Making Good Use

One Year Today

A year ago today I started this blog.  I'd been seriously thinking about it for the previous six months before I took the plunge, which is odd for me as I'm usually someone who once they decide to do something gets on and does it straight away.  I suppose I was fearful of putting my thoughts 'out there', and feeling a tad inadequate compared to some of the lovely blogs I had been reading daily up 'til then (and still do).  Anyway, on April 30th 2007 I finally took the jump into blogging and I have enjoyed it immensely ever since. 

I've 'met' some lovely people through this blog and it has meant that my family in Bristol get to 'see' more of my life here in Essex, which makes us feel much closer and connected.  I'm rarely lost for something to say (as anyone who knows me in 'real' life could testify), and it has been so nice to feel part of a bigger online community, and to realise that there are many other people out there who share my love of charity shops, car boot sales, making things from vintage fabrics, and generally enjoying crafts.

I've always enjoyed the thrill of finding something old and interesting hidden away amongst a load of old junk and have been frequenting jumble sales, car boot sales, charity shops etc etc since I was a teenager.  Often work colleagues or friends thought I was a bit odd and/or seriously mean because of my love of all things second-hand, but I carried on regardless and, through the world of blogs, have realised that there are many many people out there just like me.  Which is just lovely.

I'd also been very keen on crafts when I was younger and had often knitted or sewn my own clothes.  Had been a keen embroiderer as a teenager, tried my hand at both carpentry and silver-smithing, and just generally enjoyed making things.  I don't know why I ever stopped doing these things really but gradually over the years because of lack of time and little inspiration I gave up all craft activities.  Then I discovered craft blogs and suddenly I had so many ideas and so much to inspire me that my passion for crafting was renewed all over again.

Anyway, as a celebration of my first year of blogging I'm offering one of my strawberry cupcake tea cosies as a giveaway.

Made entirely from thrifted wool the tea cosy fits an average size (4 / 6 cup) teapot and has a thick cream base, strawberry-red pure wool 'icing', and a felted pure wool 'cream swirl' on the top.  If you'd like to enter the giveaway just leave a comment on this post and I'll draw a winner after the weekend.  Feel free to join in from anywhere in the world.

Another Charity Bag - This Time the Clothes

Another charity bag came through the door this morning, and amazingly it was another charity that would also take books (somewhat surprisingly to me I seem to have amassed another carrier bag full since last week!!). 

I know I said last week that I rarely have clothes to get rid of - well, I eat my words.  I took the charity bag upstairs this afternoon intending to just pop one or two items of clothing in that I knew I would never wear again.  Half an hour later the blooming thing is full to bursting - and all with clothes.  When I started going through the murky depths of wardrobes and drawers I was amazed at the clothes I had lurking around.  Some were items I could have sworn I'd got rid of years ago but, no, there they were still gathering dust and taking up valuable space.  I have my suspicions that they had been secretly cloning themselves when I wasn't looking!!  Sadly, I've managed to find some items that are too worn even for the charity bag, so they'll be going out next week for the council's textile recycling.  Why I was hanging on to those rags I really don't know!!

Tomorrow my blog is one year old so, in time-honoured blogging tradition, there will be a giveaway to mark the occasion.

Waffle

I came across a photo of a nice waffle headband in the latest Greenfibres catalogue

and thought how much nicer it would be to use something like that to hold my hair back when I'm washing my face than the old, manky and incredibly-stretched hairband I use at the moment. So I had a little think and a rummage through my stash of wool and decided to knit myself one.

The wool is some Rooster Almerino DK from Laughing Hens and is in a shade called Gooseberry (actually more of a chartreuse colour than it appears in the photo).  It's a k1p1 rib on 3.25 mm needles so is taking me quite some time but it's just the sort of mindless knitting I like to do whilst watching telly.

I'm planning on adding some sort of button decoration when it's finished - and having gone through the button box I've come up with these five candidates.  Trouble is I like them all.

Pillowcases A-Plenty

Sometimes on a Friday morning I take myself off to Basildon to have a look around the charity shops (sadly, not as good as they used to be), perhaps buy myself something tasty for lunch in M&S, and visit the town centre church's 'Bargain Box' rummage sale.

The 'Bargain Box' is held every Friday morning and I've found some quite nice bits and pieces there over the past few months.  Everything is very nicely laid out and neat and tidy, which is probably why I hadn't noticed the large box of linens until today.  The only reason I was drawn to them then was that somebody else was going through them with amazing vigour and I thought I might as well join in to see if between us we could actually get to the bottom of the HUGE cardboard box.  There were tons and tons of net curtains and bedding of the not-so-vintage variety but there were also some rather nice vintage pillowcases.

One candy stripe, two white and lavender stripe (sadly having been got at around the top with a pair of pinking shears and some rather dubious hand-stitching otherwise I would have used these as they are) one blue and white floral, and, my favourite, one with purple roses.  All destined to become book bags at some point. 

I also got this small silk scarf with a fantastic beach / marine theme on it.  And the grand total for six pillowcases and one silk scarf - £1.  Excellent!!  Now I don't feel quite so deprived that I won't be able to go to the car boot sale this weekend when it looks like rain will stop play - yet again!!

Would Anyone Like ....

.... this Jo Sharp knitting book - Rudgyard Story.

I've been having a bit of a tidy up and before this is consigned to a charity shop, I wondered if anyone else would like it.

It's a 110 page softback book with over 30 knitting projects and is in very good condition.

There are patterns for children.

Patterns for women.

And patterns for men, women and children.

And a rather nice pattern for a knitted bag.

The first person (UK only, I'm afraid) to say they'd like this book shall have it.

Linen and Lace

Although I unfortunately missed the Billericay Oxfam shop's 'Linen and Lace' event this year, I was recently given a rather nice little stash of linens and lace all for myself.  A good friend of mine in Bristol had rescued some vintage hankies and napkins and I was more than happy to give them a good home, and hopefully a new lease of life.

There are four sugar-pink napkins which I have plans to do something with in the not-too-distant future.

A dozen or so really pretty lace-trimmed and / or embroidered hankies.  I'm not a hankie person as such but these are so lovely that I hope I can make use of them one way or another.

And everything was tucked away in this beautiful handmade hankie case.  It has the most amazingly fine embroidery stitches around the flowers and also features cutwork decoration on the flap.  This would be just the thing for transporting any small craft project or for keeping my embroidery silks in one place.

Thank you A for all those lovely bits of linen and lace, it was really kind of you to think of me.  Hope the next 10 days or so go well.

Spring - At Last

Today has really felt like the first truly spring-like day of the year.  The temperature must be about 18 degrees (63), and there is a cloudless blue sky.  The lovely weather prompted me to get out in the garden and cut the grass for only the second time this season.  The new wheelie bin made such a difference to this job, I can't say cutting the grass has yet become a pleasure but oh. my. goodness. it does help to be able to just dump the cuttings straight into a large green bin instead of a titchy tiny little plastic bag.

The blossom has really come out on the fruit trees and made a gorgeous sight coupled with the blue sky.

The cherry blossom is in all its glory.

Whilst the apple blossom is still tightly furled.

This rather splendid purple-flowering shrub is really well forward this year, a couple of years ago it didn't flower until mid-May.

And I have to confess to not being 100 per cent sure what blossom this one is - it may be pear - but it is looking particularly pretty at the moment.

It felt really good to feel the sun on my face as I was pottering about in the garden, hacking plants back with gay abandon and merrily throwing them into the wonderful innovation that is the green wheelie bin.  All hail the mighty wheelie bin.  I have such a zeal to make sure it is totally full each fortnight that my garden might even be half-way decent this summer!!

Thank Goodness

Some charity sack collections will still accept books.

This little lot are all destined to be put out for the PDSA tomorrow morning.

We get a lot of charity sacks put through the door here but 95% of them only want you to donate clothing.  I very rarely have any clothing to donate so I'm afraid the sacks end up in a pile in a drawer and will probably only be used when we next move house. 

Books, on the other hand, I have in abundance and they are much more problematic to dispose of.  I have tried taking them bag by bag to the local charity shops where in one of them I was told in no uncertain terms that they didn't want any more books.  Sadly for that particular charity shop, such was the rudeness of the refusal of my donation that I shall never donate anything there ever again.  If really pushed, I can phone the local hospice charity shop who will come and collect from the house, but I don't like to trouble them too often.  Hence I was so very grateful to find that the PDSA charity sack delivered last week stated that they would collect not only clothing but bric a brac and books too. 

I do appreciate that books are heavy and bulky items, but I'm sure if they are priced competitively they will sell.  Our local Oxfam shop often has a note on the window saying they can't accept any donations as their stock room is overflowing.  So why don't they lower their ludicrously high prices and get more of a turnover??  I know of one charity shop in Bristol that used to regularly have 10p and 20p book sales where hundreds of books would be shifted in one day.  They stopped doing that some time ago and now when you go in there you are practically met by a teetering wall of books, all smelling fausty and damp and with terribly creased covers.  And with prices starting at £1.50 for a small paperback I wonder why they never seem to sell any these days!

I know that in my small town Monday mornings during the car boot season are very fraught for the charity shops as often people dump their unsold stuff from the weekend's car boot sales outside the shops on a Sunday afternoon.  Thus giving loads of time for local yobbos to strew the items liberally around the road, and for the local stray dogs to have a good old wee on it all.  However, I was somewhat surprised this morning when somebody brought in neat boxes of what looked to me like perfectly good items to the charity shop I happened to be mooching around in. and after they had gone out the manageress announced in a very loud tone that it was all total rubbish as it had been left over from yesterday's car boot sale.  Frankly, my fingers were itching to have a good rifle through the boxes as the stuff all looked saleable to me.  The phrase 'one man's trash is another man's treasure' went through my mind as I left the shop.

Hat-Chasing Weather

Today is the sort of weather that my brother-in-law always describes as 'hat-chasing weather'.  There is a strong bitter easterly wind blowing, and the sky is grey and leaden looking.  I was going to have a go at tidying up a bit more of the garden this afternoon but it is just too cold and windy to be out there so I decided to do a bit more embroidery whilst tucked up in the warm with a hot cup of tea.

Inspired by some of the lovely photos in 'Sublime Stitching', I decided to branch out from just embroidering cards and try my hand at something else for a change.  I'm having a go at embroidering a knife, fork and spoon (iron-on transfers from the book) on to four rather nice pure cotton napkins.  I got the napkins a few years ago at a car boot sale and had never got round to using them.  They were nice material, and a nice size, but were a bit 'bland' for my tastes.  I'm hoping the addition of some embroidery will prompt me to actually make use of them at last.

Here's hoping the weather soon bucks up and actually becomes a bit spring-like.  I'm having serious car boot sale withdrawals, having not managed to get to a single one yet this season.  Judging by the weather forecast for the next few days I fear I shall have to miss out yet again this weekend.  At least I've got the embroidery to be getting on with!

Cupcakes and Crime Novels

I went over to Billericay this morning for the first time in about three weeks.  I normally go there once every week or 10 days - not only to peruse the charity shops but also to get a few tasty bits and pieces in Waitrose.  Waitrose is an expensive shop but they do have a wonderful array of delicacies which are completely unavailable in my small town, where only Aldi and Somerfield are available for food shopping. 

Some changes had occured in Billericay in the past three weeks - and none of them good really.  One,  I'd missed the annual 'Linen and Lace' event in the Oxfam shop there.  Now this is a bit of a b*gger as they do have some really nice craft bits and pieces during the 'Linen and Lace' and I've got some excellent things there in the past.  This time all I came away with was a length of black and white herringbone webbing which will come in useful for bag handles at some point.

The second 'bit of a b*gger' was one of the cheaper charity shops was closed for refurbishment.  That can only mean higher prices when they re-open.  This is one of my perennial grouses - why do charity shops feel they have to emulate upmarket boutiques??  Give me a grotty charity shop with reasonable prices any day.

The third 'bit of a b*gger' was that the council have removed the very convenient pedestrian crossing which was right outside one of the best charity shops and relocated it much further down the high street - why?? I guess it was done to speed the flow of traffic and not for the convenience of pedestrians!

Anyway, enough of the moaning!  I did find one of my favourite crime writers latest book in the 29p basket in the first charity shop I called in at.

I love a good crime novel, and the books by Arnaldur Indridason combine not only a really good thriller but are also set in Iceland - two of my favourite things in one.  I only came across his books by finding one in a charity shop last year and they are excellent.  If you enjoy a good crime / thriller type book I can highly recommend these.  He hasn't written many - well, not many have been translated into English put it that way - and they also give a fascinating (to me anyway) insight into Icelandic life.

Finally, on to something a little more frivolous.  I've been doing a bit more embroidery and have just finished these two cake cards.

Both done using the iron-on transfers from the fabulous book Sublime Stitching by Jenny Hart.