Comfy Feet

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.