The Finished Article!

As promised in the last post, here's the little zipped bag I made recently as a gift. I surprised myself by making it, from start to finish, in one session (well, almost - I did pick out the materials and start cutting strips a couple of days before). Perhaps I only work well under pressure seeing as the birthday lunch was the following day!

All the materials, apart from the checked fabric with little strawberries, are thrifted. The lining is from a charity shop skirt and the zip from ebay. Can you see the non-deliberate mistake (there had to be one!!). This is the first time I've used one of my labels and, yes, I sewed it in upsidedown. OH said I should do it all the time as a quirk of my work but I don't think I could bear to do it on purpose, and I'd probably end up getting them the right way up anyway!!

Here is the pin cushion I showed in progress a little while ago. As I said, I originally started making it for myself but ended up giving it to my mother as part of her birthday gift. She appreciates home made gifts and will make good use of it. Now I have to make myself one, but I don't think I'll use the same pattern - it was a bit fiddly and time-consuming for something I'm just going to stick pins into!

Here it is the other way up. All the fabric and buttons are thrifted. I should have photographed it next to something to give a better idea of the size. It's quite big - probably about 5" from point to point.

I've been fancying doing a bit of single-colour embroidery recently to, maybe, use as a centre-piece for a project so, with this in mind, I dug out the stash of transfers I've hoarded for ages. I chose a couple of designs that I thought complimented each other and they are now cut out ready to use.

Many of the transfers I have are free gifts that were included with women's magazines and on closer inspection of the design sheet I spotted the date this one was printed. OCTOBER 16th 1965!!! I know I've been hoarding craft materials for a long time but I don't think I started when I was 2! These must have come from my mother or grandmother but I've had them so long I can't remember exactly (I hope they're still useable).

I'm looking forward to doing something with these but it'll be a slow, relaxing project for when I'm sat in front of the TV. And I'll have to finish the dishcloths I've started knitting first.

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Happy stitching

Teresa x

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(P.S. Reading through for typos, I've just realised I've contradicted myself, as I have before, i.e. the pin-cushion is too fiddly to make to stick pins into but I'm knitting cloths to wash dishes with!)

Tanks for the Memories!

I arrived home after work last Friday loaded up with the weeks grocery shopping to find this in my kitchen. My lovely DS making dinner for us - fresh pasta no less!! Being a chef (although he's studying Forestry in college now instead) he sometimes get the urge to cook.

It was lovely to sit down after putting away the shopping to a dinner cooked for us. Although, I did have a bit of clearing up to do in the kitchen (there was flour Everywhere!). I'm not complaining though. It would have been at least another hour until we had dinner if I'd had to make it.

Pasta with mushrooms and sweetcorn in a creamy sauce - yummy!! OH and DS had bacon and chicken in theirs too.

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Saturday was (at last) the day of DS's Tank Driving Experience. I bought it for him for his 21st birthday last year and it's his birthday next week, so that's how long it's taken for him to have a free Saturday when the course was running.

In the photo above he's in the middle of the people sitting on the top.

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You can't see him in this next photo because he's actually inside driving it!!

He also got to drive an armoured communication vehicle. Since we went to watch him set off in OH's Landrover, we were able to follow them across the fields and watch the whole thing. That was, after we'd been provided with bacon sarnies and coffee/tea/biscuits (and we weren't even paying to take part!). They were very accommodating to us spectators, explaining what was happening, answering all our questions and posing for photos. It was a memorable experience all in all (and it was very, very cold so I'm glad we had the Landrover to sit in).

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The next day after I'd been to church we all went out for a meal with the same friends from the Shed Party. There were 14 of us altogether and we were celebrating Jill's birthday which is actually today. For a gift we clubbed together and bought a voucher card and I made a little something the night before to put it in.

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Yes you did read that correctly! I actually made something from start to finish. I'll post about that next time.

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Later in the evening I took a fruit cake I'd made and a couple of magazines and went to visit a friend who had just come out of hospital after a brain operation to try and cure her epilepsy. She's not had an easy life with one thing and the other but she's always pleased to see me, and she was looking very well, considering. I stayed for an hour and chatted then had to get back home to tackle a little of the ironing mountain. The lady who normally does it has been away for 10 days and is now stuck in Spain due to the little matter of an ash cloud!

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Bye for now

Teresa x

Oh What a Circus!

The Shed Warming Party was a great success. Although the weather wasn't quite as bad as forecast, it was quite cold and cloudy with the odd shower of rain. However, we were prepared for all eventualities! The local hotel gave us this HUGE umbrella because they no longer sell the drink it advertises so we used it to bridge the gap between the shed and the gazebo. Therefore, we all kept dry and those who wanted a warm went into the shed where welcome heat was being generated by the woodburner. One night-out, having a drink, a friend and I decided to have a loosely-based Circus theme for the party. I asked everyone to wear or bring one circus related item.

We had various circus-type equipment scattered around: A unicycle, 2 diablos, 2 sets of juggling balls and a hoola-hoop. The party theme idea was really generated from the fact that one of our friends was keen to try out my son's unicycle.

This is the view from the shed into the gazebo where we located the 'bar'.

And the view from the gazebo into the shed where I put the food. Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of the food which I am quite disappointed about because I spent a lot of time preparing it! But I can still tell you what I made......... First we had leek and potato soup in mugs with mini bread rolls. Then everyone helped themselves from the table to the following: bowl of salad (with dressing made by DS), bowl of olives and feta, broccoli and mushroom frittata, ciabatta with goats cheese and red onion jam (made by DS), crackers with morrocon chick pea pate, plate of cold meats, more rolls and pretzels. Finally, we had scones with jam and cream or/and choc chip muffins with cream. There wasn't much left especially as a couple of DS's friends popped by later.

We all had great fun trying out the equipment (toys!) but none of us was able to master them. DS was the best at the diablo and juggling, but they were his own so he had an unfair advantage.

My attempt at the diablo. You can see I managed to get it spinning but throwing it was a complete disaster.

When I said to the guests to wear or bring one circus item, it was, to some of them, like a red rag to a bull. I had a few funny bow ties but one lion tamer (complete with 3" lion), one ringmaster and one elephant!! I couldn't resist this photo of my sister as she bent down to pick something up. In case you're wondering this is the back view and she has the 'head' of the elephant on her back like a hood.-

Later on we had a couple of party games including a circus themed game of charades followed by a prize-giving for the best costume, mastery of the equipment and best at the games (the prizes were Curly Wurlys!!)

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If it all sounds a bit like a children's party, I have to tell you that it wasn't - it was much more disorganised - and much more fun!!

My lovely friend, Jill, brought this for me. A gorgeous hook rail for the shed (in cast-iron
I think because it's quite heavy) which will come in very useful. She bought it when the party was origingally organised a month or so ago as it was my birthday. As it's Jill's birthday next week we are all meeting up again for Sunday lunch at a nearby pub for a more civilised gathering. :-)

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The only cloud over the party was that my OH hurt his back getting the garden ready! He's had a lot of trouble with his back in the past but it's been better recently. His trouble is he doesn't know when to stop or to ask for help! DS and I did help taking everything down the next day.

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(I should be able to show you the diamond patch pincushion next time. The camera battery ran out yesterday when I went to photograph it.)

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Bye for now

Teresa x

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P.S. Vintage Girl - Please let me have your postal address so I can send your goodies. Apologies if you've already let me know somehow and I didn't get it. Let me know if you need my email address.

Giveaway Result!!

Thank you all so much for your comments to enter my giveaway. I'm glad you liked the look of what I was offering enough to enter. I had 10 comments in total and made the draw by myself with no witnesses (but you can trust me because I'm as honest as the day is long - and believe me, today was LONG!!).


I wrote out the names, folded them up and put them in an empty tissue box that I keep on my desk at work (because it's too pretty to throw away). Then mixed them around a bit and gently shook the box over the desk hoping that only one name would fall out - and it did!

And the name was Vintage Girl from Cristali Designs who said:

"hello: I like the crocheted bag.

Great giveaway, thanks,

hugs"

Woo hoo... my bag is going all the way to Texas. Many congratulations to Vintage Girl. Please let me have your address so I can get it off to you as soon as I can. I will also email you or comment on your blog to inform you incase you don't pop in for a while.

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I'm sorry you couldn't all win but I am very grateful to every one of you for entering.

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In other news:

I'm holding my Shed Warming Party on Sunday but it looks like it's going to be the worst day of the week weather-wise. I'm not going to postpone again though - we'll just have to make the best of it!

Plus I should have the diamond-patch pincushion finished for my next post, and another cushion too, if I get organised.

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Bye for now

Teresa x

Uphill Climbing.

On Friday evening my OH announced that the following morning we were going to go to Monmmouth and climb The Kymin. I had a coffee morning to go to but I didn't protest too much because I knew I had to get some practice/training in for the BBMC on May 15th which is fast approaching.
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We set off from the car park in town and walked to the base of the hill where the climb starts on this wooded path.
Then out onto the road for a little while (sorry about the dark photos, I was taking them into the sun and don't know how to adjust for this. If you look at them from above or tilt your screen forward they are a little clearer.)

More paths through the woods.

Waiting for my OH to catch up.....ha ha, the other way around more likely!!

Up a hilly field.

Then through a couple more fields and another wood to the top. It was a gorgeous day but the view was a bit hazy.

This is the roundhouse on the summit.

And this is the older temple.

Which has unfortunately been damaged by the snow and frost over the winter.

On the journey back down I took more notice of the plants and flowers that were in abundance .

A carpet of wild garlic.

I had wild garlic in my veg delivery this week and there it was spread out over the hill, but we're not allowed to pick wild plants!

There were many different woodland flowers but I'm afraid I'm not that hot on identifying them.

Celendines (I think).

Bluebells amongst the ivy.

Primroses

Wood anemones (I think)

And another purple one I don't know the name of. I didn't get a photo of my favourites - the forget-me-nots.

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I did get to the coffee morning, by the way, which was held to raise money for the flower festival the church is organising later in the year. I arrived just in time for the raffle which they postponed for a few minutes to allow me to buy tickets, while someone went to the kitchen to make me a very welcome coffee. And, what do you know, I won a prize (I chose a Body Shop gift set which I've given to my DD to use for her parties).

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No stitching progress worth showing, I'm afraid. I have, however, decided to give the pincushion I've started to my mother for her birthday in May if it turns out ok, so I'll have to make another one for myself now!!

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Oh, and I nearly forgot. I managed to get half an hour on Saturday to get a tune out of my clarinet. Maybe I haven't got the technique right yet, but it takes an awful lot of puff and I can't manage many notes in a row before having to breathe. But it's a start, and I learned 4 notes!!

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Bye for now

Teresa x

A Pre-Party Party!

Since her pet care business has not yet built up enough to give a decent income, my daughter has taken on a Body Shop home party business too. Yesterday, I hosted her first party in 'The Shed', which happens to have more room to sit people than our sitting room!! Everyone arrived and sat in the house chatting but were a little curious as to why there was no evidence of a party in sight. I then explained that they were going to be priviliged to be the first people to make use of 'The Shed' (which, once they saw it, they insisted on calling The Chalet!). My other group of friends who will be attending the Shed Warming Party on 2nd May are a bit miffed that they've been beaten to it!

The light wasn't brilliant for photos but here are a couple to give an idea. I covered my materials (junk) with table cloths and added a few more cushions (after taking this photo - duh!) to make it comfortable and put up a few quilt block to brighten up the walls (they won't be staying there). DD did really well and I was very proud of the way she presented herself. I don't often get to see her interact with people she doesn't know very well on a professional basis and she came across as confident and knowledgeable. We got enough orders for me to have £25 of free products but I let DD choose some to add to her stock of demo products or raffle prizes instead.

Half way through the party we paused for tea and cakes. Oaty, chocolate cookies and vanilla, fudge muffins (the muffins made only half an hour before people arrived).

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It was a fun and successful first party with one friend asking to host one at her house too.

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I hope to have some stitching news next time and my giveaway is still running until the end of the month.

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Bye for now

Teresa x

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P.S. I've been challenged by a friend at work to learn a simple tune on the clarinet by next Tuesday (when she's next in the office) so watch this space!!! Gulp!

Preparation

Just a quick post today. Here are a couple of pics of some preparation.

This is my progress so far for the ladybird I'm going to add to this months quilt block. Next stage will be to cut out iron-on interfacing and then iron him in place before stitching (I know ladybirds aren't brown and green but I didn't want him to be a completely different colour from the rest!). The inspiration for his design came from a single element of a cushion designed by Don't look now. I can't find the particular one but the lovely designs are well worth a look none-the-less.


And here we have the preparation for a pin cushion from diamond shaped patches. I've only sewn hexagons in papers before so this will be a learning curve. I seem to differ greatly from most other quilters in that I have only one small pin cushion (about 2 and half inches square) so this is my attempt to remedy the situation. Not sure how big this one will be when finished though!
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Bye for now
Teresa x
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P.S. There's still plenty of time to enter my giveaway in the previous post if you want to take a look!!

It's Giveaway Time.

As promised in my last post, here is my 2nd blogging anniversary giveaway. It would be great if there were a good number of entries to make it an exciting draw, so if you normally just pop in for a look, why not leave a comment as well and introduce yourself. I'm never sure how many people actually do visit. The only indication I have is the number of photo views in Picasa.
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Here's what I'm offering as one package:
1. Crocheted Bag. I made this bag a while ago out of curiousity to see how the pattern would come out. I don't really need another bag so it's just hanging around and it seems only right to give it away and hope someone will get some good use from it.


2 & 3. Tree friendly choccie and a bar of glycerine soap. Just because it's nice to have a treat once in a while!

4. A handmade brooch. I made this brooch especially for the giveaway out of felted wool and thrifted buttons. I've got a feeling the clasp on the back is up-side-down and back-to-front (because I'm left-handed) but it still works perfectly well. It has some craft-weight interfacing inside for a bit of stability.

Dresden Plate block partially finished with the correct centre replacing the brooch.
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All you need to do is leave a comment on this post about anything you like. I will pick a winner at random in a couple of weeks (I know I won't have time next week!) on the 30th April then contact the winner and announce it in a post as soon as I can after that. I'll post to anywhere seeing as I have such lovely readers in faraway places. Good luck!! :-)

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And while we're on the subject of giveaways, Steel Kitten is running one for this interesting looking book. I'm mentioning here to get a second entry so I'm off now to leave a comment to qualify!!

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Bye for now

Teresa x

Present and Past.

The Present

Saturday was the day of this months quilting club so, as much as I enjoy it, it was a shame to have to spend such a lovely sunny day indoors. I spent some of the time preparing last months block which will be a Dresden Plate design.

We were also given the idea for the final block we'll be doing for this project. There was no particular design suggested (it's up to us) but whatever it is has to incorporate a ladybird(bug) in some way (our group is called Ladybugs). Since I've not yet completed the previous month I might combine the two to save time. Next month we are to take all our blocks to lay out and then help eachother with arrangement suggestions. We'll then be shown a choice of methods to join them together.

A ladybird taking the sun on a newly sprouting rose bush in the garden last week.

We had butternut squash soup for dinner on Friday (for speed, as my OH had arranged to meet friends) and as my OH cut up the squash for me (I was tidying up and putting away grocery shopping) I asked him to save the seeds. While at the Maunday Thursday supper recently one of my singing friends asked me if I'd ever tried roasting the seeds. I decided to give it a go, so put them on a tray in the oven with a little rock salt and olive oil while I was baking/cooking on Sunday and this was the result. They're delicious - taste like savoury popcorn but nicer and, of course, very good for you so a satisfying result all round. (Btw - the soup was also delicous).

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The Past.

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You may remember me mentioning a few weeks ago about the launch of a local book about our village. It was a lovely dose of nostalgia reading through it recognising many of the people in the photos - some still with us but many not. The photo below shows a classroom in the village school in 1930/31 and is the school in which I started my school life (although the desks etc were different). The boy in the front row, second from the left, was my dad's oldest brother, Uncle Jack and the boy to the right of him in the row behind is an old family friend, Bob, who I knew and lived next door to for most of my life.

The reason I'm mentioning it now is because I only recently found out that I know someone in the picture below too. There were no names in the book for this photo so I only found out yesterday that the girl on the left on top of the cart is my Auntie Phoebe who is still alive and is the widow of Uncle Jack in the school photo. My dad's youngest sister, Mary, sent a copy of the book to Phoebe (she lives near London) and she was delighted. I think it's lovely that they are both in the book because they, and the rest of the family, have been a big part of the village for a long time!

These women were working as Land Girls (scroll down to the section on women for info) and is how Phoebe came to be in our area and met Uncle Jack.

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Let's get back to the present day now with a heads-up that the next post I make will be my 2nd Anniversary Giveaway. I've almost got it ready so this will be the impetus for me to get it finished.

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Bye for now

Teresa x

A Cushion and a Clarinet

I've finished a project tra la la....la la....la!! I'm so happy now that the felted pieces are off the table and have been turned into this cushion. I think I was procrastinating a bit before because I wasn't sure it would be successful, but I'm very pleased with how it's turned out. I can't imagine how I'm going to feel when I've finished a whole quilt!! I stitched all the pieces butted up together with a wide, close zig-zag onto a piece of backing fabric for stability.

It's edged and backed with a flowery curtain-weight fabric I bought from a charity shop a while ago.

I find envelope backs are the easiest to make (and to take off for washing) so long as the overlap is big enough not to gape open.

I was browsing ebay a couple of weeks ago to see what vintage bits and pieces were around and put a bid in for this little pile of goodies. The whole lot, including postage, came to just over £10. There are over 20 zips, good long lengths of braid, lovely big buttons for bag fastenings and the seller added a cute piece of fabric as a extra bonus. I like to have lots of stash available to browse through when the creative urge takes over.

I also had another (accidental) win around the same time!! How, you may ask, do you win something on ebay accidentally? Well.............you know how sometimes you have a dream that maybe one day you could learn to play a musical instrument or something similar? No!!! It can't be just me!! Anyway, after chatting to a friend who plays the saxaphone, I had a browse at the clarinets available. There were new ones and used ones and vintage ones and they were mostly selling for around £60 unless very special. I saw one that was not used, but ex-shop display, on offer starting at £40 (with an option to 'buy now' for £150). I put a bid on for the £40 thinking someone is bound to out-bid me (apparently it's worth £250 new). But no-one did!!! So here it is!!!

In all its glory!!!

I've bought a beginners book to learn how to play and have so far managed to put it together in the correct order. There's no reed with it so I can't attempt to play it yet. If I can't get a note out of it or don't get on with it, the friend who plays sax has already expressed an interest in buying it from me.

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I know!! I know!! I don't have the time to start something new but if I don't try it now, I don't think I ever will (and it was just....sort of.....meant to be!!). I'll let you know how I get on (one way or the other) :-)

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Bye for now

Teresa x

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P.S. The Shed Warming Party was postponed due to bad weather. The holiday-viewing gathering went ahead though on Sunday evening and 15 of us had loads of fun re-living 2 holidays with a break for some delicious food put on by our friend.
Bye for now
Teresa x