Sunny Sunday

I had a lovely sleep last night and as my daughter was at home to look after the patient I decided to pop over to Hitchin for the car boot ..... sadly the other one I usually visit on a Sunday finished last week. It is held at Stondon and is the best organised around these parts and as a seller it is good value at £4 a pitch ..... no market traders are allowed so it is completely proper car booters. However the petty minded local authority bureaucrats have decreed that they are only allowed 14 per year because it spoils the local amenity !!!! It is held in a field in open countryside which would just sit idle otherwise and they seem to have forgotten that it offers a valuable recycling service, keeps a lot of unwanted goods out of landfill, offers cash strapped purchasers the opportunity to buy things at an affordable price and also offers a source of fresh air and exercise for us townies.

Anyhow I digress, Hitchin is a lovely market town and I spent a lot of my shopping time over there .... I hate Luton town centre ... it is concrete and has no soul with a dreary inside shopping centre. The lovely sunshine had brought lots of sellers out and my bargain find today was three bags of fabric pieces for a fiver. Sad thing that I am, I came home and sorted them out, pressed them and sorted into colours and patterns. They are all mini prints and there are also 14 little bags which are labelled doll's house fabric (with price tags of between 60p and £1 on each) so I am really pleased. There are nursery prints, Christmas fabric, ditzy florals, animal prints, spots, William Morris style mini prints, pinks, blues, browns, primaries ...... I'm off to find a little spot in my stash room for them now.

What have you been doing today??

I like Thursdays. It is the one day of the week when I get a couple of hours of 'me' time when everyone else is at work and the small person I look after is at pre-school. I gave up planning what to do with this time months ago because invariably something would crop up or someone would pop in and all the plans went out the window. I was getting so frustrated. So now I just go with the flow. After the school run this morning I came home for a leisurely breakfast on the patio and just sat and looked at some of the plants in the garden that are now bursting into colour.

The chooks were fed with some succulent dandelions and another egg added to the basket ... can you see Snapdragon's gorgeous little chicken badge?

Then a knock at the door ...... it was DHL with my parcel from Abakhan .... and another surprise the driver was a face from the past who used to do a daily collection from an office I once worked in and he remembered my name! This was my first order with this company and I am very pleased with my purchase ... some soft white fleece fabric, cottons for crochet, star fabric for a cushion order and some bags of webbing and lace oddments (these were a bargain at only 49p a bag).

I then went mad and had a baking spree ..... jam tarts, scones, fairy cakes ..... how come it takes ages to make them and they are demolished in minutes! We have some lovely goosegogs growing in the garden at the moment and I am the only one who likes them so following a tip from one of the SCC girls I looked out my WI cook book for some ideas on how to preserve them. I found two really easy recipes for Goosebury Curd and Gooseberry Chutney .... here they are picked and ready for their transformation tomorrow morning.

We've just been out to vote ........ got to do our bit and give these flaming politicians the kick up the pants they deserve ...... I unfortunately live in the constituency of one of the most prolific expenses offenders who thankfully will not be selected next time but seems to have now gone into hiding and doesn't have the decency to resign ..... according to the local press today she stands to walk away with another 200K! Alright for some isn't it while the rest of us try to make ends meet and worry about keeping our jobs. Question Time should be interesting tonight.

One more cute photo for you today ...... the chooks have an afternoon treat of sweetcorn kernels .... look at this .... eating our of our hands and they've only been here for four weeks ..... already part of the family

Clutter clear out ....

We have had a dull, wet, grey day today so decided to have a clear out of my fabric stash .... I have accumulated far too much, as us crafty ladies do, so most of the day has been spent photographing and listing on Ebay. Here is a link should anyone be interested http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=380127279020&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT