Jolly Thrifty Bunting...

 Enjoying the sun?

Its wonderful after all those months of damp dodgy weather ... still I can only take it in small doses.

I'm lucky to have a cool shady house.... the cottage has thick walls and small windows. Warm in winter .. cool in summer.

So this is what I've done today ... but of sun in the garden... bit of Bunting in the house...

 I fancied having a sew .... just... well....as you do, so I thought a bit of bunting would do the trick.... one or two celebrations in the offing... and it will look good in the garden.

Thrifty Bunting of course .... made from some old pillowcases and bits and bobs of trimming stuff I had stashed away.

Lets hope the sun is with us for a while .... it would be nice to have a warm relaxing summer.... 

xx Take care .... bye for now xx

Hubby P At Work.... Valley Car Boot Sale

 

I just thought I would give you a peek into the working life of Hubby P ... the job that gives him so much satisfaction ... obviously being Hubby P it involves a lot of talking ... oops sorry! I mean Networking...

These pic's were taken at the Valley Car Boot Sale where Hubby is based.

Two shipping containers hold most of the stock and are set out a bit like a shop with the treasures handy to see...pick up and have a good old nosey.

A real treasure trove of goodies for the vintage enthusiast. 

 Of course having me as a unpaid consultant ... its just struck me ... that unpaid bit .... umm

Anyway maybe I'd not get away with a paid job .... just way too critical, fussy ..... and I believe the word 'negative' has been used too..

But it does mean I have access to a vintage haberdashery stash...

Buttons and more buttons... and lace..buckles...ribbon..beads..all manner of goodies...

 He manages to find lots of pretties....

... and white linen by the caseful ...

How about some nice china...

 

 ...or the odd shabby cupboard....

Lots of lovely things....

 ....all cheap and cheerful.

And of course always so much to say ..... but a happy chappie!

Hope you enjoyed the pic's.

Oh .... and incase you are at a loose end... we would love to see you... we are at Valley car boot sale (Anglesey)  .... Tuesdays and Thursdays all year round.... selling lots of goodies.. and of course ....having a good old chat!

Just To Say Hello .... A Few Photo's

Hello there .... its been a while... 

I thought I would just dip my toe in Blogland... try and get back into regular posts ... I have missed you all....

Just a bit of an update today ..... 

.... still this obsession with fabric...

yesterday I came accross an old cushion that was destined for the 'great landfill in the sky' .... a wonderfully faded old beauty, so I reclaimed what I could gave it a good wash and press ... and it will live on as part of my patchwork. 

I find it so satisfying ... unpicking and reusing ... or is it 'upcycling' these days.

The summerhouse we were building has come on, all nicely painted up, inside and out. 

 

It still awaits its curtains inside and a snall porch and step on the outside ... I have the curtains cut to size and half sewn ... and I have the curtain tracks ready to go up.... just waiting for a man with a screwdriver and a few spare minutes.

Speaking of spare minutes Hubby P has had very few... his Trading and Restoration work has kept him very busy. He has settled himself and his tools in the old summerhouse ... well up the garden path... almost hidden from view (no more noisy drills humming away outside my window) ... and there he mends and gives new life back to all kinds of lovely things.

  

Its my Birthday soon (shall we say a significant one) and Hubby P has restored this beautiful Victorian bench ... that I may sit and contemplate my garden in comfort.

 He has done such a good job considering it was just a heap of rusty metal and rotting wood when he brought it home.

He so enjoys the restoration side of the work ... he is a happier chap .... I feel it feeds his soul.

The Garden is still loved .... although sadly neglected....

 

I like to call it a wildlife garden these days .... with plenty of 'wildflowers' otherwise known as weeds ... well they all add interest and diversity ... isnt that a trendy word these days .... diversity!

We lost Charlie our cat ... he now resides in the 'big garden in the sky' or more proberably curled up on the 'big sofa in the sky'!

We burried him under the comfry .... comfry is doing well I noticed .... flowering already.

Sad times .... but the upside is we have a lot more birds visiting the garden.

 

So all is well with us .... we are battling on through these tough times .... still on with the thrifty living ... the make do and mend ... and taking good care of our loved ones ....

 ...... hope you are all well .... how does your garden grow? .... any new Thrifty Snippets to share?...

.... do let me know if you are still  'out there'.....

xx Bye for now xx

Ye Olde Cookery Book ....

Hello there everyone .... its been a super day here .... lots of sunshine.
We are hoping for a nice day tomorrow when we sell at the Car Boot sale.
Fingers crossed ..... x

Just a short post .... firstly to thank you all for your comments, its nice to know I'm not just blathering away here to myself ... hehe ..... wouldn't be the first time!

...... and secondly ..... some of you mentioned the cookery book .... I've had it forever.
I think it must have been passed down from one of my Grandmothers I really cant remember..... its travelled with me from kitchen to kitchen.

As you can see its very battered and nowadays its held together by sellotape. It does have a fabric ... linen? .... covering, although that's falling off so the sellotape really does hold it all together.

Cookery Illustrated and Household Management

written by Elizabeth Craig and published in 1936......

So .... that's between the wars then .... fairly old .... its hard to imagine what life was like so far back.

The book gives a glimpse of household 'life' back then ... and what a lot there was for a newly married young woman to learn.

It not only gives advice on food and cooking ... but how to care for silk umbrellas and how to kill bed bugs!
Obviously essential information for every Girl!

How the world has changes .... off to do my Online shop now .... what would Grandma say!

Take care xx

Stove top cooking ..... Thrifty of course!

Hello there .... all well I hope...

Been quite a nice day here today ..... the 'Boys' have been playing on the roof ..... the latest project a Summerhouse/cabin .....

... they have been laying a felt roof .....

Great fun and lots of laughs .... you can be assured I was inside ... where its warm ... but still ... doing my 'bit'.

Usually the best idea with Men and outdoors-y projects is to keep them well fed and supplied with regular hot drinks .... bit like bringing up children really.

Major problem on the food front here at the moment ..... my oven is on the blink ... so no baking possible .... and no biscuits etc ( I don't buy anything like that ... trying to be frugal and all that!)

I had a think about all the women living all theirs lives without ever an oven to bake in ..... I thought 'come on Vicky .... women years ago managed perfectly well' ..... so what to make?

I thought of the Crofters on the Scottish Isles and indeed my own Mother rustling up something quick for unexpected visitors .... ahhh Griddle scones or Drop scones.

I reached down my old battered cook book ..... as old as the hills but just as useful and relevant today.

As I flipped through look what I found .... it could have been written for the housewife today.

Anyway I found a basic receipt....... its really a thick batter

10 oz flour
1 1/2 tsp Bi carb soda
1/2 tsp salt
1oz melted butter
1 egg
1/2 pint sour milk (I used fresh with a drop of lemon juice)

and I added 1 tsp sugar

Make a batter of this .... beating well....

Drop spoonfuls onto a hot griddle .... or greased frying pan if like me that's all you have.

When the mixture starts to rise a little and bubbles start to pop, ease the scone with your fish slice or pallet knife ... if you are posh ... and flip it over.

Serve them warm freshly buttered .... that's if you can get your men to come down off the roof.

...and mugs of hot tea .... Earl Grey of course.

This receipt made lots of batter .... too much for one 'Afternoon Tea' for us, so I have put some in the fridge for tomorrow I thought I would try it as a savory.... I have a little sweetcorn sat in the fridge too.
I will stir the sweetcorn into the batter 'drop the scones' cook and serve them with an egg and the last of the 99p Value bacon bits ..... should be a little different....I will let you know Hubby P's opinion .... as it is I have to disguise sweetcorn/ he takes issue with sweetcorn/its his digestion ... I will say no more...

.... I tell you its like raising children all over again.

Here we are .... having lots of fun ..... it takes a lot of talking about .... in very loud voices!

And with very loud toys....

Ohh ... yes indeedy ... the scones were delicious .... I had damson jam with mine.

Any ideas on stove top cooking .... I may be at it a while ....

Take care xxx

A Girl and Her Soap ... and odd Thrifty Snippets..!

Well .... we had a bit of sunshine today ..... I had to scrabble about in my bag for a pair of sunglasses ..... things are looking up!

Hope you've had a nice weekend.

I thought I would show you my soap ..... Ohhh how I love soap...

.... and not just the sweet pretty toilet soap ..... I really love the old solid, chunky brick -like bars of soap that our Grandmothers used.

I picked this 'Perfection' and 'Pinkobolic' soap the other week ......

Pinkobolic...!

...how fantastic is that...' REMOVES THE FEAR OF DIRT AND GERMS'... just great!

Hubby P snigger's like a school boy every time he reads Pinkobolic ..... always a silly boy at heart.

The other morning I finished a bottle of shampoo and thought 'what a useful bottle' ... too good to bin.... so I went to put it in the bathroom cupboard to 'store' it. Whilst rooting about in there I came across lots of half full bath foam, showergels etc etc.... bits and bobs that were not going to be used for their original purpose....

So I poured them all into the 'useful' bottle and intend to use it for cleaning the washbasin and toilet .... its soap after all, and leaves a very pretty scent.

Nothing need be wasted.

As you can see I have a little basket of different kinds of Domestic soap .... some plain Fairy, some very old Sunlight and some made in a factory in Accrington (where I went to school)... allsorts of odds and ends.
I use it daily at the kitchen sink .... just as Granmother did.

I do use it because I've got to face the fact that no one ele will want/treasure it when I am gone ... so I may as well enjoy it. I think its the smell off it you know ... brings back memories...

I remember when we were small we had a trestle table and we would fold one leg down to make a slide. This we put in the garden under the washing line. We tied the garden hose to the washing line.... turned on the tap and has a slide under the 'shower'. Grandad had got a wooden box full of blocks of soap .... proberably Sunlight .... I remember it was yellow and very hard... we used this soap to 'grease' the slide ......

...... we were very, very clean children that summer, that the scent of that soap is still with me.

The Pinkobolic smells wonderful .... it was made in Crosfields Warrington ..... anyone remember Crosfields?

~~~~

On to the everyday .... mundane even .... business of meals.
I have returned to the Thriftyness of Bacon (I kinda went off it for a while).

You really cant beat Tesco's cooking bacon at 99p for 500gms .... I slice it up thinly and store it in a plastic box in the fridge...

There is enough for three meals for the two of us .... under 15p/head/meal

This evening I fried it up with a few mushrooms that were looking a bit tired and new (Tesco Value) potatoes .... tasty.

Any Thrifty tips on the old bacon front .... or soap for that matter .... a Girl cant get enough of nice soap ...!

Ta ta for now x

New Boots and a Thrifty Snippets Bonus......

Here we are ..... back to the everyday .... and what a challenge!

A new blank canvas.... a whole fresh New Year .... what will we make of it..... I hope all pulling together we can get through it as comfortably as possible.

Its going to be tough for an awful lot of people so come on folks share all your money saving ideas .... your money making tips ... your Thrifty Snippets..!

~~~~~~

New boots all round at the Anglesey Allsorts household ...
both Hubby P and I needed sturdy new boots..... his are rather smart and arrived yesterday.

A rather significant investment for Hubby P (he hardly ever buys anything new ..... he needed a strong cup of tea when ordering the boots!)... so it was a nice surprise to find they were all they had professed to be .... good strong, all leather boots etc.... and a good fit.

And .... wonderfully packed!

I do get excited with packaging .... everyone is urged to 'be careful' when unpacking .... 'mind the tissue' ..... I love tissue especially if its pretty colours.

A Girl can do wonders when wrapping a gift if she has some pretty tissue and a ribbon.

I managed several sheets of nice soft heavy tissue-y paper and a good sturdy box with lid from the boot purchase.

I was ironing Richards work shirts .... he usually does his own laundry (strict training from age 14) but today it was my way of helping .... he and Hubby P were doing outside jobs so ironing seemed a warmer ... altogether cosier job.
Anyway .... I'm rambling on
.... having the iron still warm I ironed all the tissue from the boot packaging ..... only took a few minutes and its looks good enough to use as wrapping paper.

I have a special little ironing/airing rack ... its above a dehmidifyer in a particular damp corner of the cottage. The dehumidifyer keeps the area fresh and dry and helps air any clothes on the rack.

Can you see my little child's nightdress/under slip .... so cute.

Thought you might like a little look .... they were made of such lovely soft cuddly fabrics.

Its just had a freshening wash and iron..... I have it hanging on the upper rails of my bed with other sweet little baby gowns and whatnot. They are all in need of a wash so I am working through them.

And just to finish .... this is what I've been doing of an evening..... cotton dish cloths.

I was given a whole bagful of cotton yarn so I have crocheted it up into cloths ... I have quite a stack.... so along with the Money Saving I am trying the Money Making haha ..... and I put some on Ebay .... I really don't know if they will sell but hay ho ... ya never know!

So what Thrifty Snippets do you have to share .......

Take care xx