End of 2011

Christmas has been & gone already although all 4 of my girls were here for christmas day it has for the most part been a one child household, very strange!

We went to Eden and the little one made a stocking & some reindeer food.

And for the first time I made a gingerbread house using the Good Food online recipe, which makes plenty enough for cookies as well, all decorated by my 5 yr old.

The holly berries were plentiful this year probably because it has been so mild, I had lots to add to my wreaths.

I did a big 2 day craft fair at Pencarrow house, which went really well & got me in the Christmas spirit making & selling lots of these owls

A string quilted cushion that I made for myself.

My 21 yr old is mad on the Grinch so I made these Grinch pills & hearts using fab Grinch fabric for her.

I also managed a little bit of thrifting the day before christmas eve & picked up this green Woods Ware tureen,

a really sweet ornate chair and

yet another fire screen! My 5yr old even said 'How many fire screens do you need'

And finally the glass set & stand.

I also got quite a few craft books in my stocking, these should keep me busy for a while.

Sadly my cousin died suddenly from cancer a few weeks ago, she was 48 & a mother of 4, this came just months after her mum (my late mums sister) died. It certainly puts things in perspective, R.I.P. Sonja.

I hope you've all had a good Christmas and I wish you all a Happy New Year, may 2012 be a good one xx

A thrifting show & tell.

Yet another rag doll abandoned & saved :)

1958 Singer book, 260 pages covering practically everything.

This is a metal tray with legs. A man selling old tools was using it to carry them on, I asked him if he'd sell it & he let me have it for a £1. It took a lot of elbow grease to clean it up & still has some rust marks but I like it.

I love this large bowl made in Staffordshire.

A friend of mine sold me this cupboard, which is huge & now houses lots of my fabric.

This is a pink Lloyd loom bedside cabinet. Sadly the fabric is quite water marked as you can see, I cleaned the glass but I haven't attempted the fabric yet. I was sold this for £6 as it didn't have a door knob luckily I already had an old china rose one that fit perfectly. The seller gave me the cot decals too.

Very cute book given to someone on Sept 24th 1955.

And finally some more June rose Pyrex to add to my collection, unused too!

Summer time

Thank you for the cushion love on my last post, I did sell 9 of them that weekend & a couple more since. I will be selling online hopefully soon, I've set up a Folksy shop but that's as far as I've got. As well as our normal 3rd Saturday of the month Craft/Produce market we will also be having a market every Wednesday during August so I now have to have a cushion making frenzy as stocks are very low.

I was given this picture by a little girl who had bought a Lavender sachet off me, the fabric was a cat one, so cute!

Other than sewing we've been busy on the allotment everything is growing brilliantly this year, we've now picked 29 courgettes & haven't wasted any. I've started making preserves, not for sale just for the storecupboard, using courgettes, rhubarb & blackcurrants so far, it'll be marrow next.

We went to Eden to see the Summer flowers, which didn't disappoint.

We've been finding lots of creatures there's lots of grasshoppers & slo worms in the field and the chrysallis is just under the rim of the shed roof.

Obviously a lot of time is spent watching & talking to this pair :)

And we managed a bit of kite flying on the moors.

I happened to find some lovely Woods ware :)

and a few bits of rosey china.

So that's about it really a condensed 2 weeks, now I'm going to continue looking for courgette recipes, what a way to spend a Friday night!

Plodding along ...

and not getting anywhere very fast! As per usual there always seems to be so much to do & so little time if only we had a few more hours in the day :) I think when the sun comes out time just goes fast forward. I've been trying to get more cushions finished each one probably takes about 4 hours or more! Some friends and I have started a quilting group as well, meeting fortnightly & having a laugh. I've decided to hand sew a Grandmother's flower garden quilt, which is made completely of small hexagons, it may take some time!

Of course in the sunshine you also have to spend time at the beach.

Going for walks.

And waste a lot of time watching the hens having dust baths,

Maude is more dignified with hers.

And then hours & hours of gardening & watering.

Of course a fair bit of time has to be spent thrifting.

The recipe book is full of recipes which 2 friends have sent to each other & magazine newspaper cuttings including this from January 21st 1945.

I also helped a couple move into one of the most gorgeous houses I've ever been in and she gave me these curtains, originally from Liberty. I don't know what I'm going to do with them yet, there are 4 curtains probably 7ft in length & double lined so they weigh a ton!

Some more linen found at a car boot

along with this tray,

lovely & big bowl,

a shaving brush to put with my collection of mugs,

yet another cake stand & some plates.

And finally a laundry basket to be painted & covered ...... one day!

And today it's back to the sewing machine & the cushions. I've also got to do some walking as next week I'm doing a sponsored 11 mile moonlight walk for Marie Curie/ Macmillan cancer charities & haven't really done any practising yet :0