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

Why am I not surprised? And a walk down memory lane.

What can I say, I see people who do not work pushing trollies piled high round the supermarkets. I also see families with a basket picking things up thinking about it and putting them back. There are two sides to every story but to sell newspapers you will mostly see only the worst.

Any how, my swap block is done and sent.

I like this block and am glad that I made 1 for myself.

This version looks unbalanced but it still has to have a border. I have 2 of these.

These are destined to become cushions, now that the borders are on I will quilt them and then add envelope closures. 

I had a look in the fridge this morning, something different for dinner, but what?

A walk down memory lane was called for.

I found 3 small parsnips, 3 small carrots, 2 small onions and 2 big sticks of celery, scrubbed, peeled topped and tailed. Chopped up roughly and into a pan with a spoonful of buttery stuff, add 3 small red apples washed, cored and chopped and sweat for 10 minutes, add a grind of pepper and 3 tsp Korma curry powder, sweat for another 5 minutes to cook the curry powder, pour in enough stock to just cover. Then I drained a can of chick peas and added to give protein and creaminess to the texture.

Bring to simmer, cover and cook till all the veg is soft, then attack with a wand blender. You can pass through a sieve if you want but it is not necessary. Thin out with extra stock if needed.

We will have this with a swirl of cream and a sprinkle of chopped 

coriander on mine. I have not made this for ages, goodness knows why. The smell is amazing and the taste is too. Dinner tonight and 4 portions for the freezer for a cost of around £1.50.  25p per portion,

I will toast some homemade wholemeal bread to go with it and have some Apple Fool for pudding, equal parts of cold custard and thick cream mixed into twice as much apple stewed with cinnamon. The cream was RTC 10p and the custard was left over from another meal, apples from the garden, all in all I guess that it comes to 35p per meal and I am happy with that.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. Pain under control today.

2. Ben happy as Larry.

3. Repeats of Duck Dynasty on TV.

4. Tea flowing like a river, the meds make me thirsty.

5. A wet start to the day but glorious sunshine by lunchtime.

Ben decided to have a mad five minutes on the sofa! This is where he landed.

                                              TTFN                             Pam