Sunny Saturday ....

Was up with the larks so decided to take myself off to a couple of car boot sales .... perfect day for it with brilliant sunshine and a warm breeze

My little old heart skipped a beat as I turned off the road into my first car boot which is set in open countryside with poppy fields to one side and sheep grazing on the hillside on the other.  I like this one because there is a good mix of items and lots of "we've been clearing granny's house" type sellers .... my favourite !!

First to be popped into Lala's booty trolley today was the blue coffee set ..... the coffee pot, cream & sugar are Grindley Petal Ware and the cups & saucers are Johnson Brothers

The little box on the front caught my eye and on closer inspection it was obvious that with a midwife for a daughter I had to have it .... she can take it into work and show the new mums ..... this is how it was done pre Cow &  Gate etc.

It is made by Maws who apparently have been in existence for some 200 years and now sell under the Tommy Tippee brand.  The Improved Breast Glass ..... a breast pump from around 1890 ..... must have been sitting in someone's cupboard for a very long time !

Next stop was a ten minute drive away and although it was cram packed today it was mostly stuff for babies and children .... anyone who is a bit cash strapped could kit out an entire nursery and clothe a child for years for very little outlay .... wish car boots had been around when my lot were small - I'd have saved a fortune.

Did manage to pick up the brass candlesticks here and the deco green glass boat dish ... I've seen lots of these but this is the first time I've seen one in a pretty plated basket type stand.

This CB is right next to a PYO so with some time to spare I thought I'd get some strawberries

From polytunnel to punnet to jar .... mmmmmmm

Hope you have all had a sunny Saturday too xx

Jewels in the Crown

We seem to have gone jam crazy in our little corner of blogland and to follow up last week's Strawberry Jam today we have been picking redcurrants from the garden.  My redcurrant bushes are somewhat of a family heirloom .... they were originally on my dad's allotment but when he had to give that up some 15 years ago following a stroke, we dug them up and transplanted them to the bottom of our garden.  This year has seen a bumper crop and just over 4lb was picked this morning and they have now been stewed, pulped and drained and the liquid is waiting to be turned into jelly tomorrow.  The children thoroughly enjoyed doing this and one of them even arrived this morning with a tub of blackcurrants that she had picked from her own garden last night .... we now have six jars of blackcurrant jam to add to the collection.

While the littlies were busy picking the fruit I did a little weeding in the veg patch and pulled our first onions and baby beetroot.

and one large lonesome courgette!

We have a little sea of sunflowers in the veg patch which weren't intentionally planted ..... these must have been scratched in by my dear chooks before Mr Fox arrived.

I have also had a lovely lavender bush for years but alas Mr Lala was let loose with some secateurs last year which is always a bad move.  He has a nasty habit of snipping off all the new growth and leaving the dry woody bits underneath and this proved too tempting for one naughty spaniel last year .... she chewed it to bits!

So a dilemma .... I like to make lavender bags for the Christmas markets later in the year but with no lavender to harvest what was a girls to do???  Then the brain cell leapt into action and I posted a wanted on my local Freecycle group and received a tremendous response.  This is what I have so far and there is more to come.

It smells heavenly and should keep me going for a while.  One lovely lady also let me harvest some seeds from her lupins and said I can go back again for more lavender if I need it.  This got me thinking that there are gardens out there with an abundance of fruit growing this year, most of which will be left to the birds so what better way of food thrifting ..... join your local Freecycle group and see what you can find.

On the subject of thrifting I will end with some of my car boot goodies from last weekend.

Total spend = £12.50

Going potty for jam & strawberry fields forever .....

Well the school summer holidays are here ..... how are you coping so far ladies ????

We took the small boy to the local PYO this week and managed to fill a punnet with the last of their strawberries ... they do have some more late ones under polytunnels but they weren't quite ready.  It was so peaceful wandering around the strawberry field in the warm sunshine with the small boy getting so excited everytime he found a juicy fruit.  We came home and after eating some we made some jam supplies for the hols ..... I don't know about you but I just love a jam butty and we usually have jam on toast once all the minded children have arrived on a morning.  They were all very impressed and took a little jar home with them.  I have some redcurrants and goosegogs to harvest in the garden so that will be a little job for them next week .... slave driver aren't I ?

Can't you just smell them .... mmmmmmmmm

Today has been just perfect ... dry and warm enough without being sticky and I've been to a new craft market in a beautiful little village in Hertfordshire, about half an hours drive away.  The atmosphere was great and I met some lovely friendly people and also sold some bits which was a bonus!  I've come away with some orders too and invites to some more markets later in the year so all in all a very successful day.

For any of you crafters out there who make and sell bunting how about this for a fantastic way of displaying it

It was a long wooden pole with a hook in the top which was attached to the table  .... the bunting cascaded down and was secured onto the cloth which covered the table .... so simple but so effective don't you agree?

I must get my head round our activities with the children next week and finalise some menus and DD2 is nagging for me to do some wallpapering at her house tomorrow in time for baby Jack's first birthday party on Wednesday .... where did that year go???

He loves playing peekaboo round the laptop

and driving the car !