And ended up with a rather useful autumn-themed bag. Sadly, the iron mould was rather more widespread than I'd realised (and Ace bleach didn't touch it), but never mind at least I could squeeze one bag out of the tablecloth. I've got an idea of using some of the iron-mould-free offcuts on some greetings cards but as this fabric does tend to fray a tad I'm not sure whether the idea will work or not, I'll see.
I found this book for 50p in one of the local charity shops on Saturday morning and, with the mounting economic problems in the Western world, it seemed only prudent to buy it.
I remember hearing a lot about this book when I was a young teenager (sure enough, it was originally published in 1972), when it seemed to me it was a weighty-looking tome with lots of scientific-type illustrations. Not the sort of book that appealed to me at the time - in fact, I tended to associate it with the hard-core hippy 'knit your own lentils' brigade. Now it really appeals to my frugal nature and I'm hoping to get a lot of use from it. It does help that the illustrations have now been replaced by nice bright colour photographs.
Every autumn I think I'd like to go out to the countryside and pick mushrooms - again, every autumn the Daily Moan (sorry, Daily Mail) carries hysterical articles about what happens if you pick and eat the wrong fungi - kidney failure at best, death otherwise!! This does tend to put me off a bit. There is a whole section of 'Food for Free' dedicated just to fungi - with helpful photos. I'm still not sure I'd ever dare risk it, but I do feel a bit more capable now I've got this book.
There are also some helpful recipes in the book so that you know what to actually do with your free harvest, and some quite obscure ones too - Pontack Sauce (made from elderberries) and Chinese-style Jew's ear soup (for clarity, Jew's ear is apparently a type of fungi!!) I do feel prompted to go down the lane and see what's left of the blackberries - they'd make a nice free pudding this evening - and at least eating a dodgy blackberry can't kill me!!
Since I went down to Basildon. I always try and go on a Friday morning so that I can combine any shopping I need with a trip to the 'Bargain Box' as well as the charity shops.
I'd be ashamed to mention quite how much I spent on three new winter tops, all I can say is it's a good job I had a gift card for this particular shop, and that I buy most of my clothes seond-hand. How people can afford to dress totally from high street stores is waaaaaaaay beyond me and my budget. I've just spent a very pleasant hour trying the new tops on at home with various pairs of jeans, and having a good go through my wardrobe to see what else I can resurrect for the winter. I did manage to find two tops which I thought didn't fit any more but which seem to be fine - a bit of a mystery that as I swear I haven't lost any weight but, hey ho, I'm not complaining. I also managed to find a couple of items that I'll be putting on ebay - just to try and recoup some of the expenditure of this morning.
I did a quick tour of all the charity shops and came away with a few books for re-sale. Then it was off double-quick to the 'Bargain Box'. They say they are open from 10.00 - 12 noon, but by 11.15 they were already beginning to pack up.
I managed to find a rather nice autumnal tablecloth, I just love the leaf print but, sadly, it seems to have succumbed to a bad case of iron mould in places. I will wash it through with a good dose of Ace bleach but I'm not sure it will have much effect. If anyone has any suggestions about what to do with tablecloth-weight material I'd love to hear from you.
Also picked up were these two full cards of vintage buttons. They're not wildly exciting but as they and the tablecloth were only 50p in total, I thought I'd give them a good home.
But the pipe wrap draught excluder at the bottom of the french windows does seem to be having a good effect. I had to cut extra pieces in order to fit the width of the windows and the bolt near the middle also proved a bit tricky to work around. Aesthetically, it could definitely be improved. Technically, I'm still not sure how long the parcel tape currently holding the pipe wrap to the floor and door will last - but for the time being it is a vast improvement. The draught was so bad that when I was kneeling down fitting the pipe wrap the wind whistling through the gap was so fierce it was blowing my hair about!!
Here's something that is 'right pretty' - my better-late-than-never geranium. I bought two of these a couple of months ago in the market when they were first in flower. A couple of weeks later and the flowers had died back and all that was left were leaves - not very pretty. I kept on watering them but did nothing else and was most surprised when I got back from Bristol last week to find this one in particular had more flowers than when I originally bought it. Long may it last, bringing a touch of summer to the wind-lashed, rain-splashed autumnal garden
Turned out to be very busy and rather pleasant. The sun was out, the grass was dry and there were more sellers than I've seen all season. So many, in fact, that I didn't manage to get round all the stalls in the hour we were there. I got a couple of reasonable books for re-sale and a nice short-sleeved T-shirt for DN for next summer.
There was also this very stylish knitting pattern for baby's slippers and bootees, which at 10p I had to buy - not that I've got any particular baby in mind to knit bootees for but they are sweetly pretty.
And this rather nice French knitting red and white wooden mushroom. I remember having a wooden doll style French knitting thingy as a child, and never could get to grips with it. I bought this one mainly because it was such a cheerful mushroom item but, you never know, it may come in useful for making knitted cords one day, and it did only cost me 50p.
This morning dawned beautifully bright and sunny with hardly a cloud in the sky - what a contrast to yesterday's grey, dreary, damp weather. I took myself off to the Thursday Car Boot which was not brilliant but I had a nice gentle stroll around in the warm sunshine, admiring the glowing colours of the trees as their leaves begin to fall.
I took the opportunity of paying a visit to Sainsbury's whilst I was in the vicinity and changed up my 1p, 2p and 5p pieces in their Coinstar machine. I like to save up the coppers and 5p pieces and then every few months cash them in and use the voucher for a bit of money off my shopping. Today's voucher was for £6 which wasn't bad for about four months of collecting my small change. It was just as well I went this week as this particular Sainsbury's store has had the builders in for months now and is going to be closed for 9 days from next Wednesday. I'll bear that in mind if the weather is still good for the car boot sale next Thursday. The weather forecast looks very promising for the weekend too so, fingers' crossed, there will be another car boot on Sunday.
I read a very interesting blog recently (dag nabbit, I can't for the life of me find it again) which was talking about signing up to do surveys on You Gov (www.yougov.co.uk). Apparently each survey you complete pays a minimum of 50p and once your account has reached £50 they send you a cheque. I had to complete a simple registration form and then fill in a more personal survey (it only took a couple of minutes and they've credited my account with £1). I know it's not mega bucks, but as Tesco is so fond of telling us 'every little helps.'
I've also signed up for a Christmas Swap over at French Knots (www.frenchknots.typepad.co.uk). I've been partnered up with Emma from Bagladee (www.emma-bagladee.blogspot.com) who makes the most fantastic looking bags and broochs. Hi Emma, if you're reading. Not sure what I'll be making for her for the swap but I've got until mid November to get something sorted.
Finally, here's a photo of the other scarf I made yesterday. I wasn't quite so pleased with it as the tweed fabric was just not quite long enough - although the colours do all go well together.
I couldn't decide this morning whether to pop over to Billericay and trawl the charity shops or whether to stay home and get the sewing machine out. The thought of spending £4.40 on bus fare (for a 15 minute journey each way - shockingly expensive) made me think twice and I knew I'd made the right decision when the rain started at 10.00 am - just when I would have been walking along the High Street. So out came the sewing machine and I got to work on one of the fabric scarves.
It all went together pretty well and I'm pleased with how it turned out. In fact, the most difficult part was trying to get a decent photo. At first I thought it might have been too short but having checked the sizes of the Cath Kidston scarves online, I found mine was considerably longer - approx. 60 inches long.
I was so pleased with my achievement that I sewed up another one this afternoon. That one didn't go quite as well as the greeny tweed fabric was not quite long enough so this one has ended up a tad shorter. The photos of that one will have to wait until tomorrow when we've got a bit of sunshine - fingers crossed!
I've been mulling over what to do with some lovely tweedy fabric I thrifted over the summer. Initially I thought of making winter-weight bags but, hmm, somehow that idea didn't quite 'do it' for me. Then I thought of cushion covers - maybe livened up with some felt appliques. The jury's still out on that one. Then my thoughts turned to the approaching colder weather, and what sort of items would be useful then. One idea was tweedy hot-water bottle covers - again, still chewing that one over. Finally, I've decided to use some of the tweed to make fabric scarves.
I know I've seen some beautiful fabric scarves on various blogs (of course, I can't find them now!!) but I'm hoping to loosely base mine on the old 'mod' scarves from the sixties where one side is wool and the other side a silky print (should you ever come across these vintage scarves they sell extremely well on ebay). I had a look for some fat quarters I bought last year, and was delighted to find that the colours go really well with the tweeds. I'm planning on making a patchwork effect backing from the cotton fabrics with the plain tweed fabric on the other side.
The three pink / grey fabrics are, I think, Kaffe Fassett and go beautifully with the mauvy hounds-tooth tweed.
The mustard floral and blue polka-dots are Amy Butler fabrics whilst the blue circles one is another Kaffe Fassett.
I so rarely buy new fabric that I'm amazed I managed to find colours that would marry up so well with the thrifted tweed. The only problem will be actually cutting into the new stuff!! Still, omlette and eggs you know, omlette and eggs.