Tablecloth imminent!

I couldn't resist this lovely cheerful fabric, so it's destined to soon become a tablecloth, and because I'm fairly sure I bought too much, I hope to get some matching napkins too :)

Sunday afternoon tea

It's been a long time since I did something like this for myself, so with a quiet and almost empty house this afternoon I did! Made a big mug of tea to go with  it, and thoroughly enjoyed it all :)

Frugal Friday - of wool and woolly things

I have a large (by most folks' standards anyway) stash of knitting wool. I buy for myself and for my knitting business, to swap, to barter - for knitting, crochet, weaving, all sorts. The vast majority, if not all of it, has been bought cheaply or dertainly not full price; if it was full price, it was probably a present or similar. I hunt out wool wherever I go, and have been successful at jumble sales, the tip, charity shops, online swaps, friends' donations, and good old e-bay ofcourse. Just recetnly, e-bay has been a source of unimaginable woolly joy for me, with a few pounds to spare I've been haunting the craft section several times a day. There is some lovely wool available there, and one of the joys of my life is vintage pure wool; was lucky enough to win these this week: They've been sitting out for admiration and sighing over - both lots for under £10 inc p&p, bargain :) Will be put away until the right order or project comes along that will do it justice. I also use the old tried and tested methods - pulling back, washing and rewinding useful wool from jumpers and other garments, crocheting up real oddments into blankets and striped things, knitted blanket squares, gloves and stripey scarves. Needles and other equipment can be got cheaply form charity shops or from friends/relations. Same with aptterns. I'm happy to spend about £5 on a knitting magazine if there are several good patterns in it - individula new patterns are a god £2 - £3 these days, so a magazineful represents good value to me really. For all its current trendiness, it needn't be an expensive undertaking if you think and plan ahead, with the odd impulse purchase thrown in for good meaure ofcourse!

Autumn.............

Start with a blog change for autumn :)  Hope you like it :)

This is how I started my day today

A cup of hot and sweet tea and a read of this: From: http://www.herondance.org/reflections/interview-joanna-macy/ So - what was your dream before you stopped dreaming?  That one pulled me up a bit smart and I hall be pondering on that throughout the day :)

- and here's to another 51!

Slainte!   Today is my birthday - again! lol  51 this time, as suggested by the post title. Today I have done nothing, because that's exactly what I felt like doing, so I didn't do it! lol Ofcourse, I did the basic animal  jobs that have to be done daily, but other than that have just pootled around on the web all over the world, dozed by the Rayburn, bit of reading and a bit of knitting, lot of musing and thinking. while I enjoyed today, am fairly sure I couldn't do it every day though, so normal service will be resumed tomorrow. Cheers to all my followers, you are all very much appreciated, as are the folks who pop in and read as they wish :)

Frugal Friday - fruity nobs and squash curry

Had a quantity of  almost stale muesli to use up, so have made it into fruity nobs: 8oz muesli (mine had fruit nuts seeds in) 8oz sugar 8os flour 8 oz butter good tbsp of golden syrup Melt butter and golden syrup, add in rest of ingredients and stir thoroughly; if a bit on the dry side add milk, fruit juice, water to get the right consistency for rolling into balls. Roll into balls, place on tray and flatten, bake in hottish oven until golden and crisp, cool on tin for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Cheap curry for Friday supper tonight , happens to be a favourite of mine, I love the texture of the squash after a long, slow gentle cooking on the cooler end of the Rayburn. 1 tin chopped tomatoes 1/2 tin water 4 cloves 1tsp ground cumin 1 tsp ground coriander 1 tsp ground fenugreek chilli  powder to taste 1/2 tsp salt good few twists of black pepper generous tbsp honey 4 oz butter uice of 1 lime 1 tbsp tomato puree 1/2 butternut or other squash, peeled, de-seeded and diced cream to finish Put tomatoes and water in pan with cloves, leave to simmer until thickened, then add in everything else, stir well, lid on, and simmer for a couple of hour on a gentle heat. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary. Freezes well at this point.  Add cream to finish and re-heat gently before serving with rice or/and naan breads. Roll on supper time :)