A Quiet Post

I had promised to show you where we went on Sunday. Since then our sickly Hilda hen who had always been the weakest of the flock has died. and so my mood has changed. She had a heartattack and keeled over in the henhouse which I think has got to be so much better than the alternative. Hilda was the sweetest of the four - the one who was always standing behind me as I hung the washing or walked around the garden. Each time you lose a pet who has become part of the family it's not any easier than the last time.

Instead of much chat I will just leave you with a few pictures of things that caught my eye at Gressenhall Museum which was once a workhouse and also has a farm.

We all enjoyed ourselves the most at the farm where piglets played around their mother and naughty hens walked wherever they pleased.

Finally the farmhouse teacosy, the colours and style of which I found rather inspiring for future projects.

Pitches, Presents & a Pug

A pink and a blue stall fused together at Woodbridge Vintage & Contemporary Market on Saturday. We had a great day chatting, catching up with old friends, meeting people who we know through blogging world and a few pennies were brought home too.

I also met the venerable Victor (who didn't want his picture taken). The moment his owner mentioned his name I recalled seeing the pair of them in a magazine (Coast I think). That's how much of a star these darling Pugs are. His owner also told me about the Pug Club which meets once a year at stately homes around the country for a Puggy fun day. Sounds our kind of heaven.


Back to vintage, see that fabulous curtain that's being used as a cover, well that came home with me. Too difficult to look at those beautiful faded roses all day and not dream of the stitchy possibilities they offer.

I was also very lucky to come away with a couple of gifts. The always smiling Julie from Beach Bygones had a little something for me.

A salty fish to go with the peppery one. Now Mr Bun and I have one each.

The night before the fair we had a friend for a sleepover (as the Bun's call it - no matter the age of the guest). They wouldn't go to bed until she had arrived either. Now, not that I'm one to expect a gift for the pleasure of someone's company, but then I won't complain if they do offer me a fabulous blue enamel teapot to add to the Rayburn. Underneath is a trivet I made on Friday morning (when I should have been sorting the fair stock out - I know). I'm rather enjoying this patchy business.

I did buy a few other things aswell as the fabric. Craig and Tracey were outside under a striped awning selling their fabulous vintage clothes and fabrics. Tracey also makes floral brooches from vintage felt. The felt is softer and the colours have a completely different intensity to modern felt.

Lastly, a gift for each of the Bun's. I can never go away and not return with a little something. At present Eldest Bun is collecting dogs and Little Bun cats. This pair are so sweet and came from Adele's daughter.

At the end of a great day and a long drive I was glad to fall on the sofa and cuddle up with the Bun family. The next day, however, saw us up bright eyed and bushy tailed to go off on another adventure. But I think that can wait until tomorrow.

Weekend Preparations

As I'll be leaving just before six tomorrow morning I won't see my lovely ones until the end of the day, so I've bought a few weekend treats for them all. I've promised the Bun's, who have just discovered the joys of bubble gum, that I would find them the proper stuff. Proper stuff being Trebor's Bubbly. This was the one I blew huge pink bubbles with as a child and nothing else compares. in my opinion. Well apart for that wee addiction I had to cherry flavoured gum when I was pregnant with eldest bun.

It tastes perfect, blows great bubbles and best of all the wrapper just makes me smile and feel happy. These are the perfect shades of pink, yellow and blue for sunshine days.

They also have sherbet pips and gummy bears. I've already pinched a few of these sweeties - we don't need to let them know that though do we.

To make the Bun home all flowery for the weekend I was thrilled to find some dahlia's on the market. I thought they had all gone now so I'm very pleased with these orange and red pom poms.

With flowers in hand I went into the wool shop as I was after a bears eye. Poor Parsley bear has had an accident and so needs a bit of treatment. In the wool shop they run a mini craft book library and were selling off some of the stock. Lucky me as I've put off buying this book for ages and now I'm glad I did as it was greatly reduced. I can't wait to try some of these flowers out, especially the butterflies I already have ideas for them.

When I got home I had two packages waiting me for me. First was this fabulous book by Poppy Treffry on freestyle machine embroidery. Something else I'm itching to learn as so much of my work calls out for this fabulous embellishment. I hope I'll be able to get the hang of it.

Parcel two was my mini moo cards. I had no idea how mini they would actually be. They look fabulous, BUT - if you wear glasses as I do you can't read the info on the back unless you have your glasses with you. I love them as my new business cards, but I think I'll be ordering the proper sized ones next. They'll be great for this weekend at Woodbridge though. I'll make sure there's a magnifying glass to hand.

Before I go, I thought you might like to see the finished Bits & Bobs Purses. I've added a contrasting running stitch to each one to hold the outer and lining in place. I'm really pleased with them now. As I'm enjoying patchy things too at the moment I'm tempted to make a few of these in patchy patterns.

Now I've given myself lots of things to be getting on with next week, alongside a spot of part-time teaching and my evening crochet class it looks like another busy busy and fun week.

Righty oh, I'm off to pack boxes and find my ring-a-ding till. Have a fantastic weekend. Hope the sun is still shining for everyone.

Making Stuff & More Stuff

Like a child with homework due in yesterday I've finally pulled the proverbial finger out and started making and sorting out more vintage homeware stuff for the weekend fair. The cafe fabric from Donna cried out to be made into a bits and bobs purse. I wanted to make something for Bobo Bun from it, but also leave enough to make a cushion with pink pom pom edging.

I tried making one from an embroidered cloth and am so pleased with it I'll be making more (oh and one for me I think).

This pair have been waiting patiently since last night to be sewn up. Better finish them today too.

Crocheted flowery brooches are always so lovely to make as I hook round and round counting the stitches of each petal under my breath. I made a couple while I watched The Land Girls on iplayer and spotted more of Donna's fabric made up into some blouses. They looked fabulous.

Now for today's Wednesday booty bargains. Last week was so disappointing, but this week was a treasure trove of goodies. I am a complete addict to 30's china and so this badly in need of a wash and love jug came home with me.

My favourite lady was there again today. I bought this sewing basket which needs lining and a padded lid. Will I keep it or sell? Depends how much I fall in love with it I guess. Yet more embroidered cloths, some buttons and hankies. The hankies are immediately smuggled upstairs when the Buns see them and they become dolly blankets.

Was Christmas in the air today? I certainly gave in and bought a few seasonal bits and bobs. Since looking through the book I have decided to keep it as the Bun's will love it. Then there are the Edwardian Christmas cards all tied with coloured thread to hold the tissue insert in place, bought simply because.

The Quality Street tin made me smile and took me back to my childhood.


My favourite of all the embroidered cloths with a floral gravy boat.

Dippy egg for breakfast tomorrow I think. Despite having seen Hilda Hen swallow a mouse whole a couple of days ago (it was dead by the way) I think I could manage one. Not great for a vegetarian knowing mouse is part of the egg I might be eating. Yum.

Summery Sunday

Each year we seem to be lucky in the middle of September and the sun still shines down on us. Off we go to the beach where my dad played when he was young to picnic, play and celebrate his birthday.


After lunch we took it in turns to scooter. Even my dad who is in his eighties grabbed the handles and off he went along the prom.

We played Boules, flew kites, paddled, ate ices and dug sand cars for the Buns.



There was also time to daydream by the boating lake ...


...and take in the view before heading home.

Now it's back to the reality of the week and busy hands getting stuff made for Woodbridge Contemporary & Vintage Market this weekend.

A Gift For Me a Gift For You ...

I thought of the title of this post and then realised there are far more gifts for me here. It reminded me of sharing sweets out from a scrunched up paper bag when I was small. Do you remember one for you, two for me? Sharing sweets was ok, but I thought let's not go overboard about it and be too generous as I was usually only doing it because my mum had told me to.

As my paypal account was looking fairly healthy and it's one of those places that I don't feel as if I'm spending real money I decided to search for a few treats. I popped over to Donna's place for some fabric therapy and fell in love with this 1950's cafe scenes fabric. I also loved the yellow roses so much that I had used all of mine up in cushions. More are needed as they cheer up the sitting room so much.

Today is my Dad's 83rd birthday. Later on, after drama club and playdates, we'll be going over for birthday tea. The Bun's ordered old fashioned toffees for his present. This is the closest I could find with piratey paper.

And where is the gift from Mr Bun and I? Well at the moment it's still in the shop (I hope). I'm soon off to buy the requested pruning shears.

Another gift for me. This time from a dear friend who thought I might like to add this peppery fish to my other shiny figurines. Mr Bun thinks it was a gift for him. Who I am to argue, I can still look at it whoever it belongs to.

This pink glass vase was most definately for me though and came from the same friend yesterday. What a lucky thing I am. It matches my round glass bowl perfectly.

Reduced roses - a gift from me, to me with another wildflowers book from the car boot for the Bun's.

And finally I succumbed to the allure of the messenger bag. I searched through ebay hoping to find the blue boat print one, but no luck. However, I was there to buy as I'd made up my mind. So I pressed buy now and hey presto one more gift for me.

Wishing you all a great weekend.

Picture This

I took a picture of me today. When I went through our photos I realised I don't feature much. I'm always the one behind the lens with my lovely family doing whatever they're doing on the other side of it. I think a record of me is needed for the family album to prove I was actually there at that moment in time. The only thing is I look too serious as my eyes meet in the middle to try and see where the button is. Should have ignored vanity and put my glasses on.

Little Bun took this picture of her playdough pizza with blackbird nibbles for mumma's blog. She has asked me ever since to put her picture on here as she felt sure everyone would like to see it. It makes me laugh how much blogging has become an accepted part of their daily lives. I get my camera out and they ask is it for the blog (hide faces) or for us (show faces). They tell me what would be good to photograph and love being involved in it all. They even tell people how to find it on the web.

They also asked me to take this picture of my first ever attempt at chutney. I used the plums we picked and some of the apples from Little Bun's tree. I only covered one jar as it was fiddly and I lost patience in the end. We also popped the damsons we picked into two big bottles of gin with some cinammon sticks and sugar. We're shaking them daily and can't wait to bottle them up and maybe try a little bit as you need to make sure you've done these things right.