Making Good Use

Not a Bad Haul for a Very Windy Day

As it was a Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK, the weather was, of course, a tad on the miserable side.  I didn't bother going to the boot sale on Sunday morning as the wind was near gale force and it was pretty chilly too.  Monday morning was still windy but at least the sun was out so I thought I'd give the Bank Holiday boot sale a try.  And you know what, it was quite good.

 
I found the usual range of shower gel and toiletries for me - a large bottle of Cotton Lavender shower gel, 50p, a Dunhill Fresh shower gel, 20p, and a perennial favourite, Body Shop White Musk shower gel, 50p.

 
I lashed out £2.00 on this sealed pot of moisturiser which I thought was something quite upmarket.  Turns out it was made by Avon so I wasn't quite so pleased with that when I got it home - still cheaper than buying something like it new though.

 
A pair of tracksuit bottoms by Fruit of the Loom for my nephew and a Nike T-shirt for him too - both 50p.  He's quite fond of saying 'Just Do It' so the logo on the front is rather appropriate for him!

A pair of hideously unattractive bootee slippers for me - £1.00.  These are made by Cosy Feet and are specially designed for those of us with swollen feet and ankles.  I know they're very expensive to buy new so I was pleased to find them and I'm sure they'll keep my hind paws lovely and warm during the winter - I do wish they were a bit more attactive to look at though.

I also managed to find a few books for re-sale, only one of which was any good on Amazon (although it was a VERY good find) so the rest have been listed on Greenmetropolis.

All in all, it was a surprisingly good haul considering the weather.

I've also linked this post to Thrift Share Monday over at Apron Thrift Girl.

Cooking up a Storm

I think the recent miserable weather may be responsible for my cooking frenzy over the past couple of days (who wants to eat summery salads when it's this cold and wet), or it could be inspiration after finally seeing 'Julie and Julia' on DVD last weekend - what a wonderful film.  Whatever the reason, I seem to have spent a large chunk of time over the past few days in the kitchen.

There's been the trying-out of new recipes - Carrot Soup with Toasted Cumin (from an old Country Lving magazine).  Haven't actually tasted this one yet but so far it's looking quite like the photo - which is always a plus with a new recipe.

Baking some old favourites - a Linda McCartney 'Oat and Raisin Biscuits' recipe.  These are lovely and tasty and have hardly any fat or sugar in them so I'm assuming they're reasonably healthy.  Healthier than any shop-bought biscuit anyway.

Cooking warming casserole-type dishes even though it's only August - tsk, whatever happened to summer?  It's the second serving of Jamie Oliver's Beef Tagine recipe which we'll be having this evening (first portion was eaten on Wednesday) with plain quinoa.  Last night I made a sausage and cider casserole, but minus the cider as I didn't have any!  Instead I used bouillon for the stock and tickled it up with a teaspoonful of Marmite and some Lea & Perrins, and tres tasty it turned out too.  And carrying on the warming autumn food theme will be another portion of apple crumble for pudding - using up some of the many many apples we've got in the garden.

Make Do and Mend

 
I had a lovely surprise this morning when the postman knocked at the door with a mystery parcel addressed to me.  When I opened it up I found this gorgeous Make -Do and Mend mug that both my sister and I had been admiring when we saw it in the Imperial War Museum shop.  My sister had very kindly ordered one and had it sent to me as a thank-you for their stay with me the other week.

 
There are four different Make Do and Mend posters from WWII reproduced on it, and my particular favourite is the one that says 'Mend and Make-Do to Save Buying New.'  How pertinent that is for today's economic time too.

 
It's just the sort of mug I like, big and chunky and able to hold a goodly amount of tea (hmm, a bit like me then really).  Although at the moment I'm just going to admire it from afar before I get round to actually using it.

Here's One I Started Years Ago

I came across the completed front for this little Matryoshka doll a couple of weeks ago (whilst having a very-unlike-me tidy up) and thought it seemed a shame not to, finally, finish making her.  (In fact, a quick trawl through past blog posts tells me that she has been knocking around for the past three years!!) Miraculously, I still had enough of the same colour felt to make a back for her, then it was just a case of blanket stitching the two parts together and adding the stuffing.  I made quite a few of these little dolls three years ago - and even managed to sell one on eBay - but I think this one will just get put with my small collection of wooden and china Matryoshkas, or maybe used as a pincushion - she would make quite a nice pincushion, I think. 

Edited to add:  I've linled this post over at Apron Thrift Girl's Make Share.  In the spirit of 'Make Share' the floral part of the doll's dress was cut from a thrifted tea towel, the felt for her face is made from a thrifted piece of old blanket and her eyes are two little black beads which came from a humungous bag of beads thrifted years ago. 

Slim Pickings

The thrift pickings have been decidedly thin these past few days.  Thursday's car boot sale was only so-so and yesterday's wasn't much better either.  Of course, I did manage to find a few reasonable bits and bobs.

 
Starting on Saturday morning with two balls of Iceland Lopi Wool - £1.00 each - courtesy of the local charity shop, and a copy of Stitch 'n' Bitch Happy Hooker - which has loads of lovely crochet patterns in it (must get on with trying to crochet) - 75p from the local second-hand shop.

 
Sunday's boot sale yielded a knitting folder stuffed with dolls' dresses knitting patterns, 27 in all, which I paid £4.00 for.  These are all destined to be listed on eBay in the coming weeks as I've done reasonably well with selling these sorts of knitting patterns in the past, and I figured that even if they all sell for 99p only I'll still make a nice profit on this lot.

 
My other finds were strictly of the practical nature - iron hotplate cleaning pads (most definitely something my iron needs), 20p.  A ball of string for 50p, which was handy as I've just this past week used up the last of the string I had.  And the ubiquitous (for me) shower gel, a rather nicely-scented Lacoste one for 20p.

 
Finally, this morning I found this small bottle of Charles Worthington shampoo in the charity shop for 25p.  I do like the Charles Worthington products so even though I don't need UV-protection on my hair (hah, chance would be a fine thing in the UK at the moment) I thought at that price I'd buy it anyway.

I suddenly realised yesterday, whilst walking round the boot sale, that there are probably only about another six weeks of boot sale season to go - and that depends very much on the weather!!  Slim pickings or not, I shall really miss my Thursday and Sunday morning thrifting sessions when the season ends.

Edited to add:  I've linked this post over at Apron Thrift Girl's 'Thrift Share Monday' - loads of interesting thrifty finds from this past weekend. 

Running Repairs

Both pairs of Board Shorts, that I made for my nephew earlier in the summer, needed running repairs.  One pair in fact had split all along the crotch seam from front to back!!  Apparently the day it happened my nephew happened to be wearing bright red boxer shorts and had to walk all the way home from the park with large flashes of red cotton appearing through the split seam with every step he took!

I'd promised I'd get the repairs done and would send the shorts back down to Bristol ASAP, so this morning I thought I'd get the sewing machine out.  The first repair was being sewn up when I took my foot off the foot-pedal and found, to my absolute horror, that the machine was carrying on sewing - and at full speed!!  What the heck??  I quickly disconnected the foot-pedal from the machine and tried to work out what was wrong with it.  I tried squeezing it, blowing bits of dust out of it but nothing worked and every time I plugged it back in the machine was sewing away like crazy without me even toucing the foot-pedal. 

I contemplated phoning the local sewing machine repair chap to get his advice, but then thought of how much he'd probably charge just to come and have a look and thought at least I'd have a go at sorting it out myself first.  A quick search revealed the sewing machine's instruction booklet but there was nothing of any use in there.  Next I got out the teeny-tiny little screwdriver that goes with the machine and began taking the foot-pedal apart.  I figured it couldn't be that complicated inside the plastic box and once I'd finally got the screws out and the cover off (there was a touch of the Krypton Factor about that manoevure)  I realised that the repair was pretty simple.  As I'd suspected one of the parts had got jammed.  I gave the workings a good old dust down with a tiny paintbrush (having failed to find the proper little brush that goes with the sewing machine,) removed lots of fluff and dust, put it all back together and, with huge relief, found I'd solved the problem.

So, finally, it was back to mending the shorts.  Both crotch seams were sewn up again - and in some parts triple-stitched in the hope that this time they'll stay sewn up.  I even managed to find a felt star in my 'felt bits' bag to cover up a hole that had appeared near the hem of one leg.   I think it works quite well.

Chick Flicks

A rather disappointing Thursday boot sale today.  I'm not sure why really as the weather was good, there were masses of buyers and sellers but, somehow, there wasn't much there that interested me.  I came back with quite a few books to try for re-sale, but only one of those was any good.  I got another large bottle of shower gel - winter toiletry hoarding is now setting in big-time - for 50p.

I also found DVD copies of two chick flicks that I've been wanting to see for ages.  The first Sex and the City film and Suzie Gold - a British film, which is always a nice change.  They were only £1.00 each which I thought was quite a bargain, especially as the Sex and the City DVD is still sealed.  As P is still away until late Sunday evening, it gives me plenty of time to watch these before he gets home.

Oh, and the mahoosive-size top that I really liked from the boot sale on Sunday turns out to have a bit of damage so that won't be going on eBay.  Which means I can have a go at taking it in to fit me.  I only paid 50p so it won't be the end of the world if my reconstruction attempts don't work, but if they do I'll be mighty chuffed.

Festival of Quilts

P's sister will be exhibiting a collection of Embroidered Wedding Blankets from Southern Iraq at the Festival of Quilts at the NEC, Birmingham, over the next four days.  Her article all about them (above) was published in the May/June 2010 issue of Selvedge magazine.  If anyone is going to be at the Festival do pop along and have a look at these beautiful blankets and have a chat with Annamarie who is incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about them.  She will be on stand F18 - Gardens of Eden of Mesopatamia.

I'm hoping to visit on Friday as I'd like to catch up with Annamarie and see these embroidered blankets for myself and I'd also like to hear the talk being given by Jane Brocket.

What I Did on My Holiday

I know I wasn't strictly 'on holiday' but having my sister and nephew to stay, and getting to go out and about with them, was nicer than actually going away.  I had a lovely time and didn't even have to pack a suitcase.

Fortuitously, we went off to Southend on Sea on Wednesday, which was a piece of good luck as it was the only warm day out of the six days they were here. 

My nephew just loves Southend and spends hours just splashing around in the sea.  Having had a very quick paddle myself, I've no idea how he can immerse himself in such chilly water for so long but he can, and he really enjoys himself.

Thursday was spent at the Tower of London.  Both my sister and I enjoyed ourselves but my nephew pronounced it 'boring' and said the best part of the visit was the guidebook I bought him!!  Although it was a tad chilly, we were lucky that it wasn't actually raining most of the day - the thought of all those tourists armed with dripping umbrellas would be the stuff of nightmares.  The queue to see the Crown Jewels was just too long to even contemplate standing in it, but the Bloody Tower, Traitor's Gate and the White Tower were all easy to see and very interesting.

The ravens were in place but I was disappointed to discover that they clip their wings to stop them flying away (legend has it that if the ravens ever leave the Tower then England will fall.)  Mind you, with accommodation as luxurious as this I'm not surprised they don't want to leave!

Friday was somewhat monsoon-like weather-wise so we went to an indoor soft-play area in Basildon.  It was a great day for all of us as my sister and I could sit down and have a really nice lunch and a long chat, whilst my nephew threw himself around the equipment with the sort of energy only a seven-year-old can possess.

Saturday was another trip to London - this time to see the well-worth-a-visit Winston Churchill's Britain at War Experience.  We all enjoyed this a great deal. 

There were all sorts of things to interest my nephew - especially all the uniforms he could try on - and wonderful displays and artefacts that my sister and I enjoyed too. 

 

The highlight of the whole thing is the 'Blitz Experience' which was very well done.  Unlike the Tower of London, there weren't too many crowds and it was wonderful to be able to take our time and look around without being pushed and shoved all the time.

A packed lunch was eaten by the Thames with this fabulous picture-postcard view to enjoy.

After lunch, it was on with the 'war' theme of the day and a visit to the Imperial War Museum.  This was just the place for my nephew - tanks, cannons, submarines etc as far as the eye could see.  The building itself was spectacular and both my sister and I wondered what it had originally been - a quick Google search revealed it used to be part of the old Bethlem Royal Hospital, more commonly known as 'Bedlam'. 

There was also a Wartime Farm exhibit in the grounds with live animals (except for the try-your-hand-at-milking-a-cow model - that was plastic), which he also enjoyed greatly.  

Sunday was the car boot sale (see yesterday's post) and a barbecue in the evening and then yesterday I waved them off on the train back to Bristol.  Those six days went by so quickly, we all had a wonderful time and I was really sad to see them go.

Company at the Car Boot

When I go to a car boot sale, I'm usually looking round on my own - which is fine - but this week I had the lovely treat of looking round with other people - and not just any other people, these were my sister and my nephew. 

I was really pleased that my seven-year-old nephew had actually asked to go to the car boot sale again (he went last year and made a bit of a fuss about going but loved it when he was there) and he seemed to enjoy himself a great deal again this year, having come home with half a dozen or so revolting looking action figures (think aliens meet spiders meet dinosaurs type objects) which he was mighty pleased with.  As none of them cost more than 50p his Mummy was pretty pleased too.  We also managed to find him a navy blue tracksuit for PE at his new junior school - the right size, right colour, made by Umbro and only £3.00.  When my sister had said she'd really like to find a navy tracksuit for him at the boot sale I had my doubts that we'd be that lucky but, amazingly, we found exactly what we were looking or.

I found a lovely duvet cover for £2.00.  It was on top of a pile of other linens and when I asked how much it was the reply was 'oh that, it's pretty new but I've been using it to pile clothes on at the boot sales (??), would £2.00 be OK?'  Why would someone use a newish duvet cover for something like that?  Ah well, it's aleady washed, dried and on the bed - and jolly nice it looks too.

The usual toiletries (stocking up now for the coming winter when there won't be any boot sales.)  60p each for the Avon shower gels and 50p for the Next one.

Two Ikea cushion covers - 20p each.  I've done quite well with selling Ikea cushion covers on eBay lately and thought I'd take a punt with these.  Also bought for re-sale were a couple of really plus-sized Evans clothes - 50p for one top and £1.00 for the other.  It's a pity one of the tops is so large as I'd love to wear it myself.  Hopefully, it'll sell well and I can use the money I make to buy myself something else instead.