Don'tcha just love it when a plan comes together ......

I've been stripping for months now ...... strictly on a crafting basis you understand ;-) all in aid of the no strings challenge.  As I have sat stitching strips to square backing fabric it occurred to me that if each square had the same fabric as the starting centre piece, a clearly defined border would start to emerge.  Surely the same principle would apply to a rectangular shape and it did.

So the old brain cells got going and I sat with pen and paper working out how to place colours to produce one of the old favourites and here it is .......

The no strings Union Jack which at some point this week will become a cushion cover. 

Just made with four rectangles and the only piece of fabric to be sewn on when it was assembled was the centre horizontal one.

We've had a lovely sunny but chilly Easter Sunday here and this morning was the opening of this season's car boot at my favourite local site .... it doesn't open till ten so I don't have to drag myself out of bed at the crack of dawn.  I really didn't expect it to be on as we'd had some heavy overnight rain which must have put a lot of sellers off because there was only a fraction of the usual number there.  The vultures were in position and swooped on the poor sellers before they had chance to get their doors open.  This is one of my pet hates but sadly there is no way of keeping them out of this particular site until the sellers are ready.  The pickings were very slim but I did manage to get one bargain ... a Royal Worcester three tier square cake stand .... it is plain white but for £3 I think I got the real deal.

and of course some baking had to be done to fill it when I got home .... you will notice that there are some gaps and I now have a grown man sulking because he got told off for pinching them before I'd taken the photo .... I turned my back for a minute and they'd gone!  The green glass sundae dishes in the background are from a set of six from the charity shop purchased a week or two ago.

When we left the car boot we headed for two little monthly antique fairs in neighbouring towns .... we hadn't visited these for ages and were pleasantly surprised to find new stalls and sensible prices.  My one little temptation here was a cute Arthur Woods Piggy Money Box for £3

He goes very well with this little bear ... also from the charity shop .... I've decided to break the line of blue & white on my dresser and these pretty colours are just the job.

The day has finished with a family dinner of traditional Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding and now I'm off to munch on some choc and get the crochet hook working.

Hope you all had a lovely relaxing day x

Spring forward ......

Despite the dismal wet weather this week it has been so nice to have lighter evenings and in what seems a matter of days there are tiny buds bursting out all over the garden and my first rhubarb is now about 6" long and I can't wait to use it in the recipe that Delia is doing for Waitrose at the moment.

What sort of week have you had???  I've gained another year and had a busy day on Wednesday with family and friends visiting with flowers, chocs and some new Per Una items for my summer wardrobe (which is somewhat empty at the mo after a clearing out frenzy last year).

School finished for us on Thursday and I now have some 'me time' till the minded children return to me on 11th April ..... the last two mornings have been lovely and although I wake up at the same time I can just stay in my PJs for as long as I like and don't have to rush around like a mad thing.

I've been taking advantage and have had a tidy up in my craft corner and have also finished another WIP

This is a 3' square patchwork throw edged with a piece of vintage filigree crochet which was once the edging of a table cover .... I'd previously upcycled the embroidered cloth section and popped this to one side .... isn't it funny how things just come together sometimes ..... I was debating what to finish the border with and tried several pieces of fabric but wasn't happy and when I picked this up it was perfect.  It was still the continous square frame shape from when I had carefully removed it from the cloth and fit like a glove!

The patchwork itself is made with some FQ of tiny ditsy floral prints designed for doll's house furnishings .... if you look closely there is a lovely William Morris inspired design and although my photos make it look quite brown there are a lot of pink/peach/green shades.  It is backed with an ecru coloured piece of embossed linen (forgot to take a photo of that .. oops).

Today has been nice and sunny and I have been wanting to take a drive over to Berkhamstead to do a reccie on the monthly Arts & Crafts Market held in the Old Town Hall with a view to taking a stall later in the year. There was a nice selection of stalls and not too much competition in the handmade sewn/crochet department so I have made a request for a stall.  Berko is a nice old market town with some interesting buildings and some antique shops ... this one is an absolute gem and there was much temptation with vintage French fabrics which were sadly out of my budget at the present time.  There was also the most gorgeous vintage patchwork quilt dating to the early 1900s ..... it was very much on the string quilt lines but each 3" square had hand sewn strips which were only around 1/4" wide .... the detail was amazing and to think that it would have been sewn under oil lamp or candle light.

A little antique centre in the town called Castle Antiques is well worth a browse and in here I found these .... a piece of striped fabric and a vintage crinoline lady table cover ..... I have some plans in my head for this little lady.

Hope you have all had a lovely week and I wish you a Happy Easter ..... I'm off now to do some more of these

Dolly Dollop's Colour Swap

Back in February the lovely Claire at Dolly Dollop organised a colour swap with a deadline of posting by the 31st March .... a very important date at Lala Towers as I will be clocking up yet another year.  Today the postie brought an early birthday parcel for me from my swap partner Bridget at Born To Sew and I am absolutely thrilled.  Bridget's chosen colour was blue and with a bit of luck her parcel should be delivered today (that's if she's not under a couple of feet of snow!!) and my colour was green.  These are my lovely goodies

In case I forget who I am .... highly likely given my time of life ;-)

Bridget this is fabulous and you must have been reading my mind as I was thinking that some Lalabibaby bunting would be just perfect for my stall at craft fairs .... I was like a child in a sweetie shop when I opened this and my OH gave me the oddest look .... I've been trying to explain the principle of blog swaps to him and I think he's finally getting it!

Some lovely Rowan yarn to Get Creative with (thinking cap on again) and a pretty hand made card

A very handy pin cushion to attach to my sewing machine .... why didn't I think of that ..... I'm forever cursing when mine gets knocked on the floor or I stab my legs because it's squashed in between my knees!

Something very very tasty for nibbling on (alright scoffing) when I sit down with my crochet hook this evening ....

Somewhere to rest my teapot ..... in my favourite crazy patchwork .... Bridget is obviously a girl after my own heart and uses every last piece of lovely fabric ..... isn't it amazing how a pile of offcuts can be transformed into something so pretty and useful.

Thank you Bridget ..... I am absolutely thrilled and I hope your like yours too x

and a big thanks to Claire for arranging the swap .... she has been a very busy Easter Bunny and has just opened a web shop Patch Fabric & Haberdashery ....  pop over and take a look at all the lovely goodies x

Taking it easy

Don't know how or what I've done but there is an excruciating pain from my knee to my butt when I am standing or walking around.  This has left me heartbroken because I will have to spend the weekend with my feet up :-)

So I am going to spend my time catching up with blogland mixed with some crochet and sewing.  The OH is going out this afternoon so no sport on the TV (yippee!!) and I will have the power (remote control) to watch whatever slop I want to without raised eyebrows.

I've been intending to blog about two other passions of mine which don't involve needles or thread so today I'll bore you all with my toy china collection.

I think this first started when I was a child many moons ago.  Our local museum has a toy section and I used to stand and stare at a little miniature blue willow tea service and wish that I could have one but the closest I ever got was an imported Japanese one.  These used to be given out at Christmas at the local working men's club to all the girls ..... that place was something else and long demolished to be replaced by a hideous shopping centre.  Not very PC I know but I can still smell the mix of cigarette smoke, beer and the stuff they used to put on the floor to stop the dancing couples from slipping over.  There was no single dancing that I can remember and the music was supplied by local bands.  Anyhow I digress ...... back to the toy china.

These were first made as early as the 1770s but were most popular during Victorian times.  They could only be afforded by wealthy families and were usually miniature versions of the family dinner/tea services for the children of the house to play with in the nursery.  It is amazing that so many have survived and in such wonderful condition.  They were made in other countries but my preference is for the early Staffordshire sets and I just love transferware ..... the detail is fantastic and I never cease to marvel at the potters and painters' skills.  Here are some of my collection

This is a set by the Ridgway factory in Staffordshire and dates to the late Victorian era ... it is called Master Humphrey's Clock and the scenes on each piece depict the story from Charles Dicken's Old Curiosity Shop .... the story is about Little Nell and her grandfather who live in the shop in London and her friend Kit.  On the teapot is Little Nell, the cups have her grandfather sitting by her grave in the churchyard as he can't accept her death and Kit appears on the saucers.

To give an idea of the size of these the teapot stands 6" tall and the cups are just 1.75" tall.

In the background the two little plates are by Dimmock and date to circa 1840 .... the design is called Dimity but these are all I have of this set.  I have managed to acquire over the years the full tea and dinner service in the Humphrey's Clock set .... there is also a dessert service and dressing table set but they are extremely rare ..... I am still kicking myself for not buying two little comports from the dessert service around ten years ago at an antiques fair .... I dithered and decided not to spend my last £20 and I have never seen them since.

This little oriential design set is also by Ridgways and I found this last year in the local charity shop for the princely sum of £1 ... this dates to the early 1900s.

This little trio are from a coffee service ... they are unmarked and I haven't managed to identify the maker but from the shape and type of pottery they will date to circa 1850.  Have you noticed how large the bowl is ..... these are often mistaken for sugar bowls but they are in fact slop or waste bowls.

This set is also by Ridgways and is called Persia .... it dates to circa 1860 and has a lustre finish to the glaze ... I have some teacups, plates and saucers and I'm on the lookout for the teapot.

This is the little spoon rest and it measures just 1.25" long

I will post some more another day when I've done some dusting and taken some more photos!!

No Strings Challenge ..... first project finished !!!

I was beginning to think that I would never get this finished ..... it has been sitting in my room waiting for the final machining of the layers which I have finally got round to this afternoon.  So now I am pleased to present my No Strings Challenge Quilt

It is single size and the blocks have strips of Laura Ashley fabrics old and new, Cath Kidston florals, pretty ditsy cottons, some fabrics from swaps with the lovely ladies on the SCC forum, the dark green was an M & S shirt that my husband has never worn and the red gingham is from school dresses acquired from charity shops.

The border is Laura Ashley pink gingham check and it is backed with a lovely Egyptian Cotton in white with pale green stripes .... this is part of a Caroline Charles duvet cover which I purchased at a car boot last year (it was unused and still in original packaging).  I am saving the gorgeous floral side for another project.

This was a fantastic way to use up scraps and as somebody who finds it difficult to throw anything away (I had to force myself to bin the scraps from the edges when I trimmed the blocks!!) I must have known deep inside that they would come in useful one day ;-)

I still have loads more strips in other colours waiting to be sewn together and hope to have some more finished items to share soon.

I hope everyone else has enjoyed this challenge as much as I have .... a big thank you to Loft Creations for the inspiration x

Real life takes over again

Boy am I glad to see the end of this week .... it's been one of those when if things can go wrong they will

I started it with some aches and pains and a corking headache but soldiered on as us wimmin do (no time for man flu in this house ;-) 

By Thursday I was feeling better which was just as well as I had two littlies to look after one being grandson Jack whose mum was attending a meeting with her manager and union rep because the manager is being really awkward about her hours when she returns to work after maternity leave.  When she came home at lunchtime we tucked into some scrambled eggs (couldn't be fresher as I only have to go to the bottom of the garden to collect them from our girls).  Jack is 8 months old now so she tried him with just a teaspoon of scramble and within an hour he had a massive allergic reaction ..... he was covered from head to toe in a rash with huge white welts on his face and his little eyes, ears and lips were swelling .... he was rushed immediately to our surgery which is only a couple of minutes away where he was given anti-allergy medication.  The doctor has said that he will be unable to eat any egg until he is seven years old (he should have grown out of it by then apparently) so we've been doing our homework since on what we can and cannot feed him and it is amazing how many things contain egg.

It was a very scary experience for us grown ups and although I have knowledge of allergies through my childcare work I had never seen a reaction first hand but bless him he still managed to smile .... this was taken a couple of hours after the reaction

Later in the day his little hands and feet were swollen but thankfully by the end of the next day it had all disappeared.  He has been suffering with dry skin on his cheeks which has been treated as exczema but now we think this coincided with weaning which started at Christmas and after checking labels not all baby food is egg free so it was probably a milder reaction to just a trace of egg.

So I haven't been a lazy blogger this week it was just real life taking over again. 

I am taking advantage of a child free weekend to finish off some projects and plan some new ones which I will blog about later.

If any of you have experience of egg allergy I would really appreciate any advice you can offer.

To all mothers past and present on Mothering Sunday

My Nanny Bartlett

Her daughter Rosemarie .... my mum

Me and my mum

I hope you have all had a wonderful Mothering Sunday