Christmas Wreath .... Thrifty Snippet...

Hello there ...

hope all your festive preparations are going well.

I've sort of got in the mood ...

The Sunday car boot sale was in a somewhat festive mood ... lots of stallholders selling cards and wrapping paper.. nice baskets of christmasssy type plants .. and lots of lovely Christmas wreaths.

 

Now I like a nice wreath to hang on the gate ... I'm not a big one for decorations ... usually just a bit of greenery in the house.

So I went to inspect the wreaths for sale ... I nearly had a fit ...now Hubby P says I'm just a skin flint ... a miserly sorta woman ... and that 'in the real world' people do pay these kinds of prices ..

'these prices' being £14 for a wreath.

Well ... £14 .. blimey .. I can buy a lot of shopping for that ...

£14 .. for something that will be thrown away in a couple of weeks!

I walked away from the wreaths...

 A few stalls on and a young couple were selling these preformed wreath bases ... 50p ... now that's more like it.

More my kinda price...

 So today I found my sectors and made a nice cuppa and set to ...

 Had a nosey around the garden ...

This little Holly bush could stand a trim ... it sits atop an old cat called Tom .. thus Toms holly.

 The silvery pennies of the Honesty were glittering in a little bit of sunshine.... I had a few of these.

 At the front of the house is the most enormous Rosemary bush ... certainly in need of a trim ... and will add a lovely scent to the wreath.

 I started with a few branches of a hedgerow fir tree .. and simply made a hole in the base and pushed the greenery in.

I think the preformed ring thingy was  designed to have stuff stuck to it really ... it was made of a dense hard stuff .. not very mossy .. or even florists foamy stuff.

But its only got to last a couple of weeks ... and it looks okay.

I found a few artificial red flowers and bits from previous Christmas arrangements ... this is why we always do keep boxes of 'stuff' in the stash cupboard ...

'A Girl never knows when she may want to make a wreath! '

So maybe it looks a bit 'loose' ... a bit rough and ready .. but it brings a bit of colour to the grey and chilly days.

And it didn't cost £14 ... 

I hazard to guess what a real Christmas tree costs these days ...

I think I shall be 'dragging in a bit of a twig' again ...as my children use to call my artistic endeavours with greenery from the garden and a few vintage baubles.

So what have you been up to .... have you invested hard earned cash in a lovely wreath ... the ones I saw were very lovely.

Take care ... keep warm xx

 

Pretty Finds and Warming Goodness....

Hello there ...

Just thought I would share a little prettiness with you ... 

a little bit of vintage loveliness I found in the summer.

Remember Summer?

 

 How is this for a stunning piece of work ... it must have taken hours and hours of stitching ..

 and such beautiful stitching...

 A young couple were selling off bits and bobs from their grandparents home ... and this was stuffed in an old bag ... I wish now I had asked more about it .. but at the time they just said they didn't know .. it was just 'stuff' to them.

When I got it home and looked it over I got all excited and planned to repair it ... you can see I went over it and stuck white labels on the worn bits... to get an overall view of the damage. I think it had perhaps been on a bed and the sunlight has weakened the fabric in places.

Anyway that was as far as I had got ... its sat in the bottom of the cupboard ... I have decided (finally today!) ... I really have not the time to devote to it ... so its time to move it on. 

Someone ... somewhere will do a great job .. 

repair it or turn it into cushions or something lovely ...

 lots of talented people out there ... 

I've put it on ebay ... its a site that is quite far reaching ... hopefully I will be able to re home it.

Life has been a bit busy ... just trying to make a living at the moment .. everything slows down at this time of year .. we just have to keep ticking over and do what we can to bring in a few pounds...

so busy bee's.

So I have just got around to sorting my A Food order...

 Washed all my nice jars and filled them up with the dried stuff ...

store cupboard is nice and full.

 Do you like my nice new salt pot ... well its not pot its enamel ware ... I do so love enamel ware...

 I found the salt pot at the car boot sale (of course) and its ideal ... just the job to hold my yummy sea salt .... I know too much salt is bad for you ... but I do love it sprinkled on my soup.

I got some of this soya mince (it was cheap) .. I thought I could add it to a little minced beef to help make it go further .. or to lentil dishes etc.

I don't think there is much taste to it ... but its protein and will be useful as a standby and bulk-y uppy stuff.

Anyone used this soya mince? 

A bag of this too .. seemed a good idea ... cheap and cheerful.

I thought I could use it a bit like seasoning ..

The other day when the oven was on I put a large casserole dish of dried soup mix (lentils beans peas pearl barley etc) with a bit of onion and some oxo stock in, to slowly cook. 

 It filled the oven space and gave me a big pot of 'soup base' ..

this a I put into smaller plastic boxes and put in the freezer. I can take one out (defrost it) and add to some leftovers to make a quick soup .... or just add some of this soup mix. 

I haven't tried it yet ... but I'm sure it will add a bit of a savoury something to a lot of dishes.

So that's been my week ... more logs to be delivered tomorrow ... nicely stocked up for over the colder weeks.

Take care ... keep warm xx

Approved Foods .... again!

Hello there ... just very quick post ... 
busy days here ....

Just to say really ... have a quick look at AF ... I've gone mad and placed another order.
They have in a load of Community Organic store cupboard staples ... oatmeal.. sea salt (yummy) ... nuts... pearl barley ... soup mix .. rice etc etc .. all sorts of great cupboard standbys.

Winters a commin ... fill ya boots!

Be back soon as I get a few spare minutes...

Take care xx

Peas and More Peas ... But Such Good Value!

Hello there ...

beginning of another week ... where do the days go to ..

A nice young mad delivered my Approved Food order today ...

and carried right into the house ... how great is that ..

its all so easy.

 There perhaps wasn't a great many items as other times .. but of course the weight was in the tins and sack of flour and I only spent £25 all in.

Huge tins of mushy peas ... and just £1 each.

 Whilst I was putting it away it gave me chance to sort out the cupboards .... fill up the everyday jars ... rotate stocks and get a grip of just what I have got ... which happens to be ...lots of curry 'mix in paste-y' things.

So lots of curries on the horizon ...

Now at the moment we have a problem with a 'visitor'  ... I think he has clogs on and lives in the roof space. We have never had mice in the house before ... and to be honest .. this is bigger than a mouse.

How.. why or where .. we don't know .. but they (water board) were doing work on the drains in the road last week .. so maybe they have disturbed something then ....

Hubby P has gone into full battle mode ... the house is wired up like a don't know what ... 

the cat ..

well she's sleeping like a baby ....not a bit interested ... not her problem!

Luckily all foodstuffs are kept in jars and tins .. and I managed to get the big sack of flour in the green enamel bread bin.

I tackled one of the tins of peas .... they are just fine ... mushy peas ... whats to say!

As you can see I had 4 plastic pots handy so I lined them with freezer bags ... filled them .. put them in the freezer. Tomorrow I will take them out of the plastic pots (so I can use the pots again .. the 'blocks' of peas will stack nicely in the freezer.

The remainder of the peas .. well some we had with our gammon for tea and the rest went into a big pot of soup. 

 The flour looks good  .. lets hope so since I bought a whole great sack of it.

I made a soda bread for Hubby P ... we've yet to try it ...

it looks nice and rustic ...

and smells good and wholesome ..

Just what our warrior needs ... 

I do hope our visitor leaves before it comes to a showdown ...

But needs must .. we can have vermin in the house.

Take care xx

How About These For A Cute Find! ...

Hello there ...

just a quickie post .. jut to say Hello to you all really!

 

 Just having a sort out today and came across these I found the other week ... thought I would share them with you ..

they are just so cute!

 1960/70's vintage knitting needles ...

 in the most amazing colours ...

 just so pretty.

 Even the dinky little labels are so lovely ... I'm sure I could use them in all sorts of crafty ways ... decoupage and cards and whatnot... they have that old vintage-y patina to them .. well you know what I mean.

 Packaged by Critchley Bros ... if that means anything to anyone ... there must have been some sort of factory in Stroud.

 I bought the bagful .. as you do when you get a bit carried away ... the colours just hit me and I loved them ..

you just cant buy anything this pretty these days.

I have quite a few ... don't quite know what I will do with them ... someone suggested bangles .. apparently they are easy to make .. basically you just melt/soften the needles and shape ... 

The little 6" ones would look nice with dollies and teddies ... 'learning to knit ' .. you know...

And of course you can always knit with them!

I've put a few on ebay .. try and recoup some costs.

Watch this space .. I really feel like giving this bangle thing a try.

Anyone else got any ideas? 

Take care x

Todays Thrifty Doings ... Approved Food..

Hello there .. 

bit of a mundane sort of day ... rubbish weather .. rain and wind ...

just a kind of 'sorting out' .. cleaning ... catching up with laundry ... sorta day.

Its got to be done but I felt I hadn't done very much ... not much Thriftiness going on.

So ....

Cupboards are looking a bit bare ... and that worries me ... I like to have reasonable stocks in ... should we be snowed in we need a good store cupboard.

 So I had a little click on Approved Food ...

I often browse their aisles ... have a look what has come in.

You can click on 'Latest Products' ... its all very easy.

I use to get a bit carried away with all the bargains .. 

and end up with lots of unusual pickles and such ...

 stuff that took ages to eat up ... 

or 'far too much' chocolate-y stuff ... can you have 'far too much'? 

Anyway ... now I am more disciplined .. and I ask myself ...

'would I buy that from Tesco ... 

will I use it .. 

is it something I cook with on a daily/weekly basis'.

 Well tonight I found this ...

Granary Malted Wholegrain Hovis Flour.... £2.99 for 10kg.

Yes! .... I know ..

 I've been buying this from Tesco at £1.55 a Kg ... just to add sparingly to my cheapo flour to give a bit of nutty .. tasty flavour.

So to me it was worth putting in an order with AF ... I made sure I used all the weight allowance (I think it works out at £5 odd for delivery .. to the door).

But I only ordered goods I will use .. salt and pepper .. stuffing mix .. stock cubes ... brown sauce ... you know .. the kind of thing that will happily sit in the store cupboard.

 The flour is ideal for those of you who make your own bread ... we're off yeasty bread for the moment .. but I do make Hubby P a bit of soda bread .. and I shall try it in all kinds of baking ... I should think it will make interesting rustic cheese scones.

And they had these ... tins of Mushy Peas .. BIG tins of mushy peas!

Catering sized tins .. that's 2500gms ... just a few peas then.

I thought I could always freeze in portion sizes once I opened the tin .. or make a big pot of pea soup.

Hubby P likes a few mushy peas .... wont we be the 'healthy ones' ...

peas soup and rustic bread!

So ... ideas for gallons of mushy peas .. and rustic flour ?

How do you find Approved Food ... any tips welcome.

xx

Thrifty Fruity Teabread .... lots of photo's !

Hello there ....

Yes ... I've given in and embraced the season ...

 At least the 'run up to the silly season'..

It was just a case of  'what can I do with these Christmas tree shaped pieces of fabric off cuts'..

So I made few little trees ... just a few .. then I got fed up with trees.... fiddly darn things.

I bunged them in a basket for sale ...lets hope someone wants to give them a home.

A Hubby P bargain here..... 

 A few weeks ago Hubby P came back from the local shop with a couple of boxes of Mixed Dried Fruit .. reduced to pennies...

not a man to miss a bargain he had snapped them up.

I had put them in the back of the cupboard ... and promptly forgot all about them.

It was yesterday as I was going through the cupboards checking stocks of baking stuff ( a shopping list in hand)... I found the fruit.

Now the only problem is .. we are not keen on candied peel .. I tend not to buy mixed fruit  for this reason .. but these boxes .. well ... these were a bargain ..

so I set to ...

and I picked out all the candied peel.

 The peel went into the bird house feeder for the birds and the mice...

and I had three good jars of dried fruit.

Today was a work day ... we had a good old sort out and a re/set out/ display ... of goods in the containers.

 All ready for tomorrows trading day.

 Now I know we all like to look at pic's of other peoples doings ... at least I do ... so I took a few quick snaps.

 Vintage-y girly bits and bobs.

    

Bags and bow ties ...

 Glittery glassware...

 Lace and linen ...

 Buttons and more buttons ...

  

And time for home ... its getting darker and jolly cold.

Time to get the oven on and the house warmed up.

Before we left I put a couple of handful of the dried fruit in a basin with the remains of the teapot (cold tea) and left it to plump up nicely. 

 I thought a  nice tea bread would do the trick .... haven't made one in years.

So I had a quick look at Nigella's page (googled it) and made a sort of version of a tea bread.

As you may notice on the pic ... I had only Bread flour left in the cupboard .. so ..

8 oz flour (and I chucked in some baking powder)

4 oz sugar

2 tbsp marmalade (none of that either .. so in went some apple and gooseberry jam)

An egg beaten

and the fruit and tea ...

Oh and I rooted in the spice tin and sprinkled a bit of ginger and cinnamon in there too.

Give it a good stir up .. pop in a loaf tin ... an hour or so at 140 ..

And oh boy ... so easy ... and so yummy.

Ideal ... quick and easy to throw in the oven when cooking tea ... and you need to fill up those empty shelves.

I imagine it would be great toasted too .. not that this will last that long the way 'some people' are munching it!

So .. come on .. share .. the cold weather is a comin .. whats quick and easy to fill up the oven ... and doesn't cost a fortune.

xx