Chop, chop

Being a short xxxx person I find that many longer length dresses reach to the floor on me and almost all full length dresses polish the floor. This alteration was simple as I just followed the line for the cut.

Chop, chop, hem, hem and the dress from the CB for £1.50 is now perfect for my 'petite frame'! I also chopped off those pesky ribbony bits that are supposed to help with the hanging up but invariably become a nuisance by poking out under the armholes. This dress is a soft jersey and is perfect for a bit of dossing about relaxing.

Car Bootyful

Do I need more wool? Yes, of course.

Do I need another basket? Oh yes - I can store things in it and the whole look will be streamlined.

Do I need more paper? Certainly do - this little book contains lots of different coloured papers that are ideal for card making.

It's a lovely little book, which also could be a present for someone.

Do I need more files? Well if I'm to get myself organised then yes and they hide a multitude of cr** things.

Was it a good haul today?

Oh yes - I'm off to knit a twirly scarf now. My stash of presents will grow.

xx

Car Booty

One roll of sticky address labels - (must de-clutter some more and list things on Ebay), one brand new notebook - (stationery is my new hobby), two Peter James' books - (I like this author's writings) and two stamps - (one labeled Home Sweet Home and one a Christmas words stamp). Oh, and one long 'doss about' stretchy dress.

£7 altogether - not bad and plenty of exercise walking round the CB.

The Monday CB yielded this little lot of card cutters.

I paid £11 and this included 3 embossing plates plus a Craft with Helix Craft Room which was only part there. I'm not concerned as this product does not have good reviews. Another walk in the sunshine and fun looking up my finds on the Internet. I've added to the clutter so now I'm hunting twice the number of items to clear out, donate, recycle or give away. One in, two out.

xx

Me time

Good finds at the CB today with balls of wool, a scarf knitting kit, a bag full of patchwork squares, circular knitting needles and some mags. 

Peeping in at the bottom is a white dish which I thought would be square enough for a lasagne.

I spent £10 on this little lot and am well pleased. The scarf has already been started and one of the magazines read in the sunshine after I'd weeded the garden. I might hunt for some sock yarn now and christen my needles.

Happiness is finding 'me' items at the CB.

xx

Storage

A comment from one post remarked on storage and I thought I'd show one of my prettier storage solutions. This storage box caught my eye in the CS...

and I'm having a great time filling it with various papers and bits and pieces.

My Filofax organisers echo the colours of this box. Two other boxes I bought at the CB for £3 each.

Just the job for organising my card making bits and pieces.

Pusscat is supervising here. She's after the pipe cleaners - not a good idea.

My I-key-ya boxes held an assortment of sewing paraphernalia but it was difficult to remember which box was which so ...

the second CB box came to the rescue to hold press studs (hardly ever use these), hooks and eyes (hardly ever use these), old zips rescued from redundant clothing (They'll come in handy some day - no, they never do!) and bits of velcro (hardly ever use these). I can't throw any of this lot away, though.

And I can't throw away wooden cotton reels so they went in to.

There, storage organised.

Next?

xx

PS Friday the 13th and I've had 13 emails and have sold 13 things on Ebay!

xx

Car Booty

Only one more week left of the big CB sale this year. Here's today's booty.

12 rather large Christmas bows. I think each bow must be made of a full roll of ribbon. One bow has the price tag of £4.99. I paid £2 for all of them.

Next were some knitting needles, straight and circular plus 3 crochet hooks and a ball of wool. The wool was 50p and the needles and hooks were £2.

Following the Christmas theme I spotted a Country Living mag for 20p, Christmas cards for 20p and more ribbon - all 5 for a pound.

It looks like I'm getting prepared for next year too as I couldn't resist these Easter cutters for 50p.

It was all smiles this morning and the sun shone.

I've also managed to weed and cut down in the front garden, clean the brass and wash down the front door and outside downstairs window sills along with the front step.

It says in my diary

'Day of Rest' so I'm off to sit in the sun room and read my mag. Hope you've had a good weekend.

xx

Such excitement ...

… over my booty from a car boot sale this morning.

* a pile of homes magazines

* slug barrier kit

*a J.O. recipe book

*a sweeping brush for brushing the path

I certainly know how to live life to the full.

xx

PS A very warm welcome to my new follower. I hope I won't bore you too much!

:)

Piles!

I think it's time that I showed you my piles!

First of all my pile of books. Gill, I don't review books for anyone in particular. These books were given to me by friends. There's books behind the books in the pictures ...

and more piles of books elsewhere. I'm slowly wading my way through. I aim eventually to wade my way through all the books in the house and give away most of them. One of my NewYear Resolutions was to read at least one book per month.

I've got piles of wool in drawers scattered around the house.

There are more piles of wool elsewhere! Most of it is from CSs or car boots. I'm slowly crocheting and knitting my way through them.

Here is a pile of photographs. I've got photo albums to put them in but I've not got round to that job yet. Perhaps it should be at the top of my list or this pile will hang around getting in the way. I've already had the family videos put on to CD. Now do I bin the videos? Decisions, decisions. I need to get rid of these piles.

Here are piles of fabric which 'may come in handy sometime'. There are more piles elsewhere - oh dear.  How many quilts do I need? Should I start making my own dresses? I've already got piles of those for my dancing.

Here is a pile of garments that have seen better days. They are waiting in a pile to be cut into patchwork pieces with each square a reminder of who wore the garment and where.

And last here, but not my last lot of piles, are the final middles for my 2012 blanket. My pile of wool for this blanket has gone down considerably, with 2 blankets 'done' already for the 'daughters' and 1 blanket left to finish for me.

It will be quite a while before I get rid of all my piles. I'll just have to live with them for a while longer!

xx

The White Bowl Saga

I had to have it. It was an unusual shape and had 2 skins. Why was that?

It was a large, white bowl. I like white. But where do I put it? In the kitchen - no it's too large. I've only just got enough work space as it is.

In the dining room on the sideboard? Hmm. Not quite right.

In the front room on the side table. Hmm. No room for the beer.

In the back room on the table? Hmm. Not quite right. It needs something in it.

Fruit?

Pine cones?

Flowers?

I'm sure I'll find a home and a use for it some-time. Meanwhile it will move from room to room until it's just right.

What's brewing? (bruin?)

Hopefully this new project will be a kitschy Christmas present.

TTFN

Collections - Wool, knitting needles, crochet hooks

Also at the car boot this week I picked up some more wool. 50p for the 10 balls of lilac, a little bit more for the purple wool, dozen or so knitting needles and 10 crochet hooks in the knitting bag - £3.

The wool will join my 'stash' in the cupboard and the needles will get sorted with my other needles. Big smiles on my face this week!

Collections - Music

A dealer at the car boot had 2 shopping bags full of sheet music. I love to look through music and I had a good 5 minutes glancing through. He wanted 3 for £1. There was such a large amount of music (at least 200 copies) that it was too difficult to choose so we passed him by. On the return leg we cheekily offered him £20 for the whole collection and he said yes. I've had great fun sorting out and playing the music from the 30s - 60s into albums, selections, dance music, Christmas, Easter, songs and classical tunes.

My era

Shows and collections

Not my era

Pile after pile after pile

My task now is to go through the music we already have and find a home for the new stuff!

Thanks, Mary. I'll look after your music now.

Bloomin' Bootiful! or possibly Wonderful Wednesday?

Picked from the garden to bring the summer inside.

Displayed in my favourite vase (from a car boot sale I think), swirly browns and greens in heavy, curvy glass.

The weather was good ...

... and so was the car boot. Do you want to see what I bought? I'll show you anyway.

Homes mags - 10p each

Set of 3 wire boxes which I'll use for putting little presents in at Christmas -  £1.50

The wire boxes are similar to this box I got from the junk shop for 25p.

Cone of wool - 50p, sewing bits and bobs - £1

With the sewing stuff was this little beauty.

I don't possess any silk stockings! 

I used to sew and I might sew again - 6 for £1

2 Ikea baskets one for 50p and one for 75p. The necklaces were 50p and £1.

3 long swirly skirts - 50p each. 2 of the zips are a bit sticky. It's a good job I  have some spare.

So all that lot came to £8.75 (if I've added it up right). I've definitely got a smile on my face. We also got some watering pipes for the garden (£2) and some ring binders to put our music in (£2.50 for 6).

In the afternoon I went for a long 5 mile walk on the promenade.







We finished off the afternoon with a barbeque with DH doing the cooking (burning).