Making Good Use

Q.U.I.E.T.

We have had an incredibly quiet and relaxed Easter holiday.  The weather has been pretty dire which meant neither of us fancied our annual Easter Saturday trip to Southend (P to check out the chess tournament and me to check out the charity shops.)  If it was this cold in Wickford we both knew it would be an awful lot colder at the seaside so we decided to give it a miss this year.  I was hoping to get to the boot sale yesterday morning but there was just too much in the way of drizzle for it to have been worth going to, and today - when there should have been another boot sale - has been cold, wet and windy all day.  A total no-no where boot sales are concerned.

Still, all this enforced quiet time has given me a wonderful excuse to get on with reading this excellent book.

I'd picked up a copy of it in a charity shop months ago but had never got round to starting on it.  The trouble with me is I'm terrible for reading murder mystery / thriller type books almost exclusively and rarely venture away from that particular genre.  Anyway, when I was visiting Mum in Bristol recently she was reading it and said what a marvellous book it is.  She wasn't wrong there - I can barely put it down.  I don't think I've been quite so absorbed in a book since I read 'Brideshead Revisited' more than 30 years ago. 

'The Help' is brilliantly written and is very easy to read but the story it tells is shocking and thought-provoking all at the same time.  Here's the blurb from the back of the book '  Enter a vanished and unjust world: Jackson, Mississippi, 1962. Where black maids raise white children, but aren't trusted not to steal the silver...  There's Aibileen, raising her seventeenth white child and nursing the hurt caused by her own son's tragic death; Minny, whose cooking is nearly as sassy as her tongue; and white Miss Skeeter, home from College, who wants to know why her beloved maid has disappeared.  Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny. No one would believe they'd be friends; fewer still would tolerate it. But as each woman finds the courage to cross boundaries, they come to depend and rely upon one another. Each is in a search of a truth. And together they have an extraordinary story to tell...'  It's a sobering thought for me that this way of life was still going on in my lifetime.  If you come across a copy of 'The Help' I can highly recommend it.

Phew!

We've had stage one of the digital TV switchover in our area today and when I put the telly on to watch the news this evening we had nothing but a 'no signal' message.  Cue frantic shouts to P to come and re-tune the ultra cheap digibox we've got, which we bought for £13.00 when Woolworths were closing down.  He fiddled and faffed around with it and eventually we had some of the channels up and running but none of the BBC ones.  I was not happy, as this evening is one of the few programmes I actually watch on TV - The Apprentice.   And we were both a little worried that our el-cheapo digibox was going to have to be consigned to the bin and we'd either have to make do with the five terrestrial channels again (Gawd, that would be a dire prospect,) or we'd have to go out and buy another box in order to get the other Freeview channels.

P took himself off to check out the digital switchover web page - which rather unhelpfully told us that our area is served by a transmitter in Kent which is not due to change to digital until June.  Um, no, don't think that's correct as we've had a very irritating message appear every time we switched the TV on for the past few weeks saying that the switchover was starting today.  I was exhorting P, in the strongest possible terms, to phone the helpline number and see what they had to say.  Obviously they only work office hours as by the time he tried there were only recorded messages.  Very bl**dy helpful to those of us desperate to get the BBC!!

Anyhoo, hats off to P, he's gone through the whole retuning process again and has got everything working A-OK.  What a hero!!  I'm off to watch The Apprentice in a mo with a nice cup of Rosie Lee and a couple of chocolate digestive biscuits.  And long may our ultra-cheap digibox keep on working.

A Rare Sight These Days

I was most surprised today to find a new item of clothing that has acutally been Made in England.  I came across a beautiful pure merino wool jumper for £2.50 in a local charity shop.  Two things caught my eye - 1) it still had its original labels attached, and 2) it bore the legend Made in England.   I just knew that if something is being manufactured in England in the 21st century it must be an item of clothing of extremely high quality.  Sure enough when I got home I checked out the John Smedley website and found that their jumpers retail at around the £130 mark.  Nice!!

It is so sad that we have pretty much destroyed our manufacturing industry in this country - especially the textile industry - and all for the sake of cheap, disposable fashion.  Pretty much any clothing I find that is vintage always has a label saying 'Made in England' or 'Made in Great Britain,'  occasionally for woolen items it will say 'Made in Scotland.'  I well remember Marks & Spencer having a huge sign in their window that boasted '90% of our goods are British made.'  Not any more they're not.  Anything new or new-ish from the past 20 years seems to have been made in Morocco, Turkey, Romania or Bangladesh (at least that's what a quick poll of the labels on my clothes say.)  I only have one item that was made in China (thank goodness) and that was a charity shop buy so I'm telling myself it doesn't really count.

I've been watching Mary Portas and her attempts to bring a tiny bit of textile manufacturing back to the UK with her 100% British knickers.  It has been a fascinating programme - in some ways very very uplifting and in others immensely sad.  I do hope she can keep her little factory ticking over and that her 'Kinky Knickers' keep on selling.

No Longer a Snip to Get a Trim

The mobile hairdresser who lived round the corner from us, and who has been cutting our hair most satisfactorily for the past three-and-a-half years, has recently retired.  She used to pop round on a six weekly basis and trim mine and P's hair for the grand sum of £10 for the both of us. 

Cue my hair having grown like a weed these past six weeks and I was on the lookout for another mobile hairdresser in the vicinity.  A quick Google search revealed there was someone only a couple of streets away, and a very nice young girl she is too.  She came round yesterday lunchtime and gave my hair a wet cut, trimmed exactly what I'd asked her to trim and I'm very happy with the results.  Only problem is - she charges £15 just for a wet cut!!   Apparently a cut and blow-dry would be between £25 - £30.  Gulp!  Just as well I'm more than happy to blow-dry my own hair after it's been cut.  The last time I had my hair cut in a salon it cost me £25 for a wash, cut and blow-dry.  As that was coming up four years ago, I suspect the price would have risen dramatically in the meantime.  Plus I totally hate sitting in the hairdressers having to stare at myself in the mirror for ages whilst my hair is being cut, and then have to sit there even longer whilst it gets blow-dried to within an inch of it's life and I come out feeling a right twit with seriously over-styled hair on a seriously under-styled body. 

A Thrifty Mrs had an excellent blog post recently on cutting your own fringe.  This is something I've been doing for years and years - with mixed results, it has to be admitted.  Last week I had a go at my fringe again as it had got to the tres irritating length of being right in my eyes.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find my 30-year-old hairdressing scissors anywhere so I had to make do with using rather large dressmaking scissors.  I was quite pleased with the end result but thought it only fair that I mention my DIY attempts to the hairdresser yesterday.  I was a tad taken aback when she said she'd realised I must've cut it myself and she'd do her best to even it all up!!  Really!!! I had no idea I'd made that much of a hash of it - unlike the time I decided to cut my fringe after having partaken of a glass or two of pear schnapps.  Now, that really was a botched job.

 

Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit

I found this little rabbit glove puppet  when I was sorting things out the other day.  I made it a couple of years ago and thought I'd offer it as an Easter giveaway, if anyone would like him.  He's made from a rather psychedelic fleece fabric and stands about 12 inches tall from the tips of his polka-dot lined ears to the base.  His head is lightly stuffed and he has black bead eyes and an embroidered mouth and nose.  He fits little people size hands or a small adult hand.  Leave a comment on this post if you'd like to win him and I'll do a draw next Saturday.  I'm happy to post him anywhere in the world but can't guarantee he'll arrive in time for Easter if you live outside the UK.

Question Time

I was recently tagged by Mel du Jour to answer 11 questions about myself - thanks for choosing me Mel, they were good fun to answer.

1. Who would you invite to a dinner party, living or dead?  Morecambe and Wise - funniest double act ever;  Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni - the original 'Essex girl' and  JK Rowling - I know quite a few other bloggers have chosen Ms Rowling too but I think she's the most amazingly inspirational woman and I'd love to know how she ever thought up such wonderful plot ideas for the Harry Potter novels.

2. Is there any book that you have read lots of times and you still enjoy it every time?  I re-read quite a lot of books - especially Ruth Rendell and Barbara Vine.  My all-time favourite book of her's is 'A Fatal Inversion' (written under her nom-de-plume Barbara Vine.)  It's set in the the halcyon long, hot days of the summer of 1976  and is a genuinely fascinating read - it's a murder mystery / whodunnit type of book but with a fantastic twist at the end.  Plus the descriptions of that amazing scorching summer bring that time back to me very vividly. 

3. Do you have a middle name?  Yup, my middle name is Helen and I was named after a friend of my Mum's. 

4. If you were an animal, what would you be?  No contest, I'd love to be a pampered pet cat - who always had food in their dish and could sleep for 18 hours a day - bliss!!

5. What would be your dream job?  When I was little, I wanted to read the weather on TV.  I've always been fascinated by weather - the more extreme the better - but this was in the 1960s when only bespectacled middle-aged boffins from the Met Office read out the weather.  More realistically, I always fancied owning a second-hand / antiques / junk shop and although I don't have a bricks and mortar shop, I do make a kind of living doing this online these days - so in a way, I am doing my dream job.

6. What is the best thing that you cook?  I like cooking a lot and have a few dishes that usually turn out quite well - sticky lemon chicken, salmon fishcakes, Chicken Mexicana - but as I'm a bit of a hit or miss cook I can never guarantee something will turn out just as it should.

7. Do you believe in ghosts?  If so, have you ever seen one.  I've never seen a ghost but I wouldn't say I don't believe in them  - I keep an open mind and would never rubbish the idea of the supernatural.  Though as my Dad - a total sceptic on all things like that - used to say, it's the living you have to fear, not the dead.

8. Would you like to live forever?  Short answer, with my painfully creaking hip joint - no.  If I could be guaranteed both good health and a happy time then why not.

9. Who would you chose to play you if a film was made of your life?  Hmm, tricky one this as all the 'full figured' actresses have had drastic weight losses recently.  I think I'll say Dawn French but she'd have to wear a fat suit to play me now.

10. What is the one item or object in your life that you could not live without?  Presuming that this question doesn't include people (wouldn't want to live without my nearest and dearest) then probably the one item I would be most upset to lose would be the toy cat I was bought for my first Christmas - Kitten.  He's raggedy, faded and rather threadbare but I would be seriously upset if anything happened to him.

11. Do you have any beauty secrets or products that you woud like to share?   Aldi's own brand under-eye concealer stick - very effective at reducing my Panda eyes.

All Kinds of Everything

Well, the jumble sale on Saturday certainly didn't disappoint.  I arrived about 20 minutes before the opening time and joined the already huge queue.  There must have 30 or 40 people ahead of me and I was most surprised when we were all let in to find that everyone in front of me had gone straight to the field at the rear of the scout hut where all the bric a brac, electricals and childrens' toys were laid out.  For a few blissful minutes I was the only one in the main hall so I had the first pick of the linens all to myself. 

First to be scooped up was this lovely crochet blanket - already washed and dried and now ready to be put to use.

Then there were a pile of vintage country cottage style slub linen curtains.  Not sure how many of these I managed to get but I think there are at least four.

A boxed navy blue velvet bow tie - very Jason King

And a boxed vintage black cummerbund and matching bow tie.  The box says the cummerbund originally cost 30 shillings.  Probably quite expensive at the time.

A partially completed cross stitch that came with the wooden embroidery hoop.

In a box in the back field I found these unworn Missoni socks, two silk ties for P - one being a gorgeous Jaeger tie - and a huge Clothing Crew silk scarf.

Amongst many other things, I also came away with a skirt and waistcoat for my Mum - as requested, a Jasper Conran T-shirt for my nephew, plus some Dr Who pyjama trousers (couldn't find the matching top anywhere) and various items of clothing with posh labels like Boden, Windsmoor, Hobbs and Monsoon.

And for me, found tucked away in the bottom of a box, a M&S string shopping bag in the most wonderfully vibrant green.  I'd been meaning to buy myself on of these bags in M&S for a long time but they don't seem to sell them any more.  I've already put this one to good use doing the shopping yesterday and it is quite amazing how much you can fit into it.

Antici-Pation*

Ah yes, huge anticipation here this evening as it's the Shenfield Scouts Mega Jumble Sale tomorrow at 1.00pm  (for anyone in the area, it's in the Scout Hut opposite the Eagle and Child pub in Shenfield.)  I've been a couple of times before and this jumble sale is usually AWESOME! (as my nephew would say.)  Luckily, the weather looks dry and fine as a lot of the items are in the open air in the field behind the scout hut.  All I have to decide on now is do I head for the linens and clothes in the scout hut first(leaving P to fight his way to the DVDs,) or do I head for the bric a brac area in the field as my priority.  Decisions, decisions, and of the best sort.

*Preferably this should be pronounced a la Tim Curry in the Rocky Horror Picture Show (right at the end of Sweet Transvestite.)

Testing, Testing

I came across this excellent tutorial to make DIY hot pads over at the ever-fabulous My Paper Crane.  As it happens, I have the exact same fabric as shown in one of her hot pads

a rather spiffy 60s china / Pyrex inspired print which Mum gave me for Christmas.

She also gave me this lovely fabric which features iconic London landmarks.  Both the fabrics are gorgeous and I wanted to do them full justice in whatever I made from them.  Anyway, before I cut into anything nice, I thought I'd have a trial run using some offcuts from a pair of unused vintage pillowcases (the rest of them ended up as tote bags.)

It turned out OK-ish.  Of course it's not as thick as it should be as I hadn't used felt in the centre as suggested but some off-cuts of quilt batting which I happened to have to hand.  Plus I decided to use linen bias binding round the edges instead of sewing something nice and polka-dotty (not sure I've got anything like that.)    I can certainly see the potential of these hot pads, ideal for plonking hot pans and dishes on at the table. 

Before hacking into the good stuff, and whilst I perfect my technique, I'll have another go with some of this very appropriately printed linen which I found in a local charity shop a few weeks ago.

ETA:  Both fabrics in the top two photos can be bought online at  http://www.themakeryonline.co.uk/our-shop/fabric/ (plus they've got a whole host of other very very nice fabrics.)  And if you're ever in Bath, they've got a lovely little shop tucked away in Northumberland Place - it's well worth a visit - and another on Walcot Street.

Result

At last, a VERY satisfactory result from a morning's browse of the local charity shops.

Three summer tops for me - the red one was £2.75 and is pure linen (which I hadn't realised until I got it home,)  the black and jade green tops were £2.50 each and should prove useful in the warm weather.

Four tres posh shirts for P.  Two short-sleeved Ben Sherman checked shirts, one long-sleeved stripy Charles Tyrwhit and the red and blue striped one is by Polo Ralph Lauren - very upmarket.  They're all in lovely condition and cost £13.50 for all four.  As the lady in the charity shop remarked, you couldn't buy one cotton shirt new for that price, let alone all four.  Funnily enough, a Lands End catalogue had been delivered when I got home so I checked out their shirt prices - £35.00 for short sleeves and £39.00 for long sleeves, which certainly puts £13.50 for four into context!!

And, screwed up in an elastic band, was this beautiful scarf from a company called Solstice Moon, which was handmade in Cornwall.  It's brand new with the labels still attached and it cost me 50p.  Having checked out the website, it seems their scarves retail for around the £50.00 mark, so that was another very nice find.

You might also be interested to know that Sue Ryder shops are now charging for their carrier bags too.  I'm not sure if they are 10p 0r 15p per bag (they do seem to be nice strong bags - but still!!) but it was some quite astonishing price!!   So that's Sue Ryder and Barnardos who are now charging for carrier bags in charity shops.  There was a note at the till saying that as they were an environmentally responsible organisation they felt it was only right to charge for carrier bags.  As the elderly lady who'd just been charged for a plastic bag pointed out - if they want to be environmentally reponsible they should be re-using donated carrier bags.