Pictures not words

Rather than my usual waffle, I thought I'd share some garden pictures with you! The weather is still so beautiful, the leaves are just beginning to turn and the flowers are doing there best to hang in there - so it would a shame not to capture it.

See you later on in the week!

Books and pretties

Hope everyone's week is going well? - mine is certainly jam packed and non-stop but I won't bore you with the details - I'll get onto more interesting things!

A couple of books arrived yesterday and boy was I looking forward to sitting down lastnight and salivating over the lovely pages, and I certainly wasn't disappointed. I've really got into quiliting lately (well I say that, but not actually done anything yet! I've just dreamt of what I'm going to make....).

I flicked through first, looking at all the pictures - what did draw my attention in 'Stitched in Time' was the old muffin tin filled with trimmings and bits and bobs - what a great idea of recycling. I've got an old rusty tin so will put that to good use now.

Don't the Christmas stockings look fab - loving the mantle with the little trees on - simple but effective.

The dolls I think will be my first project - so sweet.

The other book was 'Quilting in No Time' - "weekend projects made easy" The placemats fabrics are to die for and of course the bolster cushion - yummy.

Providing all my orders are up to date before Saturday, I may well give something a go and I can't wait. Having said that Toby has football matches all weekend but I won't let a little thing like football stop me!!

I've also had 2 bags of loveliness still unopened until this morning which I thought I'd share with you. Yet more Enid Blyton books, 1 lovely floral jug, bud vase, and a blue jug. I was also rather taken with the picture, I thought the girl was really sweet. I might paint the frame at some stage!

Last but by no means least some pretty embroideries which I have in mind for a project, don't know when but the plan's there.

Well, that's it for now. I'll be back again after the weekend, providing I survive all the activities!

So long folks!

What does Autumn inspire you to do?

I don't know about you, but Autumn heralds lots of new and exciting activities for me.

Out comes the bag of knitting - last year I started knitting a granny blanket and managed 3 squares (shamefully!), it then went away at the back of the cupboard to bring out again with the onset of darker/cooler evenings. I'm always more inspired to knit during Autumn and Winter - must be getting ready for hibernation!

Out comes the preserving book, empty jars and a big pan ready in earnest for blackberry and apple jam, blackcurrant jam and chutney's.

Out comes an Enid Blyton book to read whilst sitting under my lovely coloured crochet blanket.

Out come candles to fill the house with a lovely glow and a gentle scent whilst sitting watching a great BBC drama.

Aaaahhhhh..........there is some sadness to say goodbye to those long summer days, but welcome Autumn to everything you bring.

What are you doing this Autumn?

You can't beat a bit of nostalgia

I promised in my last post that I would share with you our trip to Newhaven Fort in Sussex. We were fortunate enough on the day we went that they were hosting a Battle of Britain commemoration day. There were WW vehicles, people dressed up in clothes from the era, a band, and a good old bit of nostalgic dancing along with a bit of Union Jack waving.

What was fascinating for us was that it gave us a great insight, not just in what the fort did during the war, but we learnt about everything leading up to both wars and what happened subsequently. For me the most interesting part was understanding how they recycled and reused, the contribution women made to the war effort, and what to cook with so little.

Enjoy the photo's - sorry some of them are so grainy. The exhibitions were in 'caves' round the fort.

Love this image - nothing stops 2 women from having a good gossip!

I would love to have some of these kitchen items........

No waste in 1942...........

I bought a book whilst I was there - Rationing in the Second World War - Spuds, Spam and Eating for Victory. I'll share some bits of it once I've read it, as I'm sure they'll be some interesting articles.

See you soon.

Bric a Brac excitement

Well here we are again, back to another jam packed week! Did you all have a grand weekend - we certainly did.

We went off on our merry way back to glorious Sussex. Having read on someones blog a little while ago that there was a great antique-esq shop in Nutley, I thought we could take a jaunt en route to our fabulous B+B. Well, I wasn't disappointed - lots of pretties to lust over...Blast, blast and blast I didn't take any interior shots for you, but here are my purchases and believe me I could have bought so much more. Knowing that there were lots of 'my sort' of shops in Sussex, I thought I'd better control myself. Fortunately I was on my own, my other 3 male companions were far happier eating through a packet of biscuits and playing on DS's!

I'm sorry the photo quality is pants - you just can't get the light when you need it!

Off again, via a place called Wilderness Wood - great wood trail walks. We did seem to have an extra one along our walk - namely the owners dog. Jack thought it was great and promptly called him Timmy (from the Famous Five!). Sorry no photo's.....

Once dropping our stuff of at the B+B (would certainly recommend it for anyone who wants to venture that way) we decided to head to Hastings. Now, on our last visit we ended up on the sea front amongst the arcades etc etc and didn't fancy it, but having read bits about Hastings I knew that in the old part there were lots of fab bric a brac type shops - you know the ones? I was determined this time to find them and once found I wasn't disappointed.

Cheer up doggy, you have a new home now.......

Why didn't we ever keep the old milk bottles with ads on.......

Yipee for Mrs Pepperpot - remember her?

Ooohhhhh ladies you would have loved it. Lots of shops crammed and I mean crammed full of 'stuff'. One place had furniture spilling out onto the pavement, you walked into it to find a cavern of numerous other outlets - amazing! The prices for some things were so cheap (compared to my neck of the woods), - probably as there's so much competition. Having said all of that, I bought very little as it was overwhelming. Slap my hand again - no camera, but we are going back soon so will deliver some photo's for you then.

A £1 for a great glass floral embossed dish.

Do I need another basket - why not?

Amongst these shops were retro ones, shops selling fantastic vintage clothing, bags, shoes, hats, brooches etc etc etc etc.....................

Remember Start-rite? This bag is oil cloth - how great is that? I can't believe they used to hand out these with a new pair of shoes.

Probably for those who live near Hastings may wonder why I was so excited, but we don't have anything as close to the number of these shops in my part of the world - maybe that's a good thing.....!

In my next post I'll share with you our day trip to Newhaven Fort where there was a Battle of Britain commemoration day, lots of WW vehicles, clothing, music and gaiety to be had!

So long folks.

To blog or not to blog

Hello all, it's me again! Thanks to those who emailed me asking where I was.........well I'm back I think!

I've spent some time pondering about blogging. Don't get me wrong - I love reading everyone's blogs and find them very inspirational, but I seemed to have a little bit of a block on mine. Nevertheless I'm here!

I hope everyone's OK, and back into the throws of the school routine again - where did that time go........I'm still grumpy about the fact that our school (along with others) only had a mere 5 weeks - yes that's right 5 weeks. We finished late in July, and they've been back now for virtually 2 weeks. I don't ever remember going back to school on the 1st of September. There must be some logic to it all. Heh Ho.

The summer for us was a busy one as always. We took time out and spent a couple of weekends in the glorious counties of Sussex and Kent, and we so enjoyed them infact we're off again this coming weekend.

We were astounded by the number of great days out you can have in those counties. I think also that as we've recently become National Trust members it's opened up a whole new avenue of places to visit. This will now be our 3rd weekend in Sussex and there's still plenty to do.

For now, I'll share some photo's with you and next time will be a round-up of CS buys along the way.

So long for now, be back again shortly!