A summer off

Greetings and salutations!  I must admit that it has been rather a long time since my last post despite my best intentions.  So; what have we all been up to this summer?

I have been enjoying the fact that we’re actually having a summer this year.  I.E. – sunshine.  I've taken the opportunity of not working to busy myself hacking back the garden.  I knew there was a shed in there somewhere but since it seems that this year is the year that finally the bramble and the honeysuckle have declared all out war on each other, and are both intent on full domination of the garden, said shed took some unearthing!

I have been navigating the perils of ‘signing on’ for the first time.  That’s fun!  There is a distinct paucity of information readily available about what you can get, how you’re eligible for what and how long anything takes.  The entire system seems a bit of a mare but better minds than I have waxed lyrical on this subject many times so I won’t bang on about it.  It has meant I've had to go up into the city centre rather more often than I usually do with the side effect that I happened to go through the Exeter farmer’s market on a Thursday and take a look at what I spied:

 Razor clams! I have wanted to try these for a very long time.  Ever since I saw HFW extolling their virtues several years ago.  After that I came to realise they were one of things that people used to forage for and eat rather a lot more in decades past than currently.  That seems to be changing now though with the rise in popularity of foraging, and awareness of what local delicacies we have available without having to ship our food for miles.  I didn't purchase any yet; being out of employment they seemed a little unnecessary, but I spoke with the stall holder (from local fishmongers Gibson's Plaice) and he told me they have them most weeks bar the winter.  I shall save them for a treat.  J  In fact all of their produce looked very tempting, and beautifully fresh.

I have been making some crafty things.  Remember my purse I made that gets re-invented every time the cover is falling apart too much?  A friend had mentioned that she cannot find a card sized purse anywhere and as it was her birthday coming up I decided to make her one. 

I used some scraps in her favourite colours and stitched it up on a visit home to Ma (and her sewing machine) and she loved it.

I've also been doing waaay more baking than I ever normally have the time for - tried cheese and courgette scones - thoroughly lovely.  Useful to use up any excess courgettes from the garden or allotment.  Which brings me to the news that I am helping a friend with her allotment as she has virtually no experience at growing things.  In return I get to adopt the shed on the right  and get part of the plot to myself and we share the rest.  I've been loving getting back into the digging - it made me realise how much I missed the old plot.  Lots of plans going round my head for next season.

All of these things have made me rather wish I could make a living crafting things, and doing gardens, and baking, with perhaps some social media marketing and invoicing / IT thrown in for good measure.  I wonder if that’s possible...  Sadly something tells me I'm going to have to get a ‘real’ job.  It has been lovely having a several weeks to myself though, for which I am grateful, and it has given me time to re-evaluate quite drastically what I want from a job.  I have come to the conclusion that as long as I can pay the rent and bills and have enough for Zeke and I to live on then it is far more important to me now, to find something I am happy doing / can believe in.  It may take me some time to find this so in the time being I have been applying for casual type stuff/temping whilst I search.  Wish me luck in my quest!

Quick bit of crafting

I know I haven't been in evidence for far too long (over a month - I think this must be my longest gap yet) and I'm somewhat annoyed with myself for that.  All I can say in defence is that work has been hideous, chaotic, overly-busy and massively under planned for by the powers that be.  Grrrr....   Now - I will get round to posting the Scilly Isles trip up - some good pics (I think) but for now here's a quick little purse revamp I did the other morning when I woke up at silly o'clock and couldn't get back to sleep.

Do you remember my pretty purse I made using Ma's sewing machine - I was ridiculously pleased with myself over it. 

Well, a year has passed and it was looking rather more sorry for itself.  The satin fabric starting giving out along the bottom edge then just frayed hideously, the zig zags came loose and finally I recently decided something needed to be done. 
In the back of the second pic here you can see the old top I had decided to upcycle to be the new purse.  Sadly the zip had gone on this but I think the fabric's far too pretty to just dump it so wanted to find something to use it for.

Well, a little bit of cutting round the purse, sewing along the bottom edge and sides of the resulting rectangle then stitching the envelope thus created onto the top edge of the existing cotton 'under-purse' as neatly as poss and ta-daa!!  Cost even less than the last one as no power other than my own was used in it's making and it reused the existing zip and cotton backing.  (Incidentally - you're quite right and I'm sure that 'under-purse' isn't widely recognised as a descriptive term but hey - you instantly knew what I meant right?)

Not too bad for a 5am job eh?  :-)

'Lovely things sweetie-darling, lovely things...'

As promised piccies of the 'lovely things' [wish I could remember which episode that was from!] that I purchased in Brixham. Excuse the quality of the 3rd photo - I was trying to take it quickly before naughty Zeke stole off with the bauble!

Brilliant metal items - I love this kind of 'stamped' look to stuff and I think the green tag will stick out nicely on my bare branches tree this chrimble.

Next up the pretty felt star with beads, they had birds in this style as well but I liked this best. In fact it's probably more a snowflake than a star, very pretty either way.These are the clay hangers and the glass bauble I got from the RNLI fair - 20p - bargainous!

Finally my cosy hat. Very pleased with this. I do have an idea to knit my own at some point but learning how to and all that jazz first might be advantageous! Meanwhile it's winter already so this was a fine purchase IMO. :-)

Brass Monkeys in Brixham

At the weekend we visited Brixham for the Christmas Market. My it was blimmin' parky with a howling East wind whistling off the sea and up through the narrow streets of this small fishing town. No snow though so let's be thankful for that.

The market was in a big marquee so we were sheltered whilst in there, it was pretty busy as well so not too chilly. There were craft stalls, cakes, cheese, deli products, clothes and some parrots! Many lovely handmade items and I was really pleasantly surprised at the prices.

I realised once we got there that I haven't actually thought about who I need to get anything for but we enjoyed browsing round, starting off with a mulled wine and mince pie from local concern, the Lytehouse. This is a coffee shop / bar which is on the high street of Brixham. [According to the link they specialise in Tapas but as we only saw them at the stall I can't comment on that.] I can vouch for the friendly nature of the guy who served us though, who I presume is the owner. Thanks!

Wandering round I soon spotted some 'lovely things' [see 'Absolutely Fabulous' for why I would put this in '_'s] and after asking took this photo. The lady asked me if I was planning on making some but instead I bought some from her - they were only £1 each after all!

Next spot was these lovely metal tags, also £1 each and from the same stall some silver metal stars and hearts ornaments at a grand 50p a go. I'll have to post a pic of those tomorow.

We also got some cheeses - Cornish Yarg and Devon Blue from 'Cheezeboard' and some indian bite things (bhaji, pakora &c) from 'The Veggie Deli' stall, along with a frozen nut roast in a foil box for Sunday roast. Oh - and another ornament; a pretty filigree cut felt star with little beads inset for a grand total of 75p. Another pic for tomorrow.

Leaving the marquee there was a seond small market on in a nearby hall - this one all in aid of the RNLI and complete with brass band. That did make me feel nice and festive I must admit.

I've been on the look out for a hat in recent weeks, favouring something quite plain. There were some hand knitted ones on a stall but on closer inspection they either had chunky cable patterns on, or an edge of bright pink (not me) or a massive fluffy bobble (also really not me) that put me off them. Then - tadaa - a nice cream number with a little red stripe was unearthed near the bottom of the pile and - well, I'm now fully hat-equipped. Damn - another pic for tomorrow as well then! This hat was the grand cost of £1.50 which I think is pretty bloody good for a hand made brand new item. Gotta love those charity old ladies. Couple of other bits I got was a jar of quince jelly (£1.50) and a pretty silver bauble (20p) along with some little satin ones for re-purposing (55p). All in all not a bad haul.

We had a fun day even if Brixham was; as mentioned, decidedly on the chilly side thanks to the wind. [I was very glad of my new hat by the end.] As we wondered round the town I spotted some of those things that make you pause and smile and thought I'd share them with you.

Lobster on the roof of a seafood cafe:

Cow outside the butchers:

Who would want to cycle up this??!

Finally; some heartfelt graffiti. If you live anywhere frequented by seagulls you can appreciate the sentiment!! :-D

How to make a gift bag

Quick post as we've been discussing the options of preserves / handmade etc for xmas pressies and there was a query re packaging. We used to make bags from colourful magazine pages when I was young, you could use xmas wrap or perhaps brown paper and stamp it with something festive. Even wallpaper etc – anything. These make bags with a base so ideal for jars:
One sheet appropriately sized paper. Fold round to make 'bag' shape. I've folded the top edge over to neaten, also strengthens if you want to add handles at the end.

Glue edges. Fold section up from base – bear in mind that the final whole width of the flat base to your bag will be half the amount you fold up now. Fold back over the other way as well.

Open out and fold 'flaps' thus formed into centre and stick down.

Fold flaps in half again and stick down again – tada!

If you wanted you can pop a strip of tape on the bottom for extra safety. Then punch holes in top – add ribbon handles / tags &c &c.

Rain: 2 Umbrellas: 0

Yes, it has been raining most days recently but it hasn't been particularly windy. No - these gallant umbrellas were let down by shoddy mechanisms; unfortunately at the same time dooming me to wrestling with an unopened umbrella in the middle of a cloudburst. "Help me I'm melting..." etc.

Anyway, I started wondering if anything useful could be made from the remains rather than pitching the whole lot into landfill. I thought a shopping bag would be a good idea. The fabric from a brolly would fold up nice and small to enable it to be carried around in a pocket or bag whilst still being strong and durable for heavy loads. The fact that it's waterproof would be an added benefit over the cotton type bags I already have. These brollies could have their day once more!

I've started taking the fabric off the ribs and will update how the bag making goes but having just had a little google about I've seen that I'm not the first to come up with this idea. So there you go - upcycle those brollies and equip yourself with a free waterproof shopper at the same time. Win - win I reckon. :-)

'A purse, A purse. My kingdom for a purse...'

...or something along those lines.

Being unfortunate enough to lose mine recently (grrr) I had been attempting for the last couple of weeks to stuff my cash into a metal card holder, along with the cards. This really doesn't work. As I was getting somewhat irate with that arrangement I decided to make use of mother's sewing machine whilst I was home for the weekend and knock up a small purse; of the size to take a card and some cash and fit into a petite handbag without taking up all the room like those bigger purses with their historically significant collection of shop receipts, and points cards for all and sundry even the places you never shop, do.

I had an offcut of a gunmetal satin - lovely colour but an absolute git to sew apparently as it's slidey and you have to fiddle with the tension on the machine etc etc. so - bit of cotton to back it, an old zip and some zig zag stitching later and ta-daa!! I'm pathetically pleased with this, due in part I think because of the relief at not having to struggle to fit a £2 coin where one really didn't want to go but also because it's an age sinc I knocked anything like this up and even if the curves aren't equal - I think it looks ok. I didn't measure anything, except by eye and could have finished a lot faster had I not done the decoration. As it was I think most time was spent changing cottons and tying off the ends. Due to the aforementioned dire warnings about the slippery material I first stiched all the way round the outside of the rectangle to sew the satin and the cotton together, then did the zig-zagging, finally attaching the zip and sewing up the sides. It does the job and cost only the power the machine used, all other bits recycled from the cupboard. Good enough for me. :-D

Making felt

Just a very quick little 'teaser' update - I'm going to try my hand at making felt. I'm doing it a cheaty way I think but someone at work mentioned it to me and I'm intrigued. Get an old 100% wool jumper that's handwash only and stick in your washing machine at 60 degrees with a regular load and it turns into felt! Apparently there's a reason for this* but it sounds great. I want another of these flowers for a plain dress I have so think this could be the answer. This one I didn't make - it came from Cadiz!

*Found here: "Very simply, felt is matted wool. Wool becomes felt when it is subjected to moisture, heat, and pressure. (In fact, if domestic sheep were not shorn, over time their wool would felt or "cot".) Hot soapy water makes the wool slippery, and causes tiny scales on the fiber to "open up". The scales prevent the fibers from backing up again after they slide across each other; with agitation, the fibers get hopelessly tangled together. When cooled and dried, the scales close and lock the wool into the tough, durable material we call felt."

Root Soup

A yummy root veg soup I made last night, with a smidgen of blue cheese added at the end. This helped cut through the predominantly sweeter flavours of the veg I used; and needed using up as it had been - er - aging (forgotten about) in the fridge since xmas. Oops! This meant though that the small amount I had was nicely flavoursome (fearsome?!) and up to the job.

Root veg soup with blue cheese

1.5pt veg stock

Half Swede

1 Parsnip

3 Carrots

Ground white pepper

1tsp Garlic granules

1tsp Dried mixed herbs

0.5pt milk

1oz-ish blue cheese - to taste

Ground black pepper

1oz-ish butter

Put veg stock in big pot and bring to the boil.
Chop the swede into chunks and place in the boiling veg stock. Add garlic granules and mixed herbs and boil for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile chop parsnip and carrots. Add to pot and boil for a further 10 mins / until all veg soft.

Go at it with a masher / stick blender / FP until your preferred consistency / your arm feels like it's gonna fall off from all the manual mashing.

Add milk and gently warm through. Chop blue cheese and stir/melt in and season with black pepper to taste. Whisk the butter in.

Makes a substantial soup, rich with the flavours of the veg. I'd recommend adding the cheese a little at a time as you don't want to drown out the veg flavours but want the cut across the sweetness.

My first effort at one of these fabric birds. My idea for the peg on the bottom didn't really work, the weight of the bird meant it just ended up hanging drunkenly from the peg on the branch. Also the little pegs I had were however bigger than I remembered so would be too intrusive to my mind. I have smaller wooden pegs but then they would be too small to grip the branch. I think an alternative solution is needed. On the site where I originally saw these they mentioned they affixed them by sewing them on (in the comments) but I want a less permanent solution that preferably doesn't trash the bird every time you want to change it's position. I'll have to ponder that one - plenty of time for next year. :-)

And yes - I need funkier fabric and to not overstuff the tail. Hey - life's a learning curve!

Easter weekend

Thinking of making some sort of easter tree, haven't done this for a few years but this post on the great Cottage Smallholder blog has rekindled my interest.

Lakeland have some cute little wooden eggs. I like the idea of painting my own more but think I may have left it a little late for that!

However - I may be able to knock one or a pair of these little fabric birdies up. Found here with a printable pdf for the pattern. I like the simple lines and am thinking of halving the size and sewing on a tiny peg - that you get for holding xmas cards up / crafting purposes, with which to attach them to the branches.