Plastic Fantastic

A strange thing this to be stopping by so early in the week. I managed a quick half hour at home before the sun went to bed and so I took a photo or two. 

Thankyou for all your understanding comments about the need for balance in our lives. Earning just enough in my day job to keep us safe and happy suits me just fine. In celebration of the extra making time I'll be freeing up I've booked a pitch at two markets today. One a new one in Norwich and the other my favourite of all for Little Vintage Lover in Heydon.

I did manage a quick rummage at Judy's Vintage Fair yesterday, but I wasn't that impressed to be honest. I brought home a few knick knacks that screamed out to me though. A rattly dolly and tin pram which make me very happy every time I look at them.

There were a couple of bunnies for the Bun's. The glowing cottage was found in a new shop we discovered on Saturday full of daft things I'll be going back for.

 

Then there's the mixture of pretty and nasty. The drunken old man masks look brilliant on, creepy definately, but happy making aswell. My parents came to eat with us later on Sunday and my dad gave the mask a whirl. The evening ended in a game of rummy which the Bun's have just learnt and munching the last of the christmas chocs. The end of a perfect weekend.

 

  

We managed to find the right sort of cosiness tonight too as it's suddenly gone arctic here. We've recently re-discovered the joys of squirty cream. The Bun's think it's the best thing ever at the moment. 

After school we snuggled by the woodburner playing cards yet again and tucking into joyful mugs of hot chocolate. A good start to the week I think.

All in a Day

Today  started with lovely post. A card from a friend and a parcel too.

I'd bought some more fabric from Jane you see, she will keep listing some lovely bits and bobs that I just can't resist. It all came wrapped up so beautifully with a wee handmade card of a little girl I recognised.

 

It's a bundle of the most delicious soft cotton rose prints. My mind is wandering over all the things that these pieces could become. Why do I never seem to have the time to match the ideas I have? 

 

Some of it could be down to the faffing and daydreaming I do. Suddenly it seemed very important today to sort, iron, pile and then look lovingly at my fabric stash. This is only a very small pile of it all with my new arrivals at the top.

Then it could be down to the fact that I get easily distracted. It's that time of the month when the need for chocolate  gets all consumming. I had no option but to give in and make some very huge choccolatey buns.

Then I dolloped on soft chocolate cream and a big button and munched away. These were taste tested by the Buns and I in happy silence after school.

Now as I'm at Little Vintage Lover on Sunday it would make sense if I finished all the things I've made to sell wouldn't it. Somehow I got distracted again today and sewed up the sides of Eldest Bun's jumper instead and then knitted the neckline. This is a jumper that's been knitted in big leaps and then nothing for a while. I'm determined to finish it before she grows out of it. Never mind there's always a Little Bun who would love it just as much when winter comes around again.

I always curl up at the end of the day with a book. It's the only way I can sleep. Since I was seven years old I've devoured books (I guess it's where only children go to play). Enid Blyton, moved into Agatha Christie and then it became anything and everything. I read some amazing books on my degree, but always with a pencil and a critical eye (not overly relaxing). Now I alternate between clever books I should read with nonsense that is so much easier to read. 

I've just finished reading my bit of fluff, so time to choose the next. I've taken some books I've not read for a while off the shelves to try out. I'll probably be asleep before the choice is made, it's been a tiring day you know.

Tickled Pink with a Red Shiny Nose

Hoarse voices have been heard here since last Friday and very loud squelchy sneezes. Add to this pale faces and a very sore red nose (me) and I think you can just about picture the beautiful scene here. Pick me ups for poorly wee Bun girls seemed to work the magic needed.

Their mummy seemed to take a bit longer mending. A morning sleeping seems to have done the trick and I feel less floppy. Curled up on the sofa this afternoon I've added stalks to Cheeky Cherries.

 

I've sewn in all the loose threads on the Happy Days Bunting. Sewing in threads is the equivalent  in joy factor of running fast up a muddy hill for me. I hate doing it, but I'm really pleased once it's all neat and finished.

Tommorow I might even get back to the things I was working on before this nasty thing came to visit. I must admit we did invite the bugs in. Mr Bun said too nonchalantly for words on Thursday evening how we'd missed all the nasty flu's and stuff. Then bingo I woke up full of the yucky thing the next morning.

Back to lovely things. I've been cutting out more blankety squares to sew words on. I laid a flower or two on one to see how the cream wool works with the brightness of the small cotton flowers. I'm thinking of some small wreath brooches, maybe with words embroidered inside.

Most of all I want to get on with this banner. Since seeing Nanny McPhee and the pig scratching machine, I've wanted to add the words Tickled Pink to something, anything. I'd started cutting my letters and adding them just before flopping. Now if I'm better tommorow I might just be getting on with it and even finishing it. Who knows.

Cosy is another word for Sunday

While the humans in the house played Polly Pocket - Alfie and Molly decided not to be too busy today.

Molly's a tiny cat - not sitting in a huge Dolls House. Alfie did manage to drag himself out on to the landing later. Well done Mr Blue. Pip meanwhile was out and about being a busy day cat.

Before starting our really cosy part of Sunday we took the Buns up to the old US airfield in our village. I must remember to take a picture of the control tower which has been done up and now is open on some Sundays. There is some really interesting memorabilia and photographs of the short time it was an airbase. WWII fascinates me so having this bit of history on our doorstep makes it all the more real. Anyway I'm wandering off the point - the reason we went there when it was shut was to do a spot of bike riding and as luck would have it there were tons of fairy rings there, so we did a spot of wishing too.

Now for the really cosy part. Feeling really very cold it was perfect to come home to a trayful of these and a snuggle up with a game of Happy Families bought at the village Jumble Sale on Saturday.

Looking for Inspiration

The Buns are back at school, the sun's shining and everything is coming into bloom. Me, however, I seem to be at a standstill. I have dates booked that need goodies made for them and lots of ideas that I should be working on, not to mention the garden and finishing decorating rooms half done. I can't work out what's going on as I'm happy and I have the time to get on now I'm not running a holiday camp. I think I need a stern word with myself. The only reason I can think of is that having too much to do is overwhelming me and I don't know where to start.

Yesterday was car boot morning. A fantastic idea this one as it's on a Wednesday morning so I get there a couple of hours after it's started, once I've dropped the buns at school. I always get a bit annoyed with Sunday morning ones as I'm not an early riser. So if I've made the effort to get up and then come away with nothing I feel a bit cheated. I got some fantastic things again this week . My favourite is this bright yellow edged washbowl.

The minute I saw it I could picture purple flowers in it. Wandering along another few aisles and there was a lovely man, a proper elderly gardener who had brought his plants to sell. I bought some sweet peas, a couple of trailing ivy geraniums and then these three unknown names plants. All I do know is they are yellow, purple and white and look wonderful.

This pale yellow lemon squeezer is for selling on once it's had a good clean up. This is the hard part as I really like it, but I have to remind myself that one of the reasons I do this is to find just the right pieces to stock my stall.

Stanley dog is definately for us. He has a smaller friend in my glass cabinet who needs some company.

This plate, however, is a tricky one. I absolutely love it, so do the family Bun, but I paid very little for it and I know it will sell easily. This is where I'm not good at being a strict business person. Laying over the plate are some zingy bright red knitting needles. I need to restock these as tied up with ribbon and sized they go like hot needles.

I picked this picture up from one of the house clearance men. It's funny the groups that there are the car boot, there are the dealers who I will only buy from if it's for me and I really like something; then there are the house clearance people. Some won't do a deal others charge peanuts. The man I bought the floral print from is a true eccentric and has boxloads of peoples lives laid out around him. For the picture and a glass dish he charged me the grand sum of 40p. I'll need to clean it up and re-frame it to bring out its real beauty.

This metal tray is for little bun who adores owls. She writes to her fairy Flora asking for her own Barn Owl and has had no luck yet. We see the same one most mornings by a field on the edge of our village and so he has been named Barney suprisingly.

After car boot heaven yesterday I still fiffed and faffed. I have cleared out cupboards and ironed and ironed. I have told myself tommorow is the day - no excuses, I will get back to work. I did get inspiration from my scrumptious new cookery book today though.

There are so many mouthwatering delights. These marshmallow topped buns are a must for the weekend I think.

I chose, suprisingly amongst all the colourful and sweetly rich choices, Oat and Raisin biscuits. I just knew the Buns would love them when they got back from school and the other reason was they were quicker to make. The recipe suggested putting everything in a mixer. Although I don't have one, I don't think I would use it anyway. I really like the process of mixing by hand and feeling the different consistency of the mix as it changes with each new ingredient. When I'm cooking with the buns it seems strange how there are different ways of mixing depending on the cake you are making. When I was small my mum used to cook with me in what she called Blue Peter style. She would measure all the ingredients out into different dishes and then she would tip it all in as if she was doing a demonstration just like Lesley Judd, all for me. So when I saw this Borwicks Baking Powder it took me straight back to those childhood days so I bought it for my cooking today.

This is the end product of all my waffle. They worked their magic as the house smelt all cinamony and delicious as we walked in from school. The Buns asked if they could have them in their lunch boxes tommorow so I guess they like them. Just as well as I made quite a few.

After tea Little Bun and I made smoothies with my new cheapie blender. It was just me and her as she didn't want to go to Brownies. Every night this week has been a social event for her, so she is exhausted. As I'm not one for measuring, more a chuck it in and see kind of girl, I couldn't believe how delicious they were. Little Bun loved throwing all the fruit in and then set to work choosing just the right straws for us. Definately be making more of these as they were so easy. Eldest Bun wants a go next and as she doesn't really like fruit there might be all the more for me to drink.

Celebrations and Holidays

It has been very busy here in the Bun household for the last few days. Our Easter tree is ready and waiting for the Easter Bunny. I cut some branches from our cherry tree, pussy willow and something else that I don't know the name of, then the buns set to work. I think they've made it look fantastic. Small creatures have been pulled out of boxes and drawers and assembled around the bottom of the tree. Even more have been added since this photo was taken.

On the last school morning there was an Easter Bonnet parade, so we had to quickly make bonnets. We've never had one of these before so it was a lovely start to the day. Apparently they had egg hunts and games for the rest of the day, so much better than my day with the bank.

Saturday was a dance around the kitchen in sheer joy and delight day. After months of watching pennies and trying to make them stretch further than was physically possible we discovered we had overpaid our tax last year by a rather large amount. The cheque finally arrived on Saturday morning to whoops of delight. The rest of the day was spent in party preparations for little bun. I tidied the garden and refused to let the hens out to undo all my hardwork. Then I baked and baked while the buns got busy making up small packets of sunflower seeds and cress.

Next up for the party preparations was to finish off the brooches and hair-ties.

I wrapped them with a packet of sweets in tissue paper and labelled them for each party guest. As it has been so chaotic I forgot to take a picture (which is the case with most of the things I wanted to show you on here).

On Sunday, the day of the birthday party, the weather was glorious, so little bun and her friends wanted to play outside most of the time. If you look closely you can just see a small black face poking out at bottom of the picture and very obviously a lot of washing I forgot to bring in.

The girls only dipped in for quick bursts of pass-the-parcel, musical statues and guess what's on the tray before running out to enjoy the weather again. Then it was time for food before more playing.




Eldest bun decorated the birthday cake in early easter style in honour of a little sister who was born on Easter weekend.

They all had a marvellous time and we've decided home parties are the best. Eldest bun has already chosen an Alice in Wonderland tea party for her ninth birthday, with croquet on the lawn. So I know what I will be looking for at the car boot and auctions now.

The next morning, rather than flop about and relax on the first day of the holidays, we were off to the beach to meet friends for a picnic. It didn't take them all long to take off their shoes and socks to have a paddle. It wasn't that warm though, do the coats give it awayat all?

By the time we were ready to leave their trousers were completely soaked. Surprisingly I didn't have a change of clothes, so they had to strip off and snuggle under my coat and cardigan for the journey home. When we got back it was straight into the bath for them and then time to open the bubbly as today was our wedding anniversary.

So much is planned for these next two weeks, mainly to enjoy our time together. Tommorow eldest bun is off to a museum with a friend from her new school while I try to finish everything off so I can set up my pitch on Wednesday. So it will be back to the coast again on Wednesday for vintage goodies without the soggy, sandy children.

Hope you all have a wonderful Easter whatever your plans are. X

Finished at last

On Saturday evening I started sewing the fabric onto the back of eldest bun's crochet cushion. I managed to finish it just before she went to bed and she was thrilled with it. It's been cuddled ever since. Poor little girl woke up on Sunday morning full of cold and feeling pretty poorly so she needed to snuggle on the sofa under blankets and surrounded by cushions. We lit the woodburner and put on a film. Her new special cushion gave her that extra bit of comfort.

As I read little bun her bedtime story on Saturday night she asked (in such a sweet way so it was very hard to refuse any request) if I would be able to finish her cushion. I stayed up until 1am finally sewing the flower on the middle, knowing that there would be two happy little buns instead of just one. I popped it on her bed so she would see it when she woke. She was just as delighted with her new so soft and squashy cushion. I can't think of anything better than enjoying making something and then giving the gift to someone who loves it.

I decided to cover the backs of both cushions with fabric so they could have a bit more colour on them and to be truthful I didn't fancy repeating the round in the same colourway. Here is Eldest buns from the front -

and then the back in my favourite pink polka dot.

Little bun was discussing colours as I was finishing this one off. She announced that pink was her least favourite colour (so you'll like your pink cushion then I thought). Purple was her favourite and then green. We know about purple adoration so her blanket and walls are all different shades of that colour. Therefore, I fancied a change from that colour, hence the pink with yellow edging. So I opted to put a bit of green in her flower, otherwise it would have been blue.

Funnily enough the fabric I used on the back is something I've never quite liked, even though I chose it. Here on the cushion it looks perfect and I really do like it.It was obviously waiting for this project.

While on the subject of projects I have two little proteges. Since being taught the basic knit stitch there is no stopping them. This is after tea on a school night, needles out and off we go. I never thought we would be saying to them "only one more row and then it really is bedtime." Little bun is left handed, but I have taught her as a right handed knitter so she is doing really well.

With eldest bun feeling poorly on Sunday we invited the grandparents over for a visit. They came with comics, sweeties and grapes for the invalid. I used to lay on the sofa in front of a roaring fire and my mum brought in bowls of black grapes (seeds removed) sprinkled with sugar. So she brought these in honour of that memory. I thought it was a good excuse to make cakes for afternoon tea, plus the ladies have been laying four eggs every day without fail so we had quite a few to use. I inherited these fantastic scales from my mother-in-law who sadly is no longer with us. She always baked so I like knowing that they are still very much in use for her family.

Little bun and I made a chocolate cake which rose like a tower. The last one looked like it had been sat on. For me it's pot luck, they all taste good so I'm happy. We also made some buns.

Can you see the smiley face she put on the top?

Blissful Day

In the holidays we always keep some days free for us to do just as we please. Before we planned our day we played the shopping list game. We had to get rid of the beef card as we're all veggies and the buns find that one really offensive, sausages, well they could be Linda's after all.

Next we made some more flowers. These are our roses, carnations and hydrangeas. The buns arranged them around my desk to make it more cheery.

Pip was on the armchair by my desk looking like she has just been dropped from a height. Pretty much a daft and very content cat.

We needed to sort out school shoes and wanted to feed ducks too so off we went to a market town near us. Luckily eldest bun's feet have stopped growing for a while, but while little buns haven't grown, her shoes have fallen to bits. We had to order her size in and she got seduced by some Startrite Felicity Wishes shoes which sparkle purple as you move. They didn't have her size though which didn't seem fair. Then we went to the most girly shop on offer - New Look. Eldest Bun chose a diamante teddy bear necklace and robot socks for her and Mr Bun to share (don't think they will stretch that much though).

Little Bun chose a purple headband and I got a lovely vintage looking print blouse. I can already see this over a t-shirt and jeans. It has sequins over some of the flowers and the buttons are really sparkly. I got a big thumbs down for the other two tops I picked up and this was chosen as the one.

Next up was the sweetie shop. The shrimps are mine and have now all been eaten while I write this. We got lots of others, but they disappeared on the way home. The buns looked hilarious with their goofy teeth in.

Once we got to the quay it wasn't easy keeping up with them. Mr Bun used to walk them here every Sunday in their double buggy to feed the Ducks. There was an old duck that they decided was in charge and so they called him the Colonel. I hope he's still about.

Surprisingly there were some hens down there as well. This cockerel was wandering about in the middle of the gang, just another one of the boys. We decided they probably live there with the ducks. Near our village is a roundabout that everyone calls Chicken Roundabout, for years it's been overrun with hens and cockerels. More boys than girls to be fair as I think quite a few get dropped off in the dark.

The buns wanted to go to the park, but it was getting so cold and the lure of lighting the fire and drinking hot chocolate was too much for me. So a lovely day ended with us curled up in front of the fire watching Bee Movie.

I love these days when we can do pretty much as we please.