Manic Mondays

Mondays mornings soon come around, Ive a busy one ahead.



Come with me for a quick walk, its not far. Honest.





Around the corner





Past the mere, pretty view, isnt it!





Up the main street. Keep up.



There it is, at the top of the main street



Ooh! The Mustard Seed Cofffee Shop, do you fancy a cuppa?

For such a large village, we do not have anywhere to have a coffee and chat. People are in such a rush these days, no time to socialise.   So one person decided to do something about it (not me) and so The Mustard Seed coffee shop was created



Great the fires on. Quick grab a seat, while you can!

Every Monday our local church rooms turns into a shop, serving tea, "posh coffees" and toasted teacakes.  Its a roaring success, we usually average about 50 customers in under 2 hours.  Granted the majority of the customers are of a certain age.  But we do have some young Mums and also grandchildren calling in.  I know it may sound twee, but this is a lifeline to some people. Even the local ramblers have changed their meeting day so they can come up to the cafe.





They pull tables together and drag chairs around.  They are very loud. 

Everyone enjoys a cappacino, toast, companianship and a good ol' natter, whatever the age.

The Annual Auction

Every year we have an annual auction in our Village Hall.  Everything is donated and the donations go towards the upkeep of the Hall.  It is an event that my friend and I look forward to.

Not only do you get a bargain (always a pleasure) but you have a laugh usually at the expense of one of the helpers. All good fun.

So on Saturday morning we set off at 9.45 for the table top sale.  Sometimes if you give them a good offer they will sell things there and then instead of putting into the auction later in the day.  I told my friend, trying to be very sensible "I am looking for a  typist's chair to put at my sewing table and  old christmas decorations". My house is fit to burst, so nothing more.
My friend on the other hand had sternly been informed by her mother not to buy anything (a hoarder who just cannot say no!)

I came away with these

A Rattan storage basket  with lid £2.00

Plastic measuring cup 50p

Mixing bowl no fancy make but it has a lovely yellow outer (for hubbie, for when he bakes bread) 50p

Massive tablecloth, which I believe is 100% cotton 50p.  This will probably be a backing on future quilts.   Not bad eh!  

   

My friend was very sensible and bought a small bag of needlecrafts, inside was an unused sampler for the coronation of the queen with a little letter dated 1953  Amazing someone kept them that long. 

In the afternoon I sat on my hands and didnt bid.  However my friend bought a old sewing machine £1.00, stool 50p, crafting table 50p shall I go on............. Our other friend took a  sum of money to buy a 2 piece suite, and got it for £2.00 (YES £2.00) I was drooling over a little gold dralon nursing chair which needed recovering, it went for £8.00, I so wanted it but I have no room ITS NOT FAIR!!

What bargains have you got recently?

Christmas has come early

Today I just knew that it was going to be a lovely day, the sun was out. (Yes I talk about the weather alot, but you know, when you have alot of rotten weather, you really appreciate it when the sun shines).  It instantly uplifts me.

So when I opened my curtains this morning, these lovely sweet peas  were sitting smiling at me, good start.



Lovely





Then while walking the dog, I noticed these birds soaking up the rays in a sunny corner of the mere.



But overall this is what has really bought the big fat sunny smile to my face. 

After weeks of drooling over it

followed by.....

Weeks of missing out on Ebay, to finally WIN one, only to find out it was not what was described. 

followed by.... 

Weeks of endless negotiation and phone calls to get a refund. 

to finally.........

Purchase one at full price.   This little beauty dropped in my letterbox today



accompanied by an nice apology and 2 free packets of needles because he was a week late posting. Talk about making a girl suffer!!!

  

Yes I know its only a walking foot but to me its all my Christmass' rolled into one.  Oh the creations I can hopefully acheive with this little foot.  Im so excited I havent even checked to see if it fits my machine yet!!! There will be tears before bedtime if it doesnt.

Happy blogging I may be gone a while....   Louise (kidding)

Recycled Plastic Bag Pannier

I may have mentioned that I have been thinking of making panners.  So I ordered some fabric, thinking It was oilcloth and somehow I ended up with ordinary cotton. Silly me. So trying to make the best of what I had ordered,  I decided to find a way to make it plastic coated. 

While surfing I stumbled across a very interesting article on you tube titled  "how to make a cycle bag from trash bags" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB1mE8e35UY  I was totally inspired by the article and went off on one of my tangents and ended up with this







I started with the process shown ironing lots of bags together about 8 thickness thick.  They seem very bland to me, so I tried ironing right side facing, it worked, then there was no stopping me, as I ran out of carriers I started trying anything,  raiding the larder and freezer, and calling on my neighbour for resouces.  Some worked and some didnt stick. It was a real trial and error thing. 

As I didnt have any baking paper in,  I started off with the  plastic sandwiched between foil when pressing, but I later found that photo copying paper worked better for me, some colours did transfer onto the paper, but I just got a fresh piece.  This process takes up alot of carriers and a long time ironing.  I also found out that after you have ironed, to stop the paper from curling and to control it abit, I placed a flat object like a baking tray on top of the bag and paper until it cooled down.  

I built up lots of pieces and overlapped and machined patched smaller pieces together using a zigag stitch.  On hindsight I quite like the bigger pieces, they have more impact.  The style and measurement of the panniers were based on these gorgeous pink and orange clarijis panniers
http://velodrama.co.uk/shop/article_12/Clarijs-Double-Pannier-with-Shopping-bag---Orange_Pink.html?shop_param=cid%3D64%26aid%3D12%26
I have been  admiring for these for sometime, but a pit costly for me at the moment, hopefully one day I will have some.  
I havent quite enough for the other pannier yet, watch this space! I think when I have finished the other they will look fun and quirky, they are also incredibly light.  I dont know how long they will last, maybe intime the sun will damage them, they may fade and go brittle, time will tell. Ive used them  yesterday when I went to the village shop and they get quite a few comments.
What do you think?


Hubbie quickly adopted the bag on his bike, hope thats not the last Ive seen of them!

Quilting Fun

Just a recap on my last post, just when I though autumn was here  the sun came out and shone on Yorkshire. 

It is wonderful going out on the old bike again especially in this sort of weather.  The wind from the wolds is strong, a warm wind, at the moment, but very bitter in winter. Of course,  I ride it like an old lady, slow and steady, and I get miffed when I get overtaken, especially if they are older than me!!!.  My next job is some panniers for the back, jolly red ones I think.  Lots of  cyclists on blogs I follow name there bicycles, I havent.... yet.  As it was lovely and sunny I took the quilt out into the garden to show you a better picture, doesnt it look wonderful, next to the cycle.

I played around with the patterns for sometime with the quilt (arent digital cameras brilliant for this, click then compare.) I enjoy this part, mixing the colours around.

first I tried this idea



we also thought about traditional  small squares. My daughter decided on the 1st option, but as I had limited fabric I decided to only use 2 colours to the pattern and put spaces of purple inbetween.  Being a novice quilter I thought this was easier incase I didnt get good joins on my seams.


but in the end as we started putting the patterns together, we ended up going off a tangent and this is the end result. I know its not pefect, but my daughter loves it. Very young and vibrant. I cant wait to finish it.

Long time No See

Well it seems ages since I was last posting, days so quickly turn into weeks, and before you know it its Autumn. I cannot believe the wonderful weather we had earlier on in September, Harvest time is one of my favourite times of the year ....

 I love to see the fields with bales of hay stacked.  Im definately a country girl at heart. This so reminds me of my childhood. 

Its such a hive of activity on our road  with combiners and  tractors going backwards and forwards, working from dawn to dusk.  Trailers full of potatoes or hay piled a mile high.  (this kind of heavy traffic I dont mind, after all we are rural.) 

I tried to get a photo of the hay coming past our window, all stacked high on the back of the truck, towering over our little cottage, but sadly I wasnt quick enough with the camera and just caught it going around the corner, it makes a nice change from a delivery truck.

Im now mobile having finally got the vintage bicycle restored.  Its lovely to be back in the saddle!! so to speak. Ive missed the old bike.

At the end of September I organised a coffee and cake afternoon as part of the Macmillian Coffee Morning appeal,  calling on good friends to help and bake.

Its amazing what a few balloons and bunting can do to the Church Rooms

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves

We raised £130.55, which wasnt bad going for a couple of hours. 

All the cakes sold well  except my little choccie buns (No surprise there, Id much rather sew than bake)

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(a friend took these photos, she wasnt sure how to use the camera!)

When I got home,  I had a  few stickers spare, my daughter and I soon found a use for them!!

Im still quilting but sadly I havent yet got that blessed walking foot.  Ive now started another quilt, I find quilting very addictive.  Yes I know I should finish the other one first.  You can catch a little glimpse of it resting on the back of the sofa above.

Its a lovely mix of purples, pinks and blues, I will post some better pictures.  Im just going to have to buy a new foot as I cannot wait any longer. Having never used one before I do hope it lives up my expectations.