Getting ready to sew

   Back from Cornwall and a LOVELY Wedding. The ceremony was so much fun that even the registrar got the giggles.. nay she was laughing out loud, as was her assistant ! It's second time round for both the bride and the groom, who both have large families, who obviously spend plenty of time together, with the young cousins playing comfortably together. They reminded me of my girls and their cousins who spent much of their childhood together. They still hang out together now ( and as they say, cousins were your first friends and understand your crazy family!)
  Now I'm not a great fan of eating out. I always think it is a waste of money. I sit there computing how many meals I could have made for the cost of a bought meal. I often feel I could have cooked it better too! That isn't arrogance, just a sign of how disappointing some meals can be. HOWEVER, the meal was lovely, well cooked and plenty of it. So well done the Hannaford Point Hotel at Looe in Cornwall. ( and what glorious views too)

  By the end of this week I should be breaking the back of the preserving for winter, though the garden still has plenty of veg and fruit. I am planning to get the sewing out as these jobs reduce and the nights draw in. I have some large pieces of quilting and also some work with heavy material to sew and decided that I should use my treadle for smaller jobs and set up an electric machine with a walking foot for the larger jobs. I'm actually struggling with pains in my legs if I use the treadle for any length of time.- My family and friends will be thinking "Ah ha, is Gill finally admitting to feeling her age?!"
  My dear mum, who died 10 years ago, bought herself a new electric sewing machine a few years before she died. She was a seamstress and used to do alterations for a "posh" dress shop and as any sewer will tell you alterations are far more difficult than making from the start. She always struggled with this machine and I assumed that it was because she was becoming more frail and forgetful. I have had this machine in my bedroom as a table for the last ten years and last month decided to get it out to set up in the spare room with a large table for my quilting and I can't get it to behave either!. So I have decided to invest a little money in taking it to an expert. Today I took it to the sewing machine shop in Ilkeston. he will look at it and hopefully get it going for £35 plus vat. If he needs to spend any more he will ring me to see what I think. YD emailed to say that Groupon have Brother machines at half price (£69)so I suppose it would be almost as cheap to buy a new one, but I will try to recycle first - and it IS my mum's machine after all, bless her.
  I am still having problems loading the photos from my phone, so I shall go out and about with D's camera this week and transfer from that. I do like to put a picture or two on this blog to cheer things up and reduce my word count!
I have just managed to look into my (I think) Bloglovin thingy and see that some people are following me there - Haloooo each !
 I have been working with D. on a "Getting ready for Winter" post which I shall start tomorrow. I hope that those who are newly independent, because they are starting college, left home to get married/live together, etc will find some of it useful.
Till tomorrow then
Gillxx

Off to a Cornish Wedding

Bags packed and off to Cornwall again. this time for a wedding ( and a cheeky days fishing too)
So have got out the glad rags and hope they still fit us both - we don't dress up very often!
I'm anxious to be leaving burgeoning bean and tomato plants, but will be back sunday lunch, so hope they will be okay.
YD  ( with a little help from Godson) are taking over again... I SO owe that girl!!!!
Back Soon Frugal Friends
Gillx

The stall, broodies and harvest in full swing

Hello Dear Frugellers
I'm just about standing up, tho' I could keel over at any moment from exhaustion!
The gardens are giving of their bounty thick and fast and I couldn't ever waste the produce, so I'm pickling and jamming and wining and drying and freezing like crazy. The buckets in the kitchen don't seem to get any less, while the space in the freezers is shrinking and we took Shaun the Bully to the (unmentionable) yesterday. I will collect him on Wednesday and sort him out into joints that suit our family and freeze them . "When will he be ready?" I asked. "At the weekend"  he replied. Ah! bit of a problem there as we are at a wedding in Cornwall this weekend ! " Can you make it earlier.. like Wednesday as we are off on Thursday?" He then remembered that he doesn't have to joint it for me , as with all the other stuff he does, so it will be okay to pick up on Wednesday Phew!!
 The stall was sort of so-so on Saturday. There were not many people there to buy really. However, we did as well as most and better than some. We cleared £55, which wasn't a fortune, but not to be sniffed at either. The other smallholders were very friendly and helpful and we would probably do it again sometime. While we were there YGD put some punnets of damsons outside the shop she works in on Saturday and made £20 !! I have taken a (poor) photo of J at the stall, which I'm struggling to load. We used the lovely old laundry basket that she bought me for Christmas to but the beans in and placed a vase of Bishop of Llandaff Dahlias on the table. They looked really nice and I could have sold several bunches of the flowers!
 A neighbour just popped round to ask about chutney. She has just made some chutney, in the usual way ( I checked out her ingredients and it was a perfectly normal recipe and method). She had made it as presents for Christmas and then read that the chutney keeps in the fridge for a month! After discussion, we agreed that the chutney should not even be started for another month at least and that it would keep for years if left unopened. When opened it should keep for considerably longer than a month, well mine does anyway. So what that was all about I don't know.
 Committee meeting last night at ours for the Civic Society. Took me some time to make room for them, what with all the buckets and baskets, as we always meet around our kitchen table. The next few weeks will be busy with walks and an exhibition we are holding on the industrial history of our area. The week before that we are holding a dedication evening for the re-siting of a small war memorial that was in the empty and up-for-sale little church. We have rescued it and it will soon sit in the village hall. So we are trying to trace relatives of those mentioned on the memorial that fell in World War I and II. As the secretary I get to do all the letter writing and reports for the papers etc. As my mother used to say "If you want something doing, ask a busy woman"
 J. and I dug up the potatoes yesterday as I saw the early signs of the dreaded blight on the outdoor tomatoes. from one pound of Pink Fir Apple seed potatoes we have 44.5lbs of potatoes and from 2lbs  Sarpo Miras seed we got 98lb. They wont last us the whole of the winter, but will go a long way towards it.
The tomatoes in the greenhouse, which went in late and have been very tardy this year are finally giving out the little red beauties. Hurrah! Don't you just love home grown tomatoes?!
 Bubble and squeak with cold lamb, beans and mixed veg for dinner last night, with heated up rhubarb crumble.
A broody with two eggs bought off a chick on sunday, I put her in a broody cage with said chick and egg so that she could have some peace.. Yesterday I found an empty shell and no second chick. The whole cage was in disarray and I finally found one expired cold chick under a pile of wood shavings. I took it into the house gently blew into its little beak and put the hair dryer on it. I turned on the incubator and we did finally manage to bring it round even though it looked dead (moral;-Never give up). A couple of hours later when it was cheeping its head off we sneaked it under mother while distracting her with a crushed apple and some chickweed. We didn't see it again and hoped that she wouldn't crush or murder it. This morning the two chicks are sat under mummy's chest cheeping away. Don't you just love a happy ending?
We have never had chicks born so late and we still have one more broody sitting.
Off to start some more jam.
Take care Frugellers
Gillx

The Auction Fridge in situ

The fridge I bought at auction is in place and it JUST fits under the shelf, couldn't have measured it better.
Here are a couple of pictures to demonstrate. Trouble is I will have to decorate the kitchen now. I have decided to do an area at a time as at this time of year there is too much going on in my kitchen. What you can't see in the photo is several buckets of damsons and apples, trays of beans, baskets of shallots, bowls of tomatoes and boxes of jars of jam and empty honey jars. These will be doing a dance round the kitchen as I throw some paint around. - and looking at the state of those glass doors to the cupboard above the fridge, a little white vinegar wouldn't go amiss!

 It has rained most of today, which hasn't been too good for picking, but the forecast is better for tomorrow, so J. will be swinging from the trees with her little bucket and filling the punnets for Saturday. I am a little nervous about doing a stall on the market place. it is not something I usually do and am concerned that no one will want my stuff.
 Just heard from J. that there is some sort of hold up on the A38 near Burton. I hope it doesn't prolong what is a pretty long journey anyway. I will put some veggies on to roast with some Lidl chicken legs now and later boil some Pink Fir Apple potatoes and some beans. That should set her up when she gets here.
 Back later
Gillx

Damson glut

 What a lovely day it has turned out to be.
D.has been up the large damson trees, giving them a good prune (they really are too high) and throwing the branches down for one of our shared lives guys to pick. I have just looked in the kitchen and there are EIGHT buckets. eeeek! I have a sign at the door but I reckon  I will be lucky to sell all we have from the door. Those buckets are from one and a half trees and we have another five to go.
A few days ago it was clear that there would be a surfeit of damsons and beans so I have taken the bull by the horns and booked a (car boot)  table at Ripley market place for Saturday. YGD has bought some punnets with lids online, which have now arrived and tomorrow my friend J. from Cornwall will arrive too with her picking clothes on! The cost of the table is only £5, so if I sell 6lbs of Damsons I will make a profit. Worth a punt eh?
Poor J. doesn't know what she has let herself in for as there are two elderberry trees to be picked too. These will be frozen until I have time in the winter to make some wine.
I have finished papering and painting the corner for the new (to us) fridge. I am so pleased with it I may well have a bloggy unveiling for you all to see!
 Yesterday I made, some more plum jam, which I might put on the stall on Saturday and also some really tasty tomato chutney from Chelmarsh Chunterings, I still haven't worked out how to do a link for you to follow CC, but please look her up she is worth a visit.
What is LETS ? I have seen the term a couple of times recently and think it might be some sort of voluntary scheme. Anybody know?
 This evening's plan is -
 Put the new fridge in place.
 Put the cupboard back that goes above it and return the cookery books.
 Make some damson jam, if I can spare the damsons tee hee...
 Write a condolence letter
Make my organisation list for the next four days.
Make the guest beds up for J. and Adam who will both be with us this weekend.

Off to collect the eggs and pick a few more beans before tea.(Lamb curry)
Have a good evening all, the nights are getting a bit chilly aren't they?
Gillx

Home-made apple picker and More Fish

Afternoon Each
The weather can't decide what to do today. We have had sunshine and downpours throughout the day so I have been picking stuff from the garden, then in to do indoor jobs and then out again.....
 Below is a picture of D's second largest pollack from last weeks fishing. This weighed nearly 6lb. His biggest was 7 and a half, but I didn't take a picture. In the next picture my friend J. looks as though she is about to start filleting doesn't she ? Actually I do all that and she feeds me cider while I do it! Well, we are in Cornwall, which makes some pretty good cider.

 Some of the apples are ready and many are being blown off the tree BEFORE they are ready by the gusts of wind we are experiencing today. I shall make some sort of jelly with the windfalls. I shall also add them to the chutneys I have still to make. And of course the rabbits and chickens love them too, so even the windfalls won't be wasted.
Talking of apples I thought I would share my apple picker with you. it is a lot safer to use than teetering on the top of a ladder to reach the odd one up high.
The body is made from the top third of a drinks bottle (Lidl orangeade in this case, though that is of no consequence) Cut a small, say one inch deep by half an inch wide, hole in the rim. cover this and all around the rim with gaffer tape or insulating tape. This ensures that there is a soft edge that will not bruise or cut the fruit and is easier to see.

 With your tape attach the top of the bottle to something like a washing line pole. If you have one with variable lengths, so much the better. If you find that the pole goes all the way into the bottle, cut a piece of cork or some  "blu tack" and press into the neck, so that the pole doesn't shoot through or stick into the fruit.

Place the "bowl" under the fruit to be picked, with the groove underneath and up to the stalk. Push upward, while giving a little twist. If the fruit is ready it will fall into the bowl and you can carefully lower the pole and take out the fruit. Voila! Happy Picking.
It  is sunny again, so I am going out to pick some tomatoes and red pepper and have a go at Chelmarsh Chunterings  Sweet tomato pickle.

Tonight I shall be papering the wall behind the old fridge. We took out the old fridge and the back wall was disgusting! So I shall clean it all up and repaper and paint before the new fridge goes in. WHICH MEANS... that I shall be re-decorating the kitchen a couple of months earlier than I had planned !!
Hopefully I shall be sat down in time to watch a some telly and do a bit of embroidery that has been hanging about.
See you soon
Gillx

Back Home!

Back Home !
The  gardens have gone rampant in just a week! We have winds and rain forecast so we threw our bags in the door, took the fridge we bought at auction in the outhouse and stood it up to settle, and attacked the fruits and vegetables we thought might spoil in rain and wind. We also checked the drains and bought in some wood for the fire in case we needed one. Phew! D. also took down some of the overhanging damson branches which were heavy with fruit. We have had many broken branches this year. It has certainly made picking damsons easier for tomorrow!
 My youngest daughter looked after our place (again) while we were away. Again my godson gave a hand  when she was otherwise engaged. He and I agreed that a bit of barter was in order for the favour(though he would do it anyway) so returning favour for favour I am going to take zip out of some of his old trousers and put it into his working trousers. Don't you just love a skill barter?!
 Was hoping to go a to a local show tomorrow, but I don't think I will have time as there are BUCKETS of produce to process or sell, piles of washing to do and catch-up on the jobs I have been letting slide for the past few weeks, with being away so much. The diary is very full for next week so I'd best buckle down and get organised - not my strong point !
I notice that I have a new follower, but I can't see who they are! So welcome anonymous follower!!
Back Soon
Gillx