Another Man's Junk

Well as I said the other day when my husband cleared out the shed for his mother, some of the stuff would come in handy and it has already.  In amongst the various bits he sorted were some pieces of wood and huge selection of screws and nails.  He was very happy with these and most of them were still in the boxes.

 So when I was at a loss as to what to do with all the peas that are growing, having exhausted our pot collection (for now), he quickly put together this little frame using the wood, screws and string.  The trough at the bottom was also damaged and split so he repaired that as well.  To think I was worried at first that nothing would come up and now I'm wondering where to put things.

I let the cook know at school today that I will be needing more of those tins, she said ok so more planters to come there then. I have seen some ideas where there is a frame built on the floor that just boxes in the soil but it is not high, then there are frame sides with just chicken wire over them.  This may be an option for keeping the pets off so I can plant straight into the ground. However the good thing so far about having everything raised is that it seems to be keeping the slugs away, for now at least.

We have a few strawberries turning red, I'm not entirely sure how long to leave them until trying them.  I will have to research that, there are some odd shapes though and a few resemble boxing gloves.  Not that I mind as long as they taste ok, just wondering why they are so misshapen?

 Ok the one above on the right is the perfect strawberry shape so my husband said that one is his.

I have removed the runners now after realising they are taking energy from the fruit and we shall see if they take in the compost, then we may get more plants.  I should have done this sooner I now know but you learn as you go.

One lone tomato has appeared I hope it isn't going to remain lonely, there has to be a first I suppose.

Also looking forward to trying these, you never see yellow courgettes in the shops, or at least not where I shop.  Maybe in Waitrose? More variety perhaps in the posh shops.

Anyway whatever the outcome I am enjoying watching things grow and that is the main thing, it's quite exciting when the seeds pop up and I waited weeks and weeks for the lettuce thinking the seeds were duff and now I have loads of those too.  They just seemed to grow all at once, just as well because we get through lots of salad, and on that theme I'm off to cook the dinner.

Quick Sun Hat

Today I thought I would have a go at making a hat, the weather has been so nice and the one I have falls off my head every time I bend to do something.  I found this free pattern over at Lost in Paris for a bucket hat, the one there is made out of denim but I have used some black cord I had left.  While you are there checking out the pattern have a look at her gorgeous wedding dresses made from vintage lace they are amazing.

Here is my version of the hat, it is reversible and I made it a bit smaller then the pattern so it wouldn't slip off.  I intend to make another and I will stick to the size stated next time as while mine fits now, it is snug.

Ok for doing the garden I think.

The pieces are straight forward you cut two of each of the side and rim pieces and then the top then just repeat in a contrasting fabric.  These would look lovely for little ones made up in various designs, my hat will only be for the garden I am not a big hat wearer but this one does the job.

It is a great way to use up fabric as well, there is no saying you have to have it all in the same fabric, you could do a patchwork version for hanging about in the garden or even out in public if you are bold enough.

Here is the other side, a bit brighter this way and that fabric was from a vintage style dress I made for someone and the leftover bits are still cropping up in things about two years later.  I think when I make another one I will do a shorter top and a wider brim.

I stitched this up today in between sniffles, hay fever has finally hit but it won't keep me in.  I know there a re different types of pollen that affect people differently but at the moment I feel flu like, I know it's not that though.  Marvellous isn't it,  you wait for the sunny days and then  get the sniffles.

Well I have a glass of wine with my name on it for later and The Handmaids Tale to watch, it is so very dark.  I had to stop my Margaret Atwood reading earlier this year as she was bringing me down a bit.  I have also started another book which is off to a depressing start, so if anyone has read any good humorous books lately please share I could do with some light reading to offset the heavy stuff. 

Burda Young Jacket and my Staycation

This week has been a relaxing one, we opted not to go away this week despite the fact that we both had the week off work.  This is unusual as we tend to take this week as an opportunity to get away somewhere but a string of rainy holidays helped us to reach the decision to stay home.

It has been great as the weather has been mainly warm and sunny, I have had time in the greenhouse and my husband has got a few jobs done, including clearing out his mother's garden shed. This was a big job and good one to get out of the way, in fact he has  gone off just now to take more items to the tip.  It also brought a few surprises like boxes of nails, screws and hinges that they didn't want but which will of course come in handy for future projects.

We also chose to go out for lunch twice this week, as a nice change and seeing as we have not gone away.  A walk down to the nearest pub with youngest son for lunch one day and an Italian meal on our own on Thursday.  I also managed a catch up with friends which is always good so overall a nice week at home.

My sewing has seen my odd job pile of family repairs disappear and I completed my Burda Young Jacket which is for a Minerva crafts post.  I will show a quick peek and then link to the rest of the post when it appears on there.

This jacket is made from quilting cotton, I wanted to do something different.  I wasn't sure if I had made the right choice when I first cut it out but now I am really happy with the result.  Of course it will only go with a select few items but we all have items like that don't we?

 Unless  of course you build a capsule wardrobe around a few pieces but I can't get my head around that.  I like variety and feel I would be a bit constrained doing that.  It may be something to try for a short period I know Carolyn does this on her blog sometimes.  She picks a selection of her handmade items and wears only those for a fixed number of days.  So perhaps that is the way to do that rather than saying forever and getting bored with your options.

While we were out having one of our lunches a quick peek in the charity shops was had and we came home with a nice summer shirt for my husband for £4 and a dress for me from the £1 rail! Both too good to miss of course.

I love the colour of this dress and it looks like new so I can't understand how it ended up on the reduced rail, I would have thought someone would have snapped it up before now.

There has been  lots of cooking and a few of my veg leaves made it into a curry yesterday, just for me as the rest of the family had fish.

Just a few as it was curry for one, along with a few veg from the freezer and some chickpeas.

I forgot to photograph the end result which also included a very tasty tomato risotto which everyone ate so in light of this I have decided to set myself the challenge to write a post everyday for the rest of this month.  I decided this today as I don't know why but when I do more, I do more if you get my meaning.  So as an exercise in self discipline I am going to do it,  and remember to take more photographs of recipes, walks, and just general stuff.  A friend of mine said I need to get on it as she waits for my posts ha! She may be bored of me by the end of the month.  

Anyway it doesn't mean I will keep this up forever but it may help me establish a better pattern and of course I enjoy looking back on things in this form.  It would be good to know if any kind of posts are preferred over the coming month and of course I always love to read your comments