Making Good Use

Every Cloud ....

Being reduced to ye olde dial-up internet connection (which doesn't work during the evening!!) has at least meant that I've had a bit of spare time.  Who knew I spent quite so much time each day surfing the net!!  The extra time available has meant I've actually got on with some crafting for a change. 

I finally sewed up the two bags which I'd cut out sometime in January.

This one was using the same thrifted John Lewis material as the bag I gave to Mum for Mother's Day.

And the second was made using some very nice vintage Laura Ashley upholstery material which Mum gave me.

Both bags are lined in thrifted sheeting and I'm quite pleased with how they've turned out.

I also got a bit of knitting done too.  There was a black headband for P's Mum which she was very pleased with apparently, another organic cotton facecloth, and two strawberry cupcake tea cosies.

 

These were made using some very thick cream wool which I picked up in a charity shop last year and had already knitted into an all cream-colour tea cosy.  That tea cosy was way too big for my teapot and the idea of unpicking it had been knocking around my brain for ages.  Finally, sans internet, I got going and unpicked it.  The red wool was thrifted a few weeks ago and is a really nice pure wool.  I only had two 50g balls of that and as I had to use it double to match up with the cream base I wasn't sure I'd have enough to finish two tea cosies.  Luckily, it was just enough - I had about a foot of wool left at the end of the second one.  The 'cream piping' on the top is made from pure wool roving and which I hand felted.  These have turned out better than I expected and when I finally get my ebay account sorted out again (hijacked by some joker who was selling digital cameras apparently), then they'll be up for sale.

I'm Dreaming of a White Easter

It's very rare that we ever get a white Christmas in the south of England, but this year we did get a white Easter.

This was the view from the french windows on Easter Sunday morning.  Quite a winter wonderland.  It didn't last though, and by the afternoon it had all melted away.

I know Easter was especially early this year, the earliest since 1913 apparently, but three years ago Easter was also at the end of March and the weather then was glorious.  I remember it well as P and I had just moved into this house and we spent quite a bit of the Good Friday in Ikea buying shelving and other such exciting things.  The weather then was so warm that I was already wearing my summer sandals with bare feet.

On the other hand, my sister's birthday is at the beginning of April and although some years the temperature can be in the high 60s, the number of times it has snowed on that day are just too numerous to remember.   

I can remember in mid-April 2000 there was quite thick snow lying on the ground in Bristol.  We had lost all television pictures and were out in the road trying to see if our TV aerial had fallen off the roof, trudging about in thick snow whilst it was still broad daylight at 8.00 pm - very odd!!  That is the latest in the year I ever remember snow falling although I had a friend at college who swore she could remember it snowing on the beach in Scunthorpe in early June 1976 (just before the famous heatwave started).  What's the lastest you can remember snowfall?

Compare and Contrast

Yesterday was our annual day out in Southend-on-Sea.  P goes to check out the matches at the Southend Chess Congress (held every Easter weekend), and I go for a wander around the charity shops. 

On Easter Saturday last year the weather was glorious, we walked along the beach, had a Rossi ice cream each (totally delicious and unique to south Essex), had a fish and chip lunch at a rather down-market eatery on the front, and came home with faces red from the sun.

This Easter what a difference!!  P, as usual, went to have a look at the games being played in the Chess Congree.  I, as usual, had a good trawl around the charity shops (netting a few books for re-sale, a rather nice hooded fleece for myself for only 99p, and a T-towel with a gorgeous floral pattern for 50p - which when I got back home I discovered was by Cath Kidston, nice).  There the comparison with last Easter ended.  I, rather foolishly, decided to walk down to the sea front in between heavy showers to take a few photos, and was almost blown off my feet by the force 10 gale coming directly from the arctic.  Now I'm a heftily built person but the wind did literally almost blow me over it was so strong!!

When P and I met up for lunch we decided to avoid anything on the sea front for fear of frostbite, and settled for a rather chi-chi French restaurant in one of the side streets.  The food here was gorgeous, although a bit nouvelle cuisine in portion size, and the ambiance and decor was excellent.  Having enjoyed ourselves thoroughly over lunch we headed back out into the frozen wastes, intent on picking up a few tasty treats from the French market which is also an annual Easter feature at Southend.  Sadly, the cold and wet had proved too much for the French traders and we arrived just as they were packing up!!  That was a bit of a bummer as P was really looking forward to some dried meat delicacy (it looks like dried Reindeer to me, but P assures me it's not!), and I was looking forward to some delicious French cheeses!!

After a quick look into Gades knitting shop (fabulous selection of wool and other sewing bits and bobs, I'd highly recommend a trip here if you're ever in Southend) where P treated me to a ball of Noro Kureyon as a small Easter gift, we made our way back to the station and were delighted to find that the train was just about the depart.  On we got and settled back for the 25 minute journey home, smugly congratulating ourselves on a lovely day out despite the weather.  The train got about half way to our destination when we were all turfed off at a small station as there was a 'mechanical fault' with the train.  P and I decided to walk to the high street and see if we could find a cafe open (we couldn't) before heading back to the station and catching the next train.  When we got back to the station we found that we had to go to the 'down' platform to catch the 'up' train which seemed a bit odd but we followed directions, and the train was due in 5 minutes.  Half an hour, one blizzard, and a quick jaunt back to the usual 'up' platform and we finally got back onto a warm train.  To make matters worse the station we had been abandoned at was totally locked over the weekend with no loos, or waiting rooms available, and no member of staff to have a go at (and, believe me, I would have liked to have had a go at somebody!!)  So this Easter we arrived back from Southend-on-Sea with red faces yet again, only this time it was from being stuck outside in a blizzard and not the sun.  Ahh, the joys of a great British bank holiday!!

PS  We did have a lovely day out despite the moaning above.

PPS Sorry for lack of photos, not sure I'd ever be able to upload them using ye olde dial-up connection!

Almost Online

The problem with Tesco.net broadband is still ongoing.  Apparently the fault lies with BT (British Telecom), they don't know what is the problem, can only try fixing it at night, and are going about it using a trial and error method!!!! And this in a first-world nation in the 21st century - pah!

To try and get round the problem P has re-installed the old dial-up connection we used to have.  It's slow, and photos are a complete nightmare, but at least it works. 

We've just spent a rather cold and windy, but pleasant nonetheless, Saturday in Southend-on-Sea.  I'll be back tomorrow with a bit longer post.

Still Stuck in the Library!!

Still no internet access at home via Tesco.net - it's now gone on so long that I think they have to start paying out compensation!!

To add insult to injury I can't access either my e-mail account or, more worryingly, my ebay account either - what the bloomin' heck is going on with the internet at the moment?

For a change of scenery, today I'm accessing what I can via the internet in Billericay library - at least it makes a change from our local library.

Hope to be back up and running at some point in the not too distant future.  'Til then, all the best.

Normal Service Will Be Resumed ....

.... whenever Tesco.net get their act together and restore the internet connection for the whole of the south of England - GRRRR! Am presently having to use the computer in the library - its speed is dead slow and stop!! Double GRRRR! Hope to be back online in the fairly near future. Hope you all have a good weekend.

Putting a Face to the Name

It's always nice to put a face to a name and although I'm very careful not to show my face, P's face, or DN's face on this blog (I HATE having my photo taken and nobody would want to see my fizzog anyway), I thought you might like to see P and I as depicted by his eight-year-old niece.

I have to say she's captured our likenesses pretty well, especially as she hasn't seen me in an awfully long time.  The objects that look like deelly-boppers on the top of P's head are the arms of his glasses.  I especially like the fact that she's drawn us holding hands!!

P's niece and nephew are really into giving handmade presents and P came back with a nice couple of items they had made for his recent birthday.

There is this long dangly doo-dah decorated with shells, corks and glass beads with a wooden boat at the bottom, and which will look very nice hanging from a tree or the shed door in the summer.

And a heart-shaped box decorated by the children and filled with delicious Swiss chocolates.

For his niece's birthday I sent over this child-sized knitted hat I made a while ago.

Apparently she was delighted with it, and was particularly taken by the fact that it was handmade and so nobody else would have one like it.  Now, that's a girl after my own heart.

I Like a Nice Cup of Tea ....

.... at any time of the day.  I always have a large mug of Earl Grey with my breakfast, one or two mugs of plain old 'monkey' tea during the afternoon, and another mug-ful in the course of the evening.  (I will confess at this juncture to having a couple of cups of coffee between 10.00 am and noon.)

P too is a keen tea drinker, and we have one (very small) kitchen cupboard dedicated solely to boxes of different tea bags (and a jar of coffee).

Most of the fruit tea-bags and the green tea-bags are purely for P's use, although occasionally I have been known to partake.  I do enjoy a Rooibos (Red Bush) tea sometimes, it's especially good for aiding digestion and being tannin free is good to drink late in the evening.

I find a mug of tea (I can't really be doing with a tea cup and saucer) wonderfully refreshing, and will drink it even on a blazing hot summers day.  It has wonderfully restorative powers and the concept of the British having a 'nice cup of tea' as the panacea for all ills is pretty much true.  Immediately after my father died in hospital one of the nursing staff offered to make us all a cup of tea, it was just what we all needed and although it didn't make a terrible time better, it did at least quench our thirsts and gave us all something to do whilst we gathered our thoughts.

What I really can't stomach, and indeed find quite an insult to a steaming hot cup of 'rosy lee', is iced tea - yukkity yuk yuk yuk!!  P always comes back from Switzerland with at least one bottle of this and then is amazed when I tell him I really couldn't drink it.

I don't want to offend anyone who thinks iced tea is wonderful, it's just that as far as I'm concerned nothing can beat a steaming hot mug of 'cha.'  And, yes, I have tried iced tea - bleugh!!

Good Intentions

I think there is a saying 'The road to hell is paved with good intentions.'  Well, I certainly had good intentions of making the most of my few days alone, sadly very few of the planned tasks actually materialised.

I did sort through my large box of buttons and decorated a few more luggage labels with them.  I also got to grips with printing out some computer labels (without too much swearing and gnashing of teeth!) So that was something!

I also dug out a bag of leftover bits of Blue Sky organic cotton yarn and have started knitting up a few more facecloths.  I completed two and am about a third of a way through a third one.  They're a bit hit or miss pattern-wise as I'm using up what I've got, but they seem to be working out OK.

As regards any sewing - no nothing, nada, zilch.  Somehow I just couldn't get into the right frame of mind for using the sewing machine, so all my good intentions in that area have definitely bitten the dust.  I did toy with the idea of getting the sewing machine out this morning as the weather was so wet and stormy, but the rain soon cleared up and I knew it would be most sensible to get in some supplies from the High Street whilst the weather held rather than mess about sewing.  I'm glad I did go out then, as from lunchtime onwards the weather has taken a distinct turn for the worse.  Poor P was last heard of stuck in Zurich airport with all flights to the south of the UK cancelled until futher notice.  The reason given there was 'fog'.  When he phoned up and told me that I'm afraid my answer was 'fog, my arse', there's a force 10 gale blowing that's why the planes can't land.  He was trying to get a flight to Birmingham, but as I've not heard anything more since I fear he may still be stuck in Switzerland.  Roll on some decent weather, spring cannot come quickly enough for me this year!

Home Alone - The Sequel

I'm home alone again this weekend and I'm hoping to take advantage of the extra time to do a bit of crafting.  I have great plans for setting up the sewing machine in P's study - where it can remain as long as I need it, with no necessity to have to keep putting it away when we want to eat (normally, I have to doing any sewing on the dining room table).  I hope to finally sew together two bags I cut out weeks and weeks ago.

I have a plan for something from this combination of items.

I want to sort through my large stash of buttons and make a few more of these labels, which will also involve trying to print out some sticky labels to go on the back - printing labels on a computer can drive me insane so that should lead to a fair bit of swearing!!  Never mind, at least there's no one else in the house to hear me.

So far, of course, I've not actually sat down and done anything useful except pick in some forsythia and 'artistically!!' arrange it in a vase.

I was sorely tempted to buy some daffodils this morning, but suddenly thought of the profusion of forsythia buds in the garden, and decided to be an utter 'tightwad' and chose the, ahem, cheaper free option.