Making Good Use

A Full-Figure Gal

Yup, that's me - a full-figure gal - always have been, no doubt now always will be.  I have no problem with being on the large side, although am quietly pleased to have dropped two dress sizes recently due to my low-fat diet.  Maybe I'll lose more weight as time goes by, maybe I won't - either way I'm perfectly happy with my size.  Whilst I appreciate that being overweight is not an ideal situation for anyone, I do get extremely irritated by the constant harping on in the media about obesity, surely now the only human problem / failing that it's still OK to mock / have-a-go-at or make derisory comments about.  I tend to refer to those sorts of comments as being uttered by 'size nazis.'

Anyhoo, I digress somewhat, not only am I of Amazonian stature (yup, I'm pretty tall to go with my girth!) but I'm also a pretty casual dresser.  I like wearing jeans and Birkenstocks and smocky-type T-shirt tops.  Secretly I probably like to think I dress a tad on the bohemian side but the reality is more driven by comfort, scruffiness and a general lacksadasical attitude to looking smart.  However, I've recently come across two blogs written by larger ladies who really put my style of dress to shame - they are both so smart, sassy and well-groomed that it's made me think a bit more carefully about what I wear out in public.  They are both such wonderfully pretty girls with such amazing senses of style that I feel I definitely must make more of an effort.  The blogs are: Frocks and Frou Frou from Australia and Le Blog de Big Beauty who is in France.  I particularly like Le Blog's tagline 'Le style n'est pas une taille mais une attitud'  even with my ungraded 'O' Level in French (yes, I really was THAT bad at French!) I can understand what that says - and I totally agree.

A Bit of a Glut

 
All the fruit trees in the garden have gone into overdrive this summer.  We have a imminent glut of nearly-ripe plums.

 
There are so many plums on this tree that we've had to prop one branch up with a piece of wood to stop it collapsing under the weight.  I can foresee A LOT of stewed plums and low-fat custard on the horizon very shortly.  Don't think I'll make any more plum jam this year as we still have some jars left from the lot I made two years ago. I am thinking of preserving some of them in Kilner jars with port though.  I did that as well two years ago and those plums were very tasty and very welcome in the middle of the following winter.

 
I have never seen so many pears as we've got growing this season.  That's no problem for me though as I adore pears and am more than happy to eat them one by one as they ripen.

 
Even the apple trees are bowed down with the weight of all that fruit.  There'll be a lot of sharing out of the bounty with the neighbours as well as eating lots and lots of fruit in the coming months.  Ah well, at least fruit is good for us - and has no saturated fats either so my gall bladder will be very happy - plus, even better, it's all food for free.

For a While There I Thought it Was Going to Be Rubbish

Lovely weather for the car boot sale again this morning and because of that there were plenty of sellers and buyers already milling around when I arrived.  Several rows in and I had a horrible feeling that it was going to turn out to have been a waste of time going there as I had bought nothing.  All that seemed to be for sale were baby toys and / or clothes, well-worn Primark and Asda tops - usually in a size 8 or 10!! - and a lot of cheap trashy paperbacks and second-hand videos.  No, it was not shaping up to be a good morning at all. 

 
Then, all of a sudden, my fortunes changed I came across a stall selling this unbelievable magenta-pink padded (and my goodness me this puppy is well padded) quilted and embroidered tea cosy.  At the princely sum of 10p I bought it for the 'wow' factor alone.

 
Also on this stall were a large bundle of wooden hangers (I'm thinking knitted hanger covers on these) for 40p.

 
Two rather nice linen tea towels - 20p each. 

 
I'm particularly liking these  1970s graphics and am seriously considering hanging on to this one.

 
A pair of vintage Dents ladies gloves - 10p.

 
 
And, taking my cue from the wonderful Vix, these two 1970s M&S nylon blouses.  They were 50p each and I thought I'd given them a whirl on ebay.

 
I also found two T-shirts for my nephew.  This NBA one is apparently all the way from the US of A. 

 

 They were both 50p each.

 
Also for my nephew a rather unpleasant looking masked Lego figure - 20p. 

 
Fifteen various David Hockney print postcards - £1.50.  I love David Hockney's work and thought these were beautiful images.  They'd look lovely all framed together somehow.

 
And, of course, the usual selection of various toiletries for myself.  £1.00 the lot.  So, all in all, the boot sale turned out to be really good in the end despite the very inauspicious start.

Linking up with Me and My Shadow's Magpie Monday post.

Chop Chop

Realising I was quickly running out of homemade cards, this afternoon I got busy with my Stanley knife, the double-sided Sellotape and all the card blanks I had left.

 
I ended up with half-a-dozen more cards culled from the damaged-beyond-any-other-use Ladybird book I found at a jumble sale last autumn.  (I'm particularly liking the ambulance image, I think that would make a great 'get well' card.)

 
I've still got a few more images left in the book but they are all rather boyish so I thought I'd save making those until I get a few more card blanks.  Each card probably cost me just over 30p to make.  I think I paid 30p per card blank on ebay and the cost of the double-sided tape is negligible as I got two rolls at a car boot sale a while ago at some incredibly cheap price.

 
After I'd done those, and used up a loose knitting image from a 'Things to Make' Ladybird book too, I suddenly remembered some rather nice recycled paper card blanks I bought at the Vintage and Handmade Fair in Chipping Sodbury a few weeks ago.  I knew the cards were too small for the Ladybird images but had a bit of a 'eureka' moment when I remembered an old 'Complete Book of Sewing' from the 1940's that was knocking around somewhere.

 
Again, it was a book that was totally beyond use - even the covers had been ripped off at some point - but it does have some lovely 1940's sewing images in it.  I rather like the utilitarian one-colour prints against the brown card background. 

 
Total cost of these cards - 50p each for the blanks and maybe 1p on top for the double-sided tape and the original cost of the book.   Don't think WH Smiths or Clinton Cards could match that sort of bargain price!  And these cards are all one-offs too.  Not bad for an hour or so's work.

Hacked Off

One of P's favourite casual shirts had pretty much reached the end of the road - both the cuffs were frayed and worn, and a very thin patch near the elbow was threatening to become a hole at any moment.  Against my better judgement, he wore it on the flights to and from Iceland  as he said it was really soft cotton and very comfortable to wear when travelling. 

Last time I was ironing it I showed him all the damage to the cuffs and lower arms and suggested we put it out for the textile recycling collection.  Very reluctantly P agreed, at which point I had a bit of a 'eureka' moment and suggested I have a go at hacking off the lower portions of the sleeves (which were where all the worn parts were) and turning it into a short-sleeved shirt.  We both agreed that even if I loused the whole exercise up we'd lost nothing as the shirt was pretty much unwearable in the state it was in.

Using another of P's short-sleeved shirts as a guide I chopped off the sleeves to the desired length, folded them under, hemmed them up on the sewing machine, et voila!

 
A perfectly serviceable short-sleeved version and, as P doesn't have many short-sleeved shirts, a welcome summer-time addition to his wardrobe.  I felt quite chuffed with myself when I'd finished the transformation - and it only took about 15 minutes from start to finish.

Swapsies

A few weeks ago I signed up for the Faith Hope and Charity Swapping swap over at Faith Hope and Charity Shopping

I was teamed up with Caroline as my swap partner and my goodness me she sent a belter of a swap parcel.

 
Some delicious toiletries (I am a real sucker for nice toiletries,) and I had no idea that Evian made anything other than water - I'm looking forward to trying their moisturiser and the Body Shop scrub, and hand cream is always useful and very welcome.

 
Some lovely crafty goodies - embroidery threads, vintage knitting patterns and some sweet little cross stitch kits.

 
A book which promises to be just up my street as it's a murder mystery, a DVD starring among others Julie Andrews, Colin Firth and Stephen Fry - again just my cup of tea, and a Past Times scented candle.

 
And, last but not least, the jewellery part of the swap, a lovely chunky necklace.  Thank you, Caroline, I'm really delighted with everything you sent.  And many thanks to Lakota for organising the swap too.

Still on the subject of swaps, my swap partner from the dishcloth swap, Jen at The Woollen Earth, has got a photo of what I sent her on her blog (stupid here had forgotten to take a photo before I sent the parcel off to Nova Scotia!!)

And It's All For Me

Perfect boot sale weather this morning, sunny spells, not too much wind, nice dry field and lots and lots of sellers (and buyers.)  Perhaps for the first time ever, I came away with things that are only for me.  Normally, I'm on the lookout for things to re-sell, or clothes for my nephew, sister, Mum or even P and I was still looking out for those things today it's just I didn't find any.  However, I did manage to find some nice things for myself.

 
Marks and Spencer summer top - £1.00.  When I originally enquired about the price the seller said it was £2.00 (which would have been fine with me) and then in the next breath announced that I could have it for £1.00 instead.  Sold, and very nice it is too when I tried it on at home.

 
An Evans jumper for the colder weather.  This one was £2.00 which is quite a bargain compared to how much they cost new.  Again, it's a lovely length and fit and I'm really pleased I found it.

 
Quite a stash of nice toiletries.  Organic conditioner and shampoo - 30p each; two Crabtree & Evelyn Jojoba Oil soaps - 50p each; three L'Occitane body lotions - 50p each; and a bottle of No 7 Completely Quenched moisturiser - 20p. 

This little lot will be going into my toiletries stash (currently housed in a rather large wicker wastepaper bin.)  It's always a treat to rifle through the stash and find lovely upmarket toiletries that I've bought (for a fraction of their retail price) when I'm needing a new shower gel or shampoo.  It's like going shopping but without spending anything.  When I was looking for shampoo and shower gel to take on holiday with us I uncovered a bag full of travel size Crabtree and Evelyn stuff that I'd forgotten I had - they turned out to be perfect for our trip and had cost me 10p each.  You can't beat that for a beauty bargain.

Linking up with Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday and Me and My Shadow's Magpie Monday.

Simple Plain Dishcloth

 
Here's my second pattern knitted from the wonderful 'Gentle Art of Knitting,'  this time one of Jane Brocket's simple knitted dishcloths.  Mine is edged in navy cotton as that was the only colour I had and I'm very pleased with how it's turned out, though I must say that the red edging shown in the book is very spiffy indeed.

I should really knit up a couple more dishcloths in my own 'knife, fork and spoon' design (pattern here if any one is interested) in the near future but for the time being I'm enjoying some totally mindless but very useful knitting of a second blue-bordered simple plain dishcloth.

 
Speaking of knitted dishcloths, check out this rather snazzy patriotic dishcloth here or these coloured-edged ones from the same company if you don't want to knit your own.