Hello there ...
here are a few pic's of today's doings ... and this weekends finds ....
Do you recognise this ... more of the reclaimed 1960's fabric from the other week.
As you know I try and make the most out of everything ... and our choice of lifestyle is quite ... well .. someone described it the other day as 'self sufficient' ... I like to think that we 'march to our own drum' ...
We earn our living by bits and bats ... bit of this .. bit of that .. bits of money coming in from different areas ... all and every penny is welcome .. and all has to be accounted for .. for Mr Tax Man.
So... the fabric above ... although it came from a house clearance .. we had to pay for the clearance .. so the fabric has to earn us something ..
Today when I had a free couple of hours .. Hubby P was out tracking down more stock ...
I sorted through the offcuts of the fabric ... I sell on what is saleable and I save all the little bits. I found this bit big enough for a nice cushion.
It must be my upbringing ... making something out of nothing ... making do...
I remember one Christmas at my Grandmothers ..
My Grandfather was a builder and I suppose there would have been times when work was slack .. money was hard to come by .. but being a child I wouldn't really appreciate that at the time.
But I well remember helping my Gran reach deep into the huge dresser and pull out all her old crystal decanters... china and pretty tins.
We spent an afternoon baking goodies to fill the tins ... and filled the decanters with homemade wine... then we wrapped them and labelled them ... Christmas presents for the family.
Looking back now ... she was looking to what she had .. what she could make from what she had ... what little money she had ..had to go on the very basics and non spare for fancy bought presents...
So I do try and find uses for everything .. and if it can turn a penny ..all the better.
I've put the cushion an ebay .. see if it sells .. if not I will sell it on the stall .. someone somewhere will enjoy a bit of vintage-y on their sofa.
This weekends finds ... not a great deal really ... a few pieces for my Kitchenalia table.
I find a lot of people enjoy looking through the old kitchen stuff .. and its cheap enough to treat yourself ... 'just because' ... Grannie had the very same bread knife/whisk or whatever.
Some rather pretty tins ...and a splendid tea caddy ... oh I wish I had the discipline and patience to use loose tea!
I really cannot keep any more tins ... pretty as they are ...
they can bring a smile to someone elses face.
Hubby P found this beauty ... it is just so tiny and cute .... and remarkably clean .. hardly used I would say ...
Imagine cooking your dinner on this ..
Hubby P has to check all the electrics ... make sure its all safe and whatnot before we can move it on.
It would be just like playing house when you were little ... you would need little pans... and everything....!
So what about this week ... well .. more car booting ...although I think the weather is going to be awful.
I still have more fabric to sort ... maybe some more random cushions...
Still collecting and washing the jars ...thankyou for all the comments ... I do love to read all about your doings ... and all the useful tips are just fab ... we have a whole world full of experience out there ... its so great to share.
Sorry I am a bit rubbish at replying to you all ... life just gets in the way a bit ... but I do treasure you 'my bloggy girls' as Hubby P calls you.
So cast your eyes around a bit .... if you need a few extra pennies .. what can you do ... what can you make to sell ... find to ebay ... skills can you use?
In the past I have taken in ironing, cleaned houses, packed cards, sewn slippers, made and sold cakes, reared chickens for the table, sold plants at the gate ... there is always something ...
just need a bit of Gran's old fashioned 'get up and go'!
xxx
Love to hear of your "Doings" You are the queen of recycling. I was just commenting on Snitty Kitty's blog that I have never sold anything on ebay, but I must have a go.. There is stuff in my loft that has been there since we moved here in 1981!
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Hi Gill .. you must have a look at ebay .. again its another facinating world lol! .. its amazing what you find tucked away there .. and it gives you a gist of what second hand things are worth at the moment.
DeleteGlad you enjoy the blog ..although it can be a bit haphazard ... like me!
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Love this- and your cushion :) I am a bit blog light at the moment but I always check in with you :)
ReplyDeleteI think we all have down times/light times with the bloggy thing.. but its nice to know like minded people are out there.
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I make all sorts of things from curtains, There is a lot of fabric to be had for £1.50 and if you are lucky they are lined as well. I use every scrap in something. Those tins are very pretty.
ReplyDeleteHi Pam .. Indeedy lots of fabric in curtains... often Hubby P gets the linings .. if they are a bit shot at .. they are nice and soft for polishing furniture.
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The photo of the Baby Belling took me back. It would have been 1963 and my parents had sold their house and were moving to Worthing where they had purchased a shop (the previous one not yet sold.) We spent Christmas in the flat above the shop and my mother and I cooked Christmas turkey and all the trimmings for four on the Belling - not sure how we did it.
ReplyDeleteHi Susan .. gosh .. dont know how you managed to cook a full dinner .. our Mums and Grans were true Domestic wonderwomen.
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You may live in a Welsh cottage and I may live in a Canadian apartment, but we live similar lives (I like the term self-sufficient). I use what I have, I make do when I have to, money comes in "bits and bats". I learned frugality from my grandma and that's why I always manage, why I will always "have." xxx
ReplyDeleteHi Collett ... so nice to have you across the water ...but still so easily at hand to share a friendship. I think we have true values .. something that maybe is sadly missing in this world.
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Brilliant post. If it wasn't for Mr Taxman life would be a lot simpler for folk that just want to get by earning enough to survive on.
ReplyDeleteI shouldn't really say that my brother IS a Mr Taxman ...Lol.
Love the cushion by the way it really showcases that wonderful old fabric.
Hi Sue ... one of our son's works for the government in fraud .. he's an accountant .. so we have to be whiter than white .. luckily he keeps us on the right track .. it can all be so complicated!
DeleteHubby P wants to keep the cushion ... so we will see ... if it doesnt sell its got a space on the sofa.
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wonderful cushion!
ReplyDeleteloved the advice, well done and so true.
bit and bobber her too!
Glad you liked the cushion .. I think us 'bit and bobbers' have a far more interesting life.
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Great use of fabric and you have given me a ding-a-ling (wakeup!) moment with a single 1970s curtain I was given the other day. The sewing machine is still out on the kitchen table, so I may get cracking this afternoon (using some thread I got for pennies recently as it was a bag of BIG spools - the sort Overlockers use I think.) Retro fabric like your cushion is so in at the moment so your cushion cover should sell well.
ReplyDeleteAs for the turning to your own resources at Christmas time etc - that's the story of my life. This year I gave my middle daughter and her boyfriend home-mixed spices and rubs which they were delighted with, in old spice jars I had going spare or larger amounts in pretty glass jars I'd found at the boot sale.
Happy sewing .. its just the weather for it.
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I just love hearing about your everyday doings. Wow, how amazing blogging can just bring the world a little bit closer!
ReplyDeleteHi Carrie .. yes blogging is indeed a wonderful thing .. when I was at school I would never of dreamt we could do such a thing ... and to think it has brought me friends from all around the world .. and right into my home ... sat by my fire ... and Oh .. how nice.
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I knew an old lady who made a pudding every day in a Belling, just the same as that one and then took it round to her daughters house [ next door] . The daughter made all the dinners. The old lady was nearly blind in one eye and had a false eye as well. She made the best apple and blackberry pudding I've ever tasted. Always with cream, never custard.
ReplyDeleteFancy that! Ha ha ... the tales we have to share ... thank you x
ReplyDeleteMy granny used to have a baby belling cooker, her kitchen also doubled as the bathroom. She had a great claw foot tub which a wooden cover and lino was put on top of it and that was the worktop. She also had a huge Belfast sink in the corner that I had baths in when I was little.
ReplyDeleteGranny and Grandad also had only an outside loo, so we would wait until the very last minute to pay a visit in the Winter :)
It seems hard to imagine this was in the early 70s, our homes seem so comfortable now. The funny thing is, all we remember is the fun we had there, feeding Grandad's chickens on the allotment, washing and hanging out dolls clothes, baking and playing with the button tin, just fab.
Twiggy x
We had a chrome "silver" tea caddy just like that when I was growing up ( 50s and 60s). I can`t remember seeing it when we cleared my parents` house so I wonder where it went?
ReplyDeleteI love your cushion!
I love home made present so much, it's so easy to go out and spend a fiver but unfortunately not many people I know agree with me! Shame! I love the things the boys make me at Beavers/Cubs for Mothers Day, just gorgeous x
ReplyDeleteLoving your vintage cushion! And the tea caddy and the masher thing. I remember mashing hard boiled eggs with one of them when U worked in the deli!!
ReplyDeleteI just love your posts Victoria, they inspire me even more to make do and mend! I remember one Christmas watching my Mam making presents for the adults of the family ... She made each Aunty a half pinny (with no bib)' and a patch pocket on the front divided into two. In one side she put a bar of chocolate and in the other a pair of tights. I would like someone to make this for me nowadays!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure your cushion won't hang around for long, it's wonderful!
Love Claire xxx
If you fancy using loose tea but don't want the mess , try this....I bought a cheap £2.99 cafetier [ its shocking pink] ha ha,instead of using a teapot. It's funny but even Co-op 99 loose tea tastes better in this than 99 tea bags. All of the tea leaves stay under the mesh bit too. I love Yorkshire loose tea as well. [ being married to a Yorkshire man.]
ReplyDeleteWas this called a Baby Belling? I'm sure my nanny used to have one, and I remember her putting the washing through the mangle. I'm trying to get my hands on my mums wooden clothes horse but she still uses it. Lovely cushion.
ReplyDeleteHow I love that little cooker. I bought one when I moved into a farm house many years ago (don't live in one any more but a tiny modern box) and I had ideas of economy, even then. I used to make cakes in it rather than put the normal electric oven on. We had to have electric as we were in the middle of nowhere. Just took me back, that did. Weren't they finished off well on the inside, much better than the non stick finish, which never looks clean.
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