Good Morning, Oh My Word it,s early.

I am up, exercised, showered and dressed. It is 6.45 and the village is quiet, all I can hear is Ben's gentle snoring and the whir of the washing machine.
Francesca has gone off to London, she has to leave the cottage at 5.45 to get to her office by 8.45. Once she has moved it will be 40 minutes door to door. That is a time gain of nearly 25 hours a week, an extra day, I want one. Santa take a memo.

I am working with my 2 1/2" squares for a little while this morning, I have all the coloured ones in pairs and am pinning a third one to each pair. I do not usually pin but in the interest of keeping pressure off my leg I will pin and then set the machine to run on auto and just feed them through in a chain. I have 126 trios to make then each one will have a white square on one end.

There is a method to my madness. Remember the trees I showed yesterday, well it is an about face. I have decided to sash them and make a quilt that can double as a  table topper instead of a runner. I have lots of 3" sashing strips to cut and then bigger pieces to square it up. While I have the white fabric out I am going to cut my 126 x 2 1/2" squares. I know myself and if I do not have the sets ready to pin them to I will lose them.
 To give me a rest from sewing I will write this post as I go through the day. Toodle Pip for now.

It is now 9.40, I am more than halfway through my 2 1/2" squares and just back from walking Ben. A cup of coffee, a quick whizz round the kitchen and more sewing. Square eyes and no telly!

It is now 2,30, I have finished sewing for the afternoon. I have some cooking to do.
Ben has had a second walk and the weather is pretty disgusting, a fine mizzle that soaks you before you realise and enough wind to blow it down the back of your neck.

All 126 sets ready to press, whew.

Pressed and stacked in piles of 20, I made a few extra so that when I assemble the top I will have a few to juggle with. There are bound to be one or two that I feel do not fit.

The first two Christmas tree blocks, the other 8 just need the white strips to be sewn on the bottom, they are all pinned.  I am going to put a 1" sashing strip in that will give me a finished quilt size of 48" wide by 64" long. A good throw size, when it is assembled I will decide  whether to add a border or not. I thought about another row of trees but do not have enough of the green and I can not drive out to buy any more.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. A good mornings sewing.

2. A sparkling kitchen floor. ( I was pressing white fabric)

3. The exercises are becoming easier.

4. My favourite Chicken and Bacon Pasta Bake for dinner.

5. A gift of free range eggs for my baking later.

Altogether a satisfactory day, and I still have some play time in the kitchen tom look forward to. Before that another round of exercises, tea and 30 minutes with a book.

              TTFN                                      Pam 

Oh Oh OH It is Sunday

I have been to see the Physio, she made me stand on one leg, twist, turn lean here and there all the while wielding a measuring stick. She poked, pressed twisted and turned my legs until I felt like Twizzle!

She made me lie on a hard mat and balance my nether regions on a block of very hard foam and stretch, I had to curl my knees up and rock backwards and forwards.

The verdict is that my lumbar discs are compressed. I have to start a regime of exercises to loosen up so that they can re-hydrate themselves. This will take 4 weeks to build up to the complete routine and then it is possibly for ever.

Years of heavy lifting have taken their toll and now I am paying the price.

I will not be able to manage my garden, it is just too big. Stairs will become an issue so it looks like a bungalow is in my future.

I can do that, I can and will do what it takes, this is nothing compared to what many have to deal with.

I am still walking Ben, still cooking, still sewing and all the other things that are part of my life.
At the moment I am not driving, it is a bit too risky for me and anyone else out there.

I have been sewing, not as much as usual but enough to keep me quiet.

I want to make a table runner for someone, I looked in blogland and found this, I made 4 but it is not quite right.

I had a little play and found the "snowing" fabric ( I have this in several colours )  so had a go at this.

I have made 6 and have 2 more cut out, I was going to sash them but have decided just to sew them together, put a border or two on and quilt and bind them. I tried 1 with a narrow trunk and it looked like a dirty mark so went for this size.

I will show you tomorrow what it looks like.

Then I got really daring, I had a class booked at Button Up and Stitch to make a messenger bag. swallowed the pills and got a lift there and back.

Front with a full sized flap

Inside showing a pocket and the magnetic catch.

Back view, with a zipped pocket.

I used the "snowing" fabric as it went well with the little birds that I fell in love with.

Considering how rough I felt I am more than happy with my bag. But, I am going to alter the pattern. I would like the flap shorter and with a loop and toggle closure, the corners to be rounded and I want to add a layer of fleece to make it softer and to protect the contents more.

I do have 2 books on bag making I just have not got around to much more than a quilted tote bag. Not good. I enjoyed making this and see a few more in my future.

I also had a parcel from Switzerland on Saturday.

It is my Santa Swap for this year, my parcel should be in the post by next Thursday, I am waiting for a delivery to replace an item that arrived broken. It is annoying but i do not need to post until 1st December.

I have 2 more ready to go and will send them all on their way together.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. At last a diagnosis and the relevant treatment.

2. A few hours out sewing with like minded people.

3. Fran,s packing is completed.

4. A quiet week ahead,no deadlines to meet.

5. My Christmas sewing is all done.

I do enjoy making all the Christmas gifts but get side tracked into making more than I need to just to try ideas out. There are just so many things I want to make, I may have to have a yard sale to make room.

TTFN                                        Pam

All Quiet in the East

Nothing happening here today except the meds, dreadful night, I begin to understand the stories of people who cut body parts off with pen knives.
Having said that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and if you can feel the pain you know that you are alive.
I am in the lucky minority who can get medication, easily and either cheaply or free. I do not have to drag myself to work and stumble through the day to feed myself, and my family.
if I never work again I will not go without because I made provision for getting older.
I also made some cinnamon toast this morning, sugar helps, and it is disgusting. That is the aftertaste of drugs I suppose. Oh well the silver lining is, toast in the bin not on the hips!
I had planned to make Sweet tomato pickle to Karen from Chelmarsh Chunterings but that will keep. My sewing will still be there waiting, 
I have tea and a few books, I have my craft mags to flick through and Ben snuggled at my side. I am warm and in reach of enough food to withstand a siege.
That is more than many people have this morning.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. A warm fuzzy feeling washing the pain away. Free.

2. Everything that I could possibly need or want, within easy reach.

3. My faithful,loving Ben beside me.

4. Some hand sewing if I need to create.

5. A friend to walk Ben and replenish my tea when needed.

Now I feel a little doze coming on.     TTFN                Pam

If You Can't Take the Heat........

Phew, it was hot in the kitchen this morning, I had some Shepherds Pie base left over so made a couple of Oggies  for Nev. I made a Coffee and Walnut Cake for the freezer and had the Date, Apricot and Orange Chutney on the go as well. Oh I had the ironing board set up to press a stack of fabric scraps ready to cut up into 2 1/2" squares, I have seen a quilt pattern that I like. I will need 714 of these, the pattern calls for 14 fat quarters at £ 2.50 -£3.50 each, that's not going to happen. Doh!

Any way the chutney recipe is:-
500g stoned dates chopped, I snip them up with scissors.
400g ready to eat Apricots, chopped, I get them ready diced from a friend.
2 large onions diced quite fine.
30g root ginger, peeled and grated.
Zest and juice of a large orange, I grate the zest from 2 as we like the extra zing.
500ml cider vinegar, if I can not get it I use white wine vin.
400g soft brown sugar.
1/2tsp Cayenne.
1tsp Coriander.
1 tbs salt.

Put the whole lot in a big pan, bring to the boil slowly, then simmer till thick stirring every now and then.
This makes 4lb or thereabout, I double up the quantities and make use of my maslin pan.
I ran out of dates 2 years ago and made the last batch with a mixture of dates,  figs and cranberries. I was delicious, I now make a batch just the same each year.
This year I have adapted the recipe to match my store cupboard. 
I was 150g short of Apricots so I used 250g apple, as the apple breaks down more I increased the quantity, I only had half the Cider vinegar and no White Wine vinegar so used white distilled to make it up, My root ginger is buried at the bottom of my chest freezer and of course I do not have ground so I used 2 heaped tsp Allspice. Oops nearly forgot, I have a stock of demarara sugar so used half and half with soft brown sugar.
10 jars and a taster, not bad at all. Stand by for  photos.

Here are the raw ingredients, I hope you can see that I did not cut the dates very small, most of them were straight in half. I do cut even the small ones as I do find the odd stone. 3 today.

The sugar has dissolved and you can see that the liquid is nearly to the top.

Nearly ready, I have drawn a channel with the wooden spoon and it has got some free flowing liquid in.

Bingo, the channel now has a little viscous liquid but is almost empty. Time to get the clean jars, lids and funnel out of the oven, they have been at 150 c for 20 minutes.

The reward, this only needs 6 weeks before it is ready to eat, once opened I recommend keeping in the fridge and using within 6 weeks. In this house it is lucky to make 6 hours.

My scrap fabrics are looking good, several new colours and only 6 that I can not use in this project. There are 2 pieces of Batik, if I can bare to use it I will otherwise it will be shredded for stuffing.

I bought this lot from an Ebay seller for £6 including postage, a big bargain. There are 3 fat quarters and 5 WOF strips over 10" long. I am well chuffed.

I will show my baking tomorrow, I need to get the kitchen cleared, while I am in the mood I will give it a good fettling. All that steam shows up a few icky marks here and there. The smell is amazing, a cross between Christmas pudding and Spiced wine.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. A productive morning with no pressure.

2. A big stack of new fabrics to play with.

3. A good long walk with Ben first thing.

4. 2 pet beds finished last night ready to gift.

5. My lovely neighbour Nev brought me some field mushrooms as big as my hands put together.

6.  ( I know an extra today) I have a new follower, Janet.

Welcome aboard Janet, enjoy the ride.

The HR department rang a little while ago, to jog me into feeling guilty, didn't work! Once I told them that the heavy lifting was the cause, new procedures have caused this, she became very solicitous as to my welfare.
I did not share with her the fact that I will probably not be returning, in the fullness of time when it is necessary, and not a moment before, they will know.

             TTFN                                             Pam.

By Heck it's Been a Lovely Day

The sun has been shining since quite early, Ben has enjoyed 2 long walks in the warmth of it. I have spent my time sewing, cooking and reading. Lovely Day.

This was gifted to me at the weekend, I have seen it but never bought a copy, I love magazines but they are very expensive and my storage space is finite, and getting full.

It is full of bright colours, lots of adverts which I will ignore and several freebies which I will enter to win, well someone will win them.

It came with a free novel, I passed that on already. It also had a small pack of felt and bits and bobs to make these little things.

The templates are included and I will photocopy them at various sizes, buy some bigger pieces of felt and make a little family. I am not sure whether I like the Fox or the Squirrel the most. I feel a visit to Button Up and Stitch coming on.

Three fruit loaves, 1 for each neighbour and 1 for us, I tried it while warm from the oven, well it was a new recipe, ooh nice, no need for butter I will make it again but will add more cinnamon.

More Wholemeal bread from my Polish Organic flour, very tasty and not in the slightest bit naughty, well not yet anyway. I will slice these when cold and freeze them. we do not eat a huge amount of bread and I do not want it to spoil.

My final bake was this pair of fresh pineapple cakes. I got 2 big pineapples for £1 on Burton Market Saturday. Some I had fresh, some went into these and the rest is frozen.

This is ready for me to make a batch of chutney, all I have to do is dig out the recipe, get the rest of the ingredients out and tomorrow morning it will be made. This is for my hampers and will be ready by Christmas, it doesn't need 3 months to mellow like some chutneys. Date, Orange and Apricot it even sounds a bit Christmassy.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. A house full of the smells of baking.

2. Cottage Pie, made earlier, ready to pop in the oven for dinner.

3. Empty laundry and ironing baskets.

4. No pain at all.

5. A pile of little sewing jobs done.

My sewing was nothing spectacular, buttons needing replacing, a hem to sew up, a zip to replace, all that kind of thing. It had been looking at me for far too long and now it is done.

Tonight I am going to sew the strip sets for the Oz quilt, it will be a fast make, I already have the batting and backing.
I have my swap partner for the Christmas Cracker Swap, I read her blog and know exactly what I am doing. I just have to find out her colour preference and I will be away.

I just need to shred some cabbage and cut some broccoli florets and dinner will be sorted.

                                        TTFN      Pam

PS . Does any one read The Iowa Housewife blog, it is on my list. There are some brilliant recipes and I have not had a failure yet. Todays was a bread recipe to keep in the fridge, you just take the dough out in the morning and have fresh rolls in no time. Guess what I will be doing after dinner.

1 last pic from my mag.

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

Who nicked my sunshine?

I was up and about early this morning, bright sunshine streaming through the windows by the time my washing machine had chomped through 2 loads.  Whizzed it out on the twirly whirly thingamajig and off out with Ben. a quick 20 minute walk and off to market, veg and milk in the car and home again.

Tea and cereal for me and breakfast for Ben, washing up, ironing and a quick sprint with Little Gem.

All the penny patch and plain blocks made and sewn into a 43" by 57" quilt top. I want to put 2 borders round and am juggling fabrics, I have to make my mind up soon as I want this made and quilted next week. It is for James and Cerys, I may have to post it as I can not see my way clear to get to Wales before Christmas.

I fiddled around tidying some more scraps away and gave Little Gem a defluff and a new needle ready for the next session. Then realised that it was very grey. Washing in and folded just as the heavens opened and chucked it down.  English weather, don't you just love it.

We are having a meal I saw on food network a few days ago tonight, chicken breast sliced fairly thin, seasoned and dipped into a simple batter of flour, water and spices then fried. Served in a "biscuit" with grated cheese and "gravy". For those with no idea what I mean, A biscuit is much like a big scone, I make the dough very soft and pat it out and fold a few times before cutting and cooking. Gravy is made by frying off onions and little balls of sausage meat, adding cornflour to make a roux and stirring in enough milk to make a thick sauce, I add plenty of seasoning and a little mustard, I also make sure that I scrape all the little bits off the pan bottom.

I usually cook something new on Saturdays but we are going to visit Francesca's Grandfather tomorrow, he is not very well and it is about 6 weeks since we were there last.

I have just noticed my parcels still on the coffee table, they should have been posted this morning, it will be Monday now. 

Reasons to be grateful.

1. English weather, never boring.

2. Pain free after an iffy night.

3.  A new episode of Big Bang Theory to watch later.

4.  3 library books left to read.

And I saved the best till last.

5. My copy of Love Patchwork and Quilting came through the letter box this morning. 

That means that once Ben has had his next walk and dinner is prepped I will brew a pot of tea and retire to the sofa for at least an hour. The drawbridge will be raised and the portcullis lowered, life outside the living room will cease.

          TTFN                                                            Pam          

BTW last night,s Hot Pot was lovely, the chilli and spices had intensified and there are 2 more servings in the freezer. I think I can have a week off cooking soon and we can have ding dinners.