Money Raising Goes Awry!

 I've mentioned before that I had a little idea to raise some money. It involved getting rid of some clutter at the same time, and I set out with high hopes; but things didn't go according to plan. I gathered together a random selection of items that were languishing in drawers, or just lying around the house, and took them off to a local auction house.

Outside effects being auctioned in the sunshine

A couple of weeks later the items had been sorted and labelled and were ready for auction (amongst hundreds of other varied and strange items). OH came with me and I was quite looking forward to the day. We didn't have to be there to see our items auctioned but, not having attended an auction before, I was interested to see how it all worked. When we got there, we picked up a buyers' number - just in case.....

Most of the items we took went for only a few pounds, and 2 items (a clarinet and a watch) didn't reach the reserve I put on, so we brought them home again. This pair of Staffordshire spaniels, which came from my MIL's when she passed away about 6 years ago, made £22.  Not bad since one of them was 'crackled' all over. At least now my daughter doesn't have to explain any more, to friends she brings round, how we acquired them and that they are not our chosen style of decor!

 I took a chance entering this pen as a separate lot, but it had the name 'Esterbrook' on the nib so I listed it as such and crossed my fingers. I'd had it since I was in secondary school and remember using it and filling it from an ink bottle. I was surprised when someone on the internet got it for £16. Altogether, I made £59 (before fees and costs) which I was quite happy with. But..........I somehow managed to spend over £100.

You really can't blame me, though, when this little beauty was up for grabs. A couple of people were bidding for it in earnest but came to a stop at £65, so I pounced and got it for £70 plus costs etc!!!!!

 I also nabbed a useful box of fabric for £17.50, which was also quite popular in the room. When I got it home and had a proper rummage, I found this vintage, 2.5m, unused piece of Liberty in the bottom, which is probably worth more than what I paid for the whole box.

Crafting has also continued at The Thread Shed with a phone case, child's bag and a cushion sold to friends. The bag above is a new design I tried out, and it worked quite well. Instead of my usual 2 handled shopper type, I tried a single handled shoulder design.

I've also finished this randomly pieced, rustic-looking quilt. The centre panel is made up of squares, HSTs, half-square-rectangles and 4-square patches. I started by cutting the bigger squares, then kept cutting smaller and smaller shapes as it got less and less. It was still too small to be useful so I dug out some larger pieces and made 2 large random borders.

I machine-quilted the whole thing with 2" criss-cross lines. Then, because I didn't want to bind the edges, I added a piece of tea-dyed sheet to the back (by sewing front-to-front and turning) and did some hand quilting to hold it all together. I love the finished result!

Bye for now.

Teresa x

So Lucky!

The other week, I finally got around to spending the vouchers I received for my birthday in March.

I took my daughter with me to enjoy the afternoon tea for 2 at The Angel Hotel. As well as the 3 tiers of scrumptious goodies above, we had scones with jam and cream and pots of tea.  Other people having afternoon tea around us took some of their cakes home in boxes because they didn't (or couldn't) eat them all. We didn't need a box!!

 It took me 3 visits to The Woolcroft to decide what to spend that voucher on.  I wanted the large knitting needles, to knit my home-made t-shirt yarn, but couldn't decide what else to get. There was too much choice - but I eventually decided on this lovely book; mainly for the stylish photographs. Apparently, you can buy ready-made t-shirt yarn now - someone's got their finger on the pulse!

On the crafting front, I've been trying to finish off some of my larger, ongoing projects, so there isn't much to show. This is my tumbling blocks quilt progress. The finished size was, as usual, governed by me stopping when I'd had enough of it. You can see that I've worked out a shape to fill in the top and bottom, to make it straight - next, I have to do the same for the sides.

Car Update. If you remember, we had to leave our car in France, and it was delivered home a few days later.  Well, I'm pleased to say that it is now fixed and back where it belongs. The repairs weren't cheap but, luckily, the money came back to us in fortuitous circumstances a few days later.  First, when looking for son's passport, hubby found an old building society book. He cashed it in and closed the account resulting in enough money to pay the labour costs for the car. A couple of days later, I received an unexpected letter from the HMRC with a tax refund that covered the price of the parts!!

Bye for now
Teresa x

Wacky Weekend Weather!

Normal autumn weather conditions have resumed after the blazing blip of glory we enjoyed last weekend. I've probably mentioned the weather before (once or twice!) but it seems to be getting more and more erratic so this, undoubtedly, won't be the last time.

This year, the rose bush in our small front flower-bed has bloomed beautifully -  twice.  Once when we had summer weather in spring and again more recently.

October is traditionally chilly and wet and even when it's sunny it's still wooly jumper weather.  But just look at what we enjoyed last weekend.  Our sunny street above and crowds at a car boot sale on Sunday below.  Everyone in short sleeves (and some a lot less than that!!)

I went along to help DD take advantage of the good weather to get rid of a few more things.  I picked up a few cushions to recover the pads, a M&S hand bag and a book (none of which is pictured!).

This little lot I got elsewhere.  The pile of fabric is from my Saturday quilting group (someone had a clear-out so I got this lot for £2).  The bag and books are from the Church fete. I was surprised no one else had snapped up the bag with it being the day that charges were introduced for carrier bags. I've taken my own bags for grocery shopping for years but this week I left them in the supermarket cafe after having lunch there!! Luckily, when I realised and went back they were left at Customer Services - I'd have been annoyed with myself if I'd have had to pay for bags after all this time!

What's this? At last some evidence of stitching!  Actually the block above is one I received from Karen as part of the Tag Square Bee on flickr.  Look how the autumn colours perfectly match the postcard she included.  There was also a very useful book of postcards in the parcel.  The set of wooden nesting dolls is another bargain from the church fete - they've taken up residence in my shed for the moment.

Ta da!  Here IS something I made at last.  It's my bee block for September and will be winging its way to Julianna as soon as I get the little signature block made to go with it. I struggled to find aqua, white and brown fabrics for this one.  I hope my interpretation of 'aqua' is the same as hers!

Stitching progress since last time:

Knitted cardigan:       Left front finished, one sleeve half done (1 1/2 sleeves and finishing remaining)

Bee block:                   September block made, fabrics chosen and cut for October block

QAYG Quilt:               3/4 of a block quilted.

This may seem a lot (for me) but I've been a bad blogger and this is a couple of weeks worth.

Bye for now

Teresa x

What an Idiot!

Not you, no!! I'm the idiot - I'll tell you why later.

First of all, I had a splendid Bank Holiday weekend and I'd like to share a few of the highlights.  They're nothing too out-of-the-ordinary but I made the most of the time, was far more relaxed than usual and rather than worrying about what I should be doing in the house enjoyed the 'moment'.

I finished putting together this little experimental project while watching Batteries Not Included on TV (love that film - so sweet!).  It could have done with being a bit smaller because, although the felt was quite stiff, it wasn't stiff enough to hold the shape as I wanted. I'm sure I'll find a use for it.  I'll try a smaller one next.

When I craft in front of the TV, I generally have my equipment scattered on the sofa next to me but this project involved a lot more bits and pieces, so I copied Bugs and Fishes and put it all onto a tray and it worked out well - No scissors lost down the side of the cushions or reels of thread rolling away.

On Sunday OH and I went to the local garden centre to pick up some plants to fill our borders.  We also ended up having lunch in their cafe and I bought a new pair of sandals, none of which was planned :-)

From there we went on to a local craft centre where I bought a bag before Christmas.  This time the lady who makes the bags in a studio on site was there and I had a lovely chat with her.  She and I are similar in that we both use recycled materials and our favourite colour is orange.  Where we differ is that she has just given up a part-time job to work 2 days in the craft shop in exchange for free use of the studio.  Waaaaaah.................I am so jealous.  But I was so pleased, I got excited FOR her and congratulated her on taking the plunge.

The weekend also involved some baking, some exercising and meeting with friends listening to a singer performing in the lounge at the local hotel.

Now for the idiotic bit!  Remember last time I said I was waiting for a Walking Foot for my sewing machine so I could quilt my next project properly?  Well, it turns out I had one all the time!  As soon as I opened the package I recognised the box.

It came with the machine when I bought it, but I didn't know then what it was for and assumed it was for some fancy procedure that I would never need.  I'd then put it back in the pocket and didn't think to look at it again. I contacted the shop and luckily they agreed to refund my money if I sent it back - otherwise I was considering ebay which would have been a bit risky.  No excuses now, not to get on with the quilting!!

Bye for now

Teresa x

P.S.  I've sent off the first brooch to Helena, but I'm afraid I haven't been able to contact Sharon who won the other brooch.  If you read this, Sharon, please email me with your address (or if you leave it in a comment I won't publish it). I'll draw it again if I don't hear in a week or so.

Blue and Bargains!

My Tag Square Bee blue and white block for March is done and sent off.  As I said to Ali of Very Berry Handmade, when I commented on her lastest post, blue is not a colour I have much affinity with in general.  But one of my favourite flowers is/are forget-me-nots and I'd love to make a whole quilt using blue and white.  There's something about the combination that is so fresh and clean looking.  My block for April is to be 'rainbow' coloured so I'll be able to get rid off  use up some of the brighter scraps I have in my supply.

Following the lead of my DD, and since he's almost finished his college course, my DS has decided to start his own business: Gardening! We bought him a strimmer and hedge-cutter to start him off, then he got himself a second-hand mower.  He already has a chainsaw because he needed one for his course.  To solve the problem of transporting the equipment to his jobs, DS got a tow-hitch put on his car and we got him a second-hand, almost new trailer from Ebay.  After putting up 1 poster in the village Post Office and taking a few flyers around our locality, he's already completed 2 jobs that will be regulars and has another 4 in his diary. By the way - he's still working a day a week for another contract landscaper and doing part-time chefing at the local hotel.  One thing he's not afraid of is hard work!!

 DS's first job with the trailer was for me.  I found an Ikea cupboard in an antique/junk shop that is perfect for storing my supplies in my shed, so he was able to collect it for me.

 See!! It's a perfect fit and it doesn't stick out into the room more than 13" so doesn't overwhelm it. It has shelves the whole height, a couple of which you can just see, which is ideal for stacking fabrics etc.  Hopefully, I will get in there over the Easter holidays and sort it out.

My paper-cuts made it into the shed too and Pam P was correct in her comment when she suggested Rip Van Winkle for the green one.  I emailed the seller to satisfy my curiousity!

I came across this piece of farmyard fabric in a charity shop on the same trip into town as when I got the cupboard.  It's quite a large piece and cost only £1. 

Whoever owned it had cut out a few of the animals around the edge and then got rid of it.  DS, his girlfriend and I worked out which animals had been used by looking at the pattern repeat. A set of 3 little pigs and a couple of chickens we think!  I can't think off-hand what I would use it for but couldn't leave it there! 

On another crafty note, I gave a few woollen jumpers a hot wash to felt them over the weekend.  Most of them worked out fine but 2 of the jumpers shrunk to about a quarter of the original size and are as stiff as boards.  I don't know what to do with these either!!

Bye for now

Teresa x

Bra....vo! One for the ladies! (not that any men read this, as far as I know)

(The theme of this week's photos is mainly the 'exciting' things I got up to last weekend and are nothing whatsoever to do with this post!  Sadly I have no new stitchy news.  I seem to have no energy or motivation for it since I got back from holiday - my mind still whirrs with ideas but I can't persuade my body to carry them through.)

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I'm sure you all know that a woman's bra size can vary greatly over her lifetime.  Puberty to the menopause and everything in between (pregnancy and childbirth being the main culprits) can have an effect.



(Vacuuming with The Bee - a cleaner I bought partly to enter a competition (I needed it anyway) and won a pressure washer!)

 It's challenging enough to get a bra that fits at the best of times without having to review the situation every few years.  The fact that sizes vary between brands doesn't help either! I've also found that the formula often quoted for calculating bra size to be far wide of the mark (you know the one - measure underneath, measure over the top, add or subtract a set number then calculate the cup size from the difference).  

(Washing out in the sun to dry for the first time this year.  The flat airer fell over twice that day - grrrr!)

And what if you're not exactly....ahem....symmetrical! The problems then increase to inlcude making decisions such as, "Do I go larger and get a chicken fillet to even things up?" or "Do I go smaller and risk overspill?" (Not that I have this problem you understand)



(I don't very often do my own ironing these days but my 'lady' is a bit unreliable lately and I still haven't caught up from the holday.  My sister offered to do this weeks basket :-)

Considering all this, why then, a couple of weeks ago, did I buy on impulse (something I rarely, if ever, do these days), a bra from a supermarket for £8 without so much as trying it on? 


(A close-up of the braid I bought in Italy.)

 'The Bra' was a size that I consider myself to be (not calculated as above) and, joy of joys, was the most perfect fitting bra that I have ever bought!! It was as if it was tailor-made just for me!  It has good support without being 'matronly' and  is pretty without being 'skimpy', if you know what I mean! 

(A beret style hat I crocheted to wear in Italy.  I did wear it quite a bit but have decided it needs a few modifications)

I'm sure I'm not the only woman whose day was 'made' by such a simple thing!!

And now you know why I have no photos to accompany this post ;-)

Bye for now
Teresa x

(Disclaimer - I have never, ever made use of a chicken fillet.  Anyway, what are they?  Never heard of 'em!!)

Bye for now
Teresa x

Doing my Bit for the P.O.!

Due to the fact that I was camera-less last week, I should have twice as much to show today. Wrong!!  The photos of the zipped bag I made for DS's girlfriend were lost somewhere during the changeover, but you'll just have to believe me when I say it was very pretty!

I've been on a sending/receiving spree and made good use of the postal service this week!

This is the lovely Tuscan themed block I received from Jo of Bear Paw for The Tag Square Bee for February.  I've been very punctual about getting my blocks sent out so far but this month I am delayed due to a serious shortage (complete lack) of black fabric. 

 I've been better organised for the Scrap Swap organised by Ali of Very Berry Handmade which had to be sent by 28th Feb.  This is the little parcel of goodies that is winging it's way to Jenny of Gingerbread House, if it's not arrived already!

 It's not diffucult to find recycled/rescued fabric to add to my stash but old reels of thread are another matter.  I've, very rarely, picked up the odd reel in charity shops but Ali (see above) came up trumps with her recommendation for the site Rag Rescue, which is where I got these beauties!  I was a bit worried that, if they were very old, they would be weak and unusable but they seem to be fine and they're exactly the sort of colours I use quite often.

 Brightly coloured buttons are also not easy to come by so I supplemented my collection with a couple of 'lots' from ebay. (Wonder how that rogue purple got into the yellows?)

I finally got the red thread, from my auntie, that I needed to finish this cushion and, would you believe it, the reel was so big it wouldn't fit on my little domestic machine!  So, instead of satin-stitching the little linen hearts on, I blanket-stitched by hand.  Here it is reclining on a kitchen chair................

.............and here posing on a comfy chair.

Here's the obligatory close-up - pores and all!!

Next week I will have swapped my car (and some money!) for a newer one.  OH tells me I need a car that is more economical on longer journeys so it'll have a slightly bigger engine.  Don't ask me anything about cars because they don't interest me one bit.  So long as they get me from A to B I'm satisifed, although I did want a green one (it's blue!!).  I'll show you next time.

Bye for now

Teresa x

Books: Old, New. Borrowed.........but not Blue!

I want to start today by thanking you lovely ladies for all your encouraging words and compliments in my comments.  It's largly because of your interest that I've made what I have, and I realise now I must stop comparing what I've done to other crafty bloggers and celebrate my own achivements.  I'm going to concentrate on my crafting and only look at other crafty blogs for inspiration, ideas and to 'oooh and ahhh' over all their goodies!!  (If you comment on this post, please don't mention this bit - I'm not fishing for compliments but wanted to thank you and let you know how you've helped me).

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The Christmas holidays saw quite a few books appear in our house from various directions. (Time now to sort through and get rid of few, one way or another - what do you do with your old books, do you take them to the charity shop, sell them on, give them as gifts or put in the bin?)

Below are a couple of new books I treated myself to for Christmas.  A Slice of the Goodlife is one I saw back in the summer at the Centre for Alternative Technology and kept in mind.  I've just finished reading The Handmade Marketplace (so it will be No 1 on my reading list for 2011!) and found it packed with useful information for when I start seriously selling my wares......ahem, ahem!  (I will one day, honestly!).  I'd heard about many of the crafty bloggers mentioned in it already which made it seem familiar.  A lot of the information in it was new to me and will be really useful to have on hand to refer to in the future.

This is another new book that I got my DS for Christmas.  It's also one we saw at the CAT Centre and which he showed an interest in. 

The book, The Great Explorers, below is also new and was a present to my OH from his boss.  He has quite an illustrious family and this book was edited by his uncle, the explorer Robin Hanbury-Tenison. 

These 4 books fall into the old category since I bought them from charity shops over the holidays.  Quite a mixture here:  a bit of light reading, a humorous history and a look at green fashion.

Now to the borrowed. At various times during the last year there were film crews filming at an old farmhouse on the estate where my OH works.  He was told it was for a film called 'Resistance' about what it would have been like if the Nazis had invaded Britain in WW2.  Eventually the TV news showed an article about it, interviewing the author of the book on which the film was based.  He was Owen Sheers, (who I don't know but) who grew up in a nearby town and whose grandparents lived at the end of our road for a while before they passed away a few years ago.   Owen started out as a poet and my mother collected his works, continuing to do so when he began writing novels as well.  So here we have the book 'Resistance' and his previous work, 'The Dust Diaries' borrowed from my mother.

Looking at piles of books makes me happy!  It's the same feeling when I look at my baskets of knitting yarn or shelves of fabric - The Potential!  My BIG problem now is which one to read next!!  I think it may have to be The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (first brought to my attention by Leslie) which I got from a charity shop and want to read before I watch the TV version I've recorded.

Ooh, I'm going for a lie down now!  It was tiring posting all those links :-)

Bye for now

Teresa x

Third Last Weekend Before Christmas!

Just in case anyone is on tenterhooks to find out, you can breathe again now because I can announce that I had exactly a QUARTER of a snow day last week!!!! Sorry for shouting but a QUARTER!!! What am I supposed to do with that?  Do you know what I did? I CLEANED!! Sorry, I'll calm down now.

This is the scene as I drove to work one day last week.  Here we have freezing fog on the two lane road. The car said the temperature was -13!!!!!

 Things were a bit brighter as I neared the office on the single track road.

I'm not really angry - I had a lovely weekend starting with a quiz at the local pub on Friday evening (which my team won)! 

I finished my Christmas bell pull (above) to take to my quilting group where we also enjoyed a Hope Lunch (everyone takes a plate of food and we hope there'll be enough).  I didn't take any quilting to do, but concentrated on some cross-stitch for a Christmas present I'm hoping to finish by next weekend when I will see the recipient. Pics will have to wait until after Christmas so she doesn't see.

 On Sunday I dragged accompanied my OH to a local craft centre that has recently re-opened after a few years being closed.  Most of the crafts they sell here are made in Wales.  In a workshop at the back of the centre I found a room with lovely bags hung all around the walls, and shelves at the end piled with gorgeous fabrics (not new but recycled and reclaimed!). It was almost exactly as I envisaged my own fantasy workspace and I was so envious of the mysterious Cayt whose workshop it was.  I couldn't resist buying one of her lovely bags (the flower is a detachable brooch!).  OH and I stayed for coffee and cake and had a lovely chat with the owners who suggested I go back when Cayt is there and chat to her about her work.  I fully intend to take up the offer! I also want to look in the vintage clothes room that was closed on Sunday in order to tidy it up after they held a Craft Fair the day before.

To finish off, here's a pic of the (mostly) vintage Laura Ashley fabric I won on ebay recently.  There are 3 lots from the same seller here and with combined postage it came to less than £11.  The pieces are all different sizes but some are quite big.  The only one I am disappointed with is the lightest fabric 5 from the left.  I haven't looked closely yet but it seems to have a few marks on it and is not a very inspiring design to boot. ("to boot"??? - where did that come from?  I never say that!  I just had to look it up so if you're interested have a look)

Bye for now
Teresa x