A Techno Free Weekend. with sewing on the side.

Good Morning, I am refreshed and raring to go. I had a lazy day yesterday, sitting in the car for nearly 5 hours Saturday did me no favours at all, my joints were rebelling all Sunday, I did not feel up to writing a blog post so had a technology free day. I filled my day nicely with some reading and a little bit of sewing and a very little bit of cooking.
I put some bacon chops in the slow cooker with a bottle of Mr T's cheapest Cola and served them with mustard mash, cauli and broccoli. Jam sponge and custard for pudding. Yum.

I did manage a quick visit to Burton-on-Trent Saturday, a quick look round the market and a zip in and out of the Charity Shops.

I picked up this single duvet cover for £1, it is very good quality and in new condition. I plan to turn it into aprons with a frill round the skirts. My local Cats Protection CS can sell them as fundraisers.

The quilt for James and Cerys is done, I could not settle on fabric to back it so used a fleece blanket and it is really warm.

One thing that I noticed in the Burton CS was the price of pillowcases, £1 upwards!! I pay 25p at most. The one in this pic is one of a pair for 35p. I stuff them with 3 or 4 layers of wadding offcuts, sew up the opening and do a little hand quilting and there is a very cheap pet bed. This one will fit a small to medium dog or a couple of cats. I sew the layers of wadding together as well so that when washed they retain their shape.

I got my November block swap on Saturday, I am not a happy bunny, it came with a letter saying that she had cut it wrong so had put a patch in one corner, did I mind!! if so let her know and she would try again!

Well yes I do mind, I take great care to send a swap as near perfect as I can make it. I am fussy and like to think that others are also. If it turns out too small I remake, if I am not going to do it properly then I do not do it at all. To me part of the fun of swapping is to match the swap with my partners tastes and to make them something with a bit of "OOH" factor. This is what I got. BTW my colours are Red, Yellow and Aqua on White, with no Batiks.

This is not square, it does not measure 12 1/2" and it is not Aqua, it also has grey and the blue is a Batik.

This is where she cut it wrong, the red point has been cut off and the blue pint was lost when she added a scrap of fabric. 

I am putting it in the post and sending it back. The block pattern I quite like but I could not keep this even to cut for scraps, evrytime I saw it I would seethe. My last block was nothing special but it was the right size and the right colours so I will use it. All the other blocks that I have had are really good and I look forward to turning them into a quilt.

Moan over.

This was our dinner on Friday, spicy fried chicken, in the end I did not make batter I dipped the meat in milk and then a spicy gram flour mix. The sausage gravy was lovely, I used a 50p pack of RTC honey and mustard sausages and added a little extra mustard to the gravy.

It was so tasty that we are having a version of it tonight on pasta.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. Pain free for 24 hours.

2. A visit on Saturday and a catch up.

3. Being made aware that my health issues are negligible.

4. Being made aware that our health service, with all its problems. does a very good job on the whole.

5. Feeling fortunate in having Francesca's family in my life.

In 2 weeks Fran will be moving to her new house-share in London, a time of change and for us all. I look forward to seeing more space in the cottage and seeing her social life actually happen. She will instantly gain over 5 hours a day by not commuting.

On that thought I really ought to drag out some of the things that need checking before they are packed, there are a lot of boxes that have not been touched for 2 years!

                                       TTFN                            Pam

Cooking, Sewing and Snarling down the Phone.

What a day yesterday was, I could not decide what to eat so emptied the veggy drawer of the fridge and made a Rogan Josh.
I just chopped onion, carrot, peppers, squash, celery and sweet potato and sweated off in a little oil. Added a half jar of Rogan Josh paste, a little tomato puree, some garlic puree and enough veg stock to just cover. I brought it up to simmer and cooked covered for around 20 minutes, then I added some cauliflower florets and a tin of drained mixed beans from Mr S and cooked uncovered for 10 minutes.

Here it is with just 5 minutes left.

I just sprinkled some fresh coriander from the garden on top, because there were beans and potato in it I did not need rice.

I did stir in a dollop of this though, it is really good.

I got it from AF for about 30p a jar, and I could eat it straight from the jar!

I have not cooked Southern Fried Chicken for ages so I picked a RTC £1.70 chicken from the freezer and jointed it, it is sitting in the fridge in a slick of natural yogurt. I normally use buttermilk but the yogurt was RTC 20p!.

I will coat these with fresh breadcrumbs with a mix of spices in and then spray with a light coat of Fry Lite and cook in the oven. Hot with oven cooked chips and the last of the sweetcorn tonight and cold with Jacket potato and salad tomorrow.

The spice mix will be a random selection but will have cayenne, smoked paprika and cumin, probably a little turmeric both for taste and colour.

Now for the sewing.

This is the result of sewing all those strips together and will make the Santa Sack for my swap partner.

This will make a cushion cover to go in the sack, along with a pincushion and a mug rug that I have yet to make. I also fancy making a couple of yards of bunting.

I keep taking strips out of the basket, sewing, trimming and throwing all the little bits back and I swear that the basket is fuller now than when I started.

Now to the snarling bit.

My internet connection has been playing up and is very slow, this means that when I try to access outlook it cancels on "time out".

Today I managed to get through to BT and explained the problem to a very "helpful" woman , who was possibly in Delhi!

Her response was to tell me that my email was nothing to do with BT and she could not help, 3 TIMES I explained that it was the lack of speed that was the problem. Finally she got the message and put me through to the correct dept.

A VERY helpful young man went through a speed check and confirmed that there was a problem. However the corrective system was in the process of being upgraded and nothing could be done today. He then went out of his way to speak to a supervisor who assured me that we would get a call back as soon as the system was up and running and the issue would be resolved.

I stopped snarling but was a titchy bit sharp and asked for a time scale, it will be at least 24 hours.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. Dinner sorted for 2 days.

2. 3 generous portions of veg curry in the freezer.

3. A load of laundry dried on the line before the rain came.

4. A new recipe for pear chutney to try out.

5. My copy of SEW magazine arrived today, so copious cups of tea are on the agenda while I read it cover to cover.

On that note I am heading for the corner of the sofa.

                       TTFN                      Pam

P.S. Has anyone got a recipe for mustard pickle, I have made mine up for years now and would like to try a change, it needs to be hot rather than sweet. Pam

I Should Be So Lucky, Wait, I Am Lucky.

Last night at work I was hit by a fork lift truck!!, At least the pallet that he was moving hit me in the back. I was moving forward and have very quick reflexes, a good thing on both counts otherwise I would now be in hospital or worse.
The driver was moving forward with a fully loaded pallet so could see nothing, he should have been reversing until he reached his destination, he was not sounding his hooter, and when I spoke to him he did not understand English. I reported it to his supervisor and then high tailed it up to the office to make an official report.
As I said in the title I am so lucky. But I do not want to be lucky. I WANT TO BE SAFE.

My employers have "A duty of care" for me and all my colleagues, it is a legal responsibility, and I feel strongly that they are not fulfilling that  duty.

We have a high percentage of foreign workers with a very limited understanding of English. On the other hand if the foreign nationals left we would close, unemployment is fairly high in this area but there seems to be a hard core of able bodied people who will not/can not get off their bums and go to work

Rant over, I do apologize but I was rather shaken up by my near miss.

Time for a calming photo or 2.

Early morning in Rhydowen, Wales.

Road side bank in Pontsian, Wales

A splash of colour, Llandysul, Wales

That's much better, calmer by the photo.

I am doing well in my challenge to use it up not buy it up, I spent £2.68 on milk, £1.75 on veg, £1 on eggs and 50p on oranges last Sunday. From the state of my fridge I will not spend another penny until Friday or Saturday when it will be milk, cheese and eggs again plus a little veg and salad. so I should stay comfortably within the £10 projected spend.

I have 2 Quilt tops to layer and baste, I will try to get those done on Friday while I am on my own. If I try this when anyone is in the house you can bank on it that they will NEED to walk just where I amat least 10 times. Then I snarl and spit and they take umbrage. I use my tiled living room floor, not only is the grid pattern perfect, it is the only space large enough to hold an 80" square quilt. I can not sew in metric. 

I also need to have another tidy up with my scraps because I have used so many of them I can cut out 2 of the boxes. Winner Winner? Sob Sob, I love my scraps.

If anyone feels the need to get rid of scraps I will gladly pay postage, from almost anywhere.

Hello, My name is Pam, and I am a scrapaholic.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. The sun has got its  hat on and has come out to play.

2. I escaped unscathed from a potential disaster.

3. This week I will save £40. Woo Hoo

4. Francesca gets her car back on Saturday.

5. Therefore I get my car back also.

Dinner tonight is undecided, I think that it will be a lucky dip from my homemade ready meals. That way I can have an extra hour in the garden.

This is not laziness, this is why I tuck ready meals away on rainy days, so that I can have a bonus hour doing something outside on sunny days.

BTW Elaine Collier of Morgage Free in Three has posted a wonderful recipe for oaty bites, I will be whipping up a batch or 3 of these.                                 TTFN       Pam

Tear round Tuesday

I really seem to have my Knickers in a twist today. It all stems from Sunday night, one of the cooks had a half day holiday and just vanished at 2.00 am, as nobody had the sense or decency to tell me never mind ask If I could cope, I thought he had gone for break. I was very busy doing fast cooks and sorting out the storage area to get my stuff to cook so I took no notice whatsoever of the other line. I did eventually click that it was not running but as there were two senior ops working decided that if they couldn't be bothered then neither could I. It was hot and sticky, the fans were not even stirring the air and I was feeling the effects.
When someone finally asked me why I wasn't running both lines I popped, gave my best shot of vitriol and carried on doing my line. I left at 5.30 as I had not stopped for a break still in a major snot and with a raging headache to boot.
When I got home I had a cup of tea and went straight to bed and woke early with headache firmly in place, 2 lots of  "parrotseatemall" and I just began to feel almost human.
I slummocked round the cottage under a black cloud and achieved very little. I got a tub of meatballs in my dark barbecue sauce from the freezer and did jacket potato with them. I managed to finally select and cut the fabric for the last 2 sides of the Hug Quilt blocks and will sew them later.
I got to work last night to find Michael in the middle of an asthma attack so came straight home with him, it took a while for him to stabilise but we were in bed before midnight.
I slept and woke and dozed and woke on and off and got up quite early feeling unrefreshed. I scooted round the cottage, took Ben out, sorted a pile of ironing ready to do and remembered that I have a parcel to post so off I went. somewhere along the way I lost track of time and was convinced that it was over 2 hours later.
So I made coffee, sat down and had a blog reading session and caught my breath.
Now I feel fit to tackle the ironing and will watch something recorded on the sky box, once finished I am going to have a baking session before I sew my strips on The Hug.

I am still feeling decidedly miffed at TPTB at work and goodness help them if I have any C##p tonight,
as the (sort of) saying goes C##p on me once, shame on you. C##p on me twice shame on me. There will be no shame on me!

On  better note, and I should have started with this, I have some new followers and I have found a new blog to follow, I will share with you another day as If I do not start the ironing it will not be started. I know that Francesca does it at the weekend but there is a pile and she is still not herself.

Reasons to be grateful

1. A lovely bright day but a bit cooler.

2. A lovely new blog to read.

3. Michael feeling better.

4. Ben being all cuddly.

5. A plan for the future finalised and ready to be put into action.( more at a later date)

Enjoy what is left of your day.    TTFN     Pam