Making Good Use

A Winner and a Find

First up the 'virtual hat' (this time my Mum via the telephone) picked comment number five as the winner.  Sharie, if you're reading this you're the winner, let me have your address and I'll get the bag, dishcloth and some other bits and bobs in the post to you on Monday. 

I arrived back in Essex yesterday afternoon, it's only a flying visit really as I'll be back in Bristol in two weeks for my boy's sixth birthday party.  Oh my goodness, he is SOOOO looking forward to his birthday this year and as I was personally invited by the birthday boy himself months ago I couldn't possibly not attend.  Meanwhile, I've got plenty of housework, garden work, washing, ironing, shopping, cooking etc to catch up on here.  Naturally, a trip to the high street this morning included a look around the three charity shops.  Nothing of any interest to me in the first two and I hesitated about going into the third one as I know the VERY aggressive helper is in there on Friday mornings.  Sure enough, I'd no sooner got inside the door than she imperiously commanded me to place my umbrella in a bucket in case it dripped on the floor.  As my brolly was jammed down the side of the shopping trolley and so was only depositing any drips directly into my trolley, I declined her offer.  I'm very glad I did go in though as I found nine balls of Rowan Cotton Glace.

I feared asking what the price was as Mrs Aggressive makes up the prices as she goes along (nothing is actually labelled in there), and was really pleasantly surprised when she said they were three balls for £1.00.  Sold!  I'll be popping in again on Monday, when the much-nicer Olive will be working, to see what else might be about.

Just Around the Corner

Not far from my Mum's house is a very useful rank of small shops.  I remember when there was a small supermarket there (a Gateway supermarket - forerunner of Somerfield - and the place I had my first job as a Saturday girl) as well as a greengrocers, bakers, chemist, hairdresser, newsagents etc etc.  These days the choice is not so big as the supermarket is now a newsagents / corner shop type establishment and there are two takeaways where the newsagents and the greengrocers used to be.  Amazingly enough the chemist continues to survive (and is very very useful) and what used to be the bakers is an art shop which sells artists supplies and also offers art lessons.

When the art shop opened I don't think any of us thought it would last too long but many years later it is still doing well.  They usually have a table outside with second-hand books for sale at very reasonable prices.  I've never seen art books for sale but yesterday my eye was drawn to a stack of cookery books - 50p each.

I was very restrained and only bought this one - primarily with the idea of selling it on Amazon - but now I have had a good look through it I think it may be a keeper.  The lovely selection of salad dressing recipes would make it worth keeping alone (I'm still hoping the summer will be wonderfully hot and sunny so we'll be wanting salads for our evening meal every night.)  On my way out from the shop I noticed they had a really good selection of greetings cards so Mum popped in to have a perusal.  She was in there ages and ages (I was waiting in the queue in the fish and chip shop at this point) and came out looking mighty pleased with herself. 

As luck would have it Mum had been using one of my handmade bags - the first one I ever made - and the owner of the art shop had commented on how unusual and nice it was.  Mum had said her daughter had made it and it had been a present etc etc.  All of which got me to thinking that when I'm back down in Bristol in a couple of weeks I might bring a few of my pillowcase totes back with me and see if the art shop would be at all interested in stocking them as they would be a very useful size for carrying brushes, paper and watercolour paints in.  Nothing ventured and all that, you know.

Nippy

Naturally, as it's a Bank Holiday Monday here in the UK, the weather is a.b.s.o.l.u.t.e.l.y f.r.e.e.z.i.n.g. and it's raining intermittently too. 

Too nippy to venture out in the garden to finish off the rather satisfying task of hacking things back with secateurs and chilly enough for the central heating to have been on most of the day.  I try and cheer myself up with the fact that last year's May Day holiday was nice weather which was followed by a couple of weeks of glorious sunshine, and then a summer of grey skies, rain and cold.  Hopefully, as this May Day is so grotty, the coming summer will be a lot better.  It may be a cock-eyed way of looking at it but it certainly helps to cheer me up when the wind is still arctic in May!!

Good job there is a lovely warm Maine Coon to keep our laps nice and toasty. 

Two

Today is the second anniversary of taking my first (very) tentative steps into the world of blogging.  It has been a wonderful two bloggy years.  I've 'met' lots of lovely people (and am hoping to meet some of them in the flesh in London at the end of June), I've had some wonderfully kind and caring comments left, and some very interesting things have come about because of the blog - like being on the radio, having the blog mentioned in India Knight's thrifting book, and having the courage to send off my pillowcase tote pattern to Sew Hip magazine (and, amazingly, having it featured in the first issue.)

So to say 'thank you' for all the great blogging experiences I've had over the past two years I'm offering a small giveaway.  I'm not sure exactly what will be in the parcel but one of my pillowcase totes will definitely feature, as will a hand-knitted dishcloth, and there will be some other goodies included too.  Just leave a comment on this post and I'll draw a name from the virtual hat on Friday 8th May.  I'm happy to post anywhere in the world.

Snot Green

Years ago, when Mum and I used to have a regular stall at a local flea market, we used to very disparagingly call a particular shade of green 'snot green.'  It's that certain shade of quite acidic yellowy-green which I think is now much more appealingly called 'chartreuse.'  Any item of clothing that we had for sale in that particular colour would always sell pretty much immediately.  At the time neither of use could quite imagine why anyone would want to wear such an unflattering colour.  How times change, these days it is a colour I'm rather fond of.

Yesterday I found a lovely long-sleeved jumper in the good old 'snot green' shade which I was very pleased with (it has a sort of dip-dye effect, darkening to a much more foresty-green near the hem).  I remember seeing this particular jumper in the Evans catalogue last autumn, and quite coveting it then.  I don't recollect what the price would have been new but I'm guessing somewhere in the region of £25.00, yesterday I paid £2.49.  I was very pleased.

A very similar snotty shade of green is also prevelant in this barkcloth-type fabric screen-printed with exotic birds which I found at the jumble on Saturday.  I'm in two minds whether to keep the fabric (currently two slim curtain panels) with the hope that I may find a use for it in the not too distant future, or whether to put it on ebay (vintage fabrics seem to fetch quite good prices at the moment.)  Decisions, decisions.

I've Been to a Jumble Sale ....

.... and it was bloody brilliant.  En route to visit my Mum in hospital last week I spotted a large notice for a local scout jumble sale.  Now, as it happens, I also went to that particular scout jumble sale two and a half years ago when Mum had just been in hospital before so I knew that it was usually well worth the effort to get there.  I've been so looking forward to it all week although I kept thinking 'it can't possibly be as good again', 'it'll all be a load of 'toot' (to quote Sir Alan Sugar)', or, worst case scenario, it'll have been cancelled.  It was, it wasn't, and it wasn't.  It was fantastic!!

There was the rather greedy pile of vintage fabric and pillowcases that I grabbed.  I'm particularly loving the pink, navy and red heavy-weight cotton at the bottom of the photo.  (Total cost for all linens approx. £2.00)

The 'new' vintage sheet still in its original 'Gaynights' packaging.  (Not sure that would be an acceptable name for bed linen these days.)

The rather nice 'Past Times' silk tie for P - 10p.

A pile of clothes for DN - £1.00 the lot.  Some excellent books for re-sale on Amazon (fill a carrier bag for £1.00). 

A vintage Lotto game which I'm hoping I can make something card-wise from - 20p.

And, finally, the jewel in the crown - a Cath Kidston / Ikea Rosali single duvet cover.  Destined for ebay.  There was the matching pillowcase with it which I happend to drop as I made a dive for the cover and which somebody else snatched up and then asked if I was holding onto the duvet cover - I most certainly was.  Grrr, wish I'd kept hold of the pillowcase more tightly too!!

All in all, the best jumble sale I've been to since the last scout one at the same scout hut two and a half years ago.  Actually, the only jumble I've been to since then as jumble sales just don't seem to happen in Essex.  Whoo-hoo, what a fabulous afternoon's entertainment.

Thank You

Thank you so much to everyone who left such kind and supportive comments on my last post - both Mum and I really really appreciated it.  It's lovely to know others were thinking of us during such a worrying time.

Mum came home from hospital yesterday and seems quite well, if a little pale, but has been told to take it easy for a little while.  She's on a lot of tablets for the heart problem (atrial fibrulation) and will have to go to the doctors every week for blood tests whilst she's on warfarin.  This is probably not a bad thing as it means if she feels unwell again she MIGHT the next time actually tell somebody how ill she feels.  It transpires she's felt under the weather for a long time but hasn't liked to bother anyone - including her GP!   GRRR, stubborn devil that she is!

Anyway, it's lovely to have her back home and being able to get a good night's sleep in her own bed, and not have to worry about her picking up any nasty bugs (MRSA, C.Diff etc etc) whilst incarcerated in hospital.  The nursing care in the hospital was very good but the standard of cleanliness did leave rather a lot to be desired - especially the toilet and washing facilities.  Such simple things could have been done to put it right but somehow the NHS never seem to address those basic issues.  Having said that, I'm still immensely grateful that we have the NHS and don't have to pay huge insurance premiums in order to receive medical care here in the UK.  Without doubt the NHS is our greatest national asset, if only it could be just a little bit cleaner.

A Phone Call in the Night

You know when the phone rings at just before 4.00 am that the news is not going to be good.  We had just such a phone call in the early hours of yesterday to say that my Mum had been taken into hospital with a rapid and irregular heart beat. 

P immediately got the car out (and for that I will be eternally grateful to him) and we began the long drive from Essex to Bristol - at times encountering the scariest thundery downpour I have ever seen on a motorway.  I was in a state of complete panic fearing that she may have had a massive heart attack before I got there but when we eventually arrived at the hospital she was in a lot better state than I had feared. 

Today she has been moved to a cardiac care unit and is looking quite bright and chipper although her heart rate has still not been fully stabilised.  We're all keeping everything crossed that things will be sorted out very soon.

Meanwhile I'm holding the fort at Mum's house (and looking after Princess Lily - the cat) so posts will be a bit sporadic here for a while.

I also just want to say that without Mum's wonderful neighbours - A and C (and you two know who you are and I know you read the blog) I don't know what the outcome would have been.  So thank you both so so much - you're wonderful.

It's Not Fair

The phrase 'It's Not Fair' was something I used to say an awful lot when I was little - especially if I wasn't going to get whatever it was I really wanted.  It was always 'it's not fair - so and so has got one / can do that / is allowed to ....'  You get the picture I'm sure.  But it's been many years since I've felt the need to utter that phrase, this Easter weekend was an exception.  The whole of the west of the UK (especially my family in Bristol) seemed to be having wonderful sunny days and high temperatures and could sit out in the garden enjoying it all.  A lot of the blogs I've read have mentioned how wonderful the car boot sales had been because the weather was so good.  Not here in Essex!!  Good Friday was beautiful weather but from there on in it was just GREY, GREY, GREY, with a fair bit of cold drizzly rain thrown in for good measure.  Car boot sales were a right off and I couldn't even get much of the washing dry!!!  I suppose I could have sat out in the garden but only if I'd wanted to wear my winter coat and gloves.  It really wasn't fair.

Anyway, having got that off my chest, it was a rather nice relaxing weekend with far too much TV watching for my own good as anything outdoors or gardening related just had to wait.  Today is a bit brighter but I still had to wear my fleece when I went out this morning.  The grass could seriously do with a good cut again but it's far too wet underfoot to do it properly.  

At least the bad weather gave me a good opportunity to go through my spring / summer wardrobe and decide what I'm likely to wear this year and what I might as well try and sell on ebay.  I've done reasonably well selling some of the clothes I'll no longer wear on ebay lately (there are some advantages to being a plus size as bigger clothes seem to sell for much better money than smaller-size items.)  I've found quite a pile of things that I no longer like or which even though I've tried them on with various other items I'm not sure are quite 'me', so I'm going to start listing them bit by bit.  Having a good root around in the wardrobe means I've also found a few other items which I've decided I really do like and which in some cases I'd even forgotten I had!!  I've obviously got far too many clothes if I can forget about some things.  My trouble is I get into a rut with what I wear and the same few items come out time and time again.  A change of season is always a good opportunity to have a fairly ruthless review of what I still do and don't like clothes-wise.

I do hope wherever you were you had a sunny and / or relaxing Easter weekend.

Saturday Finds

I rarely venture to the High Street on a Saturday morning but today was an exception as I needed to go to the butchers.  Of course, whilst there I had to quickly pop into the charity shops, and I was very pleased that I did.

There was a suitcase full of wool propped open on a chair and in it I found these four unused 50g balls of Rowan Kid Classic in the loveliest muted heathery tones.  I was going to sell them on ebay but then I thought nope, they'd make a lovely stripy scarf for next winter (as if I haven't got enough knitted scarves already!!)

In the same charity shop there were piles and piles of towels and pillowcases.  From amongst the teetering stack I found three unused stripy face cloths - one still bearing the original 'Empire Made' label - and a very pretty rose-edged lemon pillowcase.  The whole lot including the Rowan wool cost me £2.50 - I was one very happy (Easter) bunny I can tell you.