Unbought Delicacies: My cabin in the.............

Wednesday, 23 July 2008

My cabin in the.............

........garden! We don't have woods, sadly, so this is my cabin in the garden. It's been an ongoing project for months now, but is finished apart from the exterior staining, which I hope to tackle this weekend, depending on the weather. Ultimate use is as yet undecided, there are a lot of options I could choose, but one thing is definite - a lot of the stuff inside will have to go! It's full of craft stuff, looms, treadle machine base, chair, cupboard (full of fabric, hahaha!!), boxes of textile bits, all sorts. I am on the cusp (love that expression) of a huge, major clearout, which I have been working up to over the past few eeks, and recent reading has spurred me on to get rid of what I don't actually use, even if I like it.......... Do I really need 4 types of citrus squeezer? 9 mess tins? 5 china fruit bowls (these are really pretty........)?All that knitting wool (especially now I have got the spinning wheel mastered)? Ah yes, that reminds me - there are 7 fleeces in there too. A major job, I think, and not for the faint hearted! It will be done. If I find anything interesting, I might put it up on offer to a good ome here, so watch out in the column to the right for goodies on offer.

4 comments:

Pixiedust said...: Oh I find de-cluttering so hard. I always think 'that might come in handy one day' or 'I could use that for so and so' and 'I will get around to doing that cross stitch'. Good luck with the de-cluttering. I'll be keeping a close eye on what your chucking out. :o); 23 July 2008 at 10:18
Leanne said...: its a fab little cabin sarah!

decluttering is hard, i did it when i moved here, and have been doing it again over the last few months, in preparation for moving again. I will keep an eye out for swaps etc yuo have, theres certain things i cant resist as you know, and i bet i have things you'd like too :-)

Leanne x; 23 July 2008 at 14:02
MrsL said...: I'm not swapping, I'm giving it all away!!!!!!!!! I really must shift some stuff, and dno't need anything to replace it.........

Anyone - shout if there's soemthing you are after - I might well have one! Or two.......; 23 July 2008 at 15:47
Leanne said...: not sure if i would ever use a drop spindle sarah, never thought about it really, it should go to someone who really would use it :-); 23 July 2008 at 19:49

I have found such joy

I have found such joy in simple things;
A plain, clean room, a nut-brown loaf of bread,
A cup of milk, a kettle as it sings,
The shelter of a roof above my head,
And in a leaf-laced square along the floor,
Where yellow sunlight glimmers through the door.
I have found such joy in things that fill
My quiet days: a curtain's blowing grace,
A potted plant upon my window sill,
A rose, fresh-cut and placed within a vase;
A table cleared, a lamp beside a chair,
And books I long have loved beside me there.
Oh, I have found such joys I wish I might
Tell every woman who goes seeking far
For some elusive, feverish delight,
That very close to home the great joys are:
The elemental things- old as the race,
Yet never, through the ages, commonplace.

~ Grace Noll Crowell

Ideas for handmade gifts

Small knitteds - gloves, scarves, hot water bottle covers, hats, tea cosies, phone covers, little toys,,cushion covers, bags. Some of these can be felted/fulled for extra interest.
Edibles - chutneys and jams, pickles, nice teas in a vintage/retro tin, sweeties, toffees, mustard, home made wine and liqueurs, home dried fruits, ketchups.
For the home - trimmed tea towels, handknitted dishcloths, quilted wallhangings, small samplers, restored picture frames, pot pourri, lavender bags, covered coathangers, little scented bags for hanging on handles, framed photos of family,etc you've taken yourself, pincushion,needle book, scissor keeper, book of promises (eg babysitting, 1 hour's housework, the ironing, etc)
Bathtime - homemade soap, bath oils, bath salts, knitted washcloths, herbal bags for the bath, hand sewn toilet bags, trimmed hand towels, homemade lotions and potions packed in pretty jars and bottles.
For the garden - home saved seed in handmade decorated packets; homemade handcream, exfoliating soap, wheat bag for those digger's aches and pains!

Handmade books, personalised printed notepaper and envelopes.
Hamper of bits and bobs from the above lists, packed in a pretty lined basket.

I'll add some more as and when I think of them; These can be used all year round and easily tailored to the recipient - everyone loves a homemade gift. :)

Inspiring thoughts.............

I saw a man, an old Cilician, who occupied an acre or two of land that no one wanted.
A patch not worth the ploughing, unrewarding for flocks, unfit for vineyards;
he, however, by planting here and there among the scrub cabbages or white lilies and verbena and flimsy poppies, fancied himself a king in wealth, and coming home late in the evening, loaded his board with unbought delicacies.
Virgil

I had no theories to prove. I merely wanted to try living by my own hands, independently as far as possible from a system of division of labour in which the participant loses most of the pleasure of making and growing things for himself. I wanted to bring in my own fuel and smell its sweet smell as it burned in the hearth I had made. I wanted to grow my own food, or forage after it. In short I wanted to do as much as I could for myself, because I had already realised from partial experience the inexpressible joy of doing so.

Harlan Hubbard, Shantyboat: A River Way of Life

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Wednesday, 23 July 2008

My cabin in the.............

4 comments: