Making Good Use

Granny Square Cushion

A few months ago I found two large crocheted granny squares in a local charity shop and immediately thought they'd make a lovely big squashy cushion.  Trouble was, I didn't want to pay £7.00 plus (and there would be P&P costs) for a 24 inch feather pad to make the cushion with.

I was so pleased to find two really large feather cushion pads at last Saturday's jumble sale at 50p for the two.  An hour or so's gentle hand-sewing and the cushion was complete.

It's now gracing the settee in the bay window

With the cream Icelandic wool cushion cover I knitted in the Spring in the other corner.  They make quite the winter-ready warm and woolly pigeon pair.

Jumble Finds

After having got over the HUGE disappointment of most unfortunately missing the first half-hour of Saturday's jumble, I still managed to come home with some excellent finds. 

 
Vintage tapestry with its original 'Made in the Empire' label still attached, a Granny square crocheted tea cosy, 1970s desk tidy (love the pea-green colour,) a box of unused typewriter ribbons (sold some before on ebay and they went very well,) a pack of unused denim elbow patches - just the thing for my about-the-house hooded cardigan which has developed a whopping great hole in one elbow, and a large piece of fabric which has a gorgeous Indian print on it - I'm thinking this may make a nice skirt for me next summer.

 
A full-size stove-top kettle.  After my recent kettle-less experience I thought it prudent to buy this one when I saw it.  It needs a bit of a wash but should make boiling sufficient amounts of water a lot easier if / when our new electric kettle goes kaput or, indeed, if we have a power cut.

 
A brand-new, with £39 label still attached, Marks and Sparks jacket - £1.00.  This one is destined for ebay at some point.

 
Two really large feather cushions pads - 50p the two.  I was delighted to find these as I've got a small project in mind that requires cushion pads this size.

 
And a jolly nice summer skirt for moi.  I also found a pair of Monsoon jeans for my sister - 50p, a pile of T-shirts for my nephew - all 20p each, plus quite a few books that were good for re-sale.  So, all in all, despite being late for the start I was well pleased with what I brought home.

Grrr!

Yesterday was the local Shenfield Scouts 'Mega' Jumble Sale.  They only hold these sales twice a year - once in April and once in October, and when they say 'mega' they're not joking - those sales are HUGE.  I've been looking forward to it for the past couple of weeks since seeing the advert in the local paper.

 
P and I had a very early lunch and left home at 1.00 for the drive over to Shenfield, planning on being there just before 1.30 which would give me plenty of time to queue for the opening time of 2.00 pm.  Imagine my horror when we got there and found people already leaving laden down with carrier bags of swag!!!!  The sale had started at 1.00 pm and not 2.00 pm as advertised in the paper - b*gger, b*gger, b*gger.

 
I was out of the car like a long dog - never mind ye olde dodgy hip - woosh, I was up the path and in the door lickety spit.

 
I came away an hour later well pleased with what I did find, although still pretty p'eed off at having missed the first half hour.  Finds included this lovely hand-embroidered cloth featuring boats, fish, flags and a lighthouse.  Igot plenty of other goodies too which I'll blog about tomorrow.

St Peter's on the Wall

If you ever find yourself at the furthest-most reaches of eastern Essex, way out in the wilds of the Dengie Peninsula, as far as the land goes until it becomes cockle spit and salt marshes, and where the North Sea is just a few yards away, do go and visit the amazing St Peter's on the Wall.

 
Built in 650 AD by St Cedd, using stones from the Roman fort of Odona that originally stood on the site, it is the oldest remaining church in England.  I have never visited anywhere quite like it, it is totally other-worldly and utterly beautiful.

 
It is reached via a rough path between fields

 
with a WWII pill box in each one.

 
Where the sky seems to go on forever.

 
And where it is just too far away from civilisation to have ever been wired up to the national grid.

 
It was stunning and well worth battling the fierce wind howling off the North Sea to see it.

Guests

Things will be a bit quiet on the blog for the next day or two as we have P's brother and his family visiting from Switzerland.  They've all gone up to London for the day to do a spot of sightseeing leaving me and my dodgy hip to mind the fort, a pile of Swiss passports and a couple of wallets - a sensible move if you ask me as you can never be too careful when visiting the tourist hotspots of central London.

I'm hoping that the hip will be up to joining them all on a visit to nearby Burnham on Crouch and then on to the Saxon church at St Peters on the Wall - which I've wanted to see for ages.

I've been racking my brains to try and remember the little German that I know, and have been put to shame by P's 11-year-old niece's command of English - very impressive.  I managed to follow a fair part of the conversation yesterday evening but kept pretty quiet so as not to make a fool of myself speaking in 'Deutsch.'  To make matters even more complicated for my pea brain (this is the woman with the ungraded French 'O' Level, don't forget,) they speak Schweizerdeutsch - a sort of Swiss patois of German which sounds very very different to German Deutsch, if you know what I mean..

50p or £1 Million

Yup, I was given the choice of paying either 50p or £1 million each for the three tops I found at the car boot sale yesterday.  Oddly enough, I chose the 50p option.  The three ladies on this particular stall were all plus size girls (always a bonus for me as it means they'll probably have clothes in my size) and were all having a jolly good time.  They freely admitted they were only there for the food and drink opportunities and they were so cheerful and in such high spirits that they strongly reminded me of 'Beryl Cook' ladies - round, good-humoured and full of fun.  Plus, they had a rack full of really nice clothes. 

 
I bought this ditsy-print number which I washed, ironed and have already worn today.  I really liked the tiny pink flower print on a black background and it was just the thing to wear on the last really warm day we're likely to get for a good few months.

 
This check shirt will be good with or without a long-sleeved t-shirt underneath so should be a useful addition when it gets cooler.

 
This beach cover-up has such a striking print that I couldn't not buy it for 50p.  Not quite sure it's my style but I'm going for the Le Blog de Big Beauty look with it.

 
I was surprised to find this bag by the American designer Vera Bradley.  I wouldn't have known about her at all if it wasn't for reading a lot of American blogs these days.  The printed fabric is gorgeous and it's a really nice bag that's had hardly any use at all (if any.)  I was more than happy to pay £1.00 for it.

 
Finally, I found another bag which was also £1.00 - I only bought this one for the wooden handles as I know they are terribly expensive to buy - and a couple of packs of vintage tile decals.  Not sure if they'll be any good on ebay but for 25p it was worth taking a punt.