A Thrifting Day....Snuggled By The Fire.

Well what a dreary day....no playing out in the garden today.

But I'm not going to moan... its January for goodness sake! January weather and all that!

A day for snuggling in front of the fire and planning for the Spring....I was very good, had a browse on Ebay but just bought what I needed.....Leek seeds and some pretty colourful Chard seeds. Its about time the Leek seeds were started, and I shall sow some Tomato seeds soon.....Spring is around the corner.

I had a good sort out of cupboards, which involved me emptying the contents of the Hubby P's shelves on to the bed....a huge pile of clothes.... and 'suggesting' he sort through them 'like Now'!

He has been promising to do it for weeks...there were so many old tatty unworn clothes, just taking up space. Many were old ink stained work clothes (Hubby P being a Printer), T shirts with baggy necks, things that he swore must have 'shrunk in the wash'.... although I think myself it has something to do with the 'maturing' of his waistline!

And well... the underwear drawer.... well we wont go into detail about that....needless to say a little trip to Asda and a couple of packets of new 'smalls' did the job.

At least now he can get run over by a bus, and we wont be embarrassed! lol!

Needless to say the old tatty clothes couldn't be just thrown away.....lots of useful.....if not pretty fabric.

So I spent 20 minutes roughly cutting them up....removing, and keeping any buttons and putting aside the decent sized bits to use as rags.

Hubby P is forever asking for 'a bit of a rag'.... cleaning the car/van, painting, engines, restoring bits of furniture...all seem to need rags, so my rag bag is a vital bit of kit.

I ventured outside briefly to say Hello to the chickens, Hubby P had fed them this morning and said they weren't for venturing out in the miserable wind and rain.... not adventurous sorts really!

All except this one..... she is out whatever the weather.....an All Action, Outdoorsy sort of Girl.....we call her Liz after my Outdoorsy kinda Sister!

Here are the others ....huddled in the comfort of their shed, watching the rain through the open door.



Liz busy scratting about....she likes a nice worm....the chicken.....not the Sister....although I don't know....she makes a habit of exploring wild places like the Amazon....no Mac Donalds there!

Well .... the day is just getting darker and darker....back to the fireside I think, and some of Hubby P's trousers to mend!

Gosh....I'm just Girl who how to live it Large!!

xx Take care xx Bye for now xx

Thrifty Ways and Waifs and Strays!

Hello there .... Here's to a happy, sunshiny ... contented 2011!

Notice I didn't say prosperous or rewarding... I think we are all going to have to be more frugal than ever.... but hey....what the heck...we are all here to help and support each other, hopefully we have our health and with a bit of luck we may get a bit of sunshine....soon!

Best and Brightest and Cheery Wishes to you all.....I'm determined to step into this new year with a positive attitude.

Frugally Snippets.... well the dark damp days have me huddling by the fire, too cold to sit in the other room where my sewing machine is. So I set about hand turning the edges of some towelling fabric I had put aside for teatowels.

I don't know about you but I seem to go through teatowels like nobodies business. They soon get stained and go raggy.

So this jazzy pink towelling was ideal...it used to be a curtain... in the bathroom, if you remember...well I got fed up with it as a curtain, gave it a good boilwash and put it aside for teatowels.

I found this super sexy retro-y paisley towelling too ... twas a pair of curtains, just love this fabric, so it too became a couple of teatowels then I can see and use it daily!

Of course to try and recoup the some of the pennies spent on feeding the fabric addiction, I put a couple of the teatowels on ebay ... you never know someone might appreciate them.

Another project....this time to use up a bagful of those little skeins of tapestry wool, all oddments... not enough to really use in a tapestry project so I'm in the process of crocheting them into one of those twirly whirly scarves. I can put it away when its done....a little present for someone next winter.

Take no notice of Charlie Cat....he commanders all the furniture....and refuses to move, or even open his eyes when in the middle of a photo shoot!!


The Family has grown again..... how could we refuse a crust and a warm fireside to these Waifs and Strays!

Found at the carboot sale looking lost, abandoned and unloved!




This is Mummy Bear with her pretty little dress and sparkly necklace.

And a well loved little lady.....hand stitched no doubt with great love for some special little Girl.

I introduced her to Mucky Madge.....do you remember Madge, she too was a carboot waif. They are getting on fabulously, lots in common.

I think maybe we will find a new home for the new girl....the toy shelf is getting rather full of the 'waifs'.... but at least she's not ending her days in Landfill.

Mummy Bear on the other hand has fallen right on her feet..... and right into the arms of the

resident Hero!

Remember Sam?

Sam was also a 'Waif' and became my companion and co pilot extraordinaire, he travelled everywhere with me in the car. One night some 'naughty boys' stole the car and set fire to it. Sam was in it and helped beat out the flames to save what he could of my much loved Morris Minor car.

As you can see he still has the scars and injured arm. He received a bravery medal which he wears with pride on his waistcoat.

Well.......!? He and Mummy Bear!!!! What can I say!

I'm telling myself the twinkle in his eye is one of support and friendship ....but you and I know what these 'All Action' men can be like!

Chin up ...... I'm sure some sunshine will be on its way soon!

xx Take care xx

Bright Blessings....Welcome to the New Sun!

Bright Blessings....... the year is turning....what will this new sun bring?

Just look at the lovely pink glow of the sky... this was taken about 3.30pm... just as the sun was setting on the shortest day.

This is the view from my doorstep.... the 'tower' is an old windmill, now home to bats and owls...and the odd pig!

What have you been doing today?

Its been too cold to venture very far....so baking seemed a good warming occupation.

Pies for tea.

And Gingerbread biscuits.... I haven't got any 'shape' cutters, Gingerbread men and the like... I fancied a Christmas tree shape.... must lookout for some. One will turn up at the car boot sale ... everything you could possibly need turns up eventually.

A little more Yummy Treacle toffee.... for gifts.

This afternoon a surprise bunch of the most glorious Holly from a friend... I've never seen so many berries!

I wired it up into swags and pinned up above the beam with my lemons.

I gathered some together in this pot.....this seems to be a less 'spike-y' sort of Holly... so many berries.

Do you like my new chenille style tablecloth? Its just one of a pair of old curtains....but it looks the part....very festive.

So glad I got my stack of logs in....and they say we are in for more snow!

xx Take care xx bye for now xx

Snow Bound Bits Of This And That!

Well..... how are you all coping with the weather.... isn't it just beautiful! The sunshine on the snow this morning is just lovely.

Shame its such a pain too.... its okay so long as you don't have to go anywhere or do anything!

We have had a fair amount for Anglesey.... usually we get very little or miss out completely, but its had us 'snow bound'!

Our big 'useful' van we bought for carbooting is useless in the snow.... so we've had a few days mooching around at home.

Gave us time to appreciate the glorious spectacle....... the wonders of the snow, and care for our little birds. I've been putting lots of high energy foods out for them... peanuts and suet etc alongside their seed.

Mr Robin looked rather colourful and smart against the snow.

Its amazing how it sticks to everything..... coating everything in its path.



The back of the house must be a bit more sheltered, it seems a bit less snow-y.

I've started to think about Christmas..... not that we make a lot of it here. I think really we celebrate the season rather than the Christian aspect of it. We use it as a time to reflect on the year and spend time with each other..... gifts are are simple and often homemade.... a nice gentle time.




I managed to get some choccy treats made for presents..... always a winner.

On the thrifty/wholesome cooking front ..... its soup all the way!

My Girls... the chickens....need their warming 'mash' too, lots of nice veg peelings boiled up and mixed with a handful of porridge oats.

Ummm Yummy!

Not having a tree this year... I will only have a rooted one if I do have one, so that it has a chance of living on in the garden..... but they are so expensive I really couldn't justify the buying of something that was simply to be used for a few days.... and simply an ornament at that .... I know I sound a miserable Old Crone!! haha!

I would much rather have something that represents 'us' and our life here... a bit of greenery that we have grown in our garden... to celebrate our life and family.

I found some nice Holly.... buried under the snow! Gave it a shake off and together with some prunings of the Bay tree.... brought them inside.

Looking around the place for other natural materials......... I should have been more prepared and dried some seedheads from the garden .. but well .. I didn't! so I found a few dodgy looking lemons, sliced them up and dried them in the oven.

I found a jar of cinnamon sticks in the cupboard and some pretty, festive red ribbon.

Sat and watched an old film and strung them together.

They look rather festive hung along the beam of the inglenook.... and they smell good too!

I'm hoping we can get the van out today... provisions are running low.

xx Do take care in this slippy, slushy weather! xx

Keeping A Girl Occupied On A Winters Day!

Another cold day..... too cold for me to want to be out and about.

I've been quite happy pottering about the house.... bits and bats of jobs, and happy family to visit.

I eventually got the 'summer' lightweight curtains washed and ironed and put away ~ somewhere 'safe', ready for the sunshiny weather returning in Spring.

Lets hope I don't forget where the 'safe' place is... like I did with the last set of Winter curtains... and have forever lost, resulting in me having to make some more for this Winter!

Anyway not very exciting but its a job done....

Poor Hubby P has the most dreadful poorly chest..... yet off he went today to earn a crust, I think lots of us have coughs and colds....

What we need is something soothing, something to sooth the throat and warm the cockles.... I looked in the store cupboard to see what I had....

Uummmmmm.... the makings of Treacle Toffee!

I know its well past Bonfire Night when its traditionally made, but I am sure its really a

Winter-y sort of thing... got to be good for coughs and colds.

I just made two little toffee tins of the delightfully rich stuff .... full of proper ingredients like real butter and rich dark sugar, non of your nasties in good old Granny's toffee.

Although you 'score' it well it never breaks as it should does it!
So I put all the odd shapes in an old sandwich tin .... a kind of help yourself tin.

And wrapped the larger pieces in greaseproof paper .... these can be sneaked into a pocket when venturing outdoors in this chilly weather. I'm sure I will need a stash on Sunday when we go to the Carboot Sale.

A sweet little stash on the dresser!

And for Hubby P ..... coming in from a long cold day....

his absolute favorite...... Shepherds Pie!

xxx Take care for now xxx

How Many Hankies Does A Girl Need!??

Hope you are keeping toasty warm...

I have spent the day going through my boxes of treasures, trying to 'thin out' all the stuff I have collected over the years.

There is so much of it!..... there is no room for new finds!

These were in my hankie box .....

Just how many hankies does a Girl need?

I went through them and put some aside to go to the Emporium...... someone else can have the pleasure of them.

I do use 'proper' hankies ..... clean one everyday ...... although I don't tuck it in my knicker leg ..... me reachin for my handkerchief would raise a few eyebrows at the carboot!

I just love this spotty one and of course the retro blue colour delights ... I wonder who 'D' was?




And just look at all the embroidery and drawn thread work on this one.... its just lovely..... my hankies are just a little something that I enjoy everyday.

I found this too ..... its a cover for slipping over nice, 'best' clothes when storing/hanging them in the wardrobe. Another nice, thrifty ... gentile sort of thing we no longer do.

The cotton fabric, well its vintage now..... is just so pretty. I gave it a bit of a wash and thought I would keep it, and use it.... but maybe I will ebay it... still a few bits to get for Christmas and the old ebay account is a bit low.

Hay ho... where does all the money go.....!

How's your Christmas Shopping going? I went to Asda today.... got quite a shock at the prices, everything has gone up! I went to buy a vest .... silly prices!

Off to do a bit of crochet now.....

xx Take care xx

A Peek Into The 'Emporium' - Distract Us From The Cold!

Brrrrrr ~ its cold here, I think it is everywhere, at least we haven't had tons of snow ... yet!

My Sister and Partner are coming to visit tomorrow ... they rang to say they were at a B&B in the Snowdonia mountains ... they had hoped to camp!!!!?? But no campsites would let them... I said she was a crazy person!

She laughed and said it..... 'craziness' ran in the family!

They hope to go walking tomorrow.. in the mountains... she said 'its beautiful here - the view fantastic!'.. I said 'it was a pretty good view from out of my window.. and it would do me!'

I will have something hot waiting for them tomorrow, they will come on to us after their walk and stay the night ... be nice to see them... its been a while.

They have the habit of travelling the world .... kayaking up the Amazon last time, and she's written a book about their adventures..... If your curious now look at the blogs, oh.... and they have an exhibition on in Manchester at the moment .... take a look...

General Blog - piecesofsky-chris.blogspot.com

Finding Manchester, lost in Bolivia (The University of Manchester).....

http://www.museum.manchester.ac.uk/

So .... on to the mundane ... I live the quiet mundane life ..... its cold ... so I think of food!

Warm hearty, happy food .... so today - industrial amounts of warm veggie soup, we go thorough it at an alarming rate!

Family drop by ... for soup!

Pies for tea .... allsorts pies ... eating up odds and ends pies.

And of course flapjack ... It couldn't even cool and be photographed before Richard had pinched a bit.

I've mentioned of course that Hubby P is now his own Man.....answers to no one (but me of course! - but don't tell him!) and has his own little business....... wheelin and a dealin!

Well the little Emporium we started has grown from strength to strength .... well its Hubby P's really..... I just play about doing the nice bits, helping out ..... playin shop!

Thought you might like a peek.....

Lots of Vintage-y stuff ... hats, bags..... stockings
and the like.

And Buttons .... lots and lots of glorious buttons...... well lots of bits and bobs of sewing and crafting stuff in general
.

More pretty scarves and .... well..... general prettiness!

And of course with all that access to lots of crafty/sewing stuff ..... some of my pretty heart corsages.... ideal for Christmas stockings!

Oh .... and some dingly dangly bits for your tree .....

So you see I have been busy .... and I must admit its nice to meet the Ladies who visit the Emporium..... as you can imagine it attracts crafty people .... so we have lots to talk about!

Lots and lots of talking!

Anyway enough for now! you must be bored rigid .... that's if you have made it this far!

xxx Take care xxx keep warm xxx