Just a tin

Biscuiterie de l'Abbaye

Bucket Bag

Thanks to a very kind 'blogger' at Pooh's Abode from the Shabby Chic forum who lent me this pattern I now have another bag added to my ever growing collection of bags. Again I just used fabric that I had picked up at a charity shop. Despite the fiddly handles I am reasonably pleased with the outcome. The bag is reversable, but I was wondering whether I should put a popper fastener in the middle? I also made the handles longer than the pattern after reading other peoples comments.

Right off now to enjoy the lovely sunny day!

I was spoiled!

Finished.

I’m really not sure what I think of this book. I feel a bit of a rant coming on.... I mean how many of us could do what Liz did, how many of us would love to have the opportunity to take a year out to ‘find ourselves’. The reality is however, the majority of us can’t. Still need to to think on this a bit and will leave 'rant' for later.

So on to yesterday. I had a lovely concert for my students and I think my three new lads and their parents really enjoyed it. It is very informal, the children get to play something for their parents and at the end we have goodies to eat and drink. It is a chance to have a chat with their parents and for the parents to chat to each other.

I was rather spoiled at this concert. One of my students is leaving to go on to University in September. He has been with me for seven years and I have watched him grow and mature over those years and overcome various hurdles. He presented me with a lovely bunch of flowers and a hug!

I got given a lovely box of chocolates and another mum presented me with a bag with a card, box of chocolates and a wonderful surprise, a kameez. I had admired hers a few weeks back and she gave me one all the way from India as she has family over there. Isn't it lovely? I don't think my photography (I had to use the flash) does it justice.

Late yesterday afternoon with the thunder crashing I decided what better to do than make a bag. I'm rather pleased with the way this pattern has turned out. It looks lovely with the Laura Ashley material I bought the other day.

Gooseberry Jam, eh sauce anyone?

Rather a busy day yesterday. My older son had to have the first of three rabies vaccinations ready for his trip to Swaziland with the scouts late July. After this appointment I managed to quickly down some breakfast cereal (early morning appointment) before the parent of one of my students picked me up. Two of my students had music exams and I went along for support and the Mum who picked me up took me out of a cup of tea afterwards which was lovely.

Next it was up to my FIL's so we could put some serious effort in getting the house ready to put it on the market. Hubby worked outside in the garden, trimming, weeding and general tidying etc... while I worked on the inside. Kitchen sides scrubbed and tidied. Lounge reorganised to make it look roomier and the second bedroom I also changed around. Still more to do in the kitchen and also the main bedroom, but hopefully it will be ready by mid-July. I'm going to try and either get some duvet type covers from Tesco, or a charity shop to brighten up the bedrooms.

Whilst there I also picked a load of gooseberries in order to make Jam yesterday evening.

Duly weighed

In the pan ready to cook

Arghhh disaster - would it thicken up? No it would not, I boiled and boiled, 'double, double, (boil) toil & trouble'. And boy was I in trouble. Out of desparation I thought 'I know I'll add some more fruit' - all I had to hand was strawberries, so in they went into the pot. It still wouldn't thicken, or do the 'thingy' that jam is supposed to do. So now I have several jars of 'runny stuff'. Tastes nice, and I guess would go well with icecream, but not quite what I planned. Would it work if I tried adding yet more gooseberries and cooking it again for longer this evening?

Pretty runny jam/sauce.

I just knew there was a reason I didn't attempt this jam making business!

Today hubby and I dashed off to try and find nearly 18 year old a birthday present. What DO you get an 18 year old boy for his birthday?

Oops, look what slipped into the basket....

Cute cookie tin from Marks & Spencer.

Some fabric from a charity shop

A cup, saucer & plate from another.

And a single/double candlewick bedspread from another charity shop.

I think I will use this one on the single bed at FIL's place - it is the same era as the furniture and being white will brighten up the room.e


As for poor teenage boy what did we find? A big fat nothing!

Six Unimportant things I Love

Sharie from View To The Hill tagged me for 'Six Unimportant Things I Love.' I found this difficult as I 'love' lots of things, and they are all 'important' to me at the time! So not in any particular order, I've selected six that came to mind today.

1. Being able to pick fresh raspberries from our garden.

2. My blue picnic table and being able to eat outside, in this case a mid-afternoon snack of toast and manuka honey.

3. My new hanging baskets outside our front, on either side of our bedroom window.

4. My garden and the array of flowers it contains.

5. My collection of 'old people' resplendent with their very own cobwebs that line our plate shelf that runs the entire length of our hallway. Hmmm, shows what happens when not being able to reach up over my shoulders. Note to self, must get them all down to clean them and get hubby or one of the boys to vacuum the shelf!

6. My books of which there are many!

Oh goodness, now I'm supposed to 'tag' six people. Not sure how I go about this - do I just list them on my blog?

In that case here goes.

If you've already been 'caught' - just ignore!

http://joharoathome.blogspot.com/

http://tabiboo.blogspot.com/

http://polka-dot-daze.blogspot.com/

http://www.abeachcottage.com/my_weblog/

http://beachhut-jus.blogspot.com/

http://pupylov.blogspot.com/

T for Tuesday

Busy teaching, tidying, teaching and tidying today. Managed to sneak out and take some more photos of blue sky. We also dinner outside on our picnic table - pizza!

I've got to go London tomorrow for a physio appointment. I've been doing a little more playing, but not a lot as it still aggravates my arm somewhat. Vacuuming aggravates it a lot! I just KNEW there was a reason it hadn't been done for ahem... quite a while.

We've been able to view the HIP of the cottage we are hoping to buy. Humpf, I don't think much of these HIP's - considering it is 88 pages long, it actually doesn't tell you a lot - certainly nothing about the structure of the house, only whether it is energy efficient, whether it is on mains etc..., whether there are any planning permissions, or if it is going to be reclaimed and turned into a sewage park - LOL. However, it did highlight something I'd forgotten about since my Open University Science course - the radon levels as it is in a “Radon Affected Area”, so this will need to be looked into. Anyone know about this?

Anyway, not much else to report today. Still waiting to hear how my Dad got on at his appointment today. Mum is supposed to be phoning me later this evening hopefully.

My pictures for today - yes you guessed it, more blue skies.

Music on Mondays

I've been 'tagged' for the first time!

Sharie over at View to the Hill was kind enough to tag me to do a '6 unimportant things I love' list - which hopefully I will get time to do tomorrow. First things first though, I have to tidy up for the Alarm people who are coming to service our alarm on Wednesday. Story of my life - tidying up for 'people' to come...either the plumber, electrician or in this case alarm maintenance! Still the house needs a jolly good tidy up anyway. Trouble is I'm not sure how I'm going to get it done as I work tomorrow morning and evening! I made some progress today. Washing done, ironing done, although now I have more ironing from the washing done today! Sheets changed and bed made, lounge partially tidied. Oh and I posted the parcel to my Mum - looking good!

This afternoon/evening I've been teaching some of this....

as well as theory, clarinet and saxophone.

Whilst there I managed to sneak a couple of photos of the tea cosy I made my friend....

Yes that is right, I teach at my friends house - she has more space than me.

The next picture is for Sharie - my English Bull Terrier!

Lastly the fabrics I got last week from the charity shops.

More bags?

Yes both are Laura Ashley - the first has the date 1988 and the second is 1995

Simply Sunday

In our garden

It is Mum's birthday on 29th June. I'm invariably late so I'm hoping that my presents will arrive on time this year if I post them tomorrow.

I've made the card...

The bag...

and a smaller bag/make up bag.

All wrapped up and ready to go.

Friday already?!

What's this? A post with no photos?! Sorry I forgot to take a photo of my latest project which was a 'commissioned' tea cosy for my friend that I made last night. I was so excited to give it to her this morning that I forgot to take a photograph of it.

I've been running around after the one with 'man flu' the last couple of days and trying to get to trip with exhaustion as well so although went for a nice walk down the road, in which I managed to get some more Laura Ashley fabric from the charity shop (new!) and some yummies to eat, I haven't really achieved a lot. Hmm, not sure what went wrong today. I have managed to do some washing, although only got one load on the line, I have a mountain of ironing to do - will attempt that tonight while I watch 'Escape to the Country'.

Some boarders (guinea pigs) arrived this afternoon so they are tucked up safely in their hutches with a nice lot of hay, food and some freshly cut grass.

I'm very much in deep thought, thinking mode with my head whirling with all sorts of ideas, schemes as well as the great debate about having a rather radical in some ways life change. I'm totally in love with the cottage we viewed on Wednesday. My mind is full of can I, can we, what ifs, is there, etc....

For example.... Can I give up my doll collection? Doll collection you ask? Yes, I have a doll collection, primarily Tressy with a few other 'grow hair' dolls, some vintage barbie and sindy. I haven't done much with them for a while, but I used to make clothes for them. Most of them are currently on display on a couple of book shelves in my bedroom. Pictures you ask? Oh go on then, here are a few for you.

Anyway, must dash and feed the family!

The Great Road Trip

Well what an exhausting day we had yesterday. Getting up at 3am ready to drive down to see Plymouth University for our older son, we left at about 4.30am, a bit later than planned but we made good time and arrived at about 9am. When we left the weather was lovely, so I was dressed in a pretty skirt and top with a pair of sandels. Hmmm, perhaps not such a wise choice as it pretty much rained all day and I got drenched! I forgot to take photos as we were dashing from one place to the next at the Uni but just managed to sneak in a couple on the bus as we were heading back to the Park & Ride carpark.

Drats! Missed you!

Got you this time! Notice the bemused look on his face.

We then set off to have a look at a couple of properties. One near St Keyne which we had been wanting to see for some time and another near Duloe. The one near St Keyne was up the most horrendously narrow road and poor dear hubby got rather stressed to say the least. Finally made it and the rain had eased up but the ground was still very wet. We loved the little holiday cottage on this place, but the rest wasn't what we expected and required a lot of work - to be honest we were disappointed and the property certainly wasn't worth the price in our view.

The next property was perfect! Completely isolated yet only 2 miles to the closest village and about 7 miles to Looe. The quietness was just simply lovely and I could have 'listened' to it for ages. We really loved the cottage and it was so pretty. I did try to take a photo as it was beautiful but the sun was in the wrong position. We looked around it for ages. It is probably too small for us unless we can make a radical life change in the number of 'possessions' we have - but we will certainly be giving it some thought. So much character and did I say it... so quiet, I just loved it.

Can I live with less? Can we live a simpler life? I would love to be able to say yes, but I do want inside space as well as outside space. These are the question one needs to give serious thought to.

By this stage the sun had come out so we thought we'd take a quick look at Looe and get something to eat before for making that arduous journey home, and yes I got my camera out and clicking!

The approach to the seaside village at 7.30pm was simply stunning.

Wandering around the lovely quant narrow streets - I could see myself doing this, they had some really lovely shops.

The age of the buildings were often noted on the buildings and in fact the cottage we saw was 400 plus years old.

An interesting round house - I bet the views were fantastic from this house.

It is amazing how some blue sky, lovely views can make someone much happier and so much more relaxed. If you'd seen my husband oh about a couple of hours earlier when he was having his major hissy fit in the car whilst driving through the narrow lanes you wouldn't believe it was the same person!

This lovely little fellow was having a busy time along the pier. Phots are a bit blurred as he wouldn't pose for me.... I mean how inconsiderate!

When we go down to either Devon or Cornwall we prefer to go down on the A303, it is a prettier route. We had planned to come back that way, but hubby in his rather stressed mood by this stage....understandable because of the sheer distance we had travelled, and the fact that he was very tired, missed the turning so we ended up coming back via the M5/M4 which had road work, after road work, after road work, topped by the M25 junction being closed when we got to it! Not good for the stress levels in the car I can tell you! We finally arrived home gone 1.30 am and think we got to bed around 2 in the morning absolutely shattered.

Poor old 'nearly 18 year old' had to go to school today and I had to get up as some piggies were arriving. Hubby is still in bed (11.45am) as he is feeling ill, headache, sorethroat, etc... 'Man flu?' I personally think he got himself so worked up yesterday and that combined with the sheer length of driving he had to do and the day as just totally wiped him out. He doesn't like change so this doesn't bode well for my wanting to move me thinks... Hopefully when he is feeling better we will be able to discuss the day in a better light.

Was it worth the journey? I think so, yes. Never again in a day though. Our son really liked Plymouth and the courses on offer and we think he now has a focus as he has settled on a course. Now he just has to knuckle down, focus and get the grades!