Today I made ...

You may remember that back in the summer I bought this ...

The idea being to use the panels to make cushions for my dear granddaughter's room.

Well finally, I have made one of them.

Another three to do!!!

(Sometime ;-D )

Finally - Time to Relax, at Least till Tomorrow!

What a hectic weekend...

...Saturday

went to the antiques and bric a brac market at Tynemouth, (stopping off at Just Harley's for Dave to get some more useless useful bits for his bike).

Not a lot of bargains this time, but I did get more pillowcases - think I might just have enough now! and the book "Deadly Durham" by Terry Deary

Then back home to add the heading tape to the curtains I have made for Flic's room and to sand and prime the chest of drawers ready to paint.

The finished articles.

Sunday

Car booting at Hexham.

A much needed bed guard for when little one comes to stay - BNIB and only £3.

A 1945 Bakelite fruit bowl - £5.

A pink gingham duvet cover - 50p. This will be cut up to make cushions.

A Disney Princess Duvet Cover and Pillowcase - 50p. Dear granddaughter has been asking for a Disney Princess Quilt for her bed at home which is a toddler bed, so needs a half size quilt. I have already halved an old quilt for use on her bed along with altering a duvet cover to fit, but I have been on the look out for a Disney Princess one to alter, so was well pleased to get one at this price!

Then home  to add a coat of Farrow & Ball to the chest of drawers & make Pasta Chicken Enchiladas for tea - recipe on this fantastic blog full of Slimming World recipes.

Then evening spent altering said duvet cover and adding  a final coat of paint to the drawers.

To-day

First coat of Danish Oil on top of the drawers.

Delivered altered Disney Princess Quilt then ...

...off to B & Q for screws to put handles on the chest, but none in the right size so back in the car and off to Homebase, where we bought the last packet.

Chose and purchased new carpet for little one's room.

Filled up on fuel.

Back home, helped dear hubby clear junk out of the room so he could fit the carpet and put the handles on the drawers.

Sanded and primed an old dining chair that will also go in little one's room.

Dear son turned up - he hadn't realised it was a bank holiday and so the shop in our village is closed - he has nothing in the house - can I just run him into the next village for supplies?

Back home - prepare and cook Roast Lamb dinner including Yorkshire puds.

Second coat of Danish Oil on top of the drawers.

Make bread.

Iron two large vintage cotton double bed sheets and four pillowcases then change bedding.

Finally - so shattered can't think straight and my old bones and muscles aching and groaning, dragged myself into a blissful warm soothing shower.

Now I'm beginning to relax I've also treated myself to some of the Elderflower Champagne I made back in June.

I'll leave you with the picture that my other half has set as wallpaper on the PCs desktop to remind me of our holidays and help me to relax - Ahhh!

Ring of Brodgar - Orkney

Charity Shopping & Crafting Sunday

Well despite today dawning beautifully sunny my other half pointed out (rightly - unfortunately!) there were too many jobs needed doing for us to venture out for the day. I had to content myself with combining a mini food shopping excursion into the next village with a visit to their one and only charity shop, which, lucky for me is open on a Sunday. As it turned out the visit was quite rewarding. I came away with the lovely vintage tray pictured below for only £2.

I also got a floral print Monsoon maxi skirt for £3, a blue tie dye effect Jordash top, which will look great with jeans for £3, an Anokhi for East blue printed quilted jacket with a matching maxi skirt £3.50 for the set and a yellow Red Herring blouse for only 50p which will be ideal for when I return to work in September.

After my shopping trip I decided to finally make the table runner I've been promising to make for ages. A couple of years ago I bought a large Indian patchwork wall hanging - at least when I say wall hanging that is what I bought it as, but when it arrived it was huge. I contemplated using it as a bedspread - it would easily cover a double bed with lots of overhang, but it is very very stiff.

Sooo... it has hung around at the back of a cupboard, waiting till I could decide what to do with it. I would like to end up cutting it down so that some of it can still be used for the wall hanging I originally had in mind, but I needed to find a use for the rest. It was while I was in Newcastle one day, window shopping in some of the fancier - hence pricier shops, that I saw a dining table runner in similar Indian patchwork.  I can't remember exactly how much it was but it was upwards of £30. I promised myself that I'd get around to using some of the wall hanging to make myself a similar runner, but never really got motivated to do so - till today...

...finally!

Courgette Rissoles and Monsters

Whilst on our holidays we saw some little monsters in a gift shop similar to the one above, but with an £8 price tag I wasn't going to let "Grandad" buy one for our little granddaughter when I could make her one myself. So that's what I did, and I have to say he was very well received.

The front side is shown in the picture above and below you can see the reverse side.

The fabric was recycled from a patchwork skirt that I bought in a charity shop...

...and now for the courgettes!

I keep getting loads of courgettes in my vegetable bag and with another bag due to be delivered this afternoon I thought it was about time I tried using some up. Having read a few recipes for courgette rissoles recently I thought I'd have a go at making some for my lunch, but as is typical for me I couldn't be bothered to hunt out the recipes I'd seen so decided to make it up as I went along.

I fried a chopped onion with a clove of chopped garlic then put them in a bowl with a grated courgette, about 2oz of grated mature cheddar, a small slice of wholemeal bread grated, an egg and salt and pepper.and mixed it all up. I heated a frying pan with a teaspoon of olive oil in and placed two separate tablespoons of the mixture in and flattened them slightly. Whilst they were cooking I decided a dip of some sort might be nice to go with them. I had a couple of teaspoonfuls of guacamole left over from last night so I mixed them with a tablespoon of mayonnaise, then went to flip my rissoles - Disaster!!! they just broke up into pieces. Not liking to waste things, I popped them onto a plate and still ate them - they tasted okay but a little bland.

Sooo... back to the drawing board, or in this case the mixing bowl - to the mixture still in the bowl I added 1/2 tsp chilli powder, 1 tsp tomato puree and 1/2 oz flour and mixed them well in. This time I tried frying just a teaspoon first - success!!!

Recipe: Courgette Rissoles with Chilli and Cheese

1 Small onion - chopped

1 Clove garlic - chopped

1 Largish courgette - grated

2 oz Grated mature cheddar cheese

1 Small slice wholemeal bread - grated into crumbs

1 Med egg

1/2 tsp Chilli powder

1 tsp Tomato puree

1/2 oz Flour

Salt & Pepper

Lightly fry the garlic and onion and add to a bowl with all the other ingredients. Mix well. Shallow fry tablespoons of the mixture on each side till browned and cooked through - serve.

Olive oil for frying.