm still struggling to pick up evenly around the edges.

This is where I'm getting the stitch patterns from. You have to join but I think it is worth it, there are lots of great free patterns to try.

Crochet Trial

2011-09-12T11:04:00.004+01:00

I get up really early in the mornings, don't know why, I just do. This is the sort of thing I've been doing recently, as I sit quietly drinking tea and waiting for eight o'clock when Graham gets up...

It's not perfect , I'm still a beginner. These little doll sized blankets are perfect for me to practice different stitches and to learn to follow a pattern. The most difficult part for me is getting the beginning chain the right length as I need to only make the blanket doll sized. But I'm getting there.

I have noticed that some crocheters have a vocabulary all of their own. Things like 'super easy', 'ever so slightly', 'super pleased', 'super early', 'happy things' (when referring to doing normal stuff), 'hooky time' (when referring to doing a bit of crochet), 'prettifying', 'hooky handiwork', knitty post', etc that are used too frequently. I must be just about the most grumpy old woman on earth. I know I'm a very cynical woman too. You'd think I was a pessimist but I'm not. I also love feminine things but I just don't like this gooey type of talk.... sorry if I offend anyone about this.

Friday Sky

2011-09-02T17:54:00.001+01:00

It's been warm and humid today, 22C/71F, a typical few days of English summer weather. Cold and dull or sunny and warm, but no rain at all this week, which can be unusual in our summers.

We had two outings, one to the Teddy Bear Fair and another to Crich Tramways Museum. Sunday I did a bit of polytunnel gardening. Cleared out and resowed. Broad beans, radishes, leeks, cauliflower, spring onions, lettuce and peas are now in there and soon I'll sow some beetroot. Tuesday I can't really remember what I did! Thursday my friends in the craft group came round for the afternoon. And today, Friday, I made a cake and did some crochet. Tomorrow we are going bird watching. Hope the weather stays dry for that.

Thursday Sky

2011-09-01T17:10:00.000+01:00

What a difference today, temperature got up to 21C/70F. A beautiful day, could do with a few more like this, apparently this has been the coolest August for 18 years.

Wednesday Sky

2011-08-31T20:26:00.000+01:00

Not much improvement in the weather today, in fact it got quite cold, about 13C/55F. We visited the Crich Tramway Museum where we ended up feeling quite chilled so we came home! The trams were very interesting to see and we had a ride on one. The pub and cafe were very small for the number of visitors that were there so we couldn't get a drink or something to eat. Came home and had a bacon sandwich.

Sky

2011-08-30T16:55:00.000+01:00

After taking the picture of the sky yesterday I decided to keep a record of the sky for this week. Yesterday I took the picture at about 2 pm, today I took this one at about 4.45 pm.

August Bank Holiday

2011-08-29T14:28:00.000+01:00

I don't usually bother going anywhere on a bank holiday, mainly because in the past Graham has worked on the bank holidays, so we never really got into the habit. Another reason is that you can almost guarantee that the weather will be bad. Here's a picture I took this morning...

Not very nice for being outside is it!!!

So, the Lowdham Horticultural Show was out, didn't fancy wandering around outdoors at all. Nearby there is a place called Patchings Art Centre where they have shows and exhibitions. At least we'd be indoors here and there was a teddy bear show on, not that I wanted any teddy bears but at least it was a trip out. There were some beautiful handmade bears, mostly very expensive, and plenty of bear making supplies. I bought a piece of leather that I will use for making doll shoes. Also there was a lady of 87 named Ida, she had a stall of bears that she was selling to raise funds for animal welfare. Here's a picture of part of her stall...

I did buy a bear from her even though I didn't really want one!

On the way home we stopped off at a show house just to see what they had on offer. It is a small estate, build on land where there had been two beautiful Victorian houses. It is so sad when they knock these lovely old houses down and cram in an estate of new houses. Anyway, the only house that we could look at was the four bedroomed one. It was very nice, downstairs a hallway with downstairs toilet, breakfast kitchen and dining room off. There are French doors leading to a tiny garden. First floor has a nice big lounge with full length opening windows, a master bedroom with en suite and a small dressing room area. Second floor has two double bedrooms, one en suite, a single bedroom and a family bathroom. The whole thing was beautifully done but none of the rooms was particularly big. I still prefer the size of the rooms in my own house, I just need to smarten it up a bit.

Tunisian Crochet

2011-08-25T11:41:00.000+01:00

I'm not doing a very good job at keeping up with this blog. This is because I'm spending a lot of time making dolls clothes and talking about it here. That doesn't mean that I'm not doing my other usual things. The other day I decided to try Tunisian crochet ....

I love how this looks and feels, it is much softer than usual crochet and is more dense, no gaps at all, more like a knitted fabric. When I bought the hook the lady at the shop said that they had workshops on this technique so will be going if I can.

The polytunnel has been a lot of fun, currently I'm clearing and resowing in there. Next year I will make sure there is a screen over the doors to keep butterflies (or should that be butterflys?) out, but let in bees and hoverflies. We have had quite a few caterpillars but not nearly as many as outdoor crops get. There are a couple of things I wouldn't grow in there again, one is fennel, it didn't really develop the 'bulb' that I expected and got rather tall and woody. Also, because of the failure with the dwarf French beans, I put in some climbing French beans and they've got much too big. But overall I love the polytunnel.

The 'Riots'

2011-08-14T12:43:00.001+01:00

I just have to comment on the so called 'Riots' that occurred in England last week. I say 'Riots' instead of riots because they weren't riots. They were criminal acts that were committed.

In some of our neighbourhoods and on our streets in general certain elements commit these acts on a small scale every day. It just so happened that they all got together this time and rampaged together. Near where I live shop windows, bus shelters and telephone boxes are regularly smashed. This is in a so called 'decent' neighbourhood. Our church has the rubbish bins regularly set alight. The church is in a middle class neighbourhood. I'm regularly woken up in the early hours of the morning by drunken yobs, who also commit acts of vandalism, like nick car aerials, smash bottles and spew up on the pavement. All this goes on in an area that is not deprived inner city.

At least we don't get youths congregating outside our houses hurling abuse and worse at residents as they do in some areas but the church car park is frequently used at night by a certain element selling 'stuff' and by 'stuff' I'll leave that to your imagination.

So, what happened? Lack of discipline and self restraint is what happened. Certain people these days do not fear the consequences of their actions. Certain parents will not take responsibility for the actions of their children.

Does anyone know of a country where decent, law abiding, responsible people live? I want to live there too.

Hobbies & Clutter - You've Heard It All Before!!!

2011-07-30T13:21:00.001+01:00

I've been doing quite a bit of housework this week - for a change! I'm down to putting the clutter away. For me the clutter is stuff I've left out when I've moved on to my next project, books I haven't moved, newspapers and magazines I've been reading and stuff that never seems to have a home. I'm in the process of moving it all out of my dining room, where I have put it after tidying other rooms, into the hall, ready for taking upstairs to my 'storage areas'.

I have two big boxes of books in my wardrobe so there really isn't anymore room for more books in there, then there is a shelf that has recently bought books. I have got rid of a load of books to the charity shop but I read a lot and often have to re-read my favourites when I can't find a decent book in the shops. I have a lot of favourites. I don't use the library anymore since books became affordable. I think I read every book that interested me from my small local library.

Then there is my knitting yarn. I've recently taken up hand knitting and crochet so there's a lot of yarns, needles, hooks and patterns all over the place. Luckily this all fits into one storage box so that will be easy to put away.

The worst things to put away are all those 'bits' that I seem to have hanging about. A candlestick, ornaments, doilies - that sort of thing. I used to think I had quite a minimal style but over the years I've accumulated a lot of things and I can't seem to get myself to throw them out or pass them on to the charity shop.

What I'd like to do is be really ruthless and just get rid of it all, especially a lot of my craft stuff, books, jigsaw puzzles (that I don't do but Graham does), extra furniture that doesn't fit anywhere.

Every so often I get obsessed with this clutter. Maybe I will hire a skip and bung it all in there. What a relief that would be.

Catch Up

2011-07-23T10:53:00.000+01:00

I was away in the Isle of Wight last week. We had fabulous weather and the hotel was very nice, the food was good and the staff friendly and helpful. The only criticism I have of the hotel was that the pillows were horrible, one was so heavy I could hardly lift it. I hate using pillows that other people have used and these looked like something from about 50 years ago - horrible. I tried to find a shop that sold cheap pillows but had no luck.

We bought a day ticket so that we could use the railways for a day and visited the steam railway as well as their electric railway. The carriages on the steam railway were the ones that had separate compartments and plush seats and were original (but spotlessly clean), some dated back to 1912 on the train we used and they do have some that date back to 1864. The electric trains were ex London underground trains.

The most disappointing trip we had was to Alum Bay, it was over commercialised and horrible.

Shanklin Chine was well worth a visit, I could just imagine the Victorians strolling around.

I have got some pictures but haven't downloaded them yet.

Since I got home I've been crocheting. A tea cosy and fingerless gloves are supposed to be at the top of my agenda but I bought a crochet magazine that offered some free downloads on their website. One pattern was for a doll cardigan and I'm part way through making it. It is so complicated that I had to type out the instructions in a simplified way so that I could follow them and I've only done six rows of it - a bit of a challenge for me as I only know the basic stitches. I did finish the tea cosy though.

My polytunnel is doing well. There were a few tiny caterpillars on the broccoli but they were easy to get rid of, not like the infestation we usually get on brassicas outside. The cauliflowers are doing well, I should be able to have one with our Sunday dinner tomorrow. Also the beetroot are doing much better than they did outside last year and we had some with salad the other day. Peas and Broadbeans are almost ready. Oh and we had carrots the other day too. Still cropping the cut-and-come-again lettuce leaves, I thought these had white fly but there is no sign of it now, I think they had white fly at the garden centre when we bought them and had been dealt with.

The outside strawberries are over now and it looks as though the fox used them as bed while we were away, note to self: rig up a barrier so the fox can't get onto the raised bed.

I only have a few potatoes plants this year but the ones I've dug up have been lovely, really easy to scrape. I like to scrape new potatoes if possible.

My tomatoes are slow again, even though they are in the polytunnel. I'm trying a beef tomato plant this year but so far nothing has set. We could do with some decent sunshine I think, things would be much further on if it hadn't been so dull recently.

Gloves

2011-07-05T10:34:00.002+01:00

I've really taken to this crochet lark! In the early 1970s I did do a bit of crochet. The first thing I made was a crochet doily in fine cotton. This was in 1970 and I lived in Cyprus at the time. My landlady lived in the house at the back of ours and her mother did the most gorgeous fine crochet. She showed me how to crochet. Then I made myself a waistcoat and a tank top. I wish I lived there now, I would have appreciated living in Cyprus now that I'm older and wiser. I was just thinking the other day, it's a pity I didn't have the same attitude I have now, my life would have been so different. I suppose many of us think this. Anyway, back to what I've been doing. In my search for the style of fingerless glove pattern I wanted, I came across Ravelry. You have to join but it is worth it and it is free. There is so much inspiration and some free stuff. There was a pattern that was just what I had in mind when I decided to try the gloves. I have altered it slightly to suit the yarn I had and to make them more lacy....

They have a better thumb area than the previous ones I'd made.

I also made another tea cosy...

Because of this knitting and crochet I've been doing I had to buy yarn, of course. There is a knitting shop not far from where I live. I used to visit this shop with a friend in the 1980s and it was fabulous, the shop was crammed with the most wonderful yarn. Then in the 1990s knitting went out of fashion and the shop declined. I remember going one time and it looked as though they would be closing down, there was a very small choice of yarn left. I visited there the other day and it has improved a lot and the name has changed so I assume it has been taken over by a different owner.....

Isn't it nice that shops are using paper carrier bags again.

This is what I bought, red, pink and black yarn...

Right, who wants to swap a pair of these....

for a fat quarter of fabric? Here's my email address if you want to have a swap

SWAP CLOSED

Tea Cosy Crazy!

2011-06-28T18:35:00.000+01:00

Tea cosy number two turned out a bit over frilly. I think I got a bit carried away here don't you?

Is This Summer?

2011-06-27T11:16:00.000+01:00

It's really hot here today, about 24C (75F). It was hot yesterday too. We are able to have my patio table and chairs out and to sit comfortably outside. I even put a skirt on, usually I wear trousers, this is so I can wear socks, my feet get cold even in mild weather.

I'm crocheting another tea cosy. This time I'll make it with a separate lid cover so that I can add water without taking the whole cover off. Also, I'm going to add some fancy bits to it. The one thing about crochet as compared to knitting is that it is quick.

Creativity and Mood

2011-06-26T12:20:00.000+01:00

I've got over my bad mood that I was in for a couple of days, that I often get in when I read stuff in the newspapers.

So, how did I get back into my more usual frame of mind? I did a bit of crafting of course. This time it was crochet. Just lately I've enjoyed doing things other than embroidery and one of those things is crochet. One of the reasons I love the internet so much is because it is a constant source of inspiration. No matter what your interests are there is something on the web about it. This crocheter/knitter has some lovely things to try and I have just spent the last two days making a tea cosy. It took me two days because I'm very slow and also did other things in between crocheting...

Peggy had very kindly sent me a beautiful knitted tea cosy for my big teapot, it works wonderfully and keeps the tea really hot. I didn't have the confidence to knit one for my little teapot so I decided to crochet one instead. It's not perfect but for a first go it's ok.

Doing a bit of creative crafting always puts me in a good mood. I can wake up in the morning and really look forward to the day if I have a project in mind.

Update Of Last Posting

2011-06-24T17:35:00.000+01:00

I looked up prison populations here in the UK for the 1930s, there were approximately 10,000 prison inmates. At the end of the 1970s there were approximately 45,000. Today there are approximately 90,000.

To me this proves that prison is no deterrent these days. What that politician doesn't seem to understand is that the reason prison is no deterrent is because it is now too easy for the inmates. Prison used to be a horrible place to be. Nowadays it is like a hotel, and not the sort of hotel that I could afford to stay in. I don't believe in capital punishment but I do believe that criminals give up a lot of their rights. I was incensed (again) recently when I heard that Prison Officers had been told to call the inmates 'Mr' (can't comment on what female prisoners should be addressed as) and that they had to be called 'clients', not inmates, convicts or prisoners. I make no mention here of the other privileges criminals in prison are now allowed, no wonder prison is no deterrent.

Whose Side Are You On?

2011-06-24T12:50:00.000+01:00

I've been following a story in the Daily Mail. I've also read about what one of our politicians has to say about prison sentences for criminals and burglars in particular. If you defend yourself from a burglar, what would be considered 'reasonable' force? Give a burglar a little smack and you'd probably end up maimed or dead when they use a criminal's experience of violence against you. So, the person in the story in the Daily Mail has been arrested and remains in police custody because a burglar died when a householder was defending himself, his family and his possessions from a gang of three balaclava wearing criminals. And to add insult to injury, the dead burglar was out on bail - for burglary.

I am beginning to question who the law is protecting here. Or should I say, I've been questioning for some time who the law is protecting. Do our police have some sort of motto, like 'protect and serve'? Or maybe I'm being hard on the police and should blame the 'system' that allows a burglar to be free in society when he is already awaiting, I presume, a trial for an 'alleged' previous burglary.

I feel just as incensed when I read about false allegations made by vandals and hooligans who are making lives miserable for ordinary people in a community when they try to defend their property or their right to a peaceful life. Or when a business owner marches a thief to the police station and then gets arrested for daring to do it.

You can bet that if I was to drop a bit of litter I'd get pounced on and fined. Or if I put the wrong thing into the wrong wheelie bin, or if someone is smoking in their works van, or makes some remark that is these days considered politically incorrect, the powers that be will deal with them promptly.

I get depressed and disillusioned at the way the law works these day. And at the way criminals, vandals and hooligans get away with ruining life for everyone else. Yes, kids have always got up to tricks, but when remonstrated with they would run away, not rush in and beat someone senseless.

June In My Polytunnel

2011-06-21T17:46:00.000+01:00

At last some pictures of how my polytunnel growing is coming along...

I'm very pleased with how the polytunnel is working out. Nothing gets ruined by the weather, the fox can't get in because we've set up a fence for the doorway when the door is open, and I can control any insect pests much better. The only disappointment I've had is some dwarf green beans that I sowed. I sowed the fifteen beans that were in the packet and only four have come up. Not sure why this has happened, they were some Kew Royal Botanic Gardens Urban Garden Collection beans so I expected them to do really well. Today I went to the garden centre, actually I went to three before I found some, the other two had sold out, and I bought some climbing French beans. Also bought fennel and a couple of garlic plants. The tunnel is full now so all I have to do is wait for harvesting before I can decide what I want to put in next for overwintering. I do recommend a polytunnel for the fair weather gardener, it is so nice to be able to do a bit of gardening when it's cold and rainy!!!

Strawberries

2011-06-11T12:40:00.000+01:00

Earlier this year I transplanted my strawberry plants to a new bed. There were quite a few runners to add to my collection too. The raised bed they are now in is about two and a half feet high so the soil is nice and deep. I used some dried chicken manure and blood, fish and bone fertilizer before I put the plants in and the position of this bed gets quite a lot of sunshine. It paid off because there a lots of strawberries ripening. These are the first ones to ripen....

And they are bigger than the plants produced last year. I've got straw under the plants and fleece over them. Before I put the fleece over them a blackbird pecked one of them and I wanted them for me!

The polytunnel is coming along well. All the plants look healthy and haven't been battered down by the strong winds and heavy rain we've been getting. In previous years I've lost plants that have been battered by the weather so it's lovely to see the ones in the polytunnel looking so good.

Fashion for the Older Woman

2011-05-29T12:08:00.002+01:00

Just up the road from where I live there are two clothes shops. One is for the younger woman, the other is more suitable for the older woman. By older I mean, probably, anyone over 40 but for women over 60 in particular. I recently visited the second shop I mention to try and buy a dress. Not a fancy, party, beach type dress, just an everyday dress that I could wear this summer.

Before I went I shaved my legs and under my arms, something I tend not to do as often as I should. Anyway, there I was clean shaven and wearing a skirt and top, something else I tend not to wear very often, usually I’m in trousers. I walked in and the assistant asked if she could help me. I told her I was looking for a day dress. She immediately said that they don’t stock day dresses. There I was, willing to pay about £75 for a decent dress and feeling terribly disappointed. “Sorry” she said and walked into her office/stock room.

I was so certain I would get a dress easily. Aren’t they all the fashion this year?

So, what did I do? I visited Bonmarche. Now this shop is considered cheap. I looked up the French interpretation of Marche (sorry, can’t put the accent on the e with the computer) and it means cheap or market. But who cares, I actually got a dress. In fact I got two dresses and a little cardi thing…

And it fits!!! The cardi with the above dress was from Sainsbury’s.

This is the other dress and cardi, both from Bonmarche

It has got shiny bits on it but the aren’t too noticeable. And wearing the cardi hides the fact that it is a strappy dress, which I don’t like.

Altogether I spent just over my £75 for two dresses and two cardis.

Why is it so hard to find normal dresses? Most of them look as though they are party dresses, or sun dresses. I don’t want to walk around looking like a tart that’s past its sell by date. I want to look neat and tidy and feminine. I used to make all my own clothes but these days I want to be able to buy ready made. I do find that dresses tend to be too short (above the knee) or too long (right down to the ankles). They are also too frilly, I want to look feminine not tarty. Most dresses don’t have nice little sleeves, a must in my opinion as I get older. They are too low, I really do not like to see t**s on display, especially older womens'. I could understand not finding anything if I was grossly overweight, but I’m a standard size 14 (UK) and sometimes a 12. I also still have a waist.

I HATE SHOPPING!!!

The Month Of May

2011-05-28T12:03:00.002+01:00

I had a lot going on during May. I went to Weymouth for a few days, then home for a few days, then to visit my brother and sister in law who live in Suffolk.
The short break in Weymouth was lovely because of the beautiful weather we were having at the end of April beginning of May. I did a lot of walking and even got a bit of a sun tan, and I don’t tan easily so really I just ended up with a very red face! The hotel we stayed in was ok, though the room we had wasn’t exactly nice. It was clean and the bed was comfortable, the en suite bathroom only had one of those tiny hand basins in it but, as I said, it was clean. The food was fine, proper dinners (meat and two veg) with a very nice starter and dessert, and full English breakfast if you wanted it as well as the usual cereals and fruit juice. The bar lounge was very pleasant too and there was entertainment every night.
I really enjoyed my stay in Suffolk as well. As usual we were made very welcome and enjoyed my SILs always excellent cooking. We had two outings, one to Lavenham, which is a very interesting old town with a lot of Tudor buildings, and a full day in Bury St Edmonds, a really fabulous place with lots of proper shops, not your usual high street chains (these were tucked away in a new shopping precinct).
At home I’ve been doing my usual sewing and trying to learn to hand knit. This knitting lark is a bit of a struggle for me! I’ve knitted a couple of dolls things and a tiny teddy bear. Today I’m having a go at crochet.
In the garden we now have the polytunnel up and running. So far I’ve planted tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, broad beans, peas, beetroot and carrots. Only a few of each, enough for the two of us. There is still enough room left for some successional sowing, I’m hoping that I’ll be able to extent out harvesting season by doing it this way. Outside my strawberries are doing well, if the weather would pick up a bit we could have strawberries soon. After such a lovely April it’s disappointing that the weather has turned cool, dull, rainy and very windy.
I’ve been doing my usual amount of baking. This week it was almond and apricot cake. It should have been almond and orange cake but I forgot to put the butter into the mixture and it turned out so rubbery it was inedible, the birds and fox got this, it disappeared quickly so they must have enjoyed it!

Polytunnel Progress

2011-04-21T09:53:00.000+01:00

Graham hung around the house all day on Tuesday, waiting for the polytunnel to arrive. It did eventually get here, at about 7.30 in the evening. He spent Wednesday making one of the doors and is up there again today making the second door.

This is the area that is cleared ready for the tunnel....

Here are some of the components...

Here is Graham with the first door he made....

He is very enthusiastic about this polytunnel and is looking forward to gardening in it.

We saw the fox up there this morning, it was sun bathing on the soil but ran off before I could take it's picture.

Being Patient

2011-04-16T19:23:00.001+01:00

I'm trying to be patient but it's difficult. My polytunnel hasn't arrived yet, the company I'm buying it from said 7-10 working days before dispatch. Well, ten days have gone by and still no word. If I've not heard anything by Tuesday I'll have to get in touch with them.

I went up to the veg plot to take a picture of the area that is cleared ready for the tunnel but when I got up there I forgot - don't you just hate it when that happens! I did take a picture of my rhubarb....

What on earth would eat rhubarb leaves? Tomorrow I'll go up there and check for snails, it could be them and I wonder if eating these leaves kills them?

It's been so dry lately and I had to water my strawberries. I transplanted them a couple of weeks ago and they are doing well, one already has a fruit forming...

I got lots of runners off the few plants I put in last year. When I get my tunnel I'll buy some more plants for in there - when I get my tunnel!!!

The miniature cooking apple has blossom coming on it...

I always get a few apples off this tree but I did prune the top off it at the end of last year because it had bowed over and I couldn't get it to straighten up.

The miniature damson tree had loads of blossom on it this year, since I transplanted it out of its pot it has done really well. Last year I got some fruit off it for the first time and I've had it for at least fifteen years!

Comfy Feet

2011-04-04T18:05:00.002+01:00

I’ve been searching for years for a pair of comfy sandals. Last year I bought some Hotter shoes so I thought I’d have a look at their sandals. This is what I decided on………

Don’t they look comfy? They have two velcro strap closures so if my feet get a bit hot I could loosen them. Perfect for wearing this summer.
While I was in the shoe shop I chose a pair of slippers too. My previous slippers had to be thrown away, the soles were dropping to pieces. These are what I chose………

Lovely, comfy, warm slippers! These are made by http://www.dbshoes.co.uk/. I was going to buy some of their sandals but I preferred the look of the Hotter ones.
So, that’s me set up with footwear for a while.

Gardening Season

2011-04-02T19:47:00.001+01:00

For quite a few months now, I've come to a bit of a standstill with my blog. I've been doing the usual things, sewing, baking, cooking etc but no gardening. The baking I've done is my usual type of thing so nothing new to report there.

Today, for the first time for ages, I had the urge to check on my veg plot. I also went to the nearest garden centre. I was going to buy seed potatoes but when I saw the queue at the checkout I put them back! Everyone must be in the gardening mood, the place was crowded. The other thing I noticed was how much prices seem to have gone up this year.

Back at home I started mulling over what to do in my plot, mainly because of the problem we had last year with the fox. It ruined a lot of my veg even though I'd put protection around the raised beds. I like that there is a fox around, some people dislike them but I think they have as much right to be here as we do. So, what to do? I did think of getting a fruit cage and having it for an area with the veg that the fox seemed to like trampling. Then I thought a bit further. The weather can put me off going into the garden if it's wet and cold so how about a polytunnel. This would mean that I could protect my veg, be out there in all weathers and grow the more tender varieties. After a bit of research and discussion my DH and I decided on an 6 ft x 12 ft tunnel. Yes it's a bit expensive but the garden is our summer hobby and we enjoy our fresh veg so we ordered one.

I'm hoping that this year is an uneventful year. I don't handle stress well and the last few years have been horrible, like last year it was the MIL being ill and dying, my dear little dog being so ill then dying and then my DH breaking his wrist when he fell. The year before that my DH was very ill in hospital then taking months to get back to normal. Please let this year be boring!!!

Sampler

2011-03-18T16:27:00.000Z

I've got several finished cross-stitch projects that haven't been made into anything. They were stitched mainly because I like the design. This one is a free one from Mon Ami Pierre. I haven't done any embroidery for months now, I need good light to enjoy it and the weather has been so dull...

All winter I've been making things on my sewing machine, mostly patchwork or doll clothes. Maybe now that spring is almost here and we get a bit more sunshine, I'll start embroidering again.

Friendship Star Quilt

2011-03-12T18:09:00.001Z

This is a trial post from my computer to my blog. There seem to be a lot of extras on Windows 7, and on Microsoft Office. May as well try them out.

This is a little quilt I’ve almost finished. It’s called Friendship Star

The picture really shows up the contrast between the different fabrics, made me notice that one block is not quite contrasting enough. Should get this finished tomorrow – I hope.

Well – it worked and was very easy to do (the Windows Live Writer that is).

Pancake Day

2011-03-08T08:59:00.002Z

Pancake Day

Shuttlecock Day

If you don't give us a holid'y

We'll all run away

My mother used to say this rhyme for us on Shrove Tuesday. I hadn't really thought about the meaning of it until this year. I looked on the internet to see if I could find out anything about the rhyme and the nearest I could find was from a history about Leicestershire. Shrove Tuesday was traditionally a half holiday and school children would sing this to their teacher...

Pardon master, pardon,

Pardon in a pin,

If you don't give us a holiday

We won't let you in.

Then they'd sing

Pancake Tuesday is a very happy day,

If you don't give us a holiday

We'll all run away.

Much more used to be made of Shrove Tuesday, carnivals, eating rich food and games before Lent started. The shuttlecock game was traditionally played and was called Battledore and Shuttlecock. A battledore is the racquet that was used to hit the shuttlecock. The racquet was usually made of wood and parchment, the shuttlecock was a cork with feathers stuck in it.

Anyone else know any local traditions about Shrove Tuesday?

Hand Quilting

2011-03-06T12:20:00.000Z

I recently had a go at hand piecing and hand quilting. At one time I would have been too impatient to sit and do this so something must have changed in the way I think!?!

This little quilt only measure just over fifteen inches square and I can't see me doing anything by hand that is much bigger than this. But then again, bed sized quilts are just not for me, these little ones satisfy my need to do patchwork.

Coat Hangers

2011-03-02T16:33:00.000Z

How on earth did I end up with over ninety coat hangers with nothing on them?!? I have got rid of a lot of clothes but I'm sure it wasn't ninety items. So where did this lot come from........

They must have been in our wardrobes but I don't know what was hanging on them. What do you do with coat hangers when you no longer need them I wonder. I looked through the list of things we are allowed to recycle but coat hangers wasn't on it. So they'll just have to be thrown away. The council list of what to recycle made me realise how few things are on it. I think we have single-handedly restocked one of the local charity shops though. A little table we donated was outside the shop today with the price of £19.99 on it, hope it sells for that price, charities like this need all the help they can get just now.

Our sitting room is nearly cleared of all the stuff from the bedroom and we still have a bit of spare storage, partly due to getting rid of stuff and having more shelves. One thing that is going to be difficult is sorting out the photographs we've taken this last 43 years. Plus the photographs that belonged to my MIL. It's going to be tough deciding what to get rid of and what to keep. But we can't keep them all.

Bedroom So Far

2011-02-28T19:19:00.001Z

It took the fitter five and a half days to fit the wardrobes, it was a long week! It's going to take just as long to put everything back, deciding what not to put back is hard too. There has been stuff stored in there for years, so - what's the point of keeping it if it's not used, I'm sure we've all asked ourselves that over the years.

Here are a couple of before and after pictures. The before ones show the room stripped out and ready for fitting....

Then the same view as it is now...

At the opposite end of the room..............

And now..........

Because of the way the room is now designed it feels a lot bigger. Before it was very mismatched with odd pieces of furniture that just never looked tidy. We've still got the decorating to do, that will probably take another week and then we'll probably have a carpet fitted, the wood floor got quite scratched and dented so a carpet will just finish the room off nicely. By the end of March it should be completely finished.

Heart Swap

2011-02-16T09:51:00.000Z

Here's what I received from Karen for the heart swap we were in at a Yahoo group....

Karen's embroidery is gorgeous, I think it is the best example of embroidery I've ever received. All the other lovely things she sent me were the extras we include in our swaps - two cross-stitch charts, silk thread, wool thread, gorgeous lace and some Maple Candie. What an enjoyable swap this was - thanks Karen.

Not much blogging going on here again. My front bedroom has been stripped out in preparation for my new wardrobes to be fitted. This means that everything that was in there is in the rest of the house, there isn't one room that is tidy. By tomorrow we won't be able to use our bed either, so one of us will be sleeping in the little bedroom and one of us on the fold up bed that will be downstairs. This should be for about a week and I just know it's going to drive me crazy!!!

An Old Picture

2011-02-09T10:06:00.000Z

I've got a few pictures that were taken when I was little. Here's one of my brothers and myself, probably taken in about 1949...

We don't look very cheerful do we!!! I've always had a bit of a sulky look, it used to get on my nerves when people were always telling me to smile. It's just the way I look.

Clutter

2011-02-01T11:20:00.000Z

Before I moved to this house that we live in now we moved house on average every 3 or 4 years. I never had a problem packing for the moves. We've lived here for 20 years so I've not had to think about what I have stored away. A couple of years ago we cleared the loft space because I was worried about all the junk that was stored up there. Most of it was junk and got thrown away. It's the same in my craft room, I've had two de-cluttering sessions lately and still need to get rid of more.

When we first moved here we built a 'temporary' fitted wardrobe in our bedroom. Well, that 'temporary' lasted a long time!!! Yesterday we started to clear everything out of the bedroom ready to have a professionally fitted bedroom. It's going to look great, can't wait for it to be done. But - I feel really depressed about the amount of junk I've kept over the years. I sorted all the clothes out and have quite a few things to take to the charity shop, this was the easy bit. When I look at the amount of clothes that were in there it was a tiny fraction of what filled the space. My sitting room is absolutely full of stuff. I can't believe how depressed I feel about it. When did I turn into a hoarder? Why did I turn into a hoarder? What happened in my life to make me change so much? I have put a lot of things to one side ready for the charity shop and there are a few things that I've thrown away. When it comes to putting everything back into my new bedroom I intend to only put back what I know will be used/worn. I am no longer going keep anything unless I actually use it. This will be tough, but why will it be tough? I hate being cluttered so what part of me won't let things go?

Phew - that really got all this off my chest (I often wonder about that expression). I'm ready for the next session in there, still got the chests of drawers to go through!

Soup du Jour

2011-01-29T12:58:00.000Z

My liquidiser broke a couple of weeks ago so it was imperative that I got another one. I chose the Russell Hobbs one because of the glass jug. My previous one was plastic and I think the hot soup I used it for caused the split in the collar near the blade. Some days I plan to make soup and pre-soak any beans I might be using. Some days I decide on the spur of the moment to make soup, that is when tins of beans come in handy. I recently used black beans and I ended up with soup that was an interesting shade of purple! Today I'm using borlotti beans...

This soup is very quick to make, onion; garlic, both roughly cut up; tin of beans; a squirt of tomato puree; a good glug of wine; pepper; and in this one, fish stock dissolved in about three quarters of a pint of hot water. You can add any other veg you have on hand but for quickness these ingredients here are all you need. Bring to the boil and simmer for about half an hour, let come off the boil then liquidise. A very tasty, quick soup for two. I can smell it now, ummmm, it amazes me how tasty bean soup is!

January

2011-01-28T09:57:00.000Z

I don't think I've ever felt so lethargic as I've felt this January. I think it is because of the weather being so cold and dull. It's time I made an effort to get myself going again. Here are a couple of things I've made recently...

A heart for a Valentine swap I'm in, this was very easy to do and turned out quite pretty. Because I wasn't sure who I'd be swapping with and I wanted to get the hearts made in plenty of time, I also made this pot holder...

It wasn't until I took the picture that I noticed one edge isn't lined up properly, good job my swap partner wanted the fancy one! Here's a picture of the hearts I've received in previous swaps...

I also bought a new doll, this one is very dainty compared to my Gotz one...

When I sat them together I decided that they looked just like Bridgette and Marie, two of the daughters in Medium, starring Patricia Arquette.

I sent for another book from Amazon, it's called Prairie Children and Their Quilts, but I have a horrible feeling I won't get it. Three times the delivery date has been changed, it's now due in February, something to do with waiting for new stock to come in. Never mind, there are plenty of other choices.

Once again, I apologise for some comments not showing up, I don't know why they keep going into the moderation page, I don't moderate comments so this is a puzzle to me. It's not like they are going to the spam folder either.

A New Dress

2011-01-04T15:56:00.000Z

No, not for me, for my doll. This dress is from the Rosemarie Ionker book A Closet Full of Doll Clothes.

Things are still pretty slow around here. We were away over Christmas and I haven't even downloaded the pictures from my camera. We were in Yorkshire and my goodness it was cold! It was so cold it got into my back and made it feel achy for days and felt cold but when I touched it, it was hot. We had a nice time but wouldn't go away again for Christmas, I much prefer my Christmas day in my own house to in a hotel.

Wednesday

2010-12-15T12:19:00.000Z

There's not much going on around here lately. I've been doing a bit of sewing, a bit of card making, sending Christmas cards, Christmas decorating and that's about it, apart from the usual housework type things. So, there aren't really any craft/baking/gardening pictures to show.

Yesterday I did get a nice bunch of flowers from my son and daughter-in-law, beautiful colours.

And Graham bought this lovely half cheesecake from the Cheesecake Shop

Well it was my birthday!!!

Must be the time of year that's putting me off a bit. And the weather, it's been so dull and the daylight hours seem very short, not good enough light for any embroidery.

I know my craft room could do with a good reorganisation again - it's in a right mess, things out everywhere. Even after my big cull earlier this year I still have too much stuff for the size of the room. After Christmas I'll spend some time tidying it up again, until then I'll just ignore it!!!

New Shoes

2010-12-06T13:25:00.002Z

First, an apology, I didn't notice that blogger now does a spam filter, of course some genuine comments ended up in the wrong place, I've now sorted it out - sorry if your comment hadn't appeared, I do enjoy reading them.

For quite a few years now I've had trouble finding comfortable shoes. I can no longer wear anything with heels and the width has to be quite roomy. It was years before I eventually sought medical advice about my feet and, as usual with me, the NHS doctor I go to was no help at all. I don't think I make enough fuss with doctors, they just don't take me seriously, but that is beside the point here. Anyway, I eventually went to a private hospital and saw an excellent podiatrist who diagnosed me with Morton's neuroma. This is an extremely painful condition and it prevented me from doing much walking so I rapidly became very unfit. I used to walk a lot and would think nothing of walking instead of getting a bus anywhere. The podiatrist gave me two cortisone injections in my right foot. This did help and I can now be on my feet for quite a length of time before I feel any discomfort. But - I do have to be careful about my footwear.

A couple of weeks ago I visited a mill shop at Moffat and bought some lovely, comfy shoes

They are Hotter shoes and are wonderful. I used to wear very fashionable shoes and that could have added to the problem with my feet, apparently the bones in my feet are naturally too close together (I do have a trouble with my spine too). Nowadays I don't care how fashionable my shoes are as long as they are comfortable. This can be quite a nuisance when it comes to wearing skirts and dresses but I think my new shoes will look fine.

One of my aunts, who was quite superstitious, said that putting shoes on a table would cause a death. I'm not superstitious so I'm not bothered by this but I did look it up (on the internet of course). One theory as to how this superstition came about is from when photography was first used. Apparently the deceased would be photographed and so would have their shoes on while lying on a table - thus the superstition came about. Ridiculous!!!

Snow

2010-12-02T12:24:00.000Z

I don't really feel like doing anything much at the moment. Does the cold and the snow have an effect on motivation - I don't know.

Even going outside the back door is an effort.

This is a main road into Nottingham and it's rarely this quiet.

Looking out over the back gardens wondering how the birds are coping, we have put bird seed out but the dunnocks, who feed on the ground, must be struggling.

I have been doing some sewing, still making dolls clothes but very slowly. I seem to spend a lot of time just watching the snow!!! And having a snooze in the afternoon!

Maybe this spell of snowy weather won't last and in a couple of days it will all disappear, we've been spoiled by the recent mild winters. One thing I have enjoyed is our wood burning stove, it's lovely to have a real fire in the evenings. And I must admit, we've been leaving the heating on 24 hours a day. Some of my friends haven't been having their heating on during the day, I don't know how they can stand it and I'm sure just having the gas fire going all day is as expensive as having the central heating on.

Scotland November 2010

2010-11-21T11:03:00.001Z

VIEW SLIDE SHOW

DOWNLOAD ALL

Last week we were in Scotland, staying at the Tinto House Hotel, Symington, Lanarkshire. When we arrived there was snow on the ground, the hills looked very wintery. The hotel was comfortable and the public rooms very traditional looking with wood panelling and a huge, wide staircase. Each day we had a trip out to different Castles and Palaces. Even though the weather was very cold we enjoyed our sight seeing very much. We didn't take pictures of everything we saw, as many of the sights were seen from the coach. Our guide in Edinburgh, who was dressed in traditional Scottish regalia, showed us parts of the city not shown in my slide show. For instance, we saw where Robert Louis Stevenson lived and the guide also explained a lot about the architecture of the houses.

I'm not sure if I'd go to Scotland in November in the future, it was just too cold!

On checking the slide show I notice that some pictures are out of sequence, I don't know why.

New Hobby or Second Childhood?

2010-11-14T09:05:00.000Z

What woman in her right mind buys herself a doll? Well, it seems I'm not alone giving in to the temptation to buy a doll to make clothes for. The doll I chose was a Gotz Precious Day Girl from here. The American Girl doll, apart from being very expensive, has a rather toothy look that I didn't like, the Gotz doll has a more neutral look to her. The clothes my doll came in were very well made but too modern. I want make the more old fashioned style.

The shoes she came in don't go with the look I want, that is something else I'll make. So, after making this first dress I decided she needed a nightdress...

These patterns are definitely not for the beginner, there is as much work in them as there is in a real person pattern. But I think they are lovely. Here's where I got these patterns from.

I'm glad to have this new hobby, after all there are only so many cushion covers that I need, I have enough table cloths, aprons, bags etc and I was running out of things to make. Making doll clothes should keep me busy for quite a while I think.

Dolls Clothes

2010-11-07T14:46:00.000Z

I've been having fun recently making dolls clothes. A friend of mine has three granddaughters and they are all getting a doll each for Christmas. The doll they are getting is similar to the American Girl doll so it's quite a big size. When my friend said she was going to try and make clothes for them I couldn't help but volunteer to make some too. I have made a few cloth dolls and I remembered buying a pattern about ten years ago for dolls dresses. I don't really know why I bought this pattern, I think I just liked how it looked! Well, when I checked the pattern it is for American Girl. What a coincidence!!!

The first thing I made was this petticoat.

I found a pattern for it online.

Then I made the vest to match...

Also online was this dress pattern that I made next...

And then this one...

Now that I've had a bit of practise I'll have a go with the pattern I bought.

Accidents

2010-10-31T12:24:00.000Z

I'm married to an accident prone person. Over the years he's broken his arm; had numerous sprained ankles; broken his nose; dented his forehead (that was a scary one); broken a toe playing basket ball; trapped his fingers in a folding chair; electrocuted himself several times; cut himself more times than I can remember with knives; fallen through a window; cut two fingers badly with a hedge trimmer; had a hot bulb from a over-bed light fall onto his chest and burn him; dropped a spanner on his big toe nail and had it go sceptic; been hit in the forehead with a baseball bat someone threw; scalded himself taking a radiator off the wall; cut his head on an overhead pipe; bruised his kidneys when he fell off his motor bike; ruined his uniform when he fell off another motor bike; fell in the bath and broke another toe; had his hand swell up because he didn't know when to stop using his secateurs; had several car accidents. If some household object can be broken he'll break it, one time he broke a complete dinner service and three sets of wine glasses all in one go. There are numerous other incidents but I think my brain stops me thinking about all of them for self preservation!!!

On to the present day - Friday he was up a ladder, and of course he has to fall off it and now he has a broken wrist. Shortly after we were married I happened to mention in front of my MIL that he was accident prone and she said "Oh, he's still accident prone is he". So I don't really know all the incidents he had in his childhood apart from the one where he broke his two front teeth off. I've done some reading up on accident proneness but there is no general agreement as to whether some people really are accident prone. Personally I think accident prone people are just not careful and have never learned from their accidents. As the wife of such a person I am constantly on edge wondering what is going to happen next. I try to watch him as much as possible to make sure he is safe but unfortunately I can't follow him around all the time. Can you imagine my level of anxiety living with such a person.

Tea's Ready!!!

2010-10-27T17:30:00.000+01:00

That's a lot of sandwiches!!! Well there are two men to feed.

I think the Bakewell Tart looks a bit overdone, still, never mind.

Hope that Parkin isn't too dry. The Cinnamon & Lemon tarts look ok though

These cups don't get used very often

Afternoon Tea

2010-10-25T11:24:00.001+01:00

I've planned an afternoon tea for Wednesday

Selection of Sandwiches

Prawn in Sweet Chili Mayonnaise

Egg Mayonnaise with Cress

Ham and Cream Cheese with Pickle

Home Made Cakes and Pastries

Cinnamon and Lemon Tarts with berries and cream

Yorkshire Parkin

Bakewell Tart

To drink there will be Yorkshire Tea or a glass of wine

So, that's the menu sorted out. I'll make the Parkin today as it needs to mature a bit. Then I'll make the Bakewell Tart and the Cinnamon and Lemon Tarts on Wednesday morning so that the pastry is still nice and crisp when we eat it. The sandwiches are straight forward enough, I'll do those in the afternoon.

I love planning these teas and searching out sandwich filling recipes. This time the fillings are quite straightforward but if you have a favourite let me know.

When we stopped off in Newbury recently we had tea and cake at a small tea room near Victoria Park. At first I was a bit dubious about this place as it is in the corner of a car park and there were a few tables and chairs outside that really are in the car park! However, the tea was delicious, a proper cup of tea, and the cakes were lovely home made ones. Also, they used proper china, and they had decorated inside and out with vintage teacups, teapots etc. Altogether a tea room worth a visit.

Piccalilli and Cake

2010-10-24T10:13:00.001+01:00

I've tried shop bought Piccalilli and didn't like it but after talking to someone recently I had to have a go at making it. It was so easy to make and tastes incredible, nothing like the shop bought stuff. There was a little bit left over after I'd bottled it so I had bread, cheese and piccalilli for my lunch, the taste was definitely piccalilli but totally different to the shop bought, not milder exactly, but more flavourful. All I put into mine was pickling onions, cauliflower and courgette. The pickling onions were a bit big so next time I think I'll buy a jar of silverskin onions to add to it. I didn't want to make a huge amount so only did about 270g of veg, this made one jar. I had wanted to make two jars so that I could give my son one but, as I'd never made it before, I misjudged the veg quantity.

Here's my recipe for one jar.

270g of prepared veg, diced (veg of your choice plus cauliflower)

Layer the veg in a bowl with salt overnight, then rinse and drain.

A bit more than 1g turmeric

2g dry mustard

Good pinch of ground ginger

175ml white vinegar

25g sugar

Approx 6g plain flour

Mix the plain flour with a drop of the vinegar and set aside. Put the spices and sugar in a saucepan and add the vinegar a little at a time, stirring well. Add the prepared veg to the pan and heat slowly until boiling, stirring occasionally, make sure the sugar dissolves. Simmer until the veg are cooked but still crisp but not hard (up to 5 minutes). Add the blended flour, stirring all the time, until boiling. Keep stirring and boil for 2 or 3 minutes. Pour the piccalilli into your prepared jars and immediately put the lid on.

Nutella Cake

Here's a close up of the Nutella cake, you can see the Nutella has sunk to the bottom, which it shouldn't. This is the second go at this cake and both times the Nutella sank to the bottom. I don't know why! This is the recipe I use

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1688/cinnamon-nutella-cake

It is also in the recipe book I have and the picture shows that the Nutella is evenly distributed throughout the cake. Where am I going wrong? But who cares, it's a delicious cake anyway!!!

Bournemouth Trip

2010-10-17T17:04:00.008+01:00

View Full Album

I was in Bournemouth from Monday to Friday last week. We both had a lovely time, no driving, no cooking and no deciding where we should visit. The coach was comfortable and the driver was very capable, he sense of humour was not very politically correct though! It reminded me of how certain men used to be, very suggestive on occasion but by the end of the trip I think he realised it wasn't very appreciated.

The hotel looked very nice and the food was excellent, freshly cooked every day and not 'boil-in-the-bag' type meals. My bed was incredibly lumpy and I had to sleep on the duvet because of this. All in all I think the hotel was very good apart from that bed!

On the way down we had to divert from the intended route because of an accident so we stopped off in Newbury for our comfort break. We were there with plenty of time to do a bit of sight seeing. I was glad of this because we lived near Newbury years ago so did a bit of nostalgic wandering around. We visited the park that we used to take Colin to when he was 2 years old (he's forty now). The next trip we did was to Salisbury. This is a lovely town and worth visiting. Wednesday was a free day and we were lucky enough to have sunny weather so we had a walk around Bournemouth. Thursday was a trip to Burley in the New Forest. Burley was very disappointing but the drive through the forest was lovely. Then it was on to Lyndhurst, the church here is where Alice of Alice in Wonderland fame is buried. Friday morning we visited Winchester and as well as the cathedral we saw the house that Jane Austin lived in before she died. Also, I was born in Winchester!

I did try to make a slide show of my pictures but unfortunately Microsoft have removed the programme from Windows 7 that I used to use and I had to download a different programme from them. I have made the above album but the captions didn't come up with the pictures. I'll have to practise a bit more with the programme and see if I can do it.

I just went to check out the above photo album and if you click on the slideshow tab it does show the captions on the photos. Also noticed I missed the end off Winchester a couple of time and they come up as Winchest - damn!

Sewing Kit

2010-10-10T11:03:00.000+01:00

Even though I expect to be quite busy during out trip to Bournemouth, with lots of trips out and walks on the beach, I still have to take a bit of something for those odd moments when there might be nothing to do. So, I've made up a kit to take with me....

It all fits nicely into the box I decorated a couple of months ago. Some people take cross-stitch, some take crochet or knitting. Up until I came across this paper piecing patchwork I didn't have anything that I found really suitable as a take-along project. And of course I couldn't take my sewing machine with me could I!!! These hexagons take minimal concentration to assemble and you really can't get them wrong, so there will be no unpicking of mistakes. As I sat cutting out the card shapes this morning I had an interesting thought, a kit of ready cut out shapes would make a lovely give-away. I haven't done a give-away for quite some time now, due to circumstances this year, so look out for a give-away in the next few weeks.

Stitching Corner

2010-10-09T17:49:00.000+01:00

I spend quite a bit of time sitting here in my kitchen.

You can just about make out all the hexagons I've been producing, there are more than a hundred now, It'll be some time before there are enough to make into a quilt! The cushion you can see on the chair is one I bought to use on our patio set, not that we've used that very much this last couple of years. The chair itself has quite a hard seat and I was getting a bit uncomfortable on the posterior, I could just see me explaining to the doctor why I had pressure sores there! So I thought this cushion would give me a bit of relief.

As well as stitching the hexagons to the card shapes I've been busy getting together the clothes I will need for our upcoming trip to Bournemouth. After years of self-catering it feels a bit strange to be going to a hotel and I thought I'd better search out some of my decent clothes. I've got a red jumper and cardigan (£12 for the two at the Sainsbury's 25% off sale) and a red check skirt to go with it. I haven't worn the skirt for years, I think I've only ever worn it a couple of times, if that. To travel I've decided on trousers, tee shirt and blouse, got to wear a tee shirt under the blouse, I might get cold, you never know with our weather these days. Then for trips out during the stay, another pair of trousers, tee shirt, blouse and cardigan. The trip is only for five days so I think that will be enough apart from underwear and night shirt of course. That's one advantage of being older, I don't feel so obliged to be so obsessed with looking fashionable. I'm also taking flat shoes to wear with the skirt, I would never have worn a skirt without wearing heels when I was younger, now I just can't wear them, I go for comfort.

Swaps

2010-10-06T10:18:00.001+01:00

The internet has always fascinated me. I even did an Open University course on the history of it. It's through the internet that I've 'met' a lot of very interesting and inspirational people. Often these people come and go for different reasons but isn't that the same in 'real' life anyway. You all know how I join in with swaps and one particular hand-stitching group I'm in has them regularly. Here are pictures of two swap packages I've received recently.

This one is an ongoing Secret Sister Swap. Each month for five months we send a package to our Secret Sister. They are not supposed to know who we are but being an international group it's a bit difficult to hide our identity! Above is what my Secret Sister sent for the August package. She sent more than she should have I think, not that I'm complaining. The book you see is fabulous, I'm constantly referring to it for ideas.

This package is for the Christmas swap. We had to send each other things that we could use to make Christmas items. As usual there were lots of extras included.

It's fun to receive these packages, I wonder if the postmen everywhere wonder why certain people are now receiving regular packages from all over the world.

Patchwork

2010-10-01T13:52:00.000+01:00

I enjoy doing patchwork and have made several cushion covers, a couple of small throws, two single bed quilts and probably other things that I can't think of just now. Anyway, I've made all these things on my sewing machine because I thought that the paper-pieced quilts that are all hand stitched would be beyond me. That is until I decided to have a go at some paper-pieced hexagons. I can't believe how much I'm enjoying doing this, it's the perfect project to take with me when I'm away from home. Minimum concentration is needed so I can still join in with what is going on around me. I made this little pincushion to start me off

I knew that in one of the many boxes in my craft room there were some strips of fabric I'd cut out for a log cabin quilt. I'd got a bit over enthusiastic when I cut these strips and had loads left over. These have come in perfectly for me to try a bigger hexagon project. I cut them up, printed some more hexagon shapes, a bit bigger this time, and now have a lovely project on the go. I don't know what size of quilt I'll end up with but I'm enjoying the process.

First steps in the process, cut out hexagon shapes in card, cut out fabric (I used my rotary cutter and cut the shape as you can see in the picture), tack fabric to the card, trim the fabric to neaten. I found it easier to cut the fabric this way, I would have found cutting the fabric into hexagon shapes to start with a bit too aggravating. Someone did ask me if the card would make a mess of the quilt when it is washed!!! But of course you remove the tacking and take out the card shapes when the pieces are all sewn together.

This shows what the shapes will look like when put together. Apparently this pattern is called Grandmother's Flower Garden.

All Change

2010-09-25T18:39:00.002+01:00

There have been times, for quite a few years now, when I've felt that life is a bit monotonous. The only things that change are upsetting things. That doesn't mean that I don't enjoy my life in general, it's just that sometimes I wish for something different to happen, something to look forward to, something nice happening instead of just upsetting things happening. With this in mind we have decided to give our caravan to my nephew and his wife. They have two small children and only live and hour and a half away from Heacham, so it will be ideal for them. It is a bit of a wrench doing this but it is time for us to do something different.

Having the caravan meant that we could have holidays with our dogs.

The beach at Heacham

At the back of the beach there is an area call Heacham Harbour, it is now a nature reserve.

A few pictures taken couple of miles from Heacham at Hunstanton, these are the gardens.

The cliffs

The beach below the cliffs, interesting rock formation

Pigeons in their natural habitat

So, what are we going to do with ourselves? For a start we can join in with Graham's family's celebrations. Usually I can't go because I have to stay at home and dog sit.

Last weekend we went up to Manchester for Graham's cousin's 70th birthday party.

In two weeks we are going on a short break to Bournemouth. Graham has never been there. Next year we intend to get several of these short breaks to different places around the UK, something we've never been able to do before. Today we went out early and visited a Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve for a bit of bird watching. We were there several hours and saw 31 different species of bird that we could identify.

There are lots of things to look forward to now, just hope life doesn't throw one of those horrible things at us for a while!

More Sewing

2010-09-13T12:41:00.000+01:00

This apron will be a Christmas present for a friend who loves rag dolls. There is no pocket on this one so it was even quicker to make than the other ones. The printed dolls on the fabric wouldn't allow for a pocket because of where they were placed so, rather than fiddle about and get on my own nerves, I decided this one was fine without.

While I was in a sewing mood I decided to make these decorations

They have an overlapping envelope style back so that scented stuff (word won't come to mind) can be put into them, maybe cinnamon or something. I've made quite a few of these hangie decorations, they are fun to make and add to my hand-made Christmas look that I like. I expect I'll be making more because the fabric I have has lots of these pictures to the yard.

Some Sewing, Some Stitching

2010-09-12T09:29:00.000+01:00

I must be feeling a bit better because I'm getting more things done. Grief is a horrible feeling, while it's happening I think to myself "It's something to be got through". At the time I think the feeling will never go away but it does gradually sort of become 'background noise', then I'll have an hour or so of feeling ok. I hope for a year of nothing horrible happening, the last few years have been one thing after another and it's dragged me down.

Anyway, here are a couple more sewing/stitching projects I finished this last week. First is a table runner. I've stockpiled a ton of cotton fabric while I could afford it, then I've panicked, thinking that I'll never use it all but table runners and aprons are perfect for using up some of my stash. This table runner is another very quick and easy project

Even with my fab new camera I don't think my photography skills have improved!

For years I've wanted to try free-motion machine embroidery and I intend to give it a serious try this week. Last week I had a timid go at it and came up with these

A needlecase and pincushion, the flower stems on the left are my first small efforts, the stems are done on my machine then I've added french-knots to the stems. A good simple starter, no use trying to be too ambitious and putting myself off.

I've also got more aprons planned, one is cut out and waiting to be sewn together. These aprons seem to have taken over from my obsession with making those handy bags. I'm also wondering about making pillow cases. The problem I'm having with starting one of these is the idea of having pillow cases that don't match the rest of my bedding, would it look odd do you think? Would they make nice gifts or would the recipients not use them if they don't match their bed linen? I'd love to know what you think about this. I wonder if square pillow cases would be better, that way ordinary cushion pads could be used and the pillows would be more for decoration on the bed. That might be a better idea don't you think?

Chutney And Cake

2010-09-11T09:43:00.000+01:00

The cherry tomatoes that I grew in a window box did extremely well, much better than the ones in the greenhouse. Yesterday I harvested all the cherry tomatoes and there where loads. Some were red and some were still green but I had noticed that they were being eaten and it turned out to be caterpillars. It looked as if the caterpillars were taking a small meal out of each tomato then moving on to another one so it was time to pick them all before they were all ruined. Once again I decided to make chutney. This chutney is beetroot and tomato, I also added a big courgette/small marrow, four cooking apples and two onions as well as mixed spice, salt, ground ginger, brown sugar and wine vinegar. I vaguely followed the chutney recipe out of my book, the weight of the total veg added up to the weight in the recipe so the spices, sugar and vinegar was the same as in the recipe.

Because I was using cherry tomatoes I couldn't prepare them as I usually do, that is remove all the skins, so, after I'd cut out the wood stem bit I simmered them until soft then liquidized them. This is a very fruity tasting chutney probably due to the addition of the beetroot.

I mentioned in my last posting that I'd been to the Lowdham Show. In the tent where the competition entries were on show there was a baking section. Some of the recipes were included in the show guide booklet. One cake looked so delicious I had to make it

Pineapple Cake

225g tin crushed pineapple

175g marg

250g soft brown sugar

225g mixed fruit

175g glace cherries, halved

350g SR flour

3 eggs

Melt marg and sugar in a large saucepan, add fruit, cherries and pineapple. Mix thoroughly then ALLOW TO COOL. Beat eggs and add to mixture with the flour. Bake in a deep cake tin approx 21cm at 150C/gas 2 for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Computer And Other Stuff

2010-09-06T13:22:00.002+01:00

I finally got my new computer tower connected up on Friday. It took the whole day and I was worn out just watching the engineer fiddling with it. He was having trouble removing the free trial Office programme and installing my bought version. Then I couldn't have Outlook Express anymore and he couldn't get Outlook to work. In the end he had to go home and after I fiddled around myself for a while I downloaded Windows Live Mail so I'm quite happy with that for now. But - the next day when I switched on I was still having the same problem, the screen was just not showing anything at all, occasionally it sort of flashed, but nothing. It did come on after a bit of switching on and off and restarting the tower. That's when I started to think that the problem has been my monitor all along - damn! Graham is buying me a new monitor today because this morning it took ages for the screen to work. If I've spent all that money on a new tower and it was the monitor all along I will feel very annoyed!

On Saturday we travelled up to Manchester for a christening that took place on Sunday. We stayed at a Novotel this time. It wasn't as good as the Holiday Inn we stayed at recently. Some areas in the room could have done with a good clean, the teaspoons and shelf for the complimentary drinks was grubby and the tap in the bathroom wasn't clean either, It was one of those latest style of taps that has the handle that sort of swivels and it was a bit mucky in the swivel area when it was turned to the on position. When these small details are missed it makes me wonder about the cleanliness overall, maybe I'm a bit fussy though. The breakfast next morning was ok but the plates were cold, the fried eggs hard and the tea cool. I know I'm being a bit picky and really it was ok for just an overnight stay.

On Saturday afternoon we had a walk along the canal path at Bridgewater canal

The weather was really mild and we had a lovely couple of hours.

The christening on Sunday was lovely, a very nice service and a fab buffet lunch afterwards.

Grace, our great-niece, was very well behaved and slept most of the way through the day.

Last week, while I was without my computer, I was busy making aprons

The link above is to the tutorial, this is a very easy apron to make and I made four altogether and have cut out more - very useful for gifts and, like the one above, for swaps.

Here's a picture of the cooking apples I got off our small tree

This is the most apples we ever had off this tree. Showing these apples reminded me that the previous weekend we went to Lowdham Show, I only took one picture, the show tent with all the produce was so crowded it was difficult getting any good shots in. Every time I was just about to take the following picture a woman stuck her hand into the frame - I'm sure she was doing it on purpose! In the end I had to ask her to move

I took this picture because I thought it was a very clever arrangement. It contained, potatoes, red onions, jars of preserves and other veg, I loved it.

Deciding What Is Clutter

2010-08-31T13:12:00.000+01:00

While my computer is out of action I decided to tidy up all the wires at the back of my desk. It took two hours because it all needed a good clean too. Doing this has spurred me on to do a bit more decluttering. But what is clutter and what is stuff I know I'll be using - sometime! Last year I gave quite a lot of craft items to a friend's daughter, things that I knew she would use. I don't want to give things to people who I know won't use them because then it's just shifting the clutter to someone else's house. This oftens happens to me, someone will think that I can use some item that they can't bring themselves to throw away, often I end up throwing it away for them! I have a storage box (or two) full of rubber stamps. Most have been used well but rubber stamping is something I don't do anymore. Ok, they can go, but where? I'm thinking of selling them at a car boot sale but where do I keep them until I have enough stuff collected to make it worth while. It needs to be out of my craft room. I have an almost full set of Lace (pronounced Lassie) cutting templates, they cost me getting on for £100 - how much would I get for them? But if I'm not going to use them why keep them? Then there is all the backing paper I've accumulated. Some I'm just sick of the sight of, but who would want it? Should I try to sell it too? It goes on and on. I might just end up throwing it all in the bin. That's what I do when I feel totally overwhelmed by clutter. My craft room is embarrassingly cluttered. I don't think this type of hoarding applies to me because the rest of my house is quite organised. I think the first step is to take out of my craft room all the things that I know I don't want to do anymore - like those rubber stamps for a start.

Computer Problems

2010-08-29T10:32:00.001+01:00

My computer had been playing up again so my friendly engineer collected it last Thursday. He thought it could either be the hard drive or the motherboard. It turned out to be the motherboard and I had the choice of a new motherboard or a new tower. As I'd had the computer for quite a while I agreed that it was time for a new one. I'm hoping that by Thursday of this week I'll be up and running again. In the meantime I'm using Graham's laptop. At least I can check my messages, update my blog and do a bit of surfing. It's not the same as using my PC though.

Today I'm going to the Range to look for Christmas card making supplies. It's almost September and time to start thinking about Christmas. I've come across a good apron idea that will be useful as a gift, so far I've made four, I'll show a picture as soon as I'm back on my own computer.

I received a fabulous parcel last week. I'm in a Secret Sister Swap that runs from August until December and my Secret Sister went a bit over the top with what she sent me. She sent enough to cover the whole five months! Included was a crazy quilting ideas book, I've spent loads of time since it's arrival looking at it and trying out some of the stitches it shows.

Another picture I wanted to show here was of the cooking apples I got off our tree this year. Along with the damson tree, the apple tree used to be in a tub too. Then a couple of years ago I got my husband and son to move them to a permanent place in my veg plot. Both have done really well this year but the cherry tree I had in a tub along side them died off about a year after transplanting, that was a bit of a puzzle. They are the type of tree that is sort of miniature and grows sort of straight up, I can't remember what they were called, something like ballerina. The fox carries on trying to wreck my veg beds. The leeks were growing beautifully, nice and tall and straight. That is until the fox decided to trample them! He seems to like using the onion patch as a bed and now the leek patch. Hmmm, wonder if it's the smell? I've taken the cabbages out, they weren't doing any good at all. For some reason they grew too tall and the heads just didn't develop. I don't have any luck with brassicas, think I'll give up on them.

Baking, Stitching and Other Stuff

2010-08-23T21:41:00.000+01:00

We had a few day in Norfolk last week. The weather was quite good considering the really crap August we've had. I did get a trip out to Taverham, I wanted some Milliners needles and some Christmas card making supplies but couldn't find either but did end up buying stuff from the kitchen shop. Several years ago I bought a Silverline cake tin, then I bought extra dividers for it (it's one of those tins that you can slot in the sides to make different size cakes). But, the extra dividers were for the new, bigger sized tin, so I had to buy that too. Plus I bought some preserving jars. I'd used up all the recycled jars I had and the ones a friend had given me because of my chutney making. As well as the rhubarb chutney I've made tomato & marrow and plum & damson. The damsons were from my own tree, it's the first year this tree has actually produced fruit. Usually it gets infested with some sort of pest and doesn't do very well. I don't like spraying pests but this year I just had to, of course I used a spray that wouldn't harm birds but I still felt guilty for doing it. We did get a few damsons though

We made these Apple & Apricot Treacle Tart Bars today, that dark bit around the edge is lovely and chewy due to the syrup that was in the topping, delicious! It's got a shortcake base, apple, apricot and sugar stewed together (then pureed) in the middle and is topped with orange zest and juice, syrup and oats. It was quite a time consuming recipe to do but tastes lovely.

While we were away I stitched this little embroidery, it's to cover the lid of a storage jar for my craft room. I wanted to do this one because I wanted to stitch some bees, just got to put it on the lid now.

Chutney

2010-08-13T20:02:00.000+01:00

It's a long time since I made chutney. I do tend to go a bit over the top with quantities and Graham gets put off by having so much of one thing. This year, when I've made jam, I've just made a small quantity so decided that I'd try the same with some chutney. If you've got a big family and a glut of produce big quantities are fine. When it's just the two of you it's a bit pointless as things eventually get thrown away. Today I made four jars of Spiced Rhubarb & Red Wine Chutney. One jar for our son, one jar for a friend and two jars for us.

Because my rhubarb had done well this year I had about 1 Kilo that I could use in this chutney. As well as the rhubarb there are three onions; 500 g light brown sugar; 7 g salt; 7 g ground ginger; 25 g ground mixed spice, 7 g mild chili powder and approx half a pint of wine vinegar and quarter of a pint of red wine. I may have put a bit too much chili powder in it but Graham and Colin like chili so it should be to their taste. This was all simmered for about two hours until it was thick. Now it's got to mature for several weeks, in fact my Women's Institute recipe book says it should mature for two to three months.

I used to have really good desk top publishing software but it stopped working on any operating system after 1999 and I had to buy another one but it's not as comprehensive so I had to make up some labels for the jars myself. I wanted labels that I could tie on because stick-on labels are a nuisance to get off when I want to re-use the jars. I did search the internet for some printables but I didn't like any of them. Then of course I had to tart the jars up further with a nice bit of gingham fabric to cover the lids.

All in all, a satisfying day!

Yorkshire Pictures - Saltaire

2010-08-09T19:46:00.002+01:00

One of the reasons for our recent trip to Yorkshire, in fact probably the main reason, is because both Graham and myself are fascinated with the industrial revolution and the effects it had on ordinary people at the time. Though there were great advances I'm glad I didn't live then. Before Titus Salt built his factory with it's workers' village the workers would have lived and worked in Bradford. Bradford was disgustingly polluted by all the industry and when the powers that be wouldn't do anything about it Titus decided to move. The average life-span in Bradford was 20 years. At Saltaire their life-span improved to 70 years.

This is the factory he built and manufactured the cloth Alpaca, which he developed and that made him very rich.

These are some of the skilled workers houses. There were different styles of houses depending on your status as a worker. You can tell these are for the skilled workers because of the four panels in the front doors and the arched, sunburst style windows. The unskilled workers had three panel doors and squared off windows. The overseers and, what I suppose would be called managers these days, had much bigger, more elaborate houses.

He also built schools; a hospital; a workers dining hall, where workers could get a cheap, nutritious meal; an 'institute', I'm not sure what we'd call this these days, it housed the library, held adult education classes, was used for meetings and social gatherings; a church; but no pubs!!! The lion in the above picture is one of four. Originally they were going to be used in Trafalgar Square but were deemed too small so Titus bought them cheap and installed them in his village! He could seem generous but his generosity to his workers also ensured he got the best out of them, they were healthier due to good food, fresh air and good housing.

Today the factory at Saltaire is a sort of art gallery and has shops and a restaurant. The whole village is a world heritage site.

Yorkshire Weekend

2010-08-06T18:02:00.000+01:00

Well, that's the first of our planned trips done. We were picked up by a feeder coach at 7.50 am Friday and met the main coach at Chesterfield. From there we went to Holmfirth and spend over four hours there! Much to long in my opinion but it is a nice town with lots of interesting buildings, alley ways and cobbles. We were told by the driver to wait at a particular place to be picked up but there only seemed to be me and Graham waiting so we started to get a bit worried. The driver eventually found us, he had parked in a different place because a traffic warden had told him he couldn't park where he'd told us to wait.

From Holmfirth we travelled to the hotel on the outskirts of Brighouse. The food was good, the beds comfortable and the staff very pleasant.

Saturday we set off for Keighley. No sooner had the bus started when I got a nose bleed. It didn't stop for an hour so I was feeling pretty grim by the time we got to Keighley. Keighley is interesting architecturally and we had a nice walk round but took a wrong turn and got lost! We were meeting the rest of the party at the railway station so had to hurry and find our way back. We got on the steam train at the lovely, restored railway station. The staff were all dressed in 'proper' British Rail uniforms, not the sloppy looking stuff they wear these days. Skills had reserved a carriage for us, we had hoped it would be a really old fashioned one but it was a 1960s one. We enjoyed the short train ride and were picked up by the coach a Haworth and driven up to the old part of the town. It's a good job we were, it was very steep and our party mainly consisted of old fogies (like us!). I wanted to have a look in the Bronte Vicarage Museum but by the time we'd had a cup of tea and lunch there wasn't time.

From Haworth we were driven to Skipton for a ride on a canal barge where we were served tea and biscuits. It was a pleasant relaxing ride. Then it was back to the hotel.

By this time I was feeling a bit rough.

Next morning I was feeling very rough and asked at the reception if they had any asprin but they aren't allowed to give out things like that. Luckily a young fellow overheard me and was kind enough to give me some of his co-codamol, which helped me get through the rest of the day.

At 10.15 am we set off for Saltaire. I've been wanting to go here for a long time. We had a guided tour around part of it and then had about another hour or so to do as we pleased. It really is worth a visit.

After Saltaire we set off for home, arriving back in Arnold at about 5.15 pm. A friend picked us up and very kindly had arranged for us to have dinner at their house that evening. I was so glad of this because by then I felt really ill. I was in bed for 9 pm.

I spent most of the next three days in bed with a horrendous cold and extremely painful sinuses. Today I'm feeling a bit better.

So, we enjoyed the weekend very much but would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't caught the damned cold!!! We took some photos but I haven't downloaded them yet, I'll let you see them as soon as I do.

Cheerful Flowers

2010-07-27T20:01:00.000+01:00

Fuchsia Southgate

Verbena Pink Splash

I've got a new camera. The Kodak camera I had is a bit outdated, has a cracked battery cover and uses up batteries so quickly I probably keep a battery factory in business. So, I have now got a camera that is Li-ion powered. In other words the battery is a proper rechargeable one. I wanted another Kodak but, not being very interested in the specifics of photography, I was talked into a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS30 (whatever that means). I knew that I could transfer the pictures from the memory card via my printer to my old Kodak software programme. I love my Kodak software programme, it is so simple to use. Other camera software seems unnecessarily complicated. After all, I only want to take photos to show on my blog and send by email to family and friends, I'm not trying to win prizes or make money from my pictures. Anyway, I was also treated to a memory card that my printer didn't like. I messed around with the Panasonic software and hated it. Then I decided I'd swap my new memory card for the old memory card that I had in my old Kodak camera. I uninstalled the new software and what happens? My settings were all changed and I couldn't remember how to make my computer use my Kodak programme to open pictures. By this time I was in one of those horrible, computer killing moods, I'm sure you know what I mean. I only wanted to download a picture or two for goodness sake!*~#!

Anyway, I eventually did a system restore and all is well with the world again.

July

2010-07-26T20:41:00.000+01:00

I'm not doing very well keeping up with my blog am I, life just feels a bit strange at the moment.

I've been trying to get on with some crafting and came up with this little embroidery

It's similar to several others I've done in the past, not sure yet what I'll do with it.

Also, I made up a cushion cover with a cross-stitch that Graham did

I think I've mentioned before that Graham does cross-stitching - who'd think a big, strong fellow like Graham could make something so delicate!

We went to Norfolk for a few days and went on the Wells to Walsingham Light Railway. Here's the little engine that pulled the carriages

It was a fun, if bumpy, half hour ride! If you want to read about it here's the web page. We had a good look around Walsingham which is famous for being a place of pilgrimage. While I was there I bought some little religious medals, one of them was St Clare and when I looked up what she was the patron saint of I discovered that, amongst other things, she is the patron saint of embroiderers and needleworkers.

I Love Quizzes

2010-07-14T11:13:00.000+01:00

Who doesn't enjoy a quiz, I wanted to put this on the side of my blog but the layout wouldn't let me so I put it here. I don't spend ages with the layout of my blog and just go for the simplest - too much stitching to do to spend time fiddling about with layouts!!!

Your rainbow is shaded brown.

What is says about you: You are a deep thinking person. You appreciate the roughness of nature. You feel closer to people when you understand their imperfections.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

A Quiet House

2010-07-13T09:48:00.000+01:00

For 34 years there has been at least one dog in my house. At one time there were three dogs and a cat. Now there is no one to bark at the postman or to scramble to sit on my knee. It feels very strange. It will take a bit of getting used to.

I have started to get back into a bit of crafting, another pincushion

This one to match a sewing roll I made a while ago.

Yet another pincushion, this one because I wanted to try the spider web roses. They were very quick to do and I'll definitely be using this stitch a lot.

I also made a button pin

It only took a few minutes to make and is for a swap. I used wool to embroider the flower, I bought the wool years ago with the intention of trying some crewel work but this is the first time I've actually got round to using it.

I'm also trying to catch up with some 'almost finished' cross stitch pieces. They are only small designs but have been hanging about for ages. There is just the border to finish on one piece, then I've got to decide what to do with it, maybe another box top, we'll see.

Pincushions

2010-06-19T11:04:00.000+01:00

I've spent the last couple of days making pincushions, amongst doing other things, like cooking, housework, washing etc. I wanted something sewing related to do on Thursday afternoon when I have friends round for a crafting session. Well my mind was blank so I asked the handstitching group I'm in for suggestions and Laurie suggested this pincushion idea

After I'd made this one I thought I would have a go making another one that was slightly different and came up with this

and then I had to make a matching scissor fob. I really enjoyed making these and my friends did too, so it was a successful afternoon of crafting.

When I'm making anything I have to have lots of breaks for cups of tea and a bit of a search around the blogs. Yesterday I was searching 'pincushions' and came across a pincushion I thought looked like a bit of fun to make so I had to have a go

Apart from handstitching the gap closed after I'd stuffed it, this is all made on the sewing machine so it's really quick - and a lot of fun to look at!

A Matter of Taste

2010-06-15T20:47:00.001+01:00

I have wondered recently if my sense of taste was disappearing, particularly when I eat vegetables. On Sunday I managed to collect enough veg from my plot to give us a small portion each. That's when I realised that it's not my sense of taste, it's the commercially grown vegetables that I eat most of the year. Carrots usually taste of nothing but I eat them anyway - but - when I tasted my home grown ones the memory of what carrots should taste like came flooding back. They were delicious, full of flavour.

It's years since I tried to grow carrots, I never had any success with them. This year, because I now have my raised beds, I decided to try them again. These carrots are the best I've ever grown, wish I'd sown a few more now. The mange tout are tender and tasty, the courgettes taste like courgettes and the broccoli has flavour. Even though I only grow enough veg to use during the summer months it is worth it. Worth it for the taste and worth it for the enjoyment I get tending my veg plot.

This is a coconut cake that I made today. So what, you might say. Well, what makes it unusual for me is that as well as using desiccated coconut it contains coconut cream. I have only ever used coconut cream in curries before now but the recipe for this cake included coconut cream in the cake and in the icing. I'm not sure if it makes much difference to the taste but the texture of this cake is very nice. My recipe book tends to overdo it on the icing so in future I think I'll only make half the quantity, I told myself this before but I must stick to my decision next time.

June Flowers

2010-06-13T09:17:00.000+01:00

After a very wet week we had some beautiful weather yesterday. I was able to get out into the garden and do a bit of work. These pictures were taken in the part of our garden nearest to the house, it's all looking very colourful.

This rose is growing in some very poor soil at the side of our garage. I'd forgotten that it is a miniature climbing rose, it's never done very well but this year it has really put on some growth, I think it liked the cold winter we had. Next to it is a honeysuckle and that is looking very healthy too. I've almost removed this honeysuckle several times because it always looked very scrawny, the cold winter suited it too.

Decorated Box Top

2010-06-11T19:57:00.000+01:00

A few weeks ago a friend turned up at my house with a pile of lovely boxes. They are just the right size for using in crafting, the sort of box that originally contained toiletries mostly, the expensive sort. The friend knew that I'd find good use for them. This was a bit of luck for me because I'm entering a decorated sewing box challenge we are having at a group I'm in. After a lot of thought and blog surfing I came up with this using one of the smaller boxes as a trial effort

You may notice that I've used some of the fabrics that Gillie sent me that I showed in my previous post. The squares of fabric are stuck on to the calico using Bondaweb, then stitched around using blanket stitch. The covered button and the lace are stuck on using craft glue. I've used a combination of double sided sticky tape and craft glue to attached the fabric and the fancy top to the box. I got a lot of inspiration for my box by looking at French stitching blogs, a few links for their blogs are here on the right.

Swaps Received

2010-06-07T18:59:00.000+01:00

Last week I received swaps from two different exchanges, there's nothing like receiving a package in the mail to really cheer you up is there.

First there was the gorgeous pincushion and fabric from Gillie. I love the design of this one and the fabric she sent carries on the garden theme of the pincushion which Gillie chose because she know how I love my garden.

Then I received what should just have been a pincushion but included tons of other stitching related stuff from Carla. I think Carla went a bit over the top with what she sent me, not that I minded at all :) Carla sent me enough cross-stitch patterns to keep me going for a couple of years, I'm a very slow stitcher!

I love the motivation that these swaps give me.

Give-Away Winner

2010-06-06T10:24:00.000+01:00

Nic won the give-away - I have your address Nic, so will mail the prize to you this week. To choose the winner of these things I assign a number to each participant in the order that the comments appear, then I use http://www.random.org/ so that the winner is picked out fairly. Much easier than writing names on bits of paper then getting Graham to pick out of the hat!

I wanted to put some pictures on here of the fab swaps I've received but I didn't get round to taking the pictures yet. It has been so hot that my craft room gets unbearable. Hopefully, things will cool down now that we've had huge thunderstorms and torrential rain. Spending a lot of time baking yesterday didn't help either, by bedtime the upstairs of my house was like a sauna, hot and humid. On Friday I made strawberry jam, this time I made it in my bread making machine. It just made enough for one jar and is delicious, not too sweet. I'll definitely make it this way in future, one jar at a time is all we need. What an easy way to make jam!

Today I'm not going to be doing much, it's been a busy time lately, with one thing and another, so Graham, me and the dog are all taking it easy today.

Project Bag Tutorial

2010-06-01T09:59:00.001+01:00

Over the years I've acquired quite a few vintage table cloths and runners, some from my mother's aunt, some from my DH's grandmother and some from fairs I've attended. Usually they just lie in a drawer, occasionally I use them. What will happen to them when I go - they probably will get thrown away. So I decided to make something useful out of some of them and ended up using one for a project bag.

Cut out the piece of cloth you want to use in your project, I cut a piece of card the size I wanted and then drew around it with a water soluble pen.

Mine measured 8 ¼ inches wide x 6 inches long.

Cut out a piece of coordinating fabric the same width as the embroidered piece and approximately 7 inches long but you can decide how long you want this piece. Sew these two pieces together using a quarter inch seam.

Cut out three pieces of fabric the same size as the embroidered/patterned piece.

I used calico/muslin.

Sew together as shown.

With the two lengths right sides together and starting at the plain end (this will be the lining), sew around the whole piece leaving a gap for turning.

Turn right side out and sew the gap closed.

Tuck the piece that has the plain fabric inside the piece that has the embroidered/patterned front and plain back.

On the inside of the back, stitch a loop and on the inside of the front, stitch a flat loop, the back loop will pass through the flat loop as the hanger. You can use ribbon or a strip of the fabric for these loops.

Any problems understanding my instructions let me know and I'll help.

Once you've made one of these you'll realise how quick and easy they are and how many decorative ideas you could use. I've made them in Christmas themed fabric and used them as gift bags.

Life Happens

2010-05-29T10:39:00.001+01:00

Remembering Sadie 1920 - 2010, my mother-in-law.

There have been a few cheerful incidents this last couple of weeks and one of them was receiving this give-away from Fiona in Australia

I was only expecting the blackwork box that you can see at the front right but Fiona included all the other beautiful things too. Thank you Fiona, you are too generous!!! It's amazing how receiving these things from fellow bloggers adds that bit extra to our lives. Another example of how the internet can be a good place. Apart from the occasional virus, when it became the fashion for idiots to try and ruin the internet experience for everyone, I can't say I've had any negative contacts and now that virus checkers and fire walls are much more sophisticated there is less chance of being infected by these morons. A bit of common sense helps too, where scams and such like are concerned. It's meeting people like Fiona that make my life more interesting.

So, to celebrate the all-round niceness I've experienced with friends I've made through the internet, I'm having a give-away too.

You can never have enough of these project bags!!! They are so handy for all those projects that you have on the go or all those bits and pieces that need to be kept together. This one includes the pincushion and strawberry shaped scissor fob. The scissor fob is my latest addition to the accessories I enjoy making. I was going to give a link to the tutorial that I used but of course I can't find it now.

Just leave a comment and I will draw the winner on 6th June

It's Getting Warmer

2010-05-15T12:32:00.000+01:00

This morning I went up to my veg plot to check on everything and decided that I'll have to do some serious watering up there. The wind has swung round to the west and it feels quite warm and even a bit humid today.

This bed has cabbage and cauliflower in the centre and broad beans around the edge. These brassicas are doing well. In the past I've blamed slugs and snails on my poor results but have come to the conclusion that it is the wood pigeons that were doing the damage. I keep the centre area of this bed covered with mesh and so far there is no damage. The broad beans will need staking soon, they are starting to lean, they do have lots of flowers on them so I'm looking forward to a good few portions off my few plants.

The courgette is still in the greenhouse, I was worried about it getting nipped my frost but I think that it will be going out very soon. It has already got a couple of courgettes forming.

This little trough contains my succulents, I thought that the cold winter had killed them all off but suddenly this plant started to flower, what a sight for sore eyes it is!

On a completely different note - I have a personal quest (or hobby) to find the answer to 'Life, The Universe And Everything' (that's meant to be a bit of a humorous way of putting it). I've read a lot of books, asked many questions and thought a lot. Someone once told me that I think too much, I probably do. One author who talks a lot of sense and puts into words a lot of things that go around in my head is Dorothy Rowe. I've read most of her books and I've met her. When I found out that she had a blog I felt very pleased, I'd be able to keep up with what she is doing.

Well, remember how I mentioned that the election was getting on my nerves (because all politicians are c**p). When I visited her blog today she had written an excellent article about politicians, she put into words all that I'd tried to articulate myself and Dorothy being so well read could explain things clearly. I'm looking forward to her new book 'Why We Lie'.

Lettuce Leaves & Bean Sprouts

2010-05-08T17:40:00.001+01:00

I'm really pleased with the mixed lettuce seedling pot I bought at the garden centre. It cost £1.25 and I've already had my money's worth from it. Some is in the portable grow bag outside my backdoor and some is in the ground in my veg plot. It's growing amazingly fast even though the weather is still cold and wet.

It's a lovely feeling that I'm already getting produce from my garden.

Another thing I'm doing that I haven't done since the 1970s is sprout some beans in a jar

A couple more days and these will be ready to use. Doing this was very popular in the 1970s but I got out of the habit of doing it myself. I've used Mung beans here, it amazes me that the dried beans from the supermarket are still viable. I think it was Peggy or it might have been Nic who said one of their fellow allotment holders recommended using dried peas instead of the relatively expensive packets from the garden centre (not for sprouting, for growing). I'm also growing Mooli radish that will be good for stir frying too but they won't be ready for a while yet.

I have been doing some sewing. The pincushion swap with Tiny Treasures Exchange Too blog is ready to go, I just need to buy a postcard to send with it, I always forget this bit. And I'm part way through making yet another project bag and accessories, it's always good to have a few of these made, I just never know when I'll need one!!! Wish I'd kept count of how many I've made altogether. The doll house miniature hutch/dresser challenge I'm supposed to be in isn't coming on so well, I can see me dropping out of this, I just can't get going with it. Never mind, it's not often I drop out of anything. I've got another challenge coming up soon with the Yahoo handstitching group I'm in, it's to make a decorated sewing box.

I'm feeling a bit fed up with the weather, the continual news about the election and the fact that my dog isn't very well. He fell down stairs a couple of weeks ago and broke two of his claws off, it was really bad and since then he's just not been right, now he has a chest infection, poor old man, he's 14 and starting to feel his age. By this time of year I've usually been to our caravan in Norfolk but with one thing and another we still haven't been.

May Showers

2010-05-03T11:09:00.000+01:00

Well, the weather has certainly changed. After a lovely April we now have a cold, northerly wind and heavy showers. I wanted to get some more plants into the ground but it's just not suitable gardening weather for me. What have I been doing instead {>( - getting fed up hearing and reading about the upcoming election for one thing - now that is depressing!!!

I did get a swap finished

Yes, it's yet another project bag set. The pincushion is the actual swap item but I couldn't resist making it up into a set. This time I tried the strawberry shaped scissor fob but used the same fabric to make it and added cream felt 'leaves'. Making this cheered me up a lot. I love the fabric I used for this, it was one of those bargain lengths I got last time I visited The Fabric Guild in Leicester.

I also gathered together some of the items I'll need for the hutch/dresser challenge on the mini group I'm a member of

I spray painted the furniture cream and I'm making a wedding cake out of Sculpey. The cake is terrible, mainly because I'm not very good with clay and also because I didn't have any white clay so I'm having to paint brown clay white, I have resorted to spray painting that too. I think it will look ok for a first go so it will do. I found a really good Youtube video on how to make a wedding cake but this was after I'd started mine, maybe I'll make another one following the video directions, that is after I buy the proper colour clay!

More Veg Gardening

2010-04-26T18:31:00.000+01:00

Today I got my tomatoes and cucumbers put into their permanent pots. I think it will be warm enough now for them to be in my unheated greenhouse.

These four pots will stay in the greenhouse (terrible picture and the plants are healthier than they look here, there is no damage to any leaves, think it is my photography). There are three Roma tomatoes and one cucumber. I've set them up with string under the pots that stretches up to a cross-piece, this way I can twist the plants around the string as they grow, my favourite way of training tomatoes. I've never grown cucumbers in the greenhouse before so that will be interesting to watch.

These cherry tomatoes are in the window boxes. I'm a bit worried that one window sill won't be sunny enough so I might have to change my mind about where to put it. I think I'll probably put a fuchsia in the middle of each of these boxes.

I've got my lettuce in this grow bag so that I can have it near my back door, that way I can easily crop it when I need it. The bag is quite deep and the only fault with it is that it could do with being a bit more rigid at the sides, it tends to bulge out a bit where the compost slips down and doesn't look as tidy as I would like.

I've sown some radish seeds up in the veg plot between the slower growing crops and I've sown some basil seeds in a half seed tray in the house. If it's a really hot summer I will have the basil outside the back door because I love the perfume it gives off in the heat but if it's a cool summer I'll have it in the greenhouse.

Talking of the greenhouse - it tends to end up like a shed, with lots of things stored in it so that will need sorting out in case I decide on more greenhouse veg.

The lovely weather makes a huge difference to how I live my life, being able to have the back door open without freezing to death is a real pleasure.

April And No Showers

2010-04-24T12:48:00.000+01:00

I've had a funny sort of week, nothing much seems to have got done so what have I been doing. One thing I had to do was get a new printer. The Lexmark I've had for years finally conked out. I have got a Hewlett Packard but I liked my Lexmark because it would take quite thick card, which the HP won't. It was also getting difficult to find the correct Lexmark ink cartridges and I dislike buying the compatible ones because they are not always reliable. The Lexmark is top loading that is why it will take the card. Most of the printers I saw were those multi-function types, which I don't want or need. In the end I bought a Canon and it works beautifully for my craft needs, plus it only cost £24.99. So - I'm happy about that.

I spent some time making cards ready for my next craft group meeting. A friend gave me a bow maker which I had to try - this is what I came up with

When I make cards my craft room always ends up in a terrible mess. It's surprising how many things I need to get out to make cards, now I've got to put it all away.

Another thing I've just had to do is give the bedroom a good 'do'. What a mess I get into, you'd think it was a laundry the amount of clean clothes that were hanging about waiting to be put away, I do annoy myself with this habit. There are two rooms in my house that get very untidy, my craft room and the bedroom. The craft room because I have too much stuff, though I do think it is because the room is too small but Graham doesn't agree with this. And the bedroom because I just don't put things away properly. In fact, even when the bedroom is tidy I'm not very happy with it, I wish I could get rid of everything in it and start again, what I'd love is to get an interior designer in who would be able to come up with a plan from my vague dream of the perfect bedroom, and do all the shopping for it of course.

The weather this week has been beautiful though cold. My veg plot is coming along well and Graham is now making the paths for me - it's going to look great! The soil here is very free draining so it dries out easily and I've had to water these last few evenings, we really could do with some rain.

Up At The Veg Plot

2010-04-18T14:40:00.000+01:00

What a gorgeous day it's been, sunny, warm and still. The temperature is 14C (57F) but it always feels a degree or two warmer up at my veg plot. We live on top of a hill so it does tend to be quite breezy except for in the veg plot, it's surrounded by trees and hedges so it's nice and protected.

I used to have this damson tree in a big tub, it's one of those especially bred for small gardens. A couple of years ago I decided it needed to go into the ground because it didn't look very healthy and always ended up with some sort of pest that made the leaves sticky. Also, it never fruited. This year it is smothered in blossom, I've never seen it like this before. When I was a girl I lived in Shropshire and there seemed to be damson trees growing everywhere so I think wanting a damson of my own was a bit of nostalgia.

Sorry about the terrible picture but I'm no photographer.

Behind the damson is a Ribes, this is looking very healthy as well this year, loads of blossom on it.

The camellia is almost over now but that has flowered well too.

It does make me wonder if the harsh winter we had is prefered by a lot of our plants and trees.

Onion and beetroot bed

This is what Graham came up with to prevent the fox getting into my raised beds. Even though I had covered the beds with the white mesh they were still getting into them at the ends. I like having foxes in the garden so would rather go to the trouble of protecting my things from them than getting rid of them - they have as much right to live here as I do.

Volcanoes and Other Stuff

2010-04-17T11:20:00.001+01:00

The fragility of modern life has once again been exposed. The Icelandic volcano has disrupted all air traffic in our country. It is also a bit of a coincidence that the prevailing wind has been from the north/north east. Even in the depths of winter we mostly get a westerly wind (in my opinion). So, the ash from the volcano has been swept our way. We keep being told by politicians that globalisation is here and that we all depend on each other. That is until something like this happens. Apart from people not being able to travel we will soon be experiencing 'shortages'. A lot of our food comes in by air and we have come to accept this and expect it. Many of us worry about this and we have been proved right. The agriculture in this country has been dwindling since the end of WWII, farmers have even been paid to not grow anything, to diversify and, I imagine, to lose the skills of previous generations. It's been wonderful to have all the cheap and, sometimes exotic, fruit and vegetables that we never used to be able to buy. It only takes a disaster like we are experiencing, to bring it home to us how unrealistic this is.

The Internet is another example. I often imagine what could happen if we lost it for some reason, for some natural disaster that we can't even imagine yet. A lot of friendships have been forged globally. Yes, we could still keep in touch by 'snail mail' but that would also depend, largely,on air travel. How much mail is stacking up while our aircraft are grounded?

Not only would these two scenarios affect our country, they would affect the 'global' economy. No more imports/exports to and from far flung places, no more easy travel to tourist areas, no more quick travel on business and, in the case of the Internet, no more global shopping.

I do worry about all this and what better way to take my mind off these worries than a bit of gardening, baking and crafting :)

At the moment I'm enjoying my dolls house miniature hobby.

A good friend I have made (because of the Internet!) sent me a little tea set that I have glued into this corner cupboard/hutch. Rather than have these tiny things put away and waiting for the ideal opportunity to do something with them (which never seems to come) I'm using them and enjoying the results.

I went to this website and admired all the fab things this person has made. She also gives instructions on how to make stuff and I couldn't resist having a go at her cakes

It really was fun making this chocolate and cherry cake!

Garden Report The foxes are still having fun leaping around all over my raised beds. Today I'm spending time up there coming up with ideas for stopping them getting under the netting I've got covering the beds. So far I've planted cauliflower, cabbage, beetroot, onions, broad beans, peas and potatoes. We could do with some rain, the soil seems very dry and I might have to water today. The weather is a bit warmer today and it's nice and sunny. The wind is from the west.

Stitching Season

2010-04-12T10:39:00.003+01:00

Today is dull and cold so I won't be doing any gardening, I'm also a bit tired, I think I need a break from all the physical activity I've enjoyed recently. I'm amazed at how well my back has behaved, I think going to the chiropractor did help.

It's about this time of year I start thinking about what stitching projects I want to do over the summer. I spend about one week each month away in our caravan in Norfolk from April - October and always take plenty of stitching projects with me in case of bad weather when I can't get out and about (which, in recent years, has been more often than not). Last summer it was cross-stitch. This morning I decided to sort out some charts in readiness for my stitching season and came across quite a few that I had stitched but not used in a finish. This is a bit of luck really because I have an exchange coming up, I'll be able to use something already stitched if I want to. Here are three of them.

A free chart from Nathalie

I love this one from Mon Ami Pierre

This one is very pretty from Elizabeth's Designs

You will notice that I like cross-stitch that has alphabets or writing on the design. I only stitch small cross-stitch designs, it would get on my nerves to do anything big. I don't stitch anything that will end up as a picture in a frame either, it would be put away and never seen. I incorporate these small designs into something that can be used, that way I feel that my time hasn't been wasted.

A Beautiful Day

2010-04-09T17:57:00.000+01:00

It's been an absolutely gorgeous day. The temperature at 7.30 this morning was 46F (7C) and now, at 5.30 in the afternoon, it's a warm, sunny, 60F (16C). Yesterday I went to Timmermans Garden Centre and bought some veg plants to supplement the ones I'm growing from seed. I decided on cherry tomatoes as I've got three Roma plants from seed that are coming on well.

I chose Totem and Tumbling Tom Red. There was a Black Cherry tomato that I was tempted to get but managed to resist. These plants will go into the window boxes I have just outside my kitchen. They are as much for fun as for harvesting.

The fox had been having a good time in my veg plot. The garden fleece that I'd used to cover the onions and potatoes that I'd planted was ripped to shreds. Last year he didn't seem to bother with anything covered in fleece so I'm wondering if it is the same fox or one of the offspring. Because of this problem I came up with an alternative that will, hopefully, keep off the fox and keep out any insects when I start planting up my other veg.

It's a fine mesh that is a lot more sturdy than the fleece and designed for keeping out insects. I'll have to come up with something better for the ends but as long as I can keep the fox off until things grow enough to deter him I think it will be ok. The fox did sneak past on the other side of the hedge while I was working up there.

The daffodils are out everywhere now, I don't seem to have as many in the garden as I thought I had though.

Well, I finished my second week of jury duty and I'm glad it's over. I didn't get to actually sit on a jury so I count the time I was there as a total waste. The good thing was that I only had to attend for a day and a half altogether but, because it was during two weeks, I couldn't settle to much at all the rest of the time.

I was just about to ask if anyone knows why I haven't got a spell check on blogger, then I noticed that there is a spell check on the IE toolbar - for goodness sake, why didn't I look there before?

Shadow Box

2010-04-04T11:40:00.001+01:00

This is the first shadow box I've made. It's not too bad but I think it could do with a bit more in it.

Also, the reflection on the glass spoils the look of it, I don't know how to stop this so the next one I make I'll take the picture before I put the glass into the frame. The whole thing, frame included measures 8 1/2 inches high, 10 1/2 inches wide and 3 1/2 inches deep. It was fun to make and I'll enjoy looking at it. In my shed there are lots more miniature items I want to use for scenes like this, it seems such a waste to just have them put away.

Good Friday

2010-04-02T10:27:00.001+01:00

I didn't know that Simnel Cake was originally a cake that young girls made for their mothers on Mother's Day, which here in the UK is the fourth Sunday in Lent. I've never made one of these cakes, one reason being that marzipan used to be very expensive and I only used it for Christmas cake. However, now that baking ingredients seem to be more affordable, I can be a lot more adventurous in my baking. My new cake recipe book has a recipe for something similar to a Simnel cake so DH decided he would have a go at it. When we bake one of us is the baker and the other is the assistant, this way we don't get too tired by the end of a baking session and it becomes an enjoyable experience (we are not as fit as we used to be). The baker does all the mixing and the assistant does the weighing and reading out the recipe.

This is the cake DH came up with

It tastes as delicious as it looks

It has cherries and a layer of marzipan in it - I bet you would like a piece!!! The recipe book tells you how many calories for each slice and this one is 407 calories per slice. There is a chocolate cake recipe that has 703 calories per slice, that one should be interesting!

One of my hobbies is dolls house miniatures. The problem I have with this is that the houses take up so much room and one of them has been relegated to the garden shed along with most of my miniature making stash. I often feel guilty that I don't do anything with my miniature supplies and have been thinking of a way to use them that doesn't take up so much room. One idea was to make scenes that would fit into a shadow box. I didn't want to spend any more money on this hobby and wondered if I could find an idea for making my own shadow boxes. As usual, a search of the internet gave me just what I needed and I found a great tutorial. I'm part way through making an adaptation of the box shown in the video and feel very enthusiastic about it. That's what I'll be doing today, I was hoping to get out into the garden but the weather is so horrible, I'm glad I've always got my hobbies to keep me occupied.

Monday

2010-03-29T18:00:00.000+01:00

Some people are talented bakers, some people are enthusiastic bakers. I'm enthusiastic and bake often, sometimes with good results, sometimes with not so good results. My baked goods always taste ok though. Now, on the other hand, my DH is a talented baker.

If I'd have made these scones they would have been flat as pancakes but, as you can see, these rose beautifully. I'm looking forward to having one after dinner with plum compote and cream. This situation of enthusiasm versus talent doesn't deter me, I will carry on baking and hope that one day I'll attain that magic touch.

Our clocks went forward on Saturday/Sunday night, this always throws my inner clock out of sync. As mentioned previously, I had to get up early today and be out of the house for eight o'clock. So, I went to bed at my usual time (by the clock), and had an hours read, but could I get to sleep - it was at least two o'clock before I dropped off and I had to be up at six. Then it dawned on me, I did go to sleep at my usual time, it was really one o'clock in old time! I got to the venue early, as I usually do, I'm one of those people even if I think I'm late I'm early. I sat there all day doing nothing but chat with a group of lovely ladies who felt the same way that I did about the situation (see a previous post re what I was there for). Then, at three o'clock we were told we could all go home and not go back until a week on Wednesday - what a relief!!! At least next week we don't have to be there until ten o'clock.

An Unproductive Week

2010-03-26T10:48:00.001Z

This week has been wasted, hardly anything done at all because I've felt so tired and I don't know why. I did get two more Ohio Star blocks made and some more cut out.

This is more the look I want and I'm pleased with how the colours go together. I kept waiting for this tiredness to go off but it hasn't so far, I could have got more blocks sewn up if it had.

I did a bit of baking and made an apple and cinnamon cake, no picture because it's about all eaten. In my quest for a cake suitable for a diabetic I tried a cookie recipe. They don't look much like cookies to me, they tasted more like a scone and my friend tried one with low fat spread and said they were acceptable but I think she was just being kind! They had no fat in them and the granulated sweetener.

There is a bit of cheerfulness in the garden

Miniature daffodils

Primulas that I took out of the vegetable plot and just roughly stuck in this tub, they are doing well

I love the colour of this pulmanaria.

No gardening got done again, it's been quite a wet week, we have had intermittent sunshine though. My broadbean seedlings are now outside in the mini greenhouse and my tomato seedlings are doing well but are a bit stalky.

I hope I recover from this tiredness soon, next week is going to be a bit of a challenge. I have to be out of the house by 8 am on Monday and I'll probably be away every day for the rest of the week. I haven't had to do this for several years and I'm not looking forward to it!!!

Shopping

2010-03-22T09:42:00.000Z

After I decided to have a go at the Ohio Star block, I realised that I needed more fabric. What - more fabric - I must be mad!!! The problem was, that even though I have enough fat quarters and enough good lengths to start a fabric shop, nothing matched how I wanted it to. Luckily(?) the Fabric Guild let me know that I could visit either Friday or Sunday. My intention was to buy some coordinating fat quarters, about 12 altogether, but once you enter their warehouse plans can easily change. I didn't buy one fat quarter. But I did buy

Now I don't know if these are as good a buy as the fat quarters but I just couldn't resist them. They are Quilters Mix and are ready coordinated for you. To me they look like samples that you would get in a sample book but I don't have to worry about matching the blocks up now and I'm sure they will get used up better than the fat quarters would. These varied in price from £2 to £4.50.

There were so many things I couldn't resist

How about these, 3 yard lengths for £3.75 and already done in a patchwork design, great for some quick cheater quilts.

A ready printed cat just waiting to be sewn together - 99p.

Some more lengths, the one on the left 3 yards for £3.75, top right £2 a yard and bottom right 99p a yard.

I also bought buttons at 40p a pack, some broderie anglaise trim at 99p for 3 yards and, of course some sewing machine thread at 60p a reel. Couldn't show a picture of them as it came out very blurred.

There were also some paper craft bargains that I just had to have.

That was my Sunday, no sewing or gardening got done at all. I did visit my DS and DIL on the way home as they live quite near to the area of Leicester I went to.

Rainy Saturday

2010-03-20T17:05:00.000Z

No gardening got done today, it has rained all day. It's perhaps a good thing really, we both felt a bit tired with all the physical activity that we haven't been used to for quite a while now.

So, instead I decided to start a quilt. I saw a fabulous quilt on Laurie's blog and she told me that the pattern is Ohio Star. I went over to Quilters Cache and found the instructions. Here's my first block

It's not quite how I wanted it to look but I did enjoy making it.

Right, about the cake I made yesterday. It was a bit stodgy and not very sweet but it was acceptable. I didn't get around to icing it because I wanted to try it and it was still warm when I cut it (mmmm yummy). I was glad that I'd added the orange to it, I think it would have been a bit too bland without it. If you want the recipe leave a comment and I'll post it on my blog for you. I will make it again as it is a good, no sugar alternative to my usual cakes.

Diabetic Cake

2010-03-19T18:22:00.001Z

I have a friend who is diabetic and loves baking. She will often bring cake to my house for Graham, who loves her sponge cakes with buttercream. I always feel a bit sorry that she can't enjoy a piece of cake when she visits me so I thought I'd try to bake a sugar free cake, then I could offer her a piece with her cup of tea instead of the boring digestive biscuit she usually has.

This cake is orange flavoured, I used the boiled, pureed whole orange idea that I'd used for a non-diabetic cake I'd made recently. Anyway, I just took the cake out of the oven and, so far, it looks good. It rose beautifully but is rather pale (apart from one area, my oven is terrible for an uneven heat). The paleness won't matter as I intend to cover the top with a low fat soft cheese, diabetic suitable, icing. The sweetener I used was Canderel, I used this in particular because my brother was instrumental in developing this sweeter (the clever old thing!). Later I will ice the cake and try it then tomorrow I'll report on the taste and texture. If I think it is ok I'll put the recipe here in case anyone wants to try it.

Garden Report

I spent another morning in the garden. The weather was so warm I actually took my jacket off today. I now have five raised beds and it still leaves plenty of areas where I will be able to place tubs and pots. I'm growing a few things from seed but next week I'll go to a local nursery where I buy my vegetable plants and see what they've got for sale. It's still a bit early for a lot of things but last year I had success protecting the plants I put in early by using garden fleece around the bed. Last year I only planted the big raised bed and one row of beans in another bed due to the situation with Graham's health.

Sewing Kit

2010-03-18T17:22:00.000Z

Do you remember towards the end of last year I asked if anyone wanted to do a swap with me? Well, one of the emails I had was from Marion saying she would like to have a swap. As it was, by then, rather near to Christmas, we decided that we would wait until the new year before swapping. This is what I received from Marion

A fabulous sewing kit

This is what it contained, how generous is that, I love the teacup pincushion.

The interior of the bag has compartments for everything. I was so excited to receive this sewing kit - thank you Marion, I love it.

Garden Report

I spent another morning in the garden. Another raised bed was refurbished and I pruned quite a bit off a contorted willow. I didn't realise this tree would grow so big and now I want to poll the top of it or it will become a nuisance and start to block our driveway. This has happened with several other so-called 'small trees' I've had, they get massive and take up loads more space than I expect. My broad beans, that I sowed on the window sill, are sprouting well and should be ready to go outside soon during the daytime to harden off. When they are off the window sill I'll be able to sow something else to give it a good start.

Another Lovely Day

2010-03-17T16:56:00.000Z

I can't believe, that after all that really cold, frosty weather, that we are having such warm days. It is so nice to be outside and not freeze to death. I had my jacket on and got too warm. It was lovely. We got another raised bed sorted out. This one needed the timber sides replacing as the originals had rotted. I felt very satisfied with what we accomplished again.

They are the ones at the back with the black plastic covering. Tomorrow we are going to tackle the one in the middle on the right. The bricks surrounding this one have crumbled quite badly so we'll replace them with the timber boards. It will also be slightly shorter, that way we can fit in another bed between the two at the far end and the two in the middle. This part of our garden is very sheltered. It can get quite windy where we live at the top of a hill but the veg plot is protected all around and it really cuts out a lot of the wind.

The rhubarb has survived and is growing well.

The snowdrops are still flowering, I've never known them so late. These are from my great aunt's garden and must date back quite a few years.

This must have self seeded because I didn't plant it.

It seems that my Mother's Day request was taken seriously doesn't it, looks like my vegetable plot will be just how I want it within a couple of weeks.

Sour Dough Mk II

2010-03-16T17:23:00.001Z

The Mk II version of my sour dough bread looks much better than the Mk I. I didn't add extra water than recommended to the dough and left it quite dry. It rose beautifully overnight and I used a bread tin to bake it in. I also baked it at a higher temperature and for ten minutes longer. Plus, I put a bowl of water in the oven to provide a more moist environment. It did split along one end but I think that was caused by the way I'd folded it. Next week I'll try another technique for the proving that is used at River Cottage.

I spent another morning in my vegetable garden. The weather was lovely, even better than yesterday as there was no wind. A robin joined us for a few minutes, he found a few insects in the soil we'd turned over. I put the manure and some pelleted chicken manure onto the new bed, cleared the big raised bed and marked out another bed ready for making tomorrow. I've covered the new bed with the black plastic, for two reasons really, to suppress weeds and to also stop the foxes digging holes in it. I did notice that a fox has started to dig a tunnel under our garage!