Stitching in the Kitchen

Happy New Year

2011-01-09T15:23:00.003Z

It's a bit late I know but better late than never. I hope you all had a lovely time at Christmas. We had all the children home, all together which doesn't happen very often these days. It was lovely to have everyone here. We had an extra member for part of Christmas day, third born child and her partner have just adopted a rescue dog. She is a three legged staffie cross and she's beautiful. Very friendly and very well behaved and she's called Tango.

New Year was very quiet, we don't go in for celebrating it's arrival. We did watch the television coverage of the firework display in London, I think it was the best I've ever seen. We also did the usual text messaging which was surprisingly easy this year.

As you will have noticed there are no photographs in this post, this is because I have a new camera (my Christmas present from my lovely husband) but the computer is sulking and it won't let me upload any photos! Hope to sort this out sooner rather than later. I thought I'd do this post anyway just to let you know that I am still here. Hopefully the next post I do will be accompanied by some of the photos I took when we went up to Norwich after Christmas.

Well, I will love you and leave you and I will hopefully be back soon.

Sue x

It's (nearly) Christmas

2010-12-24T11:58:00.003Z

It's been the usual pre-Christmas madness here added to which I've had the lurgy for the past week, I am starting to feel more human now, thankfully.
I just wanted to pop in and wish everyone a very Happy Christmas, I hope you all enjoy yourselves however you celebrate it.
Also wanted to say a big thank you to everyone one that reads my blog and for all the lovely comments you leave.
I have all the children at home, which is lovely and after Christmas we are hoping to go up to Norwich for a few days, weather permitting, so normal blogging will be resumed in the New Year.

Once again,enjoy yourselves and I'll see you in the New Year.

Sue x

Splash of Colour for December.

2010-12-06T20:09:00.003Z

Here is my contribution to the splash of colour started by siverpebble.

I tried really hard to find something that wasn't red and Christmassy. Not sure that I could live with this myself!
Despite saying I didn't want to use red I couldn't resist these

not something I would wear myself but they were too hard to resist.

Enjoy the rest of your week,

Sue x

New Town

2010-12-05T14:58:00.005Z

As you can see from the picture below, the new town is not as picturesque as the old.

This part started to develop after the arrival of the railway in 1906. There are some of the original buildings left

this is now an estate agent.

These three are banks.
When we moved here we had this

a small theatre which also doubled as a cinema. We took the children to see a couple of pantomimes when they were small which the local amateur dramatic society used to put on.
The town is pretty run of the mill but it does have one famous attraction

Bekonscot Model Village. It's very popular during its open season, you can read a bit about its history via the link. The children used to love going here and now my daughter takes her godsons when they come to visit.
It also had one famous resident whose house used to stand here

nothing left of her house now, just modern sticky boxes in its place.

As I said at the beginning, not as pretty as the old town but we are surrounded by the Chiltern Hills so we have some beautiful countryside on our doorstep, so not too much to complain about.

Hope you enjoyed the tour and I hope all your Christmas preparations are going well.

Have a good week,

Sue x

Nothing Exciting.

2010-11-28T14:34:00.006Z

As nothing exciting has been happening here apart from the usual Christmas preparations and as you are all doing the same thing, I didn't think you'd want to read about mine. So I decided to take you on a tour of my local town.

The town is split into two parts old and new, I'll tell you about the old one today and the new one next time.

The town is very old, it is first mentioned in 1185. It was granted a charter to hold a weekly market in 1255 and in 1269 it was granted another charter to hold an annual fair, this still takes place in May.

As you can see there are some lovely buildings. The white building in the middle of the last photo has been used in some episodes of Poirot. Some of the buildings are being renovated and while this is going on you can see how old some of them are.

Not a very good picture but it was through a dirty window and you don't see this sort of thing very often.
It has a large parish church.

The first vicar is mentioned in 1210 but the church that is here now dates from around 1869.

The town is on an old coaching road so there are lots of pubs! Probably a lot less than there used to be.
There is The Saracen's Head

this is thought to date from about 1194 and there are written records of an inn from1242. It is supposed to be haunted.
There is the White Hart

there are records relating to it dated 1624.
Then there is The Greyhound

this is down one of the Ends, as the main roads are called. I've only mentioned this one as it's where Husband and I had our first date and it hadn't been "improved" then.

Just on the very edge of the town there is this house.

This is where G.K.Chesterton lived for a time. Not sure how old it is but I don't think it's as old as the rest of the town.

Hope you've enjoyed the tour, I'll tell you about the New Town next. It's certainly not as picturesque as the Old Town.

Enjoy your week.

Sue x

Family Gathering

2010-11-14T18:49:00.003Z

This weekend the family was at home, except the youngest member as she was away for a much needed break.
The reason for this gathering was the 30th birthday of eldest daughter. How did I get to have a daughter that old?!
She didn't want a big celebration, she just wanted the family together, along with her partner.
On Friday night we sat round chatting, just enjoying being together. Oh and some alcohol was consumed!
On Saturday we had a party lunch. This was made up of all the things we used to have at birthday teas when the children were small. You know the sort of thing, all the unhealthy stuff you don't let them eat the rest of the year. In the evening we had a take-away and some more alcohol was consumed, although not to much.
The thing that she enjoyed most I think was the birthday cake. I had asked her if she wanted anything in particular and she said she wanted the same cake that she had on her 3rd birthday.
So I spent Thursday evening baking it and Friday morning icing it, this is what she wanted.

He tasted really good, a piece was saved for youngest to enjoy when she gets home and the rest that was left after we had all tried it went back to Norwich. Bet he doesn't last long!
We had a lovely weekend and we will all be together again in a few weeks time for Christmas, minus the hedgehog.

Have a good week.

Sue x

Winter Colour

2010-11-06T16:47:00.003Z

I've been inspired by an idea in a post on Marigold Jam which she got from a post on silverpebble. The idea is to find colourful things to photograph throughout the winter months and so make things a bit more cheerful. So here is my contribution

the display outside the local florists. Lovely on a grey and damp day.

Have a good weekend

Sue x

Books

2010-10-31T16:17:00.007Z

On yesterdays post Jee asked me if I had bought any books in Hay, silly question, of course I did. Although not as many as I had hoped. I'll show you what I got,

two Alice Thomas Ellis, I've already finished one.

some embroidery books. I'm not really impatient when it comes to sewing but I don't have a lot of free time and the things in this book are quick to make. The middle book has some quite big projects in, may have to wait a while to get round to some of those.

This was published in 1978 when Elizabeth Craig was 95 and still working. I've got lots of her books mostly dating from the 30's and 40's.
I only managed to find a couple of vintage books and one of those isn't that old. This one

which is from the 50's I think. At least I know how to do the washing now!
This one is a gem

the shop had it marked as being 50's but I'm pretty sure it's from the 30's. It's mostly recipes but it also has a section on modern! kitchens

and a bit on basic first aid

which looks pretty scary to me, the poor child looks really fed up.

So, there you go, my finds, as I said not as many as I had hoped but more than enough as far as husband is concerned.

Enjoy the coming week,

Sue x

Hay on Wye

2010-10-29T17:02:00.009+01:00

On Tuesday we went to Hay on Wye, it's a pretty little town right on the northern most tip of the Black Mountains. It has the ruins of a huge castle.

The view from the car park is pretty amazing

but the main reason for visiting Hay is the bookshops.
I love books and any excuse to add to my collection cannot be passed by.
We visited several, some better than others. Hay on Wye Booksellers was one of the better ones, they had a huge stock and the lady running it was very friendly. We also visited one which is housed in the old cinema, Hay Cinema Bookshop. This is also very good, there are thousands of books but the staff are a bit offhand, still worth a visit though.

We didn't spend all our time in the bookshops, we had a wander around the town. This picture is by the side of one of the shops

he looks a bit furtive to me, maybe it's something to do with the books he is reading!
This plaster work is very pretty

pity we don't take as much trouble now with our buildings.
This shop is very eye catching

it used to be a butchers, all the tiles on the pillars have animals on them.

We came across this while walking round

very confusing. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Hay is right on the border of Wales and England and they still haven't decided who has right of way!

We had a lovely time , I hope to go back soon, you can never have too many books after all!

Hope you enjoy your weekends.

Sue x

Forest of Dean

2010-10-28T21:24:00.007+01:00

We got back yesterday from a few days in the Forest of Dean. It is a beautiful part of the country, lots of trees (obviously, clue in the name ) and rolling hills.

We stopped off first in the small town of Coleford. It's not a very pretty place, so no pictures but we needed some lunch and as the saying goes "any port in a storm".
After lunch we headed of to a local arboretum

it adjoins Forestry Commission land. The arboretum itself is quite small so after walking round there we ventured further afield into the wider forest. The weather was glorious, bright and sunny, so I got a few photos like this.

The sun shining through the leaves but I won't bore you with them all. We walked down paths like these

as we headed for this lake

which we waked round, it was very peaceful. Then it was back to the car and off to Ross on Wye where we stayed. We had a stroll round the town, no pictures this time because the light was going and I always end up with out of focus pictures when the light is bad. On Tuesday we headed over to Hay on Wye but I'll tell you about that tomorrow.

Sue x

Visiting

2010-10-19T19:49:00.006+01:00

We went to stay with the son and heir at the weekend, he lives in Hackney (which was much nicer than I expected and very clean ). We wandered around town on the Saturday, we saw this

Leadenhall Market, they don't build shopping centres like that any more. Not sure what they did sell there but I think it may have been something to do with game as there were golden pheasants on the round towers. This

Monument, the top is very beautiful but I didn't want to get a closer look as I have no head for heights. This

the London Eye, there were huge queues but I wouldn't have fancied a trip on this either. This

and this

it's on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, it's quite impressive.
We also visited Sealife. It's interesting to see fish close up but I have mixed feelings about large marine creatures living in tanks. The sharks and turtles were swimming round and round, they reminded me a bit of lions and bears pacing backwards and forwards in zoos.
As we were heading over towards Covent Garden we walked past this building, The Institute of Painters in Watercolours, haven't noticed it before. I don't know if part of it is still the Institute, as you can see the bottom is all shops but then I suppose it might always have been like that.

On Sunday we went for a walk around Spitalfields. The old market is now full of stalls selling clothes and antiques, there are also some very nice cake stalls which we did spend some of our pennies at.This church

is on one side of the market it is Christ Church Spitalfields and it is by Nicholas Hawksmoor, very simple and very beautiful. While we were wandering around I happened to glance down one of the side streets and saw this,

I don't know if you can make out the horse statue. No idea what building it's on, any one have any ideas?

We had a lovely time, we don't get to see son and heir very often so it's always a treat when we do. He's coming home in a few weeks for his big sister's birthday so there won't be such a long gap between visits this time.

Enjoy the rest of the week,

Sue x

P.S. It's official, I'm old. I had to give in and use a magnifying mirror to tidy up my eyebrows this morning, how depressing is that!

Knitting and Stitching

2010-10-12T21:24:00.005+01:00

On Saturday I went to the Knitting and Stitching show at Alexandra Palace. It was heaving, so no pictures I'm afraid as I couldn't lift my arms to use the camera!

I did buy a few things

this pattern and material

fat quarters

this charm pack which is in colours I wouldn't normally choose but hey a change is as good as a rest

and this cushion pattern as I want to make a foot stool to put my feet up when I'm crocheting. I also bought this book as I want to have a go at machine embroidery, although I have nightmares about never being able to untangle the sewing machine ever again.

Hopefully I'll pluck up the courage to give it a try and if I do you will be the first to know.

Sue x

Thank You and Cake

2010-10-04T21:22:00.003+01:00

First I wanted to say a big thank you for all your lovely comments on my last post. I can't believe that people I have never met can be so kind.
I have started to feel a bit better I'm glad to say, I hope it continues.
Anyway, on with the cake.

I made Banana and Chocolate Bread on Sunday, another one from the new book.
Here it is before it went into the oven.

Here is what it looked like in the book.

Here is what mine looked like just out of the oven

and here after it had been cut.

This one turned out well, I did have to cook it for a bit longer but that is par for the course with my oven. The family gave it the thumbs up although I have to say I found it a bit tasteless. There's no pleasing some people!

Thanks again for the support, enjoy your week,

Sue x

Fog

2010-09-26T20:17:00.006+01:00

There has been dense black fog filling the kitchen for the past few weeks. It has been getting worse as the days have passed. This has made it difficult to achieve anything. I think Winston Churchill called it his black dog, however I like dogs too much to want to associate them with these times and anyway I wouldn't want to upset Florence.

Over the last day or so I think the fog has started to thin a little, enough anyway for me to see to make another cake from the new book.
I made a Lemon Drizzle Cake. This is what it looks like in the book

and this is what mine looks like.

I think it's a bit too brown on the outside and that is because I had to cook it for 20 minutes longer than the recipe said. I have a c**p oven obviously!

It tastes delicious and there is a lot less than this left now. As this is the third cake I have now made from this book and I have had to tweak each one I'm beginning to wonder if anyone actually tried the recipes before they published it. Perhaps I'm being unfair, I'll have to try a few more to be sure.

Hope you all have good weeks, hopefully I'll be back soon.

Sue x

Green and Gorgeous

2010-09-13T20:41:00.005+01:00

Yesterday we visited here

Green and Gorgeous grow flowers which they sell as bouquets, they also do wedding flowers. Everything is grown organically. They have a beautiful site in the Oxfordshire countryside.

This is a general view across the site, there were several large polytunnels this one with dahlias

the others had roses and also vegetables. This plant was growing on supports around the beds

it's called a cup and saucer vine, it's an annual so obviously grows very quickly. There were sunflowers

and lots of beautiful roses

like this one. Don't know what it's called unfortunately.
We had a lovely afternoon walking round in the sunshine, we finished up with tea and scones. Couldn't ask for more.

On Saturday I made cake 2 from my new book, a Bara Brith.

This one turned out ok,although the recipe needed tweeking. It needed more fluid than the recipe said but apart from that it worked fine. It certainly tasted good and it didn't last long, we had the last bit this evening.
Not sure what the next one is going to be but I'll be sure to share the results with you.

Hope you all have good weeks,

Sue x

Thank You

2010-09-09T20:22:00.002+01:00

Just a quick post to say thank you for all your suggestions regarding the sinking cherries. I did in fact do most of the things suggested. Still as was said, it doesn't really matter as it tasted fine . If I make it again I will definitely put more cherries in it and I'm going to try rolling them in ground almonds

Thanks again, I'm now trying to decide which cake to have a go at this weekend.

Take care

Sue x

Cake 1

2010-09-06T21:37:00.002+01:00

Well, I made the first cake from my new book on Sunday.

I decided to have a go at the cherry cake. It looked fine in the tin

and it looked fine while it was cooling down

but when I cut into it all the cherries had sunk to the bottom.

It tastes fine, thankfully but has anyone got any ideas about how to stop the cherries sinking? I did everything it said in the recipe but that obviously didn't work.

Oh and Cheryl, it has managed to spend one day in one of the new tins! Don't think it will be there much longer though.

Sue

Cake Tins

2010-09-02T20:50:00.001+01:00

These arrived today

to go with the new recipe book.
All I need to do now is fill them up.
Watch this space.

Sue x

Baking

2010-08-30T17:16:00.004+01:00

I bought this recently

it accompanies the BBC programme The Great British Bake Off. It's got some delicious things in it

I'm not sure which to make first. Maybe I should just work my way from one end to the other!
Maybe not, we would then require some serious dieting I think.
Whatever I decide to do I'll post about the results.

Hope you've all had good weekends.

Sue x

Greys Court

2010-08-27T12:21:00.008+01:00

Yesterday we went to Greys Court in Oxfordshire it is near Henley on Thames and about an hours journey for us. The house that is there now is Tudor but there have been people living on the site for nearly 1000 years. The estate has only been owned by five families in all that time.
The house is not very big in fact it is a very homely and welcoming house, it's very easy to imagine living there. Unfortunately photography is not allowed in the house so there are no piccies I'm afraid.

In the grounds there are the remains of some of the earliest buildings, this tower

and some of the walls that used to surround the manor.

The gardens are beautiful

this is the white garden which is around the base of the tower.

this is the cherry garden, this is also grown amongst the old walls. There is a walled kitchen garden

which as you can see was stuffed to bursting. Among the things growing were these amazing applesit was very tempting to pick some, I didn't I hasten to add. If you are ever near Henley it's definitely worth a visit.

We are off to a one day event tomorrow, another early start! We are hoping for a dry day so fingers crossed.

Hope you enjoy the long weekend and that the sun shines on you.

Sue x

Savill Garden

2010-08-21T16:50:00.008+01:00

Yesterday we went to Savill Garden which is near Windsor in Berkshire. It is in Windsor Great Park and is one part of a group of three gardens which make up what is known as The Royal Landscape. The other two parts are The Valley Gardens and Virginia Water. Savill Garden is the smallest of the three.
It is very well kept, these steps lead down into the garden.

It's a bit late in the year for lots of things in the garden but the summer borders were still looking beautiful.

The large greenhouse in the picture is the temperate house it has lots of tender plants in it. It also has this water feature.

It was quite hypnotic watching it.
There are well laid paths leading all round the garden although you can wander wherever you like, no Keep of the Grass signs anywhere. We came across this walking through some trees

it is a wisteria, we couldn't see the top of it as the tree it was climbing was so tall. We sat for a while in the Jubilee Garden

this is just one of the borders. It was very peaceful sitting there and as it is sheltered we were out of the wind.
It is a lovely garden to visit, the restaurant is very good and the shop had some interesting things in it. We will certainly be visiting again.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend,

Sue x

Gifts

2010-08-20T17:02:00.004+01:00

This is just a quick post today to say thank you to Lorraine for the pay it forward gifts. They arrived cheerfully wrapped

and they smelt good too, thanks to the lavender. When I opened the parcel I found these

a dish cloth, a brooch and a heart. Thank you Lorraine, they are very much appreciated.

We went to Savill Gardens today, hopefully I'll do a post about our day out tomorrow.

Sue x

A Grand Day Out.

2010-08-17T10:54:00.012+01:00

We had a lovely day in London yesterday. The weather was just right and there was room to walk on the pavements.
We started at the British Museum where we went to look at Sir Percival David's collection. It is amazing, some of the things take your breath away. I've chosen a few of the things I liked best to show you,

these are a thousand years old!

As you can see the porcelain is so thin on these wine cups you can see through them.

This is about three feet in diameter, apparently the potters had difficulty with this size of thing warping. This one looked ok, I wonder how many they made to get to this one?

The pottery in these three cabinets looks very modern, in fact everything was made in the early part of the 15th century
This was one of my favourite pieces

it's about three feet tall and it came from a Buddhist temple, it was made in 1320. I would have loved to have taken it home.
It is a fantastic collection, I think we will be visiting it again

From the museum we walked to the Japan Centre. This is in Regents Street. We walked down Shaftesbury Avenue where we saw this shop

seems an odd thing to find in the middle of London but it obviously manages to keep trading. Near to Piccadilly Circus we saw this

there was no sign on the building as to its original function, does anyone know what it was? The figures were very elegant, there is also a fountain at ground level. I couldn't get a picture of that as there were too many people.

At the Japan Centre we had a good mooch round, it's great fun looking at all the weird and wonderful things. We did buy some buns but I'm afraid they didn't last long enough to photo! Unfortunately I didn't manage to buy any craft books as they have moved them all to their recently opened book shop, which we didn't manage to visit. That gives me the perfect excuse to visit again.

Sue x

Another Competition

2010-08-15T19:17:00.007+01:00

Today we went to a dressage competition with youngest. This was held about ten minutes away from the yard where Jelly is stabled, so no crack of dawn starts today thank goodness. She was hoping to qualify for this and I'm glad to say that she did. We'll be off to the competition sometime in September.
Sorry there are no photos but the camera batteries died on me, that will teach me not to check them before we go out.

On a completely different note I have joined in with this,

it has been started at The Balancing Kiwi.
The idea is that I promise to send a small gift to the first three people that comment on this post, they then promise to do the same thing. The gifts only need to be something small and they have to be sent within a year.
I understand that it isn't something that any of you may want to do so I thought that I could maybe make a donation to charity instead.
If nobody wants to do the gift thing if the first three people that comment want to nominate a charity I'll make a donation instead of sending them something.
I hope that this is still in the spirit of the Pay it Forward. I'll leave it with you.

Tomorrow Husband and I are off to the British Museum, he wants to go and look at the Chinese pottery. Then we are going to visit the Japan Centre which is full of all things Japanese, funnily enough. I'm hoping to come back with some craft books!

The camera batteries are charging so I'll be back with some photos and an account of our adventures tomorrow, hopefully.

Sue x

Photo!

2010-08-14T11:24:00.005+01:00

Thank you for all the well wishes on my last post. We went out last night and celebrated with a very nice meal.
Anyway, Rachel asked about a photo so here you go

check out the glasses! (They were fashionable at the time honest).
They look a bit different today

Hope you enjoy the weekend.

Sue xx

32

2010-08-12T12:25:00.004+01:00

That's how many years we have been married today.

I can't believe that the time has gone so quickly.
Thank you P for always being there for me and with me.

Fancy another 32?

Sue

Little Mattingley

2010-08-01T13:39:00.016+01:00

Yesterday we spent at a one day event with youngest. It was held at Mattingley which is near Hook in Hampshire.
We had a very early start

That is A.M.!!
When we arrived we walked the cross country course, I find this a bit difficult some times when I see the size of some of the fences she will be jumping.
That done it was back to the lorry to get Jelly Bean ready. She had her mane plaited

and she had studs put into her shoes, this is to help her grip as she is charging about the place.

The first part of the day is Dressage

this went very well and she got a very good score.
The next event is Show Jumping

This didn't go quite as well as she had a couple of fences down, which is unusual as she's usually pretty good at this part.
The next bit is the Cross Country

(sorry the photo is a bit one sided but it was the best I could do).
She managed to go clear doing this which she was very pleased with. She has gone up a class this season so everything is higher and wider (hence Mothers' nerves!).
After all the excitement Jelly gets walked round so that she can cool down and get her breath back

The lady in the photo is youngests' boss who makes all this possible,( thanks Zoe).
Then it's back to the lorry to sort Jelly out. She's washed down and then she has a paste called Ice Tite put on her legs, this helps cool them down, and then she has stable bandages put on. This is to support them after all the hard work.

Thought you might like to see the things we take with us

this is without any tack and without any of youngests' clothes, this is what they look like when we have finished

lots of washing for Mum!
It was a very long day, we got home at

I should say here that the actual time spent riding the dressage, show jumping and cross country combined is about 20 minutes (this doesn't include any warming up riding done). Makes you wonder why we do it. Despite that we do enjoy it, which is just as well really.

Hope you are all enjoying your weekends,

Sue xx

I've been given an award!!

2010-07-23T19:52:00.008+01:00

I really can't believe that I just typed that title but it's true, the lovely Em has given me an award. I really don't know what to say. Thank-you Em. Apparently I have to tell you five things about myself that you don't know,well here goes,

1. I don't like spiders, I mean I really don't like spiders.

2. I used to have a West Highland Terrier called Hamish. He died 2 years ago and I still really miss him.

3. I have an A level in Archaeology.

4. I love Philip Pullmans' trilogy, His Dark Materials.

5. I'm hopeless at knitting but I am hoping to get better.

I now have to pass this award on to three fellow bloggers, so here goes,

Em at Mousy Brown's House

Dawn at Rattling On

Cheryl at Time to Craft

I enjoy reading all of these and I'm sure you would too, if you don't already.

On a completely different note I have been doing some crochet, not the granny squares but a shawl.
It is to wear to third born child's birthday barbecue which is being held at her boyfriends' house tomorrow.
I'm hoping it will be warm enough and that I won't need a mac and wellies instead!

Hope you all have a good weekend,

Sue xx

P.S. Thank you for all the lovely comments about my eldest on the last post.

A Lovely Few Days

2010-07-21T13:53:00.005+01:00

Eldest child and her partner came to stay for a few days. They arrived last Thursday and went home again on Sunday. They live in Norwich, so we don't get to see them as often as we would like. Not that Norwich is the other side of the world but jobs and life tend to get in the way of visiting each other very often. During their stay they went to London on Saturday, this was to attend The Chap Olympiad it is organized by The Chap magazine. Everyone who attends goes dressed in vintage clothes. Eldest child is a collector of vintage dresses ( should that be frocks? ), shoes and handbags, so this was the perfect chance to get dressed up. Her partner was also properly attired ( he does as he is told!).

She spent Friday evening doing her hair and nails.

It took her 2 hours to get all the curlers in! Then she spent another hour doing her nails

if you look closely you can see that she hasn't painted the moons. Apparently this is how they did it in the Forties.

Saturday morning was spent making their picnic and adding the final touches to their outfits.

The front view ( she wouldn't let me take a photo with her face on to put on the blog, which is such a shame as she looked beautiful ) . Her clothes are all original 1940's, dress, bag and shoes. Her partners' are modern versions.

The back view, you can just make out her hair, which looked lovely. You can also see G's cloth cap.

They had a really good day, drinking gin and tonic and people watching! They are hoping to go again next year and they are trying to persuade us to go with them. Watch this space.

Baking

2010-07-04T17:03:00.005+01:00

I felt like doing some baking today and was inspired to use some of the jam I made last week. So a Victoria Sponge seemed in order. It took about an hour to go from this

to this

I don't suppose it will last very long, things like this don't tend to in our house!

Thought I'd up date you on the pots, they are doing really well

full to bursting. There does seem to be a slight problem with black fly on the cosmos and the small daisies, so I'm hoping for some help from the local ladybirds.

Hope you enjoy what's left of the weekend.

Sue x

New Shoes

2010-07-02T18:02:00.004+01:00

Today I bought these

Birkenstock sandles. I have wanted a pair ever since I read about them in here.

I hope they are as comfortable as they are supposed to be, I'll let you know.

Hope you all have great weekends.

Sue x

Jamming

2010-06-24T21:28:00.008+01:00

Well I finally did something today that I have been meaning to try for years. I made some jam. Cheryl put a recipe on her blog a few days ago which sounded very easy, so I thought I'd give it a go.

I got the jars ready.

Put the strawberries and sugar in the pan.

Added some lemon juice.

Stirred it all together, boiled it, sterilized the jars and then,

put the jam in the jars. The smell was amazing while it was cooking, I just hope it tastes all right.

There is only one small problem and that is that the strawberries have risen to the top of the pots even though I let it stand for 15 minutes as Cheryl recommends, it obviously needed a bit longer.

I'll let you know what the verdict of the family is.

Now I just need an easy bread recipe so that I can have a go at making the bread to go with it.

Sue xx

In the garden today..

2010-06-20T16:57:00.002+01:00

Hope you are all having a good Sunday. We saw these two in the garden a couple of hours ago

they are Red-legged Partridge (I've just looked it up). Never seen anything like it in the garden before, they were very pretty close up. Please excuse the state of this part of the garden, it is a work in progress!

Just wanted to say thank-you to everyone that commented on my last post, it has been a help, thanks for listening.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend,

Sue xx

The First Squares.

2010-06-17T20:21:00.004+01:00

The granny squares are coming along

just another 150 or so to go! I think there is a strong possibility that this figure will be revised downwards.

On a completely different note, I'm taking some advice from Rachel, I would like to ask your opinion. When is it acceptable to start putting yourself before your children? Mine have come first for the last 30 years, is it my turn now? I don't want to be selfish but do you think it's ok to think about me for a bit? Any comments gratefully received.

Sue xx

Aprons

2010-06-13T12:47:00.005+01:00

I forgot, we are supposed to show the aprons we made and received for The Apron Swap.
I know I've shown them before but Sarah wanted us all to do it this weekend. So here goes,
this is the one I made for my partner Tracey

and this is the one she made for me.

It was great fun, thanks for organizing it Sarah.

Bye again

Sue xx

Granny Squares

2010-06-13T12:25:00.004+01:00

As promised here are some of the squares for the blanket

as you can see I decided on a simple pattern. I did try out some others, a couple of which I couldn't make work so I decided to keep it simple. I've got lots of other colours to use so it shouldn't get boring and they are very easy and don't take long to do, which is just as well as I reckon I need about 160!

On a different note I received my parcel from Daisie for the Green Swap

she sent me some lovely things, a shopping bag, some handmade note cards,some buttons,an ice skate Christmas tree decoration and some amazing ribbon. One with vegetables on and one with lemons and flowers. Thanks Daisie. Thanks also to Rachel and Emma for organizing it.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Sue xx

Pot Update

2010-06-11T17:45:00.002+01:00

Thought I'd show you how the pots are coming along

as you can see they are starting to fill out nicely. On Sunday I planted some salad leave seeds in a growbag, not very pretty I know. I checked them this morning and look

they are already coming through, they said they were quick on the packet but I didn't think they would be that quick.

I have also been doing some work on my crochet blanket, I'll post some pictures over the weekend hopefully.

Have a good one,

Sue xx

???

2010-06-10T18:20:00.003+01:00

I found this while walking home today, can't decide what to make of it. I hope it's like this because someone no longer needs it. What do you think?

Sue xx

New Treasures....and Ice Cream

2010-06-06T19:38:00.003+01:00

This morning I visited a small Antique and Collectors Fair, it's held every month and I usually go. Today there weren't as many sellers as usual but I did manage to find some good things.
I found this lovely hat box

just right for storing my growing collection of sewing things, I also found this collection

I don't think the picture does them justice as they really are very pretty, not sure what I'm going to do with them yet but I'm sure I'll think of something.

And the ice cream, well I actually made my own for the first time. I've had an ice cream maker for ages but never used it, then I read Cheryl's tutorial and thought I really should give it a go.
I am so glad I did, it was the nicest ice cream I've had(even if I do say so myself).Here it is, served up in my new Emma Bridgewater bowls.

Thanks Cheryl for the very clear tutorial I shall certainly be making it again.

Have a good week,

Sue xx

Birthday Treat

2010-06-04T17:11:00.006+01:00

Today is youngest daughter's birthday, she is 24 (how did she get to be that old that quickly ).
As she had a couple of days holiday she decided that she would like to go to Brighton for the day.
So of we went yesterday morning.
She didn't plan on doing anything cultural, so we didn't go here

or here, we did go here

the Lanes, I did take some other pictures but they didn't come out very well. All that rushing trying to keep up with S. She spent a few hours wondering about, she bought some clothes and we bought her a bracelet.
We had a very nice lunch at Jamie's Italian and then had a walk along the sea front making our way towards the pier

S had doughnuts while we had a stroll along the pier, they didn't last long enough to take a photo of!
This is all that remains of the other pier

a very sad sight. Then we headed back towards the car, watching everyone on the beach toasting nicely, it was very hot.

On the way back to the car we passed this shop

I have never seen so many vintage sewing machines in one place, there was another big window
and also two upstairs ones as well.
We had a lovely day, it's not often that we get a chance to do something like that together, hope we manage again soon. This evening we are going out for a meal with one of her older sisters, I can't wait as it means I don't have to cook or do the washing up for a change.

Have a good weekend,

Sue xx

Apron Swap - The Photos

2010-06-02T20:20:00.005+01:00

My swap partner Tracey received her apron a couple of days ago so I can now show you what I made her,

the colour is a bit bleached as I had to use the flash but it gives you an idea. It is reversible, the material on the other side is a very dark blue. The pattern worked quite well although as it was cut on the bias it was a bit fiddly pinning it together while making sure that it wasn't twisted at all.

I received my apron this morning, I love it

it fits perfectly and I love the fabric. Thanks Tracey.

I'm now working on some things for the little bit greener swap, then it's on with the granny squares.

Sue x

Granny Blanket

2010-06-01T16:30:00.004+01:00

This year I have been trying to teach myself to crochet, it hasn't been going too badly but I have decided I need to tackle something a bit bigger than a cushion. I managed to buy some yarn from a local charity shop which was very reasonably priced at £1.40 for a huge ball.

I saw this picture in an old 70's craft book

I like the contrast of the bright colours against the black border.

So that's the plan, to have a go at making a whole blanket. I'll keep you posted, I've just got to decide what sort of squares to do, although I do like the ones Dawn is using in her blanket if I can only find the pattern.

Hope the weather is better with you than it is here,

Sue x

Ed

2010-05-30T10:29:00.003+01:00

Yesterday we looked after this handsome chap,

this is Ed, he lives at the stables where youngest daughter works. He is a rescue dog and he had a very rough start to his life. He lived at the rescue centre for six years as no one would take him on, until that is until youngest daughter and her boss came along. They like a challenge and don't give up easily. So now Ed is a happy dog, still a bit wary of strangers, which is why we looked after him last night. They had a party at the yard and he wouldn't have coped with all the people and noise, so he had a nice quiet evening with us. When he comes to stay it makes me realise how much I still miss our dog.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend,

Sue x

Apron Swap

2010-05-26T19:56:00.005+01:00

Well I have finally posted my apron to Tracey,

it took me longer than I thought. I have taken a photo of the finished apron which I will post when I know that she has received it.

I'm now sorting out some things for a green swap that I'm taking part in which is being organized by Rachel and Emma at that little bit greener, my partner is Alex Daisie Days, hopefully I can find some interesting things.

Take care,

Sue x

Gardening

2010-05-24T17:56:00.002+01:00

I spent the weekend in the garden, it was beautiful. I turned these,

into this,

it doesn't look much at the moment, too much bare soil but hopefully in a few weeks it will be filling out nicely. I'll keep you posted.

Hope you all had lovely weekends.

Sue x

Not so Secret Squirrel

2010-05-23T13:45:00.011+01:00

Took these photos the other day

The pesky thing, I do object to feeding the squirrels but you have to admire his acrobatics.

I've probably shown my age by the title, I don't suppose many of you remember Secret Squirrel, the original one anyway.

Enjoy the rest of this beautiful weekend,

Sue x

Jelly Bean

2010-05-20T08:16:00.005+01:00

I spent yesterday evening watching my daughter exercise her horse,

I know very little about horses, we are not a horsey family or weren't until S started riding.
I just go along to offer a bit of moral support and for her to bounce ideas off but I think my main function is to do this...

Poo pick, well someone has to do it.

After she has been worked and as it was so warm last night Jelly Bean gets a hose down

she tolerates this very well, although as you can see from her ears ( they are pointing backwards) she would rather not be doing this.

After this she usually gets a treat and she has learnt to do this

she says please, her previous owner must have taught her.
After she has had her treats ( polos ), she gets a quick rub down and then she is put in her pyjamas for the night ( a rug obviously ).

I really enjoy my evenings at the yard especially now that the evenings are light and it's getting warmer, I don't even mind it that much in the winter! S is so lucky to have something that she really enjoys doing and that she is good at, I'm glad that I'm able to be part of it.

Sue x

P.S. Did you spot the deliberate mistake? S should be wearing a helmet, she is very bad at not wearing it when she exercises JB, despite constant nagging from me.

Gardening

2010-05-15T16:06:00.003+01:00

It's been such a lovely day today that I decided it was time I spent some time in the garden.

Nothing too strenuous as you can see by my tools of choice. Some gentle hoeing and dead heading.As usual I have had a bumper crop of these..

After a few hours work I had a weed free gravel path and one tidy border

just another four to go. They will have to wait for today as I have to go and straighten out my back!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Sue x

Spring Flowers

2010-05-14T08:57:00.008+01:00

There are a lot of beautiful photos of spring flowers in blog land at the moment so I thought I would add a few more. These were all seen on my walk to town.

This tree is just by my front door, it smells wonderful.

This is honesty I think, it was just growing in a hedge.

The lily of the valley are in the same front garden, they look really good together I think.

A solitary tulip, it looks a bit sad but the colour is beautiful.

Two types of lilac, I wish you could smell them!

Unfortunately all this beauty won't last long and it will all end up like this

So enjoy it while you can.

I've also included some photos of these...

I know they are weeds but I love buttercups and daisies they always make me smile.

And one last thing

I know it's a dandelion and I know they are a pain in the garden but the seed heads really are very beautiful when you look at them closely.

I have been doing some sewing but I can't show you at the moment as the apron I am making is for the apron swap. I will have some photos once my partner Tracey has received it.

Have a good weekend.

Sue x

Vintage Book

2010-05-10T20:37:00.007+01:00

Thought I'd show you the latest addition to my vintage book collection,

No publishing date but I think it must be mid to late 40's.
It is full of useful information,cooking,decorating-check out the ideas for rooms

It has chapters on knitting, crochet

including this collar ( love the hair ), embroidery and dressmaking.
A great chapter on household management

we look like this all the time in our house!
It also has chapters on laundering, first aid, renovations and maintenance but my favourite is this one...

Helpful tips on making all sorts of things including

Forties women seem to have been keen to have a go at most things,although I expect they were like us and bought books full of good intentions to try some of the things in them but then rarely got round to doing them. Or is that just me?

Sue x

Ferns

2010-05-08T15:48:00.003+01:00

I love ferns, especially when they are just beginning to unfurl, I think they look alien but in a good way.

Still Here!

2010-05-06T19:15:00.005+01:00

The past few weeks have been very busy giving youngest daughter practical and moral support while she got ready to take part in this.....

She qualified last year and we spent last Thursday and Friday at Badminton while she competed in Dressage, Show Jumping and Cross Country. The cross country course ran along side the professionals course though thankfully it was MUCH smaller.
She did really well and came 21st out of 97 starters. We are all very proud of her.

So not much crafting has been done, sorry Fi. I did manage to make this

from a pattern in Sew Hip magazine.
I also cut out the pieces to make this

from Sew magazine ( a copy from last year ). I'm making the green version.
I have also signed up for the apron swap being organized by Sarah, my swap partner is Tracey. Thank you for the kind comments about the jar pin cushion, it's not my own idea I got it from here.

Hopefully things will be back to normal now after the excitement of Badminton, it really was a fantastic 2 days.

Bye for now.

String Bags and Pin Cushions

2010-04-07T19:46:00.005+01:00

Well the string-a-long has finished. Here is my last bag,

This one actually stretches so I should be able to use it.
This is the pin cushion I made for Apryl my pin cushion swap partner.

Which she has received and likes. This is the one she made for me,

it says "A clean house is the sign of a broken sewing machine". This made me laugh when I read it. The pins have cherry quartz beads on them, they made me think of raspberries when I first saw them.

This is the pin cushion I started weeks ago, finally finished. I'm quite pleased with it although the pattern says to cut eight segments and I could only make seven fit the cylinder in the middle. I think the pattern may be wrong as i used the pattern pieces which came with the book. If I made it again I'd have two openings, one on each side for stuffing as it was hard to get the stuffing all the way round.

My daughter's one day event went ok. She went up a level at this one, more difficult dressage test, higher show jumps and higher and wider cross country jumps. She did really well in the dressage and show jumping but had a refusal in the cross country so she wasn't placed this time. She was really pleased though as it was only her second try at this level. So another good weekend despite the mud!

Have a good week.

Better late than never

2010-03-26T19:55:00.007Z

Here are the two bags I have made for the String-a-Long organised by Emily and Dawn.

This one is not too bad, although I think it's slightly smaller than it should be.

This one is much smaller than it should be, not sure why.
I am trying to get another one finished, photo in my next post I hope.

I signed up for the pin cushion swap organised by Claire. I have made my pin cushion for my partner Apryl but have only just posted it to her, I'll post a picture when I know she has received it. All this has been fitting in very well with my 20 minutes crafting a day.

On a completely different note, my daughter did her first one day event of the season a couple of weeks ago, she did very well and came first in her section. She has another this weekend, a one day event, ironically held over two days! Fingers crossed this one goes as well , I'll let you know.

Have a good weekend whatever you do.

Of String Bags and Drag Hunting

2010-03-10T19:18:00.006Z

My string bag is coming along...

I have managed to finish the mesh part and have now to tackle the handles, which I'm not too sure about. Hopefully by next week it will be finished.

On Sunday I spent the day in a field while my daughter

Did this...

Drag hunting in the Buckinghamshire countryside. I sat in the horse box which we had borrowed while she rode very fast over hedges and across fields. I'm glad to say she came back in one piece.

She is the one with the grey stripe on her hat. After hearing all the details I'm glad I couldn't see any of the hunt!

Hopefully I will have a finished string bag on my next post and maybe a nearly finished pin cushion.

Have a good week.

Mend, Mend, Mend!

2010-03-01T19:42:00.006Z

Well there hasn't been much crafting going on this week but there has been a lot of altering and mending.
First I had to mend this vest top of my daughter's. This is the base layer of her work clothes, she's a groom and works outside in all weathers.

Then I had to take up some jeans for her.

They were too short, so she decided that she wanted to be able to wear them as shorts.

Then I had to shorten the neck strap on an apron that I bought in a local charity shop, a bargain at £2.

Then the afore mentioned daughter asked me to make a red stock for her to wear when she does the cross country section of her one day events.
A stock is a type of cravat and one day events are, as it says in the name, a day of riding doing three different disciplines, dressage, show jumping and cross country. The new season is about to start, hence the new stock.
I did manage to cut out the pieces for my pincushion

but that is about as far as I have got.

I've also signed up for the String-A-Long organised by Emily at Mousy Brown to make a string shopping bag. I thought this would fit in nicely with expanding my crochet skills while at the same time fitting into my 20 minutes a day crafting.
The String-A-Long started today and I have managed to get about 8 rows done. So far, so good.

Granny Squares And Snowdrops

2010-02-21T10:59:00.005Z

As promised here is my granny square cushion, pattern courtesy of Lucy at Attic 24.

As mentioned before the yarn is not very nice and the colours are a bit harsh but I'm pleased with how the finished cushion looks.

It goes well with the ripple stitch cushion on my sewing chair which you can see has to share space with a spare bed. O for a room just for me to sew in!
My next creative venture is going to be the Pin Cushion Caddy from Anna Maria Horner's book, Seams to Me. I'll try and take some photos as I'm going along so that I can show you how it goes.

On a different note, on Friday I went to Waterperry Gardens with my Husband. It was cold but bright and sunny with a light dusting of snow. We went to see these...

There were not as many as we were expecting but we were told that everything is about 2 weeks late this year. Despite that we had a lovely walk and the best fruit scones we've ever had in the tearoom.

See you soon.

First Post!

2010-02-11T20:30:00.006Z

Well, this is my first post. I decided to start blogging as I have joined the 'twenty minutes a day' crafting started by Fiona at MarmaladeRose . I'm not sure how good I'm going to be at blogging as I'm a bit of a technophobe but with the help of my daughter I'll give it a go.
I have to say I find the thought of blogging a bit daunting. I read lots of blogs all by very talented people who I find very inspiring but they also make me feel a bit dubious about sharing my efforts. Anyway, my daughter has talked me into having a go, so....

The cushion cover in the picture was done during my first sessions of twenty minutes. I'm new to crochet so I'm not very quick yet. The ripple pattern is from Lucy at Attic24. The wool was not very expensive and as a result was not very nice to use, it kept splitting and the colours are a bit harsh but as this was my first attempt at crocheting I didn't want to spend a lot.

The material I used for the back I found in a local charity shop. As you can see from the finished cushion the back is very simple just overlapping pieces.

In my next post I should have some granny squares to show you.