Have a Bit of Sense!

Welcome to A Time for Stitching (just to reassure you that you haven't come to the wrong blog)!  The previous template wouldn't let me alter any colours or styles so I've changed to a new one that does.  I love the orange as it's my favourite colour but I hope it isn't too hard on your eyes!! And the layout is a little wider so the content doesn't look so cramped.
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Here's some more orange in the form of my little muffin book.  Lis from Online Quilting asked me about the recipe for my Peanut Butter and Choc Chip Muffins. As it wasn't my recipe I couldn't oblige but here's where I got it from along with the recipe for the Beetroot Muffins in the picture (and all the others I've shown previously).

If you're a Jane Austin fan I would advise you not to read any further to avoid offense and must now introduce a disclaimer to say that the following is purely my personal opinion. I might be missing something or just not on the correct wavelength but this is how I see it.

After somehow managing to not become acquainted with Jane Austin (in print that is - I've seen P&P on TV) until my 47th year, I have recently read Sense and Sensibility.  Quite honestly, I found it disappointing and nearly gave up half way through even though it's not a very long book.

There wasn't much of a storyline and the continual references to the eligibility of certain characters (mostly in financial terms) became a bit wearing.  How unfortunate they were that they could afford only 2 servants!!?  Perhaps servants weren't human beings in those days - I can't imagine what squalor they had to live in (they were probably a lot happier than the characters in this book!).  Imagine a whole life filled with visiting, being visited and matchmaking - how shallow!  It's an interesting look into the way of life of the era but in it's day that wouldn't have been the attraction of the book.  I imagine that if the phrase 'chick lit' were around in the early 1800s this book would fall into that category (another disclaimer coming up - I'm not saying there's anything wrong with 'chick lit' just that I don't know what all the fuss is surrounding Jane Austin).
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Now I've got that off my chest I just have to sit back and wait for the backlash.  Next book is Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson.
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By the way, the other 2 photos are from the Flower Festival held in my church the first weekend we were away on holiday.  I managed to pop in for a quick look before we went but these are the only photos that were any good.  The flower-filled welly boots were provided by the local school children.
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And one last thing - A big welcome to new/recent followers. I hope you enjoy your stay and that I haven't offended you already because you're a stalwart JA fan!!
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Bye for now
Teresa x

Charlestown in Cornwall!

That's where we've been for the past week. A lovely little harbour town in South Cornwall. We stayed in a beautiful cottage on the edge of the town but within a couple of minutes walk to the harbour.
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The owners of the cottage provided us with a delicious cream tea on arrival.
There was a BBQ area in front of the cottage, although we didn't get the chance to use it,....

.........and a conservatory at the back that was huge.

The Tall Ships in the harbour reflect the fact that TV programmes such as Poldark and The Onedin Line were filmed there.

Below is the harbour at Padstow which is a lovely town with narrow streets and quaint little shops.

We couldn't leave Padstow without sampling Rick Stein's fish and chips! The chips were lovely but I was a bit disappointed by the warehouse apprearance of the shop and the conveyor belt/take-a-number approach to service.

There was a public footpath running from the back of our cottage for about a mile and a half to this beach. It was a brisk, windy day which created a dramatically rough sea but it was still warm and the dogs enjoyed running in and out of the water.

Our special meal out and a surprise from me was at Jamie Olivers Fifteen restaurant in Watergate Bay. The view from the window was worth the trip if nothing else.

But the whole experience was definitely worth it too!! We had a relaxing evening with a delicious meal and very friendly, efficient service.

Dessert is always the highlight for me!!!!

Visiting the fascinating Lost Gardens of Heligan was the activity for our last day.

I had to get a photo next to the famous 'Mud Maid'!

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I hope you had (or will have) a great holiday this year wherever you went (go).

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Bye for now

Teresa x

Bubble Bees?!

I'm on a muffin roll at the moment. No, not the sort that hangs over the top of your jeans!! These are Peanut Butter and Choc Chip - Yum.......meee! I got all excited about how good they were looking half way through baking that I had to take a photo. Forgot to take another one after they were done and they're now in the freezer ready to take on holiday. Oh, and in case you're wondering - they are delicious!! I had to sample one of course to make sure they were ok.

My OH went into the garden the other day to tidy up and pulled this cardboard box of bubblewrap out of the shed. He discovered that a swarm of bees had decided to use it as a nest (as well as other creeping and scuttling things that had used it as a toilet)!

I risked life and limb to get a closer look.

Click on the photo to see more detail if you want to. It's quite amazing what bees can construct without architects, plans or building regs. You can't see any bees here but they were there believe me - and quite a few were buzzing around in the shed wondering where their home had disappeared to.

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(List Update

The list method is going well. Even though I restrict the number of items on it to 3, I think it's going to help me get more done in the long run.)

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Bye for now

Teresa x

The Wrong Way Around!

My photos are the wrong way around! Someone mentioned having to use 'old-fashioned blogger' the other day, because of problems with the new one. Well, I only know one blogger and it must be the old-fashioned one because it doesn't let me move photos once added and takes ages to upload so I'm going to have to make do!
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So, first up are some glimpses into my Sunday.

Lemon biscuits. There are over 40 here and they're now in the freezer ready to take away on holiday. Do you think they'll be enough for 5 (maybe 6) people for a week!! Oh, and I musn't forget the little vase (bottle) of sweet peas my OH picked from the garden.

Some Strawberry Jam made in the microwave with the last of the strawberries from the garden this year. I got the recipe from a blog but can't remember which one (Note to self: Must write name of blog on any info I print off). The recipe didn't ask for preserving sugar, just 'sugar' so I didn't use it even though I was wary of the outcome. I don't think I'll make it like this again - it could be a bit thicker and I would prefer the fruit to break up a bit. Whole strawberries make sandwiches a bit lumpy :-)

Here's the mini-quilt top finished. I'm quite pleased with how neat it looks. I hope I don't ruin it when adding the quilting and binding! I've cut out wadding (batting) and backing fabric now so it's ready to go.

Now, onto Saturday's activities.

This is my DD's stall at the Animal Sanctuary Open Day. Her Pet Business is on the left and Body Shop Business on the right. It was a lovely day - not too hot, with lots of adults, children and dogs in attendance. Lots of people stopped to chat and took information away so hopefully some business will be generated in the future from it. DD almost had a booking on the day too but we're away on holiday for the dates they wanted.

Can you see DD and her partner's dogs are in the cage while we set up the stall.

Three sweet little girls having a rummage in the lucky dip. They took ages to find anything because they were having such fun running the sawdust through their hands!
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I mentioned last time that I was going to share a little idea I am trying out to make my evenings a bit less stressful. My problem is that I get through the door at the end of the day (about 6pm) and am immediately overwhelmed by how much there is to do. I've decided I'm going to make a list of about 3 things that I hope to accomplish each evening in addition to the normal day-to-day activities, including sewing/reading (only 1 or 2 things when I have something else on like Choir Practice or a Singing Lesson). Each evening, once the list is completed I hope I'll feel a sense of satisfaction and can relax.

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I've been trying this out for a few days but won't be able to fully put it to the test until we come back from our holiday because I'm busy getting things ready for it that are outside our normal routine.

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Tonights list is this:-

- Choir practice (moved from Monday)

- Bins out (normal and pink/purple recycling)

- Make muffins

- Cut out hexagon papers for holiday sewing.

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Then, I think that rather than feeling frustrated that there's so much to do, this method will give me a sense of satisfaction when I see in black and white what I have done.

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Despite telling you all this, I have to say that I look forward to my evenings very much and have so many plans each day - but that's the trouble - trying to fit too much in and not getting anywhere!!!

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Bye for now

Teresa x

Simple Mindedness!

It's been quite a while since I gave an update on my simple/mindful/thoughtful (whatever you like to call it) living efforts. A lot of what I do comes naturally now and I make the mistake of assuming people think the way I do. I can't believe how many people still accept plastic bags at the checkouts. At work, (in collaboration with our environmentalist and H&S guy) I took a compost bin for the kitchen for everyone to put food waste and teabags into. I doubt very much whether half the people here will use it regularly :-( but some is better than none. I also reminded the QS department that there's a supply of plastic bags they can use when they go to the supermarket at lunchtime instead of getting a new one each several times a week! My OH thinks I'm preaching but I see it as an opportunity to make a difference, and no one has ever taken offence. It's also company policy to try to be environmentally aware and do our bit.

I stop ordering an organic box delivery at this time of year because we get quite a lot of produce from our garden, given to us by friends and relatives, and growing wild in the countryside. I could order items from the delivery scheme separately but it works out a lot more expensive so I try to buy organic at the supermarket instead.

This little bag from Onya contains 5 net drawstring veg/fruit bags and I bought them especially to use instead of using the plastic ones provided (I've had only favourable comments at the checkout when I have used them). The only problem is that most organic produce comes already wrapped - I suppose that's so it doesn't get mixed up with the regular produce. It's a little annoying as not all shops use recylable packaging for organic produce.

On a more general note, I've been recording my spending for over a year and can now start to compare similar months. In comparing June 2009 and June 2010, Total spending is £340 down and grocery shopping is £5.33 per week down on average, which doesn't seem much but when price rises are taken into account, is probably quite a bit more. I'm unlikely to be able to reduce this much more while I'm still working and the 20% VAT coming in next year is going to make an impact.
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There's much more I could add to this but I don't want to get too long and rambling. Suffice to say, I'm still recycling, reusing and reducing as much as I can in all areas. But still have a long way to go.

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Now that's enough seriousness for one day!!! I tried to be helpful and put in a few photos to break things up a bit for you. I hope you've managed to get this far to get a little info on them.

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It's Hot Air Balloon season at the moment and with the good weather we've had there's at least one up every weekend. It's early morning or dusk that the conditions are suitable for them so this one was spotted last Saturday morning. Actually we usually hear them first, firing up the gas to get altitude . I'd just had a shower, heard it from the bathroom window, grabbed my camera and headed out the front door wrapped in a towel (not where neighbours could see me!) As I held up the camera the people in the balloon shouted 'hello' and waved. I was back indoors before you could say 'smile please'. I don't think they were talking to me though because a lady walked by walking a dog seconds later. Phew!! My OH took this photo for me!!!

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I made another recipe from Fuel for Body and Soul's blog last night to use up the rest of the puff pastry. They are Potato and Chick Pea Rolls. Mine are more like parcels though because, as I said yesterday, I couldn't get Filo pastry. I ate the messy one with roasted vegetables and peas and froze the rest.

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I've come up with a little strategy for hopefully making my evenings/weekends more relaxed so I'll share that next time. Only started it yesterday so don't know how effective it will be yet.

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Bye for now

Teresa x