OMG, I've actually made something which isn't a cushion cover and has nothing to do with buttons (or lego)

Yes, dear readers, this is the post where I show off my patchwork prowess.

Exciting isn't it?   I'm literally like one of those bloggers that have their "tah dah" moments.  *sigh*.

I started this picnic blanket a whole two years ago but gave up very quickly as the fabric I had chosen was not doing it for me in any shape or form.

 Fast forward to about a month ago.  Little Miss J and P had finally grown out of some of her cute dresses and Mr J and P had discarded his blue stripey pyjama trousers (er hem).  So, I nabbed them and started cutting squares again.  I added some Ikea material, a candy stripe sheet and some vintage fabric that I'd bought from a jumble sale.

I backed it with some pink floral material that I'd bought from a charity shop for 39p.

I love it!

I love how the different colours and patterns go so well together.

I'm a bloody genius.  Who knew!

Even more slightly blurry pictures for your delectation:

Who ever said "Never work with animals or children" was totally right.  Dennis the rabbit was not impressed by the patchwork blanket.

He couldn't wait to hop off!

On the subject of mighty crafting achievements.  For Mother's Day, not only did I get some delicious homemade chocolate fudge (which was a joint effort by the Mr and Miss) and which I've completely scoffed, but look what Little Miss made me:

It's a brooch!

I've already started work on another patchwork project.  There's no stopping me now.......

TTFN. xx

Taggety Tag

This tagging mallarky has been going round blogland for some weeks now and I've only just got my act together to answer the questions.  Typical me.  Slow off the mark.  As usual.

OK, here's Alex's questions:

1) Are you a morning or a night person?

Both.

2) Have you ever stolen anything? (be honest, I won't set the law on you)

Yes, a bag of potatoes from a party.  My friend walked off with a bag of onions.

3) What is your favourite word?

Kerfuffle.

4) What can't you live without?

Books/music.

5) Who/what do you have an irrational dislike of?

I have an irrational dislike and fear of competent mums.

6) Where is your favourite place to eat out?

Cafe Spice Namaste (although haven't been there in aaaages) - yummy Indian food with a mediterranean twist (according to the blurb).

7) Who is the cleverest person you know?

I know lots of clever people.

8) What was the last film that you saw at the cinema? Was it any good?

Something with squeaky animals and no, it wasn't good.

9) What is your guilty tv pleasure?

Although, it wasn't a particulary "pleasurable" experience, Mr J and P and myself watched "Paris Hilton's BFF" on a regular basis.

10) Where did you last go on holiday?

Nimes in southern France.

11) What makes you go "GAHHHHHHHHHHHHH"?

The trail of destruction and mess that Little Miss J and P leaves in her wake on a daily basis.  Particularly on the stairs.  They are a death trap.  


Here's Melanie's questions:

1. If you could go shopping in any era, which would it be.

60s70s as I'd like to revisit Biba.

2. Official other half aside, who would your dream date be?

David Mitchell.  Not a looker, I know, but he's hilarious.

Oooh, he looks quite cute here!

 3. Who were/was the last band/artiste you saw live?

Morrissey/Stooges/Lou Reed/Patti Smith/Magazine at the Hop Farm Festival last year.

4. Do you have any phobias.

Moths.  I may have mentioned this before but one morning I couldn't leave the house because there was a huge moth on the front door.  I had to send Little Miss J and P out to a near neighbour who had to come in and dispose of the moth before I could venture forth.

5. What is your favourite film.

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (I love Bette Davis).

6. What is your favourite song.

Oh, this changes all the time.  At the moment, I'm stuck in a 60s timewarp and am loving Paper Sun by Traffic.  Check out the video and how low tech it was.





7. How tall are you (I have a near obsessive need to know how tall people are).
5ft8

8. What is your earliest memory.

I'd like to say something interesting here but I have a terrible memory.

9. Tea, or coffee?

Coffee or mint tea.

10. Favourite literary character.

Humpty Dumpty.

11. Favourite actor/actress.

Bette Davis.  Johnny Depp.

Here's Ann's questions:

1. Slippers/Shoes or bare feet.

Definitely footwear, my feet are not my best feature.

 2. Where did you go for your last walk?

Connaught Water and its environs (Chingford, Essex).

 3. Favourite colour and why.

I'm more into colour combos and I have lots of favourites eg.  orange, brown & yellow; blue & green, orange & red, pink & yellow and so on and so forth.

4. Which is your favourite West End (or elsewhere) show.

The Sound of Music.

5. Are you practical or academic?

A bit of both.

6. What is/or was your favourite Nursery Rhyme?


Humpty Dumpty.

7. Are you a Leader or a Follower?

Follower.

 8. High heels or flatties?

Flatties.

 9. Swimming or the gym

Swimming.  I've only been to the gym about twice in my life and I hated every second of it.

10. Where was your best UK holiday

I've had lots.  Cornwall & the Lake District are always good.

11. Most daring thing you have ever done.


Giving up work in my 20s and travelling.


Here's Clare's questions:


1. Who is your most bizarre celebrity crush?

David Mitchell as above.

2. What is/Would be your karaoke song?

Born to be Wild by Steppenwolf or anything from Grease.

3. If you could invent your own course and teach it, what would it be?

Charity Shopping:  the myth, the merits and the misery.

4. Zombie Apocalypse weapon of choice?

Dennis, our rabbit.

He may look cute, but he's a savage beastie.

5. What period in history would you most like to visit?

Swinging sixties.

6. What's the most unusual food you've eaten

Kangaroo meat.

7. Have you met any celebrities?

Bruce Dickinson, lead singer of Iron Maiden, once chatted me and a friend up in a bar.

Eeeeek!!

Pinched Lemmy's bottom at a club.

I'm thinking he's looking almost fanciable in this pic

Suggsy and other members of Madness.  In fact, attempted to take them to a club but was refused entry!

Awww, cute boys.

8. How long have you been thrifting/op shopping/jumble saleing?

Since teens.

9. Which childhood cartoon/tv program scared you the most?

None as far as I can remember.

10. What are 3 of your favourite books? 

Vikram Seth - A Suitable Boy
Sarah Waters - Tipping the Velvet
Margaret Atwood - The Blind Assasin

11. What is your favourite film?

As above


Lordy, this has taken me an age to do.  Not that I'm complaining.  No.  Not me. 


The rules of this tag say that I'm to write 11 random things about myself but I'm going to skip that part (I've got brain ache, sorry) and instead here are my 11 questions:


1.  What is your most annoying habit?
2.  Do you have a celebrity twin and, if so, who?
3.  Why did you start blogging?
4.  Your favourite holiday ever?
5.  Best ever "thrift" buy?
6.  What book are you reading at the moment?
7.  Any embarassing incidences at work that you'd like to share with us?
8.  What do you collect?
9.  If you put your ipod/mp3 player on shuffle, what are the first 5 songs?  Or, if you prefer, favourite 5 songs?
10.  Can you play a musical instrument?
11.  Have you ever made anything which turned out a complete and utter disaster?


I would like to tag the following bloggers.  Feel free to answer them (or not) as the case may be:


Grateful for Crochet
Tea at Weasels
Shortbread & Ginger
Miss Tea
Hearts of Hampshire
Vintage Knitter


Byeeeeexxxxxxxx

Ringety Ring

I've been busy.  Making rings.

I've bored you to death before about my obsession with buttons.  You know, the way I like to gaze at them adoringly and run my fingers through them in a slightly crazed way?  Well, dear readers,  I've pulled myself together and I've actually been making button rings.

A red button ring:

Don't be too distracted by my old biddy hands now, will you?

Two blue button rings:

I'm very pleased with them, I have to say.  Soooo easy to do.  The only disaster I had was with my absolute favourite big red wooden button which, I realised too late, was far too heavy for the ring base.  Although it seemed stuck fast, it wasn't and it fell off in Sainsbury's car park never to be seen again.  Boo hoo!

Inspired by Lakota's and Desiree's lego loveliness, I've also been raiding Little Miss J and P's lego stash and lo and behold, look what I've done:

Little Miss J and P is the hand model here

Yay, a lego ring!

And if you like one that's a bit bigger (ooh er missus):

Do you know what the best thing about lego rings is?  You can play with them.  Big time.

Liking the pink lego a lot

Some people just don't know when to stop do they?

Wowser! A very big octopus.

Harry Potter

Ron Weasely (looks stunningly like Mr J and P when he was a ickle boy)

So much fun.  You should try it. xxxxx

Tit for Tat!

Some of you have been bemoaning the fact there has been very little in the way of thrifty bargain hunting recently.  Tell me about it.  Every day I nip into our local charity shops  in the vain hope that I might see something that I'd want to buy.  But not a sausage, dear readers.  Not even a box of tampax (thank you for sharing that Scarlett) or a £99 china sheep ornament (remember, I blogged about that here.)  Instead, I have to contend with pairs of tights (seconds) for a fiver a pop or a used Marks and Spencer's hand and body lotion for £1.59 when a few doors down in Marks and Spencer itself, a new hand and body lotion will set you back 99p.  What is the world of charity shops coming to?

Anyway, never mind all that.  Let's focus on the positive shall we?  Like what I bought at a recent jumble sale.  Whoop! Whoop!

Yay, I've been bringing more tat into the house - a phrase that Mr J and P likes to use rather too frequently.  However, this time, even Mr J and P is getting in on the act.  This first buy was one of his.  It's a lovely cornflower blue jug.  Made by Dudson Bros.  The information on the internet says that the year an item was made appears beneath the backstamp.  This jug has the numbers 45 beneath the backstamp. So, it could mean it was made in 1945?  Dunno.  Doesn't matter, I like it whatever the date.

Sorry, couldn't get this photo the right way round

A Pyrex platter:

More embroidered linen.

I've collected these in order to make this patchwork cushion:

And by jingo, I think I've got enough at last.  Probably more than enough.  I've got no excuses now, I'll have to make the darn thing.

It's a good job, I got this lucious barkcloth craft bag at the jumble.  Perfect to store all manner of embroidered cloths and even the squares for the patchwork picnic blanket that I'm making. 

On a more sobering note.  Went to a boot sale recently.  Waste of time. It's really not the season for boot sales round our way.  Too few stalls and too much rubbish.  Oh, and ermmmm, this:

Focus on the pink box in the middle

Brought a blush to poor Mr J and P's cheeks, I can tell you.

And, no, we didn't buy them.

Although, with Valentine's Day approaching, I am a little fearful, I may be presented with my very own pair.  Yikes!
xxxxxxxxx

Fifties Fabulousness & galloping gourmets (well, just the one gourmet actually)

I am a very lucky blogger indeed.  Before Xmas, the gorgeous Curtise from The Secondhand Years sent me a fabulous parcel of lovely things.

Curtise remembered that I'd commented elsewhere about Graham Kerr aka The Galloping Gourmet (celebrity chef back in the 70s).  

The GG used to do his cooking in front of a live (I think) studio audience and at the end of the show invited a lucky audience member to come up on the stage and eat the yummy meal with him.  When I was little, I used to sit at the dinner table playing with my food and in my mind I was the Galloping Gourmet preparing a magnificent meal.  I'd be cutting up my sausages lengthways and stuffing them with mash and then getting someone from my imaginary audience to tuck in with me.  Aaaaaah, such happy memories.

A "fascinating" fact:  Graham Kerr cooked a lot with butter and cream and it wasn't until his wife had a heart attack that he learnt the error of his fat and cholesterol filled ways and started cooking low fat meals.

Curtise also sent me the Woman's Journal from 1958.

It's fascinating. Every little bit of it. From the short stories and their amazing illustrations:

Oooh er

Awwwwww

to the knitting and dress-making patterns:

and the recipes:

Ummm, yes that is a big pile of bacon and waffles you can see

But the biggest thrill for me has got to be the adverts.  There are literally hundreds of them and every one's a classic.  Here are just a few of them for your delectation:

Nylons

More nylons

That bed looks on the verge of collapse to me

Those biscuits don't look very inviting

Love this Persil advert.  Who'd have thought I'd be drooling over washing machines?

And pedal bins.

Lovely bedspreads:

How amusing:

Curtise also gave me a lovely pinny and hankie.  As she put it, I'll need a pinny while I cook and then "a sit down with a nice magazine and a hankie.  Because you are a lady."  Thank you soooooo much, Curtise. *Mwah!*

One last thing before I toddle off.  I've actually been CUTTING UP SQUARES TO MAKE A PATCHWORK PICNIC BLANKET.  *Squeal*.  Sorry about the attention grabbing capitals and the shrieking, dear readers, but this is exciting news in my world.  Yes, little old moi has been snipping away merrily on a project that I started, ummmmmmmmmm, a mere two years ago.  Watch this space.......

Right, I'm orf.  Pip pip. xx